A History of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge

The real history of a college is a thread spun, out of the lives of those who have lived together within its walls. It is, however, only during the last century that the community life of St Catharine's has been recorded with any degree of fulness; down to the nineteenth century at least much more is known of “Catharine men” after they left the College than when they were in it, and of those who died while they were members of the Society most are shadowy figures. Every now and then the common will of the College manifests itself in some corporate act, or its efforts at self-expression appear in disputes, whether amicable differences of opinion or passionate quarrels. But events like these are occasional. This history, therefore, is episodic, a sequence of incidents usually to all appearance disconnected and separate. Doubtless the links are always there, but only sometimes are they seen by us; more often they have been lost for ever in the mists of oblivion. A college history, therefore, must be annalistic in character, and nothing is gained by disguising this truth instead of frankly admitting it. Only occasionally is it wise to attempt to connect one episode with another, and then only tentatively and with every possible precaution. The spirit of a period, its mentality, is the true bond between one event and another, and it cannot be caught, except partially and with much uncertainty.

If this continuous thread of human lives could be reconstructed, the history of a college would be as interesting as a novel.