Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College | ||||||||||||
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Location | St Andrew's Street (map) | |||||||||||
Motto | Souvent me Souvient (Latin) | |||||||||||
Motto in English | I often remember | |||||||||||
Founder | William Byngham (1437); Henry VI (1448); Lady Margaret Beaufort (1505) | |||||||||||
Established | 1437, Refounded 1505 | |||||||||||
Named for | Jesus Christ | |||||||||||
Previous names | God's House (1437–1505) | |||||||||||
Colours | ||||||||||||
Sister college | Wadham College, Oxford Branford College, Yale Adams House, Harvard[1] | |||||||||||
Master | Frank Kelly | |||||||||||
Undergraduates | 450[2] | |||||||||||
Postgraduates | 170[2] | |||||||||||
Website | http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/ | |||||||||||
JCR | http://www.thejcr.co.uk | |||||||||||
MCR | http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/mcr/ | |||||||||||
Boat club | http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/boatclub/ |
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students.[2] The college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort in 1505, its royal charter granted on 1 May of that year, and was the twelfth of the Cambridge colleges to be founded in its current form. It was originally established as God's House in 1437. The college is renowned for educating some of Cambridge's most famous alumni, including Charles Darwin and John Milton.
Within Cambridge, Christ's has a reputation for strong academic performance and tutorial support. It has averaged 1st place on the Tompkins Table from 1980–2006 and third place from 2006 to 2013.
As of 2013, it had an endowment of £138 million, making it one of the wealthier colleges in Cambridge.[3]
History
Christ's College was originally founded by William Byngham in 1437 as God's House, on land which was soon after sold to enable the enlargement of King's College.[4] Byngham obtained the first royal licence for God's House in July 1439.[5] Originally, the college was founded to provide for the lack of grammar-school masters in England at the time,[6] and the college has been described as "the first secondary-school training college on record".[7] The original site of Godshouse was surrendered in 1443 to King's College, and currently about three quarters of King's College Chapel stands on the original site of God's House.[8]
After the original royal licence of 1439, three more licenses, two in 1442 and one in 1446, were granted before in 1448 God's House received the charter upon which the college was in fact founded.[9] In this charter, King Henry VI was named as the founder, and in the same year the college moved to its current site.[10]
In 1505, the college was endowed by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, and was given the name Christ's College, perhaps at the suggestion of her confessor, the Bishop John Fisher.[11] The expansion in the population of the college in the seventeenth century led to the building, in the 1640s, of the Fellow's Building in what is now Second Court.[11]
Buildings
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/Christ%27s_College_Chapel%2C_Cambridge%2C_UK_-_Diliff.jpg/220px-Christ%27s_College_Chapel%2C_Cambridge%2C_UK_-_Diliff.jpg)
The original 15th/16th century college buildings now form part of First Court, including the chapel, Master's Lodge and Great Gate tower. The gate itself is disproportionate: the bottom has been cut off to accommodate a rise in street level, which can also be seen in the steps leading down to the foot of L staircase in the gate tower. The college hall, originally built at the very start of the 16th century, was restored in 1875–1879 by George Gilbert Scott the younger. The lawn of First Court is famously round, and a wisteria sprawls up the front of the Master's lodge.
Second Court is fully built up on only three sides, one of which is formed by the 1640s Fellows' Building. The fourth side backs onto the Master's garden.
The Stevenson Building in Third Court was designed by J. J. Stevenson in the 1880s and was extended in 1905 as part of the College's Quadcentenary. In 1947 Professor Albert Richardson designed a new cupola for the Stevenson building, and a second building, the neo-Georgian Chancellor's Building (W staircase, now known as The Blyth Building), completed in 1950. Third Court's Memorial Building (Y staircase), a twin of the Chancellor's building, also by Richardson, was completed in 1953 at a cost of £80,000.[12] Third Court is also noted for its display of irises in May and June, a gift to the college in 1946.[13]
The controversial tiered concrete New Court (often dubbed "the Typewriter") was designed in the Modernist style by Sir Denys Lasdun in 1966–70, and was described as "superb" in Lasdun's obituary in the Guardian.[14] Design critic Hugh Pearman comments "Lasdun had big trouble relating to the street at the overhanging rear".[15] It appears very distinctively in aerial photographs, forming part of the northern boundary of the college.
