Papers of William Selwyn

Professor of Divinity. William Selwyn was born in Witham, Essex in 1806. After schooling at Eton he was admitted to St John's College in 1824. Selwyn graduated in 1829 and was made a Fellow of the College. He was ordained in 1831 and was presented to the rectory of Branstone. He exchanged this for the vicarage at Melbourne, Cambridgeshire in 1846. In 1855 Selwyn was elected Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity. He put aside part of his income from this post to help improve the study of theology at Cambridge, and he saw the building of the new Divinity School as a result of his beneficence. He was also the moving force behind the rebuilding of the chapel at St John's. Selwyn was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1866 and died in 1875.

Papers concerning a memorial to Professor Selwyn. Includes the minute book of the Memorial Fund Committee meetings, printed notices of three meetings, lists of committee members and of donors to the memorial fund, and letters promising donations from members of the College and the University. The memorial was a bust sculpted by Bruce Hill and erected in the Divinity School.

Minute book from E.A. Benians, 1935; correspondence from Mrs Benians, 1952.

Please cite as St John's College Library, Papers of William Selwyn