 To help the situation he and his wife Frances founded the WEA at a meeting in their home on 16 May 1903, using two shillings and sixpence from the housekeeping money.Originally called An Association to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men, the name change took place in 1905, after pressure from the Women's Co-operative Guild.The association and its aims was quick to be recognized by universities, and Mansbridge left clerical work in 1905 to become its fulltime general secretary.