Grey College is a
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...
of
Durham University
Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, founded in 1959 as part of the university's expansion of its student population. The college is named after
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who was
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...
at the time of the university's foundation; an alternative name considered was
Cromwell College, but this proved controversial and lost by a single vote in the final selection.
The student population of Grey College consists of around 1,351 students, made up of just over 1,200
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...
students and a further 150
postgraduate
Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...
students.
The college is fully catered.
History
Founded in 1959, Grey was the first college of the university's post-
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
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
Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
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
John Stapylton Habgood, Baron Habgood, (23 June 1927 – 6 March 2019) was a British Anglican bishop, academic, and life peer. He was Bishop of Durham from 1973 to 1983, and Archbishop of York from 18 November 1983 to 1995. In 1995, he was made ...
.
During the 1966
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
, Grey College was home to the
Soviet Union's football team who were playing their group matches in
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...
and
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
. They won all their matches while based in Durham, but eventually lost to
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
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 Master,
Sidney Holgate, 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. The college offers a number of other facilities: Hollingside contains the 280-seat dining room, the college bar, and the
Junior Common Room (JCR), which has the largest TV of any Durham college. 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), the college chapel, a multi-purpose hall (for everything from badminton to band practice), and a toastie bar.
The
Durham University Botanic Garden
Durham University Botanic Garden is the botanical garden of Durham University, located in Durham, England. The site is set in of mature woodlands in the southern outskirts of the city. The garden was founded in 1925 and has been located on its ...
and the High Wood are located next door to the college, and a path leads directly to the Mountjoy Site (formerly known as the Science Site).
The original buildings from 1957–63 were included in the
local list as non-designated heritage assets in November 2023. The part of the college site on the north side of Hollingside Lane is included in Durham County Council's proposed Hill Colleges
Conservation Area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...
.
College life
Notable social events include "The Informal or Winter Ball"; the "President's Guest Night" and "Grey Day", a music festival following the end of the examination period. 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 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
Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...
"—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.
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 and Cabinet minister
*
Adam Applegarth – BA Maths and Economics – Chief executive,
Northern Rock
Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in ...
(2001–07)
*
Daniel Casey
Daniel Casey (born 1 June 1972) is an English actor. He is best known for playing DS Gavin Troy, the original sidekick of DCI Tom Barnaby, for the first six series (and the first episode of series 7), with a guest appearance in series elev ...
– BA English Literature – Co-star of
Midsomer Murders
''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...
, Casualty
*
Peter Dixon
Peter-John Dixon (30 April 1944 – 2 August 2023) was an 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 alo ...
– England
Rugby Union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
Captain 1971
*
Alan Greaves – archaeologist,
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...
*
Chris Higgins – academic, Vice Chancellor of
Durham University
Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
2007 – 2014
*
James Kirkup
James Harold Kirkup (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote more than 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays. He wrote under many pen-names including James Falconer, Aditya Jha, ...
– BA – travel writer, poet, novelist, playwright, translator, broadcaster, Hon. Fellow Grey College from 1992
*
Nish Kumar
Nishant Kumar (born 1985) is a British stand-up comedian, television presenter and podcaster. He became known as the host of ''The Mash Report'' on BBC Two and U&Dave, Dave. He has also presented ''Newsjack'' on BBC Radio 4 Extra, ''Joel Domme ...
– BA History – Comedian
*
Dominic Montserrat
Dominic Alexander Sebastian Montserrat (2 January 1964 – 23 September 2004) was a British egyptologist and papyrologist.
Early life and education
Montserrat studied Egyptology at Durham University and received his PhD in Classics at Unive ...
– BA Egyptology – TV
egyptologist
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...
*
John A. Pyle – BSc Physics – Atmospheric Scientist. Head of Chemistry Department at The University of Cambridge
*
Tim Stimpson – BA Anthropology (1995) –
Rugby Union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player and England international (1996–2002)
* Major General
John Sutherell - British Army Officer who served in the SAS.
*
Rob Wickham - BA Geography - Anglican Bishop of Edmonton from 2015 and sometime part-time as Acting Bishop of Portsmouth.
*
James Wilby
James Jonathon Wilby (born 20 February 1958) is an English actor.
Early life and education
Wilby was born in Rangoon, Burma to a corporate executive father. He was educated at Terrington Hall and Sedbergh School, studied for a degree in M ...
– BSc Maths. – film, television and theatre actor
*
David Williams – 1960-62 – Mathematician, formerly Professor of Mathematical Statistics, University of Cambridge
*
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.
Fellows
*
Lionel Blue
Lionel Blue (né Bluestein; 6 February 1930 – 19 December 2016) was a British Reform Judaism, Reform rabbi, journalist and broadcaster, described by ''The Guardian'' as "one of the most respected religious figures in the UK". He was best know ...
– Rabbi, broadcaster, author and Honorary
Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...
& 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
/ref>
Masters and principals
The head of college was titled 'master' until 2023, when the title of 'principal' was adopted by Sonia Virdee, the first woman to be the head of the college.
* Sidney Holgate (1959 to 1980)
* Eric Halladay (1980 to 1988)
* Victor Watts (1988 to 2002)
* J. Martyn Chamberlain (2002 to 2011)
* Thomas Allen (2011 to 2021)
* Peter Swift (Acting Master 2021-2023)
* Sonia Virdee (2023 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 website
Grey College Association alumni organisation website
{{Authority control
Colleges of Durham University
Educational institutions established in 1959
1959 establishments in England
Grey College, Durham
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey