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. 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.

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. Described as ‘superb’ in Lasdun’s obituary in the Guardian,design critic Hugh Pearman comments ‘^* 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 Todd Court, 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.

Also of note are the football club, the CCAFC, the rugby club, the CCRFC, the rowing club, CCBC and the Chapel Choir.

The College hosts a biennial May Ball.

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– Malcolm Bowie

See Christ’s College by John Peile (1900)

Famous alumni

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

Sir Anthony Caro (b. 1924) — sculptor
Sacha Baron Cohen (b. 1971) aka Ali G — British comedian
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 (b. 1930) — British novelist
Edmund Grindal (c.1519 –1583) - Archbishop of Canterbury
Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg (b. 1940) — Lord Chancellor
Richard Luce, Baron Luce (b. 1936) — Lord Chamberlain
Dr. Michael Lynch, OBE (b. 1965) — Software entrepreneur, founder of Autonomy Systems
Timothy Marschall Jones — former British ambassador to Armenia
Allama Mashriqi (1888–1963) — Founder of the Khaksar Tehreek
David Mellor (b. 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
Sir John Plumb (1911–2001) — British historian
Beilby Porteus (1731–1809) — Bishop of Chester and Bishop of London, leading reformer and abolitionist
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
Simon Schama (b. 1945) — British historian, author, and television presenter
Jan Smuts (1870–1950) — South African general and statesman
C. P. Snow, Baron Snow (1905–1980) — British novelist and philosopher
Jeffrey Tate, CBE (b. 1943) — conductor
Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull (b. 1945) — Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service
Kieran West, MBE (b. 1977) — Olympic gold medalist rower
Richard Whiteley (1943–2005) — British television presenter
Rowan Williams (b. 1950) — British theologian, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury
Christopher Zeeman (b. 1925) — British mathematician

External links

Colleges of the University of Cambridge | Educational institutions established in the 1500s | Gardens in England | 1505 establishments