Chapter V: Progress, 1900-1914

The years which elapsed between the death of Professor Sidgwick and the retirement of Mrs. Sidgwick from the principalship at the end of 1910 were marked by progress on various lines. The increase of demand for accommodation led to the building of a new Hall, with connecting passages, at right angles to Clough Hall and Kennedy Buildings, and facing the Grange Road. This is on much the same plan as the other Halls, with some very pleasant common rooms, and accommodation for another Vice-Principal (Tutor) and two lecturers, besides about fifty-six students. The central kitchen, which--as already stated--helped greatly to simplify and otherwise improve the domestic arrangements, dates from the same time. Peile Hall was named after Dr. and Mrs. Peile, whose portraits hang in the dining-hall. Dr. Peile died on the very day on which the Hall was opened. It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of the service rendered to the College by Dr. Peile from its first beginnings till the day of his death. He was constant in attending the Council, and was President for many years. His wisdom in giving advice in difficulties was equalled by his courage in defending the College in aspersions and attacks. He had been an intimate friend of Professor Sidgwick and an eager promoter of University reform. Mrs. Peile was intensely interested in everything connected with the College till the loss of her eyesight and her enfeebled health withdrew her from her former activities.

Another external addition to the College is the sunk garden, with fountain, in the lawn immediately opposite the Memorial Gates. It was paid for as part of the memorial above mentioned by subscriptions of students past and present, and the stone margin has for legend: "The daughters of this house to those that shall come after commend the filial remembrance of Henry Sidgwick."

No further steps towards a request for degrees was made for many years after the rebuff in 1897, but in the spring of 1904 a recognition of the status of Tripos students came from an unexpected quarter--the University of Dublin. There had been a party favourable to women graduates in Dublin, and the Royal University of Ireland already granted degrees to those women who had passed its examinations, among whom were the students of Alexandra College, the head of which had herself been a Newnham student. After the death of a very highly respected but also very conservative Provost the authorities of Trinity College admitted women to their degrees, and at the same time offered an _ad eundem_ degree to all women who had passed examinations qualifying for a degree at Oxford or Cambridge. Trinity College already granted the _ad eundem_ degree to graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, and this new step amounted to the recognition of the Tripos certificate granted to women at Cambridge as the equivalent of a degree. The result was perhaps surprising to its originators, but not to those who really understood one of the reasons why women students at Oxford and Cambridge had asked for degrees. Numbers of young women trooped over as soon as possible after the results of their tripos were known, to take the B.A. degree. Many others who if degrees at Cambridge had been open to them would have been of M.A. standing took B.A. and M.A. both at Dublin. A few, whose literary or scientific work had made them worthy of a doctorate, were admitted to the higher degree. The Dublin officials were apparently somewhat surprised and puzzled. They generously applied most of the money raised by fees to the establishment of a Hall of residence for women students in Dublin.

This privilege was open to Oxford and Cambridge women for a few years only, since the object which the authorities of Trinity College, Dublin, had in view was to provide for those women who had begun or completed their courses elsewhere and could therefore not make use of the opportunities which the College now offered to women. One great advantage, however, had been derived by the general cause from the temporary grant of Dublin: it had been made clear that the degree of a respected University was, for women, really worth having. Busy women of moderate means do not take long journeys and pay considerable fees (£10 for the B.A. and £20 for the M.A.) for a merely fanciful advantage. Nor would the City Companies, which had granted certain scholarships to Newnham students, have been willing to pay, as they did, the fees for their scholars' Dublin degrees unless they felt sure that these would be to such scholars' advantage. A good many head mistresses felt it an advantage to be able to wear gown and hood, especially when some of their assistants could already wear the academic dress of London or of a Scotch or Welsh University. London did not grant its degrees to Cambridge women without some further test, though it admitted those who had taken Triposes to send in theses for a research M.A. degree without the actual B.A. degree required in men students. The only women who might have taken the Dublin degree, and had not much reason or inclination to do so, were members of the Newnham Staff, whose position was well understood by those around them. If, however, they migrated during the time that the Dublin _ad eundem_ was open to them, they sometimes found it desirable to take it.

