52°12′03″N 0°06′20″E / 52.20083°N 0.10556°E / 52.20083; 0.10556 Selwyn College is a constituent college of the University of CambridgeinEngland, United Kingdom.
| Selwyn College | ||||||||||||||||
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| Location | Grange Road (map) | |||||||||||||||
| Motto | ΑΝΔΡΙΖΕΣΘΕ (Latin) | |||||||||||||||
| Motto in English | Quit ye like men | |||||||||||||||
| Established | 1882 | |||||||||||||||
| Named for | George Augustus Selwyn | |||||||||||||||
| Colours | ||||||||||||||||
| Sister college | Keble College, Oxford | |||||||||||||||
| [[Master (college) |Master]] | Professor Richard Bowring | |||||||||||||||
| Undergraduates | 350 | |||||||||||||||
| Postgraduates | 200 | |||||||||||||||
| Website | http://www.sel.cam.ac.uk | |||||||||||||||
| Boat club | http://www.selwynrowing.org.uk | |||||||||||||||
The college was founded by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of the Rt Reverend George Augustus Selwyn (1809–1878), who was an undergraduate and Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge and rowed on the Cambridge crew in the first Varsity Boat Race in 1829, and went on to become the first Bishop of New Zealand (1841–1868), and subsequently the Bishop of Lichfield (1868–1878).
Selwyn is relatively less wealthy than some other traditional Cambridge colleges. In 2006 it had an estimated financial endowment of £22 million, and in 2004 fixed assets were worth £70 million. The college was ranked 16th out of 30 in an assessment of college wealth[1] conducted by Varsity in November 2006.
Selwyn has, in recent times, excelled academically. In 2008, Selwyn was ranked first out of the 29 colleges which admit undergraduate students on the Tompkins Table[2] (3rd in 2009, 4th in 2007, 6th in 2010, 7th in 2006).
Following the death of George Augustus Selwyn, who had played an important role in the establishment of New Zealand as its first Bishop, a committee proposed that a new Cambridge college should be established as a memorial to his legacy. The college's first Master was elected on 10 March 1879, and building of Old Court, as it is now known, began in 1880. A Charter of Incorporation was granted by Queen Victoria on 13 September 1882, and the college opened for Michaelmas Term in October 1882. Selwyn's first undergraduates, numbering 28, joined the original Master and twelve other Fellows at the then "public hostel" of the university in 1882. It became an Approved Foundation of the university in 1926, and was granted full collegiate status on 14 March 1958.
The college's founders purchased a six acre (24,000 m²) farm land site between Grange Road, West Road and Sidgwick Avenue from Corpus Christi College on 3rd November 1879 at a cost of £6,111 9s 7d. This is now home to Selwyn's three main courts – Old Court, Cripps Court, and Ann's Court – with some ancillary buildings, including houses serving as student hostels on Grange Road, West Road and Sidgwick Avenue. The site was originally considered somewhat remote from the centre of the university (indeed, an alternative site on Lensfield Road, where the Catholic church now stands, was considered but rejected as being too small), however, with the growth of departmental buildings, libraries and new faculties, Selwyn (along with Newnham College) now neighbours the Sidgwick Site, affording Selwynites the easiest access of any Cambridge college to the many arts faculty buildings housed there.
Selwyn, in common with other Cambridge colleges, originally admitted only men, but was one of the first colleges to become mixed when women were admitted from 1976. The college was founded by subscription, with an explicitly Christian mission. Membership was initially restricted to baptised Christians. The foundation charter specified that the college should "make provision for those who intend to serve as missionaries overseas and...educate the sons of clergymen". The chapel was built in 1895 before the dining hall (in 1909), as it was deemed to be more important. University education was expensive at the time, and Selwyn was to be a college for poorer students, so charges were low. Undergraduates initially paid £27 per term for food, lodgings, lectures and tuition, with a small surcharge for medics, scientists and engineers.
Old Court, whose construction began in 1880 and is built in red brick in the Victorian Gothic Revival style, was largely designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield and comprises seven staircases (A to G), together with a tower and gateway, Master's Lodge, Chapel and Hall. Cripps Court, named after the Cripps Foundation that donated most of the funds to build it (and which also funded developments at St John's College, Queens' College, and Magdalene College) was built and formally opened in 1969 on land on the opposite side of Grange Road which was originally owned by Jesus College. It comprises a further seven staircases (H to N) and is home to all of Selwyn's first-year undergraduates as well as a mix of other undergraduates and postgraduates. Ann's Court, built on the land to the north of Old Court and south of West Road, is the newest court: it is named after Ann Dobson, who together with her husband Dr. Christopher Dobson (who matriculated at Selwyn in 1957) formed the Ann D Foundation, which is one of the principal donors towards the construction costs of Phases I and II. Phase I was completed in July 2005 and consists of 43 ensuite rooms and 15 administrative offices, forming two staircases (O and P) at a cost of £7.5 million. The second phase, including 40 en-suite bedrooms forming staircases Q and R and a new Junior Combination Room (JCR), was completed in Summer 2009.[3]
The College has planning permission to add a further three phases to Ann's Court, planned to be built over the next twenty years, which will extend the college's red-brick façade along Grange Road to the corner of West Road. The plans consist of a new library (Phase 3) and two further accommodation blocks (Phase 4) to form a new court (Library Court) between Old Court and Ann's Court, and an auditorium (Phase 5) to complete the west side of Ann's Court.
