NEWNHAM COLLEGE IN PROGRESS
The time between the recognition of Newnham College by the University
of Cambridge, in 1881, and the deeply mourned death of its chief
founder and first Principal, in February 1892, is one of expansion and
progress, both as regards the actual College buildings and the various
activities of past and present students, especially in educational and
social work.
The building of the North Hall has been mentioned, and also the
increase in size of the South Hall, with the building of a library, not
adequate to the subsequent needs of the College, but sufficient for the
number of students then in residence, and afterwards very useful as a
reading room and a supplementary library for duplicate books. In 1885
a fives court was erected on the north side of the College buildings.
Meantime, a third Hall was projected, and, owing to the munificence of
various benefactors, constructed on a liberal scale, and was ready for
opening in 1888. It may be mentioned that one benefactor, Mr. Stephen
Winkworth, earned the gratitude of subsequent students by granting a
special sum to provide for the building of students' rooms of somewhat
larger dimensions than the smaller ones in the other two Halls. Mr.
and Mrs. Winkworth, old friends of Miss Clough, had taken interest in
Newnham from the beginning, and their only daughter had been a student
there.
As we are thus brought to the consideration of students' rooms, I might
mention a line of progress initiated by the students themselves, and
afterwards followed up by the authorities. In early days a separate
study for each student had not been contemplated. This is another
difference between Newnham and Girton, since, in the latter College,
the collegiate idea had been more prominent from the first, and each
Girton student had her bedroom and sitting-room, however small. In the
first abode of Miss Clough and her five students all slept in _bona
fide_ bedrooms and worked sitting round a common table. In the early
Newnham Hall more arrangement was made for privacy in study. Each
student had her little writing table and sufficient book-shelves in
her room. But the common sitting-rooms were used for most of the day,
and not many rooms occupied by individual students were suitable for
receiving company. Even little tea-parties among the students were of a
very picnicky character. But when the ambition of the students was set
on making a study-bedroom into a study first and a bedroom in a very
secondary place, ingenuity provided facilities. Although the matter may
seem _infiniment petit_, I consider that among Newnham pioneers the two
students who accomplished this revolution should hold a place. One of
them bought a large piece of chintz, and undisturbed by the jests of
some of her comrades and the amused criticism of Miss Clough, devised
a covering for bedstead, chest of drawers and other pieces of bedroom
furniture. The other, of more definitely artistic taste (it was in
the days of "Patience" and of the so-called _aesthetic_ movement for
soft colours and flowing lines) procured a piece of sage-green cloth
or cretonne, and effected a similar revolution. Already in the large
corner rooms something like a cubicle arrangement had been devised.
The evident preference of the students for harmoniously, if simply,
furnished rooms and for the preponderance of the idea of study over
that of mere rest was followed out in furnishing new rooms as they were
required. Old oak hutches, bureaux, the drawers of which might hold
clothes, bed-coverings of a character suitable to that of the room,
also pretty wall-papers of the kind Morris had lately invented, were
procured for the students generally. Thus students came to take more
pleasure in their rooms, into which they could invite one another, and
sometimes friends from outside, though the common sitting-rooms were
still the usual place for receiving guests. I think I am not wrong
in saying that Newnham here started a practice subsequently followed
in almost all houses of residence for women students. Certainly the
first head of Somerville, when visiting Miss Clough, showed interest
in the study-bedroom system. The desire to make the one room assert
its diurnal rather than its nocturnal character was not new. Dickens
had already ridiculed it in describing the "rooms" of Dick Swiveller.
But the solution of the problem on principles of both convenience and
beauty was, perhaps, first found in Newnham Hall during the early days.
