St Catharine's College, Cambridge
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St Catharine's College is a
constituent college A collegiate university is a university where functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the Col ...
of the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, England. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Cambridge, and lies just south of King's College and across the street from Corpus Christi College. The college is notable for its open court (rather than closed quadrangle) that faces towards Trumpington Street. The college community consists of approximately 1000 Fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff. The college is led by a
Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...
, and the college is run by a governing body comprising the official and professorial Fellows of the college, chaired by the Master. The current Master, Sir John Benger took up office on 1 October 2023.


History


Foundation

Robert Woodlark, Provost of King's College, had begun preparations for the founding of a new college as early as 1459 when he bought tenements on which the new college could be built. The preparation cost him a great deal of his private fortune (he was suspected of diverting King's College funds), and he was forced to scale down the foundation to only three fellows. He stipulated that they must study
theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
and
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
only. The college was established as "Lady Katharine Hall" in 1473. The college received its royal charter of incorporation in 1475 from
Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
. Woodlark may have chosen the name in homage to the mother of Henry VI who was
Catherine of Valois Catherine of Valois or Catherine of France (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was Queen of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of King Charles VI of France, she married King Henry V of England and was the mother of King Henry VI. Cath ...
, although it is more likely that it was named as part of the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
cult of
Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and Virginity, virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a ...
, a patron saint of learning. The college was formally founded on St Catherine's day (25 November) 1473. The Catharine wheel, a symbol of the saint's martyrdom, appears on the college arms. The initial foundation was not well-provided for. Woodlark was principally interested in the welfare of fellows and the college had no undergraduates for many years. By 1550, however, there was a number of junior students and the focus of the college changed to that of teaching undergraduates.


The Robinson vote

In 1861, the master, Henry Philpott became
Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary (officer), head of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Worcester, Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title can be traced back to the foundation of the diocese in the ...
, and stood down. Two of the five Fellows of the college stood for election: Charles Kirkby Robinson and Francis Jameson. Jameson voted for his rival; however, Robinson voted for himself and won the election. The episode brought the college into some disrepute for some years. Robinson's long tenure as master only ended with his death in 1909.


Expansion and modern day

As the college entered the 17th century, it was still one of the smallest colleges in Cambridge. However, a series of prudent masters and generous benefactors were to change the fortunes of the college and expand its size. Rapid growth in the fellowship and undergraduate population made it necessary to expand the college, and short-lived additions were made in 1622. By 1630 the college began to demolish its existing buildings which were decaying, and started work on a new court. In 1637 the college came into possession of the George Inn (later the Bull Hotel) on Trumpington Street. Behind this Inn was a stables which was already famous for the practice of its manager, Thomas Hobson, not to allow a hirer to take any horse other than the one longest in the stable, leading to the expression " Hobson's choice", meaning "take it or leave it". The period of 1675 to 1757 saw the redevelopment of the college's site into a large three-sided court, one of only six at Oxbridge colleges; the others are at Sidney Sussex, Jesus and Downing at Cambridge, and Trinity College and
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...
, St Catharine's sister college, at Oxford. Proposals for a range of buildings to complete the fourth side of the court have been made on many occasions. The college was granted new statutes in 1860 and adopted its current name. In 1880, a movement to merge the college with King's College began. The two colleges were adjacent and it seemed a solution to King's need for more rooms and St Catharine's need for a more substantial financial basis. However, the Master ( Charles Kirkby Robinson) was opposed and St Catharine's eventually refused. In 1966 a major rebuilding project took place under the mastership of Professor E. E. Rich. This saw the creation of a new larger hall, new kitchens and an accommodation block shared between St Catharine's and King's College. Pressure on accommodation continued to grow, and in 1981 further accommodation was built at St Chad's on Grange Road, with further rooms added there in 1998. In 2013 the college completed the building of a new lecture theatre, college bar and JCR. In 1979, the membership of the college was broadened to welcome female students, and in 2006 the first woman was appointed as Master of the college, Dame Jean Thomas. A history of the college was written by W. H. S. Jones in 1936. In 2015, St Catharine's became the first college in Cambridge to implement a gender-neutral dress code for formal hall. During the 2020
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, St Catharine's, in collaboration with Cambridge Women's Aid, allowed women who were escaping domestic abuse to stay in college accommodation. Between 27 April and 3 September, women and children were provided with accommodation for a combined 1,456 nights. Between September 2020 and August 2022, the facilities at the Trumpington Street site of St Catharine's were renovated as part of the "Central Spaces project". A temporary hall was erected on the main court and named "Catzebo", a portmanteau of "Catz" and "gazebo" for its tent-like appearance. The name was chosen by the Head Porter following an advisory student vote in which "Catzebo" was put forward by Robson Tebbutt, a student. The official opening for the newly built areas occurred in early October 2022, and the overall cost was stated to be around £16 million.


