| Fitzwilliam College | |
|---|---|
| University of Cambridge | |
 The Grove, Fitzwilliam College | |
 Arms: Lozengy argent and gules; a chief of the arms of the University of Cambridge | |
| Scarf colours: maroon, with two equally-spaced narrow grey stripes | |
| Location | Storey's Way, Cambridge, England (map) |
| Coordinates | 52°12′52″N0°06′18″E / 52.21447°N 0.10489°E /52.21447; 0.10489 |
| Full name | The Master, Fellows and Scholars of Fitzwilliam College in the University of Cambridge |
| Abbreviation | F[1] |
| Motto | Ex antiquis et novissimis optima (Latin) |
| Motto in English | The best of old and new |
| Established | 1966 (1869 as a non-collegiate body) |
| Named after | |
| Previous names |
|
| Sister college | St Edmund Hall, Oxford |
| Master | The Baroness Morgan of Huyton |
| Undergraduates | 520 (2022-23) |
| Postgraduates | 396 (2022-23) |
| Endowment | £77m (2023)[2] |
| Visitor | Chancellors of the universityex officio[3] |
| Website | www |
| JCR | www |
| MCR | mcr |
| Map | |
  Location in Cambridge | |
Fitzwilliam College is aconstituent college of theUniversity of Cambridge, England. The college has origins from 1869, with the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all backgrounds a chance to study at the university. The institution was originally based at Fitzwilliam Hall (later renamed Fitzwilliam House), opposite theFitzwilliam Museum in south-westCambridge. Having moved to its present site in the north of the city, Fitzwilliam attained collegiate status in 1966. Female undergraduates were first admitted in 1978, around the time most colleges were first admitting women.
Fitzwilliam is now home to around 500 undergraduates, 400 graduate students and 90 fellows.[4] By overall student numbers, it was the seventh-largest college in Cambridge as of 2018/19. The college's boat club isFitzwilliam College Boat Club.
Notablealumni of Fitzwilliam College include sixNobel laureates, a large number of prominent academics, public officials, businesspeople, clergy and athletes, three heads of state or government, one former UKSupreme Court Justice, and a significant number of political figures including a formerLiberal Democrats leader, a formerChancellor of the Exchequer, and two formerCommissioners of the Metropolitan Police.
In 1869, Cambridge University altered its statutes to allow men who were not members of a college to become members of the university under the supervision of a censor, whose office was inTrumpington Street, opposite theFitzwilliam Museum, founded in 1816 under the will ofRichard FitzWilliam, 7th Viscount FitzWilliam (1745–1816). This provided students who could not afford to belong to a college with a base from which to study at the university, allowing them to be admitted to degrees, sit examinations and compete for scholarships.[5] The name "Fitzwilliam" was chosen by the students at a meeting of the Non-Collegiate Amalgamation Club in 1887 and, as a result, the university decreed that the house in Trumpington Street could be known as Fitzwilliam Hall. The coat of arms of the new establishment appropriated the arms of the Fitzwilliam family (lozengy argent and gules), to which it had no connection, and added as a chief the arms of Cambridge University.Fitzwilliam Hall became the headquarters of the Non-Collegiate Students Board and provided student facilities and limited accommodation. It was renamed Fitzwilliam House in 1922.
Because of its emphasis on academic ability rather than wealth, Fitzwilliam quickly attracted a strong academic contingent that included future Nobel Prize winners, Heads of State and important judicial figures. It developed a tradition in Medicine and established a reputation as one of the most internationally diverse institutions within the university.[6]
In the second half of the 20th century, the availability ofgrants made Cambridge more accessible and the need for a non-collegiate body of undergraduates began to decline. The possibility that Fitzwilliam could close prompted an outcry from former students and it was therefore decided that it should aim for collegiate status. Funds were accumulated and a new site was acquired at Castle Hill, about one mile north of the city centre. The first new buildings were opened in 1963.
