The Eagle 1946 (Easter)

THE EAGLE ut jVfagazine SUPPORTED BY MEMBERS OF Sf 'John's College St. Jol.l. CoIl. Lib, Gamb. VOL UME LIl, Nos. 231-232 PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR SUBSCRIBERS ON L Y MCMXLVII Ct., CONTENTS A Song of the Divine Names . PAGE The next number shortly to be published will cover the 305 academic year 1946/47. Contributions for the number The College During the War . 306 following this should be sent to the Editors of The Eagle, To the College (after six war-years in Egypt) 309 c/o The College Office, St John's College. The Commemoration Sermon, 1946 310 On the Possible Biblical Origin of a Well-Known Line in The The Editors will welcome assistance in making the Chronicle as complete a record as possible of the careers of members Hunting of the Snark 313 of the College. The Paling Fence 315 The Sigh 3 1 5 Johniana . 3 16 Book Review 319 College Chronicle : The Adams Society 321 The Debaj:ing Society . 323 The Finar Society 324 The Historical Society 325 The Medical Society . 326 The Musical Society . 329 The N ashe Society . 333 The Natural Science Club 3·34 The 'P' Club 336 Yet Another Society 337 Association Football 338 The Athletic Club 341 The Chess Club . 341 The Cricket Club 342 The Hockey Club 342 L.M.B.C.. 344 Lawn Tennis Club 352 Rugby Football . 354 The Squash Club 358 College Notes . 358 Obituary: Humphry Davy Rolleston 380 Lewis Erle Shore 383 J ames William Craik 388 Kenneth 0 Thomas Wilson 39 J ames 391 John Ambrose Fleming 402 Roll of Honour 405 The Library . 449 College Awards Illustrations : facing p. 305 by Alfred F. Hardiman Ya le, 383 Shore . " Lewis Erle 388 Kenneth James William Craik 0 " 39 James Thomas Wilson . THE EAGLE �� VOL. LII September 1946 Nos. 231 & 232 �� A SONG OF THE DIVINE NAMES OW shall we call Thee, when to Thee we raise H A bitter cry for some short space of ease, A little stillness in the roar of Things, A little rest in restless nights and days? Omnipotent? Eternal? King of Kings? Nay ; but we call by greater Names than these: Cessatio; Silentium; Quies. o Secret Silence, Fount of Very Peace, We faint and stumble on our troubled ways ; In blinded darkness, Archetype of Light, We cry for Sight to Him alone who sees ; We dwell where Wrong forever wars on Right ; o take us where Still Peace eternal stays, Cessatio, Silentium, Quies. The Studio; London Yale carved in stone by Alfred F. Hardiman, R.A., Stillness and Beauty, Way through all the maze, for the entrance gateway to the Fore Court of the Here seek we rest where rest forever fiees, College. Rebuild these tossing fragments in the Whole, Reveil the warring darkness in Thy rays. Belov'd and Lover, Origin and Goal, Of many Names, 0 Nameless, best are these, Of many Names the sweetest in Thy praise, Cessatio, Silentium, Quies. G. U. Y. E LII 2I 306 THE EA GLE THE COLLEGE DURING THE WA R 307 mmunal meals, to fuel restrictions, to diminished service in hall THE COLLEGE DURING THE co WAR'*' and rooms, to the pressure on its accommodation, to the black-out peril by night, to the closing of the College and its grounds to By THE MASTER and the the public and the' civilian pass ' required for moving from the Old HE to the silencing of the great bell which had outbreak of war caught us in the Courts to the New, even middle of building OUr new CQurt. Fortunately rung since the days of the Hospital. The undergraduate took life as T the fabric was already up and material the found it and made it worth while. To his ordinary academical assembled; so that the work went slowly forwar he d, and work were added military duties in the S.T.C. and fire-watching at by the ·end of 1940 the rooms were coming into occupation . The night. Yet some sport was maintained; the L.M.B.C. had always Munich crisis, occurring while the foundations were being laid, had influenced us to construct under the main boats on the river and in the Lents of 1943 went Head, and in the block a service subway, large enough to be used as an air-raid same term the football teams won the knock-out competitions in both shelter, and a well-protected strong room, to which the College plate, Rugby and Association; literary and scientific societies still fu nc muniments and treasure from the s tioned; the Musical Society gave occasional concerts ; meetings of Library were afterwards moved. Happily the College and The buildings suffered no damage from enemy many kinds took place as usual in the Old Music Room, attack. Only a single incendiary bomb and a shower Eagle appeared from time to time to chronicle