The Bicentenary Booklet | Cambridge Union by The Cambridge Union

The Cambridge Union Society

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C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

Printed and bound in Great Britain for the Cambridge Union Society. This commemorative booklet was printed by Labute Group Ltd, Cambridge.

The Cambridge Union Society 9A Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 1UB Office Hours: 9.30am to 5.00pm T +44 (0) 1223 566 421 F +44 (0) 1223 566 444 www.cus.org info@cus.org

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Contents Welcome from the Chair Welcome from the President Welcome from the Chair of the Board of Trustees

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The Cambridge Union in Collaboration with Deloitte

The 2015 Steering Committee Lent 2015 Standing Committee Union Thanks

10 11 12

Debating at the Cambridge Union Two Hundred Years of Controversy Recollections: The Hon. Daniel Janner QC The Future of 9a Bridge Street: Site Development Recollections: The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Bean

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Commemorative Merchandise

Previous Milestones & Anniversaries Debating the Issues that Matter for 200 Years CUS Live: The New Streaming Service for Life Members 'Cavernous, Tavernous': The Union & its Premises

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The Bicentenary Debate: This House Isn't What it Used to Be The 2015 Garden Party The London Debate

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'Madam President': The Battle to Admit Women Contemporary Perspective: Women in the Union Recollections: Karan Thapar An Arena of Ambition Recollections: Katie Lam

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Cherish the Union's Past: Secure its Future Connecting to Cambridge: Staying in Touch Cambridge Union Society: A Vision of the Future

56 57 58

List of Presidents Past & Present Thank You from the Chair

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C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

Union Front Door September 2013

Welcome from the Chair Alex Forzani

OOD evening. Firstly allow me to extend the warmest welcome, on behalf of the 2015 Steering Committee, Officers, Trustees and Staff of the Cambridge Union Society, to a year of celebrations that will mark the Union’s bicentenary. This period is exciting for so many reasons, not least because it will mark the largest reunion of former officers and members to date. Furthermore different generations will be able to talk, discuss and recall, with enjoyment one hopes, their shared experiences of one of Cambridge’s most venerable institutions. This alone would be good cause for a celebration. How it all started The Union was founded in February 1815 and its inaugural meeting was far from grandiose. The first two-hundred members met in a small, even squalid, room perched at the back of the Red Lion Inn in Petty Cury, cheek-by-jowl with some of Cambridge’s poorest neighbourhoods. Almost instantaneously discussion began to thrive. This alarmed the University authorities to such an extent that on 24 March 1817 Dr. James Wood, Vice-Chancellor and Master of St John’s, demanded the Union’s dissolution. The response he received from the President William Whewell, which may or may not be apocryphal, was rather curt. The Vice-Chancellor and his party were asked to withdraw whereupon ‘the House would consider their demands’.

From Petty Cury to 9a Bridge Street The Union has changed immeasurably over the last two hundred years. Since its inception the society has gone from strength to strength with many of its officers and members becoming leaders in government, the law, business, academia and journalism. Indeed the Union has a list of alumni of which any college would be envious. The Union continues to be one of the pre-eminent debating societies in the world. It is one of the few institutions that have won both the World Universities Debating Championships and the European Universities Debating Championships. The Union also continues to dominate the results tables at the national Inter-Varsity debating competitions. In addition, the Union runs phenomenal access schemes. The Cambridge Union Schools Debating Competition, which will mark its twenty-fifth anniversary in this year, allows thousands of secondary school students, from a range of institutions across the British Isles, to have fun; discuss topical issues and learn how to speak and debate in public. By providing a considerable number of means-tested bursaries, the Union enables hundreds of students to enter this competition who would otherwise find it impossible to do so. Of course many will remember the Union as a place that gave its members the opportunity to meet, listen and question decisions-makers and public figures. The Union has a proud history of attracting world leaders, irrespective of their fields and beliefs, which continues to this day. Union audiences have been privileged to hear Sir Winston Churchill, the Dalai Lama, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Margaret Thatcher as well as other prominent individuals who have shaped the last two centuries.

Looking to the Future This bicentennial year represents an opportunity to reconnect with the Union. Our February Debate, Summer Garden Party and London Event are all designed to honour the spirit of the Union’s past, but also to look to its future. As part of our commitment to ensuring that the Union prospers, you will find throughout this commemorative booklet examples of what we have planned over the coming years. Our increased digital reach; new building projects and plans to strengthen our debating programmes all feature heavily in this vision of the future. The Union means something incredibly special to me. My first contact with the University was through the Schools Debating Programme and the abiding memory of my first week as an undergraduate was the Thursday night debate. I am proud to be involved with the Union and can honestly say, without hubris or hesitation, that it has had a profound impact on my life. I am sure that all former officers and members will agree with this sentiment. I hope you enjoy the bicentenary year.

Alex Forzani Chair, 2015 Steering Committee Vice President, 2012-2013

Photo: Chris Williamson

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The Cambridge Union Society

The Union in Summer June 2013

Welcome from the Chair of the Board of Trustees

Sir Richard Dearlove KCMG OBE

Welcome from the Lent 2015 President

S we celebrate the Union Society’s bicentenary it is an appropriate moment to reflect on the place that it occupies today in the life of Cambridge and its future direction and significance as part of the Cambridge student experience.

Amy Gregg

ELCOME to the Union’s 200th Anniversary! We’ve been working hard over the past few months to put together a termcard that is packed with top speakers and fantastic events to start our bicentenary year with a bang. We welcome current members and those who left Cambridge long ago to join us for what promises to be an exciting term. Our Lent 2015 programme of inspirational and influential speakers ranges from US politician Sarah Palin, to well-loved illustrator Quentin Blake, comedian Simon Amstell, eminent journalist Jon Snow, feminist icon Germaine Greer, musician Bonnie Tyler, entrepreneur Theo Paphitis and former Deputy President of the Supreme Court Lord Hope. With such a diverse range of prominent figures, there is something on offer for everyone. Our topical and controversial debates tackle issues ranging from politics and religion to science and sex. Prominent Labour and Conservative politicians will debate the fate of Britain following the general election and Stephen Fry will join Peter Hitchens to oppose the disestablishment of the Church. Dr Norman Finkelstein and the founder of Yachad will argue whether Israel is a rogue state, the CEO of the UK Space Agency will defend the cost of space exploration, and a motion on legalising the sex industry will see the highest paid UK sex worker debate the leader

of controversial feminist movement FEMEN. Lent will also see the return of the popular comedy debate, featuring top Footlights, Oxford comics and a star of Made in Chelsea.

The Union, as its founders intended, happily remains a beacon for the fearless exchange of ideas through accomplished debate and for upholding the principles of freedom of speech – as crucial today as it was when the Union was founded. Every term successive Union committees still assemble an extraordinarily diverse group of speakers whose attendance at and participation in the Unions various activities affirms and reaffirms week by week its basic ‘raison d’etre’. That the Union is able to provide reliably and regularly these life enhancing opportunities for its members, who still constitute the largest society in the University, explains why the Union, on its two hundredth birthday, remains such an important Cambridge institution.

Beyond speakers and debates, our forums will provide the opportunity to discuss the future of the European Union, the relationship between faith and feminism, and a chance to grill each of the Prospective Parliamentary Candidates for Cambridge. This term’s line up of Ents promises to be one of the best ever, with the much anticipated Bicentenary Ball, ‘A Night in History,’ joined by ArcSoc’s ‘Saturate’ themed cabaret, the Itchy Feet Valentines Ball, a Rainbow Bop in collaboration with Rag, and a Superbowl Party. The much loved weekly cocktail workshops, zumba, pilates, yoga and meditation will all return, along with numerous post debate ents with live music and fantastic cocktails in the 1815 Bar. I look forward to welcoming you back to Cambridge.

Amy Gregg President, Lent 2015

The Cambridge Union Round Church St, 1886

Photo: Chris Williamson

I am also very pleased, as I reach the end of my tenure as Chairman of the Trustees, that the Union is able to face the future with such confidence. The joint project with Trinity College to develop the land adjacent to the Chamber and modernise and restore our wonderful Waterhouse building will, I hope, meet definitively the various financial and administrative challenges that the Trustees have been facing over the last decade. The Union’s recent outstanding performance nationally and internationally in debating competitions and the expansion of its own Cambridge Union Schools’ Debating Competition show that its primary activity is in rude health and set to grow even stronger. Finally drawing on the Union’s rich and varied history and its exciting current programmes, and by exploiting the best on-line technologies, it is set to extend its reach and spread its influence as a key student forum for the free exchange of ideas on the important issues of the day – at the same time as cherishing and protecting its special identity which we so proudly celebrate during this anniversary.

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

The Cambridge Union in Collaboration with Deloitte

ELOITTE is privileged to be supporting the Cambridge Union Society in its 200th anniversary year. The Union’s relationship with the firm is now well into its second year and Deloitte continues to be proud of its collaboration with the world’s most prestigious student debating society. As a firm whose business and societal impact is built around an ability to challenge, provide insight and offer innovative thinking, partnering with a society that has such an illustrious history of challenging a wide range of ideas, opinions and beliefs, is perfect for Deloitte. Through the collaboration, Deloitte has enabled the Union to reach an increasingly large and diverse audience. Projects conducted to date include the new CUS Live audio visual system, which allows members to watch events at the Union from wherever they are in the world. Deloitte has also revamped the website with a resulting expansion in social media and on-line presence for today’s increasingly connected student audience. With an eye to the Union’s future members, the firm is also enhancing the Union’s access programme via a wider participation in the school’s debating competition.

David Sproul, Chief Executive of Deloitte, said: ‘Deloitte has a long tradition of recruiting Cambridge alumni and we count ex Union Presidents, Vice Presidents, Officers and life members amongst our staff, globally. We’re delighted that many of them will be taking part in the celebrations and events during 2015. ‘We know that, for many people, the bicentenary celebrations will be a chance to reconnect and meet old friends and colleagues, and to celebrate the diversity of thought borne of the Union. This is also an unrivalled opportunity to increase awareness of the Union within a new and future audience and we are delighted to be actively helping with that. I would like to offer my congratulations and best wishes on this exciting milestone. I am looking forward to taking part in some of the early celebrations in 2015 and meeting some of you that have an association with the Union’s impressive history.’

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19/09/2014 14:01

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The Cambridge Union Society

The 2015 Steering Committee

Lent 2015 Standing Committee

Alex Forzani Chair Vice President 2012-2013

Stephen Parkinson Deputy Chairman President Lent 2004

Amy Gregg President, Lent 2015

Nicholas Wright Standing Committee Liaison Vice President, 2014-15

Oliver Mosley Director of Communications

Nicholas Wright Vice President

William Bailey Bursar

Joanna Mobed Editorial President Michaelmas 2013

Matt Hazell Debating Officer

Thomas Simpson Debating Officer

Sophie Odenthal Co-Treasurer Speakers Officer, Michaelmas 2011

Imogen Schön Co-Treasurer President, Lent 2014

Oliver Mosley Executive Officer

William Fitzalan Howard Executive Officer-Elect

The Hon. Daniel Janner QC Member of the Board of Trustees President, Michaelmas 1978

Lance Forman President, Lent 1985

James Hutt Speakers Officer

Katherine Reggler Treasurer-Elect

Jiameng Gao Technical Officer Treasurer, Lent 2014

Amy Gregg President, Lent 2015

Róisín Hannon Treasurer

Jack Lewy Treasurer-Elect

Daniel Hyman Continuity Officer Treasurer, Easter 2013

Andy Aitken Deloitte Liaison

Sachin Parathalingam Social Events Officer

Helen Lam Social Events Officer-Elect

Christoph Epaminondas President-Elect

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The Cambridge Union Society

Union Thanks Review Committee Julien Domercq (President, Michaelmas 2009) Joshua Blanchard Lewis (Vice President, 2008-9) Jan Jonathan Bock (Senior Committee Member, Michaelmas 2009) Lauren Davidson (President, Lent 2011) Alex Forzani (Vice-President, 2012-13) Joel Fenster (President, Easter 2013) Rahul Mansigani (Treasurer, Easter 2010) Sophie Odenthal (Speakers Officer, Michaelmas 2011)

Board of Trustees

DISCOVER THE

I M P O S S I B LY SMOOTH BEER Meet The Boss

Sir Richard Dearlove KCMG OBE (Chairman) Dr Nigel Brown OBE Mr Andy Swarbrick FCA Dr Nigel Yandell Mr Nick Heath FRICS The Hon Daniel Janner QC Janet Turner QC Ms Amy Gregg

Staff Col. William Bailey MBE (Ret’d) Dr. David Sellick Rachel Ford Joe Burman Patrick Hanwell Ben Keen Bartłomiej Fajer Sam Haskell

Bursar Accountant Office Supervisor Events Manager Site Supervisor Bar Manager Barman Senior Webmaster

Friends of the Union Deloitte LLP Mendeley Rathbones Birketts LLP Key Capital Partners Mattioli Woods PLC Thermoteknix Systems Ltd

By day he runs a successful beer company brewing impossibly smooth Cobra beer, made using an outrageously complex recipe. He is ‘The Boss’, and he is living the dream. Cobra, Live Smooth.

live smooth

The Union would also like to extend their personal thanks to Alex Forzani, the Chair, for the tremendous display of leadership and flawless work ethic he has shown along with his team in preparing the Union for what they are certain will be an extraordinary term.