I would pass to another--far more important--subject touching the
relation of the students to the building in which they resided: it
has puzzled some people how it has come about that with all the
building, a chapel has never formed part of Newnham College. The
subject is a delicate one, and I only take it up here because of the
very erroneous and sometimes damaging explanations that have been
assigned for the omission. Worst of all to those familiar with the
leaders of the movement is the supposition that to them religion was
a matter of indifference. For those who really knew Miss Clough, and
others whom, while they still live, it seems indecent to mention--any
such accusation is not only false but absurd. Miss Clough's religion
was one that illuminated all her work and gave her strength and
patience to carry it on. She was, besides, sincerely attached to the
Church of England. At the same time, having lived in America, and
mixed with persons of very varied religious opinions, she had early
become very widely tolerant of the manifold ways in which a religious
spirit manifests itself in different circles and different types of
character. She had also seen the bad results of any attempt to force
young people into religious observances which had become for them
unmeaning or distasteful. Again: she had known vicariously, if not
personally, the ferment of the Tractarian movement at Oxford, and the
wave of scepticism that seemed to follow or even to accompany it. Also
any disposition in her to avoid whatever might suggest the taking up
of a distinctly denominational or even interdenominational attitude
in the government of the College was strengthened by the distinctly
anti-sectarian principles of vigorous and powerful supporters. Possibly
at that time, more than at the present, any definite recognition of
religion or provision of religious services seemed impossible apart
from some denominational bias. The well-meant attempt of one founder of
another women's college to provide chapel services on undenominational
lines had foundered on the quicksands of theological controversy, and
well-nigh wrecked the College--till it was saved by the singular tact
and sympathetic insight of its new Principal. When Miss Clough first
came to Cambridge, she began, as we have seen, not with a College, but
with a moderate-sized household, and her arrangements were those of an
ordinary Christian house, including family prayers. There was no need
in Cambridge, as in a country district, to provide Sunday services. A
rule was laid down, at first, that students were expected to inform
the Principal of the place of worship they chose to attend, but this
proviso was intended rather to give the Principal the right to make
such inquiry than to impose any restrictions on the students. Miss
Clough always regarded religious teaching and observance as belonging
to the family rather than to any educational establishment, and she
thought it essential to allow students to keep up their ties with any
church to which they or their parents might belong.
In some ways the absence of a religious centre to the College may have
been a disadvantage, but if so, the fault was rather in the times than
in any persons. In point of fact, there has never been wanting a strong
religious element in Newnham life. At the same time the atmosphere has
been favourable to interchange of religious ideas among persons of
various types and experiences. No student was made unpopular by her
religious views unless she asserted them in an aggressive way. Most
religious movements in Cambridge (and there have been many) since the
beginnings of the College have made their influence felt within its
precincts, and a large number of past students have devoted their lives
to distinctly religious work, especially in distant lands, and such
always look to the staff and students of their College for sympathy and
encouragement.
This digression seemed necessary to correct prevalent misconceptions.
To return to the general growth of the College in the eighties:
attached to the new Hall of residence as its dining-hall was a
beautiful College Hall, much larger than either of the other
dining-rooms, and suggestions were made that the Staff with the
students in all three Halls should dine together. This arrangement was,
however, not easily compatible with the plan of division for tutorial
purposes into three Halls. One desirable addition was a well-equipped
kitchen. For a time the two Halls on the north side were supplied from
the new kitchen; but much later, when the new Hall to the west, Peile
Hall, was built, a large central kitchen was constructed, and all four
Halls were provided from it, the food being wheeled to each in covered
trolleys and received on hot tables in the several Halls.
The opening of Clough Hall, as the new and largest Hall was named, was
a great occasion for Newnham. It was a pleasant summer day (June 9th,
1888), and many friends came from a distance. On the same day a degree
was to be granted to the son of the Prince of Wales (Prince Albert
Victor), and the Prince of Wales (Edward VII.) with the Princess and
the three young Princesses paid a visit to the College. The students
welcomed them with song in the new dining-hall, a ballot having first
been taken among them as to who were the best representative students
to present bouquets. This is probably the first and last occasion on
which, in Newnham, a critical decision had to be made as to beauty,
physical vigour and becoming dress. The royal party walked across the
garden from the new Hall to the Principal's own rooms. Next followed
a delightful ceremony which betokened both the respect and affection
felt for one of the most assiduous helpers of the College and the
beginnings of a new vista for Newnham in the endowment of Research--the
presentation to Miss Marion Kennedy of a sum, which her friends had
raised, to found a Studentship bearing her name, as an endowment for
post-graduate work. There had been since 1882, by the generosity of
the Hon. Selina Bathurst, a fund for encouraging advanced work in
Natural Science, and it seemed eminently fitting that the possibility
of promoting learning of any kind should be associated with the revered
name of Kennedy. But perhaps the most moving event of that day was
almost unpremeditated. The old students who had come from a distance,
with those in residence, had a social supper in the large new Hall,
after which Miss Clough, overcoming the reticence with which she
habitually covered her deepest feelings, allowed all present to see
more of her ideals and hopes, with her trust in their realization, than
some of them had as yet known to be part of her character.
