King's College, Cambridge

13/06/2021 King's College, Cambridge - Wikipedia
Coordinates: 52.2043°N 0.1162°E
King's College, Cambridge

King's College is a constituent college of the University of
Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Formally The King's College King's College
of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies University of Cambridge
beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the
centre of the city.
King's was founded in 1441 by Henry VI soon after he had

founded its sister college in Eton. However, the King's plans for
the college were disrupted by the Wars of the Roses and the
resultant scarcity of funds, as well as his eventual deposition.
Little progress was made on the project until in 1508 Henry VII
began to take an interest in the college, most likely as a political King's College Chapel and the Gibbs'
move to legitimise his new position. The building of the college's Building
chapel, begun in 1446, was finally finished in 1544 during the
reign of Henry VIII.
King's College Chapel is regarded as one of the greatest

examples of late Gothic English architecture. It has the world's
largest fan vault, while the chapel's stained-glass windows and
wooden chancel screen are considered some of the finest from
their era. The building is seen as emblematic of Cambridge.[5]
The chapel's choir, composed of male students at King's and
choristers from the nearby King's College School, is one of the Arms of King's College
most accomplished and renowned in the world. Every year on Arms: Sable, three roses argent,[1] a
Christmas Eve, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (a
chief per pale azure and gules
service originally devised for Truro Cathedral by the college
charged on the dexter side with a
dean Eric Milner-White) is broadcast from the chapel to
fleur-de-lis and on the sinister with a
millions of listeners worldwide.[6][7]
lion passant gardant or

Contents Location King's Parade

(map (https://map.c
History
am.ac.uk/King%27
Foundation
s+College))
Henry VI, Henry VII and Henry VIII
Coordinates 52.2043°N
Front Court completed
0.1162°E
Victorian reforms and expansion
Twentieth century Full name The King's College
of Our Lady and
Buildings and grounds
Saint Nicholas in
Chapel
Cambridge
Front Court
Latin name Collegium Regale
Academic profile beate Marie et
Intake and access profile sancti Nicholai
Student life Cantebrigie
Sports Abbreviation K[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_College,_Cambridge 1/16
Music Founder Henry VI

People associated with King's Established 1441
Nobel laureates Named after Our Lady, patron
Provosts saint of Eton
Visitor College
Arms Nicholas, natal

saint of Henry VI
See also
Sister colleges Eton College
References
New College,
Footnotes
Oxford
Printed sources
Provost Michael Proctor
External links
Undergraduates 420[3]
Postgraduates 280[3]
History Endowment £99.3m (2018)[4]
Website www.kings.cam.ac
Foundation .uk (http://www.kin
gs.cam.ac.uk)
On 12 February 1441, King Henry Student union www.kcsu.org.uk
VI issued letters patent founding a (http://www.kcsu.or
college at Cambridge for a rector
g.uk)
and twelve poor scholars.[8] This
college was to be named after Saint Graduate www.kcgs.org.uk
Nicholas upon whose feast day society (http://www.kcgs.or
Henry had been born.[9] The first g.uk)
stone of the college's Old Court was Boat club www.kingsboatclub
Henry VI, the college's laid by the King on Passion
.com (http://www.ki
founder Sunday, 2 April 1441 on a site
ngsboatclub.com)
which lies directly north of the
modern college and which was Map
formerly a garden belonging to Trinity Hall. William Millington,
a fellow of Clare College (then called Clare Hall) was installed as
the rector.[10]
Henry directed the publication of the college's first governing

statutes in 1443. His original modest plan for the college was
abandoned, and provision was instead made for a community of
seventy fellows and scholars headed by a provost. Henry had
belatedly learned of William of Wykeham's 1379 twin
foundation of New College, Oxford and Winchester College, and
wanted his own achievements to surpass those of Wykeham.[11]
The King had in fact founded Eton College on 11 October 1440
but, up until 1443, King's and Eton had been unconnected.[12]
Location in Central Cambridge
However, that year the relationship between the two was
remodelled upon Wykeham's successful institutions and the Show map of Central Cambridge
original sizes of the colleges scaled up to surpass Wykeham's. A Show map of Cambridge
second royal charter which re-founded the now much larger Show all
King's College was issued on 12 July 1443. On 1 September
1444, the Provosts of King's and Eton and the Wardens of Winchester and New College formally
signed the Amicabilis Concordia ("friendly agreement") in which they bound their colleges to support
one another legally and financially.[13][14]
Members of King's were to be recruited entirely from Eton. Each

