Harper Adams

department was created in 1909 and the egg laying trials, which started in 1912, earned the College a wide following. In April 1915, the College was the first institution to provide courses for women in wartime farm work. The college contributed to the war effort by training disabled veterans in farm work, especially poultry husbandry. In 1916, women were allowed to enrol at the college on full-time courses for the first time and were to remain until after the Second World War, when priority of places went to discharged servicemen. The College was also instrumental in providing a wide range of wartime services, such as courses in tractor driving.Approximately 200 staff and former students served in the forces in the First World War and 40 are known to have died; the college library was established after a successful fundraising appeal in 1921 as a memorial to the war dead. A board in the library listing the names (including those found in recent additional research) was dedicated in March 2015, crafted by Peter Nunn of the university estates department, while a new memorial garden was created outside the library.The agricultural depression of the 1920s led to a drop in student numbers. In 1922 Charles Crowther became principal and efforts were taken to secure the college. The National Institute of Poultry Husbandry opened in 1926, bringing to Harper a high profile in areas of teaching and research. The College stayed open through the Second World War and, in 1939, the first land girls arrived.