The new buildings necessitated a new nomenclature. The points of the
compass were rejected in favour of the names of the founders. North
Hall, which had been inaugurated by Mrs. Sidgwick's Vice-Principalship,
became Sidgwick Hall, the new Hall was named Clough Hall, the South
Hall--not being connected with any founder so intimately as with Miss
Clough herself--retained a portion of its prestige in the title of
the Old Hall. Other names of founders and benefactors were reserved
for later additions to the College. Miss Clough herself took up
residence in the Hall which bore her name. Miss Gladstone was still
Vice-Principal in Sidgwick Hall; Miss Jane Lee, a very earnest scholar
of Italian literature, entirely devoted to the best interests of
the College, became head of the Old Hall, also with the title of
Vice-Principal. This title for the person presiding over one particular
Hall, and giving special attention to the needs of the students in that
Hall, became somewhat misleading, and has since been replaced by that
of Tutor, to which (in the Cambridge Colleges) it roughly corresponds.
The Vice-Principal in each Hall had much more to do with house-keeping
arrangements than later on, when more unity in this respect had been
achieved and a regular Steward appointed. The Vice-Principals presided
at table in their several Halls, corresponded with the parents of
students, arranged, within the limits of a few simple laws, rules
for the discipline of the students, read prayers in the morning; in
fact, were generally responsible for the social, physical and moral
requirements of the students. As, when there were only two Halls,
Miss Gladstone held the office in Sidgwick Hall for many years, she
imparted to it a certain character, and for a long time _the_ V.-P.
was a title regarded as almost individual to her. The separation into
Halls, inevitable for a time, had, in Miss Clough's estimation and
perhaps in reality, a very decided advantage. Students in one Hall
naturally saw more of one another than of those in other Halls; Old
Hall especially was somewhat cut off from the two others, so long as
the public road ran between. And for games, clubs, and other social
purposes, it was often a help to have a natural division into the three
Halls. The larger societies--such as the Debating Society, the Musical
Society, and some others, as well as the more regular of the Games
Clubs--belonged to the College as a whole. The teaching arrangements
were, of course, always made for the whole College and not separately
for each Hall.
From about this time the social activities of the students, both those
resident in College and those who had gone back to their own homes
or taken up definite work, showed themselves in many ways. In 1880
an effort was made to keep up in those who had gone down the College
spirit and College interests. The result was a society called the
Newnham College Club, rather an unfortunate name, since it was not
a club properly so-called, having no local habitation; it sometimes
became confounded with the Ladies' University Club, and students were
debarred from entering by the fear of expense. The "Club" prepared
students' minds for the official College Roll which superseded it
in 1919. The founders and officers of the Club (among whom those
especially active in its initiation and development were Miss Julia
Sharpe, Miss Olive Macmillan (Mrs. MacLehose), Mrs. Corrie Grant (_née_
Adams)), deserve the gratitude of the College for having, by means of an
annual _Newnham Letter_, with information as to College developments,
births, marriages, deaths among old students, fresh appointments,
etc., and by regular meetings in London, kept alive in a large and
growing number of former students the memory of their Alma Mater and
her interest in the doings of her children. In after times it was
interesting to see how, when a member of the Club who had gone to live
in Central Africa or New Zealand visited her old haunts, she was found
to be far better informed as to the lines of recent progress than some
who had never left England.
