The college was initially accommodated in properties in Norham Road, Norham Gardens and Fyfield Road. Its first six students were Annie Moberly, Jessie Annie Emmerson, Charlotte Jourdain, Constance E. Ashburner, Wilhelmina J. de Lorna Mitchell and Grace J. Parsons. Students were required to ask the principal before accepting invitations to visit friends, and the college gates were locked at 9pm. Records show that rent was between £18 and £21 a term depending on the size of the room, with fires being charged extra. At first tuition and lectures were arranged by the Association for the Education of Women, the first college tutor being Dora Wylie, appointed around 1898.