Queen Margaret University is a university in Musselburgh, Scotland, that was founded in 1875. It is named after Saint Margaret, the wife of Scotland's King Malcolm III.
In January 2007, its predecessor, Queen Margaret University College, was granted full university status and became Queen Margaret University. Christian Guthrie Wright and Louisa Stevenson, both members of the Edinburgh Ladies' Educational Association, founded the University in 1875 as The Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic Economy.
The School was created as a women-only school with the dual goals of increasing women's access to higher education and improving working-class families' nutrition.
Teaching was first done through lectures at the Royal Museum, complemented by a countrywide programme of public talks and demonstrations, but the School moved to Shandwick Place in Haymarket in 1877.
In 1891, the school relocated to Atholl Crescent, extending its curriculum and providing student housing. The School was declared a Central Institution in 1909 and placed under the Scottish Education Department's public supervision. Ethel De la Cour was the first Principal to be appointed. De la Cour retired in 1930, and the School became the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science in the same year.
In 1961, the College purchased a section of the Clermiston estate from developers and established its Corstorphine campus. Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, who served as Patron of the College until her death in 2004, officially opened the campus in 1970. Queen Margaret College was established in 1972 to distinguish the College from the restricted subject of domestic science. Following that, the College expanded its academic offerings, particularly in the theatrical arts and paramedical healthcare sectors.