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Grey College is a
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
of Durham University in England. Although it was originally planned for the college to be named
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...
College, this proved too controversial and it was instead named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who was
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
at the time of the university's foundation.


History

Founded in 1959, Grey was the first college of the university's post- war expansion, and the second college to open on Elvet Hill after St Mary's. It was also the last college founded before the separation of Durham and Newcastle in 1963. The college initially only admitted men, but has been mixed since 1984. In March 1959, just a few months before the opening of the college, the Elvet block (then the main block of the college) was devastated by fire. However, the college recovered to open as scheduled in October and adopted the phoenix as its unofficial badge. The college coat of arms features a scaling ladder (or gré—the badge of the Grey family) between two St Cuthbert's crosses (the symbol of Durham). A new grant of arms in 2004 confirmed these and added the phoenix as a crest. Fountains Hall was completed in 1971 and the Lattin Chapel, named after former college bursar Frank Lattin, was consecrated on 18 November 1973 by the Bishop of Durham, John Habgood. During the 1966 World Cup, Grey was home to the Soviet Union's football team who were playing their group matches in Sunderland and
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...
. They won all their matches while based in Durham, but eventually lost to
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...
in the semi-finals. Grey College was exclusively for male students until the start of the 1984–1985 academic year, when a contingent of nineteen women joined the college in their first year as a pilot programme. These first female members of the college had been assigned to Grey, rather than having chosen it, since they had not specified a college of residence at the time they had applied to the University of Durham. Few changes were made to accommodate the new mixed-sex living arrangements—toilet and bathroom facilities were shared, for instance. Female students could, however, request lace curtains in addition to the regular fabric curtains for their rooms. In the following year, 1985–1986, Grey College opened its doors to all women, who could now actively apply to join the college. By the time these women had graduated three years later, Grey had become indistinguishable in population from the other mixed-sex colleges of the university. In 1992 a plan to construct a fourth accommodation block was announced. This became Holgate House, named after the college's first matter,
Sidney Holgate Sidney Holgate, CBE (9 September 1918 – 17 May 2003) was a British mathematician and academic. Holgate was schooled at Henry Mellish School and won a scholarship to Hatfield College, Durham, where he studied Mathematics and eventually became ...
, and was opened in 1996. The Victor Watts Memorial Library, named after the college's third master, opened as an extension to Holgate House in 2005.


Buildings

There are four accommodation blocks on site: Hollingside (the main building), Elvet, Oswald and Holgate House. Grey was the first college in Durham to have all of its bedrooms connected to the university computer network. The college offers a number of other facilities: Hollingside contains the 350-seat dining room (the college is fully catered), the college bar and the Junior Common Room (JCR), which has the largest TV of any Durham college, while Holgate House has a conference centre and a library with over 7,000 books. A fifth building, Fountains Hall, is the home of Phoenix Theatre Company (PTC), and also contains the college chapel, a multi-purpose hall (for everything from badminton to band practice), and a toastie bar. The University Botanic Garden and the High Wood are located next door to the college, and a path leads directly to the Science Site.


College life

Notable social events include the fireworks display (the largest in Durham - cancelled in 2017 due to no longer being commercially viable) "The Informal Ball" with its fancy dress themes; and "Grey Day", a mix of fun events on the lawn and college bands, traditionally accompanied by the consumption of alcohol. The year comes to an end with "The Phoenix Ball", the largest and most lavish social event of the year. Grey has a large number of sports clubs, ranging from
Grey College Boat Club Grey College Boat Club (GCBC) is the rowing club of Grey College at Durham University in northern England. The club has over 60 members and shares its boathouse with Josephine Butler College Boat Club. The club competes at a national, regional ...
through Grey College Ultimate Frisbee Club to team croquet. Many of Grey's sporting clubs have enjoyed success in recent years, notably the women's hockey team, boat club, darts team, rugby team, football team, cheerleading squad and Ultimate Frisbee Club. Members of the college sometimes refer to themselves as the "Grey Army" and can be found at many college sporting events (usually rugby games) supporting the team, with a "Commander-in-Chief" appointed by the JCR each academic year to lead the troops. Another mascot of the college is the "College Trout"—a Big Mouth Billy Hamill toy that is currently stationed behind the bar. A bi-annual magazine, ''Grey Matter'', also exists to satirise college events. Grey also has termly art exhibitions which were developed by alumnus Henry Dyson. One such was 'My Mining Days' by Tom Lamb which gave an insight into the experience and culture of mining within the area. The college has a fellowship in mathematics (the Alan David Richards Fellowship) and a general fellowship scheme (the Sidney Holgate Fellowships), which includes funding for research fellows and an artist in residence.


