PROGRESS, 1900-1914
The years which elapsed between the death of Professor Sidgwick and
the retirement of Mrs. Sidgwick from the principalship at the end
of 1910 were marked by progress on various lines. The increase of
demand for accommodation led to the building of a new Hall, with
connecting passages, at right angles to Clough Hall and Kennedy
Buildings, and facing the Grange Road. This is on much the same
plan as the other Halls, with some very pleasant common rooms, and
accommodation for another Vice-Principal (Tutor) and two lecturers,
besides about fifty-six students. The central kitchen, which--as
already stated--helped greatly to simplify and otherwise improve the
domestic arrangements, dates from the same time. Peile Hall was named
after Dr. and Mrs. Peile, whose portraits hang in the dining-hall.
Dr. Peile died on the very day on which the Hall was opened. It would
be difficult to exaggerate the value of the service rendered to the
College by Dr. Peile from its first beginnings till the day of his
death. He was constant in attending the Council, and was President for
many years. His wisdom in giving advice in difficulties was equalled by
his courage in defending the College in aspersions and attacks. He had
been an intimate friend of Professor Sidgwick and an eager promoter of
University reform. Mrs. Peile was intensely interested in everything
connected with the College till the loss of her eyesight and her
enfeebled health withdrew her from her former activities.
Another external addition to the College is the sunk garden, with
fountain, in the lawn immediately opposite the Memorial Gates. It was
paid for as part of the memorial above mentioned by subscriptions of
students past and present, and the stone margin has for legend: "The
daughters of this house to those that shall come after commend the
filial remembrance of Henry Sidgwick."
No further steps towards a request for degrees was made for many years
after the rebuff in 1897, but in the spring of 1904 a recognition of
the status of Tripos students came from an unexpected quarter--the
University of Dublin. There had been a party favourable to women
graduates in Dublin, and the Royal University of Ireland already
granted degrees to those women who had passed its examinations, among
whom were the students of Alexandra College, the head of which had
herself been a Newnham student. After the death of a very highly
respected but also very conservative Provost the authorities of
Trinity College admitted women to their degrees, and at the same time
offered an _ad eundem_ degree to all women who had passed examinations
qualifying for a degree at Oxford or Cambridge. Trinity College already
granted the _ad eundem_ degree to graduates of Oxford and Cambridge,
and this new step amounted to the recognition of the Tripos certificate
granted to women at Cambridge as the equivalent of a degree. The
result was perhaps surprising to its originators, but not to those
who really understood one of the reasons why women students at Oxford
and Cambridge had asked for degrees. Numbers of young women trooped
over as soon as possible after the results of their tripos were known,
to take the B.A. degree. Many others who if degrees at Cambridge had
been open to them would have been of M.A. standing took B.A. and
M.A. both at Dublin. A few, whose literary or scientific work had
made them worthy of a doctorate, were admitted to the higher degree.
The Dublin officials were apparently somewhat surprised and puzzled.
They generously applied most of the money raised by fees to the
establishment of a Hall of residence for women students in Dublin.
This privilege was open to Oxford and Cambridge women for a few years
only, since the object which the authorities of Trinity College,
Dublin, had in view was to provide for those women who had begun or
completed their courses elsewhere and could therefore not make use of
the opportunities which the College now offered to women. One great
advantage, however, had been derived by the general cause from the
temporary grant of Dublin: it had been made clear that the degree of a
respected University was, for women, really worth having. Busy women of
moderate means do not take long journeys and pay considerable fees (£10
for the B.A. and £20 for the M.A.) for a merely fanciful advantage.
Nor would the City Companies, which had granted certain scholarships
to Newnham students, have been willing to pay, as they did, the fees
for their scholars' Dublin degrees unless they felt sure that these
would be to such scholars' advantage. A good many head mistresses felt
it an advantage to be able to wear gown and hood, especially when some
of their assistants could already wear the academic dress of London or
of a Scotch or Welsh University. London did not grant its degrees to
Cambridge women without some further test, though it admitted those
who had taken Triposes to send in theses for a research M.A. degree
without the actual B.A. degree required in men students. The only women
who might have taken the Dublin degree, and had not much reason or
inclination to do so, were members of the Newnham Staff, whose
position was well understood by those around them. If, however, they
migrated during the time that the Dublin _ad eundem_ was open to them,
they sometimes found it desirable to take it.
[Illustration: MISS KATHARINE STEPHEN.]
Mrs. Sidgwick's principalship came to an end in December 1910. Though
Staff and students very deeply deplored her withdrawal, it was felt
that she was more than entitled to more leisure for scientific
pursuits, family enjoyments, and greater liberty generally. She was not
lost altogether to Newnham, since she retained for several years the
post of Treasurer (afterwards called _Bursar_), and after Dr. Peile's
death she consented to become President of the Newnham College Council.
The principalship was offered to Miss Katharine Stephen, who accepted
it and held it for nearly ten years. Mrs. Sidgwick moved into a house
separated from Peile Hall by the Grange Road only, and thus was easily
in touch with College affairs.
One more improvement--and a very important one--was made before Mrs.
