On January 19, 1921, Albert Mansbridge, founder of the Workers' Educational Association and a member of the Ministry of Reconstruction's Adult Education Committee, chaired a meeting at 20 Tavistock Square, London, to consider the formation of a British Institute of Adult Education. The Institute was to be a branch of the grandly--and somewhat inaccurately--titled World Association for Adult Education set up by Mansbridge in March 1919. The "World Association," which boasted a largely British membership with a modest international dimension drawn from the dominions of the former British Empire, was committed to "the establishment, or development, in all parts of the world, of movements and institutions for promoting adult education, and to promote co-operation between them." It proposed to do this by establishing a Central Bureau of Information in London, publishing a journal on adult education and setting up branches, groups, commissions or research committees in various countries in the world. The British Institute of Adult Education--what was, in 1983, after a number of changes in name and focus, to become the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE)--was to act as a general national forum for adult education, holding public meetings and exerting parliamentary pressure. The primary aim of the Institute was to be "a centre for common thought by persons of varied experience in the adult education movement." It was to be a representative body and a "thinking department," focused not on teaching but on discussion and advocacy. NIACE celebrates 90 years of support for adult learning this year. In this article, the author looks at the origins of the organisation, its founding values, and some of its early activities.