# Senior Wrangler

The Senior Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain".
Specifically, it is the person who achieves the highest overall mark among the Wranglers – the students at Cambridge who gain first-class degrees in mathematics. The Cambridge undergraduate mathematics course, or Mathematical Tripos, is famously difficult.
Many Senior Wranglers have become world-leading figures in mathematics, physics, and other fields. They include George Airy, Jacob Bronowski, Christopher Budd, Kevin Buzzard, Arthur Cayley, Henry Cotterill, Donald Coxeter, Arthur Eddington, Ben Green, John Herschel, James Inman, J. E. Littlewood, Lee Hsien Loong, Jayant Narlikar, Morris Pell, John Polkinghorne, Frank Ramsey, Lord Rayleigh (John Strutt), Sir George Stokes, Isaac Todhunter, Sir Gilbert Walker, and James H. Wilkinson.
Senior Wranglers were once fêted with torchlit processions and took pride of place in the university's graduation ceremony. Years in Cambridge were often remembered by who had been Senior Wrangler that year.
The annual ceremony in which the Senior Wrangler becomes known was first held in the 18th century. Standing on the balcony of the university's Senate House, the examiner reads out the class results for mathematics, and printed copies of the results are then thrown to the audience below. The examiner no longer announces the students' exact rankings, but they still identify the Senior Wrangler, nowadays tipping their academic hat when reading out the person's name.

## Others who finished in the top 12

Those who have achieved second place, known as Second Wranglers, include Alfred Marshall, James Clerk Maxwell, J. J. Thomson, Lord Kelvin, William Clifford, and William Whewell.
Those who have finished between third and 12th include Archibald Hill, Karl Pearson and William Henry Bragg (third), George Green, G. H. Hardy, and Alfred North Whitehead (fourth), Adam Sedgwick (fifth), John Venn (sixth), Bertrand Russell, Nevil Maskelyne and Sir James Timmins Chance (seventh), Thomas Malthus (ninth), and John Maynard Keynes and William Henry Fox Talbot (12th).

## History

Between 1748 and 1909 the university publicly announced the ranking, which was then reported in newspapers such as The Times. The examination was considered to be by far the most important in Britain and the Empire. The prestige of being a high Wrangler was great; the respect accorded to the Senior Wrangler was immense. Andrew Warwick, author of Masters of Theory, describes the term 'Senior Wrangler' as "synonymous with academic supremacy".
Since 1910 successful students in the examinations have been told their rankings privately, and not all Senior Wranglers have become publicly known as such. In recent years, the custom of discretion regarding ranking has progressively vanished, and all Senior Wranglers since 2010 have announced their identity publicly.
The youngest person to be Senior Wrangler is probably Arran Fernandez, who came top in 2013, aged 18 years and 0 months. The previous youngest was probably James Wilkinson in 1939, aged 19 years and nine months. The youngest up to 1909 were Alfred Flux in 1887, aged 20 years and two months and Peter Tait in 1852, aged 20 years and eight months.
Two individuals have placed first without becoming known as Senior Wrangler. One was the student Philippa Fawcett in 1890. At that time, although the university allowed women to take the examinations, it did not allow them to be members of the university, nor to receive degrees. Therefore, they could not be known as 'Wranglers', and were merely told how they had performed compared to the male candidates, for example, "equal to the Third Wrangler", or "between the Seventh and Eighth Wranglers". Having gained the highest mark, Fawcett was declared to have finished "above the Senior Wrangler".
The other was the mathematics professor George Pólya. As he had contributed to reforming the Tripos with the aim that an excellent performance would be less dependent on solving hard problems and more so on showing a broad mathematical understanding and knowledge, G.H. Hardy asked Pólya to sit the examinations himself, unofficially, during his stay in England in 1924–5. Pólya did so, and to Hardy's surprise, received the highest mark, an achievement which, had he been a student, would have made him the Senior Wrangler.

## Derived uses of the term

Senior Wrangler's Walk is a path in Cambridge, the walk to and along which was considered to be sufficient constitutional exercise for a student aspiring to become the Senior Wrangler. The route was shorter than other walks, such as Wranglers' Walk and the Grantchester Grind, undertaken by undergraduates whose aspirations were lower.
Senior Wrangler sauce is a Cambridge term for brandy butter, a type of hard sauce made from brandy, butter, and sugar, traditionally served in Britain with Christmas pudding and warm mince pies.
Senior Wrangler is also the name of a solitaire card game, alternatively known as Mathematics and Double Calculation, played with two decks of cards and involving elementary modular arithmetic.