Notable students

* Heidi Alexander – BA Geog., MA – Labour MP for Lewisham East * Adam Applegarth – BA Maths and Economics – Chief executive, Northern Rock (2001–07) * Daniel Casey – BA English Literature – Co-star of Midsomer Murders, Casualty *
Peter Dixon Peter John Dixon (born 30 April 1944) is a former England international rugby union player. Dixon played for Oxford University RFC in four consecutive Varsity Matches from 1967 to 1970. He played for Cumberland at county level alongside Da ...
– England
Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
Captain 1971 *
Alan Greaves Alan Greaves (born 1969, Otley, West Yorkshire) is a lecturer at the University of Liverpool, UK, who specialises in the Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addit ...
– archaeologist, University of Liverpool * Chris Higgins – academic, Vice Chancellor of Durham University 2007 – 2014 * James Kirkup FRSLit – BA – travel writer, poet, novelist, playwright, translator, broadcaster, Hon. Fellow Grey College from 1992 * Nish Kumar – BA History – Comedian * Dominic Montserrat – BA Egyptology – TV egyptologist * John A. Pyle CBE FRS – BSc Physics – Atmospheric Scientist. Head of Chemistry Department at The University of Cambridge *
Tim Stimpson Timothy Richard George Stimpson (born 10 September 1973 in Liverpool) is a former rugby union international full back (and occasional wing). During his career he played for Wakefield, West Hartlepool, Newcastle Falcons, Leicester Tigers, Perpig ...
– BA Anthropology (1995) –
Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
player and England international (1996–2002) * Major General John Sutherell - British Army Officer who served in the SAS. * James Wilby – BSc Maths. – film, television and theatre actor * David Williams F.R.S. – 1960-62 – Mathematician, formerly Professor of Mathematical Statistics, University of Cambridge * The Rt Revd Paul Gavin Williams – BA Hons Theol. (1989) –
Bishop of Kensington The Bishop of Kensington is an episcopal title used by an area bishop of the Church of England Diocese of London, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The Bishop of Kensington is responsible for a part of Greater London, including Kensington, ...
, from 2015
Bishop of Southwell __NOTOC__ The Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. . Th ...
. Fellows * Rabbi Lionel Blue – Rabbi, broadcaster, author and Honorary Doctor of Divinity & Fellow at Grey College * Sir Reresby Sitwell, 7th Baronet – Hon. Fellow from 2001'SITWELL, Sir (Sacheverell) Reresby', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 200
accessed 6 April 2013
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Masters

The current master of the college is Thomas Allen, professor at
Durham Law School Durham Law School is the law school of Durham University in Durham, England. In 2022, Durham Law was ranked 5th in the UK in a league table which averaged the rankings of the Complete University Guide, ''The Guardian'' and the ''Times'' Univers ...
. *
Sidney Holgate Sidney Holgate, CBE (9 September 1918 – 17 May 2003) was a British mathematician and academic. Holgate was schooled at Henry Mellish School and won a scholarship to Hatfield College, Durham, where he studied Mathematics and eventually became ...
(1959 to 1980) *
Eric Halladay Eric Halladay (9 July 1930 – 19 July 1997) was a British historian, academic, and rowing coach. He was Master of Grey College, Durham from 1980 to 1989, Rector of St Aidan's College, Durham from 1990 to 1991, and Principal of St Chad's Colleg ...
(1980 to 1988) * Victor Watts (1988 to 2002) * J. Martyn Chamberlain (2002 to 2011) * Thomas Allen (2011 to present)


References


Further reading

* Watson, Nigel. (2004) ''From the Ashes: The Story of Grey College'', Durham. London: James & James Ltd.


External links


Grey College official websiteGrey College Association alumni organisation website
{{Authority control Colleges of Durham University Educational institutions established in 1959 1959 establishments in England Grey College, Durham