Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent Garrett Fawcett. It was the second women's college to be founded at Cambridge, following Girton College. The history of Newnham begins with the formation of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women in Cambridge in 1869. The progress of women at Cambridge University owes much to the pioneering work undertaken by the philosopher Henry Sidgwick, fellow of Trinity. Lectures
History of Durham University and services in the cathedral, where Bishop Lightfoot preached. The university had originally voted to admit women in 1881, only three years after London had done so. However, implementation was delayed by disputes over who would pay for a women's college – the university did not have the money, and (unlike at Oxford and Cambridge) private backers were not forthcoming. A further blow was dealt in 1886 when the university sought a legal opinion and discovered it did not have the right under its current charter to grant degrees to women. Women were, however, allowed to study at the College