Academics

Historically, St Catharine's has generally been placed in the top third of the Tompkins Table (the annual league table of Cambridge colleges), though its position tends to vary year on year. In 2014, its position slipped to 21st, but rose to 13th in 2015 with more than 25% of students gaining
First-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...
, and it has further risen to 10th in 2018 with more than 30% gaining a First. The first time the college had been placed at the top of the Tompkins Table was in 2005. Between 1997 and 2010, the college averaged 9th of 29 colleges.


Student life

The college maintains a friendly rivalry with Queens' College after the construction of the main court of St Catharine's College on Cambridge's former High Street relegated one side of Queens' College into a back alley. A more modern rivalry with Robinson College resulted from the construction in the 1970s of a modern block of flats named St Chad's (in which the rooms are octagonal to resemble the wheel on the college crest) by the
University Library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution, which supports the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are an es ...
. The college has a strong reputation in hockey and racquet sports, in part due to its facilities for these sports including grass tennis courts and an astroturf hockey pitch. The football club enjoyed its most dominant years in the late 1970s winning
Cuppers Cuppers are intercollegiate sporting competitions at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The term comes from the word " cup" and is an example of the Oxford "-er". Each sport holds only one Cuppers competition each year, which is open to al ...
four times consecutively from 1975 to 1978, although a recent merger with St Edmund's College Hockey Club (SECHC) saw them return to the winner's list in 2024. St Catharine's College Boat Club has both Men's and Women's 1st boats residing in the middle of the 1st division of the May Bumps races. The college hosts several other notable societies. The Shirley Society is the college literary society, the oldest in Cambridge; it hosts significant figures from the arts. The college-based girls' choir is the first of its kind in a UK university and is composed of girls aged 8–14 from local schools.


Notable alumni

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Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English former broadcaster, journalist and author, born in Yorkshire. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate ...
, journalist. File:John Ray from NPG.jpg,
John Ray John Ray Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (November 29, 1627 – January 17, 1705) was a Christian England, English Natural history, naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his ...
, naturalist. File:Ian McKellen.jpg, Sir Ian McKellen, actor. File:Richard Ayoade at Soho Hotel (cropped).jpg,
Richard Ayoade Richard Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 Br ...
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Rebecca Hall Rebecca Maria Hall (born 3 May 1982) is an English actress and director. She made her first onscreen appearance at the age of 10 in the 1992 The Camomile Lawn (TV serial), television adaptation of ''The Camomile Lawn'', directed by her father, ...
, actress. File:Official portrait of Lord Glasman crop 2.jpg, Lord Glasman, influential Labour thinker and peer. File:Ben Miller.jpg,
Ben Miller Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English comedian, actor and author. He rose to fame as a member of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller, with Alexander Armstrong. He is known for roles as Angus Jeremy Bough in the '' Johnny Eng ...
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Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abdul Rahman (8 February 19036 December 1990), commonly referred to as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 to 1970. He previously served as the only chief minister of Federation of Malaya ...
, the first Prime Minister of
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
. File:RonaFairhead.jpg,
Rona Fairhead Rona Alison Fairhead, Baroness Fairhead, (; born 28 August 1961), is a life peer and businesswoman. She served as a minister of state at the Department for International Trade from 2017 to 2019. Prior to that, she was the last chairman of the ...
, Chairwoman of the BBC Trust. File:James Shirley.jpg,
James Shirley James Shirley (or Sherley) (September 1596 – October 1666) was an English dramatist. He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Charles Lamb (writer), Charles Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of ...
, dramatist. File:Joanne Harris.jpg,
Joanne Harris Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris (born 3 July 1964) is a British author, best known for her 1999 novel '' Chocolat'', which was adapted into a film of the same name. Her work has received multiple awards and is published in over 50 countries. ...
, author. File:Official portrait of Lilian Greenwood MP crop 2.jpg,
Lilian Greenwood Lilian Rachel Greenwood (born 26 March 1966) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham South since 2010, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Future of Roads since July 2 ...
, MP. File:Official portrait of Munira Wilson MP crop 2.jpg, Munira Wilson, MP.


See also

* List of Masters of St Catharine's College, Cambridge * : Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge * List of Honorary Fellows of St Catharine's College, Cambridge * Organ scholar *
St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...


References


Further reading

* * *


External links


Official St Catharine's College website

St Catharine's College JCR website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Catharine's College, Cambridge 1473 establishments in England Colleges of the University of Cambridge Grade I listed buildings in Cambridge Grade I listed educational buildings Educational institutions established in the 15th century