Homerton College, Cambridge
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| Colleges of the University of Cambridge Homerton College |
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| College name | Homerton College | |||||||||||
| Motto | Respice Finem (Latin: Look to the end) |
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| Named after | Homerton town | |||||||||||
| Established | 1976 | |||||||||||
| Previously named | Homerton Academy (1768-1852) Training Institution of the Congregational Board of Education (1852-1894) |
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| Location | Hills Road | |||||||||||
| Admittance | Men and women | |||||||||||
| Principal | Dr Kate Pretty | |||||||||||
| Undergraduates | 600 | |||||||||||
| Graduates | 600 | |||||||||||
| Official website | ||||||||||||
| Boat Club website | ||||||||||||
Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
Homerton has more students than any other Cambridge college, partly owing to the large number of PGCE students who are members of the college. Homerton's current intake of around 1,200 students is more than Trinity College, which is traditionally thought of as the largest college – although Trinity still has more current college members as it has more Fellows than Homerton.
The college has a long and complex history dating back to the 17th century. The actual origins of the college have been variously listed as 1695, 1768, 1895, 1976 and 2001.
Homerton College became established as an "Approved Society" of the University of Cambridge in 1976. Until 2001 it only admitted Education Studies students. Since that time it has broadened its intake, although it remains unusual among the Cambridge colleges in its emphasis on Education.
Homerton has a wide range of thriving student clubs and societies, including a boat club, music society, Geographical Society (HUGS - Homerton Undergraduate Geographical Society) and a resident drama society, HATS (Homerton Amateur Theatrical Society)[1].
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[edit] History
[edit] Foundation in Homerton
In 1695 the Congregational Fund was set up in London to provide for the education of Calvinist ministers, and to provide an alternative to the education offered by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which was barred by law to non-Anglicans. Around 35 of these so-called Dissenting Academies arose during the 18th century, offering education without the requirement of conformity to the Church of England. They promoted a more modern curriculum of science, philosophy and modern history than the ancient universities who took a more traditionalist approach to learning. One of these was the Independent College, Homerton, which appointed Dr John Conder as President in 1754.
Since 1730, the King’s Head Society (a group of laymen named after the pub at which they met) had been working to promote Calvinism. They had sponsored young scholars to attend Dissenting Academies, where nonconformists could learn the necessary ‘grammarian’, or classical education, which was a pre-requisite for the four-year ‘academical’ course of the Congregational Board. In 1768 the King’s Head Society bought a mansion in Homerton, in the parish of Hackney, close to London, in which they sought to base all their teaching. Building on the work of the existing Independent College, Homerton, the new college became known as the Homerton Academy. To give an example of how intellectually important this academy was, although it only ever had between 12 and 20 students at any time, one of its tutors was described by Boswell as Johnson’s “literary anvil”; another was offered a Doctorate of Divinity by Yale College.
In 1824 the building itself was added to and partially rebuilt. Not long afterwards, following the liberalisation of access to English universities, the work of the Dissenting Academies could become mainstream. University College London became the first English university to admit students without a need for conformity to the Established Church), and, in 1840, Homerton Academy in the village of Hackney became a college of the new University of London.
In 1850 Homerton Academy 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 John Horobin (then Principal) 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.
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.
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.
[edit] Move to Cambridge
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) 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 became just Homerton College, Cambridge. John Horobin became the first Principal, and his portrait still hangs in the college's Great Hall.
The first woman to head the College was Mary Miller Allen, who was responsible for Homerton’s national reputation as a trainer of women teachers. 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.
Dame Beryl Paston-Brown was Principal during the 1960s — at a time when Homerton’s numbers doubled after the introduction of three-year training courses in 1960.
[edit] Closer association with the University
In December 1976, under the headship of Principal Alison Shrubsole, 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. Since the days of Horobin this had been under consideration, and the possibility of introducing a Cambridge Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) 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. For a few years before 1976, Homerton students had been able to take the Cambridge B.Ed. degree, but were technically enrolled as members of Newnham College to make this possible.
1976 was also the year that the college became mixed-sex again.
In late 2000 the Regent House approved a proposal[2] to 'converge' Homerton with the rest of the University. Convergence involved the transfer of most of the college's teaching and research activity to the new University 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 B.Ed. degree was retired in favour of a three-year B.A. in Education, followed by a 1-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[3]. The change in status is expected to be completed with the grant of a Royal Charter in late 2009 - the 800th anniversary year of the foundation of the University.
The change to full College status represents the culmination of a process that began in 1976 and follows the significant developments in the evolution of the college that have taken place since 2001. By 2006 Education Tripos students comprised around 40% of the body of undergraduates at Homerton, with 60% of undergraduates following other Tripos courses. Other developments have included:
- the appointment of many new fellows in subjects other than education
- the construction of a nearby Faculty of Education building
- the transfer of education tripos books and other materials from the college library into the Faculty of Education library
- the establishment of a graduate research community at the college
In conclusion, the history of Homerton is long and unusual among Cambridge Colleges, not just for the novelty of its story but because traditionally, and in the nature of the original Dissenting Academies, the college has always been seen as the students and fellowship themselves rather than the buildings. The Congregational Board and the King’s Head Society are not simply forbears of the modern Homerton College, but are intricately a part of its history.
[edit] Accommodation
On site accommodation for students is provided in four purpose built accommodation buildings: East House, West House, South Court, and Harrison House. Harrison House, which exclusively houses graduate students and fellows, is the latest addition to the college 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 Queens Wing which also contains the Homerton Union of Students and both the Undergraduate and Graduate Common Rooms.
[edit] Principals of Homerton College
| Principal | Tenure |
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| John Charles Horobin | 1894-1902 |
| Mary Miller Allan | 1903-1935 |
| Alice Havergal Skillicorn | 1935-1960 |
| Dame Beryl Paston Brown | 1961-1971 |
| Alison Cheveley Shrubsole | 1971-1985 |
| Alan George Bamford | 1985-1991 |
| Katharine Bridget Pretty | 1991-present |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- 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)
- Homerton College Website
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