An assortment of neighbouring buildings have been absorbed into the college, of which the most notable is The Todd Building, previously Cambridge's County Hall.
Through an arch in the Fellows' Building is the Fellows' Garden. It includes two mulberry trees, of which the older was planted in 1608, the same year as Milton's birth. Both trees have toppled sideways, the younger tree in the Great Storm of 1987, and are now earthed up round the trunks, but continue to fruit every year.[16]
Swimming Pool
Christ's College is one of only 5 colleges in Oxford or Cambridge to have its own swimming pool. Recently refurbished, it is now known as the 'Malcolm Bowie Bathing Pool', and is thought to be the oldest outdoor swimming pool in the UK, dating from the mid 17th century.[17] The other four swimming pools within colleges belong to Girton College (indoor pool), Corpus Christi College (outdoor pool), Emmanuel College (outdoor pool) and Clare Hall (indoor pool).
Gallery
Christ's College, Cambridge, from above
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The Master's Lodge
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Fellows' Garden, showing the back of the Fellows' Building
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Third Court: Memorial Building (Y Block) and Stevenson Building (Staircase S)
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New Court: the Yusuf Hamied Centre, known as the Typewriter
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The Charles Darwin Room
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Christ's Dining Hall
Academic profile
With a deserved reputation even within Cambridge for the highest academic standards, Christ's came first in the Tompkins Table's twentieth anniversary aggregate table,[18] and between 2001 and 2007, it had a mean position of third.[19] Academic excellence continues at Christ's, with 91% of students in 2013 gaining a first class degree or an upper second (II.i). This is significantly higher than the University average of 70%.[20][21]
Christ's is noted for educating two of Cambridge's most famous alumni, the poet John Milton and the naturalist Charles Darwin, who, during the celebrations for the 800th anniversary of the University, were both placed at the foreground as two of the four most iconic individuals in the University's history.[22][23][24] The college has also educated Nobel Laureates including Martin Evans, James Meade and Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd.[25][26] It is the University's 6th largest producer of Nobel Prize winners.[citation needed]
Some of the college's other famous alumni include comedians Sacha Baron Cohen, John Oliver and Andy Parsons, Lord Louis Mountbatten of Burma, South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts, historian Simon Schama, theologian William Paley and the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
Student life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Cambridge_boathouses_-_Christ%27s.jpg/220px-Cambridge_boathouses_-_Christ%27s.jpg)
The Junior Combination Room (JCR), represents the undergraduate students. It organises social and welfare events, and negotiates on the students' behalf on important issues. The JCR has a standing committee and a common room for all the students. The JCR's counterpart, the Middle Combination Room (MCR) represents the graduate students of the College, and has its own bar. The MCR organises regular Graduate Halls. A Garden Party is held by both the JCR and the MCR every June in the Fellows' Garden. The Senior Combination Room (SCR) is composed solely of fellows of the College and holds two feasts each year.
Other societies in Christ's include:
- The Marguerites Club, one of the oldest surviving College societies, reformed in 1899 by Gilbert Jessop the then captain of CUCC. It is believed to have originally formed some ten years earlier, but was soon disbanded. Originally the society was confined to captains and secretaries or those with colours in three sports. Nowadays it is also known as a drinking society, as well as a club recognising sporting excellence. The name originated from the club's original blazer, which was navy blue in colour with the Foundress's 'rebus' or badge, signifying her name, embroidered on the pocket.
- Christ's College Boat Club, the oldest college sports club still active, having been founded in 1830. Like many other Cambridge Colleges, Christ's has its own boathouse on the banks of the Cam.