Sidgwick's retirement: the determination of a fixed age for retirement
for the Staff and of a pension to follow. The salaries of all the
lecturers were raised and standardized. In the early days the pay had
been low, even according to the standard of that time, simply because
Newnham had not the funds at its disposal that better endowed Colleges
possessed. Still, as we have seen, a great deal had been done for
the promotion of learning and research, and some of the lecturers had
from time to time benefited by the endowments for this purpose. But by
the arrangements which came into force in 1910 the whole status and
earnings of the Staff were revised, and a contributory pension scheme
initiated, with a liberal provision for making the advantages of the
scheme retrospective in the case of lecturers of some years' standing.
Shortly after these reforms, others on a larger scale were projected,
and in a few years successfully accomplished. It was considered by
some past students that the Constitution of the College, though it had
worked well, was more fitted for the infancy of such an institution
than for its adult life. The subject was naturally one taken up and
discussed by the Associates at their annual meeting. Some Associates
who were connected with one or other of the provincial Universities
were anxious to introduce changes which would more or less assimilate
Newnham to such Universities. Others held that whatever changes were
made ought to be rather on a College than a University plan, and that
the wisest course would be to make Newnham, in general government
and arrangements, sufficiently like the Cambridge Colleges for it
to be able, if ever the happy day arose of its full recognition by
the University, to fall into line and take its place with the other
Colleges. The Associates chose a committee from among themselves
to draft a scheme, and to them were joined representatives of the
Council, including experienced members of the University, who gave
invaluable help, and the results they came to were successful in
meeting with a unanimous acceptance. The models chosen were chiefly
the smaller Colleges, but none were followed slavishly, and the scheme
when it emerged was found acceptable to the whole body of Associates.
The Council on this, as on similar occasions, was not above taking
suggestions from the past students and working on the lines thrown out.
The result was a petition for a Charter which, with the Statutes of the
College, became operative in the year 1917.
The main object of the Charter was to constitute "one body politic
and corporate by the name and style of 'the Principal and Fellows of
Newnham College'" with perpetual succession, a common seal, power to
sue and be sued in court, to hold and dispose of property and the like.
Its chief objects were defined as: "(_b_) to establish and maintain
at or near Cambridge a house or residence or houses or residences in
which female students may reside and study; (_c_) to provide a liberal
education for women by carrying on the work of the old Association with
such modifications as may from time to time appear desirable either in
its present situation or elsewhere in the town of Cambridge or County
of Cambridge; (_f_) to do all such other things as are incidental or
conducive to advancing education and learning among women in Cambridge
and elsewhere."
One point with regard to the new Charter and Statutes requires notice,
viz. the use of the name Fellow as applied to a member of "the one body
politic and corporate." Hitherto the title of Fellow had been attached
to the endowment for research for which funds had been collected as
already mentioned. The word Fellow in the Cambridge Colleges had always
connoted membership of a corporate body, but as Fellows of Colleges
were in general chosen for academic eminence or promise the name was
associated with the expectation of services in the advancement of
learning and research. This association with the title had influenced
the first champions of research for women, and in addition they desired
that these endowments should be used by women of high standing and
proved capacity in the sphere of learning to whom the status of Fellow
rather than that of Research Student was due.
But when under the new Charter the constitution of Newnham was to some
extent assimilated to those of the older Colleges, it seemed desirable
that members of the new Governing Body should have the name which in
Cambridge is associated with these functions. Therefore the name
Fellow was given to members of the Governing Body, and that of Research
Fellow to those who hold one of the special endowments for research. By
the provisions of the Charter some of the Research Fellows must always
be members of the Governing Body and therefore also Fellows.
To return to the government of the College as revised and established
by the Charter:
The ultimate authority in the affairs of the College is the Governing
Body. This comprises all full members of the Staff, a fixed number
of Research Fellows chosen by the Governing Body; representatives of
the Associates,[14] and certain "Founders and Benefactors" living at
the date of the Charter. The Council is a smaller body, and comprises
besides the Principal, the Vice-Principal, the Bursar, and one of the
Tutors, three members of the Senate of the University, elected by the
Governing Body, seven additional members of the Governing Body, and
three Founders and Benefactors alive in 1917.
[Footnote 14: See p. 91.]
Several points in the Charter will attract the attention of any
student of former times who may be reading this history. The changes
in nomenclature are, at first sight, puzzling. The use of the term
_Fellow_ has, as the most important, already been dwelt upon: that of
_Tutor_ as supplanting _Vice-Principal_ has also been noticed. There
is now but _one_ Vice-Principal, the numerous and important duties
associated with the former vice-principalship being discharged by the
Tutors superintending each Hall respectively. The Vice-Principal has
now the functions properly assigned to the title, since she is bound to
take the place of the Principal on necessary occasions, and especially
to be in residence in the College when the Principal is absent (except
in vacations). The term _Bursar_ replaces that of _Treasurer_.
There is something of the nature of representative government in the
election of Associate members on the Governing Body. The general
body of past students has recognition in that the Statutes provide
for the maintenance of a Newnham College Roll. The compiling and
keeping up of this Roll has involved considerable labour on the part
of the first registrar chosen to that office, Miss Edith Sharpley. It
has, as already said, succeeded to the "Newnham College Club," but
has recognised status. It now numbers a large proportion of former
students, and the College may confidently look to them to further its
interests and usefulness in all parts of the world.
Like the other Colleges, Newnham now has a Visitor, and the first
Visitors have been two successive Chancellors of the University of
Cambridge, Lord Rayleigh and the Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, respectively
brother-in-law and brother of Mrs. Sidgwick.
