Newnham College, Cambridge

Newnham College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.

The college was founded in 1871 by Henry Sidgwick, and was the second Cambridge college to admit women after Girton College. The co-founder of the college was Millicent Garrett Fawcett.

History

The progress of women at Cambridge University owes much to the pioneering work undertaken by the philosopher Henry Sidgwick, fellow of Trinity. Lectures for Ladies had been started in Cambridge in 1870, and such was the demand from those who could not travel in and out on a daily basis that in 1871 Sidgwick, one of the organisers of the lectures, rented a house on Regent Street in which young women attending the lectures could reside. He persuaded Anne Clough, who had previously run a school in the Lake District, to take charge of this house.

Demand continued to increase and the supporters of the enterprise formed a limited company to raise funds, lease land and build on it. Newnham Hall opened its doors in 1875 and became the first building on the site off Sidgwick Avenue where Newnham still remains. The demand from prospective students remained buoyant and the Newnham Hall Company built steadily, providing three more halls, a laboratory and a library, in the years up to the First World War.