In 1966, Fitzwilliam House was granted aroyal charter by theQueen-in-Council and became Fitzwilliam College.[5]
Since Fitzwilliam began operating at its current site in the north-west of Cambridge, it has grown steadily and developed into one of the university's larger, more cosmopolitan colleges. Built around a regency manor house, the college has grown by one or two buildings each decade and now consists of five interconnected courts, enclosing large, rectangular gardens.[7] In contrast to most of the university, and indeed the regency estate at the college's centre, the majority of the buildings are of modern design.[8]
The first two courts and the central building (comprising, among other things, the rooms formerly belonging to the old library, the dining hall, the junior common room and the bar) were designed bySir Denys Lasdun and completed in 1963. The intention was for these buildings to constitute the back of the college and, as funding became available, the college grew to the south, with New Court (1985), the Chapel (1991) and Wilson Court (1994). Finally, the plan was completed when Gatehouse Court (2003) became the college's new front. In the following year, the college completed the new Auditorium building, and in doing so became home to some of the best performance facilities in the university.[9]
In 2007 the college built a new boathouse on theRiver Cam, in 2009 the Library and IT Centre was added and, in 2010, the college acquired the buildings and grounds that formerly belonged to the Cambridge Lodge Hotel with the intention of renovating them for the use of graduate students.
Fitzwilliam has, over the years, also become known for its beautiful gardens, which largely predate the college.[10] In 2008, an archaeological dig discovered on the college site the earliest clear evidence of settlement in Cambridge, the remains of a 3,500-year-old farmstead.[11]
Fitzwilliam was the third Cambridge college and is, as of today, one of only nine to have wonUniversity Challenge. It did so in 1973 with a team that consisted of Philip Bassett (Botany), David Curry (Material Sciences), David Wurtzel (Law) and Michael Halls (English).[12] The same team featured in the 2002 Reunited Series and won its only game, which was against a team from neighbouring college Churchill, winner of the 1970 series.[13]
As of 2019[update], Fitzwilliam had fixed assets worth slightly more than £144m and an endowment of just under £60m.
The main grounds of the college are located offStorey's Way, towards the north-west of Cambridge. The college is sometimes identified as one of theHill Colleges, together withChurchill College,St Edmund's College,Girton College andMurray Edwards College. These colleges are all among the most recently established and tend to share certain architectural features.
Fitzwilliam consists of a variety of modern buildings, built in the grounds of a regency estate. The Central Hall Building, New Court and Chapel becameGrade II listed buildings in 2024.[14]
The college's centrepiece is the Grove, aGrade II regency manor house, designed by the architect William Custance and constructed in 1813. Custance was also the house's first resident and his initials, along with the date '1814', can be found on a rainwater hopper at the side of the house.[15]
Another slightly smaller building known as Grove Lodge was also designed by Custance and is now part ofMurray Edwards College.[16] For some time, both properties were owned by theDarwin family and the Grove served asEmma Darwin's primary residence between 1883 and 1896, following the death of her husbandCharles. During this time, she had the interior lined with originalWilliam Morris wallpaper[17] and two of her sons had smaller houses built in the grounds. Although both have since been demolished, the house built byHorace Darwin, which was known as the Orchard, was donated to Murray Edwards College in 1962 and the site now serves as its primary campus.[18] In 1988, the Grove became part of Fitzwilliam and today it is home to the Senior Tutor's office and various multi-purpose rooms, as well as the Middle and Senior Common Rooms.[15]
The Hall Building is a large complex towards the back of the college. It was built between 1960 and 1963 and was designed by Sir Denys Lasdun,[19] who wonRoyal Gold Medal in 1977 and is best known for having designed theNational Theatre in London.[20] The building consists primarily of the college dining hall, but also houses the bar, kitchens, the junior common room, a couple of seminar rooms and a music room. The dinner gong, just outside the dining hall, was originally thebell of the aircraft carrierHMS Ocean, and was presented to Fitzwilliam House byAdmiral of the FleetSir Caspar John in 1962.[21]
Like the Hall Building, Fellows' Court was part of the initial construction, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and completed in 1963 at a cost of approximately £300,000.[22] It occupies an area in the far corner of the college and is enclosed by the Hall Building, the Law Library and two dormitories. It is generally reserved for fellows, and, as well as residence, housed the Fellows' Parlour.