In another direction Newnham took the lead, this time on the direct
initiation of Miss Clough, in the formation of a teachers' agency
for qualified women who had taken a College course. The governesses'
agencies of those days opened their doors to stronger and to feebler
applicants. Heads of schools and families desiring well-educated
teachers were constantly writing to Miss Clough, and it seemed time to
start a registry on collegiate lines. She communicated the project to
a few former students engaged or interested in education, and they at
once formed a committee, invited the co-operation of Girton, the Oxford
Colleges, and the graduated women of London University, and started
what became the Association of University Women Teachers. From ten or a
dozen members it has increased to over 2800. The idea of this Society,
as compared with the ordinary registry, was that the Secretary, a
University woman and in close touch with Universities, should keep
herself personally informed as to the credentials and careers of
applicants; that she should make sure of the eligibility of the posts
offered; and that she should be able to offer advice to young teachers
as to applying for posts and making changes when, but not before, it
seemed expedient; and that the expenses should, as far as possible, be
defrayed from the ordinary subscriptions of members. Further, and this
was a point of much importance, it was intended that the Association
should watch over the interests of women teachers, and should interest
itself in educational questions generally. The secretaryship has been
held by various University women--for many years by Miss Alice Gruner,
whose experience and untiring devotion to the work made her a most
valuable adviser both to those who offered and those who were seeking
educational posts. It is now filled by Mrs. Brough (_née_ Lloyd), and
has offices at 108 Victoria Street, Westminster.
Miss Clough never lost her interest in school teaching and teachers,
of any and all types. At one time she arranged for parties of Newnham
students to visit some of the elementary schools in Cambridge and
give amateur lessons--chiefly that they might know what the inside of
an elementary schoolroom was like--partly because, as she entirely
believed, education and mutual acquaintance are the great factors for
breaking down class distinctions. Meantime, a body of energetic Newnham
students (led by Miss E. P. Hughes, Miss A. M. Adams and others) were
eager to help in the education of working men. For many years a school
was kept up in St. Matthew's Schoolroom, Barnwell, for men who were
known not to go to church on Sunday mornings, but who wished, during
those hours, to learn some of the elements which--in those days--many
adults had never acquired. Miss Clough was much interested in the
scheme, and once or twice came down to speak to the men, though she
was anxious that no student should, in taking part in the work, give
up time that she required for Sunday rest. The school was for some
years vigorously carried on by the late Principal, Miss Stephen. While
it lasted, it certainly did good work on both sides. The classes were
conversational, and many students learned at least something of working
men's life and ambitions. It died down partly owing to the irregularity
necessitated by the alternation of terms and vacations, partly to the
activities of a new clergyman, who was not without hope of inducing men
to go to church on Sunday mornings.
The interest which Miss Clough always felt, and which she imparted to
a good many students, in elementary teachers and their work was shown
in certain experiments, novel as they seemed then, though precursive
of greater things. She was anxious that those teachers who had a hard
and often a dull life, and whom she knew to be often most conscientious
and zealous in their profession, should see something of a different
life, and especially of University life, and in particular that they
should enjoy some rambles among the old Colleges of Cambridge, and
hear lectures from Cambridge teachers. The Summer Meeting of the
Extension Scheme was not as yet, unless one counts it as beginning in
these Newnham gatherings. Certainly it originated in the circle of
educational pioneers to which Miss Clough belonged, and some of the
earliest "Extension Students" were successors to those who had come up
under the early scheme. In the summer of 1885 two men and two women
from the northern counties (the women being both elementary teachers)
received bursaries from the Lectures Association in the north that
they might come for three or four weeks' study in Cambridge. The
women were accommodated in Newnham, and though their teaching had
been otherwise provided for, Miss Clough commended them to the care
of some of the younger lecturers, who did the chaperoning required in
those more exacting days, and gave what social and friendly help was
required. In 1887 Miss Clough undertook a similar experiment on her own
account. A party of about fourteen women teachers in elementary schools
were accommodated for three weeks in the Red Houses which formed the
interim abode of students while Clough Hall was in process of building
and were not required during the Long Vacation. In 1889 and 1891 the
experiment was repeated, the teachers being received into the Old
Hall. Certain of the younger lecturers gave them lectures in History
and Literature, and in some of the subjects (Latin, Logic, etc.) with
which they were struggling for their examinations, while the Natural
Science lecturers took several of them into the laboratories and for
botanical excursions. The lecturers and students of Newnham acted up to
the College reputation for hospitality, and Miss Clough herself visited
them and invited them to see her in her private room. The grievances of
teaching in the days of half-time pupils and dearth of money and books
for teachers were poured into sympathetic ears. After the Annual Summer
Meeting of University Extension Students had been fairly set on foot
these sectional meetings became merged in the general one, and there
was no need for such special gatherings at Newnham, but the College,
when the Meeting was in Cambridge, has always received a number of
Extension Students as paying guests, and lecturers and other Newnham
officials have taken pains to make the visit profitable, so that many
came year after year and always cherished an affection for Newnham
above and beyond that which they felt for Cambridge.
