Homerton College, Cambridge

Colleges of the University of Cambridge Homerton College
Named after	Homerton, London
Established	1976
Previously named	Homerton Academy (1768-1852) Training Institution of the Congregational Board of Education (1852-1894)
Admittance	Men and women
Principal	Dr Kate Pretty CBE MA PhD
Undergraduates	600
Graduates	600
Sister college	Mansfield College and Harris Manchester College, Oxford
Location	Hills Road (map)
College website
Boat Club website

Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.

With around 1,200 students, Homerton has more students than any other Cambridge college, although less than half of these live in the college. The college has a long and complex history dating back to the seventeenth century. The actual origins of the college have been variously listed as 1695, 1768, 1895, 1976 and 2001.

Homerton College was admitted as an "Approved Society" of the University in 1976. Until 2001 it admitted only Education Studies students, but has since broadened its intake to include most subjects. In 2010 Homerton gained its Royal Charter as a full College of the University.

The college has a wide range of thriving student clubs and societies, including a boat club, music society, Geographical Society (HUGS — Homerton Undergraduate Geographical Society), weekly discussion group (The King's Head Society), and a resident drama society - HATS (Homerton Amateur Theatrical Society).

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The Cavendish Building at Homerton College's present site on Hills Road, Cambridge.

History

Early history

Main article: Independent College, Homerton

In 1850 Homerton Academy in London, a dissenting academy already having a history stretching back a century, was refounded by the Congregational Board of Education to concentrate on the study of education itself. It did so by transferring its theological courses to New College London, whose Congregationalist Principal was the Rev. John Harris DD, and by extending and rebuilding the old mansion house and 1820s buildings of the academy at a cost of £10,000. The college reopened as the Training Institution of the Congregational Board of Education in April 1852, with Samuel Morley as its Treasurer. Shortly afterwards, it began admitting women students, although then Principal Horobin ultimately called an end to mixed education in 1896, shortly after the move to Cambridge, and thereafter the college remained all-women for 80 years.^{[citation needed]}

Towards the end of the century, the growth of industry had turned the village of Homerton into a manufacturing centre, lowering the quality of life of the students and leading to seven deaths between 1878 and 1885 from tuberculosis, smallpox and typhoid. Also, increasing numbers of students required more space.^{[citation needed]}

In 1881 former students of Homerton College who were members of Glyn Cricket Club formed a football section to help keep their players fit during the winter months. The football section continued to grow over the ensuing years and is now Leyton Orient Football Club.

Move to Cambridge

In 1894 the Congregational Board of Education were able to purchase the estate of Cavendish College, Cambridge (named after the then-Chancellor of the university) which had become available. It had been founded to allow poorer students to sit Cambridge tripos exams without the expense of joining a true Cambridge college, and was briefly recognised as a "Public Hostel" of the university in 1882, but a lack of money had brought the venture to an end.^{[citation needed]}

All its estates and furniture were bought by the Congregational Board for £10,000; and their students and staff moved from the old Hackney premises into the vacant college buildings at Cambridge. Initially taking the name of Homerton New College at Cavendish College, it shortly became just Homerton College, Cambridge. John Charles Horobin became the first Principal, and his portrait still hangs in the college's Great Hall.^{[citation needed]}

The first woman to head the College was Mary Miller Allen, who was responsible for Homerton's national reputation as a trainer of women teachers. Her successor in 1935 was Miss Alice Skillicorn, a former HMI, who took the College through World War Two, during which time it was bombed. Dame Beryl Paston Brown was Principal in the 1960s — at a time when Homerton’s numbers doubled after the introduction of three-year training courses in 1960.^{[citation needed]}

Closer association with the University

The Faculty of Education building, adjacent to Homerton College, opened in 2005.

In December 1976, under the headship of Principal Alison Cheveley Shrubsole, Homerton was accepted as an Approved Society of the University of Cambridge following a 3-1 vote of the Regent House in favour of its admittance. This had been under consideration since the days of Principal Horobin.^{[citation needed]} The possibility of introducing a Cambridge Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree was even given as one of the reasons for the original move into Cambridge. It was after the shake-up and governmental criticisms of teacher training in the early 1970s that the University admitted Homerton, as now all of its students were doing four-year honours courses. For a few years before 1976, Homerton students had been able to take the Cambridge B.Ed. degree, but were technically enrolled as members of Newnham College to make this possible.^{[citation needed]}

The expansion of Homerton to other disciplines took place in the 1990s with the admission of student nurses and postgraduate students in health studies and nursing. Dip HE, BA and MSc courses were offered for psychiatric, paediatric, learning disability and general nursing students as well as more experienced practitioners taking advanced post-registration programmes and undertaking research. However, by 2010 Anglia Ruskin University had acquired Homerton School of Health Studies from the college and all nurses educated in Cambridge did so at Ruskin.

In late 2000 the Regent House approved a proposal to "converge" Homerton with the rest of the University. Convergence involved the transfer of most of the college's teaching and research activity to the new University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and the diversification of the college into a wide range of Tripos subjects. In September 2001 Homerton admitted its first non-education Tripos students. At the same time the old B.Ed. degree was retired in favour of a three-year B.A. in Education, followed by a one-year Post Graduate Certificate of Education.

At the time of convergence it was envisaged that Homerton would move from the status of Approved Society to that of Approved Foundation or full College. In December 2008 Homerton's application to move to full College status was approved by the University Council. The change in status was completed with the grant of a Royal Charter on 11 March 2010.

Across the grounds of Homerton College

From 2001, many new fellows were appointed in subjects other than education, and a postgraduate research community was established. By 2009 Education Tripos students comprised around 20% of the body of undergraduates at Homerton, with 80% of undergraduates following other Tripos courses.

Accommodation

On site accommodation for students is provided in four purpose-built accommodation buildings: East House, West House, South Court (the latest addition to the college, opened in 2007), and Harrison House. Harrison House exclusively houses graduate students and fellows, and was opened in November 2006. Other accommodation is provided in the ABC and D&E blocks, both part of the main college buildings, as well as in Queens Wing which also contains the Homerton Union of Students and both the Undergraduate and Graduate Common Rooms. Outside of university terms, the accommodation attracts extensive use for conference purposes.

Principals of Homerton College

Principal	Tenure
John Charles Horobin	1894–1902
Mary Miller Allan	1903–1935
Alice Havergal Skillicorn	1935–1960
Dame Beryl Paston Brown	1961–1971
Alison Cheveley Shrubsole	1971–1985
Alan George Bamford	1985–1991
Katharine Bridget Pretty	1991–Present

See also

• Category:Alumni of Homerton College, Cambridge

References

• Simms, T.H. (1979). Homerton College 1695–1978 Published by the Trustees of Homerton College
• Warner, Dr Peter. Lecture on the history of Homerton College (Michaelmas term 2004)

External links

• Homerton College website
• Homerton College JCR website
• Homerton College MCR website (Graduate Society)
• Homerton College Music Society website
• Homerton College Conference Centre