Girton College, Cambridge

Girton College UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Better is wisdom than weapons of war
Girton, Cambridgeshire
Girton College during the 1890s
Mistress:	Elisabeth Kendall
Website:	girton.cam.ac.uk
Location
Grid reference:	TL42426098
Location:	52°13’43"N, 0°5’2"E
Village:	Girton

Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, and alone amongst these colleges in standing outside the city, in the village of Girton. The college was established in 1869 as the first women's college in Cambridge: its location was chosen in order to be close enough for academic staff to reach the college, but far enough to be insulated from amorous young men from the established colleges. It was founded by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon, and in 1948 was granted full college status by the university, marking the official admittance of women to the university. In 1976, Girton was the first Cambridge women's college to become coeducational.

The main college site, situated on the outskirts of the village of Girton, about two and a half miles north-west of the university town. It comprises 33 acres of land. In a typical Victorian red-brick design, most was built by architect Alfred Waterhouse between 1872 and 1887. It provides extensive sports facilities, an indoor swimming-pool, an award-winning library and a chapel with two organs. There is an accommodation annexe, known as Swirles Court, situated in the Eddington neighborhood of the North West Cambridge development. Swirles opened in 2017 and provides up to 325 ensuite single rooms for graduates, and for second-year undergraduates and above.

The college has a reputation for admitting a high number of state-school students, its community feel, and for musical talent. Several art collections are held on the main site, including People's Portraits, the millennial exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and an Egyptian collection containing the world's most reproduced portrait mummy.

History

Main gate with porter's lodge

1869 to 1976: Pioneering for women's education

The early feminist movement began to argue for the improvement of women's education in the 1860s: Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon met through their activism at the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women|Society for the Employment of Women and the Englishwoman's Review. They shared the aim of securing women's admission to university. In particular, they wanted to determine whether girls could be admitted at Oxford or Cambridge to sit the Senior and Junior Local Examinations. Davies and Bodichon set up a committee to that effect in 1862. In 1865, with the help of Henry Tomkinson, Trinity College alumnus and owner of an insurance company with good contacts within the University, 91 female students entered the Cambridge Local Examination. This first concession to women's educational rights met relatively little resistance, as admission to the examination did not imply residence of women at the university site.

Watercolour by Alfred Waterhouse, architect of Girton

In this initial stage, students had the option of doing a Pass degree, which consisted of "a disorderly collection of fragmented learning", or an Honours degree, which at that time meant the Mathematics Tripos, classics, natural or moral sciences. An Honours degree was considered more challenging than the Pass degree. In 1869, Henry Sidgwick helped institute the Examinations for Women, which was designed to be of intermediate difficulty. This idea was heavily opposed by Emily Davies, as she demanded admittance to the Tripos examinations.

The college was established on 16 October 1869 under the name of the College for Women at Benslow House in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, which was considered to be a convenient distance from Cambridge and London. It was thought to be less "risky" and less controversial to locate the college away from Cambridge in the beginning. The college was one of Britain's first residential colleges for women.

In July and October 1869, entrance examinations were held in London, to which 21 candidates came; 16 passed. The first term started on 16 October 1869, when five students began their studies: Emily Gibson, Anna Lloyd, Louisa Lumsden, Isabella Townshend and Sarah Woodhead. Elizabeth Adelaide Manning was also registered as a student, although with the intention of staying for a single term, and her step-mother Charlotte Manning was the first Mistress. The first three students unofficially to sit the Tripos exams in Lent term 1873, Rachel Cook and Lumsden, who both took the Classical Tripos, as well as Woodhead, who took the Mathematical Tripos, were known as "The Pioneers".

Through fundraising, £7,000 were collected, which allowed for the purchase of land either at Hitchin or near Cambridge in 1871. By 1872, sixteen acres of land at the present site were acquired near the village of Girton. The college was then renamed Girton College, and opened at the new location in October 1873. The buildings had cost £12,000, and consisted of a single block which comprised the east half of Old Wing. At the time, thirteen students were admitted.

The Great Hall

In 1876, Old Wing was completed, and Taylor's Knob, the college laboratory and half of the Hospital Wing was built. In the following year, Caroline Croom Robertson joined the management team as secretary to reduce the load on Emily Davies. In 1884, Hospital Wing was completed, and Orchard Wing, Stanley Library and the Old Kitchens added. At that time, Girton had 80 students. By 1902, Tower Wing, Chapel Wing and Woodlands Wing as well as the Chapel and the Hall were finished, which allowed the college to accommodate 180 students.

