St Catharine's College, Cambridge

















































































St Catharine's College
University of Cambridge
St Catharine's College (Main Court)
St Catharine's College heraldic shield












Location
Trumpington Street (map)
Full name The College or Hall of Saint Catharine the Virgin in the University of Cambridge
Latin name Aula sancte Katerine virginis infra Universitatem Cantabrigie
Motto in English For the wheel! (unofficial)
Founder Robert Woodlark, Provost of King's College
Established 1473
Named for Catherine of Alexandria
Previous names Katharine Hall (1473-1860)
Sister college Worcester College, Oxford
Master Sir Mark Welland
Undergraduates 436
Postgraduates 165
Endowment
£35.3m (as of 30 June 2017)[1]
Website www.caths.cam.ac.uk
JCR jcr.caths.cam.ac.uk
MCR mcr.caths.cam.ac.uk
Boat club www.boatclub.caths.cam.ac.uk

St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Cambridge, and lies just south of King's College and across the street from Corpus Christi College. The college is notable for its open court (rather than closed quadrangle) that faces towards Trumpington Street.


St Catharine's is unique in being the only Oxbridge college founded by the serving head of another college.[2] The college community is moderately sized, consisting of approximately 70 fellows, 150 graduate students, and 410 undergraduates.[3]




Contents






  • 1 History


    • 1.1 Foundation


    • 1.2 The Robinson Vote


    • 1.3 Expansion and modern day




  • 2 Academic reputation


  • 3 Student life


  • 4 Notable alumni


  • 5 See also


  • 6 References


  • 7 External links





History



Foundation




Historical plan of St Catharine's College


Robert Woodlark, Provost of King’s College, had begun preparations for the founding of a new college as early as 1459 when he bought tenements on which the new college could be built. The preparation cost him a great deal of his private fortune (he was suspected of diverting King's College funds), and he was forced to scale down the foundation to only three fellows. He stipulated that they must study theology and philosophy only. The college was established as "Lady Katharine Hall" in 1473. The college received its royal charter of incorporation in 1475 from King Edward IV. Woodlark may have chosen the name in homage to the mother of King Henry VI who was called Catharine, although it is more likely that it was named as part of the Renaissance cult of St Catharine, who was a patron saint of learning. At any rate, the college was ready for habitation and formally founded on St Catharine’s day (November 25) 1473. There are six Saints Catharine, but the college was named for Saint Catharine of Alexandria.[4]




St Catharine’s, as seen from Trumpington Street


The initial foundation was not well-provided for. Woodlark was principally interested in the welfare of fellows and the college had no undergraduates at all for many years. By 1550, however, there was an increasing number of junior students and the focus of the college changed to that of teaching undergraduates.



The Robinson Vote


In 1861, the then master, Henry Philpott became Bishop of Worcester, in the ensuing election Charles Kirkby Robinson and Francis Jameson stood. Jameson naturally voted for Robinson, however Robinson voted for himself, Robinson won. The episode brought the college into some disrepute for a while.[5]



Expansion and modern day


As the college entered the 17th century, it was still one of the smallest colleges in Cambridge. However, a series of prudent Masters and generous benefactors were to change the fortunes of the college and expand its size. Rapid growth in the fellowship and undergraduate population made it necessary to expand the college, and short-lived additions were made in 1622. By 1630 the college began to demolish its existing buildings which were decaying, and started work on a new court. In 1637 the college came into possession of the George Inn (later the Bull Inn) on Trumpington Street. Behind this Inn was a stables which was already famous for the practice of its manager, Thomas Hobson, not to allow a hirer to take any horse other than the one longest in the stable, leading to the expression “Hobson's choice”, meaning "take it or leave it".



The period of 1675 to 1757 saw the redevelopment of the college's site into a large three-sided court, one of only four at Oxbridge colleges; the others are at Jesus and Downing at Cambridge and Worcester, St Catharine’s sister college, at Oxford. Proposals for a range of buildings to complete the fourth side of the court have been made on many occasions.[6]




The College gates


The college was granted new statutes in 1860 and adopted its current name. In 1880, a movement to merge the college with King’s College began. The two colleges were adjacent and it seemed a solution to King’s need for more rooms and St Catharine’s need for a more substantial financial basis. However, the Master (Charles Kirkby Robinson) was opposed and St Catharine’s eventually refused.


