Homerton College, Cambridge

Homerton College
University of Cambridge
The Cavendish Building, Homerton College
Arms of Homerton College
Location	Hills Road (map)
Abbreviation	HO[1]
Motto	Respice Finem (Latin)
Motto in English	Look to the end
Established	1768
Named for	Homerton, London, UK
Previous names	Homerton Academy (1768–1852) Training Institution of the Congregational Board of Education (1852–1894)
Sister colleges	Harris Manchester College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford
Principal	Geoff Ward
Undergraduates	600
Postgraduates	800
Endowment	£101.3m (as of 30 June 2017)[2]
Website	www.homerton.cam.ac.uk
JCR	hus-jcr.co.uk
MCR	homertonmcr.co.uk
Boat club	hcbc.org.uk
Map
Location in Cambridge

Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894 the College moved from Homerton High Street, Hackney, London, to Cambridge. Homerton was admitted as an "Approved Society" of the university in 1976, and received its Royal charter in 2010 affirming its status as a full college of the university; the College celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2018.^[3]

With around 600 undergraduates, 800 graduates, and 90 fellows, it has more students than any other Cambridge college, but because only half of these are resident undergraduates its undergraduate presence is similar to large colleges such as Trinity and St John's; the College has particularly strong ties to public service as well as academia, having educated many prominent dissenting thinkers, educationalists, politicians, and missionary explorers.^[4]

The College has extensive grounds which encompass sports fields, water features, beehives and the focal point of the college, its Victorian Gothic hall, it also has a wide range of student clubs and societies, including Homerton College Boat Club, Homerton College Music Society and the Homerton College Rugby Football Club.

The Cavendish Building.

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

The College's origins date back to the seventeenth century. In 1695, a Congregation Fund was created in London to educate Calvinist ministers; as non-conformists, they were barred by law from attending Oxbridge colleges, and so received a modern curriculum of study, with particular emphasis on philosophy, science, and modern history.^[5] In 1730, a formal society – known as the King's Head Society after the pub at the Royal Exchange where they held their meetings – was founded to sponsor young men to attend dissenting academies (today a secret society and discussion club at the College of the same name maintains some of its traditions). By 1768, the Society was large enough to need its own premises, so it purchased a large property in Homerton High Street in London's East End.^[6]

By 1817 the institution had become known as 'Homerton Academy Society', later 'Homerton College Society'. At this time it produced some of the nation's foremost dissenting figures, many closely involved in the opposition movements against the slave trade and Corn Laws.^[7] For several years the College was affiliated to the University of London, but when its theological function was moved to New College London in 1850, it was refounded by the Congregational Board of Education to concentrate on the study of education itself, it did so by transferring its theological courses to New College London, whose Congregationalist Principal was the Rev. John Harris DD, and by extending and rebuilding the old mansion house and 1820s buildings of the academy at a cost of £10,000. The college reopened as the Training Institution of the Congregational Board of Education in April 1852, with Samuel Morley as its Treasurer. Shortly afterwards, it began admitting women students, although then Principal Horobin ultimately called an end to mixed education in 1896, shortly after the move to Cambridge, and thereafter the college remained all-women for 80 years.^[8]

Towards the end of the century, the growth of industry had turned the village of Homerton into a manufacturing centre, lowering the quality of life of the students and leading to seven deaths between 1878 and 1885 from tuberculosis, smallpox and typhoid. Also, increasing numbers of students required more space.^{[citation needed]}

In 1881 former students of Homerton College who were members of Glyn Cricket Club formed a football section to help keep their players fit during the winter months; the football section continued to grow over the ensuing years and is now Leyton Orient Football Club – a fact acknowledged by an annual match between the college's football team and that of the Leyton Orient Supporters Club.^[9]

Move to Cambridge[edit]

In 1894 the Congregational Board of Education were able to purchase the estate of Cavendish College, Cambridge (named after the then-Chancellor of the university and not to be confused with Lucy Cavendish College) which had become available, it had been founded to allow poorer students to sit Cambridge tripos exams without the expense of joining a true Cambridge college, and was briefly recognised as a "Public Hostel" of the university in 1882, but a lack of money had brought the venture to an end.