year, the provost and two fellows travelled to Eton to impartially
select the worthiest boys to fill any vacancies at the college,
always maintaining the total number of scholars and fellows at
exactly seventy.[15] Membership of King's was a vocation for life.
Scholars were eligible for election to the fellowship after three
years of probation, irrespective of whether they had achieved a
degree or not. In fact, undergraduates at King's – unlike those
from other colleges – did not even have to pass university
examinations to achieve their BA degree and instead had only to Old Court
satisfy the college. Every fellow was to study theology, save for
two who were to study astronomy, two civil law, four canon law,
and two medicine; all fellows save those studying secular subjects were obliged to take Holy Orders
and become priests, on pain of expulsion.[16][17][8] In 1445, a Papal Bull from Eugenius IV exempted
college members from parish duties, and in 1457, an agreement between the provost and chancellor of
the university limited the chancellor's authority and gave the college full jurisdiction over internal
matters.
Henry VI, Henry VII and Henry VIII
The original plans for Old Court were too small to comfortably
accommodate the larger college community of the second
foundation, and so in 1443 Henry began to purchase the land
upon which the modern college now sits. The gateway and south
range of Old Court had already been built, but the rest was
completed in a temporary fashion to serve until the new court was
ready. However, the new college site would itself be left
unfinished and the "temporary" Old Court buildings, arranged to
Henry VI's revised plan for the
accommodate seventy, served as the permanent residential fabric
college
of the college until the beginning of the 19th century.[18][19]
Henry's grand design for the new college buildings survives in the
1448 Founder's Will, which describes his vision in detail. The new college site was to be centred on a
great courtyard, bordered on all sides by adjoining buildings: a chapel to the north; accommodation
and the entrance gate to the east; further accommodation and the provost's lodge to the south; and a
library, hall and buttery to the west. Behind the hall and buttery was to be another courtyard, and
behind the library a cloistered cemetery including a magnificent bell tower.
The first stone of the chapel was laid by the King on St James's
Day, 25 July 1446. The King encouraged support for the college.
In 1448, John Conches, former prior of Wootton Wawen gave the
priory's lands to "John Chedworth provost of the king's college of
St. Mary and St. Nicholas Cantebrigge and the scholars thereof,
and to their successors." [20]
However, within a decade Henry's
The College Chapel, as first planned engagement in the Wars of the Roses meant that funds began to
by Henry VI. The building line dry up. By the time of Henry's deposition in 1461, the chapel walls
between light and dark stone can be had been raised 60 ft high at the east end but only 8 ft at the west;
seen on the chapel's side. a building line which can still be seen today as the boundary
between the lighter stone below and the darker above. Work
proceeded sporadically until a generation later in 1508 when the
Founder's nephew Henry VII was prevailed upon to finish the shell of the building. The interior had to
wait a further generation until completion by 1544 with the aid of Henry VIII. The chapel would be
the only part of Henry VI's Founder's Will to be realised.
It has been speculated that the choice of the college as a

beneficiary by the two later Henrys was a political one, with
Henry VII in particular concerned to legitimate a new, post-civil
war Tudor regime by demonstrating patronage of what was by
definition the King's College. Later building work on the chapel is
marked by an uninhibited branding with the Tudor rose and
other symbols of the new establishment, quite against the precise
instructions of the Founder's Will.
Coat of arms of King Henry VII,
interior stonework of the chapel's
Front Court completed
west end
The college remained as the

Old Court, chapel and a few
small surrounding buildings for nearly two-hundred years until in
1724 the architect James Gibbs provided a new plan to complete
the courtyard of which the chapel formed the north side.
Although his design was for the courtyard to be closed by three
The Gibbs' Building
similar detached Neoclassical buildings, due to lack of funds only
the western of these was constructed. The first stone of what
became known as the Gibbs' Building was laid by Provost Andrew
Snape, at the time also vice-chancellor of the university, on 25 March 1723 and the building
completed six years later.
Front Court was finally completed in 1828 under plans drawn up

by William Wilkins. The courtyard was closed by a screen and
gatehouse to the east; and residential staircases either side of a
hall to the south. The southern buildings continued towards the
river with a library and Provost's lodge. All these buildings were,
at the college's insistence, built in the Gothic Revival style rather
than Wilkins's preferred Neoclassical.[21]
With the courtyard to the south of the chapel now able to