73 gold medals

Thanks also to Craig Slade for all of the hard work he has put into the design and production of this commemorative booklet. Every effort has been made to credit all photography used in this booklet wherever possible.

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19/03/2014 08:17

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The Cambridge Union Society

Competitive Debating at the Cambridge Union

Michael Dunn-Goekjian, President Easter 2014

HE Union has consistently reaffirmed its status as one of most competitive debating societies in the world. Cambridge teams continue to reach the final stages of the World Universities Debating Championships, now a tournament with over a thousand competitors from over forty countries, and our debaters are frequently ranked among the very best in the world. Last academic year, Cambridge speakers collectively won at least nineteen debating tournaments in the UK, Europe and North America – nearly more than all the other UK debating societies combined. This unprecedented success is maintained by a rigorous series of workshops and practice debates run by Cambridge’s leading debaters, as well as an ever-expanding process of internal recruitment through the Union’s public-facing events. This programme does not just help the already proficient build on their skills; over the last few years, the Union has taken speakers barely able to string a sentence together in public and turned them into international champions – something for which many could not be more grateful.

Tim Squirrell, President Michaelmas 2014 November 2014

Photo: Chris Williamson

Debating, especially at Cambridge, is a tremendous privilege, and the Union is constantly looking to offer that privilege to as many people as possible, both internally and externally. In addition to running one of the world’s most prestigious university-level debating tournaments, the Union hosts one to two annual competitions for school students across the country and the world. These tournaments, the Cambridge Schools Debating Competition and the International Competition for Young Debaters – which the Union hosts biennially – give thousands of school students the opportunity to debate every year. Almost every round is judged by a Cambridge debater, who will give students extensive individual feedback and advice for future improvement, as well as answering any questions students may have about debating, university or both. A robust access programme, including ever-expanding bursaries and workshops for broadening participation, ensures that a wider range of students can compete every year. Given the Union’s extraordinary past, it is often difficult to believe that today’s Society is living up to its history; yet nothing could better honour that legacy than the simple fact that this year hundreds of schoolchildren will first experience the challenge and the thrill of making their point in public at a Cambridge Union tournament.

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The Cambridge Union Society

Union frontage Michaelmas 2013

Photo: Chris Williamson

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The Cambridge Union Society

The Chamber Michaelmas 2010

Two Hundred Years of Controversy Stephen Parkinson

OR the last two centuries, the Cambridge Union reached The Times and was mentioned in the House has never been far from controversy. Indeed, the of Commons – but the Union was forced into silence, Society owes its foundation to a row. Edward and operated as a reading club for the next four years. Gambier, an Old Etonian at Trinity, was blackballed Its enterprising members still found a way to debate, from a smaller, existing debating society; his friends however. Private business meetings on ostensibly rallied round him, merged it with two other clubs, mundane matters – for instance, which newspapers and elected Gambier their first President. The Union’s and periodicals to subscribe to – were used as proxy inaugural meeting was held 13 February 1815, and motions to debate political questions. Restrictions its first debate – ‘Was the conduct of the Opposition from the University, when debates were allowed to in refusing Places in 1812 justifiable?’ – took place resume in 1821 – banning any political subject from one week later (the Noes won, 35–33). Gambier’s the last twenty years to be debated – were similarly successor, Viscount Normanby, was a future Home disregarded by adding ‘twenty years ago’ to every Secretary and Viceroy of Ireland. But no debates motion. All restrictions were finally lifted in 1830, and were held in his term: an open drain in the Union has debated what it wants to ever since. Jesus Lane caused an outbreak of fever and everyone at the The motion of ‘No Confidence’ ‘Restrictions from the University University was sent home. in His or Her Majesty’s banning debating any political Government remains an annual subject from the last twenty years It was a feverish time in other tradition. Labour governments were disregarded by adding senses: Europe was on the verge used to fare worse than of the Hundred Days which Conservative ones: the Union ‘twenty years ago’ to every motion’ ended the Napoleonic Wars – voted against them at each not an auspicious time for a debating society based of the ‘No Confidence’ debates during the Attlee, on the high principle of free speech to be taking Wilson, and Callaghan administrations. Its early its first steps. A nervous Parliament had just passed enthusiasm for Mrs. Thatcher waned in 1981 but the Seditious Meetings Act – and the Union had the bounced back after the Falklands. A heavy defeat in temerity to vote against the new Habeas Corpus Michaelmas 1989 broke a three-year run of success. Suspension Act. Such behaviour was bound to attract The New Labour governments held the confidence of the attention of the authorities. On the night of 24 more recent generations with few exceptions – even March 1817, the University’s proctors burst into the invasion of Iraq, which the Union opposed from a Union meeting with a message from the Vicethe outset, doing little to shake its support. The present Chancellor demanding its dissolution and forbidding coalition – which has included three ex-Presidents the resumption of debates. The President in the among its Cabinets – has been defeated in every year chair that night, William Whewell, was a future of its existence with the exception of 2010. Vice-Chancellor himself. He rose with calm dignity: ‘Strangers will please to withdraw, and the House will take the message into consideration.’ News of the row

More extreme political views were aired in the 1930s. Two of the last Presidents before the Second World War became prominent Communists – Mohan Kumaramangalam (Michaelmas 1938) in India, and Pieter Keuneman (Michaelmas 1939) in Ceylon – while Michael Straight, the glamorous American Vice-President of the Union in Easter 1937, later spied for the KGB.

Some of the most heated rows down the centuries, however, have concerned the Union’s perpetually arcane electoral rules or navel-gazing issues, such the dress code for debates. Jack Ashley, the first workingclass President, caused uproar by not wearing black tie in Lent 1951, though he ‘was not standing on any great principle – I simply couldn’t afford an evening suit’.

The motion ‘This House prefers Fascism to Socialism’ was only defeated 335–218 in February 1933. Sir Oswald Mosley’s ‘scintillating performance’ and ‘magnificent oratory carried an enthusiastic House off its feet’ – but the debate was won by the calmer performance of a young Labour MP, Major C.R. Attlee.

The Union’s termly elections have provided 200 years of inventive procedural rows. Tam Dalyell’s third and final pitch for the presidency was thwarted by the drawing of billiard balls in the small hours of the morning. One of the most contentious elections of all, in Michaelmas 1961, pitted an American, Barry Augenbraun, against Brian Pollitt, son of the former general secretary of the British Communist Party, at the height of the Cold War. When the result was declared in the Union bar, BBC cameras were there to report it. But the result was soon declared void – the result of suspected canvassing – and the resulting byelection was won by John Gummer. When Pollitt ran again the following June, he was attacked in his rooms and briefly hospitalised – but won by a comfortable margin.

Mosley caused waves again in the 1950s and ’60s – particularly in 1961, when a young Ken Clarke decided to invite him to address the University Conservative Association for the second time in eighteen months. The Union hosted the meeting, which played a key role in the Society’s elections that term: Michael Howard resigned from the Conservative Association in protest, ran against Clarke for Secretary of the Union, and won. A ‘sit-in’ by more than a hundred students tried to stop Enoch Powell speaking at the Union in 1969, but this – alongside the Garden House Riot – was the closest Cambridge came to the spirit of the soixante-huitards. Protesters have, however, been a regular sight outside the Union – trying, for instance, to disrupt meetings with Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2003 and his daughter Marine ten years later. But on both occasions a packed chamber showed the Society’s disapproval far more effectively: with searching questions and free debate.

As the Union embarks on its third century, it seems unlikely to shy away from future controversy.

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

Recollections: The Hon. Daniel Janner QC President, Michaelmas 1978

Y father was President in Lent 1952. To encourage me to work harder for my ‘A’ levels he took me up in 1974 to watch him debate against his old friend Douglas Hurd (who had succeeded him to the Presidency). I am not sure whether it worked. Toby Harris was in the Chair, and I was horrified at how rude (albeit amusingly) the students were about their President. By the time I arrived in Cambridge, I had decided to follow in my father’s footsteps. My first big break came when Karan Thapar offered me a paper speech in the politics debate with Shirley Williams. After a few more paper speeches and a lot of canvassing, I became President in Michaelmas 1978. Although we had an action-packed term which included Prince Charles delivering the Hugh Anderson Memorial Lecture, the press interest focused on a visit by former President Nixon. Unfortunately, it was not a visit to us but to the Oxford Union. Having originally accepted my invitation, he switched to Oxford and offered me breakfast at Claridge’s instead. In the event, no breakfast arrived, but I had half an hour’s memorable political advice from Nixon. Nevertheless, I decided that a career in law was the safer option.

The following summer I joined Andrew Mitchell, who had signed us up for the world debating competition in Australia. Regrettably we didn’t appreciate the need for a visa and had to spend a few days in Bangkok sorting it out. We missed the competition but enjoyed a tour around Australia! Thanks to Stephen Parkinson and Jon Lawrence, I returned 30 years later as a Trustee. It has been a great privilege serving under the chairmanship of Sir Richard Dearlove together with fellow committed trustees. I have no recollection whatsoever of ever having met a trustee as a student. It is very different now. We work closely and constructively with Officers and Standing Committee members and our superb Bursar, Bill Bailey, to ensure the continued well-being of this unique Cambridge institution.

Robert Harris interviews the Great Train Robbers Easter 1978

Daniel Janner's Termcard Michaelmas 1978

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The Cambridge Union Society

SPECIALIST CONSULTANCY FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS

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The Future of 9a Bridge Street: Site Development Bill Bailey, Bursar

HE Union buildings have remained largely unchanged since their construction in the 1860s and the addition of the library wing in the 1880s. This situation is about to change. Subject to planning permission, exciting site development plans are underway with contracts already signed with our partner, Trinity College. The deal will allow the Union to fund key changes to the main building in order to overcome significant structural issues and radically improve facilities for members. Many will remember that the changes made to Waterhouse’s Victorian buildings in the 1930s were not of the same quality as the original construction. Eighty years on, problems with creeping damp, buckling walls, bowing windows and broken drainage pipes warrant urgent repairs. New Opportunities for the Union The Union is seizing the opportunity to develop its functional areas by improving street access, security and building presentation. Replacing the 1930s construction will be a new ‘Link Building’ which as the name suggests will connect a threestorey development to the Union’s original Victorian buildings. New entrances will be built on Round Church Street and from the Union car park on Park Street. The water damaged façade and bowing windows on Round Church Street will be removed and the original Victorian frontage restored thereby

improving our street presence. The Union’s growing reputation for being able to handle controversial speakers will be further improved with the addition of period-sensitive wrought iron fences and an electronic gate into the car park. Possible Street Elevations from Round Church Street and Park Street (see above) Internally the improvements are no less exciting. From a new two-storey high glass-fronted reception area for guests, to improved disabled access via new lifts to every floor, the developments are long overdue. A new commercial kitchen on the first floor will be able to service café/bar and dining facilities on three floors, including the old ‘Footlights’ area in the basement. A new entrance to the library will allow room capacity for members to increase by a third. Moving Forward We are currently working hard on finalising the designs for this project. Subject to planning permission being granted, construction could start as early as September 2015. This is expected to take up to 18 months. This site development opportunity will dramatically improve access to the Union and its street presence. It resolves many of our structural problems and provides significantly better facilities for members.

