Girton College, Cambridge

Colleges of the University of Cambridge Girton College
College name	Girton College
Founders	Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon
Named after	Girton village
Established	1869
Previously named	The College for Women (1869–1872)
Admittance	Men and women
Mistress	Susan J. Smith
Undergraduates	503
Graduates	201
Sister college	Somerville College, Oxford
Location	Huntingdon Road (map)
"Better is wisdom than weapons of war"
College website
Boat Club website

The Girton Pioneers (tune of The British Grenadiers), 1871, honours the first three women to sit the Tripos exams

Girton College Hall

The pool, before its recent refurbishment

Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was established on 16 October 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon, as the first residential women's college in England. The college became mixed in 1977 with the arrival of the first male Fellows. Male undergraduates have been admitted since 1979. Men now make up roughly half of the college's undergraduate membership. As of 2008, the college had an estimated endowment of £45 million.

The main site of Girton College is about 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of the Cambridge city centre. There is an accommodation annexe, known as Wolfson Court, situated next to the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, in the western suburbs close to Cambridge University Library and the centre of the city.

History

The College was established on 16 October 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon, as the first residential college for women in England. It was called the College for Women, and initially 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 next to the village of Girton was purchased; the College was then renamed Girton College, and opened at the new location in October 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 (Stephen & 1933 120-121) of Girton College” as a Body Corporate.

Girton was not a college yet, nor were its members members of the University. Girton & Newnham were classed as “recognised institutions for the higher education for women” not colleges of the university^[1]. On 27 April 1948, women were admitted to full membership of the University of Cambridge, and Girton College received the status of a College 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 do not show), and 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. 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.

Over the years, many additions have considerably expanded the size of the college, most recently the award-winning library extension ^[2]. 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 is 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.

The arms

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 did not 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 was not 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.” ^[3]

Finally in 1928 the design was accepted by all and the College was granted the following:

We … grant and assign unto The Mistress and Governors of Girton College the Arms following that is to say: Quarterly Vert and Argent a cross flory countercharged a Roundel Ermine and in the second and third quarters a Crescent Gules, … 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.^[4]

The arms described are simple both in shape and colours, and represent the four major benefactors.

Girton in popular culture

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 the Ian McEwan novel Atonement, Cecilia's time at Girton is mentioned several times.

In the PG Wodehouse novel, The Inimitable Jeeves, Bertie Wooster accidentally gets engaged to a Girtonian.

Notable alumni

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, Berkeley

See also

• Girton College Boat Club
• Category:Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge
• Category:Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge

Notes

Further reading

• Girton: Thirty Years in the Life of a Cambridge College. Third Millennium Publishing, 2006.
• Kóczy, László Á. (1997). "Girton College and its Arms". The Escutcheon (Cambridge: Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society) 2 (3). http://www.societies.cam.ac.uk/cuhags/escutch/1996-97/ar_girtn.htm. 
• Stephen, Barbara (1933). Girton College 1869-1932. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 167. 

External links

• Girton College website

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