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| Genealogical and historical information and links for anyone researching their ancestors in England and the British Isles |
Home ==> Information ==> Cambridge University
<== Windsor Castle
Cathedrals ==>
| Cambridge University | Oxford University |
Cambridge
University is the second oldest - after Oxford - in Britain. The
university has 31 colleges
(see the list of colleges).
In 2009 the university celebrated its 800 year anniversary.The colleges The origins of Cambridge University date back to the arrival of former students of Oxford University in 1209 but it wasn't until 1284 that the first college - Peterhouse - was founded. By the end of the 16th century another fifteen colleges had been established and then - in the 19th and 20th centuries - fifteen more. As with Oxford, Cambridge University - especially its older established colleges - has seen many of its students go on to achieve notable things. No degree But a successful completion of their studies was not always necessary for former students to achieve success in life. The Poet Laureates Thomas Shadwell and Alfred Tennyson, the poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Siegfried Sassoon and the writers William Makepeace Thackeray and Christopher Isherwood all left Cambridge without a degree. A degree also eluded Edward VII, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Britain's first Prime Minister Robert Walpole and the chemist Henry Cavendish (whose descendants endowed the university's world-famous Cavendish Laboratory). Women It wasn't until Girton College (1869) and Newnham College (1871) opened that women were finally admitted to Cambridge. Since then graduates have included the first British woman to win a Nobel Prize, Dorothy Hodgkin; the poet Sylvia Plath, the ethologist Jane Goodall and the writer Iris Murdoch.
The following list shows the thirty-one colleges, grouped by the century
in which they were founded.The colleges founded before the 18th century include information on a selection of famous people who have been connected to the college and links to the college website and its history webpage. The colleges founded since 1800 have links to their websites.  
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| 16th century | ||||
| Christ's College | A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. | |||
Christ's College was founded in 1505 by Lady Margaret Beaufort the mother of Henry VII. It was created out of Gods-House a school which had taught grammar school masters since 1437. 
History |
Charles
Darwin
Scientist
Undergraduate,
1828-31
MA,
1836 
J.
Robert Oppenheimer
Nuclear
physicist. Head of the Manhattan Project
1925-26
Having graduated from Harvard
Oppenheimer spent a year at Cambridge
Martin J. Evans
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 2007
Undergraduate,
1960-63
MA,
1966
John
Milton
Writer
Undergraduate,
1625-28
MA,
1632 |
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| St John's College |
A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. |
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St John's College was founded in 1511 by the executors of the will of Lady Margaret Beaufort - the mother of Henry VII - who had died in 1509. The college was created from the ancient hospital of St John the Evangelist which had stood on the site since around 1200.
History |
William
Wilberforce
Social
reformer
Undergraduate,
1776-81
MA, 1788
Edward Appleton
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 1947
Undergraduate,
1911-14
Jacksonian
Professor of Natural Philosophy, 1936-39
See Trinity
College
John Cockcroft
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 1951
Undergraduate,
1922-24
Fellow,
1928-46
Jacksonian
Professor of Natural Philosophy, 1939-46
Nevill F. Mott
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 1977
Undergraduate,
1924-27
MA, 1930
Cavendish
Professor of Physics, 1954-71
See Gonville
& Caius
College
P.A.M.
Dirac
Nobel Prize
for Physics, 1933
Fellow,
1927-69
Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics, 1932-69
Frederick
Sanger
Double
Nobel Prize
for Chemistry, 1958 and 1980
Undergraduate,
1936-39
See Kings
College
Maurice
Wilkins
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1962
Undergraduate,
1935-38
Abdus
Salam
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 1979
Undergraduate,
1946-49
Fellow,
1951-56
Marquess
of Rockingham
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1765-66 and 1782
Undergraduate
Viscount
Goderich
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1827-28
Undergraduate, 1800-02
MA
Earl
of Aberdeen
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1852-55
Undergraduate, 1800-04
MA
Viscount
Palmerston
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1855-58 and 1859-65
Undergraduate, 1803-06
MA
William
Wordsworth
Poet
laureate, 1843-50
Undergraduate,
1787-91
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| Trinity College |
A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. |
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Ralph
Vaughan Williams
Composer
Undergraduate,
1892-95
Francis
Bacon
Philosopher
Undergraduate,
1573-75
Jawaharlal
Nehru
First
Prime Minister of India, 1947-64
Undergraduate,
1907-10
Ludwig
Wittgenstein
Philosopher
Undergraduate,
1912-13
Fellow,
1929-
Professor
of Philosophy, 1939-47
Wittgenstein was only able to take up his post as professor in 1945
due
to WW2
Anthony
Blunt
Cambridge
spy
Undergraduate,
1926-30
Fellow,
1932-37
Slade
Professor of Fine Art, 1965
Kim
Philby
Cambridge
spy
Undergraduate,
1929-33
Guy
Burgess
Cambridge
spy
Undergraduate,
1930-33
John
Cairncross
Cambridge
spy
Undergraduate,
1934-36
Rajiv
Gandhi
Prime Minister of India, 1984-89
Undergraduate,
1963-
No degree
Isaac Newton
Scientist.