Another feature in the new Constitution that will strike past students
is the smaller proportion than formerly of members of the University
compared to the Newnham College officials. It must not, however, be
for a moment supposed that the College is not and will not continue to
be in many ways dependent on the changes and general progress of the
University. It will still be practically unable to take any important
steps without the advice of some members of the University who are
friendly to the College and its Staff. There will always be members of
the Senate on the Council of Newnham College, and for some years, it
is hoped, on the Governing Body. But beyond actual membership in any
body concerned in the government of the College, Newnham must always
hope to retain and even to increase the number of Cambridge dons and
teachers interested both in its students, who may be their pupils, and
in its lecturers, whom they regard as colleagues. In considerations of
this kind, law can only create and maintain possible relations. The
actual relations will, we trust, become modified as time goes on, and
this, even in spite of temporary drawbacks, in the direction of closer
co-operation and mutual respect between the men's and the women's
Colleges in work and in other helpful intercourse.
From some provisions in the Charter, and from the general progress
which has been traced, it must appear that the body of residents of
graduate standing in Newnham, including administrative officials,
lecturers, and Research Students and Fellows, had for years been
growing in importance and developing a corporate life. Junior to
the Staff and Research Fellows, but of post-graduate standing, are
those who hold the two or three research studentships which have been
mentioned, and of late years others who have completed the degree
courses have been enabled to stay on in Cambridge and carry on work in
the laboratories by grants from the Medical Research Council and the
Industrial Research Board. Of late, too, students with degrees from
overseas and from other British Universities have come to Cambridge
in increasing numbers to work for the recently established Research
Certificates of the University. These students, with their wider
interests and experience doing specialized advanced work in various
subjects literary and scientific, some of them resident in the College,
others living outside but connected with it, add a valuable element and
form a link between the generations.
Old students are encouraged to come up to read in the Long Vacation,
and thus keep up their old friendships and renew their old interests.
Sometimes, it is true, Newnham is almost too full, with visitors from
outside, to afford the peaceful time for uninterrupted and independent
work characteristic of the "Longs" of former days. Yet the visits of
distant friends is often stimulating as well as pleasant. Almost every
other year, since the University Extension Summer Meetings began--we
may almost say at Newnham's initiative[15]--some of the students have
been accommodated in Newnham. This is true, too, of the Vacation Terms
for Biblical Study; since those were inaugurated by Mrs. Sidgwick's
niece, Miss Margaret Benson, and intended chiefly as a help to school
teachers, the promoters naturally looked to Newnham for hospitality,
and many old students attend the courses. Learned societies of
mathematicians, historians and others have often come to England
from all over the world, and Newnham has been glad to entertain both
learned ladies and the wives of learned men staying in the Colleges.
Another kind of gathering may be mentioned, as somewhat original in
idea and very useful in practice. Several of the students of Natural
Science who, after taking their Tripos, had gone to teach in schools,
complained of the scarcity and inferiority of the apparatus at their
disposal. The lecturer in Chemical Science, Miss Ida Freund, arranged
that a company of them should come to Cambridge for a part of the Long
Vacation to learn how to construct the simpler kind of instruments for
themselves. The result was very satisfactory, and the teachers learned
not only how to make the best of the conditions under which they might
have to teach, but also how to keep abreast of the progress of the
Natural Sciences and of the methods of teaching them. It seemed natural
that on Miss Freund's lamented death in 1914 the Memorial to her
should take the form of a brief course of lectures by an experienced
teacher on the teaching of Physics. The summer meetings, at which these
lectures were delivered, helped to keep teachers from falling behind
in the general progress of knowledge and also to guide them in the
practical work of education.
[Footnote 15: See p. 71.]
One very large part of the story of Newnham has been as yet little
or incidentally treated in this history; the development of student
life and interests. At the beginning that was practically the whole
life of the community: there were no dons, and the Principal (without
losing separate and family interests) merged her life in that of the
young people who were under her care. Things were bound to develop in
both expected and unexpected ways. As more and more students came to
College, variety increased, and at the same time College was likely
to become more like a continuation of school. It would perhaps be
impossible to trace quite accurately any particular tone or character
or even standard of ability rising and falling in the annals of the
Newnham students. At first, as already suggested, there was sure to
be something of originality and enterprise. Girls were never sent to
College as a matter of course, and in many cases they had had hard work
in persuading their parents to let them come even for a slight taste
of College life. Certainly some came for a short spell and remained
for many years, though the fact of coming up without any definite
intentions often worked havoc with chances of academic success. There
were generally cultivated adult women grappling with subjects which
they ought to have mastered in childhood; and also very young students
striving after knowledge of a kind beyond their present reach. Possibly
these aberrations made student life more interesting. But they could
not fail to be diminished--though not even now eliminated--with the
growth of a more uniform standard in the curriculum of girls' schools.
The oldest student society was the Debating Society. It is said to have
had its first meetings under the medlar tree in Merton Hall garden. Its
rules were reduced to writing in the late seventies, though subjected
later to much revision. Its history--like all histories--would, if
written, show great fluctuations in energy, popularity, and capacity.
