King's College is a
constituent college of the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the
River Cam
The River Cam () is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the River Great Ouse to the south of Ely, at Pope's Corner. The total distance from Cambridge to ...
and faces out onto
King's Parade in the centre of the city.
King's was founded in 1441 by King
Henry VI soon after he had founded its sister institution at
Eton College
Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...
. Initially, King's accepted only students from Eton College. However, the king's plans for King's College were disrupted by the
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought be ...
and the resultant scarcity of funds, and then his eventual deposition. Little progress was made on the project until 1508, when King
Henry VII began to take an interest in the college, probably as a political move to legitimise his new position. The building of the college's chapel, begun in 1446, was finished in 1544 during the reign of
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagr ...
.
King's College Chapel is regarded as one of the finest examples of late
English Gothic architecture
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...
. It has the world's largest
fan vault
A fan vault is a form of vault used in the Gothic style, in which the ribs are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a fan. The initiation and propagation of this design element is strongly associated with E ...
, while its stained-glass windows and wooden chancel screen are considered some of the finest from their era. The building is seen as emblematic of Cambridge. The
Choir of King's College, Cambridge, composed of male students at King's and choristers from the nearby
King's College School, Cambridge, is one of the most accomplished and renowned in the world. Every year on Christmas Eve, the
Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (a service originally devised for Truro Cathedral by
Edward White Benson in 1880, adapted by the college dean
Eric Milner-White in 1918) is broadcast from the chapel to millions of listeners worldwide.
History
Foundation
On 12 February 1441,
King Henry VI issued
letters patent
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, t ...
founding a college at Cambridge for a rector and 12 poor scholars. This college was to be named after
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day De ...
upon whose feast day Henry had been born. The first stone of the college's Old Court was laid by the King on
Passion Sunday, 2 April 1441 on a site which lies directly north of the modern college and which was formerly a garden belonging to
Trinity Hall. William Millington, a fellow of
Clare College (then called Clare Hall) was installed as the rector.
Henry directed the publication of the college's first governing statutes in 1443. His original modest plan for the college was abandoned, and provision was instead made for a community of 70 fellows and scholars headed by a provost. Henry had belatedly learned of
William of Wykeham's 1379 twin foundations of
New College, Oxford
New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...
and
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...
, and wanted his own achievements to surpass those of Wykeham.
The King had founded
Eton College
Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...
on 11 October 1440 but, up until 1443, King's and Eton had been unconnected. However, that year the relationship between the two was remodelled upon Wykeham's successful institutions and the original sizes of the colleges scaled up to surpass Wykeham's. A second royal charter which re-founded the now much larger King's College was issued on 12 July 1443. On 1 September 1444, the Provosts of King's and Eton and the Wardens of Winchester and New College formally signed the ''Amicabilis Concordia'' ("friendly agreement") in which they bound their colleges to support one another legally and financially.
Members of King's were to be recruited entirely from Eton. Each year, the provost and two fellows travelled to Eton to impartially select the worthiest boys to fill any vacancies at the college, always maintaining the total number of scholars and fellows at exactly 70. Membership of King's was a vocation for life. Scholars were eligible for election to the fellowship after three years of probation, irrespective of whether they had achieved a degree or not. Undergraduates at King's – unlike those from other colleges – did not have to pass university examinations to achieve their BA degree and instead had only to satisfy the college. Every fellow was to study theology, save for two who were to study astronomy, two civil law, four canon law, and two medicine; all fellows save those studying secular subjects were obliged to take
Holy Orders and become priests, on pain of expulsion. In 1445, a
Papal Bull from
Eugenius IV
Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...
exempted college members from parish duties, and in 1457, an agreement between the provost and
chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
of the university limited the chancellor's authority and gave the college full jurisdiction over internal matters.
Henry VI, Henry VII and Henry VIII
The original plans for Old Court were too small comfortably to accommodate the larger college community of the second foundation, and so in 1443 Henry VI began to purchase the land upon which the modern college now stands. The gateway and south range of Old Court had already been built, but the rest was completed in a temporary fashion to serve until the new court was ready. The new college site was itself left unfinished and the "temporary" Old Court buildings, arranged to accommodate 70, served as the permanent residential fabric of the college until the beginning of the 19th century. Henry's grand design for the new college buildings survives in the 1448 ''Founder's Will'', which describes his vision in detail. The new college site was to be centred on a great courtyard, bordered on all sides by adjoining buildings: a chapel to the north; accommodation and the entrance gate to the east; further accommodation and the provost's lodge to the south; and a library, hall and buttery to the west. Behind the hall and buttery was to be another courtyard, and behind the library a cloistered cemetery including a magnificent bell tower.
