Cambridge (England) -- Pictorial works; University of Cambridge -- Pictorial works
The final decision to build near but not in the university town was
taken at the last moment when Lady Augusta Stanley, wife of Dean
Stanley, refused both money and moral support if it were decided
otherwise.[451] Lady Augusta Stanley who thus determined a step which
has not proved advantageous to Girton was not, however, one of the
founders of the college. This honour is due in the first place to Madame
Bodichon (Barbara Leigh Smith before her marriage) and to Miss Emily
Davies, daughter of Dr. Davies, rector of Gateshead, who elaborated the
scheme together. The first thousand pounds which made possible the
realisation of the scheme was given by the former, whose activity in all
causes for the advancement of women’s interests was crowned by her gifts
to the first women’s college: part of her capital was made over in her
life-time to Girton which became her trustee for the payment of the
interest until her death in 1891, and of certain terminable annuities
afterwards.[452] The third founder was Henrietta wife of the 2nd Lord
Stanley of Alderley and daughter of the 13th Viscount Dillon,[453] a
munificent donor to the college, who joined the movement in 1871,
before the removal from Hitchin, and who died in 1895.
[Sidenote: The college.]
The picturesque and collegiate-looking building which arose in 1873 for
the accommodation of 21 students, was thus the first residential college
for women ever built in connexion with a university. It was, like
Pembroke, the result of a woman’s intention to found and finish a _domus
seu aula scholarium_, the scholars being, for the first time, of the sex
of the founder. Subsequent building in 1877, 1879, 1884, 1887 (when Jane
C. Gamble’s legacy enabled the college to house 106 students) and
finally between 1899 and 1902, has greatly increased its capacity, and
the college now holds 150 students in addition to the Mistress and the
resident staff. It contains a large hall, libraries, reading room,
lecture rooms, a chemical laboratory, chapel, hospital, and swimming
bath; and its position outside the town gives it the advantage of large
grounds, some thirty acres being divided into hockey fields, ten tennis
courts, an orchard, and kitchen garden; while a seventeen acre field,
purchased with the Gamble bequest in 1886, is utilised as golf links and
woodland. Over the high table in the hall are the portraits of the three
founders; Madame Bodichon is represented painting, reminding each
generation of students that one of their founders was a distinguished
and delightful artist.
[Illustration: GIRTON COLLEGE--EVENING
These buildings were designed by Mr. Waterhouse. They are of red brick,
and were first occupied in 1873.]
[Sidenote: Government.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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