In 1921, a committee was appointed to draft a charter for the college. By summer 1923 the committee had completed the task, and on 21 August 1924 the King granted the charter to "the Mistress and Governors of Girton College" as a Body Corporate. Girton was not officially a college yet, nor were its members part of the University. Girton and Newnham were classed as "recognised institutions for the higher education for women", not colleges of the university. On 27 April 1948, women were admitted to full membership of the University of Cambridge, and Girton College received the status of a college of the university.

1976 to present

Social and cultural changes in the post-war period led to an increasing number of British universities to become co-educational. In Cambridge, Churchill College, King's College and Clare College were the first men's colleges to admit women in 1972. Girton had already amended its statutes in 1971 in such a way as to allow the admission of men should the Governing Body vote in favour at an unspecified date in the future. The decision to become mixed came in November 1976, when the Governing Body voted to act upon the statute, which made Girton the first women's college to admit men. In January 1977, the first two male Fellows, Frank Wilkinson and John Marks, arrived, followed by male graduate students in 1978, and, finally, undergraduates in October 1979. One reason for the change was that the first mixed colleges in Cambridge immediately shot to the top of the Tripos league tables, as they seemed to attract bright students, who preferred to stay in co-educational colleges.

Girton became co-residential as well, which meant that male and female students shared the same facilities. Only one all-female corridor in which rooms were reserved exclusively for women remained. Upon the arrival of male undergraduates, social facilities had to be enlarged. The college bar was opened in 1979 as well as rugby, cricket and soccer pitches provided from 1982 onwards.

Main site

Architecture

The initial and defining parts of the college were designed by Alfred Waterhouse: The architect built the main site with the Old Wing, the Hospital Wing, the Orchard Wing, the Stanley library and Old Kitchens between 1873 and 1886, as well as the parapetted gatehouse tower in 1886 and 1887. The red-brick design is typical of Victorian architecture, and is enhanced by black mortar courses and terracotta details to the eaves, windows and doorways. The roofs are steeply pitched with crested tiles. In 1913, the site consisted of 33 acres.

Library

The College library's upper reading-room

Girton's first library, the Stanley library, was established in 1884 with a donation from Lady Stanley of Alderley. It was considered to be luxurious and comfortable, as it contained stained-glass windows, leather furniture and a large chimney. Books were acquired mostly through donations. By 1932 the collection had become so large that a new library was opened. Designed by Michael Waterhouse, descendant of the architects Paul Waterhouse and Alfred Waterhouse, the new library consisted of an upper reading room, crafted in oak, and a ground floor, in which the book collections are held. An annexe containing archives was added in 1967. The Duke building, a modern library extension offering IT facilities and a reading room, was opened in 2005. Named after Alison Duke, a fellow and major donor, the building was designed by Allies and Morrison.

Chapel

The chapel's south-facing window

Emily Davies first mooted plans for a chapel in Girton college in 1890; however, building only started in 1899, four years after the death of Henrietta Stanley, Baroness Stanley of Alderley, who had opposed the idea and instead favoured improving staff salaries and equipment. The chapel, which was designed by Alfred and Paul Waterhouse, was completed in 1901, and inaugurated on 23 May 1902. It seats about 200 people and the interior is held very simply with the exception of oak carvings at the Chancel end and on two long desks in front of the choir seats, which were crafted by the mathematician Margaret Meyer, along with students and friends of the college. In 1910 came a fine Harrison & Harrison organ, the purchase of which was made possible through donations from students and friends of the college. The organ was rebuilt in 1974 and can still be found in the college chapel. A second organ was acquired in 2002.

In 1952, the year of the Golden Jubilee of the inauguration, a stained-glass window was erected. In the Girton Review, the college's official termly newsletter, from Michaelmas term 1955, a description of the glass window can be found:

The centre light depicts Our Lord in Majesty, as it were the culmination of the Tree of Jesse and in the form described in the book of Revelation. The Lamb who may alone open the book sealed with seven seals is shown at the foot of the light, while the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove is shown at its apex. The flowers and fruit in the centre light represent the Tree of Jesse. The two lights flanking that in the centre depict scenes from the Passion of Our Lord. On the left are the entry into Jerusalem, the Betrayal of Judas and the Ecce Homo: on the right, the Scourging, Christ bearing His Cross, the Crucifixion. The scenes are linked with a pattern of leaves. Palm is used for the Entry into Jerusalem, and among other plants represented are the Star of Bethlehem, the Passion Flower and the Thorn. The lowest medallion on the right, portraying the crucifixion, is darker than the others, suggesting the darkness that was over the land. The uppermost tracery light depicts the Pelican in her Piety, and the remaining tracery lights contain the symbols of the Passion; the betrayal money, Peter’s lantern, pillar and scourges, dice, ladder and nails, hammer and pincers, crown of thorns and chalice.

