CHRIST'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

'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 recognised as the top Cambridge College for academic excellence over the 20 year period of which this has been running.^[1] Despite 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

College history

Buildings

College societies

Proctors of God’s House

Masters of Christ’s

Famous alumni

External links

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.

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 the wisteria sprawling up the front of the master’s lodge is reputed to be the largest in Europe.


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. Third Court is also noted for its display of irises, a gift to the college.
The controversial tiered concrete New Court (often dubbed ‘the Typewriter’) was designed in the Modernist style by Sir Denys Lasdun in 1966-70, see photo 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 being a victim of the Great Storm of 1987, and are now earthed up round the trunks, but continue to fruit every year.

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 JCR’s webpage can be accessed here.
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 soiciety 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 22nd June 2006 with a theme of Elysium to very good reviews.

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

''See also: ''

★ 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)''

Famous alumni

''See also: ''
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!Name
!Birth
!Death
!Career
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|Sir Anthony Caro
|1924
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|Sculptor
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|Sacha Baron Cohen
|1971
|
|Comedian
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|John James Cowperthwaite
|1916
|2006
|Credited with policies allowing Hong Kong’s economic boom in the 1960s
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|Charles Darwin
|1809
|1882
|British naturalist
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|Patrick Arthur Devlin, Baron Devlin
|1905
|1992
|Jurist, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
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|Colin Dexter
|1930
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|Novelist
|-
|Edmund Grindal
|1519
|1583
|Archbishop of Canterbury
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|John Healey
|1960
|
|British politician
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|Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg
|1940
|
|Lord Chancellor
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|Richard Luce
|1936
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|Lord Chamberlain
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|Michael Lynch
|1965
|
|Founder of Autonomy Systems
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|Allama Mashriqi
|1883
|1963
|Founder of the Khaksar Tehreek
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|David Mellor
|1949
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|British politician
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|John Milton
|1608
|1674
|English poet
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|Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
|1900
|1979
|British Admiral of the Fleet and statesman
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|William Paley
|1743
|1805
|English theologian and philosopher
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|Sir John Plumb
|1911
|2001
|British historian
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|Thomas Plume
|1630
|1704
|English clergyman, founder of the University's Plumian Chair of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy
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|Beilby Porteus
|1731
|1809
|Bishop of Chester and Bishop of London, leading reformer and abolitionist
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|Peter Rawlinson, Baron Rawlinson of Ewell
|1919
|2006
|Attorney General
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|Forrest Reid
|1875
|1948
|Cambridge apostle, novelist, literary critic
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|Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham
|1738
|1786
|British Foreign Secretary
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|Nicholas Saunderson
|1682
|1739
|British mathematician
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|David Say
|1939
|2006
|British bishop
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|Simon Schama
|1945
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|British historian, author, and television presenter
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|Jan Smuts
|1870
|1950
|Prime Minister of South Africa, Field Marshal, and Commonwealth statesman
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|C. P. Snow, Baron Snow
|1905
|1980
|British novelist and philosopher
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|Jeffrey Tate
|1943
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|Conductor
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|Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull
|1945
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|Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service
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|Kieran West
|1977
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|Olympic gold medalist rower
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|Richard Whiteley
|1943
|2005
|British television presenter
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|Rowan Williams
|1950
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|British theologian, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury
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|Christopher Zeeman
|1925
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|British mathematician
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External links

★ Official Christ’s College website

★ Christ’s College Student Union

★ Christ’s biennial May Ball

★ Cambridge 2000 — Christ’s College photographs

★ Google Maps Satellite Imagery