Mrs. Sidgwick's principalship came to an end in December 1910. Though Staff and students very deeply deplored her withdrawal, it was felt that she was more than entitled to more leisure for scientific pursuits, family enjoyments, and greater liberty generally. She was not lost altogether to Newnham, since she retained for several years the post of Treasurer (afterwards called _Bursar_), and after Dr. Peile's death she consented to become President of the Newnham College Council. The principalship was offered to Miss Katharine Stephen, who accepted it and held it for nearly ten years. Mrs. Sidgwick moved into a house separated from Peile Hall by the Grange Road only, and thus was easily in touch with College affairs.

One more improvement--and a very important one--was made before Mrs. Sidgwick's retirement: the determination of a fixed age for retirement for the Staff and of a pension to follow. The salaries of all the lecturers were raised and standardized. In the early days the pay had been low, even according to the standard of that time, simply because Newnham had not the funds at its disposal that better endowed Colleges possessed. Still, as we have seen, a great deal had been done for the promotion of learning and research, and some of the lecturers had from time to time benefited by the endowments for this purpose. But by the arrangements which came into force in 1910 the whole status and earnings of the Staff were revised, and a contributory pension scheme initiated, with a liberal provision for making the advantages of the scheme retrospective in the case of lecturers of some years' standing.

Shortly after these reforms, others on a larger scale were projected, and in a few years successfully accomplished. It was considered by some past students that the Constitution of the College, though it had worked well, was more fitted for the infancy of such an institution than for its adult life. The subject was naturally one taken up and discussed by the Associates at their annual meeting. Some Associates who were connected with one or other of the provincial Universities were anxious to introduce changes which would more or less assimilate Newnham to such Universities. Others held that whatever changes were made ought to be rather on a College than a University plan, and that the wisest course would be to make Newnham, in general government and arrangements, sufficiently like the Cambridge Colleges for it to be able, if ever the happy day arose of its full recognition by the University, to fall into line and take its place with the other Colleges. The Associates chose a committee from among themselves to draft a scheme, and to them were joined representatives of the Council, including experienced members of the University, who gave invaluable help, and the results they came to were successful in meeting with a unanimous acceptance. The models chosen were chiefly the smaller Colleges, but none were followed slavishly, and the scheme when it emerged was found acceptable to the whole body of Associates. The Council on this, as on similar occasions, was not above taking suggestions from the past students and working on the lines thrown out. The result was a petition for a Charter which, with the Statutes of the College, became operative in the year 1917.

The main object of the Charter was to constitute "one body politic and corporate by the name and style of 'the Principal and Fellows of Newnham College'" with perpetual succession, a common seal, power to sue and be sued in court, to hold and dispose of property and the like. Its chief objects were defined as: "(_b_) to establish and maintain at or near Cambridge a house or residence or houses or residences in which female students may reside and study; (_c_) to provide a liberal education for women by carrying on the work of the old Association with such modifications as may from time to time appear desirable either in its present situation or elsewhere in the town of Cambridge or County of Cambridge; (_f_) to do all such other things as are incidental or conducive to advancing education and learning among women in Cambridge and elsewhere."

One point with regard to the new Charter and Statutes requires notice, viz. the use of the name Fellow as applied to a member of "the one body politic and corporate." Hitherto the title of Fellow had been attached to the endowment for research for which funds had been collected as already mentioned. The word Fellow in the Cambridge Colleges had always connoted membership of a corporate body, but as Fellows of Colleges were in general chosen for academic eminence or promise the name was associated with the expectation of services in the advancement of learning and research. This association with the title had influenced the first champions of research for women, and in addition they desired that these endowments should be used by women of high standing and proved capacity in the sphere of learning to whom the status of Fellow rather than that of Research Student was due.

But when under the new Charter the constitution of Newnham was to some extent assimilated to those of the older Colleges, it seemed desirable that members of the new Governing Body should have the name which in Cambridge is associated with these functions. Therefore the name Fellow was given to members of the Governing Body, and that of Research Fellow to those who hold one of the special endowments for research. By the provisions of the Charter some of the Research Fellows must always be members of the Governing Body and therefore also Fellows.