The first stone of the chapel was laid by the King on St James's Day, 25 July 1446. The King encouraged support for the college. In 1448, John Conches, former prior of
Wootton Wawen
Wootton Wawen is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. The village is on the A3400 in mid-western Warwickshire, about from Birmingham, about south of Henley-in-Arden and about north of Str ...
gave the priory's lands to ''"John Chedworth provost of the king's college of St. Mary and St. Nicholas Cantebrigge and the scholars thereof, and to their successors."'' Within a decade Henry's engagement in the
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought be ...
meant that funds began to dry up. By the time of Henry's deposition in 1461, the chapel walls had been raised 60 ft high at the east end but only 8 ft at the west; a building line which can still be seen today as the boundary between the lighter stone below and the darker above. Work proceeded sporadically until a generation later in 1508 when the Founder's nephew
Henry VII was prevailed upon to finish the shell of the building. The interior had to wait a further generation until completion by 1544 with the aid of
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagr ...
. The chapel was the only part of Henry VI's ''Founder's Will'' to be realised.
It has been speculated that the choice of the college as a beneficiary by the two later Henrys was a political one, with Henry VII in particular concerned to legitimate a new, post-civil war Tudor regime by demonstrating patronage of what was by definition the King's College. Later building work on the chapel is marked by an uninhibited branding with the Tudor rose and other symbols of the new establishment, quite against the precise instructions of the ''Founder's Will''.
Front Court completed
The college remained as the Old Court, chapel and a few small surrounding buildings for nearly two-hundred years until in 1724 the architect
James Gibbs provided a new plan to complete the courtyard of which the chapel formed the north side. Although his design was for the courtyard to be closed by three similar detached
Neoclassical buildings, due to lack of funds only the western of these was constructed. The first stone of what became known as the Gibbs' Building was laid by Provost
Andrew Snape
Andrew Snape (1675–1742) was an English cleric, academic and headmaster, provost of King's College, Cambridge from 1719.
Life
He was born at Hampton Court, Middlesex, the son of Andrew Snape (the younger), serjeant farrier to Charles II, and a ...
, at the time also
vice-chancellor
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...
of the university, on 25 March 1723 and the building completed six years later.
Front Court was finally completed in 1828 under plans drawn up by
William Wilkins. The courtyard was closed by a screen and gatehouse to the east; and residential staircases either side of a hall to the south. The southern buildings continued towards the river with a library and Provost's lodge. All these buildings were, at the college's insistence, built in the
Gothic Revival style rather than Wilkins's preferred Neoclassical.
With the courtyard to the south of the chapel now able to accommodate the college, the land to the north was sold to the university in 1828. The university demolished most of the original Old Court buildings in order to make room for an extension to the
University Library; only the gateway arch opposite Clare College survives. The library subsequently moved away from this site, known as the
Old Schools
The Old Schools are part of the University of Cambridge, in the centre of Cambridge, England. The Old Schools house the Cambridge University Offices, which form the main administration for the University.
The building is Grade I listed. , and the buildings are currently used for the main administrative offices of the university.
Victorian reforms and expansion
Under the provostship of Richard Okes, from 1850 until his death in 1888, the college began a period of reform. On 1 May 1851 it was agreed to abolish the privilege of King's members to be granted a degree without passing the university examinations. In 1861 the college statutes were amended so as to expand the college and, more radically, to allow for the election of non-Etonian King's members: the new statutes provided for 46 Fellows, 24 scholarships reserved for boys from Eton, and 24 "open" scholarships for boys from any school. At the same time all formal obligation to take Holy Orders – unenforced since the seventeenth century – was removed. The statutes were again amended in 1882, this time ensuring fellowships were not always for life and were awarded on merit after submissions of original research. In his 1930 memoir ''As We Were, A Victorian Peep Show'',
E. F. Benson, an alumnus of King's, recollected the peculiar behaviour of some of the surviving Life Fellows from his undergraduate years of 1887–1890 and before. Of one he wrote, "He then shuffled out on to the big lawn, with a stick in his hand, and he prodded with it at the worms in the grass, muttering to himself, 'Ah, damn ye: ye haven't got me yet.'" The first non-Etonian students were admitted to study at King's in 1865, and the first non-Etonian scholars and the first non-Etonian fellow were elected in 1873. These reforms continued over subsequent decades and there are now no special privileges for Etonians at King's.
