Christ's College, Cambridge

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Colleges of the University of Cambridge Christ’s College
College name	Christ’s College
Named after	Jesus Christ
Established	1505
Previously named	God’s-house (1437-1505)
Location	St. Andrew’s Street
Admittance	Men and women
Master	Frank Kelly
Undergraduates	420
Graduates	110
Sister college	Wadham College, Oxford
Official website
Boat Club website

Christ’s College is one of the colleges of the University of Cambridge. It is widely reputed for its high academic standards - in recent years, it has consistently dominated the Tompkins Table of colleges, and is recognised as the top Cambridge College for academic excellence over the 20 year period of which this has been running.^[1] As well as this, the College has performed admirably in sporting activities in recent years with the rugby and football teams both performing extremely well in inter-collegiate events.

Contents 1 College history 2 Buildings 3 College societies 4 Proctors of God’s House 5 Masters of Christ’s 6 Famous alumni 7 References 8 External links

[edit] College history

The college grew from God’s House founded in 1437 on land now occupied by King’s College Chapel. It received its first royal licence in 1446. It moved to its present site in 1448 when it received its second royal licence. It was renamed Christ’s College and received its present charter in 1505 when it was endowed and expanded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII.

[edit] Buildings

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 curiously 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, by George Gilbert Scott, the younger, was added in 1875-1879. The lawn of First Court is famously round, and an impressive 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. In 1935 Professor Richardson designed the second building, the neo-Georgian Chancellor's Building (Y staircase). Third Court's Memorial Building (W staircase), a twin of the Chancellor's building was completed in 1953 for £80,000.^[2] Third Court is also noted for its display of irises in May and June, a gift to the college in 1946.^[3]

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[1]. Design critic Hugh Pearman comments ‘[Lasdun] had big trouble relating to the street at the overhanging rear’ [2]. 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.^[4]

[edit] College societies

The Junior Combination Room, Christ’s College Students’ Union, is involved in every aspect of student life. Representative of the student body, it organises social and welfare events, and negotiates on the students’ behalf on important issues. The Middle Combination Room (MCR) represents the graduate students of Christ's College.

The Marguerites Club is one of the oldest surviving College societies, reformed in 1899 by G.L.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 3 sports. 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. Described in the 1908 issue of the college magazine: "The Marguerites have been the premier club of the College in the past, and claim to represent something more than mere athletic distinction"

Also of note are the football club, the CCAFC; the rugby club, the CCRFC; the rowing club, CCBC; a very active college RAG the Music Society(founded 1711) and the Chapel Choir.

The College hosts a biennial May Ball, the most recent occurring on 22 June 2006 with a theme of Elysium to very good reviews.

[edit] 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

[edit] Masters of Christ’s

See also: Category: Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge

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 Scot 1556–1559 William Taylor 1559–1582 Edward Hawford 1582–1609 Edmund Barwell 1609–1622 Valentine Cary 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–        Frank Kelly

See Christ’s College by John Peile (1900)

[edit] Famous alumni

See also: Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge

Name	Birth	Death	Career
William Ames	1576	1633	Reformed Theologian
Richard Bancroft	1544	1610	Archbishop of Canterbury, Organiser of James I Bible
Jagdish Chandra Bose	1858	1937	Bengali physicist
Sir Anthony Caro	1924		Sculptor
Sacha Baron Cohen	1971		Comedian
Frederick Cornwallis	1713	1783	Archbishop of Canterbury
John James Cowperthwaite	1916	2006	Credited with policies allowing Hong Kong’s economic boom in the 1960s
Charles Darwin	1809	1882	British naturalist
Patrick Arthur Devlin, Baron Devlin	1905	1992	Jurist, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Colin Dexter	1930		Novelist
Ra'ad bin Zeid	1936		Iraqi Prince
Sir Martin Evans	1941		Biochemist, Nobel laureate in medicine
Edmund Grindal	1519	1583	Archbishop of Canterbury
John Healey	1960		British politician
Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein	1964		Iraqi Prince
Matthew Hutton	1693	1758	Archbishop of Canterbury
Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg	1940		Lord Chancellor
David Konstant	1930		Bishop of Leeds
Sir John Kotelawala	1897	1980	Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Richard Luce	1936		Lord Chamberlain
Michael Lynch	1965		Founder of Autonomy Systems
Allama Mashriqi	1883	1963	Founder of the Khaksar Tehreek
David Mellor	1949		British politician
John Milton	1608	1674	English poet
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma	1900	1979	British Admiral of the Fleet and statesman
William Paley	1743	1805	English theologian and philosopher
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
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
Forrest Reid	1875	1948	Cambridge apostle, novelist, literary critic
Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham	1738	1786	British Foreign Secretary
Nicholas Saunderson	1682	1739	British mathematician
David Say	1939	2006	British bishop
Simon Schama	1945		British historian, author, and television presenter
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
Jeffrey Tate	1943		Conductor
Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull	1945		Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service
Kieran West	1977		Olympic gold medalist rower
Richard Whiteley	1943	2005	British television presenter
Rowan Williams	1950		British theologian, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury
Christopher Zeeman	1925		British mathematician

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Christ’s College website
• Christ’s JCR website
• Christ’s MCR website
• Christ’s biennial May Ball
• Cambridge 2000 — Christ’s College photographs
• Google Maps Satellite Imagery

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