Girton College, Cambridge Totally Explained

Everything about Girton College totally explained

Girton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The College was established on October 16, 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon, as the first residential college for women in England. The college became mixed in 1977 with the arrival of the first male Fellows; male undergraduates have been admitted since 1979.
   Although the main site for Girton is about 2.5 miles northwest of the city centre, there's an accommodation annexe, Wolfson Court, situated next to the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, in the western suburbs, but within easy walking distance of the University Library and town centre.
   Girtonians are known for their chant of "We are Girton - super Girton! No one likes us, but we don't care!", in imitation of Millwall F.C. fans' famous song. The reference to "no one likes us" is regarded to be due to the relative distance of Girton in comparison to many of the other colleges. Anecdotes about the distance of Girton from other Cambridge colleges are plentiful - for example, by popular legend, more Cambridge students have visited Delhi than Girton College.
   In the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Utopia, Limited, a principal character, Princess Zara, is returning from her studies at Girton, and her entrance is heralded by a song called "Oh, maiden rich in Girton lore." In an earlier G&S opera, Princess Ida, the princess founds a women's university, and the subject of women's education in the Victorian era is broadly explored and travestied.
   In 2004, The Sun newspaper suggested that Girton College was 'now trendy'.

History

The College was established on October 16, 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon, as the first residential college for women in England.
   It was called the College for Women, and was located at Benslow House, Hitchin, a town in Hertfordshire, England. The first group of students were known as The Pioneers. In 1872 the present site, located about two and a half miles northwest of the centre of Cambridge, next to the village of Girton was purchased; the College was then renamed Girton College, and opened at the new location in October of 1873.
   In 1921 a Committee was appointed to draft a Charter for the College. By the summer of 1923, under the conduct of the Master of Emmanuel College the Committee completed the task, and on 21 August, 1924 the King granted the Charter to “the Mistress and Governors of Girton College” as a Body Corporate. Having received a Charter, the college applied for coat-of-arms that was derived from the arms of its founders and benefactors: Mr H.R. Tomkinson, Madame Bodichon (née Leigh Smith), Henriette Maria, Lady Stanley of Alderley (daughter of the 13th Viscount Dillon), – and Miss Emily Davies who didn't have arms and hence was represented by the Welsh colours, vert and argent. The Rev. E.E. Dorling submitted a great variety of designs to the Council, however the task wasn't easy. “A patch-work of elaborate charges and many colours was to be avoided. Mr Tomkinson’s fascinating martlets and Lady Stanley’s lion had to be abandoned with regret, as was also a design of green and silver chequers which would have given more prominence to Miss Davies.”
   Finally in 1928 the design was accepted by all and the College was granted the following:

To All and Singular to whom these Presents shall come Sir Henry Farnham Burke Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath Garter Principal King of Arms and Arthur William Stewart Cochrane Esquire, Member of the Royal Victorian Order Norroy King of Arms Send Greeting Whereas Edith Helen Major, Spinster, Mistress of Girton College in the University of Cambridge, and Master of Arts of Trinity College Dublin, hath represented unto Edmund Bernard Viscount FitzAlan of Derwent, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Companion of the Distinguished Service Order, One of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council and Deputy to the Most Noble Bernard Marmaduke Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England that by Letters Patent under the Great Seal bearing date the twenty fourth day of August that the Members of the Governing Body of Girton College Cambridge should for ever thereafter be one body politic and corporate by the name and style of the Mistress and Governors of Girton College, and by the same name should have perpetual succession and a Common Seal, that the Mistress and Governors of the said College being desirous that their Common Seal should contain fit and proper Armorial Ensigns which should bear suitable allusion of the founders and benefactors of the said college requested the favour of his Lordship’s Warrant for Our granting and assigning such Armorial Ensigns as might be proper to be borne and used by them and their successors upon Seal Shields or otherwise according to the Laws of Arms and forasmuch as His Lordship did by Warrant under this hand and the Seal of the Earl Marshal bearing Warrant dated the twentieth day of December following authorise and direct Us to grant and assign such Armorial Ensigns accordingly Know ye therefore that We the said Garter and Norroy in pursuance of His Lordship’s Warrant and by virtue of the Letters Patent of Our several Offices to each of Us respectively granted do by these Presents grant and assign unto The Mistress and Governors of Girton College the Arms following that's to say: Quarterly Vert and Argent a cross flory countercharged a Roundel Ermine and in the second and third quarters a Crescent Gules, as the same are in the margin here of more plainly depicted to be borne and used for ever, hereafter by the Mistress and Governors of Girton College and by their Successors upon Seals Shields or otherwise according to the Laws of Arms. In witness whereof We the said Garter and Norroy Kings of Arms have to these presents subscribed Our names and affixed the Seals of Our several Offices this fourteenth day of February in the Eighteenth year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord George the Fifth by the Grace of God of Great Britain Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas King Defender of the Faith &c. and in the year of Our Lord One thousand nine hundred and twenty eight.

The arms described are simple both in shape and colours, and represent the four major benefactors. It must be noted, however, that at this stage Girton wasn't a college yet, nor were its members members of the University. Women at Cambridge had to wait until after another war; eventually, on 8th December 1947 the long expected change came, and “Girton & Newnham will no longer be “recognised institutions for the higher education for women” but colleges of the university”. As academic dress, gowns were adopted with little changes (the sleeves had to be closed so that even in the summer, when women wear short sleeved dresses their bare shoulders don't show), and the square caps were chosen as head-dress. The proper dress of the gown and cap was observed at the first honorary degree to a woman, given to the Queen, an LL.D. on 21 October 1948.
   Over the years, many additions have considerably expanded the size of the college, most recently the award-winning library extension. Numerically and geographically, Girton is now one of the largest Colleges in Cambridge. However, the geographical separation means that the majority of people socialise within the College to a greater extent than at most other Colleges, which is said to create a distinctive, even cosy, atmosphere that's well renowned throughout the University. Girton also proudly houses an Egyptian mummy named "Hermione", and is the only Cambridge college to have its own indoor heated swimming pool.
   On April 27, 1948, women were admitted to full membership of the University of Cambridge, and Girton College received the status of a College of the University. However, to remember the time when women were not allowed to obtain degrees of the University of Cambridge, no gowns are worn during the college feast, when students in their final year are celebrated.
   The college became mixed in 1977 with the arrival of the first male Fellows; male undergraduates have been admitted since 1979.

Notable alumni

Name	Birth	Death	Career
Sujo Akoni			Comedian
Hertha Marks Ayrton	1854	1923	Electrical engineer
Margaret Canovan	1939		Professor of political theory
Isabel Cooper-Oakley	1853	1914	Theosophical writer
Delia Derbyshire	1937	2001	Musician, composer
Brenda Hale	1945		Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
Mary Arden	1947		Lord Justice of Appeal
Jessie Isabel Hetherington			New Zealand educator
Rosalyn Higgins	1937		President of the International Court of Justice
Arianna Huffington	1950		Political author and activist
Wendy Holden	1965		Novelist
Dorothy Jewson	1884	1964	British politician
Julie Kirkbride MP	1960		British politician
Rosamond Lehmann	1901	1990	Novelist
Rachel Lomax	1945		Deputy Governor of the Bank of England
Sheila Scott Macintyre	1910	1960	Mathematician
Ada Isabel Maddison			Mathematician
Margrethe II of Denmark	1940		Queen Regnant of Denmark
Dorothy Marshall			Historian, educator
Annie Maunder			Astronomer
Anna Maxted	1969		Novelist
Constance Maynard			British feminist, educator
Terry Murphy			Co-founder of seminal lounge-tinged electro outfit Moogtastic
Margaret Mountford			Former Clifford Chance Partner, now star of BBC's The Apprentice
Sarojini Naidu	1879	1949	Poet, politician
Joseph O'Neill	1964		Novelist, non-fiction writer
Sheila Pim			Author
Audrey Price			Chemist
Emily James Smith Putnam			Educator, historian
Gisela Richter	1882	1972	Classical archaeologist, art historian
Joan Robinson	1903	1983	Economist
Diana Ross	1910	2000	Author
Clara Ruth Rouse			Missionary, ecumenical leader
Ethel Sargant	1863	1918	Botanist
Charlotte Angas Scott	1858	1931	Mathematician
Irene Spry	1907	1998	Economic historian
Alice Stewart	1906	2002	Epidemiologist
Marilyn Strathern	1941		Social Anthropologist
Steph Swainston	1974		Writer
Bertha Swirles	1903	1999	Physicist
Princess Takamado	1953		Princess of Japan
Sandi Toksvig	1958		Comedian
Renee Winegarten			Literary critic
Barbara Adam Wootton	1897	1988	Social scientist, economist
Dorothy Wrinch	1894	1976	Mathematical biologist
Grace Chisholm Young	1868	1944	Mathematician

For details of graduates in mathematics up to 1940 see

List of graduates of the University of Cambridge on Mathematical Women in the British Isles, 1878-1940

Institutions named after Girton College

Girton Grammar School, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

Girton Hall, University of California, BerkeleyFurther Information

Get more info on 'Girton College'.

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