Queen Margaret College was founded on its present site in Hobson Street, Thorndon in 1919 as an independent girls' school by the Hon John Aitken and The Very Rev. Dr. James Gibb. Its general aim as stated in the first prospectus was 'to provide for girls a sound intellectual and moral education, and to build up strong Christian character on board religious basis, and thus to develop the bets type of girlhood and womanhood'. The buildings had been used by Scots College from 1916 to 1918.