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CRITICAL THINKING AT THE CRITICAL TIMETM

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society David Bean's Termcard Lent 1975

Recollections: The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Bean President, Lent 1975

STARTED at the Union as a shy and nervous speaker. This changed in one day, 5 November 1973. The Society was undergoing a brief period of internal combustion: I have forgotten why, but it seemed very important at the time. A business meeting had been called to debate a motion of no confidence in the Officers and Standing Committee. The President, Mark Goyder, was due to speak that evening in a debate at the Oxford Union (who they? – Ed.) but could not go, so he asked me to take his place. There was just enough time to get there, and no time to worry about it. I survived, and never got stage fright again. My first attempt to be elected an officer (Secretary) ended in defeat by 41 votes. Rather than try for Secretary again the next term I decided on a re-match against the same opponent. To my surprise, and probably everyone else’s, I was elected Vice-President – it would now be called President-Elect – by a majority of well over 200 votes.

My term as President, Lent 1975, was the 160th anniversary of the Union’s foundation. Almost all the subjects for debate would still be topical. A motion that ‘The British mass media are abusing their freedom’ was defeated by the overwhelming margin

of 336 to 48; another, that ‘The Abortion Act [of 1967] went too far’, by 363 to 211. I chose a third motion, that ‘The law is an overpaid and over-rated profession’, confidently expecting that it would be carried. But looking at the audience from the Chair I could see that the Law Faculty must have put on a three-line whip. The resolution was heavily defeated. We had lectures from C.P. Snow, Roy Jenkins (then Home Secretary), and Selwyn Lloyd (then Speaker of the House of Commons). We would also have had Harold Macmillan, to whom I was introduced on a second visit to Oxford, but it was too late for him to come to be made an honorary member during my term. When he did come, during Peter Bazalgette’s presidency, it was a great Union occasion, with a packed House and extracts shown on television. The Cambridge Union did a great deal for me; and many of the friends I made there have remained friends for life. ‘Forty years on, growing older and older’, the Society’s bicentenary brings back vivid and happy memories.

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The Cambridge Union Society

Telegraph Media Group congratulates the Cambridge Union on its 200th anniversary

Photo: Jiameng Gao

telegraph.co.uk

Commemorative Merchandise Bespoke Cambridge Union merchandise will be available to purchase after the Bicentenary debate. Cambridge Union Scarf, produced by A&E Clothiers, the university's specialist outfitters – £24.00 Cambridge Union Silk Bowtie – £25.00

To place an order, please visit the merchandise desk after the debate. Alternatively, email Joanna Mobed on committee.2015@cus.org.

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

The Chamber Michaelmas 2013

Photo: Chris Williamson

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

Previous Milestones & Anniversaries Stephen Parkinson

HE Union did not celebrate its first centenary. The outbreak of the First World War six months earlier meant that plans to mark it were abandoned: a belated dinner and debate were finally held on 15 November 1921. HRH The Duke of York – the future King George VI – spoke before a debate on the motion ‘That in the opinion of this House the reaction from Victorianism is proving the curse of the age’ and proclaimed himself ‘exceedingly proud of being a life member of this famous Union.’ The Great War soon put a halt to the Union’s regular activities too. Debates were formally suspended on 8 May 1916 and not resumed until February 1919. More than two thousand members of the University were killed in the war, among them three ex-Presidents: A.C.O. Morgan (Easter 1906), F.D. Livingstone (Easter 1907) and J.H. Allen (Easter 1911). A similar toll was taken during the Second World War, which claimed the lives of Anthony Blackwell (Michaelmas 1933), Peter Hague (Easter 1939), and John Simonds (Lent 1938). The election of officers was suspended during both wars: the Vice-President who proposed the second suspension in Michaelmas 1939, Eddie Ades, was killed in action as a Desert Rat in Libya; Gervase Stewart, one of the ‘chairmen of debates’ who oversaw limited debating during the period 1939–44, was killed in a mid-air explosion over the Caribbean in 1941. A debate on international affairs between the wars drew the highest division in the Union’s history: in Michaelmas 1919 the Duke of Northumberland and Lord Robert Cecil clashed on the motion ‘That this House considers the League of Nations to be worthless as a guarantee of international peace and to be a radically unsound and dangerous project’. It was defeated by 723 to 280 – the total vote of 1,003 not including the many more who crowded into the building that night. (The lowest division was recorded much earlier, in 1839, when the question ‘Does the philosophy of Locke deserve the approbation of posterity?’ was defeated 5–0.)

The Union elected its first Jewish President, Alfred Louis, in Lent 1850, six years before Jews were allowed to take their degrees, and its first ethnic minority President, the Ceylonese James Peiris, in Michaelmas 1882 – fifty years before another black or Asian President at Oxford or Cambridge. It was in the midst of the American Civil War that Union elected its first President from the United States. William Everett (Michaelmas 1862) hailed from Massachusetts, and was snubbed when a debate in his term divided heavily in favour of the Confederate states. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Everett did not take a favourable impression of the Union back to America: in a series of lectures he gave at Harvard on his return, he described the Union’s debates as ‘beneath contempt’: ‘In general, they are death itself. There comes every now and then a season when a few active souls stir the Union into life. But even then the animation cannot create the habit of good speaking, to which the whole genius of the place is opposed; and the most intelligent audiences of Cambridge young men, always professing the most thorough contempt for rhetoric, are habitually carried off their feet by the most worn-out claptrap.’ A Union debating tour of America has tried to carry that claptrap across the Atlantic since the 1920s: the first tour was led by three Presidents, including R.A. Butler (Easter 1924). Jack Ashley, who went with the future High Court Judge Sir Ronald Waterhouse, recalled that ‘the Americans treated us like visiting celebrities’; Michael Howard enjoyed it so much he stayed in America for a year – ‘one of the great experiences of my life’. A debate in Michaelmas 1947 was the first to be broadcast live on the radio by the BBC – much to the frustration of the Oxford Union. The Society beat its younger sister once more in Easter 1950, when it

Running order for the 1965 150th Anniversary Debate

became the first to have a debate televised – albeit from London, the BBC transporting the President’s chair, Secretary’s desk and a number of benches to Alexandra Palace specially. A few weeks later, the President who had chaired that debate – the future Cabinet Minister and Master of Emmanuel, Norman St. John-Stevas, organised a ‘Boat Race’ with his counterpart at Oxford, Robin Day. It took place in May Week on the river Cam, was filmed by the BBC, and the two Presidents coxed their respective boats in full evening dress and top hats. For the Union’s 150th anniversary in 1965, a celebratory debate and dinner were held on Saturday 13 February, when a packed House considered the question: ‘Should this House move to further business?’ The speakers, all for the affirmative, were a galaxy of ex-Presidents: the former Foreign Secretary and Chancellor Selwyn Lloyd, the Attorney General Sir Elwyn Jones, the editor of The Economist Sir Geoffrey Crowther, Humphry Berkeley MP, and the popular Union wit Alistair Sampson. Jeremy Burford, President later that year, recalls drinking an 1815 Madeira which had been laid down after the Battle of Waterloo, and evidently gone past its prime: ‘it was like eating a slightly alcoholic Crunchie bar’. By Michaelmas 1981, the Union had clearly got a taste for anniversaries, and marked its 500th term with a feast at King’s with the ex-President and former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Ramsey (Lent 1926), as guest of honour. It was also decided that term that the Union should enter the World Debating Competition – though it was not until 2003 that Cambridge would claim the title. The Union’s last landmark anniversary was its 175th in 1990. A disco was held at the Union in March, and a more formal dinner at the Savoy in October. The successful Schools Debating Competition was also established. But the highlight of the celebrations was the visit of Ronald Reagan on 5 December. Members started queuing early in the morning; by the time he arrived, they stretched for nearly a quarter of a mile. In his address, President Reagan reminded them that the Union stood for something venerable: ‘The free and open expression of ideas – and debate over these ideas – is a heritage that Britain has given all of us in the democratic world. It has been an integral process of the long evolution of representative democracy since the knights confronted King John at Runnymede. It is an essential part of the British spirit, seemingly ingrained in all of you. I think I hear it in the music of Benjamin Britten, Elgar and Handel. I read it in the poetry of Shakespeare, Donne and Milton and the prose of Dickens. The passion for free expression seems to permeate your culture just as it does your Union here.’

President Theodore Roosevelt Addressing the Union 1910

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Debating the Issues that Matter for Two Hundred Years

American Dreams: James Baldwin v. William F. Buckley, Jr.

HE Chamber was packed. If fire regulations had been enforced then scores of members and even the BBC film crew would likely have been turned away. This was the Cambridge Union Society in February 1965 when Norman St. John-Stevas (later Lord St. John of Fawsley) ascended the dais and introduced a debate that was of critical importance for historians and social commentators. Yet those of you uninterested by the historiographical debates at the heart of twentieth century American history should not stop reading. The motion, which asked whether ‘the American dream had been achieved at the expense of the American Negro’, was fiercely contested by bitter ideological rivals from across the pond, James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr. Baldwin was a prominent American novelist, essayist and social critic whose works explored the interactions of race and class in American society. Buckley was a conservative author and public intellectual who had founded the magazine National Review. Diametrically opposed to each other in thought, these two men produced one of the most stimulating debates that the Union has witnessed in its two hundred years of history.

The Cambridge Union Society

CUS Live: The New Streaming Service for Life Members

Oliver Mosley, Director of Communications

S the global appeal of the Union’s events widens, and the number of life members living far away from Cambridge increases, the Union has continued to embrace new ways of enabling greater access to the Union for members and speakers alike. As we enter our anniversary year, the Union is pleased to announce that all events hosted in the Chamber or the Library are now being broadcast live and in high definition from a discreet and fully automated multi-camera rig. Members can watch the debate or speaker event online, and contribute by tweeting @CambridgeUnion. The presiding officer can then read out your questions or comments on the floor of the Union. All events are recorded, and uploaded to our public YouTube channel at the end of the term at YouTube.com/CambridgeUnionSoc. You can access CUS Live from anywhere in the world by logging in with your membership details at CUS.org/CUSLive. If you joined the Union before online access, or if you have forgotten your details, please email info@cus.org or call the main office on (+44) (0) 1223 566 421 to be set up with a simple‑to‑use online account.

By enabling greater access to the Union for members and speakers alike, we will continue to modernise the Union’s appeal, whilst retaining its heritage. As members of the Union, both resident and non‑resident, we hope you will take advantage of this new service.

The Union’s new audiovisual equipment Michaelmas 2014

Speaking in proposition, Baldwin made a moving appeal to the floor. He contended that it came ‘as a great shock around the age of 5, 6 or 7 to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledged allegiance to you’. Buckley riposted by attempting to disassociate Baldwin’s personal experience from that of the entirety of the African American community and suggesting, albeit rhetorically, that the alternative ‘was abandonment of the American dream’. In the end, Baldwin won comfortably as the Union overwhelmingly supported his view of American society rather than that of his opponent. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of this historic debate the Union will, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge History Faculty, be bringing historians, journalists and commentators from across the globe to Cambridge to debate and discuss the progress of the civil rights movement since the clash between Baldwin and Buckley. One only hopes that this event will be as stimulating and thought-provoking as its predecessor in 1965.

Whilst enabling greater access for non-resident members is a key part of our bicentenary strategy, we have also been adapting to the demands of a modern debating society. As part of the CUS Live project we have also created a professional remote speaker system that will allow us to host speakers from anywhere in the world. Remote speakers are given access to a secure feed of the Chamber, and will be able to speak in the debate as if they were there in person. This new technology demonstrated its most powerful effect when a Thursday-night debate on the Arab Spring featured a speaker from conflict-ridden Cairo. This coming term we also hope to host Judge Richard Posner, speaking to us from Chicago, on capitalism and global development.