[Illustration: MRS. HENRY SIDGWICK.]
This movement was one from above--originated by the Principal and
worked mainly by the Staff. But the one which brought Newnham generally
most closely into contact with what one may call socio-educational
work was the Women's University Settlement in Southwark. The idea
of "settlements" is familiar nowadays, and the original character
and object of such institutions has much changed and developed
since the first experiment was begun by the inspiration and intense
activity of Arnold Toynbee. The primary notion of a _settlement_ was
of an abode in the poorer districts of a town where men of culture,
engaged in various occupations, might make their home, devoting their
leisure to the society and to the amusement or assistance of poorer
neighbours. While this ideal is more or less preserved in the numerous
settlements--some connected with particular churches or colleges,
others quite independent--to be found in London and in others of our
big towns, perhaps the possibility of uniting outside professional
duties in the daytime with attention to social evils and their remedies
in the evenings has not been permanently realized in any. Certainly in
Settlements of women, the self-regarding part of the work has become
chiefly educational: the training of the worker by instruction in the
principles of economics and the history of social legislation. The
Settlement in Southwark was throughout of this description. Though
it has been carried on by women from other Universities as well as
Cambridge women, the first thought of such an enterprise arose in
Cambridge after an interesting meeting of the Society for Discussing
Social Questions. This society of Cambridge ladies, including
Girton and Newnham students (founded chiefly by the efforts of Mrs.
Marshall), held, Feb. 4th, 1887, an interesting meeting at which Mrs.
Samuel Barnett, wife of the Warden of Toynbee Hall, and Miss Alice
Gruner--lately a historical student of Newnham College--read
interesting papers on _Settlements_. Miss Gruner had already begun
work of the kind in London and was anxious to find helpers. Several
students were inspired to initiate a Settlement; Miss Gruner consented
to allow her undertaking to be taken over as the nucleus and became the
first Warden. Girton was appealed to and also the Oxford Halls. The
result was the formation of a Committee and the acquiring of a house
in Nelson Square, London, S.E., Miss Gruner having laid her finger on
the very spot afterwards marked most darkly in Sir C. Booth's _Life and
Labour of the People_. The history of the Settlement, the development
of its various activities, the links which it formed with other
agencies, religious and secular, in combining for the betterment of
conditions among the London poor, the schemes adopted by its residents
and afterwards taken up by public authorities, do not belong, except
indirectly, to the history of Newnham College, yet the Settlement has
certainly been a factor in the life of many students, and it is not too
much to say that what was first discussed within the walls of Newnham
has been successfully worked out in many parts of England and, indeed,
in some distant lands. Many University women besides Newnham students
have worked there, and one may suppose that in a sense the movement was
"in the air" and would in any case have come into active existence.
Yet Newnham may enjoy some of the credit of the work done in Southwark
and of the excellent Wardens provided in the persons of Miss Gruner,
Miss Sewell, Miss Gladstone, and the present head, Miss M. M. Sharpley.
Workers and officers of much devotion and ability have been supplied by
Oxford and the London University, and Settlements of a somewhat similar
kind form adjuncts to other Universities, such as Bristol, Leeds and
Birmingham.
If Newnham was making its way, as learner, as teacher, and as worker,
in the field of social enterprise, the same is even more true in that
of education. A large proportion of the students during the time now
under consideration adopted the teaching profession. Technical training
was not insisted on by head mistresses, nor by the Government, and most
young women plunged into educational life to sink or swim--some of
those who might have sunk emerging after a term or two to take a course
of training. The head for many years of the Maria Grey Training College
was a University woman (Miss Alice Woods of Girton) and the first head
of the Cambridge Training College was from Newnham--Miss E. P. Hughes.
