Mother Shepherd, shoe cleaner of Sidney College c 1773 (MoCPB168.82)

Sidney Sussex College

History of Sidney Sussex College

General information about Sidney Sussex College can be found on Wikipedia.

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1841

The Cambridge Ghost Book, Halliday and Murdie, 2000 recounts the story of the ghost seen in the Master’s Lodge. Around midnight on 6th August loud noises were heard. The nursery maids then saw an apparition, a human figure with no arms walking on two white legs. The police were called; there were no physical traces but a strange smell. The Cambridge Advertiser reported the event in detail and its writings were repeated verbatim by The Times. The Cambridge Chronicle refused to publish any stories about the event.

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An unusual attraction is a plaque commemorating the burial of Cromwell’s in a secret location nearby.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell%27s_head

The Cambridge Ghost Book, Halliday and Murdie, 2000, has a chapter about Cromwell’s head. In 1960 the college chaplain held a ceremony to mark the interment of the head; a very few people at the college at privy as to the whereabouts.

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Dr Robert Phelps (1808-1890) was Master of Sidney Sussex from 1843 until his death.

He was a leading figure in the introduction of gas light into Cambridge.

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1931 (22nd Feb)

Frederick John Charles Ellis, first year student, was found dead fully clothed on the floor of his room. He was tied up and his head pushed into a cushion. Ellis had been involved in a ‘craze’ which had lasted for a couple of term. Students would tie each other up with ropes and handkerchiefs and see who could be the first to get free. In the end the verdict was of death by asphyxia due to an accident.

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1967

On 1 November undergraduate John Emslie was waiting on H staircase for his friend to return to his room. Inside the room  he witnessed a horrifying spectacle of a pale yellow emaciated head appearing in mid-air. He left the scene and his friend, Peter Know-Shaw, came back to his room to notice a strong smell of rotting flesh. The two friends then met to compare their experiences, leaving the room for that night in a panic.

There was a student in the room above; his fiancée was in the room the following afternoon when she saw a large purple eye floating in mid-air before the door. It stayed there for about 10 minutes. Over the next few days the eye was seen by other students accompanied by a musty smell. Varsity noted that ‘everybody takes it absolutely seriously. (Varsity 18th November 1967)