Photo: Chris Williamson

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The Cambridge Union Society

Sir Ian McKellen addressing the Union Lent 2011

Photo: Helen Simmons

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The Cambridge Union Society

‘Cavernous, Tavernous’: The Union & its Premises Stephen Parkinson

HE first members of the Cambridge Union met in a small room at the back of the Red Lion inn in Petty Cury, now long since demolished. They occupied a reading room, with access to a larger room for their debates – so long as the landlord did not need it for other purposes. They were obviously demanding tenants: in 1826, they persuaded him to build a new reading room, ‘double the size of the existing room, to be in the constant occupation of the Union Society’. But still they were not satisfied with their accommodation. Richard Monckton-Milnes, the poet, politician, and early Union devotee, described the debating chamber as ‘a low, ill-ventilated, ill-lit gallery’, and as ‘cavernous, tavernous – something between a commercial-room and a district-branchmeeting-house’. In 1832, the Society moved to new rooms built for it at the back of the Hoop Inn in Bridge Street, on part of the land where the Union stands today. They had a much larger debating chamber – and sole use of a servant – but soon outgrew their premises again. In 1850 they decamped to a former Wesleyan chapel in Green Street, but once again this makeshift home

proved inadequate, and there was a growing desire for the Union to have premises of its own. In 1857, it established a building fund, eventually purchasing a plot of land behind the Round Church from St. John’s College. An architect was chosen by a ballot of all members. A young Alfred Waterhouse beat George Gilbert Scott, though not to the joy of later generations: Douglas Hurd thought the ‘dark red building’ must have been ‘designed by Waterhouse in a gloomy mood’. Its foundation stone was laid ‘with much state and pomp’ on 4 June 1864, and the building formally opened on 30 October 1866. With its own home at last, the Union flourished – so much so that a new wing, again designed by Waterhouse, had to be added within twenty years. A banquet for 180 people marked its opening on 24 February 1886, and Waterhouse was appointed the Union’s first honorary member. Alfred Waterhouse’s own painting of the Union following its extension in 1886

Substantial renovations in Easter 1933 removed much of his Victorian gothic interior. The library, which had previously occupied most of the ground floor, was moved upstairs to the old smoking and drawing rooms, and a new members’ dining room, bar lounge and a smoking room were installed downstairs. The bar itself was initially hidden behind a retractable panel in the wall, and was not pictured in pre-war recruitment leaflets sent to freshers for fear of alarming their parents.

the ground the next morning. Three people were killed – including an active member of the Union – and the trauma of that evening hastened the death of Stanley Brown, the Union’s chief clerk of almost forty years, who helped to tackle the blaze while still in his slippers. His death the following February was a huge loss to the Society, coming at one of its lowest ebbs. The War Damage Commission helped, but a restoration appeal was needed to pay for the rebuilding of the Union. All life members were written to, and distinguished alumni rallied round. By the end of 1946, an overdraft of £8,000 had become a surplus of £1,000 – but it was not until the end of 1949 that the repairs were completed.

Even in its earliest days, members joined the Union for reasons other than debating. It maintained a library from the outset, and in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, its clubhouse facilities were the main draw. Out of the first Union ball in 1954 grew The dilapidated Union building was taken into the regular ‘ents’ – now a thriving part of the Union’s complete possession of the Army for a week in March activities. A young Geoffrey Howe was 1944. All the staff were sent away on leave except a member of the Union’s first the new chief clerk, who was dance sub-committee, and the confined to his office and ‘A low, ill-ventilated, ill-lit gallery – equally improbable figure of allowed no communication with cavernous, tavernous – something Simon Heffer was Director of the rest of the building. All doors between a commercial-room and a Ents in Lent 1980, arranging to the basement were securely such licentious entertainments fastened, and sentries with Bren district-branch-meeting-house’ as a Sixties night, a Las Vegas guns were posted round the evening, and a ‘juvenile delinquents party’. Some of Union – one of a handful of buildings in Cambridge the Union’s activities have withered, of course: the used to hold large-scale models of the Normandy kitchens which once employed four staff to provide beaches before D-Day. The operation lasted four days, lunches and teas for members have stood empty for 28–31 March, after which the men and material used more than a decade, but the decline started long were taken away with the same secrecy, and no trace before. of their work was left behind. The Union building was comandeered early in the Second World War, providing classrooms for a Training Wing of the RAF, and its basement converted into a public air raid shelter. Cambridge was largely spared the depredations of the Luftwaffe – but, shortly after 3 a.m. on 28 July 1942, a German aircraft dropped eight high explosive and three incendiary bombs on the centre of the town. One of the main casualties was the Union – incredibly, the only building associated with the University to receive a direct hit. One of the high explosives and several firebombs hit the library, smashing an enormous hole in the roof, blowing out most of the windows on that side of the building, and starting a huge blaze. The weight of falling masonry ripped another hole in the floor, and so much water was pumped into the building by the fire service that it was still trickling down to

The Union had another scrape with disaster in June 1975. Peter Bazalgette, the newly elected President, was enjoying his fifth May Week party of the day when he received the news that careless workmen had over-fed a fire in the Union basement. The flue had ignited, causing considerable damage to the chamber, and taking most of the roof with it. Again, former officers rallied round: Norman Lamont (Lent 1964) chaired a meeting of ex-Presidents in Westminster; Christopher Norman-Butler (Lent 1958), a banker, persuaded the Union’s insurers to pay in full. Some old Methodist pews were found to restore the seating in the gallery – where Bazalgette invited the craftsmen who had helped to restore the chamber to watch the first debate of Michaelmas Term.

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The Cambridge Union Society

Proposition

The Rt. Hon. the Lord Howard of Lympne CH QC Michael Howard is the former Leader of the Conservative Party and former Leader of the Opposition. He read Economics and Law at Peterhouse and was President in Easter 1962.

Baroness Mallalieu QC Ann Mallalieu is a Labour life peer, former Barrister and President of the Countryside Alliance. She read law at Newnham and was the first ever female President in 1967.

Michael Dunn Goekjian Michael Dunn Goekjian is a third-year student at Trinity, reading mathmatics. He was named the 2nd best debater in the world at the 2015 World University Debating Championship and was President in Easter 2014.

BICENTENARY D E BAT E

This House Isn’t What it Used to Be As the Union welcomes back former Presidents and Officers to celebrate its Bicentenary, we gather together to debate and celebrate the highs and lows of our long and controversial history.

Saturday 7th February 8.00pm

The Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke QC MP Kenneth Clarke has been a Member of Parliament since 1970 and is a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Home Secretary. He read Law at Caius and was President in Easter 1963.

Opposite: The Union's delayed Centenary Debate 1921

Opposition

Lord Turner of Ecchinswell Adair Turner is a former DirectorGeneral of the CBI and chairman of the Financial Services Authority. He read History an Economics at Gonville & Caius and was president in Michaelmas 1977.

Baroness Hayman GBE PC Hélène Hayman was the first Speaker of the House of Lords and has been a Labour life peer since 1996. She read Law at Newnham and was President in Easter 1969.

Gareth Weetman Gareth Weetman is a barrister with over 15 years’ experience of trial advocacy. He read Law at Christ’s and was President in Michaelmas 1997.

Sir Peter Bazalgette Sir Peter Bazalgette is the Chair of Arts Council England and arguably ‘the most influential man in British television’. He read Law at Fitzwilliam and was President in Michaelmas 1975.

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The Cambridge Union Society

The 2015 Garden Party

Forman’s Smoked Salmon

IS what it used to be!

Saturday 13th June Sidney Sussex Gardens

HE Union Garden Party – like you’ve never seen it before. The 2015 Garden Party will take over the entirety of the Sidney Sussex Gardens, and will bring together members resident and non-resident on a summer afternoon to celebrate our long history. This event is open to members of the Cambridge Union and all current students at the University of Cambridge. The Union’s Annual Garden Party is consistently the most sophisticated, elegant andh highly-subscribed of May Week. In recognition of the Union’s Bicentenary, this year’s Garden Party will be bigger than ever. We hope you will join us to toast the Union over a glass of bubby and enjoy the entertainments and food on offer in Sidney Sussex’s beautiful College Gardens. For details on how to book an alumnae ticket for this year’s Garden Party, please visit: 2015.cus.org or cus.org/200th-Anniversary-2015

THE FINEST BRITISH FOOD DIRECT TO YOUR COLLEGE DOOR Visit our website at www.formanandfield.com

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The Cambridge Union Society © Davidyoung11111 | Dreamstime.com

Middle Temple Hall

2015 Events: The London Debate ‘This House Believes that the European Project has been a failure’. Middle Temple Hall Saturday 26th September, 8.00pm

OIN us for the final instalment of our 2015 Celebrations in the esteemed surroundings of Middle Temple Hall. With the effects of sovereign debt crises and political instability in Europe fuelling an increase in Euroscepticism, we will be debating the motion ‘This House Believes that the European Project has been a failure’. International and domestic experts, policymakers and journalists will discuss the contentious arguments surrounding the future of the European Union and Britain’s place within the single market.

In light of the fact that next year will mark the sixty-fifth anniversary of the historic Schuman Declaration, this will be a rare occasion to experience the atmosphere of the Cambridge Union’s debating chamber in the heart of London. This debate will bring together members past and present for a historic discussion. For further information about speakers and on how to book tickets for this exciting event, please visit http://2015.cus.org/

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The Cambridge Union Society

‘Madam President’: The Battle to Admit Women Stephen Parkinson

T will not have escaped perceptive observers that the President in the chair this evening is a woman. This would not have been possible in the first 148 years of the Union’s existence, for it remained an all-male society until 1963. A total of twenty-nine women have taken the chair since Ann Mallalieu became the first to do so in Michaelmas 1967. The 2005–6 academic year was the first with three successive female Presidents. Those who deprecate the slow pace of change, however, should note that the Union opened its doors to both sexes before any Cambridge colleges did (the first was University College, now Wolfson, in 1965). The Union’s relationship with women was complicated from the start. Newnham College was founded by an ex-President of the Society, Henry Sidgwick (Lent 1861), and Girton by Emily Davies, the sister of another. But an early proposal to open membership of the Union to Girton and Newnham in 1912 was rejected by a two-to-one majority (127–63). This was consistent with the Union’s general approach to women’s lib: the Society showed itself even more conservative in outlook than the House of Commons by rejecting female suffrage on 28 of the 31 occasions on which it debated it between 1866 and 1914 – the exceptions being slender majorities of four, three, and one. It took a more lenient view of women’s degrees

Photo: Chris Williamson

in the early years of the twentieth century – and by Michaelmas 1929, wanted to see women given full rights within the University. But the University was not listening – it did not allow women to take their degrees until 1947. Women were allowed into the Union from at least as early as the opening of the new building in 1866. As guests, they could watch debates from the gallery – though this caused some sensitivities, for instance during a debate on birth control in Lent 1924. Lord Dawson, the King’s physician, was supporting the motion and requested that women be excluded. (The diplomatic President closed the gallery to nonmembers of either sex.) In Michaelmas 1935, a full debate – ‘That this House would welcome the admission of women to full membership of the Cambridge Union Society’ – was held. One speaker worried that Union elections would become beauty contests if women were involved. ‘Imagine a woman sitting there on your chair,’ he cautioned the President: ‘like a bad photograph, under-developed and overexposed’. The motion was lost, 274–193.

In Lent 1946, the constitution was amended to allow ‘ladies of distinction’ to be invited once a term. The first debate to include female speakers was held on 11 June 1946, when Lady Violet Bonham Carter, President of the Liberal Party, went head-to-head with Viscountess Davidson, the Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead – who, the press noted with some interest, chose not to wear a hat. In Lent 1958, Christopher Norman-Butler interpreted the term ‘ladies of distinction’ rather more loosely and invited Jennifer Platt of Newnham, President of the University Liberal Club, to speak in a debate. The Sunday Times published a half-page picture of Miss Platt at the Union dispatch box, the first female undergraduate to do so. A ‘Women’s Union Society’ briefly flourished in 1955–8. It began as ‘a ghastly after-dinner joke’, but was praised as a ‘brave venture’ by The Times, and the BBC recorded its inaugural debate. By the end of the academic year, it claimed to have enrolled as members a quarter of the women at Cambridge – but the cost of premises proved too expensive, and it gradually withered.

The battle to admit women truly ignited in the 1960s. Three women burst in to the No Confidence debate in Michaelmas 1961, where they were given seats by supporters. One dramatically fainted and was carried out while the debate was adjourned. But a greater advance was made the following year, when Michael Howard succeeded in lowering the threshold needed to amend the Union’s constitution from a three-quarters majority to two-thirds. Successive polls failed to clear even this hurdle until Michaelmas 1963, when Oliver Weaver, ‘an ardent supporter’ of women’s admission, and his supportive Standing Committee tabled the now familiar motion. It was carried 166–43, and the ensuing poll of all members, held on 4 November 1963, by 449 to 180. Supporters of women’s admission had won 71 per cent of the vote: the long battle was over. The first woman to sign the members’ book was Janet Hogg of New Hall, and a woman was elected to Standing Committee within a year. This was Sheena Matheson of Girton, who was also first to stand for the presidency in Michaelmas 1965. But she was defeated by the Secretary, Jeremy Burford, who ‘knew that the Union wasn’t ready for a woman President, and in particular wasn’t ready for a Labour woman President.’

