Selwyn College, Cambridge is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1882 by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of George Augustus Selwyn (1809–1878), the first Bishop of New Zealand (1841–1868), and subsequently Bishop of Lichfield (1868–1878). Its main buildings consist of three courts built of stone and brick (Old Court, Ann's Court, and Cripps Court). There are several secondary buildings, including adjacent townhouses and lodges serving as student hostels on Grange Road, West Road and Sidgwick Avenue. The college has some 60 fellows and 110 non-academic staff.
In 2024, Selwyn was ranked fifth on the Tompkins Table of Cambridge colleges in order of undergraduates' performances in examinations. The college was ranked 16th out of 30 in an assessment of college wealth conducted by the student newspaper Varsity in November 2006.
History
George Augustus Selwyn
left|thumb|upright|[[George Selwyn (bishop of Lichfield)|George Augustus Selwyn (1809–1878)]]
The college was founded following the death of Bishop George Augustus Selwyn, who had played an important role in the establishment of New Zealand as its first bishop. Selwyn was a scholar of St John's College, Cambridge, and a member of the Cambridge crew which competed in the inaugural Boat Race in 1829. He came out second in the Classical Tripos in 1831, graduating Bachelor of Arts (BA) 1831, Master of Arts (MA Cantab) 1834, and Doctor of Divinity (DD) per lit. reg. 1842, and was a fellow of St John's College from 1833 to 1840.
After graduating, Selwyn first taught at Eton College. In 1833, he was ordained deacon, and, in 1834, a priest. Selwyn displayed leadership talent and, in 1841, after an episcopal council held at Lambeth had recommended the appointment of a bishop for New Zealand, Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London, offered the post to Selwyn.
He returned to England in 1867, and accepted the post of Bishop of Lichfield, which he held until his death on 11 April 1878, aged 69.
Foundation of the College
After Selwyn's death in 1878, a number of scholars from Cambridge launched plans to establish a college to honour his life.
In the 2020s the college became known for its widening-participation and academic successes, admitting one of the highest proportions of maintained school (UK state schools) undergraduates of the Cambridge colleges (81% in 2023) while being ranked 1st for 'good honours' examination results in 2024.
Buildings and grounds
The college founders purchased from Corpus Christi College of land between Grange Road, West Road and Sidgwick Avenue on 3 November 1879, at a cost of £6,111 9s 7d. This parcel of land is still owned by the college and is the location of Old Court and Ann's Court. The site was originally considered somewhat remote from the centre of the university, but Selwyn now neighbours the Sidgwick Site where several of the university's arts and humanities faculties are. An alternative site on Lensfield Road, where Our Lady and the English Martyrs Church now stands, was considered but rejected as too small.
thumb|right|Selwyn College Tower
Old Court
Old Court, construction of which began in 1880 and is built in Ketton stone and local red brick in the Victorian Late Perpendicular Gothic Revival style, was largely designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield and comprises seven staircases (A–G), together with a tower and gateway, Master's Lodge, Chapel, Hall, Kitchens, Music Practice Room and Archives.
The chapel was built in 1895 before the dining hall (in 1909), and chapel attendance was compulsory for students from the college's foundation until 1935. There were originally plans to build a permanent library between F Staircase and the chapel to complete Old Court, on land that now forms part of the College Gardens, but this was not done. The Selwyn College Library located adjacent to Old Court was opened in 1929, funded by subscriptions in honour of college members who had died in the First World War. In 1894 and 1896, respectively, the Old Library in the tower, received two extensive benefactions of history, politics and theological texts, from Canon William Cooke and Edward Wheatley-Balme. These large literary bequests gave Selwyn College an excellent working library. The college bar was refurbished in 2002, and redecorated in 2011.
