Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Trinity Hall
University of Cambridge
Entrance to Trinity Hall on Trinity Lane
Arms of Trinity Hall Arms: Sable, a crescent ermine a bordure (engrailed) of the last
Scarf colours: black, with two equally-spaced narrow white stripes
Location	Trinity Lane (map)
Coordinates	52°12′21″N 0°06′57″E / 52.2057°N 0.1157°E / 52.2057; 0.1157 (Trinity Hall)
Full name	The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge
Abbreviation	TH
Founder	William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich
Established	1350; 674 years ago (1350)
Named after	The Holy Trinity
Sister colleges	All Souls College, Oxford University College, Oxford
Master	Mary Hockaday
Undergraduates	401 (2022-23)
Postgraduates	205 (2022-23)
Fellows	65
Endowment	£286.67m
Website	www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk
JCR	www.jcr.trinhall.cam.ac.uk
MCR	www.mcr.trinhall.cam.ac.uk
Boat club	www.trinityhallbc.co.uk
Map
Location in Central Cambridge Show map of Central Cambridge Location in Cambridge Show map of Cambridge

Founded in 1350, it is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been established by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, to train clergymen in canon law after the Black Death.

Trinity Hall has two sister colleges at the University of Oxford: All Souls and University College.

Notable alumni include theoretical physicists Stephen Hawking and Nobel Prize winner David Thouless, Australian Prime Minister Stanley Bruce, Pakistani Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin, Canadian Governor General David Johnston, philosophers Marshall McLuhan and Galen Strawson, Conservative cabinet minister Geoffrey Howe, Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, writer J. B. Priestley, and Academy Award-winning actress Rachel Weisz.

The devastation caused by the Black Death in England of the 1340s included the loss of perhaps half of the population; Bishop Bateman himself lost nearly 700 of his parish priests, and so his decision to found a college was probably centred on a need to rebuild the priesthood. The site that Bateman chose was the original site of Gonville Hall, which had been founded three years earlier, but was financially struggling. Bateman's clerical aim for the Hall is reflected in the foundation of 1350, when he stated that the college's aim was "the promotion of divine worship and of canon and civil science and direction of the commonwealth and especially of our church and diocese of Norwich." This led the college to be particularly strong in legal studies, a tradition that has continued over the centuries.

At first all colleges in Cambridge were known as "Halls" or "Houses" and then later changed their names from "Hall" to "College". However, when Henry VIII founded Trinity College next door, it became clear that Trinity Hall would continue being known as a Hall. The new foundation's name may have been a punishment for the college's master, Stephen Gardiner, who had opposed the king's remarriage and had endured much of the college's land being removed. It is incorrect to call it Trinity Hall College, although Trinity Hall college (lower case) is, strictly speaking, accurate. A similar situation had existed once before when Henry VI founded King's College (in 1441) despite the existence of King's Hall (founded in 1317). King's Hall was later incorporated in the foundation of Trinity College in 1546.

Trinity Hall, in addition to having a chapel, also had joint usage of the Church of St John Zacharias with Clare Hall, until the church was demolished to enable the construction of King's College in the 15th century. After this, the college was granted usage of the nearby Church of St Edward, King and Martyr on Peas Hill, a connection which remains to this day.

Allegations of misconduct

2015-2020 allegations of sexual misconduct

In 2019 and 2020, the College experienced unwelcome publicity after the reporting of allegations of sexual misconduct scandals involving Dr William O’Reilly, the former Acting Senior Tutor, and Dr Peter Hutchinson, a former fellow.

In 2015, 10 students submitted formal complaints of verbal sexual harassment by Dr Peter Hutchinson, a college fellow. Hutchinson was asked, and agreed, to withdraw permanently from further teaching and from attending social events at which students might be present. However, due to an alleged error by the College in 2017, Hutchinson was invited to a college event, which was also open to students. His attendance was in breach of the prior agreement and resulted in an outcry among students and alumni.

Thereafter, in 2019, a formal agreement as to what events Hutchinson could attend was approved by the Governing Body. He remained an Emeritus Fellow of the College. This resulted in further protest from students and alumni as well as more widespread coverage. The Guardian called it "a gross betrayal to (sic) the students" and "a dangerous environment for women students to study". It was reported in November 2019 that Hutchinson had resigned.

In February 2020, a Tortoise Media investigation alleged that William O’Reilly, the Acting Senior Tutor, had seriously mishandled a disciplinary process of a student he had a "close relationship" with, who was the subject of multiple allegations of sexual assault. Tortoise reported that O’Reilly himself had given witness testimony on behalf of the student at the disciplinary hearings into the assaults. Moreover, during this disciplinary process O'Reilly was himself the subject of a further allegation of sexual assault, which he denied. Tortoise reported that the College's Master, Jeremy Morris, had been made aware of the allegations against O'Reilly, but had allowed him to continue teaching for a further five months and oversee the student disciplinary process until the complaints were investigated by police. Tortoise alleged that as of the date of publication, no formal investigation had been made into this complaint, and no safeguarding measures had been put in place.

In February 2020, Morris and O’Reilly agreed to "step back" from their roles in college pending investigation. In March 2020, the Governing Body authorised an immediate independent external inquiry into the College’s handling of all allegations raised and matters referred to in the Tortoise article, to be led by Gemma White QC. The inquiry recommended Trinity Hall consider disciplinary action against Morris in relation to his handling of one allegation. Morris resigned as Master in August 2021.

In September 2022 the College published White's report alongside a response document that that indicated the actions it had taken to make improvements to the structures and culture of the institution.