In the early days there was quite enough earnestness and desire to
convince the world--the Newnham world that is--of the truth or falsity
of certain propositions, political, moral or social. I believe that the
good rule against reading speeches was generally adhered to, but it
was sometimes avoided by the speech having been learned by heart, and
having thereby lost spontaneity without acquiring the possible merits
of a careful essay. The early generations of students were very kind
and tolerant to wearisome speakers, though the time rule was strictly
adhered to. The fatal fault of most debating societies--the desire to
be humorous rather than convincing--threatened at times to destroy
both qualities. But from time to time, capable speakers who really had
something to say arose to retrieve the character of the Society. In
1884 it suffered somewhat by the creation of another society, which
became almost co-extensive with the College, for discussing political
questions. The original Debating Society did not preclude itself from
politics, but it naturally left them to the other society, and was
apt to descend to what was somewhat trivial or else took refuge in
the paradoxical. Its temporary declines, however, were, as just said,
generally followed by reinvigoration. Meantime the Political Debating
Society, which met weekly (for the space of one hour only), kept up a
very lively interest in public affairs, and also gave more practice
in ready impromptu speaking than was possible in the general College
debates. It adopted all the forms of an imitation House of Commons,
with Speaker, Government, Opposition, and the like. Some older critics
were only in part sympathetic, considering that the association of
public interests with party disputes was detrimental to the formation
of unprejudiced opinions. On the whole, however, the great advantage
was secured of keeping a large number of students _au fait_ with the
chief political questions of the day. Additional instructiveness and
liveliness were imparted by the fact that students whose fathers or
friends were in Parliament occasionally "coached them up" in arguments
and prognostications. The society became slack after many years, owing,
I think, to the excessive burden thrown on a few students who were
responsible for preparing the weekly business, and was reorganized with
the forms of an ordinary debating society. It was suspended during the
War, but revived--as society, not as amateur parliament--after the
Armistice. It has since resumed the parliamentary form.
Besides the debating societies, each subject or group of subjects has
for many years had its meetings for reading and discussing papers
on Classical, Scientific, Historical, and many other subjects. Not
infrequently some distinguished man or woman from outside has been
invited to deliver a lecture.
The Choral Society began in the earlier days of Newnham, and long
enjoyed the devoted and very able direction of Dr. Mann, Organist of
King's College, and gave very successful concerts. The display of
musical talent in the College is anything but uniform. One year we had
a good orchestra of stringed instruments, and the same may occur again
from time to time. Meanwhile, a musical society, started in a much
humbler way by an industrious student who was desirous of "keeping up
her practice" and inducing fellow students to do the same and be ready
to play some piece to one another on Saturdays, has developed into
a considerable College club called after its foundress, The Raleigh
Musical Society. A good many students, too, have been members of the
Cambridge University Musical Society.
Astronomical interests have been cultivated in non-mathematical
students since the valuable gift of a telescope and small observatory
by Mrs. Boreham (daughter-in-law of the astronomer) in 1891. It was at
first placed on a mound to the south of Clough Hall, but when the view
from it was obstructed by the building of Peile Hall it was removed
to an open space at the far end of the College grounds. It was placed
under the curatorship of a mathematical scholar who had not only been
a high wrangler, but had had the advantage of having been brought up
in an astronomical atmosphere, Miss E. A. Stoney. Students with no
knowledge of astronomy were invited on certain evenings to see Saturn's
rings and Jupiter's moons. Their interest was attracted even to things
of the heavens which are visible to the naked eye. There was an
enthusiasm for "learning the constellations," instruction being given
by the expert to the ignorant. One night, when one of the mathematical
lecturers informed the students that the phenomenon was about to take
place described as "the Moon swallowing Jupiter," a large number of
students assembled on the lawn to watch the event. Happily it occurred
about 9 p.m. on a clear night. The act of swallowing was greeted by a
cheer--though whether the object cheered was Jupiter, the Moon, or the
lecturer who had given warning was not very clear. This little event is
mentioned as one of the many cases in which the common life of students
engaged in heterogeneous subjects has advantages of an educational as
well as of a social kind.
We have already mentioned the lectures on Literature which were at one
time given by first-rate men of letters to students of all faculties
four or five times a year. Attendance at them was never compulsory, but
the interest of the subject and distinction of the lecturer attracted
many, and this continued to be the case with the Sidgwick Memorial
Lecture. A student of natural science has expressed her deep debt to
the attraction to good literature which these lectures afforded.
Latterly the lectures given by holders of the new professorship of
English (Dr. Verrall and Sir A. Quiller Couch), which are open to other
than special students of the subject, amply provided for the objects
aimed at in the earlier Newnham lectures.
Naturally the societies or clubs that loom largest in the life of
present and the memories of past students are those connected with
games. Hockey, as already said, was started by the first Principal
herself, and it has remained for a long time one of the most prominent
of the games societies. The several Halls have their teams, and play
against one another; the College team plays against Girton and more
distant colleges and schools as well as other clubs; also matches are
played between past and present students. Fives is provided for by good
courts. Cricket is played in the summer term. Tennis had been with us
from the beginning of Lawn Tennis itself, and ash courts made the game
possible all the year round. Lacrosse was introduced a good deal later.
The introduction of bicycling during the middle nineties furnished a
new mode of exercise and stimulated exploration of the country.