- Christ's College Rugby Football Club, founded in 1875 by Alfred Cort Haddon,[27] who is considered the father of modern anthropology. In the 1960 Varsity Match, eight of the starting Cambridge team were students at Christ's and all of the side's points were scored by Christ's players.[28] The CCRFC is nicknamed "The Brown Rings" after the brown and white hoops featured on the match kit.
- Christ's College Association Football Club, which prides itself on having won the inter-collegiate Cuppers competition more times than any other.
- Christ's Films, which uses the theatre to screen new films weekly
- Christ's Amateur Dramatic Society
- Christ's College Medical Society
- Christ's Politics Society
- Christ's College Music Society, founded 1710.
- Christ's College Chapel Choir.
May Ball
Christ's, like most other Cambridge Colleges, also hosts a biennial May Ball in the time after undergraduate examinations which is by students commonly known as May Week. A separate society called "Christ's College May Ball Committee" is set up every two years to organise and direct this event. In 2010, Two Door Cinema Club headlined the entertainment. The May Ball in June 2012 featured a Rio de Janeiro carnival theme. The previous May Ball, named "L'Esprit Nouveau", was held on 15 June 2010 and featured a 1920s Parisian theme.
The May Ball on Tuesday 17 June 2014 was hailed as one of the best May Balls of the year, coming close to perfection.[29] It was themed "The Emerald City".
Grace
The College Grace is normally said before any dinner held in the Formal Hall of the College. Though the student body rises for the recitation of the Grace, Christ's is one of the only Colleges in Cambridge where the students do not rise when the Fellows enter and leave the Dining Hall. This is said to be the result of a historical conflict between the Students and Fellows at Christ's, who were on opposite sides during the English Civil War.
Latin | English |
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Exhiliarator omnium Christe
Sine quo nihil suave, nihil jucundum est: Per te Dominum nostrum, Amen. |
Christ, the gladdener of all,
Without whom nothing is sweet, nothing pleasant: Through you, our Lord, Amen. |
Notable people
Proctors of God's House
- 1439–1451 William Byngham
- 1451–1458 John Hurt
- 1458–1464 William Fallan
- 1464–1477 William Basset
- 1477–1490 Ralph Barton
- 1490–1505 John Sickling
Masters of Christ's
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Professor_Frank_Kelly_img_0103.jpg/220px-Professor_Frank_Kelly_img_0103.jpg)
- 1505–1507 John Sickling
- 1507–1510 Richard Wyot
- 1510–1517 Thomas Thompson
- 1517–1530 John Watson
- 1530–1548 Henry Lockwood
- 1548–1553 Richard Wilkes
- 1553–1556 Cuthbert Scott
- 1556–1559 William Taylor
- 1559–1582 Edward Hawford
- 1582–1609 Edmund Barwell
- 1609–1622 Valentine Carey
- 1622–1646 Thomas Bainbridge
- 1646–1654 Samuel Bolton
- 1654–1688 Ralph Cudworth
- 1688–1722 John Covel
- 1723–1745 William Towers
- 1745–1754 George Henry Rooke
- 1754–1780 Hugh Thomas
- 1780–1808 John Barker
- 1808–1814 Thomas Browne
- 1814–1830 John Kaye
- 1830–1848 John Graham
- 1849–1849 Joseph Shaw
- 1849–1881 James Cartmell
- 1881–1887 Charles Anthony Swainson
- 1887–1910 John Peile
- 1910–1927 Sir Arthur Shipley
- 1927–1936 Norman McLean
- 1936–1939 Charles Galton Darwin
- 1939–1950 Charles Raven
- 1950–1963 Brian Downs
- 1963–1978 Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd
- 1978–1982 Sir John Plumb
- 1982–1995 Sir Hans Kornberg
- 1995–2002 Alan Munro
- 2002–2006 Malcolm Bowie
- 2006–2016 Frank Kelly
- 2016– Jane Stapleton (Master-Elect)
Famous alumni
Name | Birth | Death | Career |
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HRH Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid Al-Hussein | 1936 | Iraqi Prince | |
HRH Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein | 1964 | Iraqi Prince | |
William Ames | 1576 | 1633 | Reformed Theologian |
Richard Bancroft | 1544 | 1610 | Archbishop of Canterbury, Organiser of James I Bible |