President Imogen Schön chairing a debate on Toxic Tabloids, Susie Boniface ('Fleet Street Fox') Speaking Lent 2014

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The Cambridge Union Society

Contemporary Perspective: Women in the Union Sophie Hollows & Lauren Davidson

Vice President, 2011-12 & President Lent 2011

INCE 1967, when Ann Mallalieu became the first woman to win that coveted red leather chair, the Union has been proud to include some of Cambridge’s most respected and admired alumnae among its former female presidents, including Hélène Hayman, Arianna Huffington and Clare Balding. These women have been inspirations to us, the female executives who don’t yet have our own Wikipedia pages, not least because we can appreciate what kind of rubbish they must have had to put up with from the testosterone filled chambers of this society.

Forced Marriage Forum Michalmas 2014 Two years later, however, the Union was ready for both, when the daughter of a Minister in the Wilson Government – Ann Mallalieu of Newnham – comfortably beat her male opponent by 190 votes to 104 to become the Union’s first female President. Her election made the news not only on the front pages of the national press, but around the world. It aroused particular interest at Oxford: although they had admitted women slightly earlier, there had still not been a female President of the Union there. They thought it ‘mal à l’autre lieu’. The Union’s second woman President – Hélène Middleweek (Easter 1969; now Baroness Hayman) was also a Labour member: indeed, the two went

Photo: Chris Williamson

head-to-head for the party’s nomination in Welwyn & Hatfield in 1974. It was Middleweek who won, becoming the first sitting MP to have a baby – and the first Speaker of the House of Lords in 2006. So, while it may have taken the best part of a century after the foundation of Girton and Newnham for the Union to admit women, the Society was rather faster than the rest of Cambridge. Even other student societies such as the Footlights took longer to admit women. Eric Idle, their President in October 1964, complained to the club’s senior treasurer that ‘it is rather sad that the Footlights lag behind even the Union’.

In addition to the prominence of its female officers, the Union plays an important role in contributing to and shaping the national debate around women's issues. In recent years, the society has hosted speakers including Dame Judi Dench, Baroness Hale and Lisa Kudrow and debated motions such as This House Believes Feminism Has Failed the Western World, This House Believes That Feminism Should Exclude Men, This House Believes Gender Exists to Oppress and This House Believes The Veil Empowers Women (that last one only won 24 votes for the proposition) – not to mention a host of debates that are indirectly about the place of women in modern society, on the topics of religion, politics and human rights. Despite its steps towards inclusivity, however, the Union still has a long way to go before it can be truly proud of its female participation. It has had only twenty-nine female presidents, but we have every confidence that the Union will continue to mature both in age and modernity – and we will be proud to say that we were a part of this great institution.

Arianna Stassinopoulos President, Michaelmas 1971

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The Cambridge Union Society

Recollections: Karan Thapar President, Lent 1977

HE door was ajar. Was that an invitation to walk in or simply carelessness? Unsure, I knocked. A loud but distant voice responded. ‘Come in’.

I entered a square room lined with bookshelves rising to the ceiling. The curtains were drawn and the lights were not bright. The rich smell of cigar smoke hung in the air. It was a comfortable, well-used room but it was empty. ‘I’m in the bath’. It was the same voice. ‘Sit down and amuse yourself. I’ll join you shortly’. That was how Michael Posner, the man who would become my tutor, introduced himself. I would learn more of his eccentric ways in the years to come but at this first encounter I was flummoxed. I had come to Pembroke for an interview. Although anxious, eager and excited, I was ready for almost anything – but not this. At 18 I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to behave like an adult but the question I could not answer was what would that amount to? I reached for a book and stood by an upright old brass lamp glancing at its pages. I can’t remember its name but it had something to do with the Indian economy. ‘Ah, there you are’. I turned to find Michael Posner bearing down on me. He was a large man but his smile was equally generous. He thumped my shoulder and more or less simultaneously pushed me into a large armchair. Then he sat down in another in front of me. ‘What’s that?’ Posner reached for the book I had just put down. He seemed to know it. ‘Well, young man, you want to come up to Pembroke, do you?’ ‘Yes, Mr. Posner’. What else could I have said? The answer should have been obvious.

Karan Thapar's Termcard Lent 1977

‘In that case, what can you tell me about the Indian economy?’ It was a trick. And I had created the opportunity by choosing that particular book. I wished I had instead picked up a magazine or a newspaper. Now I had to talk about a subject of which I was completely ignorant. Inwardly I panicked but outwardly I started to gabble. It was the only way of covering up. I must have spoken for three minutes or more. ‘Hmmm’. The sound was enough to stop my flow. But Posner was staring at the documents in his hand. I guess they must have been part of my application form. ‘Not knowing the subject doesn’t seem to be a handicap for you!’ Ouch! But there was a hint of a smile and his eyes were gleaming. That was the first time I saw Posner embarrass and applaud with the same sentence. It was his trademark style. Eight months later, my A-levels completed, I arrived at Pembroke. It was a dark sultry October evening and the heavy clouds threatened rain. Having installed myself in my room and unpacked, I headed for the common room. It turned out to be in the same building as Michael Posner’s rooms. As I opened the door to enter I noticed a large figure at the top of the stairs heading down.

I blushed. I had hoped Posner would have forgotten the gibberish I spouted at the interview. But not just his size, his memory was also elephantine. ‘Whatever else you do you should join the Union’. And with that he walked through the door I had just entered leaving in his wake the warm feeling of a pleasant greeting but also a small niggling doubt that I had been put in my place. What was the Union? The very next morning I made a determined effort to find out. An hour later I was a member. And for the next three years my university career centred around its large red brick building hidden behind the old Round Church. Posner had done me a second favour. I can only assume he sensed my ability to talk outstripped my talent for analysis and nudged me in this direction. I was elected to the Standing Committee at the end of my first term and became President of the Union in the penultimate one. I wore kurta pyjamas, achkans, bundgalas and Daddy’s old Edwardian doublebreasted dinner jacket. Its broad watered-silk lapels were much admired. It was fun but it wasn’t always frivolous. It made me realise that politics could also be a grind. Yet I can honestly add I don’t think I’ve enjoyed anything more. Three months later I graduated with a 2:1, which is good but by no means distinguished. Michael Posner must have guessed this would happen when he heard me spouting on the Indian economy. I bet that’s why he pushed me towards the Union. Today I’d say he gave me the right advice.

‘Is that the expert on the Indian economy or have I got it wrong?’ Waterhouse’s Original Elevation Early 1860s

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The Cambridge Union Society Edward Gambier, First President of the Union Lent 1815

An Arena of Ambition Stephen Parkinson

HERE have been 589 Presidents of the Cambridge Union since 1815 (counting four duplicates, which was permitted until the late nineteenth century). More than a third of them (207) have come from Trinity – far ahead of the next most prolific, St. John’s, on 64 – while the six graduate colleges have produced none at all. Why have these two centuries of students – and the many others who hoped to beat them – fought so hard to spend a term in the President’s chair? From its very earliest days, it has been clear that the Union has been more than an ordinary student society, with a reach far beyond Cambridge. John Stuart Mill followed its debates from London in the 1820s, describing the Union as ‘an arena where what were then thought extreme opinions, in politics and philosophy, were weekly asserted, face to face with their opposites, before audiences consisting of the élite of the Cambridge youth.’ His description remains true today: the style of the Union’s weekly debates has changed remarkably little. Guest speakers were first invited from 1887 (in large part, to increase the representation of Nationalist opinion for debates on Ireland which dominated proceedings at this time) and brought with them even greater attention for Union debates from the outside world. When conscription was debated in April 1939, pictures from the chamber were sent to London and appeared in the following day’s papers. The result – a vote against conscription of 204 to 144 – so angered Winston Churchill that he came to Cambridge to address a meeting in the Corn Exchange the following month ‘specifically to counter the Union vote’. With such provocative debates, the Union has acquired – and perhaps nurtured – a reputation for being a stepping-stone towards a political career. The so-called ‘Cambridge Mafia’ of Leon Brittan, John Gummer, Michael Howard, Ken Clarke, and Norman Lamont – all Presidents in 1960–64 who have clocked up more than 90 years in government between them – is merely the most striking example. Twenty-five Presidents since the Second World War have become MPs; nineteen (with some overlap) have entered the House of Lords.

For all their successes, however – and despite the record of its younger sister at Oxford – the Union has never produced a prime minister. In fact, none of the Cantabrigian prime minsters since the Society’s foundation even spoke there as undergraduates. The nearest the Society can boast is a Prime Minister of Malta, Gerald Strickland (Michaelmas 1887), and two Leaders of the Opposition: Frederick Pethick-Lawrence (Michaelmas 1896) and Michael Howard (Easter 1962). But it has produced scores of distinguished Parliamentarians – not just ministers but eminent backbenchers, such as C.P. Villiers (Easter 1822) who spent a record 63 years as an MP, and two Speakers of the House of Commons – W.C. Gully (Easter 1855) and Selwyn Lloyd (Michaelmas 1927) – in addition to Baroness Hayman in the House of Lords. Another member who became Speaker – James Lowther – chaired its centenary debate, giving members pithy oratorical advice: ‘Stand up, speak up, shut up’. But Union alumni have done much more beyond politics. Edward Gambier, the first President, started a long line of successful lawyers by becoming Chief Justice of Madras; his successors have included a Chief Justice of Kenya, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and a Lord Chief Justice of England. Arnold McNair (Easter 1909) was President of both the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights; Norman Birkett (Michaelmas 1910) was one of the British judges at Nuremberg. Three ex-Presidents have served as Lord Chancellor: Frederic Maugham (Lent 1889), Elwyn Jones (Michaelmas 1931), and Ken Clarke (Easter 1963). The first President of the twentieth century was the economist A.C. Pigou – followed not long after by his fellow Kingsman John Maynard Keynes (Lent 1905). Union officers include an Olympic medallist, an Oscar nominee, and two winners of the Nobel Peace Prize (Austen Chamberlain and Philip NoelBaker). Michael Ramsay, President in Lent 1926, became Archbishop of Canterbury; Robert Stevenson (Easter 1928), was the director of Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

The Union’s membership ledgers and debating records bear the names of many who never held office but went on to great and varied acclaim: Rupert Brooke, Stanley Baldwin, Anthony Blunt, Salman Rushdie. King George VI is not the only member of the Royal Family to have joined the Society: Prince Charles made one of his first speeches in the public spotlight there as an undergraduate at Trinity in May 1970; his uncle, Lord Mountbatten, served on Standing Committee and presented the Union with a samurai sword surrendered on VJ Day when it elected him an honorary member in 1946. Whether the Cambridge Union creates the leaders of future generations or is merely a magnet for them in their ambitious early years is a subject for debate itself. But one thing is certain: those whose names have been heard in its chamber are among those most likely to be heard again long after they have left Cambridge.

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

The Union Frontage at Night Michaelmas 2014

Photo: Chris Williamson

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society Katie Lam's Termcard Lent 2012

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In the future, I hope the Union continues to offer the same unique atmosphere, experiences and opportunities for students in Cambridge. I truly believe there is nowhere like it in the world (and certainly not at Oxford) and am frequently struck by the unmatched opportunities I was able to enjoy and the incredible things I learned. I hope the Union continues to expand its reach, both within Cambridge and, through technology, across the world. Finally, safe spaces are vital and commendable, but the Union is not and should not be one, not for anyone. Instead it is a challenging and difficult space, one where no topic cannot be discussed and everyone should be heard. At times this isn’t easy, but I would encourage every officer and member to uphold this fundamental principle of the Union’s existence, now and for as long as it lives.

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Beyond the debating though it was plain from reading about the Union that it was part of the intangible and captivating magic of Cambridge that I was so excited to experience. Having come from a Surrey ‘bog standard comprehensive’, I was spellbound by the university, the city, Trinity (my college), my faculty (Classics) and the Union. I felt at once totally at home and exhilarated by the challenge of everything around me. But what kept me coming back, inspired me to go for appointed positions, run for election and finally stand for President (my term was Lent 2012) was the people. I made and still have a fantastic group of friends from being involved in the Union, a different group from my Trinity friends, Classics friends, or theatre friends (I was also involved in the ADC). Even now, a year and a half after graduating, I still meet up regularly with a substantial proportion of the people I worked with.

Being involved in the Union was a privilege and a pleasure: memories that stand out from that period include taking Stephen Sondheim on a tour of Cambridge, being moved almost to tears by an exceptionally high quality debate on euthanasia, first getting my hands on the printed termcard, attempting to manage the protestors and high-running tension at a controversial speaker event (Dominique Strauss‑Kahn), and being described as a ‘bright blonde bluestocking’ in The Telegraph (though I sadly can’t claim to have anything like the importance and impact of those pioneering 18th and 19th century feminists). Perhaps some of my clearest memories though are the unremarkable ones: working away in the President’s office, laughing at College Reps committee, running around looking for strawberries for the garden party, desperately trying to remember how to pronounce all the speakers’ names.