Meantime, the standard of attainment in girls' schools was rapidly
rising, as women who had received a University education took up posts
in them and imbued their pupils with a desire to come up some day to
Cambridge. At first, former students had often to work as assistants
under Heads of a different and older type, but this was not always a
disadvantage, as the older, partly self-taught, mistresses, both of
public and private schools, sometimes showed an admirable power of
blending the new life which young University teachers brought into the
schools with the good traditions of the last generation. In course of
time head mistresses were generally appointed from assistants who had a
good "degree or its equivalent," and the bonds between schools and the
University thus became stronger.
In 1890 the College had again a festive occasion--on the attainment by
Miss Philippa Fawcett of a place in the Mathematical Tripos above the
Senior Wrangler. The scene in the Senate-house is one that will live
in the memory of all who were present. It is pleasant to be able to
say that no discordant note was struck. As Miss Fawcett passed out,
with Miss Clough leaning on her arm, the undergraduates formed a line
on either side and gave a hearty cheer. The event was celebrated at
Newnham by a dinner in Hall, at which Mrs. Fawcett was present, and
also Dr. Hobson, Miss Fawcett's tutor in mathematics. In the evening
her student friends decorated the doorway with lamps, and as there
was just then a piece of waste ground at the west-end of the College
grounds, it was possible to make a bonfire, and to carry the Senior
Wrangler round it, and in the light of the fire to call on Dr. Hobson
for a speech. Miss Clough was quietly happy, and all present felt that
there was something of poetical justice in the occurrence. Professor
and Mrs. Fawcett had been, as we have seen, pioneers in the movement
for women's education; they had also been warmly attached to Miss
Clough, as, in a more filial way, their daughter had been for many
years. Miss Fawcett herself, besides being one to whose brilliant
mathematical powers the highest academic honours were due, was a
singularly suitable person for this high distinction, in that she
exemplified so many of the qualities popularly supposed to be absent
from the character of a University woman. She was modest and retiring,
almost to a fault--trying though not always successfully, to counteract
the impression made by her personality, so as to appear like a very
ordinary person--not known to many, but loved as well as admired by her
intimate friends. As the subsequent career of Miss Fawcett is not well
known, it may be stated here that after the second and more advanced
part of the Mathematical Tripos (in which she obtained the highest
honours) she held for a year the Marion Kennedy Studentship already
referred to, and wrote on a problem involving advanced mathematical
research. She subsequently acted as Mathematical Lecturer at Newnham,
but feeling, as her father had felt before her, the call of national
service above all inducement to academic pursuits, she accepted a
Government appointment and went out to help organize education in
the Transvaal. After a period of assiduous work in Johannesburg, she
returned to England and was appointed a Principal Assistant in the
Education Department of the London County Council, a post of much
importance and responsibility. Miss Fawcett served for some years on
the Council of Newnham College, and has maintained a constant interest
in its welfare.
To return to the history of the College: in February 1892 it had to
sustain a loss which was hardly less a blow from having come in the
ordinary course of nature. Miss Clough was 72 years old in the January
of that year. She had to most people looked about the same age for
many years, as her hair had whitened early, and the vivid look in her
eyes never suggested old age. The portrait of her by Shannon, painted
in 1890, gives a better impression of her than Richmond's portrait of
1882.[8] The latter shows, perhaps, more strength, the former more
sweetness. But neither can possibly give an adequate interpretation
to a face so speaking and changeful. Shannon's is a sympathetic study
of calm, benevolent, but alert old age, suggestive of ripe experience
and of a patient outlook on life. It hangs in the College Hall with
the portraits of Prof. and Mrs. Sidgwick and Miss Kennedy, all of them
pleasing and profitable reminders to the students, at their meals,
debates, and dancing, of the character as well as the appearance of
those to whom they owe their present happy opportunities.
[Footnote 8: Now hanging in the Old Hall Library. The expression is
stern, and it was caricatured in _Punch_ as "The very ready
letter-writer; won't I give it him?" She remarked to a former student
that she wished she could have had some young friends to talk to whilst
it was being painted. "But didn't the artist talk to you, Miss Clough?"