The east and south sides of Front
accommodate the college, the land to the north was sold to the
Court, designed by William Wilkins
university in 1828. The university demolished most of the original
Old Court buildings in order to make room for an extension to the
University Library; only the gateway arch opposite Clare College
survives. The library subsequently moved away from this site, known as the Old Schools, and the
buildings are currently used for the main administrative offices of the university.[21][22]
Victorian reforms and expansion
Under the provostship of Richard Okes, from 1850 until his death in 1888, the college began a period
of reform. On 1 May 1851 it was agreed to abolish the privilege of King's members to be granted a
degree without passing the university examinations. In 1861 the college statutes were amended so as
to expand the college and, more radically, to allow for the election of non-Etonian King's members:
the new statutes provided for forty-six Fellows, twenty-four scholarships reserved for boys from Eton,
and twenty-four "open" scholarships for boys from any school. At the same time all formal obligation
to take Holy Orders – unenforced since the seventeenth century – was removed.[23] The statutes were
again amended in 1882, this time ensuring fellowships were not always for life and were awarded on
merit after submissions of original research. In his 1930 memoir As We Were, A Victorian Peep
Show,[24] E. F. Benson, an alumnus of King's,[25] recollected the peculiar behaviours of some of the
surviving Life Fellows from his undergraduate years of 1887–1890 and before. Of one he wrote, "He
then shuffled out on to the big lawn, with a stick in his hand, and he prodded with it at the worms in
the grass, muttering to himself, 'Ah, damn ye: ye haven't got me yet.'"
The first non-Etonian students were admitted to study at King's in 1865,
and the first non-Etonian scholars and the first non-Etonian fellow were
elected in 1873. These reforms continued over subsequent decades and
there are now no special privileges for Etonians at King's.
The expansion of the college through

the 1861 statutes necessitated more
building work to accommodate the
larger community. In 1869, the area
along King's Parade between the
Wilkins' Buildings and King's Lane
was built upon after a design by
Scott's Building George Gilbert Scott. When
completed a year later, the new
courtyard formed was named after
Bodley's Court
Walter Chetwynd, a fellow of the college.[21][26] However, after
subsequent plans to expand college accommodation fell through,
King's opened negotiations to amalgamate with St Catharine's College. Although St Catharine's had
been founded by Robert Woodlark (sometimes spelled Wodelarke), a Provost of King's, the college
declined the invitation to combine.[27] Eventually, in 1893, the east and south wings of another new
courtyard within King's – designed by George Frederick Bodley and overlooking the river – were
completed.[28]
Twentieth century
In 1909, the south range of a third new courtyard – named for its architect Aston Webb – was built to
the south of the library. In 1927, designs by G. L. Kennedy completed Bodley's Court with a new
northern range, and Webb's Court with a new Provost's Lodge on its western side.[8][21]
In 1930, a Cambridge Borough Police officer was shot by a student who also shot his tutor in the same
incident.[29]
On 1 September 1939, the day of the German invasion of Poland and the cause of the UK's entrance
into World War II, permission was sought from the College Council to remove the stained glass from
the east window of the chapel. By the end of 1941, all the ancient glass had been removed to various
cellars in Cambridge for safekeeping. Despite most of the windows of the chapel being covered over by
sheets of tar-paper which rattled loudly in the wind, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
continued to be broadcast from the chapel every Christmas Eve throughout the war – even though the
name of the college could not be broadcast for security reasons. King's took the opportunity of these
years to clean, repair and photograph the glass. By 1949, all the windows had been restored.[6][30]
In 1961 the property millionaire Alfred E. Allnatt offered King's the Adoration of the Magi by Peter
Paul Rubens, which he had purchased in 1959 for a world-record price. The college accepted "this
munificent gift" with the intention of displaying the painting in the chapel, possibly as an altarpiece.
The painting was initially displayed in the antechapel but a significant faction of the fellowship –
including Michael Jaffé and Provost Noel Annan – were determined for the painting to become the
focal point of an entirely redesigned east end planned by the architect Sir Martyn Beckett, who was
"philosophical about the furore this inevitably occasioned – which quickly became acceptance of a
solution to a difficult problem."[31]
As the first stage of this project, the Edwardian reredos and 17th-century wood panelling were
removed and the Rubens installed in their stead behind the altar in April 1964. The painting was so
big that the raised floor of the chapel's east end, required by the 1448 Founder's Will, would have to
be levelled so as to prevent the baroque artwork obscuring the

bottom of the Tudor east window. However, twenty fellows and
the honorary fellow E. M. Forster signed a letter urging the
college to reverse its plan and "admit that it has made a mistake";
the levelling of the floor nevertheless went ahead. The newly
refitted east end opened in 1968 and proved highly controversial,
with the Architects' Journal criticising it as "motivated not by the
demands of liturgical worship but by those of museum
display."[32]
Rubens's Adoration of the Magi
The last main-site building to be erected by the college was the
behind the chapel altar
Keynes Building, finished in 1967 and named after the former
college bursar John Maynard Keynes. This building enclosed
Chetwynd Court along with the Wilkins' and Scott's buildings,
and provided over seventy en-suite accommodation rooms along with other facilities.[21]
The first women students arrived at King's in 1972. The college, along with most others at the
university, had been all-male since its foundation. However, under provost Edmund Leach, King's
together with Churchill and Clare became the first three previously all-male colleges to admit women.
Henry VI is not completely forgotten at the College. The Saturday after the end of Michaelmas term
each year is Founder's Day, which begins with a Founder's Eucharist in the chapel, followed by a
Founder's Breakfast with ale and culminating in a sumptuous dinner in his memory called "Founder's
Feast" to which all members of College in their third year of studies are invited.
Buildings and grounds
Chapel
The College Chapel, an example of late Gothic architecture, was