Expansion of the college through the 1861 statutes necessitated more building work to accommodate the larger community. In 1869, the area along
King's Parade between the Wilkins' Buildings and King's Lane was built upon after a design by
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he starte ...
. When completed a year later, the new courtyard formed was named after Walter Chetwynd, a fellow of the college. However, after subsequent plans to expand college accommodation fell through, King's opened negotiations to amalgamate with
St Catharine's College. Although St Catharine's had been founded by
Robert Woodlark
Robert Woodlark (also spelled Wodelarke) was an English academic and priest. He was the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and the founder of St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He was also a professor of sacred theology at the University.
He ...
(sometimes spelled Wodelarke), a Provost of King's, the college declined the invitation to combine. Eventually, in 1893, the east and south wings of another new courtyard within King's – designed by
George Frederick Bodley and overlooking the river – were completed.
Twentieth century
In 1909, the south range of a third new courtyard – named after its architect
Aston Webb – was built to the south of the library. In 1927, designs by G. L. Kennedy completed Bodley's Court with a new northern range, and Webb's Court with a new Provost's Lodge on its western side.
In 1930, a
Cambridge Borough Police officer was shot by a student who also shot his tutor in the same incident.
On 1 September 1939, the day of the
German invasion of Poland and the cause of the UK's entrance into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, permission was sought from the College Council to remove the stained glass from the east window of the chapel. By the end of 1941, all the ancient glass had been removed to various cellars in Cambridge for safekeeping. Despite most of the windows of the chapel being covered over by sheets of tar-paper which rattled loudly in the wind, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols continued to be broadcast from the chapel every Christmas Eve throughout the war – even though the name of the college could not be broadcast for security reasons. King's took the opportunity of these years to clean, repair and photograph the glass. By 1949, all the windows had been restored.
In 1961 the property millionaire
Alfred Ernest Allnatt offered King's the ''
Adoration of the Magi'' by
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...
, which he had purchased in 1959 for a world-record price. The college accepted "this munificent gift" with the intention of displaying the painting in the chapel, possibly as an altarpiece. The painting was initially displayed in the antechapel but a significant faction of the fellowship – including
Michael Jaffé and the Provost
Noel Annan – were determined for the painting to become the focal point of an entirely redesigned east end planned by the architect Sir Martyn Beckett, who was "philosophical about the furore this inevitably occasioned – which quickly became acceptance of a solution to a difficult problem."
As the first stage of this project, the Edwardian
reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ...
and 17th-century wood panelling were removed and the Rubens installed in their stead behind the altar in April 1964. The painting was so big that the raised floor of the chapel's east end, required by the 1448 ''Founder's Will'', would have to be levelled so as to prevent the
baroque artwork obscuring the bottom of the Tudor east window. However 20 fellows and the honorary fellow
E. M. Forster signed a letter urging the college to reverse its plan and "admit that it has made a mistake"; the levelling of the floor nevertheless went ahead. The newly refitted east end opened in 1968 and proved highly controversial, with the ''
Architects' Journal
''Architects' Journal'' is an architectural magazine published in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It sta ...
'' criticising it as "motivated not by the demands of liturgical worship but by those of museum display."
The last main-site building to be erected by the college was the Keynes Building, finished in 1967 and named after the former college bursar
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
. This building enclosed Chetwynd Court along with the Wilkins' and Scott's buildings, and provided over 70 en-suite accommodation rooms along with other facilities.
The first women students arrived at King's in 1972. The college, along with most others at the university, had been all-male since its foundation. However, under the provost
Edmund Leach, King's together with
Churchill and Clare became the first three previously all-male colleges to admit women.
Henry VI is not completely forgotten at the college. The Saturday after the end of
Michaelmas term each year is Founder's Day, which begins with a Founder's Eucharist in the chapel, followed by a Founder's Breakfast with ale and culminating in a sumptuous dinner in his memory called "Founder's Feast" to which all members of college in their third year of studies are invited.
Buildings and grounds
Chapel
The College Chapel, an example of late
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. I ...
, was built over a period of a hundred years (1446–1531) in three stages. The Chapel features the world's largest
fan vault
A fan vault is a form of vault used in the Gothic style, in which the ribs are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a fan. The initiation and propagation of this design element is strongly associated with E ...
ceiling; twenty-six large stained glass windows, twenty-four of which date from the sixteenth century; and
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...
