New court for Darwin College to be named after founder

Sir John, as Senior Bursar of Trinity College, was instrumental in the founding of Darwin College in 1964, and remained actively involved with Darwin for the following half century.

With the generous support of Trinity College, the John Bradfield Court will be created as a lasting memorial to his remarkable foresight and outstanding contribution.

Sir John was a driving force in the establishment of Darwin College as Cambridge's first wholly graduate college in the modern era and its first mixed college.  

The College, which has celebrated this year its 50th Anniversary, has grown from its modest beginnings into one of the largest colleges, with its membership of over 700 drawn from every discipline and from around the globe.

Sir John's bursarial expertise and practicality were made unstintingly available to the College from the first steps in its foundation and for the five decades in which he contributed to the life of College, and especially to the management of its endowment.

He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the College in 1973.

The John Bradfield Court will be based around the former tennis court lawn on the eastern part of the Darwin domus, and will involve the creation of a John Bradfield Room (and associated amenities) for multiple uses as a significant addition to the College's facilities.

The Court will sensitively incorporate the existing historic buildings facing the river, in particular the Old Granary, the iconic face of Darwin around the world and beloved of generations of its student occupants.

Trinity College has warmly supported these proposals, and will be generously making a donation of up to £1.5 million towards this project.  Of this amount £0.5m is subject to matching donations to be raised by Darwin College.

Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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