There have been, of course, many smaller societies: Sharp Practice, to
make students ready in debate; boating, which has recently arrived at
having an eight of its own; others of names incomprehensible to any but
the initiated. In connection with the Women's Settlement in Southwark,
there has from its beginning been a society following its progress and
contributing to its funds. The visits of Residents in the Settlement
to explain to the students their work or some branch of it have been
very interesting occasions--especially in the days when Miss Gladstone
was Warden, and came to give a humorous account of her experiences,
professedly to the first-year students, practically to as many of the
students and staff as could crowd into the room.
Although there has not been till lately a formal dramatic society, any
dramatic talent among the students has generally revealed itself fairly
soon. The excuse of some worthy object to be served by threepenny
tickets has been made the occasion of extremely lively impromptu
performances. Especially the gift for melodrama has been displayed with
success and has often caused intense amusement. More serious plays, or
scenes from plays, have been exhibited from time to time, but those
have been most successful which had the least elaborate preparation.
It may be mentioned that Newnham students have taken part in serious
dramatic performances organized by members of the University; as in the
_Comus_, acted on the occasion of the Miltonic Tercentenary.
In other fields there has been collective activity among Newnham
students. There have been various religious societies, in most of which
Newnham students are combined with those of Girton and other Colleges.
In Newnham itself there have been societies for reading and discussing
religious and moral questions on Sunday evenings, the subjects being
sometimes theoretical, sometimes practical. There has been a branch
of a Church Society called "The Society of the Annunciation," which
had corporate Communion with Girton and some religious addresses
in a Cambridge church. But far the largest and most influential
is the _Student Christian Movement_, which has arisen from small
beginnings and now has vigorous branches all over the world. Connected
with this there has always been a collective and particular effort
towards missionary work. A good many Newnham students became Student
Volunteers, and some are doing excellent work abroad, especially in
schools and Colleges of a new type, requiring higher education, and
in medical practice. But the operation of the whole movement is too
well known to need description here. It has branched out into new
departments, and has changed both its qualifications for membership and
its relations to religious bodies at home and abroad, so as to become a
far more potent agency than formerly in all Colleges and among varied
types of student. Some of its leaders are frequently in Cambridge, and
are cordially received at Newnham as well as in the Cambridge Colleges
generally.
With regard to students and the political world. There had been a
Suffrage Society in the College from comparatively early times. It
has already been noticed how there had been among the early promoters
of higher education for women a good many who set great hopes on the
improvement of the position of women as citizens, and especially on
their acquisition of the parliamentary vote. There were, however, among
Staff and students of Newnham, several who felt much disgusted with
the lawlessness and general want of reason and sobriety with which, in
some quarters, the political cause of women was associated. A few, on
the other hand, though not among those in authority, were inclined to
go great lengths against the injustice and levity with which the whole
question was treated by Parliament and by the Government. Those who
desired and believed in the suffrage, but strongly disapproved of the
violent and illegal actions of the extreme wing, took an active part in
the orderly demonstrations organised by the law-abiding section of the
movement. Thus members of the Staff and of the student body walked in
the London processions and took part in the "Pilgrimage" of June 1912.
A very small number of former students carried their principles to the
extreme and suffered in consequence. But the attitude in general of
Newnham in the whole matter was one of decided conviction, combined
with patience and moderation.
Perhaps a few words should be said here as to the changes which were
made, or gradually came about, in the necessary rules for student life
and behaviour. It must always be remembered that fifty years ago, both
unreasoned etiquette and the opinions of reasonable men and women
recognised much severer rules for the general conduct of young women
than are in force to-day; also that in Cambridge, so much a city of
men, the standard of conventional propriety for women was stricter
than in most other places. Miss Clough and her fellow workers in the
early times were sometimes obliged, for the sake of security against
prejudice and gossip, to walk very warily, always, however, avoiding
the imposition of such restraints as would have impeded either good
work or the enjoyment of good health. It has been seen how Miss Clough
herself undertook the sometimes weary duty of chaperoning and minimized
its inconvenience, and in little restrictions of a social kind she
tried to impress on the early students that they were guests of the
University and also pioneers who might by their own behaviour improve
or spoil the chances of more liberty for those who should come after.
As time went on, many rules were relaxed, and those that now have to
be observed are laid down with the utmost care by the authorities,
special regard being paid to the opinions and counsel of those who have
to maintain order and discipline in the University and the Colleges.
The students themselves have never been discouraged from presenting to
the heads of their separate Halls or to the Principal any suggestions
as to possible modifications in domestic arrangement or in general
regulations. Machinery for this purpose has been devised and modified
from time to time. The students in residence choose (since 1911) a
Senior Student, and it is one of her duties to communicate their views
to the authorities. A joint committee of staff and students deliberates
upon proposed alterations. There is also a Hall senior student elected
by each Hall separately. It is generally recognised that great care is
still required in forbidding or sanctioning matters which to a newcomer
seem much more simple than they really are. The past prosperity of the
College has been in very great part due to a good understanding between
governors and governed, and this is still, in a sense, to be regarded
as the sheet anchor of the College in Cambridge. It seems to be
recognised in the Colleges of the University that the only way to avoid
excessive ebullitions of youthful spirit is to enlist on the side of
law and order some popular and leading spirits among the undergraduates
themselves. The same principle applies in women's Colleges, where
the students, as a rule (like public schoolboys), have learned, in
pre-college days, the necessity of rules and regularity. If Newnham
ever becomes a College of the University, the students will, of course,
be subjected to proctorial discipline, but the process would probably
be found not to involve any conspicuous changes in College life.