's painting the ''
Adoration of the Magi'' as an
altarpiece
An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting ...
.
The chapel is actively used as a place of worship and also for some concerts and college events. The world-famous
Chapel choir consists of organ scholars, choral scholars (male students from the college and other colleges) and choristers (boys educated at the nearby
King's College School). The choir sings services on most days in term-time, and also performs concerts and makes recordings and broadcasts. In particular, it has broadcast its
Nine Lessons and Carols on the
BBC from the Chapel on
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipati ...
for many decades. Additionally, there is a mixed-voice Chapel choir of male and female students,
King's Voices
King's Voices is an English choir, and is the mixed-voice chapel choir of King's College, Cambridge. It is a resident choir to the college's chapel, alongside the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.
Foundation and Role in College
The choir wa ...
, which sings evensong on Mondays during term-time.
Front Court
Academic profile
The unofficial
Tompkins Table comparing academic performance ranked King's 12th out of a total of 29 rated colleges at the University of Cambridge in 2019. In terms of first-class degrees, King's ranked 9th in the university with 31.3% of final year students achieving a first.
King's offers all undergraduate courses available at the university, except for
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. ...
, Land Economy and
veterinary medicine
Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...
, although Directors of Studies for Anglo-Saxon Norse & Celtic and Management Studies visit from other colleges. With more than 100 fellows and some 420 undergraduate students, King's has one of the highest ratios of fellows to students of all the Cambridge Colleges.
Since its foundation, the college has housed a library, providing books for all students, covering all the subjects offered by King's. Around 130,000 books are held: some available for teaching and for reference, others being rare books and
manuscripts. The library operates a user-oriented purchasing policy: students and Directors of Studies recommend new purchases in their subject. There is both Wi-Fi and Ethernet internet access throughout the library as well as a library computer room. Special collections include a separate Music Library, the Keynes Library, a Global Warming collection, and an Audio Visual Library.
Intake and access profile
The college has gradually broadened its intake to include many students from
state schools, often having the highest proportion of maintained school acceptances of the undergraduate colleges. This has led to accusations of reactionary bias against
public school pupils and of affirmative action (positive discrimination), although the relatively high proportion of state-school students reflects the far greater number of applications from pupils at maintained schools in comparison to other Cambridge colleges.
King's has established a Schools Liaison Officer post in order to provide support to students, whatever their background, and schools and colleges of any type to find out more about the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
and the college. King's is the link Cambridge College for schools in North East England through Cambridge University Area Links Scheme.
Generally, the atmosphere at King's is considered to be easier than that of other colleges to integrate into for students from a working-class or minority background. However, a survey conducted by Varsity Newspaper in January 2009 revealed that the average parental income of students who participated in the survey at King's was higher than the university average.
In June 2018, Dr.
Priyamvada Gopal alleged racial profiling by college porters at the gate of King's College, Cambridge. Gopal said that she was subjected to racial profiling and aggression by the porters and gatekeepers of King's and said porters frequently hassled non-white staff and students at the gates. While several students and staff corroborated her accusations, a university spokeswoman has denied wrongdoing by staff. As a result of the attention the issue received, Cambridge University students came forward describing similar experiences. Gopal said that she received hate mail following her announcement. Gopal announced that she would no longer supervise students at King's until there was a resolution to the long-standing problem.
Student life
King's has its own student unions, both for undergraduates (King's College Student Union or KCSU) and for graduates (King's College Graduate Society or KCGS). Students at King's have used both organisations to assist in the decision-making processes in the college itself and the university. The college students have a reputation for radical political activity going back to the late 1960s, and the college has not infrequently been the centre of demonstrations, rent strikes and so forth, sparked by political events.
There are a number of rooms around college which students can book out to hold society events. Societies who commonly do this include King's Politics, The Turing Maths Society, The History Society, The Marxist Society, Keynes Economics Society and King's Feminist Society.
The main bar at King's is the site of many social events, open mic nights, and informal meetings and debates between students, whilst a venue known as the Bunker (formerly the Cellar), a second bar in a basement of the college, acts occasionally as a music or dance-night venue and most recently the set for a King's Drama productions including Sartre's ''No Exit'' and a series of monologue showcase events. Even more recently, the Bunker has been used by the King's Electronic Music Society, allowing students to learn how to DJ.
