A brief history
Updated May 2026
In the wake of research on Cambridge University’s historical links with the transatlantic slave trade, Girton launched a programme of reflection and action following its own investigation into the legacies of enslavement embedded in the foundation and development of the College.
The College Council established a Legacies of Enslavement Working Group in Michaelmas 2020, received a report on activities and findings in May 2022 and agreed an initial set of responses in July 2022. Apart from a precautionary audit of the College collections, the group focused on research into sources of wealth among its early founders and benefactors.
Girton was founded for women by women, and many of them – like their mothers before them – campaigned both for women’s emancipation and against practices of enslavement. Equally, founded on philanthropy, at a time and place where the proceeds of enslavement were integral to the whole economy, Girton’s growth and development also reflected the role that women’s prime source of independent wealth – inheritance – played in the establishment of women’s higher education.
Large numbers of very small gifts, together with certain significant and substantial bequests, were key to the success of the foundation. The provenance of some of these gifts may never be known, and others need more investigation. Arrayed along a spectrum, however, while a number almost certainly have no connection to enslaved labour, others should be regarded, directly or indirectly, as legacies of enslavement. In response, the College has taken steps to enlarge Girton’s understanding of its history, recognise and commemorate hidden figures in that history; engage in debate and discussion around key findings, and make these publicly accessible.
At the beginning of the academic year 2022-23, the Working Group was succeeded by a College standing committee (GC Legacies of Enslavement Committee). This committee was established to ensure that the work of enlarging the sense of Girton’s history, with its potential to better shape the future, remains an ongoing commitment.
A gesture to reparative justice: that enlargement includes what we know of a crucial legacy from a late eighteenth / early nineteenth century plantation in Virginia, USA, about which we have built a documentary record likely to be of interest to anyone tracing connections to that time and place. ‘The history of the College becomes a prism through which multiple histories begin to emerge’ – from the Preface to the 2025 publication, Girton Reflects. This is an investment in the potential use of our holdings well beyond academia.
The main steps taken over the period 2023-26 have included the following:
- Instituting a virtual Research Hub to oversee research and adjunct activities.
- Commissioning specific research into the sources of College’s nineteenth century foundation, including diverse archival investigations and a College-sponsored research visit to Virginia.
- Publishing the principal findings here on the College website, under the rubric Girton Reflects, and subsequently in 2025 as a print publication.
- Establishing, thanks to a donation, a University-wide prize to encourage student reflection: the William Dusinberre Prize.
And currently under development:
- Putting into effect the generosity of a donation dedicated to assist LE research and to enable us to set up a digital Repository, professionally catalogued, in order to make research materials generally available.
- Undertaking a programme, sponsored by College, for the transcription of key documentary collections.
- Initiating a Curatorial Log that will allow online access to information, as it is gathered, concerning the provenance of diverse persons and artifacts associated with College (including its collections of art, books, furniture and such).
What follows is part of the historical record. The twelve episodes of ‘Girton Reflects’ posted here present an account of initial findings up until 2023. ‘Taking account’, written in the same year, gives the Committee’s sense of accountability at that point; the ‘Statement of Purpose in Memorialisation’ was adopted by the College Council in 2025.