Selwyn College, Cambridge

Selwyn College is a College of the University of Cambridge. It was founded in memory of the Rt Revd George Augustus Selwyn (1809–1878), the first Bishop of New Zealand (1841–1868) and Bishop of Lichfield (1868–1878). The College was founded by subscription, with an explicitly Christian mission. The Selwyn College coat of arms incorporates the arms of the Selwyn family impaled with those of the Diocese of Lichfield.

Selwyn is relatively poor for a traditional Cambridge College. In 2006 it had an estimated financial endowment of £22 million and in 2004 fixed assets 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 performs better academically, and was ranked 7th out of 29 in the 2006 Tompkin's Table.

1 History
2 Arms
3 Famous alumni
4 Notes
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

Selwyn's first undergraduates joined the original Master and twelve other Fellows at the then "Public Hostel" of the university in 1882. Formally approved as a College on March 14, 1958, 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.

Selwyn College in the snow, early 2004

Six acres (24,000 m²) of farm land, between Grange Road, West Road and Sidgwick Avenue, was originally acquired from Corpus Christi College and 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 rejected as being too small), however, with the growth of departmental buildings, libraries and new faculties, Selwyn now neighbours the Sidgwick Site, affording Selwynites the easiest access of any Cambridge college to the many faculty buildings housed there.

Old Court, built in red brick in the Tudor Gothic 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 and Queens' 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, one of the principal donors towards the construction costs of the first block, which was completed in July 2005 and consists of 44 ensuite rooms and 15 administrative offices, forming two staircases (O and P).

The College has planning permission to add a further four phases to Ann's Court, with the work planned to be undertaken over the next twenty years. The remaining phases of the building project will extend the college's red-brick facade along Grange Road to the corner of West Road, adding two further accommodation blocks, a new library and an auditorium.

[edit] Arms

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:

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 inpaling 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 (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 "Quit ye like men"[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 over the main College gate.

[edit] Famous alumni

Clive Anderson (comedian and television show host)
Ralph Chubb (poet and printer)
Graham Connah (archeologist)
John Selwyn Gummer (politician)
Robert Harris (author)
Tom Hollander (actor)
Karl Hudson-Phillips (judge)
Simon Hughes (politician)
Lionel Charles Knights (literary critic)
Hugh Laurie (comedian and actor)
Ran Laurie (1948 Olympic rowing gold medallist, coxless pairs)
Ivan Lloyd-Phillips (civil servant)
Sir Richard May (jurist)
David Miller (political theorist)
Barry Morgan (Archbishop of Wales)
Malcolm Muggeridge (author and journalist)
Robert Newman (comedian)
Mario Petrucci (poet)
John Sentamu (Archbishop of York) - former assistant chaplain at Selwyn College
Adrian F.M. Smith (Academic) (statistician, proponent of Evidence-based policy)
Sir Peter Smith (judge)
Graham Stuart (politician)
Nick Tanner (actor)
David K.R. Thomson of Canada's wealthiest family

[edit] Notes

^ Varsity issue 647, page 6 http://www.varsity.co.uk/archive/647.pdf

[edit] See also

Category:Fellows of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Selwyn College JCRS - the representative body of the undergraduate population at the college.
Selwyn Jazz - A student jazz band formed in the college.