Future plans
The college has planning permission to develop further three phases of building, planned to be built as funding permits, which will extend the college's distinctive limestone and red-brick façade along Grange Road to the corner of West Road. The plans consist of a new library and archives (Phase 3) behind Staircase E of Old Court, and two further accommodation blocks (Phase 4) to form a new court (tentatively named Library Court) between Old Court and Ann's Court, and an auditorium, debate chamber, and conference facilities (Phase 5) to complete the west side of Ann's Court.
thumb|right|Map of Selwyn College (1886)
Plans are currently underway to build a new library and auditorium located near Ann's Court and the College Gardens. The college plan calls for all future expansions to adhere to the same architectural style of limestone and brick demonstrated in the Ann's Court development. The Master Plan, also designed by Porphyrios Architects, calls for a new wing of student housing alongside Grange Road, located between Old Court and Ann's Court. This new wing of accommodation would enclose the western edge of Centre Court and would allow the college to increase graduate student numbers. In 2018, the college assured concerned alumni and students that the original library would be preserved and converted into lecture and auditorium rooms (although the small 1970s annexe will probably be removed). The building of a new library is a priority for Selwyn College and would complete the perimeter of a fourth collegiate court.
Coat of arms and motto
thumb|upright|The arms used by George Augustus Selwyn as Bishop of Lichfield, above the college's Main Gate to Old Court
thumb|upright| Main Gate with the Greek quotation which contains the College motto
The Selwyn College coat of arms incorporates the arms of the Selwyn family impaled with an adaptation of the arms of the Diocese of Lichfield. The arms were granted in the 1960s and are emblazoned as follows;
:Per pale Gules and Argent a Cross potent quadrate Argent and Or between four crosses paty those to the dexter Argent those to the sinister Or For the See of Lichfield impaling Argent on a Bend cotised Sable three Annulets Or for Selwyn all within a Bordure Sable And for Crest On a Wreath Or & Purpure In front of a Book erect bound Gules edged clasped and garnished Or a representation of the Pastoral Staff of Bishop Selwyn.
The dexter half of the arms adapted from 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 arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which also violates this rule. Selwyn's pastoral staff or crozier is based on a hardwood Māori staff which is held in the College Chapel. The college was also granted an official badge, A Mitre Or within an Annulet Purpure.
Before an official grant by the College of Arms, Selwyn College used arms believed to be those borne by George Augustus Selwyn as Bishop of Lichfield; they are displayed above the main gateway, built in 1881, and on the Common Seal, first used in 1882.
The college motto is a biblical quotation from 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 13, in Greek, ΑΝΔΡΙΖΕΣΘΕ (andrízesthe), translated in the King James Version as "Quit ye like men" (alternatively, in the Douay–Rheims version, "Do manfully" or, in the New American Bible, "Be courageous"). A longer extract of the verse, "ΣΤΗΚΕΤΕ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΠΙΣΤΕΙ ΑΝΔΡΙΖΕΣΘΕ", is carved over the main College gate (the full Greek verse of 1 Corinthians 16:13 being "Γρηγορεῖτε, στήκετε ἐν τῇ πίστει, ἀνδρίζεσθε, κραταιοῦσθε·"; Grēgoreîte, stḗkete en têi pístei, andrízesthe, krataioûsthe).
Traditions
Formal Hall
thumb|left|The Dining Hall, with the tables laid for Formal Hall
Selwyn holds Formal Hall on every Tuesday and Thursday evening during Term at 7:30 pm with a capacity of 120, tickets for which can be bought by students for themselves and up to two guests. An additional Formal Hall was held on Sunday evenings at least until the early 1990s. There is also a special, extra Halfway Hall Formal for second-year students to mark the middle of their time as undergraduate students at the college, and a Christmas Formal for all students at the end of every Michaelmas Term. Selwyn holds several JCR Dinners and MCR Dinners specifically for undergraduate and graduate students each term.