Tree Court, the last component of the initial 1963 construction, is located at the north end of the college, opposite Fellows' Court. The court was initially the college's main entrance and, with a car park and a cycling bay just outside, it remains a back door to the college. Tree Court was Lasdun's first student accommodation; he would go on to design similar buildings at theUniversity of East Anglia andChrist's College, Cambridge.[23] Although the court opens out onto the college gardens, the wall opposite the Hall Building was recently lengthened with the addition of the college's new Library and IT Centre. Today, Tree Court provides residence for the majority of first-year students.
In the mid-eighties, the college expanded to the south with the construction of New Court, a three-walled residential compound, designed byMacCormac Jamieson Prichard. Students and fellows contributed to the design with such ideas as intersecting staircases and elongated windows.[24] The building won 1989 David Urwin Award for Best New Building.[25]
In 2004, the court gained its fourth wall with the completion of the college's new auditorium.
In 1991, a college chapel was appended to the north wing of New Court. The building, which was also designed byMacCormac Jamieson Prichard, faces directly towards the Grove and is in theInternational style. It is designed to resemble the hull of a ship, hinting at the religious themes of journey and protection.[26] The building is home to a fine two-manual organ designed byPeter Collins, aBechstein grand piano and aGoble harpsichord.[27] The addition won the 1992Civic Trust Award,[28] the 1993Carpenters' Award[29] and the 1993 David Urwin Award for Best New Building.[26] The firm later used a similar design for theRuskin Library at theUniversity of Lancaster.
The fourth court was added to the south of the college, next to the boundary with Murray Edwards, in 1994. It was designed byvan Heyningen and Haward Architects and includes 48 acoustically independent[clarification needed] student bedrooms, three seminar rooms, a large common room with a bar and the Gordon Cameron Lecture Theatre, which is also used as the college cinema.[30] It won the 1996RIBA Award.[31]
The completion of Gatehouse Court in 2003 saw the realisation of Sir Denys Lasdun's original vision. The design, courtesy ofAllies & Morrison, reorientated the college by giving it a new entrance, complete with Porter's Lodge, administrative offices, meeting rooms, parking facilities, a large-scale engraving of the college crest and a flagpole. It also provided an extra 42 en suite bedrooms for student accommodation.[32] The college now faces south and opens ontoStorey's Way, a smaller, primarily residential, street branching offMadingley Road; in 2021 it was reported to be the most expensive street inEast Anglia.[33]
This development expanded the college's main site dramatically and the quality of the design was recognised with the award of the 2005RIBA Award[34] and the 2005 BDA Award for Building of the Year.[35]
The Auditorium building was completed in 2004. Having overseen the construction of Gatehouse Court,Allies & Morrison were employed to design the college's new performance facilities. Built using a similar brick to that used for the Grove almost 200 years earlier, the building is largely below ground-level, resulting in a direct view of the surrounding landscape for audience members towards the back of the gallery.[36] It won the 2005Concrete Society Award and the 2005 BDA Award for Best Public Building.[35]
Located near the front of the college, the building faces New Court and backs onto the college gardens. Consisting of a large central performance area, three smaller practice rooms and an entrance hall, the auditorium is the official home of theFitzwilliam Quartet.[37]
The main hall houses aSteinway grand piano, and atympani, a full-size drum kit, amplifiers and aBösendorfer piano for student use.[27] Although used primarily for music, the building has also hosted drama performances and important lectures. In recent years, guest speakers have included the American politicianJesse Jackson, former poet laureateSir Andrew Motion, and the former head of MI6Sir Richard Dearlove, who visited the college as part of the Arrol Adam Lecture Series in 2008.[34]
A new library and IT centre was completed in 2009. As of January 2010, its book collection contains around 60,000 volumes[38] and increases by about 1,000 volumes each year.[39] The building was designed byEdward Cullinan, who had worked with Lasdun on the original college plan, and was undertaking his first major project after receiving theRoyal Gold Medal in 2008.[40] It was built as an extension to the uncompleted east wing of Tree Court.