To return to the government of the College as revised and established by the Charter:

The ultimate authority in the affairs of the College is the Governing Body. This comprises all full members of the Staff, a fixed number of Research Fellows chosen by the Governing Body; representatives of the Associates,[14] and certain "Founders and Benefactors" living at the date of the Charter. The Council is a smaller body, and comprises besides the Principal, the Vice-Principal, the Bursar, and one of the Tutors, three members of the Senate of the University, elected by the Governing Body, seven additional members of the Governing Body, and three Founders and Benefactors alive in 1917.

[Footnote 14: See p. 91.]

Several points in the Charter will attract the attention of any student of former times who may be reading this history. The changes in nomenclature are, at first sight, puzzling. The use of the term _Fellow_ has, as the most important, already been dwelt upon: that of _Tutor_ as supplanting _Vice-Principal_ has also been noticed. There is now but _one_ Vice-Principal, the numerous and important duties associated with the former vice-principalship being discharged by the Tutors superintending each Hall respectively. The Vice-Principal has now the functions properly assigned to the title, since she is bound to take the place of the Principal on necessary occasions, and especially to be in residence in the College when the Principal is absent (except in vacations). The term _Bursar_ replaces that of _Treasurer_.

There is something of the nature of representative government in the election of Associate members on the Governing Body. The general body of past students has recognition in that the Statutes provide for the maintenance of a Newnham College Roll. The compiling and keeping up of this Roll has involved considerable labour on the part of the first registrar chosen to that office, Miss Edith Sharpley. It has, as already said, succeeded to the "Newnham College Club," but has recognised status. It now numbers a large proportion of former students, and the College may confidently look to them to further its interests and usefulness in all parts of the world.

Like the other Colleges, Newnham now has a Visitor, and the first Visitors have been two successive Chancellors of the University of Cambridge, Lord Rayleigh and the Rt. Hon. A. J. Balfour, respectively brother-in-law and brother of Mrs. Sidgwick.

Another feature in the new Constitution that will strike past students is the smaller proportion than formerly of members of the University compared to the Newnham College officials. It must not, however, be for a moment supposed that the College is not and will not continue to be in many ways dependent on the changes and general progress of the University. It will still be practically unable to take any important steps without the advice of some members of the University who are friendly to the College and its Staff. There will always be members of the Senate on the Council of Newnham College, and for some years, it is hoped, on the Governing Body. But beyond actual membership in any body concerned in the government of the College, Newnham must always hope to retain and even to increase the number of Cambridge dons and teachers interested both in its students, who may be their pupils, and in its lecturers, whom they regard as colleagues. In considerations of this kind, law can only create and maintain possible relations. The actual relations will, we trust, become modified as time goes on, and this, even in spite of temporary drawbacks, in the direction of closer co-operation and mutual respect between the men's and the women's Colleges in work and in other helpful intercourse.

From some provisions in the Charter, and from the general progress which has been traced, it must appear that the body of residents of graduate standing in Newnham, including administrative officials, lecturers, and Research Students and Fellows, had for years been growing in importance and developing a corporate life. Junior to the Staff and Research Fellows, but of post-graduate standing, are those who hold the two or three research studentships which have been mentioned, and of late years others who have completed the degree courses have been enabled to stay on in Cambridge and carry on work in the laboratories by grants from the Medical Research Council and the Industrial Research Board. Of late, too, students with degrees from overseas and from other British Universities have come to Cambridge in increasing numbers to work for the recently established Research Certificates of the University. These students, with their wider interests and experience doing specialized advanced work in various subjects literary and scientific, some of them resident in the College, others living outside but connected with it, add a valuable element and form a link between the generations.

