Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
| Murray Edwards College
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 Fountain Court, Murray Edwards College | |||||||||||||||
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| President: | Dorothy Byrne | ||||||||||||||
| Website: | murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk | ||||||||||||||
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| Location | |||||||||||||||
| Grid reference: | TL44165943 | ||||||||||||||
| Location: | 52°12’51"N, -0°6’31"E | ||||||||||||||
Murray Edwards College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, admitting women only.[1] It was founded in 1954 as New Hall and was renamed in 2008: the name honours a gift of £30 million by alumna Ros Edwards and her husband Stephen, and the first President and woman Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Rosemary Murray.
History
New Hall was founded in 1954, housing sixteen students in Silver Street where Darwin College now stands. Cambridge then had the lowest proportion of women undergraduates of any university in the United Kingdom and only two other colleges (Girton and Newnham) admitted female students.
In 1962, members of the Darwin family gave their home, "The Orchard", to the College. This new site was located on Huntingdon Road, about a mile from the centre of Cambridge. The architects chosen were Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, who are known for their design of the Barbican Estate in London, and fundraising commenced. The building work began in 1964 and was completed by W. & C. French in 1965.[2] The new college could house up to 300 students.
In 1967, one of the college's PhD students, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a researcher in the university radio astronomy group, discovered the first four pulsars, leading to a Nobel Prize for her supervisor and ultimately, for Bell Burnell herself, a position as a research professor at the University of Oxford.
Following a 2005 donation of £30 million by alumna Rosalind Edwards (née Smith}) and her husband Stephen Edwards to secure its future, in early 2008 New Hall was renamed 'Murray Edwards College', honouring the first President, Dame Rosemary Murray and the benefactors.[3][4][5]
Men-only Cambridge colleges were converted into mixed-sex colleges in the 1970s and 1980s. Since the 2006 announcement that the University of Oxford's last remaining women-only college, St Hilda's, would also admit men,[6] Cambridge is the only United Kingdom university that partially maintains a female-only student admissions policy, represented by Newnham and Murray Edwards.[7] The fellowship and staff at Murray Edwards College are recruited from both sexes, and there is no bar to male students frequenting the college: many are taught there by Murray Edwards' fellows.[8]
Buildings and grounds
Like many of the other Cambridge colleges, Murray Edwards College was not built all at one time but expanded as the need arose, over several time periods.
The college gardens have an informal style, initially planned and planted by the first president, Dame Rosemary Murray. The gardens include a greenhouse originally belonging to the estate of the Darwin family, where banana plants are grown during the winter months.
In 2007, Murray Edwards College (then New Hall) became the first Cambridge College to participate in the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.[9] The theme of the presented garden was the Transit of Venus, and was awarded a Bronze Flora medal in the Chic Garden Category.[10][11] After the show, this garden was recreated in a slightly larger form beside the library.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Murray Edwards College, Cambridge) |
References
- ↑ Walker, Timea (2022-01-20). "Murray Edwards College" (in en). https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/colleges/murray-edwards-college.
- ↑ "New Hall Archives". Janus. http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F3124%2FNHAR%202%2F8%2F1.
- ↑ Polly Curtis "After 50 years as plain old New Hall, Cambridge college gets a £30m donation – and a new name", The Guardian, 18 June 2008. Retrieved on 18 June 2008.
- ↑ Wilce, Hilary (27 August 2008). "Cambridge alumnae protest at plans to rename New Hall college". https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/cambridge-alumnae-protest-at-plans-to-rename-new-hall-college-910221.html.
- ↑ Curtis, Polly (17 June 2008). "After 50 years as plain old New Hall, Cambridge college gets a £30m donation – and a new name". https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/jun/18/highereducation.uk.
- ↑ Martin, Nicole (8 June 2006). "St Hilda's to end 113-year ban on male students". The Daily Telegraph (London). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1520628/St-Hildas-to-end-113-year-ban-on-male-students.html.
- ↑ "Single-sex colleges: a dying breed?". HERO. June 2007. http://www.hero.ac.uk/uk/studying/archives/2007/single_sex_colleges__a_dying_breed__Jun.cfm.
- ↑ "Can sisters still do it by themselves?". The Independent (London). 1 August 2002. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/can-sisters-still-do-it-by-themselves-606845.html.Template:Dead link
- ↑ "New Hall to achieve Cambridge first at Chelsea Flower Show". University of Cambridge. 17 January 2007. http://www.cam.ac.uk/news/new-hall-to-achieve-cambridge-first-at-chelsea-flower-show.
- ↑ "The Transit of Venus.". BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/flower_shows/chelsea_2007/smallgardens_venus.shtml.
- ↑ ""New Hall over the moon at Chelsea Flower Show 2007."". University of Cambridge. 23 May 2007. http://www.cam.ac.uk/news/new-hall-over-the-moon-at-chelsea-flower-show-2007.
| Colleges of the University of Cambridge | |
|---|---|
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Christ’s • Churchill • Clare • Clare Hall • Corpus Christi • Darwin • Downing • Emmanuel • Fitzwilliam • Girton • Gonville and Caius • Homerton • Hughes Hall • Jesus • King’s • Lucy Cavendish • Magdalene • Murray Edwards • Newnham • Pembroke • Peterhouse • Queens’ • Robinson • St Catharine’s • St Edmund’s • St John’s • Selwyn • Sidney Sussex • Trinity • Trinity Hall • Wolfson |
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