In 2009, Selwyn became the first Cambridge college to appoint a female head porter.[4]
The Selwyn College coat of arms incorporates the arms of the Selwyn family impaled with those of the Diocese of Lichfield.
Selwyn College began to use its Arms long before an official grant by the College of Arms (they are displayed above the main gateway, built in 1881, and on the Common Seal, first used in 1882). Arms were finally applied for and granted in the 1960s, and are emblazoned as follows:
The dexter half of the arms (those of the See of Lichfield) are unusual, with or (gold) countercharged on argent (silver), violating the rule of tincture, which prohibits a metal to be charged with another metal. This is thought to refer to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which also famously violates this rule. The Pastoral Staff of Bishop Selwyn is based on a hardwood Māori staff which is held in the College Chapel.
The College was also granted a badge, A Mitre Or within an Annulet Purpure.
The College motto is a biblical quotation from 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 13, in Greek, "ΑΝΔΡΙΖΕΣΘΕ",[1] translated in the King James Version as "Man up"[2] (alternatively, in the Douay Rheims version, "Do manfully"[3] or, in the New American Bible, "Be courageous"[4]). The motto also appears as part of a longer quotation, "ΣΤΗΚΕΤΕ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΠΙΣΤΕΙ ΑΝΔΡΙΖΕΣΘΕ", over the main College gate.
The College Grace is said by a Scholar (a student who achieved a First in the previous year) at the beginning of Formal Hall (held every Tuesday and Thursday), and is as follows:
Translation:
When the High Table rises, the following concluding Grace is said: Benedicamus Domino. (Let us bless the Lord), with the response being: Laus Deo. (Praise be to God.)
See also: Category:Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge
| Name | Birth | Death | Career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clive Anderson | 1952 | Comedian and television show host | |
| Richard Budgett | 1959 | 1984 Olympic rowing gold medallist | |
| Ralph Chubb | 1892 | 1960 | Poet and printer |
| Graham Connah | Archaeologist | ||
| Deryck Cooke | 1919 | 1976 | Musicologist and broadcaster |
| A. R. Cornelius | 1903 | 1991 | Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan |
| John Selwyn Gummer | 1939 | British politician | |
| Richard Harries | 1936 | Former Bishop of Oxford and Life Peer | |
| Robert Harris | 1957 | Author | |
| Tom Hollander | 1967 | Actor | |
| Karl Hudson-Phillips | 1933 | Judge | |
| Angus Maddison | 1926 | 2010 | Economist |
| Simon Hughes | 1951 | Politician | |
| Grayston "Bill" Ives | 1948 | Composer | |
| Lionel Charles Knights | 1906 | 1997 | Literary critic |
| Hugh Laurie | 1959 | Comedian and actor | |
| Ran Laurie | 1915 | 1998 | 1948 Olympic rowing gold medallist |
| Sir David Li | 1939 | Chairman and Chief Executive of the Bank of East Asia | |
| Ivan Lloyd-Phillips | 1910 | 1984 | Civil servant |
| Sir Richard May | 1938 | 2004 | Judge |
| David Miller | 1946 | Political theorist | |
| Barry Morgan | 1947 | Archbishop of Wales | |
| Malcolm Muggeridge | 1903 | 1990 | Author and journalist |
| Robert Newman | 1964 | Comedian | |
| Nigel Newton | 1955 | Founder of Bloomsbury Publishing | |
| Sir Edwin Nixon | 1925 | 2008 | Managing director of IBM (UK) |
| Mario Petrucci | 1958 | Poet, essayist, critic | |
| John Sentamu | 1949 | Archbishop of York | |
| Sir Peter Singer | 1944 | Judge | |
| Adrian Smith | 1957 | Statistician | |
| Sir Peter Smith | 1952 | Judge | |
| Graham Stuart | 1962 | British politician | |
| Tom Sugden | 1979 | British Rapping Artist | |
| Nick Tanner | 1978 | Actor | |
| Rob Sharp | 1978 | Journalist | |
| David K.R. Thomson | 1957 | Member of Canada's wealthiest family | |
| Sir Stephen Wall | 1947 | Diplomat |
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