St Edmund's House was founded in 1896 by Henry Fitzalan Howard, the 15th Duke of Norfolk, and Baron Anatole von Hügel as an institution providing board and lodging for Roman Catholic students at the University of Cambridge. After Catholic Emancipation, in particular after the Universities Tests Act 1871, students who were Roman Catholics were finally admitted as members of the university. In its early days the college functioned predominantly as a lodging house, or hall of residence, for students who were matriculated at other colleges. Most of the students, at that time, were ordained Catholic priests who were reading various subjects offered by the university. The college was established in the buildings of Ayerst Hostel, which had been set up for non-collegiate students by the Reverend William Ayerst in 1884, and its founding master for Fr Edmund Nolan, then Vice-Rector of St Edmund's College Ware. In 1896 Ayerst Hostel had to close due to lack of funds, and the property was transferred to the Catholic Church.