these events. The of debris from the opposite side of Bridge Street, on the night of organisation of A.R.P. was continually developing. The fire-squad 28 July 1942, fell within 04r precincts. But the escape that time had periods of great efficiency, and their hose practice in the winter was narrow. College property in London and elsewhere was less ·fortunate. of 1942 resulted in a useful sheet of ice in the Backs and the unpre The new buildings, cedented spectacle of skating on the lawn in front of the New· Court. named Chapel Court, North Court and Fore court, o� completion The pumping engine was housed in a temporary structure by the proved very useful to the College. As previously arranged, an Initial river, and collaboration with Trinity was facilitated by the opening Training Wing of the R.A.F. took possession of most of the New Court of a doorway in the boundary wall in Kitchen Lane between the two in September 1939; other rooms were in regular use Colleges. An observation post was established on the Chapel Tower, for R.A.M.C. courses of instruction, Army Intelligence Training and Army manned by ourselves and Trinity, with some help from the town, and Educational Courses, and the remainder were never sufficient to the observers sheltered in a little hut erected on the top. accommodate all the members of the College in residence. In this Fellows and College officers began to leave us in September 1939, war, unlike the last, University education found a place in the and at one time as many as thirty were absent on various forms of war national effort, so that the College, instead of emptying as in 1915-18, service-in the armed Forces, in research establishments and in had always a large body of undergraduates. For 1941-4 our entry Government offices-not to mention others whose work was done in of freshmen was on a pre-war level, and though many men stayed Cambridge. Those who remained-teachers, administrators and only a year, our total numbers throughout the war were round about college servants-carried a heavy burden. But this was the common 60 per cent. of the normal. As in other colleges, state bursars experience, and where all were overworked together, we must not and cadets of the three Services formed a substantial part of distinguish. Nor is it possible to particularise the external activities the total. These numbers made possible a real college life, and differentiated of members of the College, associated as so many of them were with the conditions from those of thirty years ago, when continuity the scientific developments of the time, but we applauded the Prime was lost, traditions forgotten, and the few freshmen who came into Minister's choice in 1942 of a Secretary of State for War, and we residence often seemed freshmen still when a year had passed. liked to hear a familiar J�hnian voice nightly upon the news. The Posterity . vacant places at the High Table were frequently occupied by visitors may read with surprise how regularly college hfe functioned, how w horn the war brought to Cambridge, and the contacts made in this the society adapted itself from day to day to changing circumstances-to way with the Services, with Government departments, and with the academical and military routine co-existing within its I?ominions and allied countries, for which peace gives few opportuni walls, to the departure of staff and servants, to rationing and ties, were much appreciated. In particular, the Dominion and *' This article and some of the obituaries are reprinted from The Cambridge American soldiers, attending the fortnightly courses provided for Review. (Ed.) them, of whom two or three always joined our High Table, were 2I-2 R 0 COLLEGE DURING THE WA 3 9 308 THE EAGLE THE in t.he personnel of e lapse of six years has seen great changes a welcome addition to the society. So also was a Chinese Professor Th to all due to the war. Fortunately we were able who spent a year with us. Other opportunities for entertainment our body-not Were Fellows from year to year by limited, as the staff fe ll in numbers and rationing restrictio tinue the election of Research ns grew con welcome, with the condition of a' dissertation and can now more severe. Yet the Steward's department never failed to carry its relaxing to rning tide of men, a large accession of younger members almost insupportable burden, and it was good to see the Combination the retu Room filled from time to time-for a dinner to the Politico-Military our Governing Body.

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