In 1966 a major rebuilding project took place under the Mastership of Professor E. E. Rich. This saw the creation of a new larger hall, new kitchens and an accommodation block shared between St Catharine's and King's College. Pressure on accommodation continued to grow, and in 1981 further accommodation was built at St. Chad's on Grange Road, with further rooms added there in 1998. In 2013 the College completed the building of a new lecture theatre, college bar and JCR.[4]


In 1979, the membership of the college was broadened to welcome female students, and in 2006 the first woman was appointed as Master of the college, Dame Jean Thomas.


A history of the college was written by W. H. S. Jones in 1936.[7]


In 2015, St Catharine's became the first college in Cambridge to implement a gender-neutral dress code for formal hall.[8]



Academic reputation





St Catharine's College Boat Club in the May Bumps


Historically, St Catharine's academic position has been unexceptional and in the annual league table of colleges placed towards the middle. In 2014 its position slipped to 21st,[9] but rose to 13th in 2015 with over 25% of students gaining a First. The college had been placed at the top of the Tompkins Table, which ranks the colleges by the class of degrees obtained by their undergraduates, for the first time in 2005. Between 1997 and 2010, the college averaged 9th of the 29 colleges.



Student life




Chapel at the college


The college maintains a friendly rivalry with Queens’ College after the construction of the main court of St Catharine's College on Cambridge’s former High Street relegated one side of Queens' College into a back alley. A more modern rivalry with Robinson College resulted from the construction in the 1970s of a modern block of flats named St Chad’s (in which the rooms are octagonal to resemble the wheel on the college crest) by the University Library.


The college has a strong reputation in hockey and racquet sports, in part due to its facilities for these sports including grass tennis courts and an astroturf hockey pitch. St Catharine's College Boat Club, the college boat club, hosts the Cardinals Regatta each year, in which teams compete along a short course in fancy dress with an emphasis on bribery to secure victory. The college's Boat Club is moderately strong, with both Men's and Women's 1st boats generally residing in the middle of the 1st division of the May Bumps races.


The college hosts several other notable societies. The Shirley Society is the college literary society, the oldest in Cambridge, it regularly hosts significant figures from the arts world throughout the academic year. The college-based girls' choir is the first of its kind in a UK university and is composed of girls aged 8–14 from local schools.



Notable alumni































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Name
Birth
Death
Career

John Addenbrooke
1680
1719
Founder of Addenbrooke's Hospital

David Armand
1977

Actor, comedian and writer

David Armitage
1965

Professor of History at Harvard University

Herbert Rowse Armstrong
1870
1922
Only English solicitor to be hanged for murder

Richard Ayoade
1977

Performer

Harivansh Rai Bachchan
1907
2003
20th century Indian poet

Nathaniel Bacon
1640
1676
Revolutionary in Virginia

Geoffrey Barnes
1932
2010

Secretary for Security for Hong Kong, Commissioner of Independent Commission Against Corruption

Jonathan Bate
1958

Shakespeare scholar and Provost of Worcester College, Oxford

John Bayliss
1919
1978
Poet

Peter Boizot
1929

Founder of Pizza Express

John Bond
1612
1676
Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Gp. Cpt. Leslie Bonnet
1902
1985
RAF officer, writer and originator of the Welsh Harlequin Duck

Sir Arthur Bonsall
1917
2014
Head of GCHQ

John Bradford
1510
1555
Martyr of the English reformation

Anil Kumar Gain
1919
1978
Indian mathematician and statistician, FRS

Sir Kenneth Bradshaw
1922
2007

Clerk of the House of Commons

Howard Brenton
1942

Playwright

Adam Buddle
1662
1715
After whom the Buddleia is named

Henry William Bunbury
1750
1811
Caricaturist

Francis Cammaerts DSO
1916
2006
Leading member of the French Special Operations Executive

George Corrie
1793
1885
Master of Jesus College, Cambridge

Gervase Cowell[10]
1927
2000
Intelligence Officer

Martin Crimp
1956

Playwright

John Cutts
1661
1707
MP and army commander

Donald Davie
1922
1995
Poet

John Bacchus Dykes
1823
1876
Victorian hymn-writer

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
1905
1977
Fifth President of India

Richard Finn


Regent of Blackfriars, Oxford

Reg Gadney
1941
2018
Painter and writer

Leo Genn
1905
1978
Actor, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Brian Gibson
1944
2004
Movie Director

