Timeline

1300s | 1400s | 1500s | 1600s | 1700s | 1800s | 1900s | 2000s


1326 Richard de Badew, Chancellor of the University, founds University Hall

1339 University Hall attracts the patronage of Elizabeth de Clare and changes its name to Clare Hall

1359 Elizabeth de Clare gives her college new statutes, which state: ‘Our purpose is that through their study and teaching at the University [students] should discover and acquire the precious pearl of learning, so that it does not stay hidden under a bushel but is displayed abroad to enlighten those who walk in the dark paths of ignorance.’

1392 The College acquires a parcel of land in the shadow of Castle Mound, the beginning of ‘The Colony’

1466 Master Wilflete purchases Castle End Farm, adding further to the Colony site

1510 Hugh Latimer is elected to the Fellowship while still an undergraduate

1521 Fire destroys the College’s medieval buildings and most of its records

1555 Hugh Latimer is burned at the stake at Oxford

1617 Dr William Butler, physician to King James I, bequeathes his fine collection of plate

1638 Building work begins on Old Court, to be interrupted four years later by the outbreak of the English Civil War

1662 Construction of Old Court recommences after the Restoration

1691 John Tillotson (Clare 1647) is created Archbishop of Canterbury

1693 The Hall is opened

1713 Samuel Blythe, Master since 1678, dies and bequeathes £6,000 for the general purposes of the College

1715 Old Court is finished with the completion of the Master’s Lodge; the total cost of the construction is £15,478 10s 2¼d

1754 Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle (Clare 1709), becomes the College’s first – and, to date, only – Prime Minister

1763 Works starts on the Chapel

1769 The Chapel is consecrated by Richard Terrick (Clare 1726), Bishop of London

1781 Charles, 1st Marquis Cornwallis (Clare 1755), surrenders to George Washington’s forces at Yorktown

1831 Clare Boat Club is founded

1856 Clare Hall changes its name to Clare College

1866 Clare Choir is established

1910 Heraldic stained glass commemorating the College’s benefactors is installed in the Hall

1915 Edward Atkinson dies after a record Mastership of 59 years

1924 The first phase of Memorial Court is completed at a cost of £44,734, and dedicated as a memorial to the Clare men who gave their lives in the First World War

1929 Clare buys 20 acres from Trinity College to create the Bentley Road playing fields

1932 Paul Mellon (Clare 1929) establishes the Mellon Fellowships between Clare and Yale

1934 The north and south wings of Memorial Court are completed at an additional cost of £73,000

1947 The Fellows’ Garden is re-designed by Nevill Willmer

1954 Frank Innes Wane presents his collection of rare books to the Fellows’ Library

1955 Thirkill Court is completed and dedicated to the members of College who gave their lives in the Second World War

1957 Castle End is built to provide new accommodation at the Colony

1964 Clare College founds Clare Hall as an institute for advanced study, initially within the College but later as an independent institution

1964 Clare buys St Regis to house graduate students

1971 Clare appoints its first women Fellows

1972 Clare becomes one of the first three Cambridge colleges to admit women undergraduates

1986 The Forbes Mellon Library is opened, creating Ashby Court

1990 Castle House is completed at a cost of £1,500,000

2005 James Watson (Clare 1951) unveils a sculpture of the double helix on Memorial Court lawn to commemorate his 1953 discovery of the structure of DNA

2009 Lerner Court is completed at a total cost of £8,500,000