## Literary references

Fictional Senior Wranglers appearing in novels include Roger Hamley, a character in Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters, and Tom Jericho, the cryptanalyst in Robert Harris's novel Enigma, who is described as having been Senior Wrangler in 1938. In Catherine Hall's The Proof of Love, Victor Turner is listed as having been Senior Wrangler in 1968.
In George Bernard Shaw's play Mrs. Warren's Profession, the title character's daughter Vivie is praised for "tieing with the third wrangler," and she comments that "the mathematical tripos" means "grind, grind, grind for six to eight hours a day at mathematics, and nothing but mathematics."
In Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End, the character Christopher Tietjens is described as having settled deliberately for only being Second Wrangler, to avoid the weight of expectation that the title would create.
In his Discworld series of novels, Terry Pratchett has a character called the Senior Wrangler, a faculty member at the Unseen University, whose first name is Horace.
The compiler of crosswords for The Leader in the 1930s used 'Senior Wrangler' as a pseudonym.

## Coaches

The two most successful 19th-century coaches of Senior Wranglers were William Hopkins and Edward Routh. Hopkins, the 'Senior Wrangler Maker', who himself was the 7th Wrangler, coached 17 Senior Wranglers. Routh, who had himself been the Senior Wrangler, coached 27. Another, described by his student (and Senior Wrangler) J.E. Littlewood as "the last of the great coaches", was another Senior Wrangler, Robert Alfred Herman.

