By 1859, Emily Davies was acquainted with Elizabeth Garrett and other members of the Langham Place Circle (Barbara Stephen, Emily Davies and Girton College, Chapter IV, based in part on the now missing section of the Family Chronicle, pp. 101-200). In February 1861 she was receiving long letters from Elizabeth Garrett (Family Chronicle, pp. 202-210), whose father Newson Garrett (1812-1893, a businessman and mayor and alderman of Aldeburgh) actively supported her and the movement for examinations for women. Soon after she came to London in January 1862, ED became the first honorary secretary of a committee (at first informal) to promote the inclusion of degrees for women in the proposed new charter of the University of London.
Papers in GCPP Davies 2 and those included in the Family Chronicle are a result of this interest. They include flysheets and a memorial, report of a Senate discussion, legal opinions, and letters inquiring about medical study and opportunities for women (including those afforded by the Society of Apothecaries of London) in response to advertisements placed by ED in the Saturday Review and the Athenaeum in July 1862.