"Yes, on subjects as to which we did not agree."]
During the later part of her life Miss Clough had been obliged to let
some of her work be lightened, and to give the management of Clough
Hall to Miss Katharine Stephen, who had formerly been Miss Gladstone's
secretary; but she still kept an eye on everything that happened in
the College, and many things far beyond. Miss Clough had always felt
a deep interest in the colonies, and she kept up a correspondence
with past students who had made educational ventures in many distant
parts. As one of them said, "her interest in us seemed to vary directly
as the squares of the distances," though certainly those nearer to
Cambridge would not have accepted such a formula. Such schemes as the
mixed education for blacks and whites in Jamaica, the starting of a
loan library in tropical Australia, the opening of a boarding-school
for aristocratic girls in Siam, aroused her warm interest and often
called forth wholesome advice as well as sympathy. She was always able
to enjoy a quiet country holiday in vacation time. The pleasures of
friendship brought her comfort and enjoyment all her life, during the
latter part of which she had the companionship of her niece--daughter
of the brother to whom she had owed so much in her early intellectual
development--and much care and solicitude from some of the lecturers
and of the elder students. She may be said to have died in harness. The
last time that she appeared at a meeting for students was to interest
them in Mr. Morant's educational efforts in Siam. One of the last
visitors from abroad whom she received, lying on a sitting-room couch,
was a lady from Australia who could bring tidings of a University
hostel managed by a former student. Miss Clough was not sure that this
student was working on the best lines, and was anxious to hear about
her and to send her a message of kindly warning.
The end came quietly on February 27th, 1892. To very many it seemed
as if the world could never be quite the same without her. Certainly
the College, however wisely and generously conducted, was bound to
follow new courses. Yet in a sense Miss Clough was _felix opportunitate
mortis_. She had lived to see her work set on a stable footing; she
might safely leave it in the hands of those like-minded with herself;
and she was spared the pain of friction and later of bitter opposition
which the College and its promoters had to suffer in seeking a
permanent place within University borders.
Miss Clough's kinsfolk showed great breadth of mind, generosity, and
appreciation of her own desires and feelings, in arranging that the
funeral should be rather of a collegiate than of a family character.
She had expressed a wish that her remains should rest in a churchyard
rather than a cemetery, and as she possessed a little property in the
parish of Grantchester, the burial was in the pleasant ground attached
to the church there. A simple slab was afterwards erected with name,
date, and the words: "After she had served her generation by the will
of God, she fell on sleep." The first part of the service was, by the
kind offer of the Provost and Fellows of King's College, read in the
beautiful chapel of that College, the services of which had been to
her, for many years, a perpetual solace and aid. The Staff of Newnham
walked behind the coffin. The Chapel was crowded with members of the
University and a great number of former students from all parts of
England. The following Sunday (the First in Lent) it fell to Dr. Ryle
(now Dean of Westminster) to preach a sermon, and the subject suited
to the season and also to Miss Clough's character and work suggested
his text: "Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." His
reference was very appreciative and delicate. Perhaps it might have
struck some hearers that though Miss Clough would have thoroughly
appreciated the idea of service in the Christian army, she might not
have considered that she had "endured hardness" as much as many others.
Her strenuous efforts and personal restrictions were so entirely
dictated by the needs of her cause and of the individuals in her
charge, that there was no place for asceticism in her life, though much
for plain living and high thinking.
The figure of Miss Clough must necessarily look large in the history
of Newnham College, since she was both its principal founder and its
first head. But it would be useless labour to compare her with other
founders and heads. Her objects and her way of obtaining them were
peculiar to herself in her particular _milieu_. When she was removed,
others who had supported her were ready to follow up her work, perhaps
on more consistently stated principles, with somewhat more of theory in
the background. But there were some ideas at the basis of the College
recognised only by those who had caught her spirit, either by working
under her in life or by imbibing the moral and intellectual atmosphere
which for a long time has kept the College sound and wholesome. The
mental and moral debt of the present College to her, and to those one
may call her disciples, has been more or less manifest already, and
will appear more evident in the sequel.