Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the university, marking the official admittance of women to the university. In 1976, it was the first Cambridge women's college to become coeducational. Its sister college is Somerville College, one of the two Oxford colleges to first admit women.
The main college site is situated on the outskirts of Girton, about northwest of the university town, and comprises of land. In a typical Victorian red-brick design, most was built by architect Alfred Waterhouse between 1872 and 1887.
Among Girton's notable alumni are Queen Margrethe II, former UK Supreme Court President Lady Hale, HuffPost co-founder Arianna Huffington, the comedian/author Sandi Toksvig, the comedian/broadcaster/GP Phil Hammond, the economist Joan Robinson, and the anthropologist Marilyn Strathern, who also held the position of Mistress from 1998 to 2009.
History
1869 to 1976: Pioneering for women's education
The early feminist movement began to argue for the improvement of women's education in the 1860s: Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon met through their activism at the Society for the Employment of Women and The Englishwoman's Review. They shared the aim of securing women's admission to university. In particular, they wanted to determine whether girls could be admitted at Oxford or Cambridge to sit the Senior and Junior Local Examinations. Davies and Bodichon set up a committee to that effect in 1862. In 1865, with the help of Henry Tomkinson, Trinity College alumnus and the owner of an insurance company with good contacts within the University, 91 female students entered the Cambridge Local Examination. This first concession to women's educational rights met relatively little resistance, as admission to the examination did not imply residence of women at the university site.At that time, students had the option of doing a Pass degree, which consisted of "a disorderly collection of fragmented learning", or an Honours degree, which at that time meant the Mathematics Tripos, classics, and natural or moral sciences. An Honours degree was considered more challenging than the Pass degree. In 1869, Henry Sidgwick helped institute the Examinations for Women, which was designed to be of intermediate difficulty. This idea was heavily opposed by Emily Davies, as she demanded admittance to the Tripos examinations.
The college was established on 16 October 1869 under the name of the College for Women at Benslow House in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, which was considered to be a convenient distance from Cambridge and London. It was thought to be less "risky" and less controversial to locate the college away from Cambridge in the beginning. The college was one of England's first residential colleges for women. Whitelands College, now part of the University of Roehampton, was established as a college of higher education for women earlier, in 1841. They worked with Fanny Metcalfe to develop the curricula.
In July and October 1869, entrance examinations were held in London, to which 21 candidates came; 16 passed. The first term started on 16 October 1869, when five students began their studies: Emily Gibson, Anna Lloyd, Louisa Lumsden, Isabella Townshend and Sarah Woodhead. Adelaide Manning was also registered as a student, although with the intention of staying for a single term, and her step-mother Charlotte Manning was the first Mistress.
The first three students to unofficially sit the Tripos exams in Lent term 1873, Rachel Cook and Lumsden, who both took the Classical Tripos, as well as Woodhead, who took the Mathematical Tripos, were known as "The Pioneers".
In 1871, through fundraising £7,000 was collected, which allowed for the purchase of land either at Hitchin or near Cambridge. By 1872, sixteen acres of land at the present site were acquired near the village of Girton. The college was then renamed Girton College, and opened at the new location in October 1873. The buildings had cost £12,000 to erect, and consisted of a single block which comprised the east half of Old Wing. At the time, thirteen students were admitted. In 1876, Old Wing was completed, and Taylor's Knob, the college laboratory and half of the Hospital Wing was built.
In the following year, Caroline Croom Robertson joined the management team as secretary to reduce the load on Emily Davies. In 1884, Hospital Wing was completed, and Orchard Wing, Stanley Library and the Old Kitchens added. At that time, Girton had 80 students. By 1902, Tower Wing, Chapel Wing and Woodlands Wing as well as the Chapel and the Hall were finished, which allowed the college to accommodate 180 students.
