A Short History of Newnham College, Cambridge

by Alice Gardner

It would be partly true and partly false to regard the objects of those who practically founded Newnham College as identical with those of the leading champions of the political and legal rights of women. Of course, as might naturally be expected, many of those who, through breadth of sympathy and hatred of injustice, gave the greater part of their lives and energies to the removal of female disabilities, public and private, were very ready to respond to the demand for higher education for girls and women. One need only think (looking at the leaders of thought in the middle of last century) of John Stuart Mill (a benefactor to the Cambridge Lectures Association and to similar enterprises) with the philosophic school which he represented and led. The advocates of political liberty and those of higher education for women used to a large extent the same arguments, and the securing of one end favoured the prospects of the other. Those who held that women were on the eve of obtaining greater rights and responsibilities were bound to show sympathy with the cause of education; they could quote the words of Samson Agonistes: "What were strength without a double share of wisdom? Vast, unwieldy, burdensome." And on the other hand every movement made in the direction of sound education for women told in favour of opening spheres of usefulness and conceding rights as to property and personal liberty which uneducated women might possibly have abused. Among the earlier friends of Newnham, probably by far the larger number were warmly attached to the franchise movement, especially when it came within the range of practical politics. At the same time, advocates of higher education were unlikely to be possessed—as were a few excellent and high-minded women—by the idea of the suffrage as a panacea for all women's grievances or a necessary condition of any step towards social betterment. Necessity and common sense prescribed caution to the pioneers who were directing their efforts to obtain some measure of university education for women able to profit thereby.

And indeed there was nothing revolutionary in the movement towards higher education for women. True, the education of girls and women had not till then been considered an object to be sought on a large scale. But there had been educated and even learned women in England, in the days of the Renaissance and Reformation, though there can be little doubt that—in the higher circles, at least—a check came with the frivolities of the later Stuart court. But without going into uncertain historical details, it is noticeable that in the early part of the nineteenth century, such different persons as Sydney Smith and Mrs. Hannah More became eloquent advocates of more serious education for girls than they commonly received. The arguments of these and like-minded reformers were not thrown away. It is beyond question that in many parts of England, in early and middle Victorian days, there were high-minded, intellectual, and accomplished women conducting girls' schools on reasonable principles and with good mental and moral results; and a good deal of the highest education in girls' schools was given by men—sometimes of considerable standing and ability. The position of a private governess was not remarkably dignified or lucrative (vide the experiences of the Brontes); but there were some such private teachers who did excellent and much appreciated work.

Still the course of a girl who had inward longings for intellectual culture was often hard; and harder still was that of young women who had a liking for literature and art, combined with a distaste for unvaried domestic interests or social routine. The happiest were those who had sympathetic elder brothers at College, who could talk over their difficulties with them and recommend books. Such was eminently the position of Miss Clough herself. Her education—discursive and not without lacunae—had been a home education, her chief mentor an Oxford brother, whose mind and tone of character it is superfluous here to describe. It was in great part to help those who, like herself, had had aspirations after knowledge and culture, and who, unlike herself, had not always had sympathetic homes, that she and other pioneers in Cambridge desired to secure facilities of continuous study under the direction of capable and inspiring teachers.

It may be advisable to indicate briefly the different ways in which efforts were made to meet the existing wants, some of which led up to the goal of university education for women.[1]

(1) The first step was the establishment of larger and better schools, and provision for more advanced teaching. Queen's College, Harley Street, first presided over by F. D. Maurice, was founded in 1848 and is still at work; Bedford College (now a College of London University) was founded in 1849; the North London Collegiate School and Cheltenham College (which both maintain their position as schools of first-rate standing) in 1850 and 1858. There were started, besides, some colleges expressly for women intending to become teachers (the Maria Grey, Home and Colonial, etc.). At present the need of some serious training in the art of teaching is widely recognised. In the early days of the Women's Education Movement, a young woman had often practically to choose between gaining more knowledge, and learning to make the most of the little which she had. This difficulty is now much diminished, if not entirely removed.

(2) But almost more important than the new foundations, started generally by private effort, was the successful attempt to secure some kind of government inspection of girls' schools and the synchronizing responsibility undertaken by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in admitting girls to the Local Examinations. In 1864, the Schools Inquiry Commission were requested to include in their task the inspection of Girls' Schools. The result was a revelation of superficiality, narrowness, and general inefficiency which awoke a portion at least of the educated public to the need of reform. The result of the new experiment (1865) of admitting girls to the Cambridge Senior and Junior examinations showed similar defects. Many generations of Newnham students have been amused to hear among the recollections revived at the annual Commemoration, how it was once seriously proposed to lower the standard of arithmetic to suit the capacity of the girls. Happily the suggestion was not followed. The notion that women cannot do hard sums was one of the "hasty generalizations" as to the constitution of the female mind, "with the wrecks of which," it was afterwards said, "the whole shore has been strewn."

The deficiencies of the schools were largely due to the fact that no opportunities of education were available for intending teachers. The more enlightened schoolmistresses had to struggle against masses of prejudice, indifference and materialism in the minds of parents and of the public, and many of them were eager for improvement. In 1866, the Society of London Schoolmistresses was formed for mutual help and encouragement, and similar societies were established in various localities, which lent support to the efforts of well-wishers in the Universities and elsewhere.

(3) Then again there were early schemes for lectures to women in different parts of the country, and these have branched out and become more effectual than any measure for educational improvement among persons for whom residence at a university was impossible. Here, as in many regions, Miss Clough was a pioneer, and this branch of work brought about the connection of Cambridge with one side of the movement and led directly to the starting of what grew into Newnham College.

The body which accomplished the chief initial work in the matter of local lectures for women was "The North of England Council for improving the Education of Women." To the organization of this society, Miss Clough gave much thought and attention, especially in 1867 and the following years. It was formed from an amalgamation of societies having the same object, in Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle. Among Miss Clough's colleagues on this Council were Mr. (afterwards Canon) and Mrs. Butler, Mr. (now Lord) Bryce, Mr. F. W. H. Myers, and Mr. (afterwards Professor) James Stuart. It was Mr. Stuart who, after his experience in the North of England, proposed and brought about in 1873 the organization of local lectures by the Universities. It is needless to go into the history of the subsequent development of University Extension. Begun primarily in the interests of women, it was extended to meet the needs of busy men with free evenings, working people, and all who wished in their leisure to prolong their education and gain culture.