Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh (formerly Queen Margaret University College and Queen Margaret College) is a university, founded in 1875 and located in Musselburgh, Scotland. It is named after Saint Margaret, wife of King Malcolm III of Scotland. Its predecessor, Queen Margaret University College, was awarded full university status becoming Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh in January 2007.
The University was founded in 1875, as The Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic Economy, by Christian Guthrie Wright and Louisa Stevenson, both members of the Edinburgh Ladies’ Educational Association. The School was founded as a women-only institution, with twin aims of improving women’s access to higher education and improving the diets of working class families. Teaching was initially delivered via lectures at the Royal Museum, supplemented by a programme of public lectures and demonstrations delivered nationwide, but in 1877 the School established a base at Shandwick Place, in Haymarket.