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JOINED the Union pretty much the moment I arrived at Cambridge – I had received a leaflet in the post before coming up, and was desperate to get my membership as fast as I possibly could. I knew it was a debating society, so I knew I would enjoy it: my family have always engaged in fairly fierce debates (sometimes more accurately ‘arguments’) from the big issues of politics or philosophy down to the pedantry of the correct definition of SPF for sun cream (my father and I thrashed this out the entire length of the French Alps once in our family Volvo in about 2004. The conclusion is still hotly debated, but honestly, I won). Funnily enough, my sister has recently been elected onto Standing Committee, so I like to think there’s intellectual curiosity and robustness in the DNA (and/or we’re just infuriatingly contrarian).

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C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

Cherish the Union’s Past; Secure its Future Help to maintain our history Do you have old Union memorabilia which you would like a safe home for? Papers which are gathering dust in the loft? Whether they are old termcards, posters, minutes, or photographs, if you are happy to part with them, we would be delighted to add them to the Union's archives, which are kept for posterity in the University Library. We have an extensive archive which stretches right back to 1815 – but our records get patchier as we get closer to the present day. So whatever Union generation you are from, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact Col. Bill Bailey in Cambridge (bursar@cus.org) or Stephen Parkinson in London (mail@stephenparkinson.co.uk) with any questions, or to arrange a safe and convenient transfer of your material.

Help to secure the Union for future generations 2015 is about celebrating the Union's past and looking to its future. We are delighted that so many members have chosen to re-connect with the Union this year. We have been overwhelmed by the interest in the Bicentenary Dinner and Debate, the Garden Party and the London Debate. These are not fundraising events – we're just glad to have you back at the Union. However if you would like to help the Society to flourish for the next two-hundred years- as a thriving centre of discussion, a place that trains world-class debaters or as somewhere that encourages talented students from all walks of life to apply to Cambridge – you might like to consider remembering the Union in your will or giving a donation to the Union. You don't need to tell us that you are doing it – but if you would like to discuss anything before doing so, please contact Col. Bill Bailey (ret'd) (by emailing bursar@cus.org or telephoning 01223 566436). Otherwise, you will just need the following details. Charity name: The Cambridge Union Society (Charity Number: 1136030) Registered address: 9a Bridge Street, Cambridge CB2 1UB.

Connecting to Cambridge; Staying in Touch Keeping in Touch Membership of the Union is for life. This means that those who left Cambridge years ago can return and enjoy all of the benefits that the society has to offer. In order for us to keep in touch with you and send you information about debates and speaker events, we will need your current contact details, including postal address and preferred email address. You can check and update your details by contacting us by emailing either chair@2015.cus.org or bursar@cus.org or by telephoning 01223 566421. The Benefits of Membership Members can return to Cambridge to enjoy the weekly speaker events and watch the Thursday night debates. In addition they can attend the annual Garden Party which is held in June. If members wish to reserve spaces at these events they can, subject to availability, contact the Main Office by emailing info@cus.org or vicepresident@cus.org.

If you sign up to our Members’ Mailing List by providing us with a current email address you will receive:

• •

An electronic copy of the Termcard at the beginning of every term A quarterly update on the Union’s activities

Live Stream The Union is also extremely proud to have introduced, as part of our bicentenary celebrations, a new online streaming service. This means that members from across the globe can watch events in real time. They can also ask questions of the speakers by using our integrated social media platform. In order to sign-up for this service, please contact development@cus.org or vicepresident@cus.org or telephone 01223 566421. Data Protection The Union will treat your data confidentially. We will not pass your email address or postal address on to any third parties. You will be able to unsubscribe from any of the above services by contacting the Union directly.

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

Cambridge Union Society: A Vision of the Future

Alex Forzani

N 2010 the Cambridge Union Society that many of you will have known closed down. The old charity was formally dissolved. In its place a new organisation was formed. The new Union is a charity and a limited company with a modernised governance structure. This enables us to separate out our charitable activities, which include promoting debating and hosting educational events, from our commercial ones. Cambridge Union Society Enterprises Limited (CUSEL) which handles all of our corporate business, including weddings, conferences and room bookings, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the main charity. The results of this transformation have been dramatic, not least on the student body. The President is now a Trustee Director of the charity and the Vice President serves as a Director of CUSEL. The aim of this restructuring was to enable the society to modernise its core message and bring the art of debating and public speaking into the twenty‑first century. The Union’s strategy over the medium term will be driven by two watchwords: impact and inclusion. We hope to be able to increase our impact and reach as a forum for the free exchange of ideas, while at the same time improving access to debating and public speaking for those who have never traditionally had such experiences. Our ability to do this has been greatly enhanced by our recent partnership with Deloitte. Impact In such a globalised world, the free, frank and fair exchange of ideas is accorded increasingly less time, however there has never been a period when these principles have been more central to society. The Union wants to be able to ensure that its members as well as the wider public continue to hear what the most influential people in the world have to say. New technological interfaces will be essential to re-vitalising the Union’s mission. Increased internet capacity and our new audio-visual equipment have allowed the Union to link up with speakers who are overseas. We have already reaped the benefits of these improvements and earlier this term witnessed a lively discussion with Judge Richard Posner from Chicago. However our mission is to do more than this. We envisage a Union building with state-ofthe‑art facilities so that debates and speaker events can be broadcast live to each room in the building and potentially to the wider world.

New platforms The Union’s website is its gateway to the outside world. It is the first way that many people interact with us. With this in mind, we have redesigned our website so that it is easy to navigate and that information is readily obtainable. We have also developed a new video streaming service. CUS Live will revolutionise the way in which our members watch debates and speaker events. Inclusion The Union is committed to spreading the art of public speaking and debating. To this end, we run the largest secondary school debating competition in the United Kingdom, the Cambridge Union Schools Competition, which reaches over 1,500 schoolchildren a year. However, we believe that there is the potential to do so much more. In tough economic times innovation is often pushed down or off the agenda. In schools many nascent public speaking and debating programmes are shelved either due to lack of funds, to enter competitions, or lack of time. This cannot continue as access to ideas and the ability to speak and defend one’s opinion are central to the modern world. We therefore intend to foster a culture of debating and public speaking within schools by forming long-term partnerships across the country. These plans are part of our vision for the medium term. They represent a modernisation of our core business. The future of the Union is based upon impact and inclusion. It is rooted in increasing our accessibility, impact and presence on a national and global level. However, it is also about showing the value and relevancy of our core business. Debating and public speaking are crucial to modern life. They are skills that need to be taught and appreciated. Understanding how concepts work; challenging ideas and having a free exchange is the bedrock upon which our society is founded. It is the responsibility of the Union to ensure that these ideals are protected and nurtured for years to come. Without wishing to prejudice the result of tonight’s debate, the Union definitely has the potential to be much more than it used to be.

Photo: Chris Williamson

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

List of Presidents Past & Present 1815 1815 1815 1816 1816 1816 1817 1817 1817 1818 1818 1818 1819 1819 1819 1820 1820 1820 1821 1821 1821 1822 1822 1822 1823 1823 1823 1824 1824 1824 1825 1825 1825 1826 1826 1826 1827 1827 1827 1828 1828 1828 1829 1829 1829 1830 1830 1830 1831 1831 1831 1832 1832 1832 1833 1833 1833 1834

Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent

1834 1834 1835 1835 1835 1836 1836 1836 1837 1837 1837 1838 1838 1838 1839

Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent

1839 Easter

Mr E. Gambier Viscount Normanby The Hon. C.J. Shore Mr G. Stainforth Mr E. Leycester Mr R Whitcombe Mr W. Whewell Mr C. Thirlwall Mr H.J. Rose Mr B.H. Malkin Mr T. Thorp Mr T. Baines Mr T. Platt Mr S. Hawkes Mr J. Cooper Mr E.D. Rhodes Mr E. Whiteley Mr T. Sheepshanks Mr E. Strutt Mr J. Punnett Mr J. Furnival Mr C. Austin Mr C. Villiers Mr W.H. Ord Mr W. Blunt Mr G.O. Townsend Mr J.J. Rawlinson Mr R.C. Hildyard Mr A.J. Cockburn Mr J. Haughton Mr W.E. Tooke Mr B.H. Kennedy Mr J. Stock Mr J. Wilson Mr J.H. Smith Mr C. Lillingston Mr C. Buller Mr J. Sterling Mr S.H. Walpole Mr J. Kemble Mr R.C. Trench Mr H.H. Luscombe Mr J.W. Blakesley Mr C. Chapman Mr P.H. Crutchley Mr L.S. Orde Mr H. Matthew Mr L.S. Orde Mr W.S. O’Brien Mr J.W.D. Dundas Mr W.H. Brookfield Mr C.R. Kennedy Mr H. Alford Mr R.A. Johnstone Hon. C.W. Henniker Mr E. Warburton Mr J.E. Heathcote Mr W.H. Brookfield Hon. W.C. Henniker Mr C. White Mr C.G. Burke Mr G.F. Townsend Mr K. Macaulay Mr W.A. Mackinnon Mr W.F. Pollock Mr T. Spankie Mr H.R. Goldfinch Mr A. Baillie-Cochrane Mr A.J. Ellis Mr R.N. Phillipps Mr J.C. Tindal Sir J. Lighton, Bt. Mr S.T. Bartlett Mr A.J.B. Hope Mr J.W. Donaldson Mr C.J. Ellicott

Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity St John’s Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Sidney Sussex Jesus Trinity Trinity Clare Queens’ Jesus St John’s Trinity King’s King’s Trinity St Catharine’s Trinity Hall Pembroke Trinity St John’s Peterhouse Trinity Corpus Christi Emmanuel Trinity Trinity Hall Trinity Trinity Trinity Clare Corpus Christi Corpus Christi Magdalene Queens’ Sidney Sussex Queens’ Trinity Magdalene Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity St John’s Trinity Trinity Trinity St John’s Magdalene Christ’s Trinity Jesus St John’s Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Christ’s Trinity St John’s Clare Trinity Trinity St John’s

1839 1840 1840 1840 1841 1841 1841 1842

Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent

1842 1842 1843 1843 1843 1844 1844 1844 1845 1845 1845 1846 1846 1846 1847 1847 1847 1848 1848 1848 1849 1849 1849 1850 1850 1850 1851 1851 1851 1852 1852 1852 1853 1853 1853 1854 1854 1854 1855 1855 1855 1856 1856 1856 1857 1857 1857 1858 1858 1858 1859 1859 1859 1860 1860 1860 1861 1861 1861 1862 1862 1862 1863 1863 1863 1864 1864

Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter

Mr E.H.J. Crauford Mr J.H. Bastard Mr W. Werge Mr J.A. Beaumont Mr J.R. Stock Mr W. Cunliffe-Brooks Mr T.H. Bullock Mr E. Rudge Mr G. Crawshay Mr J. Hardcastle Mr T.S. Western Mr F.W. Gibbs The Hon. F.S. Grimston Mr G.W. King Mr J.C.H. Ogier Mr W. Blake Mr E.F. Fiske Mr C. Babington Mr H. Lindsay Mr R.A. Cross Mr J.F. Baird Mr T. Dealtry Mr A. Garfit The Hon. W.F. Campbell Mr J. Ll. Davies Mr A.A. Vansittart Mr R.H. Parr Mr J.F. Thrupp Mr F.H. Colt Hon. A. Gordon Mr W.V. Harcourt Mr J. Ll. Davies Mr A.H. Louis Mr R. Temple Mr R. Stuart Lane Mr H. Leach Mr P. Laurence Mr H. A. Bright Mr R.J. Cust Mr J. Payn Mr F. J. A. Hort Mr J. Lloyd Mr A. Cohen Mr E. Dicey Mr C.T. Swanston Mr H.W. Elphinstone Mr V. Lushington Mr F. Kelly Mr W.C. Gully Mr H.M. Butler Mr W.D. Gardiner Mr J.W. Dunning Mr E.E. Bowen Mr C. Puller Mr J.E. Gorst Mr W.S. Smith Mr C.A. Jones Mr R. O’Hara Mr E.H. Fisher Mr H.C. Raikes Mr O. Browning Mr T.W. Beddome Mr C. Trotter Mr H. Geary Sir G. Young, Bt. Mr H. Sidgwick Mr F. Ll. Bagshawe Mr G.O. Trevelyan Mr W.M. Lane Mr W.J. Lawrance Mr W. Everett Mr E.L. O’Malley Mr E.L. O’Malley Mr A. Sidgwick Mr R.D. Bennett Mr H. Jackson