Maurice Glasman
1961

Political scientist and Labour peer

Charles Wycliffe Goodwin
1817
1878
Egyptologist, bible scholar and judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan

Lilian Greenwood
1966

British Labour Party politician

Sir Peter Hall
1930
2017
Theatre and opera director, founder of the RSC

Sir Peter Hall
1932
2014
Urban planner and geographer

Rebecca Hall
1982

Film and stage actress

Leslie Halliwell
1929
1989
Film reviewer

David Harding


Hedge fund manager and founder for Winton Capital Management

Roger Harrabin
1955

Journalist and reporter

Joanne Harris
1964

Author

Sir Peter Hirsch
1925

Materials scientist

Sir Robert Howe
1893
1981
Last British Governor-General of the Sudan

Rupert Jeffcoat
1970

Organist Coventry Cathedral

Roger Knight
1946

Cricketer

Emyr Jones Parry
1947


United Nations diplomat

Paul King


Director, The Mighty Boosh, Bunny and the Bull

Malcolm Lowry
1909
1957
Writer - Author of Under the Volcano, number 11 on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels of the 20th century).[11]

Sir Ian McKellen
1939

Actor

Roy MacLaren
1934

Canadian diplomat, politician and author

Nevil Maskelyne
1732
1811

Astronomer Royal; developed the Lunar distance model for measuring latitude

Ian Meakins
1956

Chief Executive of Wolseley plc

Morien Morgan
1912
1978
Master of Downing College, Cambridge, known as "the father of Concorde"

Michael Morris
1936

Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons

George Nash
1989

Rowing World Champion and Olympic Medalist

Sir Foley Newns
1909
1998
Colonial administrator

Robin Nicholson
1934


Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government

Ben Miller
1966

Writer, Actor and Comedian

Geoffrey Pattie
1936

Former Minister of State for Information and Technology

Jeremy Paxman
1950

Television journalist

Nicholas Penny
1949

Director of the National Gallery

Sam Pickering
1941

Professor of English at the University of Connecticut

Steve Punt
1962

Comedian

Tunku Abdul Rahman
1903
1990
First Prime Minister of Malaysia

John Ray
1627
1705
Naturalist

Sir Thomas Roberts
1658
1706
MP

Thomas Sherlock
1678
1761
Theologian

James Shirley
1596
1666
Elizabethan poet and playwright

Arun Singh


Former Defence Minister of India

Donald Soper
1903
1998
Methodist minister and campaigner

John Strype
1643
1737
Historian

Noel Thompson


Television journalist
Sir Tim Waterstone
1939

Founder of Waterstones

Peter Wothers


Chemist

William Wotton
1666
1727
Historian

Hannah Yelland
1976

Film & stage actress

Terence Young
1915
1994
British film director - Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball


See also



  • List of Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge

  • Category: Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge

  • List of Honorary Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge

  • Organ scholar

  • St Catherine's College, Oxford



References





  1. ^ "Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2017" (PDF). St Catharine's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 3 August 2018..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ "St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge: Your Paintings". BBC. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.


  3. ^ "St Catharine's College Cambridge - About St Catharine's College". cam.ac.uk.


  4. ^ ab "St Catharine's College Cambridge - History of St Catharine's College". cam.ac.uk.


  5. ^ https://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/about-us/history


  6. ^
    http://www.caths.cam.ac.uk/assets/uploadedfiles/downloads/MainCourt.pdf[permanent dead link]



  7. ^ W. H. S. Jones, 1936, A history of St Catharine's College, Cambridge University Press, 414 pp


  8. ^ "Cambridge college changes formal dress rules after campaign by transgender student". Archived from the original on 2015-06-24. Retrieved 2015-08-09.


  9. ^ Garner, Richard (22 July 2014). "Tompkins Table 2014: Trinity College Cambridge produces record number of firsts". www.independent.co.uk. Retrieved 5 October 2014.


  10. ^ Knightley, Phillip (16 May 2000). "Gervase Cowell". the Guardian.


  11. ^ "Modern Library 100 Best Novels". Modern Library. Retrieved 13 March 2008.




External links







  • Official St Catharine's College website

  • St Catharine's College JCR website



Coordinates: 52°12′10.80″N 0°7′0.84″E / 52.2030000°N 0.1169000°E / 52.2030000; 0.1169000 (St Catharine’s College)







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