Identity area
Reference code
Adams/Box 5-15/Box 15/46/2
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 21 Jan. 1863 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
3p paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
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 1828 and was made a Fellow of the College in 1829. 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.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Invitation to visit Observatory at Ely, to advise on the dome. Object glass of the telescope was stolen from the maker before it was finished.