Whereas many Cambridge colleges celebrate
May Week
May Week is the name used in the University of Cambridge to refer to a period at the end of the academic year. Originally May Week took place in the week during May before year-end exams began. Nowadays, May Week takes place in June after exam ...
with a
May Ball (which actually falls in June), since the early 1980s King's has instead held a
June Event (an informal version of a May Ball with fancy dress) known as The King's Affair. This takes place annually on the Wednesday night of May Week (usually around 20 June), and is attended by around 1,500 students, occupying the Front Court, bar, Hall and Chapel. Past performers have included
The Stranglers,
Fatboy Slim,
Noah and the Whale and, in 2009,
Clean Bandit. There are also large student-run College parties at the end of each term known as Mingles.
Sports
King's has a number of competitive and casual sports clubs.
King's College Boat Club
King's College Boat Club is the rowing club for members of King's College, Cambridge. The first record of King’s rowing is in 1838.
In 1973, women row at King’s for the first time, forming a women's boat club under the name ''Queen Margaret ...
has the largest active membership of any club in King's. In 2013 the first men's boat qualified to race in the
Temple Challenge Cup at the
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thr ...
. After several years of poor performances, the boat has returned to a definitive mid-table position in the first division of the Lent and May Bumps, with blades being awarded in Lent 2019. Another major club is the King's Mountaineering and Kayaking Association, which has a fleet of kayaks for use on the
River Cam
The River Cam () is the main river flowing through Cambridge in eastern England. After leaving Cambridge, it flows north and east before joining the River Great Ouse to the south of Ely, at Pope's Corner. The total distance from Cambridge to ...
(which runs through the college) and regularly runs climbing, walking and kayaking trips for students of the college during university vacations. Its rugby team is joint with Corpus Christi and Clare colleges and consequently known as CCK. Its historic crest is the hallowed Elephant of Wisdom.
Music
King's College is home to the
Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which was founded in the fifteenth century and is now one of today's most well-renowned representatives of the English choral tradition. In 2013 the choir launched its own label, King's College Recordings, which would allow it to gain more artistic freedom over its releases. Its releases and worldwide fame have led to global tours and performances. The Choir of King's College sings evensong and Eucharist services on all days of the week apart from Mondays, with two services on a Sunday. It is currently led by the incumbent Director of Music,
Daniel Hyde.
The other resident choir of the college is the mixed-voice choir
King's Voices
King's Voices is an English choir, and is the mixed-voice chapel choir of King's College, Cambridge. It is a resident choir to the college's chapel, alongside the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.
Foundation and Role in College
The choir wa ...
, founded in October 1997 under Dr John Butt, with the intention of giving women in King's the opportunity to sing in the chapel and be eligible for choral awards within the college. Currently, the choir sings evensong every Monday in university term, as well as performing at King's College Music Society (KCMS) and college events throughout the year. King's Voices has also appeared on albums alongside the Choir of King's College, most recently in the Te Deum and Magnificat of the ''Collegium Regale'' service by Herbert Howells on a double album of music by Howells. Sopranos in King's Voices also featured in a live recording of Britten's ''St Nicolas'' alongside the
BBC Singers and
Britten Sinfonia as part of
Sir Stephen Cleobury's Farewell Concert, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2019. The choir's current director is
Ben Parry, who is assistant director of Music at King's.
Entrepreneur-ship and business at King's
In 2014, King's College established an Entrepreneurship Prize opened to King's College students with famous alumni as judges, including
Hermann Hauser, and Stuart Lyons, the former chairman of
Beales. In 2021, it launched th
King's Entrepreneurship Labto "support students with a future interest in innovation, entrepreneurship, and business" co-directed by Kamiar Mohaddes, Senior Lecturer in Economics, and
Thomas Roulet, Senior Lecturer in Organisation Theory, both faculty members at the
Cambridge Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School is the business school of the University of Cambridge. The School is a provider of management education. It is named after Sir Paul Judge, a founding benefactor of the school.
The School is considered to be par ...
.