All its estates and furniture were bought by the Congregational Board for £10,000; and their students and staff moved from the old Hackney premises into the vacant college buildings at Cambridge. Initially taking the name of Homerton New College at Cavendish College, it shortly afterwards became just Homerton College, Cambridge. John Charles Horobin became the first Principal: his portrait hangs in the college's Great Hall.^[10]

The first woman to head the college was Mary Miller Allan, who was responsible for Homerton's national reputation as a trainer of women teachers,^[11] her successor in 1935 was Miss Alice Skillicorn, a former HMI, who took the college through World War Two, during which time it was bombed.^[12] Dame Beryl Paston Brown was Principal in the 1960s – at a time when Homerton's numbers doubled after the introduction of three-year training courses in 1960.^[13]

In December 1976, under the headship of Principal Alison Cheveley Shrubsole,^[14] Homerton was accepted as an Approved Society of the University of Cambridge following a 3–1 vote of the Regent House in favour of its admittance; the possibility of introducing a Cambridge Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree was even given as one of the reasons for the original move into Cambridge. It was after the shake-up and governmental criticisms of teacher training in the early 1970s that the university admitted Homerton, as now all of its students were doing four-year honours courses.

Homerton's Castellated Tower.

In late 2000 the Regent House approved a proposal to "converge" Homerton with the rest of the university.^[15] Convergence involved the transfer of most of the college's teaching and research activity to the new University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and the diversification of the college into a wide range of Tripos subjects. In September 2001 Homerton admitted its first non-education Tripos students. At the same time the old BEd degree was retired in favour of a three-year B.A. in Education, followed by a one-year Post Graduate Certificate of Education.

At the time of convergence it was envisaged that Homerton would move from the status of Approved Society to that of Approved Foundation or full college. In December 2008 Homerton's application to move to full college status was approved by the University Council;^[16] the change in status was completed with the grant of a Royal Charter on 11 March 2010.

Buildings and grounds[edit]

The Great Hall (1889) with Jane Benham Hay's 'The Florentine Procession' on display.

The College croquet lawn in Summer.

The original Victorian Cavendish College buildings were constructed in 1876 in the Gothic Revival style, using a combination of red Suffolk brick and Bath stone dressings. One of the most notable features is an oak doorway with an ogee arch flanked above by ornamental grotesques.^[5] Several years later, the Cambridge architect William Wren designed additions to the eastern end of the college buildings in the Neo-Gothic style – now occupied by the Principal's office;^[5] the castellated tower is the tallest part of the original college buildings, and it is possible to see the spires of Ely Cathedral on a clear day from its uppermost floor.^[17]

The Great Hall is one of the largest and grandest dining halls in Cambridge; when it was built in 1889 it was the largest college hall in Cambridge.^[18] It now houses one of the college's most notable works of art – the celebrated Pre-Raphaelite piece by Jane Benham Hay known as 'The Florentine Procession', painted in the 1860s and winning 'Picture of the Year' in the 1867 Saturday Review;^[19] also encircling the Hall are portraits of former Principals of the college.^[20] The Hall itself features a hammer-beam roof, American walnut panelling, a gallery, rose windows, a fleche,^[5] and a bell originating from the old college in London which sounds before the College Grace is read at Formal dinner.

Other notable buildings of the college include the Ibberson Building built in 1914 (named after its architect, Herbert George Ibberson) which is considered by many – including Nikolaus Pevsner in his Buildings of England – to be the college's most significant building; a fact mirrored by its Grade Two listed status, the only listed building on the site. An example of arts and crafts style architecture, its present-day Combination Room was probably the only grade two listed gymnasium in the world;^[6] also of interest is Trumpington House (completed in 1847, and which once held the college's wine collection in its basement) built in the style of classical revival and currently leased to the Faculty of Education.^[17]

Unlike the majority of Cambridge colleges, Homerton offers on-site accommodation for its students for all three years; this is provided by four purpose-built accommodation buildings: East House, West House, South Court (the latest addition to the college, opened in 2007), and Harrison House. Harrison House exclusively houses graduate students and fellows, and was opened in November 2006. Other accommodation is provided in the ABC and D&E blocks, both part of the main college buildings, as well as in Queen's Wing (opened by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1957^[21]) which also contains the Homerton Union of Students and both the Undergraduate and Graduate Common Rooms. Outside of university terms, the accommodation attracts extensive use for conference purposes.^[22]

The College orchard

Like the other colleges of the University, Homerton's library includes thousands of books covering numerous academic disciplines. Unique to Homerton, however, is a children's book collection, which contains early editions of many famous books from 1780 onwards.^[23]

Homerton has more green space around its buildings than many other Cambridge colleges. In its grounds are several rare examples of wild orchids and over 150 species of plants, which act as a rich habitat for various forms of wildlife – including grey squirrels, carrion crows, woodpeckers, stock doves, rabbits, the 'College fox', and in the summer a small colony of swifts, which nest under the eaves of the roof of the Cavendish building after their return from Africa.^[24] There is also a large orchard, where students relax in warm weather.