Old students are encouraged to come up to read in the Long Vacation, and thus keep up their old friendships and renew their old interests. Sometimes, it is true, Newnham is almost too full, with visitors from outside, to afford the peaceful time for uninterrupted and independent work characteristic of the "Longs" of former days. Yet the visits of distant friends is often stimulating as well as pleasant. Almost every other year, since the University Extension Summer Meetings began--we may almost say at Newnham's initiative[15]--some of the students have been accommodated in Newnham. This is true, too, of the Vacation Terms for Biblical Study; since those were inaugurated by Mrs. Sidgwick's niece, Miss Margaret Benson, and intended chiefly as a help to school teachers, the promoters naturally looked to Newnham for hospitality, and many old students attend the courses. Learned societies of mathematicians, historians and others have often come to England from all over the world, and Newnham has been glad to entertain both learned ladies and the wives of learned men staying in the Colleges. Another kind of gathering may be mentioned, as somewhat original in idea and very useful in practice. Several of the students of Natural Science who, after taking their Tripos, had gone to teach in schools, complained of the scarcity and inferiority of the apparatus at their disposal. The lecturer in Chemical Science, Miss Ida Freund, arranged that a company of them should come to Cambridge for a part of the Long Vacation to learn how to construct the simpler kind of instruments for themselves. The result was very satisfactory, and the teachers learned not only how to make the best of the conditions under which they might have to teach, but also how to keep abreast of the progress of the Natural Sciences and of the methods of teaching them. It seemed natural that on Miss Freund's lamented death in 1914 the Memorial to her should take the form of a brief course of lectures by an experienced teacher on the teaching of Physics. The summer meetings, at which these lectures were delivered, helped to keep teachers from falling behind in the general progress of knowledge and also to guide them in the practical work of education.

[Footnote 15: See p. 71.]

One very large part of the story of Newnham has been as yet little or incidentally treated in this history; the development of student life and interests. At the beginning that was practically the whole life of the community: there were no dons, and the Principal (without losing separate and family interests) merged her life in that of the young people who were under her care. Things were bound to develop in both expected and unexpected ways. As more and more students came to College, variety increased, and at the same time College was likely to become more like a continuation of school. It would perhaps be impossible to trace quite accurately any particular tone or character or even standard of ability rising and falling in the annals of the Newnham students. At first, as already suggested, there was sure to be something of originality and enterprise. Girls were never sent to College as a matter of course, and in many cases they had had hard work in persuading their parents to let them come even for a slight taste of College life. Certainly some came for a short spell and remained for many years, though the fact of coming up without any definite intentions often worked havoc with chances of academic success. There were generally cultivated adult women grappling with subjects which they ought to have mastered in childhood; and also very young students striving after knowledge of a kind beyond their present reach. Possibly these aberrations made student life more interesting. But they could not fail to be diminished--though not even now eliminated--with the growth of a more uniform standard in the curriculum of girls' schools.

The oldest student society was the Debating Society. It is said to have had its first meetings under the medlar tree in Merton Hall garden. Its rules were reduced to writing in the late seventies, though subjected later to much revision. Its history--like all histories--would, if written, show great fluctuations in energy, popularity, and capacity. In the early days there was quite enough earnestness and desire to convince the world--the Newnham world that is--of the truth or falsity of certain propositions, political, moral or social. I believe that the good rule against reading speeches was generally adhered to, but it was sometimes avoided by the speech having been learned by heart, and having thereby lost spontaneity without acquiring the possible merits of a careful essay. The early generations of students were very kind and tolerant to wearisome speakers, though the time rule was strictly adhered to. The fatal fault of most debating societies--the desire to be humorous rather than convincing--threatened at times to destroy both qualities. But from time to time, capable speakers who really had something to say arose to retrieve the character of the Society. In 1884 it suffered somewhat by the creation of another society, which became almost co-extensive with the College, for discussing political questions. The original Debating Society did not preclude itself from politics, but it naturally left them to the other society, and was apt to descend to what was somewhat trivial or else took refuge in the paradoxical. Its temporary declines, however, were, as just said, generally followed by reinvigoration. Meantime the Political Debating Society, which met weekly (for the space of one hour only), kept up a very lively interest in public affairs, and also gave more practice in ready impromptu speaking than was possible in the general College debates. It adopted all the forms of an imitation House of Commons, with Speaker, Government, Opposition, and the like. Some older critics were only in part sympathetic, considering that the association of public interests with party disputes was detrimental to the formation of unprejudiced opinions. On the whole, however, the great advantage was secured of keeping a large number of students _au fait_ with the chief political questions of the day. Additional instructiveness and liveliness were imparted by the fact that students whose fathers or friends were in Parliament occasionally "coached them up" in arguments and prognostications. The society became slack after many years, owing, I think, to the excessive burden thrown on a few students who were responsible for preparing the weekly business, and was reorganized with the forms of an ordinary debating society. It was suspended during the War, but revived--as society, not as amateur parliament--after the Armistice. It has since resumed the parliamentary form.