Trinity Trinity St John’s Trinity St John’s St John’s King’s St Catharine’s Trinity Peterhouse Trinity Trinity Magdalene Trinity Trinity Trinity Emmanuel St John’s Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Gonville and Caius Emmanuel Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Magdalene Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity St John’s Trinity St John’s Gonville & Caius Trinity Trinity King’s Trinity Trinity Corpus Christi Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Hall Trinity

1864 1865 1865 1865 1866 1866 1866 1867 1867 1867 1868 1868 1868 1869 1869 1869 1870 1870 1870 1871 1871 1871 1872 1872 1872 1873 1873 1873 1874 1874 1874 1875 1875 1875 1876 1876 1876 1877 1877 1877 1878 1878 1878 1879 1879 1879 1880 1880 1880 1881 1881 1881 1882 1882 1882 1883 1883 1883 1884 1884 1884 1885 1885 1885 1886 1886 1886 1887 1887 1887 1888 1888 1888 1889 1889 1889 1890 1890 1890 1891

Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent

Mr C.W. Dilke Mr H. Peto Mr J.R. Holland Mr E.S. Shuckburgh Mr C.W. Dilke Lord E. Fitzmaurice Mr H.L. Anderton Mr W.R. Kennedy Mr W.A. Lindsay Mr G.C. Whiteley Mr A.S. Wilkins Mr J. F. Moulton Mr E.A. Owen Mr R.T. Wright Mr F. Watson Mr J. Kennedy Mr G. Warington Mr A. Foster Mr J.E. Symes Mr W.B. Odgers Mr J. De Soyres Mr C.G. Kellner Mr W.F. MacMichael Mr W. Cunningham Mr T.O. Harding Mr F.W. Maitland Mr W.J. Scott Mr A.W. Verral Mr C.S. Kenny Mr P.M. Laurence Mr R.W. Jameson Mr J.E.C. Munro Mr H.N. Martin Mr J.F. Skipper Mr J.E.C. Welldon Mr J.F. Little Mr R.C. Lehmann The Hon. H.N. Waldegrave Mr J.F. Main The Rev. A.G. Tweedie Mr T.D. Hart Mr W.B. Milton Mr T.R. Hughes Mr E.J.C. Morton Mr F.P. Lefroy Mr S.G. Ponsonby Mr T.E. Scrutton Mr J.P. Whitney Mr J.K. Stephen Mr N.C. Hardcastle Mr H. Cox Mr E.A. Parkyn Mr O. Rigby Mr T. Beck Sir J. Peiris Mr F.L. Lucas Mr J.R. Tanner Mr G.S.W. Jebb Mr W. Blain Mr W.H. Stables Mr W.A. Raleigh The Hon. W.G. Scott Mr E.A. Goulding Mr J.T. Bell Mr E.J. Griffith Mr L.J. Maxse Mr H. Boyd-Carpenter Mr L.G.B.J. Ford Mr F.E. Garrett Count G. Strickland Mr W.W. Grantham Mr R.R. Ottley Mr R.J. Wilkinson Mr F.H. Maugham Mr C.H. Bompas The Rev. E. Grose-Hodge Mr W.E. Brunyate The Hon. M.M. Macnaghten Mr J.E. McTaggart Mr S.R.C. Bosanquet

Trinity Hall Trinity Trinity Emmanuel Trinity Hall Trinity Gonville & Caius King’s Trinity St John’s St John’s St Johns Trinity Christ’s St John’s King’s Gonville & Caius St John’s Downing Trinity Hall Gonville & Caius King’s Downing Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Downing Corpus Christi Trinity Downing Christ’s St John’s King’s Downing Trinity Trinity Trinity Gonville & Caius Downing Trinity Trinity St John’s Trinity Trinity Trinity King’s King’s Downing Jesus Christ’s St John’s Trinity St John’s Trinity St John’s Trinity St John’s Trinity King’s Trinity St John’s Trinity Hall Downing King’s King’s King’s Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Hall Trinity Trinity Hall Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity

1891 1891 1892 1892 1892 1893 1893 1893 1894 1894 1894 1895 1895 1895

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1896 1896 1896 1897 1897 1897 1898 1898 1898 1899 1899 1899 1900 1900 1900 1901 1901 1901 1902 1902 1902 1903 1903 1903 1904 1904 1904 1905

1905 1905 1906 1906 1906

Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas

1907 1907 1907 1908 1908 1908 1909 1909 1909 1910 1910 1910 1911 1911 1911 1912 1912 1912 1913 1913 1913 1914 1914 1914 1915 1915 1915

1916 Lent 1916 Easter

Mr E.W. MacBride Mr R.F. Graham Campbell Mr H.W.L. O’Rorke Mr A. Bertram Mr G. Davidson Kempt Mr J.H.B. Masterman Mr P. Green Mr A.A. Jack Mr C. Fisher Mr F.G. Thomas Mr F.B. Malim Mr J.P. Thompson Mr M.S.D Butler Mr L. Stuyvesant Chanler Mr D. Shearme Mr C.F.G. Masterman Mr P.W. Wilson Mr F.W. Lawrence Mr F. Butler Mr C.R. Buxton Mr E.W. Barnes Mr W. Craig Henderson Mr W. Finlay Mr B.N. Langdon-Davies Mr T.F.R. McDonnell Mr J.R.P. Sclater Mr C.E. Guiterman Mr A.C. Pigou Mr G.F.S. Bowles Mr E.H. Young Mr G. Claus Rankin Mr H.S. Van Zijl Mr F.W. Armstrong Mr D.H. Macgregor Mr P.B. Haigh Mr E.S. Montagu Mr J.G. Gordon Mr J. Strachan Mr J. Corry Arnold Mr F.E. Bray Mr M.F.J. McDonnell Mr J.T. Sheppard Mr H.G. Wood Mr J.M. Keynes Mr J.K. Mozley Mr H.W. Harris Mr S.J.M. Sampson Mr A.C.O. Morgan Mr A.P. Hughes-Gibb Mr H.A. Holland Mr E.G. Selwyn Mr F.D. Livingstone Mr O.F. Grazebrook Mr M.M. Pattison Muir Mr W.G. Elmslie Mr C. Bethell Mr E. Evans Mr A.D. McNair Mr A. Ramsay Mr J.R.M. Butler Mr G.G.G. Butler Mr W.N. Birkett Mr H.P.W. Burton Mr J.H. Allen Mr D.H. Robertson Mr K.F. Callaghan Mr P.J. Baker Mr H.D. Henderson Mr H. Wright Mr H. Grose Hodge Mr E.P. Smith Mr D.G. Rouquette Mr G.K.M. Butler Mr J.H.B. Nihill Mr H.D. Barnard Mr H.I. Lloyd Mr O.H. Hoexter Mr D.E. Oliver Mr W.H. Ramsbottom Mr F.O.C. Potter

St John’s Trinity Trinity Gonville & Caius St John’s St John’s St John’s Peterhouse Trinity Sidney Sussex Trinity Trinity Pembroke Trinity Trinity Christ’s Clare Trinity Pembroke Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Pembroke St John’s Emmanuel Trinity King’s Trinity Trinity Trinity St John’s St John’s Trinity St John’s Trinity Trinity Clare St John’s Trinity St John’s King’s Jesus King’s Pembroke St John’s Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity King’s Peterhouse Gonville & Caius Gonville & Caius Pembroke Trinity Trinity Hall Gonville & Caius Gonville & Caius Trinity Trinity Emmanuel St John’s Jesus Trinity Gonville & Caius King’s Emmanuel Pembroke Pembroke Gonville & Caius Sidney Sussex Trinity Emmanuel Jesus Emmanuel Emmanuel Trinity Hall Emmanuel Trinity Hall

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

The Cambridge Union Society

It was resolved at a Private Business Meeting held on Monday, May 8, 1916, to hold no elections for termly officers in the Easter Term, nor subsequently for the duration of War, and that the functions of the Standing Committee be performed by the ex officio members of the Committee. 1919 1919 1920 1920 1920 1921 1921 1921 1922 1922 1922 1923 1923 1923 1924 1924 1924 1925 1925 1925 1926 1926 1926 1927 1927 1927 1928 1928 1928 1929 1929 1929 1930 1930 1930 1931 1931 1931 1932 1932 1932 1933 1933 1933 1934 1934 1934 1935 1935 1935 1936 1936 1936 1937 1937 1937 1938 1938 1938 1939 1939 1939

Mr W.L. McNair Mr J.W. Morris Mr G.H. Shakespeare Mr D.M. Reid Mr L.A. Abraham Mr E.H.F. Morris Mr G. G. Sharp Mr G.W. Theobald Mr W.D. Johnston Mr R.E. Watson Mr I. Macpherson Mr G.G. Phillips Mr R. Northam Mr R.H.L. Slater Mr S.V.T. Adams Mr R.A. Butler Mr A. P. Marshall Mr G.W. Lloyd Mr J.W.G. Sparrow Mr D.R. Hardman Mr A.M. Ramsey Mr H.G.G. Herklots Mr P.A. Devlin Mr A.L. Hutchinson Mr M.A.B. King-Hamilton Mr J.S.B. Lloyd Mr H.L. Elvin Mr R.E. Stevenson Mr G. Crowther Mr J.G. Leathem Mr H.M. Foot H.J. Sinclair, 2nd Baron Pentland Mr K. Adam Mr C.W. Jenks Mr L.J. Gamlin Mr J.D.F. Green Mr K.W. Britton Mr F. Elwyn Jones Mr A.H. Snell Mr A.E. Holdsworth Mr S.S. Dhavan Mr T.R. Leathem Mr M.L. Barkway Mr T.A.W. Blackwell Mr S.B.R. Cooke Mr G. De Freitas Mr E.H.G. Evans Count D.M. Tolstoy-Miloslavsky Mr C.J.M. Alport Mr A.W.G. Kean Mr C. Fletcher Cooke Mr J.A. Dobbs Mr R.L. Miall Mr G.B. Croasdell Mr R.V. Gibson Mr F. Singleton Mr J.M. Simonds Mr P.R. Noakes Mr S.M. Kumaramangalam Hon. P.T.T. Butler Mr P.B. Hague Mr P.G.B. Keuneman

Gonville and Caius Trinity Hall Emmanuel Emmanuel Peterhouse Christ’s Fitzwilliam House Emmanuel Christ’s St Catharine’s Trinity Trinity Queens’ Jesus King’s Pembroke Gonville and Caius Trinity Trinity Hall Christ’s Magdalene Trinity Hall Christ’s Christ’s Trinity Hall Magdalene Trinity Hall St John’s Clare St John’s St John’s Trinity St John’s Gonville and Caius Fitzwilliam House Peterhouse Clare Gonville and Caius Jesus Gonville and Caius Emmanuel St John’s Queens’ Magdalene Gonville and Caius Clare Gonville and Caius Trinity Pembroke Queens’ Peterhouse Trinity Hall St John’s Pembroke Gonville and Caius Emmanuel Magdalene Queens’ King’s Trinity Emmanuel Pembroke

The election of Officers was suspended and a Committee of Management appointed. The following Chairmen of Debates were elected. 1939 1940 1940 1940 1941 1941 1941 1942 1942 1942

Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas

Mr R.R. Pittam Mr G.L. Stewart Mr J.R.A. Bottomley Debates suspended Mr J. Maynard Smith Debates suspended Debates suspended Debates suspended Mr H.B. Dunkerley Mr G.A. Leven

Pembroke Fitzwilliam House Trinity Trinity

King’s Trinity

1943 1943 1943 1944 1944

Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter

Mr R.S. Taylor Mr N.D. Sandelson Mr R.R. Feilden Mr J.S.B. Butler Mr C. Salmon

St Catharine’s Trinity Corpus Christi King’s Trinity Hall

The election of officers was resumed. 1944 1945 1945 1945 1946 1946 1946 1947 1947 1947 1948 1948 1948 1949 1949 1949 1950 1950 1950 1951

Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent

1951 1951 1952 1952 1952 1953 1953 1953 1954 1954 1954 1955 1955 1955 1956 1956 1956 1957 1957 1957 1958 1958 1958 1959 1959 1959 1960 1960 1960 1961 1961 1961 1962 1962 1962 1963 1963 1963 1964 1964 1964 1965 1965 1965 1966 1966 1966 1967 1967 1967 1968 1968

