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Writers have accused several other Apostles of being witting Soviet agents. [[Roland Perry]] in his book, ''[[Roland Perry#The Fifth Man|The Fifth Man]]'' (London: Pan Books, 1994) makes a circumstantial case against [[Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild]], who was a friend to both Burgess and Blunt. The espionage historian John Costello in ''The Mask of Treachery'' (London: William Collins & Sons, 1988) points a finger at the mathematician [[Alister Watson]] and anthropologist [[Lewis Daly]]. [[Kimberley Cornish]], in his controversial ''[[The Jew of Linz]]'' (London: Century, 1998), makes the rather extravagant claim that [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]] was the "[[éminence grise]]" of the Cambridge spies.
Writers have accused several other Apostles of being witting Soviet agents. [[Roland Perry]] in his book, ''[[Roland Perry#The Fifth Man|The Fifth Man]]'' (London: Pan Books, 1994) makes a circumstantial case against [[Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild]], who was a friend to both Burgess and Blunt. The espionage historian John Costello in ''The Mask of Treachery'' (London: William Collins & Sons, 1988) points a finger at the mathematician [[Alister Watson]] and anthropologist [[Lewis Daly]]. [[Kimberley Cornish]], in his controversial ''[[The Jew of Linz]]'' (London: Century, 1998), makes the rather extravagant claim that [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]] was the "[[éminence grise]]" of the Cambridge spies.


In the 1930s when Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt, both homosexuals, became Apostles, stories persisted that the membership was mainly homosexual and [[Marxism|Marxist]]. Documents from the Soviet archives included in ''[[The Crown Jewels (book)|The Crown Jewels]]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), by [[Nigel West]] and [[Oleg Tsarev]], indicate that it was Burgess who seduced and led Blunt into the Soviet underground. As the Queen's art adviser, Blunt was knighted in 1956, but was stripped of his [[knighthood]] in 1979 after [[Prime Minister]] [[Margaret Thatcher]] publicly named him as a spy — his confession having been kept secret before then.
In the 1930s when Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt the membership was mainly [[Marxism|Marxist]]. Documents from the Soviet archives included in ''[[The Crown Jewels (book)|The Crown Jewels]]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), by [[Nigel West]] and [[Oleg Tsarev]], indicate that it was Burgess who seduced and led Blunt into the Soviet underground. As the Queen's art adviser, Blunt was knighted in 1956, but was stripped of his [[knighthood]] in 1979 after [[Prime Minister]] [[Margaret Thatcher]] publicly named him as a spy — his confession having been kept secret before then.


==Former members==
==Former members==

Revision as of 19:52, 30 January 2012

Trinity College Great Court. The Cambridge Apostles were for decades centred around Trinity and King's.

The Cambridge Apostles, also known as the Cambridge Conversazione Society, is an intellectual secret society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who went on to become the first Bishop of Gibraltar.[1]

The origin of the Apostles' nickname dates from the number, twelve, of their founders. Membership consists largely of undergraduates, though there have been graduate student members, and members who already hold university and college posts. The society traditionally drew most of its members from St John's, King's and Trinity Colleges.

Activities and membership

King's College, Cambridge

The society is essentially a discussion group. Meetings are held once a week, traditionally on Saturday evenings, during which one member gives a prepared talk on a topic, which is later thrown open for discussion; during the meetings, members used to eat sardines on toast, called "whales". Women first gained acceptance into the society in the 1970s.

The Apostles retain a leather diary of their membership ("the book") stretching back to its founder, which includes handwritten notes about the topics each member has spoken on. It is included in the so-called "Ark", which is a collection of papers with some handwritten notes from the group's early days, about the topics members have spoken on, and the results of the division in which those present voted on the debate. It was a point of honour that the question voted on should bear only a tangential relationship to the matter debated. The members referred to as the "Apostles" are the active, usually undergraduate members; former members are called "angels". Undergraduates apply to become angels after graduating or being awarded a fellowship. Every few years, amid great secrecy, all the angels are invited to an Apostles' dinner at a Cambridge college. There used to be an annual dinner, usually held in London.

Undergraduates being considered for membership are called "embryos" and are invited to "embryo parties", where members judge whether the student should be invited to join. The "embryos" attend these parties without knowing they are being considered for membership. Becoming an Apostle involves taking an oath of secrecy and listening to the reading of a curse, originally written by Apostle Fenton John Anthony Hort, the theologian, in or around 1851.

Former members have spoken of the life-long bond they feel toward one another. Henry Sidgwick, the philosopher, wrote of the Apostles in his memoirs that "the tie of attachment to this society is much the strongest corporate bond which I have known in my life."

Bloomsbury

The Apostles became well known outside Cambridge in the years before the First World War with the rise to eminence of the group of intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury Group. John Maynard Keynes, Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey and his brother James, G. E. Moore, E. M. Forster and Rupert Brooke were all Apostles. Keynes, Woolf and Lytton Strachey subsequently gained prominence as members of Bloomsbury.

Cambridge spy ring

Main article: Cambridge Five

The Apostles came to public attention again following the exposure of the Cambridge spy ring in 1951. Three Cambridge graduates with access to the top levels of government in Britain, one of them a former Apostle, were eventually found to have passed information to the KGB. The three known agents were Apostle Guy Burgess, an MI6 officer and secretary to the deputy foreign minister; Donald MacLean, foreign office secretary; and Kim Philby, MI6 officer and journalist.

In 1963, American writer Michael Straight, also an Apostle, and later publisher of The New Republic magazine, admitted to a covert relationship with the Soviets, and he named Anthony Blunt, MI5 officer, director of the Courtauld Institute, and art adviser to the Queen as his recruiter and a Soviet spy. Confronted with Straight's confession, Blunt acknowledged his own treason and revealed that he had also drawn into espionage his fellow Apostle Leonard "Leo" Long. Straight also told investigators that the Apostle John Peter Astbury had been recruited for Soviet intelligence by either Blunt or Burgess. Leo Long confessed to delivering classified information to the Soviets from 1940 until 1952.

Writers have accused several other Apostles of being witting Soviet agents. Roland Perry in his book, The Fifth Man (London: Pan Books, 1994) makes a circumstantial case against Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild, who was a friend to both Burgess and Blunt. The espionage historian John Costello in The Mask of Treachery (London: William Collins & Sons, 1988) points a finger at the mathematician Alister Watson and anthropologist Lewis Daly. Kimberley Cornish, in his controversial The Jew of Linz (London: Century, 1998), makes the rather extravagant claim that Ludwig Wittgenstein was the "éminence grise" of the Cambridge spies.

In the 1930s when Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt the membership was mainly Marxist. Documents from the Soviet archives included in The Crown Jewels (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), by Nigel West and Oleg Tsarev, indicate that it was Burgess who seduced and led Blunt into the Soviet underground. As the Queen's art adviser, Blunt was knighted in 1956, but was stripped of his knighthood in 1979 after Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher publicly named him as a spy — his confession having been kept secret before then.

Former members

Members of the Apostles have included (with the year they joined in brackets, where known):

Appearances in literature

Notes

  1. ^ W. C. Lubenow, The Cambridge Apsotles 1820-1914, Cambridge University Press, 1999, page 27.
  2. ^ The Times obituary, 11 May 1967.
  3. ^ The Times obituary, 18 August 1947.
  4. ^ The Times obituary, 31 August 1983.
  5. ^ The Times obituary, 8 June 1984.
  6. ^ Norton-Taylor, Richard (9 January 2004). "Obituary: Michael Straight". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  7. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVdAhzqFLps

References

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