built over a period of a hundred years (1446–1531) in three
stages. The Chapel features the world's largest fan vault ceiling;
twenty-six large stained glass windows, twenty-four of which date
from the sixteenth century; and Peter Paul Rubens's painting the
Adoration of the Magi as an altarpiece.
The Chapel is actively used as a place of worship and also for

some concerts and college events. The world-famous Chapel choir
consists of organ scholars, choral scholars (male students from Interior of the chapel
the college and other colleges) and choristers (boys educated at
the nearby King's College School). The choir sings services on
most days in term-time, and also performs concerts and makes recordings and broadcasts. In
particular, it has broadcast its Nine Lessons and Carols on the BBC[33] from the Chapel on Christmas
Eve for many decades. Additionally, there is a mixed-voice Chapel choir of male and female students,
King's Voices, which sings evensong on Mondays during term-time.
Front Court
Academic profile
The unofficial Tompkins Table comparing academic performance ranked King's twelfth out of a total
of twenty-nine rated colleges at the University of Cambridge in 2019. In terms of first-class degrees,
King's ranked 9th in the university with 31.3% of final year students achieving a first.
King's offers all undergraduate courses available at the University, except for education, Land
Economy and veterinary medicine, although Directors of Studies for Anglo-Saxon Norse & Celtic and
Management Studies visit from other colleges. With more than 100 fellows and some 420
undergraduate students, King's has one of the highest ratios of fellows to students of all the
Cambridge Colleges.
Since its foundation, the college has housed a library, providing books for all students, covering all the
subjects offered by King's. Around 130,000 books are held: some available for teaching and for
reference, others being rare books and manuscripts. The library operates a user-oriented purchasing
policy: students and Directors of Studies recommend new purchases in their subject.[34] There is both
Wi-Fi and Ethernet internet access throughout the library as well as a library computer room.[35]
Special collections include a separate Music Library, the Keynes Library, a Global Warming collection,
and an Audio Visual Library.[36]
Intake and access profile

The college has gradually broadened its intake to include many students from state schools, often
having the highest proportion of maintained school acceptances of the undergraduate colleges. This
has led to accusations of reactionary bias against public school pupils and of affirmative action
(positive discrimination), although the relatively high proportion of state-school students reflects the
far greater number of applications from pupils at maintained schools in comparison to other
Cambridge colleges.[37]
King's has established a Schools Liaison Officer post in order to provide support to students, whatever
their background, and schools and colleges of any type to find out more about the University of
Cambridge and the college.[38] King's is the link Cambridge College for schools in North East England
through Cambridge University Area Links Scheme.[39]
Generally, the atmosphere at King's is considered to be easier than that of other colleges to integrate
into for students from a working-class or minority background. However, a survey conducted by
Varsity Newspaper in January 2009 revealed that the average parental income of students who
participated in the survey at King's was higher than the university average.[40]
The academic Priyamvada Gopal has refused to supervise students because she maintains porters at
King's College often "hassled" non-white staff and students at the gates, which she claims amounts to
"racial profiling". While several student and staff corroborated her accusations, a university
spokeswoman has denied wrongdoing by staff.[41]
Student life
King's has its own student unions, both for undergraduates (King's
College Student Union or KCSU) and for graduates (King's College
Graduate Society or KCGS). Students at King's have used both
organisations to assist in the decision-making processes in the College
itself and the University. The college students have a reputation for
radical political activity going back to the late 1960s, and the College has
not infrequently been the centre of demonstrations, rent strikes and so
forth, sparked by political events.
There are a number of rooms around college which students can book
out to hold society events. Societies who commonly do this include
King's Politics, The Turing Maths Society, The History Society, The
Marxist Society, Keynes Economics Society and King's Feminist Society. King's College dining hall
The main bar at King's is the site of many social events, open mic nights,
and informal meetings and debates between students, whilst a venue
known as the Bunker (formerly the Cellar), a second bar in a basement of the college, acts occasionally
as a music or dance-night venue and most recently the set for a King's Drama productions including
Sartre's No Exit[42] and a series of monologue showcase events. Even more recently, the Bunker has
been used by the King's Electronic Music Society, allowing students to learn how to DJ.
Whereas many Cambridge colleges celebrate May Week with a May Ball (which actually falls in June),
since the early 1980s King's has instead held a June Event (an informal version of a May Ball with
fancy dress) known as The King's Affair. This takes place annually on the Wednesday night of May
Week (usually around 20 June), and is attended by around 1,500 students, occupying the Front Court,
bar, Hall and Chapel. Past performers have included The Stranglers, Fatboy Slim, Noah and the
Whale and, in 2009, Clean Bandit. There are also large student-run College parties at the end of each
term known as Mingles.
Sports
King's has a number of competitive and casual sports clubs. King's College Boat Club has the largest
active membership of any club in King's. In 2013 the first men's boat qualified to race in the Temple
Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.[43] After several years of poor performances, the boat has
returned to a definitive mid-table position in the first division of the Lent and May Bumps, with
blades being awarded in Lent 2019. Another major club is the King's Mountaineering and Kayaking
Association, which has a fleet of kayaks for use on the River Cam (which runs through the College)
and regularly runs climbing, walking and kayaking trips for students of the college during university
vacations.[44] Its rugby team is joint with Corpus Christi and Clare colleges and consequently known
as CCK. Its historic crest is the hallowed Elephant of Wisdom.
Music
King's College is home to the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, which was founded in the fifteenth
century and is now one of today's most well-renowned representatives of the English choral tradition.
In 2013 the choir launched its own label, King's College Recordings, which would allow it to gain more
artistic freedom over its releases. Its releases and worldwide fame have led to global tours and
performances.[45] The Choir of King's College sings evensong and Eucharist services on all days of the
week apart from Mondays, with two services on a Sunday.
The other resident choir of the college is the mixed-voice choir King's Voices, founded in October 1997
under Dr John Butt, with the intention of giving women in King's the opportunity to sing in the chapel
and be eligible for choral awards within the college. Currently, the choir sings evensong every Monday
in university term, as well as performing at King's College Music Society (KCMS) and college events
throughout the year.[46] King's Voices has also appeared on albums alongside the Choir of King's
College, most recently in the Te Deum and Magnificat of the Collegium Regale service by Herbert
Howells on a double album of music by Howells.[47] Sopranos in King's Voices also featured in a live
recording of Britten's St Nicolas alongside the BBC Singers and Britten Sinfonia as part of Sir Stephen
Cleobury's Farewell Concert, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2019.[48] The choir's current director is
Ben Parry, who is Assistant Director of Music at King's.
People associated with King's

