Three colleges at the University of Cambridge are celebrating their 40th anniversaries this year.

Clare Hall, Lucy Cavendish College and Wolfson College were all founded in 1965- some 681 years after Peterhouse, the first college.

The founding of Clare Hall was an act of remarkable generosity and foresight by the Master and Fellows of Clare College. Inspired by the concept of a centre for advanced study, their vision was to create a social group of men and women with their families that would include graduate students, research fellows, permanent, and visiting fellows.

After deciding to establish this new centre for advanced study in January 1964, the initial planning was carried through by a small group of fellows of Clare College, chaired by the Master. It was soon agreed that the new centre would be called Clare Hall, the ancient name by which the college itself had been known for more than five hundred years until its modern title was adopted in the mid 19th century.

Lucy Cavendish College provides opportunities for women aged twenty-one and over (the average student age is 30) to study for any undergraduate or postgraduate degree. For years the college has played a leading role in women’s issues within the University. While the University was founded as early as 1209, women were not admitted as full members until 1947; even then, the two women’s colleges had a strict upper limit imposed on their numbers. Lucy Cavendish College was founded in 1965 by a group of women determined to challenge the exclusivity of Cambridge. The College is named after Lucy Cavendish, a leading Victorian campaigner for the reform of women’s education.

Wolfson College was founded in 1965 by the University in order to provide more places for graduate students and more fellowships for the growing number of university lecturers and research workers. Originally it was called ‘University College’, but in 1972, following a generous benefaction from the Wolfson Foundation, which contributed, to the cost of the main buildings of the college, the name was changed to ‘Wolfson College’. This was the first college to be established for both men and women and it was to be for graduate students with a focus on research and scholarship.

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