The building was opened in April 2010 by theDuke of Edinburgh and is fitted with extensive computing facilities. In 2011, alumnusKen Olisa donated £1.4m to the development of the Library and IT Centre.[41] In tribute the building was named the Olisa Library.
Because Fitzwilliam is at the top of one of the few hills in Cambridge, the Olisa Library's tower is one of the highest points in the city, sometimes said to be the highest.[42]
The name of the college refers ultimately to theFitzwilliam family, prominent members of the Anglo-Irish nobility, whose ancestral seatMilton Hall is located to the north of Cambridge and who, as students and benefactors, have been associated with the university for several hundred years; more directly, it refers to theFitzwilliam Museum, founded in 1816 with the bequest of the library, art collection and personal fortune of the7th Viscount Fitzwilliam and situated directly opposite the original headquarters of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, and also to the adjacentFitzwilliam Street, where many of the non-collegiate students were housed.
Along with the name, the college'scoat of arms first came into use in the 1880s when Fitzwilliam Hall needed an emblem to represent its newly formedboat club. The result was a combination between the university coat of arms and thelozengy shield used by theEarls of Fitzwilliam. Initially, the design was used unofficially and it was only when Fitzwilliam was in the process of attaining collegiate status, some 80 years later, that it actually applied for agrant of arms. The design was formally recorded by theDuke of Norfolk on behalf of theQueen-in-Council in the late 60s. Notably, the Fitzwilliam coat of arms is the only college emblem to reference the university's own coat of arms.[43]
The college motto is:Ex antiquis et novissimis optima (the best of the old and the new).[44] The motto has since been adopted by the nearby village ofHardwick and is very similar to that ofSt Catherine's College, Oxford, which was established with aims very similar to those with which Fitzwilliam was.
The earliest records of the college's sporting clubs describe the colours as 'grey and ruby'. By Easter 1892, the colours were more closely defined as 'cardinal and French grey'.[45] Since then various shades have been used, although theMiddle Combination Room's ties, which celebrate the 1869 foundation, have reverted to cardinal as their main colour. Today, the college is firmly associated with the colours grey and dark red, although they were at one time 'blue and buff', with blue remaining the principal colour of some sporting blazers right up until the 1960s.
Students from Fitzwilliam are sometimes informally referred to asFitzbillys orBillygoats. As a consequence, the goat has become a popular college mascot and the image of a goat can be found on the front of the boat house, on the boat club flag, and in various places around the college.
Between 1997 and 2006, Fitzwilliam achieved an average of 17th place, near the bottom of the second third, in theTompkins Table which lists the university's 29 undergraduate colleges in order of their students' examination performances. In the last decade, between 2007 and 2016, Fitzwilliam averaged 21st place, near the top of the bottom third.
The college places an increasing emphasis onNatural Sciences, with students of the discipline accounting for approximately 20% of its undergraduate intake, and has developed traditional strengths in both Music and Politics; in 2010, there were more Fitzwilliam graduates in Parliament than graduates of any other college (6 MPs and 4 life peers).[46] Additionally, Geography students have represented a disproportionately-high presence across generations of Fitzwilliam's undergraduate cohort,[47][48] with the college hosting a unique annual taster day in reflection of this disciplinary strength.[49]
Fitzwilliam is also home to a noted Criminology department, headed by Emeritus ProfessorSir Anthony Bottoms and the former College Master ProfessorNicola Padfield, and is one of the two colleges (the other beingWolfson) that takes in postgraduate students, in association with theInstitute of Criminology, as part of the Police Executive Programme.[50] As a consequence, many prominent figures in Britain's police force are associated with Fitzwilliam.