2018-2023 allegations of plagiarism

In June 2023, allegations of plagiarism by O'Reilly publicly emerged, having been first reported to the university in 2021. Documents shown to the Financial Times showed how nearly half of O'Reilly's published article 'Fredrick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis, Orientalism, and the Austrian Militärgrenze' in a 2018 volume of the Journal of Austrian-American History had been plagiarised from the work of a third-year undergraduate. O'Reilly had been responsible for marking the student's work and had commented that it "coined an original narrative." After a two-year investigation by the University, the plagiarism was found by a tribunal to be “the product of negligent acts but was not deliberate”. O'Reilly remained in post but Penn State University Press, the journal's publisher, retracted the paper concerned saying that it presented "material without credit." O'Reilly did not contest or dispute the retraction.

 

 

The College site on the Cam was originally obtained from Bateman's purchase of a house from John de Crauden, Prior of Ely, to house the monks during their study, with Front Court being built within the college's first few decades. The medieval structures remain unaltered, but with their façade altered to a more baroque style during the Mastership of Sir Nathaniel Lloyd in 1710-45.

Chapel

The Chapel was licensed in 1352 and was built by August 1366, when Pope Urban V granted the College permission to celebrate the Eucharist there. Its present decor stems from its 1729–30 renovation; Lloyd had pre-existing graves removed to the Ante-Chapel, and the walls decorated with wainscotting and the ceiling with past Masters' crests. The Chapel was extended east in 1864, during which the original piscina was discovered and hidden behind a secret door. The painting behind the communion table is Maso da San Friano's Salutation, loaned from the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1957, replacing an earlier painting by Giacomo Stella.

Dining Hall

The Dining Hall was rebuilt under Lloyd along similar lines to the Chapel, with rendered walls replaced by wainscotting and medieval beams by baroque carvings. A large portrait of Lloyd dominates the wall behind high table; Lloyd supposedly made it irremovable from its wainscot surroundings, so that his representation can never be erased from the College.

Libraries

The college library was built in the late 16th century, with the permission of Elizabeth I and probably during the mastership of Thomas Preston, and is now principally used for the storage of the college's manuscripts and rare books; it is one of the few remaining chained libraries left in the country. The new Jerwood Library overlooking the river was opened by Lord Howe of Aberavon in 1999, and stores the college's modern book collection.

Other

The college owns properties in the centre of Cambridge, on Bateman Street and Thompson's Lane, and on its Wychfield site next to Fitzwilliam College, where most of the college's sporting activity takes place. Mary Hockaday was appointed Master in May 2022 and took up the post in September that year.

Combination Rooms

Trinity Hall has active Junior, Middle and Senior Combination Rooms for undergraduate, postgraduate and senior members of the college community respectively. The Middle Combination Room is located in Front Court, while the Junior Combination Room is adjacent to the college bar in North Court. Both the MCR and JCR have highly active committees and organize popular socials for their members across the term.

Societies

Trinity Hall Boat Club

Trinity Hall's oldest and largest society, the Boat Club was founded in 1827, and has had a long and distinguished history; notably from 1890 until 1898, when the college stayed Head of the Mays for 33 consecutive days of rowing, which remains to this day the longest continuous defence by a single club of the bumps headship. The college won all but one of the events in the 1887 Henley Royal Regatta, making it the most successful Cambridge college in Henley's history. The current boathouse, built in 1905 in memory of Henry Latham, is on the River Cam, a short walk from the college.

Trinity Hall Christian Union

Trinity Hall's Christian Union was founded in 1877, making it the second oldest JCR-listed society. It is part of the broader Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union.

Hesperides

Trinity Hall's literary society, the Hesperides, was founded in 1923 by Neil McLeod Innes with the intention of discussing literary and artistic subjects. Named after the seminal work of the 17th-century poet Robert Herrick, in its early years the society hosted T. S. Eliot, J. B. Priestley and Nikolaus Pevsner at its various dinners and functions. Old Hesperideans have gone on to some notoriety, none more so than Donald Maclean, a spy and member of the Cambridge Five. The Hesperides disbanded in 1976, but was re-founded in 2020 to encourage literary activity after the COVID-19 pandemic; speakers have included Trinity Hall alumni Nicholas Hytner and Sophie Winkleman.

 

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  Trinity Hall in 1690
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  The original entrance
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  The demolition of the original entrance
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  Front Court
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  Armorial Detail in Front Court
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  The Master's Garden
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  South Court
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  The Elizabethan Library
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  The Elizabethan Library
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  The Jerwood Library
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  Wychfield Site
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  College cricket ground
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  T.H.B.C. Club-House on the River Cam

Masters

On 31 May 2022, Mary Hockaday was announced as the next Master.

Deans

The current Dean is the Revd Dr Stephen Plant. The role of Dean incorporates that of Chaplain in other colleges.

Fellows

Notable alumni

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  Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral
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  Stanley Bruce, 1st Viscount of Melbourne, Prime Minister of Australia
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  Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin, Prime Minister of Pakistan
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  J. B. Priestley, novelist, playwright and broadcaster
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  Marshall McLuhan, Canadian philosopher
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  Geoffrey Howe, Baron Howe of Aberavon, Deputy Prime Minister
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  Hans Blix, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
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  David Johnston, Governor General of Canada
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  Stephen Hawking, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
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  Guy Scott, President of Zambia
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  Andrew Marr, journalist and broadcaster
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  Caroline S. Hill, head of the Developmental Signalling Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute
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  Rachel Weisz, Oscar-winning actress
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  Emma Pooley, Olympic silver-medallist cyclist and presenter
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  Tom James, double Olympic gold-medallist rower
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  Oliver Dowden, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

• June Event
• Trinity Hall Boat Club