Robert Walpole, first M. R. James, George Santayana, E. M. Forster,

Prime Minister of scholar and ghost- philosopher novelist
Great Britain story writer
John Maynard Rupert Brooke, poet Philip Noel-Baker, Xu Zhimo, poet

Keynes, economist Olympic medallist
and Nobel laureate
in peace
Patrick Blackett, Alan Turing, Frederick Sanger, Salman Rushdie,

Nobel laureate in mathematician and double Nobel novelist
physics computer scientist laureate in
Chemistry
Stephen Poliakoff, Mervyn King, former David Baddiel, Zadie Smith,

playwright and Governor of the comedian novelist
director Bank of England
Once someone has been admitted to the college, he or she becomes a member for life. Alumni of the
college includes prime ministers, archbishops, presidents and academics. Time published in 1999 a
list of what it considered the most "influential and important" people of the twentieth century. In a list
of one hundred names, King's claimed two: Alan Turing and John Maynard Keynes who had been
both students and fellows at the college.[49]
Heads of State and Government educated at King's include the first Prime Minister of Great Britain,
Robert Walpole. Also in the 18th century alumni include the Secretary of State Charles Townshend,
2nd Viscount Townshend (Turnip Townshend), who was also known for his interest in agriculture
and his role in the British agricultural revolution, the judge and Lord Chancellor Charles Pratt, 1st
Earl Camden. Historical figures include Francis Walsingham, spymaster to Queen Elizabeth.
Politicians educated at King's include the former British Home Secretary Charles Clarke, the peer and
Chancellor of the University of Cambridge David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, and Martin
Bell.
In Law, alumni include the barrister and vice-chancellor Robert Alexander, Baron Alexander of
Weedon, the former President of the British Supreme Court Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth
Matravers; and the Judge of the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union Geert de
Baere.
Alumni in religion include William Thomas, the 16th-century Protestant martyr John Frith, the
Archbishop of Canterbury John Sumner, and Richard Cox, who served as Chancellor of Oxford before
appointment as Dean of Westminster and eventually Bishop of Ely.
Notable alumni in literature and poetry include the authors Zadie Smith, Salman Rushdie, Martin
Jacques, J. G. Ballard and E. M. Forster, the Nobel Prize winner Patrick White, the poets Rupert
Brooke, Walter Raleigh and Xu Zhimo, and the playwright Stephen Poliakoff. The ghost story writer
and medievalist M. R. James spent much of his life at King's as a student, fellow and Provost. The
author and translator of Aristotle Sir John Harington is also an alumnus, and a benefactor of
mankind for having invented the flush toilet.
In the arts, alumni include the philosopher George Santayana; the historians Benedict Anderson, Eric
Hobsbawm and Tony Judt; composers George Benjamin, Judith Weir (Master of the Queen's Music),
Thomas Ades, and Julian Anderson; the original members of the Grammy Award-winning a cappella
group King's Singers; the folk musician John Spiers; the comedian David Baddiel; the model Lily
Cole; the tenor James Gilchrist; and the countertenor John Whitworth.[50]
In the sciences and social sciences, King's alumni include the British sociologist Anthony Giddens, the
physicist Patrick Blackett, the chemist Frederick Sanger, The psychologist Edgar Anstey, the
palaeontologist Richard Fortey, the economist John Craven, the political theorist John Dunn, the
engineer Charles Inglis, and the mathematician and eugenicist Karl Pearson. The Governor of the
Bank of England Mervyn King was also educated at King's. The technology entrepreneur Hermann
Hauser, of Acorn and ARM, studied postgraduate physics there.
Of the current fellows of King's prominent fellows include Whitehead and Adams' Prize Winner
Clément Mouhot and the Fellow of the Royal Society and Clay Research award winner Mark Gross
(mathematician).
Nobel laureates
There are eight Nobel laureates who were either students or fellows of King's:
Charles Glover Barkla was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1917 "for his discovery of the
characteristic Röntgen radiation of the elements".[51][52][53]
Patrick Blackett, fellow of King's, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1948 "for his
development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of
nuclear physics and cosmic radiation".[54][55]
Frederick Sanger, fellow of King's, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1958 "for his work
on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin".[56] Sanger was awarded his second Nobel
Prize in Chemistry in 1980 jointly with Walter Gilbert for "their contributions concerning the
determination of base sequences in nucleic acids".[57] Sanger is one of only four people to have
won a Nobel Prize twice, and the only affiliate of the University of Cambridge to have done so.[55]
Philip Noel-Baker was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 1959 for work towards global
disarmament.[55][58]
Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1973 "for an epic and psychological
narrative art which has introduced a new continent into literature".[55][59]
Richard Stone, fellow of King's, was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
1984 "for having made fundamental contributions to the development of systems of national
accounts and hence greatly improved the basis for empirical economic analysis".[55][60]
Sydney Brenner, fellow of King's, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002
jointly with H. Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston "for their discoveries concerning genetic
regulation of organ development and programmed cell death".[55][61]
Oliver Hart was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 2016 jointly with Bengt
Holmstrom "for their contributions to contract theory".[55][62]
Provosts
The head of King's College is called the Provost. The current Provost, as of 2013, is Michael Proctor,
physicist and Professor of Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics at Cambridge.
Visitor
The visitor of the College is the Bishop of Lincoln,[63] since 2011 Christopher Lowson.
Arms
Coat of arms of King's College, Cambridge
Notes
King's was granted its arms on the same day as its sister foundation
Eton College. The two shields are identical, save that King's has three
white roses, and Eton three white lilies.
A version of the arms with the roses argent, barbed and seeded
proper (i.e. white or silver, with green barbs and yellow seeds) is
often used, though the blazon simply describes the roses as
argent. The embellished shield can be seen in the box at the top-
right of this page.
Escutcheon
Sable, three roses argent, a chief per pale azure and gules charged on
the dexter side with a fleur-de-lis and on the sinister with a lion passant
gardant Or.
Symbolism
In the grant of arms, the black field is described as symbolising the
stability of the college; the roses are described as symbolising the
bringing forth of the flowers of knowledge; and the fleur-de-lis and lion
represent the royalty of King's foundation by Henry VI, referring to the
Kingdoms of France and England respectively. Furthermore, white
roses are traditionally a symbol of the Virgin Mary, one of the patron
saints of King's.
Previous versions
Before the granting of the current arms, King's used a very similar
design. The previous shield had two white lilies instead of the outer
roses, and a pastoral staff encircled by a mitre instead of the bottom
rose. The two lilies represented St Mary, and the bishop's regalia
represented St Nicholas.
See also
Trinity College, Cambridge
References
Footnotes
1. The roses are frequently represented as barbed and seeded proper as above. See pp. 54–57,
The Cambridge Armorial (1985), London: Orbis.
2. University of Cambridge (6 March 2019). "Notice by the Editor" (https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/rep
orter/2018-19/special/05/section1.shtml). Cambridge University Reporter. 149 (Special No 5): 1.
Retrieved 20 March 2019.
3. "King's College" (http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/kings/).