People associated with King's
File:Robertwalpole cropped cropped.jpg, Robert Walpole, first Prime Minister of Great Britain
File:MRJames1900.jpg, M. R. James, scholar and ghost-story writer
File:George Santayana.jpg, George Santayana, philosopher
File:E. M. Forster von Dora Carrington, 1924-25.jpg, E. M. Forster, novelist
File:Keynes 1933 cropped.jpg, John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
, economist
File:Rupert Brooke Q 71073.jpg, Rupert Brooke, poet
File:Philip Noel-Baker 1942.jpg, Philip Noel-Baker, Olympic medallist and Nobel laureate in peace
File:Xu Zhimo.jpg, Xu Zhimo, poet
File:Blackett-large.jpg, Patrick Blackett, Nobel laureate in physics
File:Alan Turing portré.jpg, Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical c ...
, mathematician and computer scientist
File:Frederick Sanger2.jpg, Frederick Sanger
Frederick Sanger (; 13 August 1918 – 19 November 2013) was an English biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice.
He won the 1958 Chemistry Prize for determining the amino acid sequence of insulin and numerous other pr ...
, double Nobel laureate in Chemistry
File:Salman Rushdie 2012 Shankbone-2.jpg, Salman Rushdie, novelist
File:Stephen Poliakoff.jpg, Stephen Poliakoff, playwright and director
File:Mervyn King.jpg, Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England
File:Davidbaddielnightingale2.jpg, David Baddiel, comedian
File:Zadie Smith NBCC 2011 Shankbone.jpg, Zadie Smith, novelist
Once someone has been admitted to the college, they become a member for life. Alumni of the college includes prime ministers, archbishops, presidents and academics. ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' published in 1999 a list of what it considered the most "influential and important" people of the twentieth century. In a list of one hundred names, King's claimed two:
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical c ...
and
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
who had been both students and fellows at the college.
Heads of State and Government educated at King's include the first Prime Minister of Great Britain,
Robert Walpole. Also in the 18th century alumni include the Secretary of State
Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend
Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, (; 18 April 167421 June 1738) was an English Whig statesman. He served for a decade as Secretary of State for the Northern Department, 1714–1717, 1721–1730. He directed British foreign policy in c ...
(Turnip Townshend), who was also known for his interest in agriculture and his role in the
British agricultural revolution
The British Agricultural Revolution, or Second Agricultural Revolution, was an unprecedented increase in agricultural production in Britain arising from increases in labour and land productivity between the mid-17th and late 19th centuries. Agric ...
, the judge and
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. T ...
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden. Historical figures include
Francis Walsingham, spymaster to
Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to:
Queens regnant
* Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland
* Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 ...
.
Politicians educated at King's include the former British Home Secretary
Charles Clarke, the peer and
Chancellor of the University of Cambridge David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, and
Martin Bell.
In Law, alumni include the barrister and vice-chancellor
Robert Alexander, Baron Alexander of Weedon, the former President of the British Supreme Court
Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers; and the Judge of the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union
Geert de Baere.
Alumni in religion include
William Thomas, the 16th-century Protestant martyr
John Frith John Frith may refer to:
* John Frith (assailant) (fl. 1760–1791), English petitioner and asylum inmate
*John Frith (cartoonist) (), Australian cartoonist, at the ''The Herald'' in Melbourne in the 1950s and 1960s
* John Frith (martyr) (1503–1 ...
, the
Archbishop of Canterbury John Sumner, and
Richard Cox, who served as
Chancellor of Oxford before appointment as
Dean of Westminster and eventually
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...
.
Notable alumni in literature and poetry include the authors
Zadie Smith,
Salman Rushdie,
Martin Jacques
Martin Jacques (born 1945) is a British journalist, editor, academic, political commentator and author.
Early life
Jacques was born in October 1945 in the city of Coventry (then in Warwickshire, now in the West Midlands), the son of Dennis ...
,
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass me ...
and
E. M. Forster, the Nobel Prize winner
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987.
White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...
, the poets
Rupert Brooke,
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...
and
Xu Zhimo, and the playwright
Stephen Poliakoff. The ghost story writer and medievalist
M. R. James spent much of his life at King's as a student, fellow and Provost. The author and translator of Aristotle
Sir John Harington is also an alumnus, and a benefactor of mankind for having invented the
flush toilet.
In the arts, alumni include the philosopher
George Santayana; the historians
Benedict Anderson
Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (August 26, 1936 – December 13, 2015) was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book '' Imagined Communities'', which e ...
,
Eric Hobsbawm and
Tony Judt; composers
George Benjamin,
Judith Weir (
Master of the Queen's Music),
Thomas Ades, and
Julian Anderson
Julian Anderson (born 6 April 1967) is a British composer and teacher of composition.
Biography
Anderson was born in London. He studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Camb ...