EPILOGUE
1914 AND AFTER
The outbreak of the Great War marks an epoch in the history of Newnham
as of other institutions at home and abroad. Its experience confirms
also the commonly repeated statement that in many things the results of
the war have proved very different from those anticipated either in the
event of success or of failure. One consequence confidently anticipated
was at least temporary decline. We were bound to suffer restrictions
and something of poverty, for the first item in which the so-called
practical man and woman economize is education. Yet we all see at this
moment that in spite of fiscal difficulties in public and losses in
private affairs, all our schools and colleges are full to overflowing.
Newnham participates in this experience, and is compelled to refuse
promise of admission to many qualified and promising students. The
reasons for this surprising fact are to be found partly in government
policy, partly in economic causes still awaiting elucidation; possibly
also in a genuine belief in education as a good thing for women as for
men.
One danger is to be apprehended: the lack of really well-prepared
students, owing to the comparative scarcity of able University women
who enter the teaching profession. Yet while these words are being
written, the course of events may take an opposite trend. The salaries
of mistresses in schools are raised to an unprecedented height, if
perhaps hardly more than is required to cover increased cost of
living. And the young women who have been serving the country in
administrative work or directing their energies to the land or to
domestic productiveness may, in course of time, find their way back
to the task of teaching, which, after all, has inspired a genuine
enthusiasm in many of our leaders. Early in the War, when some students
were feeling doubts whether patriotic duty might not bid them give up
their academic course for labour of a directly useful kind, the Right
Hon. H. A. L. Fisher gave in Cambridge a convincing address as to the
necessity of keeping up educational and academic work with a view to
the requirements of the future.
Any even slight account of what Newnham students of past days did
during the War would seem to be out of place here in that they did
it as individuals, not as a College.[16] Collectively, however, they
furnished, along with Girton, a hospital unit which did excellent work
in Belgium, France and Serbia, and later in Salonika. This unit was
organized under Scottish management by the Union of Suffrage Societies,
but there was, of course, no political aim in its operations.
[Footnote 16: A list of the various war work of Newnham students in
1914-19 is in process of preparation.]
Past students of Newnham were engaged in War Hospitals in many places.
At the same time some of the most competent Newnham mathematicians
were employed in making calculations to assist in the construction of
aeroplanes. A multitude undertook work in helping soldiers' families,
providing necessaries for hospitals, and housing refugees; while others
went in companies to gather in fruit and do other work on the land. In
London so many were engaged in government offices that a past student
in London in the summer of 1917, meeting College friends at every
turn, would salute each fresh face with: "What department are you in?"
Many took temporary posts in Universities and boys' schools. Those who
remained in Cambridge had much to do in teaching English to Belgians,
Serbians and other refugees, and in visiting wounded soldiers in the
First Eastern and other Hospitals.
The result of all this activity along unexpectedly opened lines cannot
yet be estimated. Certainly proof was given of the efficiency of
educated women in carrying on work that had never been open to them
before. In some regions (_e.g._ that of police work) it has been
agreed upon that even in normal times it is highly desirable that some
women should be employed. The issue must be awaited in patience.
It would, of course, be unworthy of the College to suppose that in
their activities these women were moved by a wish to better their
position and that of their College. Common humanity and genuine
patriotism were at the bottom of their efforts. But doubtless the
capacity and energy which they displayed helped indirectly towards
the grant of the Suffrage. It is a very notable thing that when the
Suffrage came, past students of Newnham and Girton of the qualified
age, who had the "equivalent of a degree," were adjudged capable
of using the parliamentary vote for the University of Cambridge.
Parliament was, however, not so liberal as Dublin had been, as it did
not recognise as "equivalent" the Tripos Certificates given before the
Graces of 1881.
One more change awaited the College at the end of the last academic
year, in the retirement of the Principal, Miss Katharine Stephen,
a loss much deplored, though Miss Stephen retains her seat on the
Council. Her devotion to the work she had undertaken, and the ability
with which she discharged it need no eulogies here. Happily, her place
has been filled by the niece and biographer of the First Principal.
Miss B. A. Clough has not only spent many years within the College
precincts and watched its continuous progress, with occasional
drawbacks, from comparatively early days; she has also been intimately
associated with its pioneers and has acquired an unrivalled knowledge
of the aspirations and the needs of student life. As, in old times, the
rule of a Foundress Abbess seemed sometimes to be best carried on by a
niece who had lived much in her environment, so we may hope good things
in future from the fact that our Principal is in more than name the
honoured successor of Anne Jemima Clough.
[Illustration: MISS B. A. CLOUGH.]
As these chapters were being written, the struggle was again begun
for membership in the University of Cambridge, and--as we know only
too well--the result was a failure, though not so crushing a failure
as the attempt in 1897 when the demands were far more modest. It is
not desirable to dwell on this event, but we hope we may accept the
assurance of many friends that it cannot be long before we obtain what
we are asking. Meanwhile we may console ourselves by thinking that
the Women's Colleges have earned the respect even of opponents, and
that there is no probability of their being deprived of the privileges
which they still enjoy. It would be unwise to pretend indifference to
our defeat. Yet we have full reason to celebrate our Jubilee in joy
and hope. For, after all, the treasure to seek which our pioneers
came to Cambridge fifty years ago, is in our possession and likely to
remain with us permanently. That treasure is Education: the opportunity
of learning from the best teachers; of co-operation with like-minded
learners; the opening up of opportunities of learning more of nature
and of man; fitness for doing whatever tasks the future may offer
to those who seek, like our first benefactors, a life of active and
intelligent service. That was their ideal and it may well continue to
be ours.