Formal Halls are for students, Fellows and the Master of the college; however, members of other Oxbridge colleges may attend, as well as a limited number of guests from outside the university. Formal hall meals are three- or four-course meals which are fully catered and served by college staff. During formal hall, the fellows and the master of the college sit at the High Table near the front of the hall, while students sit on benches or chairs at the long tables.
Latin Grace
The college Grace is recited in Latin by a Fellow or Scholar (a student who achieved a First Class mark overall in the previous year) at the beginning of Formal Hall, and is as follows:
<blockquote>Benedic, Domine, nobis et donis Tuis, quae de Tua largitate sumus sumpturi; et concede ut iis muneribus Tuis ad laudem Tuam utamur, gratisque animis fruamur, per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.</blockquote>
Translation:
<blockquote>Bless us, O Lord, and all thy gifts, which of thy goodness we are about to enjoy; grant that we may use these generosities to thy glory, and enjoy them with thankful hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.</blockquote>
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). This response was changed in the 1990s, from the previous response Deo gratias (Thanks be to God). Lecturers have included many high-profile politicians, academics, and journalists including Onora O’Neill, Niall Ferguson, Michael Howard, Ian Kershaw, Roy Porter, Ian Clark, Lawrence Freedman, David Cannadine, Keith Thomas, Jonathan Riley-Smith and Quentin Skinner, former Regius Professor of Modern History. The lectures are free and open to the public.
Student life
thumb|Porter's Lodge
Selwyn has a reputation as one of the most traditional but friendliest Oxbridge colleges. Selwyn has the longest continually running students' magazine— of any Cambridge College; Kiwi has been published from 1982 to present.
The chapel choir is a mixed choir that sings three weekly services during full term, has toured widely and has made over 15 commercial CD recordings under their professional director, Sarah MacDonald. The Choir has also included members of the neighbouring women's college, Newnham College, since before the integration of women to Selwyn.
Hermes Club
The Hermes Club, founded in 1920, exists to encourage, fund and improve sport at Selwyn College by offering financial grants to individual sportsmen/women and college teams, through the lobbying of college, and by generally raising the profile of sport in Selwyn. Members of Selwyn are eligible for invitation to the club if they have been awarded a Full Blue or Half Blue by the university, if they have captained a Selwyn College team in a 'First Class sport', or if they have competed on behalf of Selwyn in two 'First Class' Cuppers competitions.
Boat Club
thumb|Selwyn College Boat Club, Lent Bumps 2012
Selwyn College Boat Club (SCBC) is the rowing club for members of the college. The boat club was founded in 1882, during the Michaelmas term. During this early period, the Selwyn Boat Club trained several rowers who would go on to become Olympic Rowers and University Blues in the annual boat race against Oxford. The SCBC also achieved intercollegiate success during its early days, winning a second in the Lent Bumps of 1934 and third in the May Bumps 1931. Notable alumni of the boat club include Hugh Laurie, Tom Hollander and Richard Budgett.thumb|Programme for a 1914 [[smoking concert of the Controversialists]]
The Controversialists
The Controversialists are the oldest secret society at the college and one of the oldest at the university, being founded by a group of students in Lent Term, 1893. The society's name is believed to pay homage to both their leftist political leanings and their discussion and debate of poetry and literature. The purpose of the Society, according to rules printed in 1909, was "the reading and discussion of English poetry and drama". The Society membership was made up of both undergraduate and graduate students at Selwyn College. Female students were able to join the society since women were admitted to the college. The total number of Controversialist members is not allowed to exceed twelve. Meetings are traditionally to be held on Sundays in the Michaelmas and Lent terms, as well as in May if a quorum of five members can be arranged. The badge and symbol of the Controversialists is a purple lyre.
The Controversialists commonly organise smoking concerts where poetry and verse is recited by members before the political discussions.