Jasmine Birtles | 1962 | British financial and business commentator, television presenter, author and journalist | |
Jagdish Chandra Bose | 1858 | 1937 | Indian physicist |
C. Delisle Burns | 1879 | 1942 | Atheist and secularist writer and lecturer |
Sir Anthony Caro | 1924 | 2013 | Sculptor |
Sacha Baron Cohen | 1971 | Comedian | |
Linda Colley | 1949 | Historian of Britain, empire and nationalism. | |
John Cook | 1918 | 1984 | Prolific Anglo-American composer and organist |
Miles Corbet | 1594/5 | 1662 | Regicide |
Frederick Cornwallis | 1713 | 1783 | Archbishop of Canterbury |
John Cornwell | 1940 | British author and journalist | |
John James Cowperthwaite | 1916 | 2006 | Credited with policies allowing Hong Kong's economic boom in the 1960s |
John Cridland | 1961 | Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry | |
Charles Darwin | 1809 | 1882 | British naturalist |
Patrick Arthur Devlin, Baron Devlin | 1905 | 1992 | Jurist, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary |
Colin Dexter | 1930 | Novelist | |
Sir Martin Evans | 1941 | Biochemist, Nobel laureate in medicine | |
Dee Ferris | 1973 | British Painter | |
Noel Gay | 1898 | 1954 | Composer |
Edmund Grindal | 1519 | 1583 | Archbishop of Canterbury |
Alfred Cort Haddon | 1855 | 1940 | Father of modern anthropology |
Yusuf Hamied | 1936 | Chemist and industrialist | |
Natalie Haynes | 1974 | Writer and broadcaster and a former comedian. | |
John Healey | 1960 | British politician | |
Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg | 1940 | Lord Chancellor | |
Phillip King | 1934 | Sculptor | |
David Knowles | 1896 | 1974 | Historian |
David Konstant | 1930 | Bishop of Leeds | |
Sir John Kotelawala | 1897 | 1980 | Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) |
John Leland | c 1506 | 1552 | Father of English history |
Tony Lewis | 1938 | England and Glamorgan cricket captain; writer and broadcaster | |
Richard Luce | 1936 | Lord Chamberlain | |
Michael Lynch | 1965 | Founder of Autonomy Systems | |
Allama Mashriqi | 1883 | 1963 | Founder of the Khaksar Tehreek |
Peter Mathieson | 1959 | Vice-Chancellor of University of Hong Kong | |
Anne McLaren | 1927 | 2007 | Developmental biologist and founder of the Association of Women in Science and Engineering. |
David Mellor | 1949 | British politician | |
Sir Walter Mildmay | 1589 | Founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge | |
Miles Millar | c 1967 | Hollywood screenwriter and producer | |
John Milton | 1608 | 1674 | English poet |
Annilese Miskimmon | 1974 | Opera Director | |
Helen Mort | 1985 | Poet | |
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma | 1900 | 1979 | British Admiral of the Fleet and statesman |
Thomas Nelson, Jr. | 1738 | 1789 | Governor of Virginia; signer of the American Declaration of Independence |
John Oliver | 1977 | British Political Comedian | |
J. Robert Oppenheimer | 1904 | 1967 | American theoretical physicist and 'father of the atomic bomb' |
Andy Parsons | 1967 | English comedian and writer | |
William Paley | 1743 | 1805 | English theologian and philosopher |
John Peile | 1838 | 1910 | Philologist |
William Perkins | 1558 | 1602 | Leading Puritan Theologian of the Elizabethan Era |
Sir John Plumb | 1911 | 2001 | British historian |
Thomas Plume | 1630 | 1704 | English clergyman, founder of the University's Plumian Chair of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy |
Roy Porter | 1946 | 2002 | British historian |
Beilby Porteus | 1731 | 1809 | Bishop of Chester and Bishop of London, leading reformer and abolitionist |
Peter Rawlinson, Baron Rawlinson of Ewell | 1919 | 2006 | Attorney General for England and Wales |
Mary Redmond | 1863 | 1930 | Sculptor |
Forrest Reid | 1875 | 1948 | Cambridge apostle, novelist, literary critic |
Austin Robinson | 1897 | 1993 | British Economist and economic historian |
Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham | 1738 | 1786 | British Foreign Secretary |
David Say | 1939 | 2006 | Bishop of Rochester |
Simon Schama | 1945 | British historian, author, and television presenter | |