Former pupils ofstate schools usually comprise around 70–75% of the college's undergraduate population. This includes many overseas students as well as students fromgrammar schools andcomprehensive schools.[citation needed]
Fitzwilliam is traditionally strong in football, rugby union and table tennis.[51] In 2017, Fitzwilliam became the first college inCUAFL history to win all 4 major university men's football titles in one season, with Fitzwilliam's women's side winning their league simultaneously.[52] As of 2021, Fitzwilliam are the reigning Men's FootballCuppers Champions, having won the last five years in a row.
On site, the college has a two-story gym in the Hall Building, a badminton court in the Auditorium Building and threeSquash courts, which are also used for table tennis, in a separate sports hall towards the front of the college.[53]
The college's main sports grounds are located on Oxford Road.[53] The land was donated to Fitzwilliam Hall in honour of the students who died in the First World War. The grounds include tennis courts, a netball court, a cricket pitch, a rugby pitch, and both full-size and five-a-side football pitches. It is the only sports ground in the university with an on-site club house, complete with a bar. It's regularly used by varsity teams and is also made available to students of Murray Edwards College.[54]
In 2007, the college completed a new boat house, home toFitzwilliam College Boat Club.
Fitzwilliam has a strong musical tradition with former students including composer and Master of the King's MusicSir Walford Davies, award-winning conductorDavid Atherton, the TV and radio presenterHumphrey Burton, music broadcasting executiveSonita Alleyne and singer-songwriterNick Drake, who secured arecord deal with a four-track demo recorded in his college room in 1968. Other prominent music graduates include violistMartin Outram, baritoneJohn Noble, bassistSimon H. Fell and two founding members of theFitzwilliam String Quartet, which often returns to the college to perform and hold workshops.[55] Opera singerSally Bradshaw is also on the college teaching staff.
In 2010 Fitzwilliam had more active music groups than any other college.[56] As well as the traditional Chapel Choir, which also takes in choristers from nearbyMurray Edwards,[57] the college is home to numerous singing ensembles. The college's twoa cappella groups,Fitz Barbershop andThe Sirens, are respectively the oldest and the oldest all-female a cappella groups currently running in Cambridge; both are regular and often successful competitors at the annualVoice Festival UK.[58] Other student groups include Fitz Swing, a big band established in 1990 and the longest-running student jazz band in Cambridge[59] and Fitzwilliam Chamber Opera, 'the only permanent collegiate opera group in Cambridge'.[55]
To encourage musical activity, the college hosts the annual Alkan Piano Competition, named after the nineteenth-century virtuosoCharles Valentin Alkan and sponsored by theAlkan Society. The competition is followed by a recital from a professional pianist with a particular interest inAlkan's music, the first of whom wasRonald Smith.[60] Fitzwilliam also offers many music scholarships and bursaries, including, somewhat unusually, a saxophone scholarship.[61]
Fitzwilliam new Auditorium performance venue hosts the Fitzwilliam Chamber Series,[62] a collection of concerts by professional musicians. Performers at the college have included the cellistJulian Lloyd Webber,[63] the DJAnnie Mac[64] and theEnglish Touring Opera.[65]
Fitzwilliam is the only college in Cambridge with a resident professionalstring quartet.The Fitzwilliam Quartet was established by Cambridge undergraduates, two of them Fitzwilliam students, in 1968. They made their first professional appearance a year later at the Sheffield Arts Festival and, following graduation in 1971, became the Resident Quartet at theUniversity of York.