In 1921, a committee was appointed to draft a charter for the college. By summer 1923 the committee had completed the task, and on 21 August 1924 George V granted the charter to "the Mistress and Governors of Girton College" as a Body Corporate. Girton was not officially a college yet, nor were its members part of the University - Girton and Newnham were classed as "recognised institutions for the higher education for women".
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.
1976 to present: Pioneering for sexual equality
Social and cultural changes in the post-war period led to an increasing number of British universities to become co-educational. In Cambridge, Churchill College, King's College and Clare College were the first men's colleges to admit women in 1972. Girton had already amended its statutes in 1971 in such a way as to allow the admission of men, should the Governing Body vote in favour at an unspecified date in the future. The decision to become mixed came in November 1976, when the Governing Body voted to act upon the statute, which made Girton the first women's college to admit men.In January 1977, the first two male Fellows, Frank Wilkinson and John Marks, arrived, followed by male graduate students in 1978, and, finally, undergraduates in October 1979. One reason for the change was that the first mixed colleges in Cambridge immediately shot to the top of the Tripos league tables, as they seemed to attract bright students, who preferred to stay in co-educational colleges. Girton became co-residential as well, which meant that male and female students shared the same facilities. Only one all-female corridor in which rooms were reserved exclusively for women remained. Upon the arrival of male undergraduates, JCR and MCR social facilities had to be enlarged. The college bar was opened in 1979 as well as rugby, cricket and soccer pitches provided from 1982 onwards.
In the 22-year period from 1997 to 2019, the Tompkins Table annual ranking of Cambridge colleges by undergraduate academic performance ranked Girton College an average of 20 out of the 29 colleges researched. In 2019, it came 20th, with 22 per cent of all undergraduate students gaining a first-class degree.
Mistresses
The mistress is the formal head of the college. Her main task is to exercise general superintendence over the college's affairs. She presides over the college council and several college committees. The mistress is elected by the council, and has to reside at the college precincts for at least two-thirds of each term, or 210 days of each academic year. Ever since the establishment of Girton College, the position has been held by a female, even though male candidates have had equal rights for running for the office since 1976 and would, if elected, be called by the female term "mistress".The current mistress is Elisabeth Kendall, who in 2022 succeeded Susan J. Smith; she had held the position since 2009.
Accommodation and fees
As with many Cambridge colleges, rooms are available to external guests on a Bed and Breakfast basis.Undergraduates
It is customary for Cambridge colleges to provide accommodation for the first three-year undergraduate students. Rooms in the main site are arranged along corridors, which makes it possible to walk from one location in the building to another without going outside. Some of the rooms were originally designed as sets by Alfred Waterhouse. The rooms range in several quality grades but are all charged at the same weekly rate. Girton, along with Newnham College, are the only colleges to charge the same fee for all undergraduate accommodation on their premises. The main site offers 348 rooms, rented for the entire year.Every year, a ballot is organised by the JCR to determine room distribution. To first years, rooms are allocated randomly, with students allocated low grade rooms having first pick of rooms the following year. The college consults regularly with the JCR and MCR on its policy of charging equal rents for all non-en suite rooms. Most undergraduate students live on the main site, and second years have the option of living at Swirles Court.
In 2022, the college introduced a Residence Bursary scheme, whereby any student in receipt of a Cambridge Bursary receives a rent discount of £20 per week for all weeks of their tenancy; for these students the median rent is amongst the lowest of the Cambridge colleges.
Graduates and fellows
Since 2017, graduate students live in Swirles Court. One house on Huntingdon Road is used to accommodate research fellows. The Graduate Union specifically identified Girton as providing an insufficient amount of housing to married postgraduates, with no rooms available at Swirles Court for married students.Swirles Court
Swirles Court, part of the Eddington neighbourhood of the North West Cambridge development, opened in 2017. This accommodation annexe provides up to 325 ensuite single rooms for graduates and for second-year undergraduates and above.It is named after Bertha Swirles, a Girton alumna. Swirles is open year-round to student living and has a college porter on staff 24/7, separate laundry facilities and a separate mailing address from the main college.