Cambridge Apostles
| Cambridge Apostles | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1820 University of Cambridge |
| Status | Active |
| Scope | Local |
| Alternative name | Conversazione Society |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, England United Kingdom |
The Cambridge Apostles (also known as Conversazione Society) is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar.
History[edit]
Student George Tomlinson founded the Conversazione Society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820.[1][2] This intellectual society soon was called the Cambridge Apostles because of its twelve founders.
The society is essentially a discussion group. Meetings are held once per week, traditionally on Saturday evenings, during which one member gives a prepared talk on a topic, which was later thrown open for discussion. The usual procedure was for members to meet at the rooms of those whose turn it was to present the topic. The host would provide refreshments consisting of coffee and sardines on toast, called "whales".[3]
Membership consisted largely of undergraduates, but there have been graduate students and members who already have held university and college posts. The society traditionally drew most of its members from Christ's, St John's, Jesus, Trinity and King's Colleges. Women first gained acceptance into the society in the 1970s.
Traditions and activities[edit]
The Apostles retained a leather diary of their membership ("the book") stretching back to its founder, which includes handwritten notes about the topics on which each member has spoken. It was included in the so-called Ark, a cedar chest containing collection of papers with some handwritten notes from the group's early days, about the topics members have discussed, and the results of the division in which those present voted on the debate. It was a point of honour that the question voted on should bear only a tangential relationship to the matter debated. The members referred to as the Apostles are the active, usually undergraduate members; former members are called angels. Undergraduates applied to become angels after graduating or being awarded a fellowship. Every few years, amid great secrecy, all the angels were invited to an Apostles' dinner at a Cambridge college. There used to be an annual dinner, usually held in London.[4]
Undergraduates being considered for membership were called embryos and are invited to embryo parties, where members judged whether the student should be invited to join. The embryos attended these parties without knowing they are being considered for membership. Becoming an Apostle involved taking an oath of secrecy and listening to the reading of a curse, originally written by Apostle Fenton John Anthony Hort, the theologian, in or around 1851.[citation needed]
The debate at each meeting is called the discussion on the Hearth Rug because the speaker stands with the moderator on a hearth rug when speaking, should such a rug be present.
Notable members[edit]
- Anthony Blunt, art historian and Soviet spy who was a member of the Cambridge Five[4]
- Guy Burgess, radio producer, British intelligence and Foreign Office officer, and Soviet spy who was a member of the Cambridge Five[5][4]
- John Cairncross, British intelligence officer and Soviet spy who was a member of the Cambridge Five[4]
- Arthur Hallam, poet[6]
- F. J. A. Hort, Anglican theologian
- John Maynard Keynes, economist
- G. E. Moore, philosopher
- Bertrand Russell, philosopher and logician[7]
- Henry Sidgwick, philosopher and economist
- Michael Straight, writer, publisher and Soviet spy[4]
- Alfred Tennyson, British Poet Laureate[6]
- George Tomlinson, first Bishop of Gibraltar[2]
- Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher and logician[7]
References[edit]
- ^ Endres, Nikolai (2014). "Cambridge Apostles" (PDF). glbtq Archive. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
- ^ a b W. C. Lubenow, The Cambridge Apostles 1820-1914, Cambridge University Press, 1999.
- ^ Brookfield, Frances Mary. The Cambridge "Apostles", C. Scribner's Sons, 1907
- ^ a b c d e "A Cambridge secret revealed: The Apostles". King's College, Cambridge. January 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
- ^ Lownie, Andrew (2016). Stalin's Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-473-62738-3.
- ^ a b Leadbetter, Emma. "Tennyson at Cambridge: The Apostles". Cambridge Authors. Archived from the original on 27 March 2010.
- ^ a b McGuinness, Brian. Wittgenstein: A Life: Young Ludwig 1889-1921. University of California Press, 1988, p. 118.
Bibliography[edit]
- Allen, Peter (1978). The Cambridge Apostles: The Early Years. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-21803-0.
- Deacon, Richard (1986). The Cambridge Apostles: A History of Cambridge University's Elite Intellectual Secret Society. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-11820-4.
- Levy, Paul (1980). Moore: G. E. Moore and the Cambridge Apostles. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 978-0-03-053616-8.
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