INDEX
Adams, Mrs., 13.
Adams, Miss A. M. (Mrs. Corrie Grant), 67, 69.
Albert Victor, Prince, Duke of Clarence, 64.
Aldis, Mrs., of Newcastle, 46.
Alexandra, Princess of Wales (Queen Alexandra), 64.
Archer-Hind, Mr. R. D., 24.
Armitage, Mrs. E. (_née_ Bulley), 25.
Associates of Newnham College, 91.
Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women in Cambridge,
founded, 13; amalgamated with Newnham Hall Company, 33.
Balfour, Miss Alice, 38.
Balfour, Rt. Hon. A. J., 118.
Balfour, Prof. Francis Maitland (_see_ Laboratories: biological), 38.
Bateson, Mrs. Anna, 13, 14, 24.
Bateson, Miss Mary, 93 _seq._
Bateson, Dr. William, 95, 102.
Bathurst, Hon. Selina, 64, 93.
Bedford College, London, 6.
Birmingham University, 46.
Bonney, Rev. Dr. T. G., 13.
Boreham, Mrs., gives telescope to Newnham, 126.
Bristol University, 46.
Brough, Mrs. (_née_ Lloyd), 69.
Browne, Bishop G. F., Sec. to Syndicate for local lectures, etc., 11,
47.
Bryce, Lord, on North of England Council, 9; first Sidgwick Memorial
Lecture, 108.
Bulley, Miss Amy (Mrs. Brooke), 25.
Bursar, title of, 118.
Butler, Canon Geo., 9.
Butler, Mrs. Josephine, 9.
Butler, Rev. Dr. H. M., Master of Trinity, 102, 103.
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 97.
Cayley, Professor A., 14, 47.
Champneys, Mr. Basil, 28, 87.
Chapel, why none in Newnham College, 60 _seq._
Charter of 1917, 115 _seq._
Clay, Mr. C. J., lends room for first lectures to women in Cambridge,
14.
Clough, Miss Anne Jemima, starts Newnham, 2; early education and
experience, 5; helps in work of Northern Council, 13; comes to
Cambridge, 18; her character and ideas, 22 _seq._; removes into
Merton Hall, 26; into Bateman Street, 28; into Newnham Hall, 28;
chaperones to lectures, 40; life in Newnham, 58, 59, 60, 64, 68
_seq._; success of her policy, 55, 76; last illness and death, 81;
funeral service in King's College Chapel, 81; Dr. Ryle's sermon, 82;
portraits, 78; debt of Newnham to her, 83.
Clough, Miss B. A., Fourth Principal of the College, 80, 138.
Clough Hall, Newnham College, 57, 64.
Club, the Newnham College, 67, 118.
College Hall (dining-hall), 63.
Combination Room, 85, 89.
Constitution of the College revised, 114.
Corfe, Miss K., 29.
Creak, Miss Edith, 25.
Creighton, Prof. M. (afterwards Bishop of Peterboro' and later of
London), 96.
Davies, Miss Emily, her aims, 15 _seq._; Head of College at Hitchin
and Girton, 16; working with Newnham for titles of degrees, 106.
Debating Society, 123 _seq._
Debating Society, Political, 124 _seq._
Degrees, titles of, movement for, 100;
defeated, 105.
Discipline, 132.
Dublin University (_see_ Trinity College).
Edward, Prince of Wales (King Edward VII.), 64.
Elementary Education, Newnham's interest in, 69 _seq._
Elles, Miss G. L., 94.
Ewart, Miss M. A., 28.
Extension Students, beginnings in Newnham, 71 _seq._
Fawcett, Prof. Henry, 12, 13.
Fawcett, Mrs. Millicent Garrett, 12, 13, 76.
Fawcett, Miss Philippa, 26, 76 _seq._
Fellow, changes in meaning of term, 116 _seq._
Fisher, Rt. Hon. H. A. L., 136.
Fountain in memory of Henry Sidgwick, 110.
Freund, Miss Ida, 38, 121 _seq._
Games and recreation, 128 _seq._
Gates, Memorial, 86, 87.
Girton College, 16, 46, 48, 51.
Gladstone, Miss Helen, 36 _seq._, 65, 66; retirement, 98.
Governing body, 92, 117.
Graces admitting women to Tripos examinations, 48 _seq._
Greenwood, Miss Marion (Mrs. Bidder), 38.
Gruner, Miss Alice, 74 _seq._
Harrison, Miss J. E., 29, 94.
Hitchin, College at, 16.
Hobson, Dr. E. W., 77.
Hudson, Prof. W. H. H., 24.
Hughes, Miss E. P., 69, 76.
Inter-collegiate lectures opened to women, 15, 40 _seq._
Jackson, Prof. H., 47.
Kennedy, Rev. Prof. B. H., 47.
Kennedy, Miss Marion G., 24, 27; Studentship in memory of, 64, 92;
appeal to the University, 103 _seq._; portrait, 79.