Undergraduate Study. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
4. "King's College Accounts" (https://web.archive.org/web/20190526005744/http://www.kings.cam.a
c.uk/sites/default/files/about/kings_rcca_17-18.pdf) (PDF). King's College, Cambridge. Archived
from the original (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/about/kings_rcca_17-18.pdf)
(PDF) on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
5. see e.g. the logo of the city council, "Cambridge City Council" (http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/).
Retrieved 19 July 2012.
6. "History of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/events/chapel-ser
vices/nine-lessons/history.html). King's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
7. Blake, Heidi (24 December 2012). "Hundreds queue overnight to watch Kings College Choir in
Christmas concert" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8224675/Hundreds-qu
eue-overnight-to-watch-Kings-College-Choir-in-Christmas-concert.html). The Daily Telegraph.
London. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
8. Saltmarsh 1959.
9. Austen-Leigh 1899, pp. 3–4.
10. Fay 1907, pp. 5, 8, 49.
11. "Henry VI" (https://web.archive.org/web/20071026213450/http://www.infobritain.co.uk/Henry_The
_Sixth.htm). Monarchs and Royals. InfoBritain. Archived from the original (http://www.infobritain.c
o.uk/Henry_The_Sixth.htm) on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
12. Fay 1907, p. 49.
13. "Eton College History" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120608010713/http://etoncollege.com/user
files/file/Eton%20history.pdf) (PDF). Eton College. Archived from the original (http://www.etoncolle
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14. Austen-Leigh 1899, p. 15.
15. Fay 1907, p. 52.
16. Austen-Leigh 1899, p. 11.
17. Fay 1907, p. 54.
18. Fay 1907, pp. 8–9.
19. Austen-Leigh, p. 6.
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Volume 5, 1447-1454. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1947" (http
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8 August 2020.
21. "College history" (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/about/history.html). King's College, Cambridge.
22. Fay 1907, p. 10.
23. Austen-Leigh 1899, pp. 150, 221, 279.
24. Benson, Edward Frederic (1930). As We Were, A Victorian Peep-Show (https://archive.org/detail
s/aswewerevictoria00bens/page/124). London, New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green And CO.
pp. 124 (https://archive.org/details/aswewerevictoria00bens/page/124). ISBN 0701205881.
25. Benson, Edward Frederic. "A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge" (http://venn.l
ib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2016.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=BN8
87EF&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50). A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of
Cambridge. Archived (https://archive.is/20180313195003/http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-
2016.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=BN887EF&sye=&eye=&col=all&
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26. Fay 1907, pp. 40–41.
27. Fay 1907, p. 42.
28. Fay 1907, pp. 42–43.
29. "Cambridgeshire Constabulary" (http://www.policememorial.org.uk/index.php?page=cambridgeshi

re-constabulary). National Police Officers Roll of Honour and Remembrance in Memory of British
Police Officers who Lost their Lives in the Line of Duty. Police Roll of Honour Trust. Retrieved
19 July 2012.
30. "Saving the Chapel windows" (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/archive-centre/college-archives/tour/bui
ldings/windows.html). Archive Centre. King's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
31. "Obituary: Sir Martyn Beckett, Bt" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1336490/Sir-Marty
n-Beckett-Bt.html). The Daily Telegraph. 6 August 2001. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
32. "A season for crying in the chapel: Millions will enjoy today's festival of carols from King's College,
Cambridge. But Graham Chainey mourns a botched 'restoration' " (https://www.independent.co.u
k/opinion/a-season-for-crying-in-the-chapel-millions-will-enjoy-todays-festival-of-carols-from-kings-
college-cambridge-but-graham-chainey-mourns-a-botched-restoration-1565376.html). The
Independent. London. 24 December 1992. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
33. "Carols from Kings" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gkvtk). BBC.co.uk. Retrieved
23 November 2015.
34. "Library recommendations" (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/library/recommend.html). King's College,
Cambridge. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
35. "Internet Access" (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/library/internet.html). King's College, Cambridge.
Retrieved 14 September 2014.
36. "Special Collections" (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/library/special-collections.html). King's College,
Cambridge. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
37. "Table 5.1 Proportion of Home applications and acceptances to Cambridge from the maintained
sector by College 2008 and 2007" (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2008-09/special/17/table
5_1.pdf) (PDF). Cambridge University Reporter. CXXXIX (Special No 17): 15–16. 20 April 2009.
38. "Schools Liaison Initiative" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090831153202/http://www.kings.cam.a
c.uk/admissions/welcome/schoolsLiaison.html). King's College, Cambridge. Archived from the
original (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/admissions/welcome/schoolsLiaison.html) on 31 August
2009. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
39. "Cambridge University Area Links Scheme" (http://www.study.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/access/ar
ealinks/). Cambridge University. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
40. Tunstall-Behrens, Caedmon (23 January 2009). "From dumpster-diving to raucous revels" (http://
www.varsity.co.uk/archive/687.pdf) (PDF). Varsity. Cambridge. pp. 1, 4–5. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
41. King's College racism row: Students support academic (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-c
ambridgeshire-44565540) BBC
42. "No Exit news item" (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/news/2012/drama-society-sartre-play.html).
King's College, Cambridge. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
43. "KCBC" (http://www.kingsboatclub.com/henley-royal-regatta-2013/). Retrieved 14 September
2014.
44. "King's Mountaineering and Kayaking Association" (https://web.archive.org/web/2013101702425
8/http://www.kmka.co.uk/Activities.html). Archived from the original (http://www.kmka.co.uk/Activiti
es.html) on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
45. "The Choir of King's College, Cambridge | King's College Cambridge" (https://www.kings.cam.ac.u
k/choir). www.kings.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
46. "King's Voices | King's College Cambridge" (https://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/chapel/kings-voices).
www.kings.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
47. "King's label releases new double Howells album | King's College Cambridge" (https://www.kings.
cam.ac.uk/news/2019/kings-label-releases-new-double-howells-album). www.kings.cam.ac.uk.
48. "Latest News" (https://www.stephencleobury.com/latest-news.html). Stephen Cleobury. Retrieved
11 July 2020.
49. Isaacson, Walter (31 December 1999). "Who Mattered And Why" (http://www.time.com/time/maga
zine/article/0,9171,993016,00.html). Time Magazine. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
50. Garry Humphreys, John Whitworth: Celebrated countertenor (https://www.independent.co.uk/new

