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Selwyn College, Cambridge

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Selwyn College
Selwyn College heraldic shield
LocationGrange Road
MottoΑΝΔΡΙΖΕΣΘΕ (Latin)
Motto in EnglishQuit ye like men
Established1882
Named forGeorge Augustus Selwyn
Colours                             
Sister collegeKeble College, Oxford
MasterProf. Richard Bowring
Undergraduates350
Postgraduates200
Websitehttp://www.sel.cam.ac.uk
Boat clubhttp://www.selwynrowing.org.uk

52°12′03″N 0°06′20″E / 52.20083°N 0.10556°E / 52.20083; 0.10556 Selwyn College is a College of the University of Cambridge. It was founded in memory of the Rt Revd George Augustus Selwyn (1809–1878), the first Bishop of New Zealand (1841–1868) and Bishop of Lichfield (1868–1878). The College was founded by subscription, with an explicitly Christian mission. The Selwyn College coat of arms incorporates the arms of the Selwyn family impaled with those of the Diocese of Lichfield.

Selwyn is relatively poor for a traditional Cambridge College. In 2006, it had an estimated financial endowment of £22 million and in 2004, fixed assets were worth £70 million. The College was ranked sixteenth out of thirty in an assessment of College wealth[1] conducted by Varsity in November 2006. Selwyn performs better academically, and was ranked 4th out of 29 in the 2007 Tompkin's Table.

History

Selwyn's first undergraduates joined the original Master and twelve other Fellows at the then "Public Hostel" of the university in 1882. Formally approved as a College on March 14, 1958, Selwyn, in common with other Cambridge colleges, originally admitted only men, but was one of the first colleges to become mixed when women were admitted from 1976.

File:Snowy selywn college cambridge.jpg
Selwyn College in the snow, early 2004

Six acres (24,000 m²) of farm land, between Grange Road, West Road and Sidgwick Avenue, was originally acquired from Corpus Christi College and is now home to Selwyn's three main courts, Old Court, Cripps Court, and Ann's Court, with some ancillary buildings, including houses serving as student hostels on Grange Road, West Road and Sidgwick Avenue. The site was originally considered somewhat remote from the centre of the university (indeed, an alternative site on Lensfield Road, where the Catholic church now stands, was rejected as being too small), however, with the growth of departmental buildings, libraries and new faculties, Selwyn now neighbours the Sidgwick Site, affording Selwynites the easiest access of any Cambridge college to the many faculty buildings housed there.

Old Court, built in red brick in the Tudor Gothic style, was largely designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield and comprises seven staircases (A to G), together with a tower and gateway, Master's lodge, chapel and hall. Cripps Court, named after the Cripps Foundation that donated most of the funds to build it (and which also funded developments at St John's College and Queens' College), was built and formally opened in 1969 on land on the opposite side of Grange Road which was originally owned by Jesus College. It comprises a further seven staircases (H to N) and is home to all of Selwyn's first-year undergraduates as well as a mix of other undergraduates and postgraduates. Ann's Court, built on the land to the north of Old Court and south of West Road, is the newest court: it is named after Ann Dobson, one of the principal donors towards the construction costs of the first block, which was completed in July 2005 and consists of 44 ensuite rooms and 15 administrative offices, forming two staircases (O and P).

The College has planning permission to add a further four phases to Ann's Court, with the work planned to be undertaken over the next twenty years. The remaining phases of the building project will extend the college's red-brick facade along Grange Road to the corner of West Road, adding two further accommodation blocks, a new library and an auditorium.

Arms

Selwyn College began to use its Arms long before an official grant by the College of Arms (they are displayed above the main gateway, built in 1881, and on the Common Seal, first used in 1882). Arms were finally applied for and granted in the 1960s, and are emblazoned as follows:

Per pale Gules and Argent a Cross potent quadrate Argent and Or between four crosses paty those to the dexter Argent those to the sinister Or For the See of Lichfield inpaling Argent on a Bend cotised Sable three Annulets Or for Selwyn all within a Bordure Sable And for Crest On a Wreath Or & Purpure In front of a Book erect bound Gules edged clasped and garnished Or a representation of the Pastoral Staff of Bishop Selwyn.

The dexter half of the arms (those of the See of Lichfield) are unusual, with or (gold) countercharged on argent (silver), violating the rule of tincture, which prohibits a metal to be charged with another metal. This is thought to refer to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which also famously violates this rule. The Pastoral Staff of Bishop Selwyn is based on a hardwood Māori staff which is held in the College Chapel.

The College was also granted a badge, A Mitre Or within an Annulet Purpure.

The College motto is a biblical quotation from 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 13, in Greek, "ΑΝΔΡΙΖΕΣΘΕ",[1] translated in the King James Version as "Quit ye like men"[2] (alternatively, in the Douay Rheims version, "Do manfully"[3] or, in the New American Bible, "Be courageous"[4]). The motto also appears as part of a longer quotation over the main College gate.

Famous alumni

See also: Category:Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge


Name Birth Death Career
A. R. Cornelius 1903 Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
Clive Anderson 1952 Comedian and television show host
Ralph Chubb 1892 1960 Poet and printer
Graham Connah Archaeologist
John Selwyn Gummer 1939 British politician
Robert Harris 1957 Author
Tom Hollander 1967 Actor
Karl Hudson-Phillips 1933 Judge
Simon Hughes 1951 Politician
Lionel Charles Knights 1906 1997 Literary critic
Hugh Laurie 1959 Comedian and actor
Ran Laurie 1915 1998 1948 Olympic rowing gold medallist
Ivan Lloyd-Phillips 1910 1984 Civil servant
Sir Richard May 1938 2004 Jurist
David Miller 1946 Political theorist
Barry Morgan 1947 Archbishop of Wales
Malcolm Muggeridge 1903 1990 Author and journalist
Robert Newman 1964 Comedian
Nigel Newton 1955 Founder, Bloomsbury Publishing
Mario Petrucci 1958 Poet, essayist, critic
John Sentamu 1949 Archbishop of York
Adrian Smith 1957 Statistician
Sir Peter Smith 1952 Judge
Graham Stuart 1962 British politician
Nick Tanner Actor
David K.R. Thomson 1957 Member of Canada's wealthiest family

Notes

  1. ^ Varsity issue 647, page 6 http://www.varsity.co.uk/archive/647.pdf

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Selwyn College, Cambridge.
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