In the original statement of aims and scope for the "Proposed College for Women" in 1867, it was announced that religious services and instruction would be in accordance with the principles of the Church of England, but where conscientious objections were entertained, attendance would not be necessary. A modified version of this statement appears in the modern college statutes, where it reads that "services in the Chapel shall normally be held in accordance with the practice of the Church of England, but other religious services may also be held there."

Gardens

The duck pond and Great Hall

When the land was bought, trees were planted on bare land. Today, the gardens of Girton are large compared to those of other Cambridge colleges. They became a preoccupation for the college in 1875 when Miss Davies handed over the responsibility for developing the gardens to Miss Bernard. A pond, which originated from excavations for the construction of the Stanley library and the Orchard Wing, dates from 1884. A 1983 report of the college ornithologists' society found sixty species of birds, and a moth report from 1986 recorded over 100 species. The Fellows' garden was redesigned in 1992 and hosts a green theatre. A rare breed of black squirrels can sometimes be seen in Girton.

Lawrence Room

Eliza Baker Court

In 1934, the Lawrence Room on the college main site was dedicated to be the college museum. Named after Girton natural scientist Amy Lawrence, it houses an Anglo-Saxon, an Egyptian and a Mediterranean collection. Before the establishment of the Lawrence room in 1934, antiquities had been stored in and around the college library. Donations allowed for refurbishments in 1946, 1961, 1991 and 2008. In 2010/11, Lawrence room is opened once a week to visitors. The exhibitions are free of charge.

The Anglo-Saxon collection stems from excavations on the college main site made during construction work in 1881 and 1886, when an Anglo-Saxon cemetery, presumably from the fifth and sixth century, was discovered. Most findings, such as domestic utensils and personal items, were long held in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge. Some were only returned to the college as late as in 2008.

The highlight of the Egyptian collection consists of a portrait mummy bearing the inscription Ερμιονη Γραμματικη, meaning "Hermione the literary lady" or "Hermione the language teacher". It is one of the most widely reproduced and famous portrait mummies. Dating from the first century AD, it was discovered in the Roman cemetery of Hawara by the archeologist Flinders Petrie in 1911. "Hermione" is thought to be an 18- to 25-year-old girl from a wealthy background. Petrie and his wife Hilda wanted the mummy to go to a women's college due to its inscription. Funds were gathered, and in 1911 "Hermione" moved to Girton college, where she has remained since then. The Egyptian collection also holds four mummified baby crocodiles, which were thought to bring favour of Sobek, the ancient god of fertility and water. They were presented to the college by Alfred Waterhouse senior, the father of architect Alfred Waterhouse.

The Mediterranean collection offers both Classical and pre-Classical material. A collection of Greek Tanagra figurines, which date to the fourth and third century BC, form the most remarkable pieces of this collection.

Outside links

• Girton College

References

• Life at Girton College. 1882. 
• Bradbrook, Muriel Clara (1969). 'That Infidel Place'. A Short History of Girton College 1869–1969. London, England: Chatto & Windus. 
• University of Cambridge (2009). Girton College. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 
• Brown, Jane (1999). A Garden of Our Own. Cambridge: Friends of the Garden. 
• Campion, Val (2008). Pioneering Women: The Origins of Girton College in Hitchin. Hitchin Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-9552411-3-0. http://www.hitchinhistoricals.org.uk/publications/pioneeringwomen.php. 
• Horsler, Val; Strathern, Marilyn, eds (2006). Girton: Thirty Years in the Life of a Cambridge College. Third Millennium Publishing. ISBN 978-1-903942-34-5. 
• Jones, Emily Elizabeth Constance (1913). Girton College. London: Adam & Charles Black. 
• Jones, Emily Elizabeth Constance (1922). As I remember. London: Adam & Charles Black. 
• Lindsay, Jean (1955). Say "Thank You": A guide for freshers, by a donnish bluestocking. Cambridge, England: (no publisher). 
• McWilliams Tullberg, Rita (1975). Women at Cambridge. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64464-8. 
• Megson, Barbara; Lindsay, Jean (1961). Girton College, 1869–1959 : an informal history. Cambridge, England: (no publisher). 
• Stephen, Barbara Nightingale (1927). Emily Davies and Girton College. London, England: Constable. 
• Stephen, Barbara Nightingale (1933). Girton college, 1869–1932. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. 
• Waterhouse, Prudence (1990). A Victorian Monument: Buildings of Girton College. Cambridge, England: Prudence Waterhouse. ISBN 978-0-9515650-0-1. 
• Winstanley, Denys Arthur (1977). Later Victorian Cambridge. New York, NY: Arno Press. ISBN 978-0-405-10000-0.