Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College
University of Cambridge
Front Court, Emmanuel College
Arms of Emmanuel College
Scarf colours: navy, with two equally-spaced narrow rose pink stripes
Location	St Andrew's Street, CambridgeCB2 3AP (map)
Coordinates	52°12′13″N0°07′28″E
Full name	Emmanuel College in the University of Cambridge
Latin name	Collegium Emanuelis
Abbreviation	EM
Founder	SirWalter Mildmay
Established	1584(1584)
Named after	Jesus of Nazareth(Emmanuel)
Sister colleges	Exeter College, Oxford Eliot House, Harvard Saybrook College, Yale
Master	Douglas Chalmers
Undergraduates	515 (2022-23)
Postgraduates	223 (2022-23)
Endowment	£137 m(2022)
Visitor	Vice-Chancellors of the Universityex officio
Website	www.emma.cam.ac.uk
Students' union	www.ecsu.org.uk
MCR	www.emmamcr.org.uk
Boat club	ebc.soc.srcf.net
Map
Location in Central Cambridge Location in Cambridge

Emmanuel Collegeis aconstituent collegeof theUniversity of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by SirWalter Mildmay,Chancellor of the ExchequertoElizabeth I.The site on which the college sits was once a priory forDominicanmonks, and the College Hall is built on the foundations of the monastery's nave. Emmanuel is one of the 16 "old colleges", which were founded before the 17th century.

Emmanuel today is one of the larger Cambridge colleges; it has around 500 undergraduates, reading almost every subject taught within the University, and around 200 postgraduates.Among Emmanuel's notable alumni areThomas Young,John Harvard,Graham ChapmanandSebastian Faulks.Three members of Emmanuel College have receivedNobel Prizes:Ronald Norrish,George Porter(both Chemistry, 1967) andFrederick Hopkins(Medicine, 1929).

In every year from 1998 until 2016, Emmanuel was among the top five colleges in theTompkins Table,which ranks colleges according to end-of-year examination results. Emmanuel topped the table five times (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010) and placed second six times (2001, 2002, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012). Its mean score for 1997–2018 inclusive places it as the second-highest-ranking college afterTrinity.

History

A 1690 illustration of Emmanuel byDavid Loggan

The college was founded in 1584 by SirWalter Mildmay,Chancellor of the ExchequertoElizabeth I.The site had been occupied by aDominican friaryuntil theDissolution of the Monasteries45 years earlier, after which the Vice-Chancellor petitioned that the place be given over to the University; his request was refused. After passing through several hands, the former monastery was purchased for £550 to be the site of the new college in June 1583 byLaurence Chaderton,the Master-elect, and his brother-in-law, Richard Culverwell, acting on behalf of Mildmay, to whom they conveyed the property on 23 November 1582.Mildmay's foundation made use of the existing buildings. The architect wasRalph Symons,and in 1588 the new building was opened with a dedication festival, which Mildmay attended.

Mildmay, aPuritan,intended Emmanuel to be a centre for the training ofAnglicanpreachers. According toThomas Fuller,Mildmay, on coming to court after the college was opened, was addressed by the Queen with the words: "Sir Walter, I hear you have erected a puritan foundation", to which Mildmay replied: "No, madam; far be it from me to countenance anything contrary to your established laws; but I have set an acorn, which when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof".

Like all the older Cambridge colleges, Emmanuel originally took only male students. It first admitted female students in 1979.

Buildings and grounds

Under Mildmay's instructions the chapel of the original Dominican Friary was converted into the College's dining hall and the friars' dining hall became a chapel. In the late 17th century the College commissioned a new chapel, one of the three buildings in Cambridge designed byChristopher Wren(1677). After Wren's construction was opened the old chapel became the College library until it outgrew the space. The library moved to its present space in 1930, occupying a large building in South Court completed in 1911 and initially used as lecture rooms.The library was extended in 1974.

There is a large fish pond in the grounds, part of the legacy of the friary. The pond is home to a colony ofducks.

The Fellows' Garden contains a swimming pool that was the friars' bathing pool, making it one of the oldest bathing pools in Europe and allegedly the oldest outdoor pool in continuous use in the UK. The Garden also contains anOriental planetree that is reputed to have lived far longer than is typical for the species.

It has been claimed that the college has the only privately ownedsubway (underpass)in the UK, connecting the main site to North Court, but in factOriel College, Oxford,has its own tunnel beneathOriel Streetlinking the Island Site with the main college buildings.TheBodleian Libraryin Oxford also has its own tunnel beneathBroad Street.