Mathematician
Undergraduate,
1661-65
MA,
1668
Fellow,
1667-96
Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics, 1669-1702
Charles
Babbage
Mathematician. Computer pioneer
Undergraduate,
1810-12
Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics, 1828-39
In
1812 Babbage transferred his studies to Peterhouse
William
Henry Fox Talbot
Photography pioneer
Undergraduate, 1817-21
MA,
1825
Edward
VII
King
of Britain, 1901-10
Undergraduate,
1861
No degree
George
VI
King
of Britain, 1936-52
Undergraduate,
1919-20
Charles
III
King
of Britain, from 2022
Undergraduate,
1967-70
Thirty-two students from the college have
gone on to be awarded the Nobel Prize
Nobel
Prize Winners
Spencer
Perceval
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1809-12
Undergraduate
MA, 1782
Earl
Grey
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1830-34
Undergraduate,
1781-84
No degree
Viscount
Melbourne
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1834 and 1835-41
Undergraduate
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1905-08
Undergraduate,
1854-58
Arthur
James Balfour
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1902-05
Undergraduate,
1866-69
Stanley
Baldwin
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1923-24, 1924-29 and 1935-37
Undergraduate,
-1888
MA, 1892
John
Dryden
Poet
laureate, 1668-88
Undergraduate,
1650-54
Lawrence
Eusden
Poet
laureate, 1718-30
Undergraduate
Fellow
Lord
Byron
Poet
Undergraduate,
1805-07
MA, 1808
Alfred
Tennyson
Poet
laureate, 1850-92
Undergraduate,
1828-31
No degree
William
Makepeace Thackeray
Writer
Undergraduate,
1829-30
No degree
A.A.
Milne
Writer
Undergraduate,
1900-03
Vladimir
Nabokov
Writer
Undergraduate,
1920-23 |
| Emmanuel College |
A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. |
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Founded in 1584 on the site of a former Dominican priory, Emmanuel College was set up by Sir Walter Mildmay with the aim of providing education to Protestant preachers.
History |
John
Harvard
Founder of Harvard
University, USA
Undergraduate,
1627-32
MA,
1635
Frederick Hopkins
Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1929
Professor of Biochemistry, 1914-43
See Trinity
College
Ronald
G.W. Norrish
Nobel Prize
for Chemistry, 1967
Undergraduate,
1919-21
Fellow,
1924-31
Professor of Physical Chemistry,
1937-65
George Porter
Nobel Prize
for Chemistry, 1967
Fellow,
1951-54
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| Sidney Sussex College |
A selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. |
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Sidney Sussex College was founded in 1596 by the executors of the will of Lady Frances Sidney who had died seven years earlier.
History |
Oliver
Cromwell
Soldier. Statesman
Undergraduate,
1616-17
No degree
On
Cromwell's death in 1658 he was buried in Westminster
Abbey but after the Restoration (of the monarchy to power) in
1660 his body was exhumed and "beheaded". The burial place
of his body remains unknown but in 1960 his head was laid to rest
near the chapel of his former college
Charles
Wilson
Nobel Prize
for Physics, 1927
Undergraduate,
1888-92
Fellow,
1900-34
Jacksonian
Professor of Natural Philosophy, 1925-34
Cecil
Powell
Nobel Prize
for Physics, 1950
Undergraduate,
1924-25
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