Nicholas Serota | 1946 | Director of the Tate Gallery | |
Walter William Skeat | 1835 | 1912 | Philologist |
Jan Smuts | 1870 | 1950 | Prime Minister of South Africa, Field Marshal, and Commonwealth statesman |
C. P. Snow, Baron Snow | 1905 | 1980 | British novelist and philosopher |
F. Gordon A. Stone | 1925 | 2011 | British chemist |
Szeming Sze | 1908 | 1998 | Chinese Diplomat, WHO co-founder |
Nicholas Tarling | 1931 | Historian | |
Jeffrey Tate | 1943 | Conductor | |
Henry Teonge | 1620 | 1690 | Naval chaplain and diarist |
Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull | 1945 | Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service | |
Richard Whiteley | 1943 | 2005 | British television presenter |
Rowan Williams | 1950 | British theologian, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge | |
Christopher Zeeman | 1925 | 2016 | British mathematician |
References
Footnotes
- ^ "Fellows' Guide to Christ's College". Christ's College. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ^ a b c "Undergraduate Admissions: Christ's College". University of Cambridge website. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
- ^ "Christ's College Accounts". Christ's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ Lloyd, A.H. The Early History of Christ's College. p. 13.
- ^ Lloyd, A.H. The Early History of Christ's College. p. 24.
- ^ Lloyd, A.H. The Early History of Christ's College. p. 37.
- ^ Leach. The Schools of Medieval England. p. 257.
- ^ Lloyd, A.H. The Early History of Christ's College. pp. 44–45.
- ^ Lloyd, A.H. The Early History of Christ's College. p. 86.
- ^ Lloyd, A.H. The Early History of Christ's College. p. 73.
- ^ a b "College History". Christ's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
- ^ Christ's College Magazine, Michaelmas 1953
- ^ Christ's College Magazine no. 228, p 53, 2003
- ^ "Architects pay tribute to Denys Lasdun". the Guardian. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ "The Legacy of Lasdun". Archived from the original on 26 June 2015.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Christ's College Magazine no. 228, p 56, 2003
- ^ "Malcolm Bowie Bathing Pool". Christ's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ "Christ's top of 20-year table of Cambridge colleges". The Independent. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ http://www.mattmayer.com/fun/tompkins/. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Supporting Applicants" (PDF). University of Cambridge. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ "Christ's College Annual Magazine 2013". Christ's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ "Quentin Blake unveils Cambridge 800 panorama | University of Cambridge". Cam.ac.uk. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ^ University education (18 January 2009). "Cambridge University's 800th birthday celebrated with spectacular light show". Telegraph. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ^ "University's history writ large on screen | Cambridge City News, Cambridge Local News Stories & Latest Headlines". Cambridge News. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- ^ "University of Cambridge Nobel Laureates". Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ^ "Christ's College Distinguished Members". Christ's College. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
- ^ "Official Christ's College Website; Distinguished Alumni". Christ's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ "Rugby Varsity Match 1960: First Half Highlights". YouTube. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ "Christ's May Ball 2014: Close to Perfection".
- ^ Christ's College by John Peile (1900)
Bibliography
- Lloyd, A. H. (2010). The Early History of Christ's College, Cambridge: Derived from Contemporary Documents. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 1108008976. (account of the history of God's House, originally published in 1934)
John Peile, Biographical History of the Members of God's House and Christ's College.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)