Mr P. Goldman Mr S. Clement Davies Mr D.J.W. Coward Mr M.P. Frankel Mr G.J. Carter Mr W.J.E. Coventon Mr G.F. Boston Mr W.H.L. Richmond Mr I.S. Lloyd Mr R.C.M. Young Mr H.J.C. Berkeley Mr D.E.C. Price Mr T.C. Hewlett Mr G.W. Pattison Mr P.C.M. Curtis-Bennett Mr D.K. Freeth Mr P. Cradock Mr N. St John-Stevas Mr R.G. Waterhouse Mr J. Ashley Mr G. Mathur Mr D.G. Macmillan Mr F.J. Williams Mr G.E. Janner Mr D.R. Hurd Mr A.H. Sampson Mr P.J. Mansfield Mr I.J. McIntyre Mr H.S. Thomas Mr D. Mirfin Mr N.O. Tomalin Mr G. Shaw Mr R.G. Moore Mr J.D. Waite Mr J.N. Crichton-Miller Mr M.D. Rosenhead Mr R.F. Peierls Mr K.W.J. Post Mr N.H. Marshall Mr D.R. Fairbairn Mr K.G. MacInnes Mr C.T. Norman-Butler Mr T.L. Higgins Mr J.H. Cockcroft Hon. J.P.F. St L. Grenfell Mr J.W.F. Nott Mr B. Walsh Mr C.S. Tugendhat Mr L.A.C.F. Giovene di Girasole Mr L. Brittan Mr A. Firth Mr A.C. Renfrew Mr P.G. Hancock Mr J.S. Gummer Mr M Howard Mr B.H. Pollitt Mr W.I.C. Binnie Mr K.H. Clarke Mr O. Weaver Mr N.S.H. Lamont Mr C.E. Lysaght Mr J.C.H. Davies Mr P.S. Fullerton Mr J.V. Cable Mr J.M.J. Burford Mr R.A. Perlman Mr A.J. Vinson Mr B.P. Crossley Mr M. Horowitz Mr N.P.R. Wall Ms A. Mallalieu Mr I. Martin Mr G.W. Martin

Pembroke Trinity Hall Trinity Peterhouse Magdalene Magdalene Magdalene Trinity King’s King’s Pembroke Trinity Magdalene St John’s Christ’s Trinity Hall St John’s Fitzwilliam House St John’s Gonville and Caius Magdalene Magdalene Trinity Trinity Hall Trinity Selwyn Pembroke St John’s Queens’ Magdalene Trinity Hall St John’s Trinity Corpus Christi Pembroke St John’s Gonville and Caius St John’s St John’s Gonville and Caius Trinity Trinity Gonville and Caius St John’s King’s Trinity Gonville and Caius Gonville and Caius St Catharine’s Trinity Trinity St John’s Emmanuel Selwyn Peterhouse King’s Pembroke Gonville and Caius Trinity Fitzwilliam House Christ’s Emmanuel Gonville and Caius Fitzwilliam House Emmanuel St Catharine’s Gonville and Caius Trinity Pembroke Trinity Newnham Emmanuel Magdalene

1968 1969 1969 1969 1970 1970 1970 1971 1971 1971 1972 1972 1972 1973 1973 1973 1974 1974 1974 1975 1975 1975 1976 1976 1976 1977 1977 1977 1978 1978 1978 1979 1979 1979 1980 1980 1980 1981 1981 1981 1982 1982 1982 1983 1983 1983 1984 1984 1984 1985 1985 1985 1986 1986 1986 1987 1987 1987 1988 1988 1988 1989 1989 1989 1990 1990 1990 1991 1991 1991 1992 1992 1992 1993 1993 1993 1994 1994 1994 1995 1995

Mr K.W. Jarrold Mr P.J. Tyson-Cain Ms H.V. Middleweek Mr H.R.D. Anderson Mr R.K. Evans Mr R. Dhavan Mr N.F. Stadlen Mr P.L. Heslop Mr R.M. Jackson Ms A-A. Stassinopoulos Mr D.J. Powell Mr K.F. Carey Mr C.R. Smith Mr A.G. Oppenheimer Mr D.A. Grace Mr E.M. Goyder Mr H.H.J. Carter Mr J.T. Harris Mr P.S. Weil Mr D.M. Bean Mr D.P. Condit Mr P.L. Bazalgette Mr C.J. Greenwood Mr D.W. Johnson Mr P.J. Fudakowski Mr K. Thapar Mr A.T.A. Dallas Mr J.A. Turner Mr A.J.B. Mitchell Mr R.D. Harris Mr D.J.M. Janner Mr E.J.I. Stourton Mr D.J.A. Casserley Mr M.J. Booth Mr M.A. Bishop Ms M.J. Libby Mr C.H. Gallagher Mr D.N. Senior Mr P.M. Sugarman Mr G.W.C. Kavanagh Mr P.N.L. Harvey Mr S.R.M. Baynes Mr B.C. Jenkin Mr S.H. Milton Ms M. McDonagh Mr J.A. Lloyd Mr G.B. Davies Mr A.J.H. Lownie Ms L. Chapman-Jury Mr L.P. Anisfeld Mr C.D. Blackwood Mr D.N. Walbank Mr T.H. Oliver Mr C.D. Steele Mr C.G. Earles Mr M.P.N. Tod Mr M.P. Lindsay Mr A.P. Ground Mr S.J. Greenhalgh Mr C.M. Kelly Mr P.C.W. Pressdee Mr A. Aithal Ms C.A. Doerries Mr N.A. Pink Mr C.H.M. Robson Mr D.C. Willink Mr M.F. Harris Mr M.S. Scott-Fleming Mr R.S. Mitter Ms E.D. Johnson Mr S.P.J. Nixon Ms C.V. Balding Mr N.P. Allen Mr B.M. Elkington Mr G.L. Barwell Ms L.C. Frazer Mr S. Swaroop Mr C.M. Farmer Mr S.D. Kirk Ms R.C. Penn Mr N.J. Boys Smith

Sidney Sussex Downing Newnham Trinity Trinity Hall Emmanuel Trinity Christ’s Jesus Girton St Catharine’s Downing Pembroke Trinity Magdalene Trinity Gonville and Caius Trinity Jesus Trinity Hall Trinity Fitzwilliam Magdalene Selwyn Magdalene Pembroke Emmanuel Gonville and Caius Jesus Selwyn Trinity Hall Trinity Jesus Trinity Downing Girton Jesus Jesus St John’s St John’s St Catharine’s Magdalene Corpus Christi Gonville and Caius New Hall Fitzwilliam St John’s Magdalene St John’s Trinity Gonville and Caius Queens’ St John’s Girton Sidney Sussex St John’s Magdalene St John’s Trinity Trinity St John’s Trinity New Hall Pembroke St John’s Magdalene Corpus Christi Magdalene King’s Queens’ Trinity Newnham Emmanuel Trinity Trinity Newnham Magdalene Magdalene Emmanuel Churchill Peterhouse

1995 1996 1996 1996 1997 1997 1997 1998 1998 1998 1999 1999 1999 2000 2000 2000 2001 2001 2001 2002 2002 2002

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2003 2003 2003 2004 2004 2004 2005 2005 2005 2006 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2008

Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent

2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012

Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter

2012 2013 2013 2013 2014 2014 2014 2015 2015

Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter Michaelmas Lent Easter

Mr D.H. Branch Mr N. Chatrath Mr A. Cannon Ms I. Waddell Mr A. Leek Mr J. Shapiro Mr G. Weetman Ms S. Raine Ms R. Durkin Mr A. Slater Mr O. Wellings Ms S. Gledhill Mr G. Bevis Ms V. Perkins Ms A. Newton Mr P.J. Abbott Ms D. Newman Mr W.M. Tan Mr J.M. Brier Mr J. Devanny Mr M.W.S. Lynas Mr T.B. Kibasi Mr T.H. Jeffery Mr S.K. Kabraji Mr E.C. Cumming Mr W.E. Gallagher Mr S.G. Parkinson Ms K.I.D.I. Steadman Mr R. Friedman Mr A.E. Ross Mr J.M. Khan Ms J.R. Scott Ms S.J. Pobereskin Ms A. Thompson Mr L.E. Pearce Mr M. Jacobson Mr A. Al-Ansari Mr R.J.A. Foxcroft Mr W.P. Wearden Mr L. Wei Mr E.D. Bishton Mr A. Bott Ms O.F. Potts Mr L. Fear-Segal Mr J. Domercq Mr J.D. Laurence Mr A.P. Chapman Mr J. Counsell Ms L.E.S. Davidson Ms F.I.R. Hill Mr C.C. Macdonald Ms K. Lam Mr D. J. Leigh Mr M.A. Black Mr A. Mahler Mr B.L.F. Kentish Mr J.G. Fenster Ms J. Mobed Ms I.K. Schön Mr M.C. Dunn Goekjian Mr T.J.M. Squirrell Ms A.E.J. Gregg Mr C.C. Epaminondas

Magdalene Jesus Magdalene Newnham Emmanuel Peterhouse Christ’s Trinity Corpus Christi Corpus Christi Pembroke Christ’s Magdalene Pembroke Newnham Magdalene Fitzwilliam Trinity Christ’s Jesus Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Downing Trinity Hall Emmanuel New Hall Emmanuel Fitzwilliam Trinity Pembroke King’s Trinity King’s St. John’s Homerton Churchill King’s Churchill Fitzwilliam Sidney Sussex Corpus Christi Robinson King’s Christ’s Robinson Sidney Sussex Christ’s Trinity Hall Downing Trinity St Catharine’s Magdalene Trinity Hall Emmanuel Selwyn Murray Edwards Murray Edwards Trinity Churchill Murray Edwards Trinity

C e l e b r at i n g 200 Y e a r s

Thank You from the Chair Alex Forzani

HE Unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bicentenary has involved three years of planning. This naturally warrants that I thank many individuals and organisations.

I am indebted to Sir Richard Dearlove, Janet Turner QC, Andy Swarbrick, Nigel Brown, Nick Heath, Nigel Yandell and Daniel Janner QC. Their stewardship of the Society, as members of the Board of Trustees, has given rise to many of the marvellous accomplishments which we are celebrating tonight. They have given guidance and encouragement throughout my involvement with the Union and for this I thank them most deeply. The Lent 2015 Standing Committee has worked indefatigably to organise and manage an outstanding term to mark the bicentenary. Amy Gregg has led her term with assurance and aplomb and has delivered one of the best termcards that I have seen in a long time. I thank her for working with me so closely to ensure that the celebrations run smoothly. I am grateful to the Unionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s staff, especially Dr Dave Sellick, for the seamless administration that has gone behind the scenes and to Patrick Hanwell for restoring many of the rooms to their former glory. I am indebted to our tireless and unflappable bursar, Bill Bailey. He and I began discussing the bicentenary almost three years ago. He has been a source of constant support and I can say without hesitation that he is the finest asset that the Union has, or is likely to have. The relationship that the Union has built with our esteemed partner, Deloitte, has enabled this event to go forward, and I hope that all tonight's attendees will recognise the crucial contribution that Deloitte has provided. Deloitte has been our partner for the last two years. They have helped to redesign our website; enabled us to broadcast our events using CUS Live and improved our access programmes. I hope that this relationship will continue for many years to come. I also thank our sponsors Lorze Capital, the Telegraph Media Group, Cobra Beer, Forman and Field as well as FTI Consulting. Without their support the bicentenary year could not have happened.

I owe my deepest gratitude to the 2015 Steering Committee. Current Standing Committee members Nick Wright and Oliver Mosley have contributed what little free time they have left after planning a term to ensuring the bicentenary celebrations are a success. They exemplify all of the qualities that one would hope to find in every Union officer. In addition recent ex-officio Committee members including Jiameng Gao, Craig Slade, Imogen SchĂśn, Sophie Odenthal and Daniel Hyman were generous enough to return and contribute their knowledge and experience. I also thank Stephen Parkinson, who knows more about 9a Bridge Street than anyone I have ever met, for providing reassurance throughout the planning stages. I have been fortunate enough to have been privy to the wise and sage counsel of many former Presidents and committee members. Lord Lamont has given me the benefit of his advice on numerous occasions. Lord Justice Bean was kind enough to meet with me at the beginning of this endeavour. He gave me many pointers on where to begin. I also gleaned valuable insight from Sir Peter Bazalgette and Lord Turner. My final words of appreciation go to Joanna Mobed. She understands the trials and travails of organising a Union term, but was nevertheless ready to help me plan the bicentenary. Without her unwavering support and backing I would have given up long ago.