Girton College, Cambridge

Girton College was established on October 16, 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon, as the first residential College for women in England. It was called the College for Women, and was located at Benslow House, Hitchin, a town in Hertfordshire, England. In 1872 the present site, located about two and a half miles northwest of the centre of Cambridge, next to the village of Girton was purchased; the College was then renamed Girton College, and opened at the new location in October of 1873. Over the years, many additions have considerably expanded the size of the college, most currently the hotly debated library extension. Girton also proudly houses an Egyptian mummy named "Hermione".

On April 27, 1948, women were admitted to full membership of the University of Cambridge, and Girton College received the status of a College of the University. However, to remember the time when women were not allowed to obtain degrees of the University of Cambridge, no gowns are worn during the college feast, when students in their final year are celebrated.

The college became mixed in 1977 with the arrival of the first male Fellows; male undergraduates have been admitted since 1979. Nevertheless, the vice-mistress still keeps that denomination although "she" is a man nowadays.

Girton's unofficial undergraduate caucus song goes to the tune of Rod Stewart's "We Are Sailing" and the lyrics are as follows:

We are Girton,

We are Girton,

No one likes us,

We don't care,

We are Girton,

Super Girton,

No one likes us,

We don't care!

In 2004, The Sun newspaper suggested that Girton College was 'now trendy'.

Notable Alumni

• Hertha Marks Ayrton, electrical engineer
• Isabel Cooper-Oakley, Theosophical writer
• Jessie Isabel Hetherington, New Zealand educator
• Arianna Huffington, political author and activist
• Rosamond Lehmann, romance novelist
• Sheila Scott Macintyre, mathematician
• Ada Isabel Maddison, mathematician
• Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Regnant of Denmark
• Dorothy Marshall, historian and educator
• Annie Maunder, astronomer
• Constance Maynard, British feminist and educator
• Sarojini Naidu, Indian poet
• Sheila Pim, mystery writer
• Emily James Smith Putnam, American educator and historian
• Gisela Richter, Classical archaeologist and art historian
• Joan Robinson, British economist
• Clara Ruth Rouse, missionary and ecumenical leader
• Ethel Sargant, botanist
• Charlotte Angas Scott, mathematician
• Margaret Storey, children's book author
• Bertha Swirles (Lady Jeffreys), physicist
• Sandi Toksvig, comedian
• Renee Winegarten, literary critic
• Barbara Adam Wootton, social scientist and economist
• Dorothy Wrinch, mathematical biologist
• Grace Chisholm Young, mathematician
• Derek Walcott, Poet, writer and artist
• Baroness Hale of Richmond, first female Lord of Appeal in Ordinary

Institutions named after Girton College

Girton Grammar School, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.

See also: Girton College, Cambridge, 1869, 1872, 1873, 1948, 1977, 1979, April 27