s/obituaries/john-whitworth-celebrated-countertenor-8817899.html), in The Independent, 15
September 2013, accessed 20 June 2020
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Encyclopedia Britannica. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
53. O'Connor, J. J.; Robertson, E. F. (November 2007). "Biography: Charles Glover Barkla" (http://ww
w-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Barkla.html). School of Mathematical and
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8/). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
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s/1980/). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
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Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
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1973/). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
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ine/laureates/2002/). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
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63. King's College Statutes 2007, s. P(1). (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/intranet/1_sta
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Printed sources
Austen-Leigh, Augustus (1899). King's College
(https://archive.org/details/kingscollege00austuoft). University of Cambridge: College Histories.
London: F. E. Robinson & Co. OL 7238809M (https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7238809M).
Fay, C. R. (1907). King's College, Cambridge (https://archive.org/details/kingscollegecamb00fayci
ala). The College Monographs. London: J. M. Dent & Co. OL 7080428M (https://openlibrary.org/b
ooks/OL7080428M). Retrieved 18 July 2012.
Saltmarsh, John (1959). "The colleges and halls: King's". In Roach, J. P. C. (ed.). A History of the
County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=666
49). Volume III: The City and University of Cambridge. Victoria County History (via the Institute of
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19 July 2012.
External links
Official website (http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/)
King's College Student Union (http://www.kcsu.org.uk/)
King's College Graduate Society (http://kcgs.soc.srcf.net/)
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13/06/2021 King's College, Cambridge - Wikipedia

Coordinates: 52.2043°N 0.1162°E

King's was founded in 1441 by Henry VI soon after he had

King's College Chapel is regarded as one of the greatest

Contents Location King's Parade

Music Founder Henry VI

Arms Nicholas, natal

Henry directed the publication of the college's first governing

Members of King's were to be recruited entirely from Eton. Each

Henry VI, Henry VII and Henry VIII

It has been speculated that the choice of the college as a

The college remained as the

Front Court was finally completed in 1828 under plans drawn up

With the courtyard to the south of the chapel now able to

Victorian reforms and expansion

The expansion of the college through

be levelled so as to prevent the baroque artwork obscuring the

Buildings and grounds

The College Chapel, an example of late Gothic architecture, was

The Chapel is actively used as a place of worship and also for

Intake and access profile

People associated with King's

Robert Walpole, first M. R. James, George Santayana, E. M. Forster,

John Maynard Rupert Brooke, poet Philip Noel-Baker, Xu Zhimo, poet

Patrick Blackett, Alan Turing, Frederick Sanger, Salman Rushdie,

Stephen Poliakoff, Mervyn King, former David Baddiel, Zadie Smith,

3. "King's College" (http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/kings/).

29. "Cambridgeshire Constabulary" (http://www.policememorial.org.uk/index.php?page=cambridgeshi

50. Garry Humphreys, John Whitworth: Celebrated countertenor (https://www.independent.co.uk/new

King's College Graduate Society (http://kcgs.soc.srcf.net/)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=King%27s_College,_Cambridge&oldid=1020349537"

This page was last edited on 28 April 2021, at 16:23 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;

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King's College, Cambridge - Wikipedia

King's College, Cambridge - Wikipedia