; the original members of the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
-winning
a cappella group
King's Singers
The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1 ...
; the folk musician
John Spiers; the comedian
David Baddiel; the model
Lily Cole; the tenor
James Gilchrist; and the
countertenor John Whitworth.
In the
sciences and
social sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the o ...
, King's alumni include the British sociologist
Anthony Giddens, the physicist
Patrick Blackett, the chemist
Frederick Sanger
Frederick Sanger (; 13 August 1918 – 19 November 2013) was an English biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice.
He won the 1958 Chemistry Prize for determining the amino acid sequence of insulin and numerous other pr ...
, The psychologist
Edgar Anstey, the palaeontologist
Richard Fortey, the economist
John Craven, the political theorist
John Dunn John, Jack, Johnny, Jon, or Jonathan Dunn may refer to:
Entertainment
*John Dunn (pipemaker) (c. 1764–1820), inventor of keyed Northumbrian smallpipes
*John Dunn (actor) born O'Donoghue (1813–1875), Australian comic actor
*John Millard Dunn (1 ...
, the engineer
Charles Inglis, and the mathematician and eugenicist
Karl Pearson
Karl Pearson (; born Carl Pearson; 27 March 1857 – 27 April 1936) was an English mathematician and biostatistician. He has been credited with establishing the discipline of mathematical statistics. He founded the world's first university st ...
. The Governor of the Bank of England
Mervyn King was also educated at King's. The technology entrepreneur
Hermann Hauser, of
Acorn
The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera '' Quercus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally
two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and bo ...
and
ARM, studied postgraduate physics there.
Of the current fellows of King's prominent fellows include Whitehead and Adams' Prize Winner
Clément Mouhot and the Fellow of the Royal Society and Clay Research award winner
Mark Gross (mathematician).
Nobel laureates
There are eight Nobel laureates who were either students or fellows of King's:
*
Charles Glover Barkla was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
1917 "for his discovery of the characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements".
*
Patrick Blackett, fellow of King's, was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
1948 "for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation".
*
Frederick Sanger
Frederick Sanger (; 13 August 1918 – 19 November 2013) was an English biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice.
He won the 1958 Chemistry Prize for determining the amino acid sequence of insulin and numerous other pr ...
, fellow of King's, was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
1958 "for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin".
Sanger was awarded his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980 jointly with
Walter Gilbert for "their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids".
Sanger is one of only five people to have won a Nobel Prize twice, and the only affiliate of the University of Cambridge to have done so.
*
Philip Noel-Baker was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
1959 for work towards global disarmament.
*
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987.
White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...
was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901 ...
1973 "for an epic and psychological narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature".
*
Richard Stone, fellow of King's, was awarded the
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel ( sv, Sveriges riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne), is an economics award administered ...
1984 "for having made fundamental contributions to the development of systems of national accounts and hence greatly improved the basis for empirical economic analysis".
*
Sydney Brenner
Sydney Brenner (13 January 1927 – 5 April 2019) was a South African biologist. In 2002, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with H. Robert Horvitz and Sir John E. Sulston. Brenner made significant contributions to work ...
, fellow of King's, was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ( sv, Nobelpriset i fysiologi eller medicin) is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or ...
2002 jointly with
H. Robert Horvitz and
John E. Sulston "for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death".
*
Oliver Hart was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 2016 jointly with
Bengt Holmstrom "for their contributions to contract theory".
Provosts
The head of King's College is called the
Provost. The current Provost, , is
Michael Proctor, physicist and Professor of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics at Cambridge.
Visitor
The
visitor of the college is the
Bishop of Lincoln.
[King's College Statutes 2007]
s. P(1).
/ref>
Arms
See also
*Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
References
Footnotes
Printed sources
*
*
*
*Patrick Wilkinson
Patrick Wilkinson (born May 19, 1999) is an American professional soccer player who plays for the Saint Louis Billikens.
Career
Wilkinson signed with United Soccer League side Swope Park Rangers on August 18, 2016. He made his debut on August ...
, ''Kingsmen of a Century: 1873–1972'' (Cambridge: King's College, 1980)
External links
Official website
King's College Student Union
King's College Graduate Society
Virtual tour of the library
{{Authority control
Colleges of the University of Cambridge
Educational institutions established in the 15th century
Grade I listed buildings in Cambridge
Grade I listed educational buildings
James Gibbs buildings
1441 establishments in England
Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Cambridgeshire