Besides the debating societies, each subject or group of subjects has for many years had its meetings for reading and discussing papers on Classical, Scientific, Historical, and many other subjects. Not infrequently some distinguished man or woman from outside has been invited to deliver a lecture.

The Choral Society began in the earlier days of Newnham, and long enjoyed the devoted and very able direction of Dr. Mann, Organist of King's College, and gave very successful concerts. The display of musical talent in the College is anything but uniform. One year we had a good orchestra of stringed instruments, and the same may occur again from time to time. Meanwhile, a musical society, started in a much humbler way by an industrious student who was desirous of "keeping up her practice" and inducing fellow students to do the same and be ready to play some piece to one another on Saturdays, has developed into a considerable College club called after its foundress, The Raleigh Musical Society. A good many students, too, have been members of the Cambridge University Musical Society.

Astronomical interests have been cultivated in non-mathematical students since the valuable gift of a telescope and small observatory by Mrs. Boreham (daughter-in-law of the astronomer) in 1891. It was at first placed on a mound to the south of Clough Hall, but when the view from it was obstructed by the building of Peile Hall it was removed to an open space at the far end of the College grounds. It was placed under the curatorship of a mathematical scholar who had not only been a high wrangler, but had had the advantage of having been brought up in an astronomical atmosphere, Miss E. A. Stoney. Students with no knowledge of astronomy were invited on certain evenings to see Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons. Their interest was attracted even to things of the heavens which are visible to the naked eye. There was an enthusiasm for "learning the constellations," instruction being given by the expert to the ignorant. One night, when one of the mathematical lecturers informed the students that the phenomenon was about to take place described as "the Moon swallowing Jupiter," a large number of students assembled on the lawn to watch the event. Happily it occurred about 9 p.m. on a clear night. The act of swallowing was greeted by a cheer--though whether the object cheered was Jupiter, the Moon, or the lecturer who had given warning was not very clear. This little event is mentioned as one of the many cases in which the common life of students engaged in heterogeneous subjects has advantages of an educational as well as of a social kind.

We have already mentioned the lectures on Literature which were at one time given by first-rate men of letters to students of all faculties four or five times a year. Attendance at them was never compulsory, but the interest of the subject and distinction of the lecturer attracted many, and this continued to be the case with the Sidgwick Memorial Lecture. A student of natural science has expressed her deep debt to the attraction to good literature which these lectures afforded. Latterly the lectures given by holders of the new professorship of English (Dr. Verrall and Sir A. Quiller Couch), which are open to other than special students of the subject, amply provided for the objects aimed at in the earlier Newnham lectures.

Naturally the societies or clubs that loom largest in the life of present and the memories of past students are those connected with games. Hockey, as already said, was started by the first Principal herself, and it has remained for a long time one of the most prominent of the games societies. The several Halls have their teams, and play against one another; the College team plays against Girton and more distant colleges and schools as well as other clubs; also matches are played between past and present students. Fives is provided for by good courts. Cricket is played in the summer term. Tennis had been with us from the beginning of Lawn Tennis itself, and ash courts made the game possible all the year round. Lacrosse was introduced a good deal later. The introduction of bicycling during the middle nineties furnished a new mode of exercise and stimulated exploration of the country.

There have been, of course, many smaller societies: Sharp Practice, to make students ready in debate; boating, which has recently arrived at having an eight of its own; others of names incomprehensible to any but the initiated. In connection with the Women's Settlement in Southwark, there has from its beginning been a society following its progress and contributing to its funds. The visits of Residents in the Settlement to explain to the students their work or some branch of it have been very interesting occasions--especially in the days when Miss Gladstone was Warden, and came to give a humorous account of her experiences, professedly to the first-year students, practically to as many of the students and staff as could crowd into the room.

Although there has not been till lately a formal dramatic society, any dramatic talent among the students has generally revealed itself fairly soon. The excuse of some worthy object to be served by threepenny tickets has been made the occasion of extremely lively impromptu performances. Especially the gift for melodrama has been displayed with success and has often caused intense amusement. More serious plays, or scenes from plays, have been exhibited from time to time, but those have been most successful which had the least elaborate preparation. It may be mentioned that Newnham students have taken part in serious dramatic performances organized by members of the University; as in the _Comus_, acted on the occasion of the Miltonic Tercentenary.

