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Senate House / The Devil’s Tavern

History of the Senate House, Cambridge

In the 17th century, the Devil’s Tavern, an inn and posting house occupied part of the site. the first coach to run between Cambridge and London started from here in 1653 and this was probably therefore the site of the first post office.

See Stage Coaches by Enid Porter

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General information on the Senate House University of Cambridge can be found on Wikipedia.

The postcard is a sale pitch from an Oxford based postcard producer to Messrs Johnson and Nephew, 3 St Andrew’s Street.

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1892: 8th Duke of Devonshire, Spencer Cavendish

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1897:

In a move that would shock today’s student feminists, male students at Cambridge held a protest against a resolution that would allow women to receive full degrees from the university. They suspended an effigy of a woman riding a bicycle – the stereotypical female Cambridge student – from a window while waving banners with slogans such as “No Gowns for Girtonites”, Girton being an all-women college. On hearing that the resolution had fallen, students then maimed and decapitated the effigy before pushing it through the gates of all-women college Newnham. Women were not granted full degrees until 1921. (from the Independent December 2013 ‘A brief history of student protest)

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1904: Visit of Edward VII

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1906 24th May: conferring of honorary degrees of Chinese dignitaries.

This event took place during the visit of a Commission appointed by the Emperor of China to study methods of government, commerce and education in England. Eyewitness descriptions of the visit can be found here:

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/mulu/zaize.html

The picture below shows the Mayor of Cambridge Walter Durnford and the University Professor of Chinese Herbert Allen Giles, together with:

His Imperial Highness Fung En Chen Ko Duke Tsai Tse, Aide-de-Camp to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China, his Majesty’s High Commissioner, Great Chamberlain of the Imperial Household, Member of the Imperial Library, Commander-in-Chief of the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Manchu Army

His Excellency Wang Tahsieh, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in London of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China

His Excellency Shang Chi-heng, High Commissioner of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China

The Honourable Po Jui, Secretary to his Imperial Chinese Majesty’s High Commission

Duke Zaize (1868-1928), grandson of the Emperor, kept a diary during the mission. He had been injured in a bomb attack in September 1905 at Peking railway station as the delegation was preparing to leave. The assailant, Wu Yue, a fanatical opponent of the Manchu regime was killed and two members of the delegation injured delaying its departure until December 1905.

See also: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PH-CFM-00236-00044/1

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1908:

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1910:

The photo above shows from left to right: an Esquire Bedell, Theodore Roosevelt, Vice Chancellor Canon Mason, University Marshall Sheldrich

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Until 1910 it was the tradition in Cambridge to award a large wooden spoon to the student with the lowest mark in the Maths Tripos. More information can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooden_spoon_(award)