Newnham College

Newnham College, just outside Cambridge, but within ten minutes' walk of the centre of the town, may be said to have commenced in 1871, when the Newnham Hall Company opened a house for five resident women students. The numbers steadily increased, and in 1875 Newnham Hall was built, providing rooms for the principal, a lecturer, and twenty-six students. Scholarships were given by the London Companies and private friends, the library grew, a chemical laboratory and gymnasium were added, and the whole machinery of the college became more and more complete till, in 1879, the Newnham Hall Company was amalgamated with the Association for the Promotion of the Higher Education of Women. Additional land was acquired, and a second, and finally a third hall was added. These three halls, Old Hall, Sidgwick Hall, and Clough Hall, now form Newnham College, where at the present time 147 students, under the charge of a principal, two vice-principals, and five lecturers, receive instruction, partly by lectures delivered at Newnham, partly by such lectures of the university and colleges of the university as are open to them. In the year 1881 the university of Cambridge opened to students of Newnham and Girton its tripos and previous exams., and in 1889, out of thirty-five students of Newnham who entered for the tripos exam., six took a first-class, sixteen a second-class, and nine a third-class; while in 1890 Miss Fawcett was placed above the senior wrangler. Careful superintendence is here combined with a large amount of liberty and responsibility. The greater number of students work for tripos and stay for three or four years, but special courses of work can be taken without examination. The fees are 75 guineas a year.