Girton College, Cambridge Girton was not officially a college yet, nor were its members part of the University. Girton and Newnham were classed as "recognised institutions for the higher education for women", not colleges of the university. On 27 April 1948, women were admitted to full membership of the University of Cambridge, and Girton College received the status of a college of the university. Social and cultural changes in the post-war period led to an increasing number of British universities to become co-educational. In Cambridge, Churchill College, King's College and Clare College were the first men's colleges to admit women in 1972. Girton
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