In other fields there has been collective activity among Newnham students. There have been various religious societies, in most of which Newnham students are combined with those of Girton and other Colleges. In Newnham itself there have been societies for reading and discussing religious and moral questions on Sunday evenings, the subjects being sometimes theoretical, sometimes practical. There has been a branch of a Church Society called "The Society of the Annunciation," which had corporate Communion with Girton and some religious addresses in a Cambridge church. But far the largest and most influential is the _Student Christian Movement_, which has arisen from small beginnings and now has vigorous branches all over the world. Connected with this there has always been a collective and particular effort towards missionary work. A good many Newnham students became Student Volunteers, and some are doing excellent work abroad, especially in schools and Colleges of a new type, requiring higher education, and in medical practice. But the operation of the whole movement is too well known to need description here. It has branched out into new departments, and has changed both its qualifications for membership and its relations to religious bodies at home and abroad, so as to become a far more potent agency than formerly in all Colleges and among varied types of student. Some of its leaders are frequently in Cambridge, and are cordially received at Newnham as well as in the Cambridge Colleges generally.

With regard to students and the political world. There had been a Suffrage Society in the College from comparatively early times. It has already been noticed how there had been among the early promoters of higher education for women a good many who set great hopes on the improvement of the position of women as citizens, and especially on their acquisition of the parliamentary vote. There were, however, among Staff and students of Newnham, several who felt much disgusted with the lawlessness and general want of reason and sobriety with which, in some quarters, the political cause of women was associated. A few, on the other hand, though not among those in authority, were inclined to go great lengths against the injustice and levity with which the whole question was treated by Parliament and by the Government. Those who desired and believed in the suffrage, but strongly disapproved of the violent and illegal actions of the extreme wing, took an active part in the orderly demonstrations organised by the law-abiding section of the movement. Thus members of the Staff and of the student body walked in the London processions and took part in the "Pilgrimage" of June 1912. A very small number of former students carried their principles to the extreme and suffered in consequence. But the attitude in general of Newnham in the whole matter was one of decided conviction, combined with patience and moderation.

Perhaps a few words should be said here as to the changes which were made, or gradually came about, in the necessary rules for student life and behaviour. It must always be remembered that fifty years ago, both unreasoned etiquette and the opinions of reasonable men and women recognised much severer rules for the general conduct of young women than are in force to-day; also that in Cambridge, so much a city of men, the standard of conventional propriety for women was stricter than in most other places. Miss Clough and her fellow workers in the early times were sometimes obliged, for the sake of security against prejudice and gossip, to walk very warily, always, however, avoiding the imposition of such restraints as would have impeded either good work or the enjoyment of good health. It has been seen how Miss Clough herself undertook the sometimes weary duty of chaperoning and minimized its inconvenience, and in little restrictions of a social kind she tried to impress on the early students that they were guests of the University and also pioneers who might by their own behaviour improve or spoil the chances of more liberty for those who should come after. As time went on, many rules were relaxed, and those that now have to be observed are laid down with the utmost care by the authorities, special regard being paid to the opinions and counsel of those who have to maintain order and discipline in the University and the Colleges.

The students themselves have never been discouraged from presenting to the heads of their separate Halls or to the Principal any suggestions as to possible modifications in domestic arrangement or in general regulations. Machinery for this purpose has been devised and modified from time to time. The students in residence choose (since 1911) a Senior Student, and it is one of her duties to communicate their views to the authorities. A joint committee of staff and students deliberates upon proposed alterations. There is also a Hall senior student elected by each Hall separately. It is generally recognised that great care is still required in forbidding or sanctioning matters which to a newcomer seem much more simple than they really are. The past prosperity of the College has been in very great part due to a good understanding between governors and governed, and this is still, in a sense, to be regarded as the sheet anchor of the College in Cambridge. It seems to be recognised in the Colleges of the University that the only way to avoid excessive ebullitions of youthful spirit is to enlist on the side of law and order some popular and leading spirits among the undergraduates themselves. The same principle applies in women's Colleges, where the students, as a rule (like public schoolboys), have learned, in pre-college days, the necessity of rules and regularity. If Newnham ever becomes a College of the University, the students will, of course, be subjected to proctorial discipline, but the process would probably be found not to involve any conspicuous changes in College life.