Just a year into their residence, they became personally acquainted with the Russian composerDmitri Shostakovich and gained international recognition when they were asked to premier several of hisstring quartets. They went on to become the first group to perform and record all 15 of his string quartets and Shostakovich himself described them as his "preferred performers".[66]
The group proceeded to record acclaimed interpretations of many other composers, notablyBrahms andHaydn, and won theGrammy Award for Chamber Music in 1977.[66] In 1981, they were awarded Honorary Doctorates of Music byBucknell University, which were presented by Shostakovich's son,Maxim.
In 2005, a number of their recordings were included inGramophone magazine's list of the "Hundred Greatest-ever Recordings". They have a long-term contract withDecca Records and perform regularly all over the world.[66] Although membership has changed over the years, the group returned to Fitzwilliam in 1999 when they were appointed the college's Resident Quartet.[66] They visit for performances and workshops each term and even premier pieces written by students. In 2008, they celebrated their 40th anniversary.
TheUniversity of Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra (UCPO) was founded as an offshoot of Fitzwilliam College Music Society. In its early days, the orchestra was supported by grants from the college and rehearsing took place on site. It was initially called the West Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, because the majority of its members were fromWest Cambridge colleges – predominantly Fitzwilliam, Churchill and New Hall. Although the orchestra later changed its name, a smaller affiliated group, known as the West Cambridge Sinfonia, maintains the reference.
In 2010 the orchestra was rehearsing primarily atSt Giles' Church. It toured and recorded on a regular basis and performs University concerts once a term. At Fitzwilliam, the role originally played by WCSO has since been taken over by the Orchestra on the Hill.[67]
_(cropped).jpg)
| Name | Birth | Death | Career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reginald C. Fuller | 1908 | 2011 | Theologian, co-editor of theRevised Standard Version Catholic Edition |
| Sir Ernst Boris Chain | 1909 | 1979 | Biochemist, winner of the 1945Nobel Prize in Medicine, for discovering the structure ofpenicillin |
| Stanley Alexander de Smith | 1922 | 1974 | Legal scholar and author, pioneer inadministrative law, Constitutional Commissioner ofMauritius |
| Sam Toy | 1923 | 2008 | Industrialist, Chairman ofFord of Britain |
| John M Hull | 1935 | 2015 | Practical theologian, known for work on blindness and disability |
| Sir Anthony Bottoms | 1939 | Criminologist, author | |
| Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones | 1942 | Historian, expert onAmerican foreign policy | |
| David Pearl | 1944 | Lawyer, President of theImmigration Appeal Tribunal | |
| Bryan S. Turner | 1944 | Sociologist, Director of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies | |
| Sir Angus Deaton | 1945 | Microeconomist, recipient of the inauguralFrisch Medal and, in 2015, of theNobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences | |
| Clive Wilmer | 1945 | Poet, art critic, founding editor ofNumbers, Director of theGuild of St George (2004–present) | |
| Henry McLeish | 1945 | Politician, secondFirst Minister of Scotland (2000–2001) | |
| Rosemary Horrox | 1951 | Medieval historian, College Life Fellow, former Director of Studies in History | |
| Paul Muldoon | 1951 | Poet, winner of the 1994T. S. Eliot Prize and the 2003Pulitzer Prize for Poetry,Oxford Professor of Poetry (1999–2004), President of thePoetry Society (2007–present) and Poetry Editor atThe New Yorker | |
| Martin Millett | 1955 | Archaeologist, Director of theSociety of Antiquaries of London | |
| Jonathan Partington | 1955 | Mathematician, writer of some of the earliesttext-based computer games | |
| John Mullan | 1957 | Literary critic andBooker Prize judge |
The current Master of the college isSally Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Huyton, a Labour peer and former chair ofOfsted.[68]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
| People |  | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colleges | |||||||||||||||
| Schools, faculties and departments |
| ||||||||||||||
| Student life |
| ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Affiliates | |||||||||||||||
| Museums | |||||||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
