History

Beginnings

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Newnham began in a house for five students in Regent Street in Cambridge in 1871. 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 the philosopher Henry Sidgwick, one of the organisers of the lectures, risked renting a house in which young women attending the lectures could reside. He persuaded Anne Jemima Clough, who had previously run a school in the Lake District, to take charge of this house.
 

Henry Sidgwick	Anne Jemima Clough	Merton Hall

 Demand continued to increase and the supporters of the enterprise formed a limited company to raise funds, lease land and build a purpose-built building on it. Newnham Hall opened its doors in 1875, the first building on the site 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.

 

Newnham Hall	Old Labs

The same architect, Basil Champneys, was employed throughout and this has given the main college buildings an extraordinary unity. The early senior members also included some passionate gardeners and the buildings are grouped round a beautiful garden which many visitors to Cambridge never discover.