The Templars
The Selwyn College Templars are reputed to be the second oldest secret society and the largest at the college. The society was initially only open to wealthy, upper-class Anglican students. The membership of the Templars Society were often involved with campus politics and were often members of the Cambridge University Conservative Association. Membership was to be decided by nomination from two current members and election at the society's Michaelmas meeting. New members of the Templars are reportedly 'knighted' with a ceremonial sword in a bizarre initiation ceremony that takes place on the Autumn equinox each year.
Winter and May balls
thumb|left|Selwyn College May Ball Survivors (1948)
Selwyn is unique among Oxbridge colleges in that it holds an annual Winter Ball known as the Selwyn Snowball, which traditionally takes place on the night of the last Friday of Michaelmas term.
The May Ball tradition at Selwyn began on 14 June 1948, as hundreds of students dressed in black tie to attend the all-night celebration. May Balls continued to be held at the college throughout the second half of the 20th century with a highlight being the performance of The Who in 1967. In recent years, May Balls have been replaced by the Snowball with notable exceptions: 2008, to celebrate the college's 125th anniversary; 2015 and 2017.
Gallery
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" style="font-size:88%; line-height:130%">
File:Selwyn College Cambridge Chapel Exterior.jpg|Selwyn College Chapel exterior
File:Selwyn3.jpg|Selwyn College Cloisters
</gallery>
Notable alumni
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150" style="font-size:88%; line-height:130%">
File:Ralph Nicholas Chubb (1892 – 1960) in 1912.jpg|Ralph Chubb (poet)
File:Official portrait of Lord Deben crop 2.jpg|Lord Deben (politician)
File:David K.P. Li, Chairman, Bank of East Asia - what is China's impact on global growth, at the Horasis Global China Business Meeting 2009 - Flickr - Horasis.jpg|Sir David Li (banker)
File:Robert Harris - Buch Wien 2024.JPG|Robert Harris (author and historian)
File:General Sir Peter Wall in No 1 uniform.jpg|General Sir Peter Wall (Chief of the General Staff)
File:Simon Hughes MP Liverpool cropped.jpg|Sir Simon Hughes of the Liberal Democrats
File:Barry Morgan.jpg|Barry Morgan (Archbishop of Wales)
File:John Sentamu.jpg|John Sentamu (Archbishop of York)
File:Richard Harries 20040428.jpg|Richard Harries (Baron of Pentregarth and Bishop of Oxford)
File:Peter Beckingham.jpg|Peter Beckingham (Diplomat and Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands)
File:Tim Stevens in Durham.jpg|Tim Stevens (Convenor of the House of Lords and Bishop of Leicester)
File:Official portrait of Graham Stuart crop 2.jpg|Graham Stuart (Conservative politician)
File:Hugh Laurie at Montreux Jazz Festival.jpg|Hugh Laurie (actor)
File:Laceyatthelibrary.png|Robert Lacey (Film/television historical advisor)
File:KateForbesMSP-May2016.jpg|Kate Forbes (SNP Member of the Scottish Parliament)
File:Passio 2010 (5340704340) (Lucy Winkett cropped).jpg|Lucy Winkett (Anglican priest)
File:Sophie Wilson (cropped).jpg|Sophie Wilson (Computing pioneer)
File:Zia Mody at WEF.png|Zia Mody (Indian corporate lawyer)
File: Official portrait of Wes Streeting MP crop 2.jpg|Wes Streeting (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care)
