The college was established on 16 October 1869 under the name of the College for Women at Benslow House in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, which was considered to be a convenient distance from Cambridge and London. It was thought to be less "risky" and less controversial to locate the college away from Cambridge in the beginning. The college was one of England's first residential colleges for women. (Whitelands College, now part of the University of Roehampton, was established as a college of higher education for women earlier, in 1841.) They worked with Fanny Metcalfe to develop the curricula.