Student life[edit]

Traditions[edit]

Homerton has several unique traditions. At its Matriculation Dinner new undergraduates are made to form two lines and drink wine from the 'Homerton Horn' – an African cow horn with silver mounts, whilst speaking several Anglo-Saxon phrases to one another (including the greeting "Wassail!", and the response "Frith and Freondship sae th'y'" – 'peace and friendship be with you').^[25]

Because the college was all-female for much of its history, the design of the college gown is that of those traditionally worn by female undergraduates in early twentieth century Cambridge (this is shared by all the historically-female colleges: Girton, Newnham, and Murray Edwards); the gown is based on the original Cambridge black gown, still worn by undergraduates at Peterhouse, but has the slits in the sleeves closed up. As a homage to its all-female origins, or simply because the college has never had one re-designed, this gown is now worn by all undergraduates at the college regardless of sex.^[26]

Homerton Union of Students[edit]

The Homerton Union of Students is one of the most active student unions in the university; the President - the only paid, sabbatical Presidency of all the Cambridge colleges - manages, along with a Vice-President Internal and a Vice President External, a team of students on the executive committee and a team of 'Liberation officers'. Together, they organise 'Freshers Week'. Homerton's Fresher's week is longer than in most colleges, where students only have two to three days of 'Freshers week' before the start of term, they also organise events throughout the year for students, as well as offer pastoral support.^{[citation needed]}

Every year, the union organises Harry Potter formals, which take place in the college's Great Hall, and include real owls.^{[citation needed]}

May Ball[edit]

The college holds an annual May Ball in Cambridge. In 2018, the ball was attended by over 1500 guests, the largest ever hosted on Homerton's grounds, to celebrate the college's 250th anniversary.^{[citation needed]}

Boat Club[edit]

Homerton College Boat Club (HCBC) is the rowing club of the college. HCBC colours are navy blue with white trim, although the club's Zephyr (garment) is white with blue trim, it is traditional to wear a sock of each of the boat club's colours when racing with a blue sock on the foot opposite the rigger.

The Men's 1st VIII hold the Oxbridge record for the most places advanced during one series of bumps (either Mays, Lents, or Torpids/Eights for Oxford), advancing 13 places in the May Bumps 2001, where the crew moved up a division to division 3 and also won blades.^[27]

People associated with Homerton[edit]

Principals, treasurers, fellows (including honorary fellows) or students who studied at Homerton Academy or Homerton College before and after it officially became part of Cambridge University. Graduates of the college are collectively known as Homertonians.

• 

  Olivia Colman (born 1974), Academy Award and BAFTA Award-winning English actress.

• 

  Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CH, CBE (1934–2016) Honorary Fellow. English composer and conductor; Master of the Queen's Music.

• 

  Dame Carol Ann Duffy, DBE, FRSL (born 1955) Honorary Fellow. British poet and playwright; Poet laureate since May 2009.

• 

  William Johnson Fox (1786–1864) English religious and political orator.

• 

  Leah Manning (1886–1977) British educationalist, social reformer, and Member of Parliament (MP).

• 

  Tamzin Merchant (born 1987), English actress.

• 

  Samuel Morley (MP) (1786–1864) English manufacturer, philanthropist, dissenter, abolitionist, political radical, and statesman.

• 

  Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL (born 1952) Honorary Fellow. English poet, novelist, and biographer; Poet laureate from 1999 to May 2009.

Principals[edit]

A list of Homerton principals since the college relocated to Cambridge in 1894:

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Edwards, Elizabeth (14 January 2004). Women in Teacher Training Colleges, 1900–1960: A Culture of Femininity. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21475-0.
• Simms, T.H. (1979). Homerton College 1695–1978 Published by the Trustees of Homerton College
• Warner, Dr Peter. Lecture on the history of Homerton College (Michaelmas term 2004)
• Raby, P. & Warner, P. (2010). Homerton: The Evolution of a Cambridge College (Published and Distributed by the Principal and Fellows of Homerton College)

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Homerton College, Cambridge.

• Homerton College website
• Homerton College JCR website
• Homerton College MCR website (Graduate Society)

Coordinates: 52°11′11″N 0°08′12″E / 52.1864°N 0.1366°E / 52.1864; 0.1366