Queen's Building

The Queen's Building encompasses a 150-seat theatre, reception and seminar rooms, and facilities for music practice. The theatre inside the Queen's Building is frequently utilized by the College for various purposes, such as lectures, Music Society concerts, admissions open day talks, and is a conference venue. Designed by the architectsSir Michael and Patty Hopkins,the Queen's Building is constructed usingKetton stone.The architectural design combines the robustness of the stone exterior walls with the spanning capabilities and mass of concrete for the floors. The limestone exterior is load bearing, and is the first building to usepost-tensioned stonewith internal cables. The roof is adorned with lead, and American white oak is extensively incorporated into the roof and panelling. The building was inaugurated in 1995.

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  College sports grounds
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  The chapel looking towards the altar
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  Chapel cloisters
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  Front façade from Downing Street

Student life

New Court which was built in 1824–25

The Emmanuel College Students Union (ECSU) is the society of all undergraduate students at Emmanuel College. It provides a shop, a bar, a common room, and funding for sports and other societies. ECSU's Executive Committee is elected at the end ofMichaelmasTerm each year.The ECSU committee is staffed by undergraduates and holds such positions as President, Welfare Officer, and Ents Officer amongst others.

The Emmanuel College Middle Combination Room (Emma MCR) is the society of all postgraduate students at Emmanuel College. The Room itself is a comfortable and well-equipped space in Furness Lodge. The MCR committee organises regular social events for graduate students, including well-attended formal dinners in hall every few weeks.

Sports and societies

There are numerous student societies and sports clubs at Emmanuel College. Sports clubs include tennis, badminton, cricket, squash, rugby, football, hockey and netball. Societies include the Emmanuel College Music Society (ECMS),the Christian Union, the Mountaineering Society, the Emmanuel Vegan Society, the Politics and Economics Society, ROAR (the college satirical newspaper), and the Emmanuel College Board Games Society. Funding for societies comes from the Emmanuel College Students Union (ECSU).

People associated with Emmanuel

See also:Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge;Category:Fellows of Emmanuel College, Cambridge;andList of Masters of Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Former students

Main article:List of alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge

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  Sebastian Faulks,novelist
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  John Harvard,namesake ofHarvard University
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  Jeremiah Horrocks,astronomer
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  Wu Lien-teh,physician
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  Lawrence Ogilvie,plant pathologist
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  George Porter,Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
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  Karel Reisz,filmmaker
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  William Sancroft,Archbishop of Canterbury
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  John Wallis,mathematician, invented theinfinity symbol($\infty$)
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  Hugh Walpole,novelist
• 
  Thomas Young,scientist and polymath

Emmanuel graduates were prominently involved in the settling of British colonies in North America. Of the first 100 university graduates inNew England,one third were graduates of Emmanuel.Harvard University,the first college in the United States, was organised on the model of Emmanuel as it was then run. Harvard is named forJohn Harvard(BA, 1632), an Emmanuel graduate. Emmanuel and Harvard maintain relations via student exchanges such as theHerchel Smithscholarships, the Harvard Scholarship, the Paul Williams Scholarship, and the Gomes lecture and dinner held each February at Emmanuel in honour ofPeter Gomes,erstwhile minister at Harvard'sMemorial Church.

Early Emmanuel graduates included several translators of the1611 Authorised Versionof the Bible, for exampleLaurence ChadertonandWilliam Branthwaite.

Fictional characters who have been said to have gone to Emmanuel includeJonathan Swift'sLemuel Gulliver.It is implied thatSebastian Faulks's eponymousEnglebyand Thomas Richardson also matriculated at Emmanuel. The protagonist inSamuel Butler's novelThe Way of All Fleshalso went to Emmanuel. The uncompletedDoctor WhoserialShadawas partly filmed in the college, with the characterProfessor Chronotishaving rooms in New Court.

Miscellaneous

College grace

The Latingrace(Oratio Ante Cibum) is recited before formal dinners at Emmanuel College.
Latin	English
Oculi omnium in te sperant, Domine, et tu das escam illorum in tempore opportuno. Aperis tu manum tuam et imples omne animal benedictione. Benedic, Domine, nos et dona tua quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi; per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.	The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thy hand and fillest every living thing with blessing. Bless us, O Lord and these thy gifts which of thy bounty we are about to receive; through Christ our Lord. Amen
TheOratio Post Cibumis sometimes read after dinner:
Latin	English
Confiteantur tibi, Domine, omnia opera tua, et sancti tui benedicant te. Agimus tibi gratias, omnipotens Deus, pro universis beneficiis tuis, qui vivis et regnas Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.	Let them acknowledge to you, O Lord, all thy works, and let thy saints bless thee. We give thanks to thee, almighty God, for all thy goodness, who livest and reignest as God for ever and ever. Amen.

See also

• List of Organ Scholars
• List of Masters of Emmanuel College
• Listed buildings in Cambridge (west)

External links

• Emmanuel College website
• Emmanuel College May Ball websiteArchived23 February 2006 at theWayback Machine
• Emmanuel College Middle Combination Room (MCR)
• Emmanuel College Students' Union