Newnham College, Cambridge passionately that equality could only be expressed by women doing the same courses as the men, on the same time-table. This meant that Girton attracted a much smaller population in its early years. But the Newnham Council held its ground, reinforced by the commitment of many of its members to educational reform generally and a wish to change some of the courses Cambridge was offering to its men. In 1948 Newnham, like Girton, attained the full status of a college of the university. The university as an institution at first took no notice of these women and arrangements to sit
Homerton College, Cambridge into the vacant college buildings at Cambridge. Initially taking the name of Homerton New College at Cavendish College, it shortly became just Homerton College, Cambridge. John Charles Horobin became the first Principal, and his portrait still hangs in the college's Great Hall. The first woman to head the college was Mary Miller Allan, who was responsible for Homerton's national reputation as a trainer of women teachers. Her successor in 1935 was Miss Alice Skillicorn, a former HMI, who took the college through World War Two, during which time it was bombed. Dame Beryl Paston Brown was Principal in the 1960s