</gallery>
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%;"
|-
!Name
!Birth
!Death
!Career
|-
|Clive Anderson
|1952
|
|Comedian and television show host
|-
|Christina Baker Kline
|1964
|
|Novelist
|-
|Peter Beckingham
|1949
|
|Governor of the Turks and Caicos Islands
|-
|Richard Budgett
|1959
|
|1984 Olympic rowing gold medallist
|-
|Ralph Chubb
|1892
|1960
|Poet and printer
|-
|Deryck Cooke
|1919
|1976
|Musicologist and broadcaster
|-
|Brian Clegg
|1955
|
|Science author
|-
|A. R. Cornelius
|1903
|1991
|Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan
|-
|Huw Davies
|1959
|
|England Rugby fly-half 1981-86
|-
|Kate Forbes
|1990
|
|Member of the Scottish Parliament
|-
|Viv Groskop
|1973
|
|Journalist, writer and comedian
|-
|John Selwyn Gummer
|1939
|
|British politician
|-
|Peter Selwyn Gummer
|1942
|
|Businessman
|-
|Richard Harries
|1936
|
|Former Bishop of Oxford and life peer
|-
|Robert Harris
|1957
|
|Author
|-
|Tom Hollander
|1967
|
|Actor
|-
|Karl Hudson-Phillips
|1933
|2014
|Judge
|-
|Simon Hughes
|1951
|
|Politician
|-
|Peter Matthew Hutton
|1966
|
|Sports media executive
|-
|Grayston "Bill" Ives
|1948
|
|Composer
|-
|Lionel Charles Knights
|1906
|1997
|Literary critic
|-
|Robert Lacey
|1944
|
|Writer and historical advisor to Netflix's The Crown
|-
|Hugh Laurie
|1959
|
|Comedian and actor, son of Ran Laurie
|-
|Ran Laurie
|1915
|1998
|1948 Olympic rowing gold medallist
|-
|Andrew Lawrence-King
|1959
|
|Musician
|-
|Sir David Li
|1939
|
|Chairman and Chief Executive of the Bank of East Asia
|-
|Ivan Lloyd-Phillips
|1910
|1984
|Civil servant
|-
|Angus Maddison
|1926
|2010
|Economist
|-
|Sir Richard May
|1938
|2004
|Judge
|-
|David Miller
|1946
|
|Political theorist
|-
|Zia Mody
|1956
|
|Lawyer
|-
|Barry Morgan
|1947
|
|Archbishop of Wales
|-
|Malcolm Muggeridge
|1903
|1990
|Author and journalist
|-
|Rob Newman
|1964
|
|Comedian
|-
|Nigel Newton
|1955
|
|Founder of Bloomsbury Publishing
|-
|Sir Edwin Nixon
|1925
|2008
|Managing director of IBM (UK)
|-
|Julian Pearce
|
|
|Bigsby Medal- and Murchison Medal-winning geochemist
|-
|Justine Picardie
|1961
|
|Novelist and writer
|-
|John Saunders
|1953
|
|Full international-level chess player and chess magazine editor
|-
|John Sentamu
|1949
|
|Archbishop of York
|-
|Sir Peter Singer
|1944
|
|Judge
|-
|Adrian Smith
|1957
|
|Statistician
|-
|Peter Smith
|1952
|
|Judge
|-
|Tim Stevens
|1946
|
|Bishop of Leicester
|-
|Wes Streeting
|1983
|
|Politician
|-
|Graham Stuart
|1962
|
|British politician
|-
|Amanda Thirsk
|1965
|
|Private secretary to Prince Andrew, Duke of York
|-
|David Thomson
|1957
|
|Member of Canada's wealthiest family
|-
| D. R. Thorpe
| 1943
|
| Political biographer
|-
| Peter Wall
| 1955
|
| Professional head of British Army
|-
| Stephen Wall
| 1947
|
| Diplomat
|-
|George Weightman-Smith ||1905||1972||Olympic athlete
|-
|Eley Williams
|1986
|
|Writer
|-
| Peter Williams
| 1945
|
| Physicist
|-
|Tim Davie
|1967
|
|Director-General of the BBC
|-
|Sophie Wilson
|1957
|
|Computer scientist
|-
|Lucy Winkett
|1968
|
|Anglican priest
|}
See also
- Fellows of Selwyn College, Cambridge
- List of Masters of Selwyn College, Cambridge
- List of organ scholars
- Selwyn House School
- Listed buildings in Cambridge (west)
References
External links
- Selwyn College JCR Committee
- Selwyn College MCR