Kennedy Buildings, 99.
Keynes, Dr. J. N., Sec. to Cambridge Local Examinations syndicate, 11.
Kitchen, 63.
Laboratories: biological, 38; chemical, 37.
Larner, Miss F., 25.
Lee, Miss Jane, 65.
Library in the Old Hall, 38 _seq._; in New Hall, 89 _seq._
Little Go--_see_ Previous Examinations.
Local Examinations, 7, 9 _seq._, 11.
Local Lectures in Cambridge, 12.
London University admits women to degrees, 44 _seq._
Macmillan, Miss O. (Mrs. MacLehose), 67.
Maitland, Prof. F. W., 97.
Manchester University, 46.
Markby, Mr., 13.
Marshall, Prof. A., 14, 24.
Marshall, Mrs. A. (_née_ Paley), 19, 29, 74.
Maurice, Rev. Prof. F. D., 6.
Mayor, Rev. Prof. J. E. B., 14, 47.
Mays (Inter-collegiate Examinations), 42.
Merton Hall, 26.
Mill, John Stuart, a benefactor to women's education, 3.
Morant, Sir R. L., Educational Minister in Siam, 80.
More, Mrs. Hannah, advocates educational reform, 5.
Maria Grey Training College, 75.
Myers, F. W. H., on Northern Council, 9.
Newnham College, its beginnings, 1 _seq._; built, 28; Miss Clough
and students move into it, situation, early life, 31 _seq._;
Articles of Association, 33; Growth of buildings, 35 _seq._
Newnham Hall Company formed, 27; Amalgamation of Company with
Association, 33.
Newnham Letter, 67.
North Hall, 35, 37; _see also_ Sidgwick Hall.
North of England Council for Improving the Education of Women, 8.
Ogle, Miss Amy (Mrs. Koppel), 29.
Old Hall, 39, 65; _see also_ South Hall.
Paues, Miss Anna, 95.
Peile, Mrs. Annette, starts correspondence scheme, portrait in Peile
Hall, 11, 109.
Peile, Dr. John, Master of Christ's College, 13, 14, 47, 109.
Peile Hall, 63, 108 _seq._
Pensions to superannuated members of Staff, 118.
Pfeiffer, Mr. and Mrs., 85.
Pfeiffer Building, 37, 85.
Previous Examination (Little Go), 10, 17, 25, 47 _seq._
Queen's College, Harley Street, 6.
Rayleigh, Lord, 118.
Red House, the, 71.
Reid, Prof. J. S., 40.
Roll of the College, 118.
Ryle, Bishop H. E., 82.
Saunders, Miss E. R., 38, 95.
Schools, for girls formed, 6 _seq._
Schools Inquiry Commission, 7.
Scott, Miss C. A., of Girton, 44.
Sellers, Miss Maud, 95.
Senior Student, 133.
Settlement, University, in Southwark, 73 _seq._
Sewell, Miss M. A., 75.
Sharpe, Miss Julia, 67.
Sharpley, Miss E. M., Registrar, 118.
Sharpley, Miss M. M., 78.
Sidgwick, Arthur, collaborates in Life of Henry Sidgwick, 106.
Sidgwick, Prof. Henry, connection with Newnham, 2; on Association, 14;
finds a house for Students, 18; his character and influence, 20
_seq._, 30, 35, 55; in Principal's rooms in Newnham, 84; illness
and death, 106-7; Lectureship founded in his memory, 108, 127.
Sidgwick, Mrs. Henry (_née_ E. M. Balfour), 21; becomes
Vice-Principal, 36, 55; Principal, 84; life in Newnham, 87 _seq._;
portrait, 79; writes life of Prof. Sidgwick, 109; retires from
Principalship, 113; President of Council, 113.
Sidgwick Avenue, 86.
Sidgwick Hall, 39, 65, 99;
_see also_ Old Hall.
Skeat, Rev. Prof. W. W., 14.
Smith, Miss E. M. (Mrs. Bartlett), 95.
Smith, Sydney, a friend to women's education, 4.
Society of London Schoolmistresses, 8.
Societies of students, 66, 123 _seq._
South Hall, 35, 38, 57;
_see also_ Old Hall.
Stephen, Miss Katharine, 70, 79; Vice-Principal, 99; Principal, 113;
retirement, 138.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, lectures on literature, 99.
Stoney, Miss E. A., 127.
Students' rooms, changes in, 58 _seq._
Suffrage, Women's, 3 _seq._, 131 _seq._, 138.
Syndicate (Cambridge) for Local Lectures and Examinations, 11.
Temperley, Mrs. (_née_ Bradford), 95.
Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. Yates, 89.
Training College (Cambridge), 76.
Trinity College, Dublin, grants degrees to qualified Cambridge women
for a few years, 54, 111, 112.
Tripos Examinations--_see_ Graces.
Trotter, Rev. Coutts, 24, 47, 90.
Tutor, change of term, 118.
University Association of Women Teachers started by Miss A. J. Clough,
68.
University Library, women students admitted into, 41.
Venn, Dr. J., 14.
Visitor of the College, 118.
War work done by Newnham students, 137.
Winkworth, Mr. Stephen, 28, 58.
Winkworth, Mrs. Stephen, 28, 90.
Working men, school for, 69.
Young Men's Christian Association, lecture rooms in, 39.
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