## Senior Wranglers and runners up, 1748–1909

During 1748–1909 the top two colleges in terms of number of Senior Wranglers were Trinity and St John's with 56 and 54 respectively. Gonville and Caius was third with 13.
| Year | Senior Wrangler(s) | College | Proxime accessit/accesserunt (runner(s) up) | College |
| 1748 | John Bates | Gonville and Caius | John Cranwell | Sidney Sussex |
| 1749 | John Greene | Corpus Christi | Francis Coventry | Magdalene |
| 1750 | William Hazeland | St John's | John Gooch | Gonville and Caius |
| 1751 | John Hewthwaite | Christ's | William Cardale | Pembroke |
| 1752 | Henry Best | Magdalene | John Cay | Clare |
| 1753 | William Disney | Trinity | William Preston | Trinity |
| 1754 | William Abbot | St John's | Samuel Hallifax | Jesus |
| 1755 | Thomas Castley | Jesus | John Hatsell | Queens' |
| 1756 | John Webster | Corpus Christi | William Bearcroft | Peterhouse |
| 1757 | Edward Waring | Magdalene | John Jebb | Peterhouse |
| 1758 | Robert Thorp | Peterhouse | George Wollaston | Sidney Sussex |
| 1759 | Joshua Massey | St John's | Richard Watson | Trinity |
| 1760 | George Cross | Clare | Anthony Hamilton | Corpus Christi |
| 1761 | John Wilson | Peterhouse | Timothy Lowten | St John's |
| 1762 | Richard Haighton | Christ's | Jeremiah Pemberton | Pembroke |
| 1763 | William Paley | Christ's | John Frere | Gonville and Caius |
| 1764 | Luke Heslop | Corpus Christi | John Fairfax Francklin | Emmanuel |
| 1765 | John White | Gonville and Caius | John Clement Ives | Gonville and Caius |
| 1766 | William Arnald | St John's | John Law | Christ's |
| 1767 | Joseph Turner | Pembroke | George Dutens | Queens' |
| 1768 | Thomas Kipling | St John's | George Fielding | Trinity |
| 1769 | Thomas Parkinson | Christ's | William Burslem | St John's |
| 1770 | Lewis Hughes | St John's | William Smith | St John's |
| 1771 | Thomas Starkie | St John's | Roger Kedington | Gonville and Caius |
| 1772 | George Pretyman Tomline | Pembroke | Mark Anthony Stephenson | Clare |
| 1773 | John Jelland Brundish | Gonville and Caius | George Whitmore | St John's |
| 1774 | Isaac Milner | Queens' | George Mounsey | Peterhouse |
| 1775 | Samuel Vince | Gonville and Caius | Henry William Coulthurst | St John's |
| 1776 | John Oldershaw | Emmanuel | Gilbert Wakefield | Jesus |
| 1777 | David Owen | Trinity | Thomas Cautley | Trinity |
| 1778 | William Farish | Magdalene | William Taylor | Emmanuel |
| 1779 | Thomas Jones | Trinity | Herbert Marsh | St John's |
| 1780 | St John Priest | Pembroke | William Frend | Christ's |
| 1781 | Henry Ainslie | Pembroke | Montague Farrer Ainslie & George Henry Law | Trinity & Queens' |
| 1782 | James Wood | St John's | John Hailstone | Trinity |
| 1783 | Francis John Hyde Wollaston | Sidney Sussex | Richard Buck | Magdalene |
| 1784 | Robert Acklom Ingram | Queens' | John Holden | Sidney Sussex |
| 1785 | William Lax | Trinity | John Dudley | Clare |
| 1786 | John Bell | Trinity | Edward Otter | Jesus |
| 1787 | Joseph Littledale | St John's | Algernon Frampton | St John's |
| 1788 | John Brinkley | Gonville and Caius | Edmund Outram | St John's |
| 1789 | William Millers | St John's | Joseph Bewsher | Trinity |
| 1790 | Bewick Bridge | Peterhouse | Fletcher Raincock | Pembroke |
| 1791 | Daniel Mitford Peacock | Trinity | William Gooch | Gonville and Caius |
| 1792 | John Palmer | St John's | George Frederick Tavel | Trinity |
| 1793 | Thomas Harrison | Queens' | Thomas Strickland | Trinity |
| 1794 | George Butler | Sidney Sussex | John Singleton Copley | Trinity |
| 1795 | Robert Woodhouse | Gonville and Caius | William Atthill | Gonville and Caius |
| 1796 | John Kempthorne | St John's | William Dealtry | Trinity |
| 1797 | John Hudson | Trinity | John Lowthian | Trinity |
| 1798 | Thomas Sowerby | Trinity | Robert Martin | Trinity |
| 1799 | William Fuller Boteler | St John's | John Brown | Trinity |
| 1800 | James Inman | St John's | George D'Oyly | Corpus Christi |
| 1801 | Henry Martyn | St John's | William Woodall | Pembroke |
| 1802 | Thomas Penny White | Queens' | John Grisdale | Christ's |
| 1803 | Thomas Starkie | St John's | Charles James Hoare | St John's |
| 1804 | John Kaye | Christ's | William Albin Garratt | Trinity |
| 1805 | Thomas Turton | St Catharine's | Samuel Hunter Christie | Trinity |
| 1806 | Frederick Pollock | Trinity | Henry Walter | St John's |
| 1807 | Henry Gipps | St John's | John Carr | Trinity |
| 1808 | Henry Bickersteth | Gonville and Caius | Miles Bland | St John's |
| 1809 | Edward Hall Alderson | Gonville and Caius | John Standly | Gonville and Caius |
| 1810 | William Henry Maule | Trinity | Thomas Shaw Brandreth | Trinity |
| 1811 | Thomas Edward Dicey | Trinity | William French | Caius |
| 1812 | Cornelius Neale | St John's | Joseph William Jordan | Trinity |
| 1813 | John Herschel | St John's | George Peacock | Trinity |
| 1814 | Richard Gwatkin | St John's | Henry Wilkinson | St John's |
| 1815 | Charles George Frederick Leicester | Trinity | Frederick Calvert | Jesus |
| 1816 | Edward Jacob | Gonville and Caius | William Whewell | Trinity |
| 1817 | John Thomas Austen | St John's | Temple Chevallier | Pembroke |
| 1818 | John George Shaw-Lefevre | Trinity | John Hind | St John's |
| 1819 | Joshua King | Queens' | George Miles Cooper | St John's |
| 1820 | Henry Coddington | Trinity | Watkin Maddy | St John's |
| 1821 | Solomon Atkinson | Trinity | Henry Melvill | St John's |
| 1822 | Hamnett Holditch | Gonville and Caius | Mitford Peacock | Corpus Christi |
| 1823 | George Biddell Airy | Trinity | Charles Jeffreys | St John's |
| 1824 | John Cowling | St John's | James Bowstead | Corpus Christi |
| 1825 | James Challis | Trinity | William Williamson | Clare |
| 1826 | William Law | Trinity | John Hymers | St John's |
| 1827 | Henry Percy Gordon | Peterhouse | Thomas Turner | Trinity |
| 1828 | Charles Perry | Trinity | John Baily | St John's |
| 1829 | Henry Philpott | St Catharine's | William Cavendish | Trinity |
| 1830 | Charles Thomas Whitley | St John's | James William Lucas Heaviside | Sidney Sussex |
| 1831 | Samuel Earnshaw | St John's | Thomas Gaskin | St John's |
| 1832 | Douglas Denon Heath | Trinity | Samuel Laing | St John's |
| 1833 | Alexander Ellice | Gonville and Caius | Joseph Bowstead | Pembroke |
| 1834 | Philip Kelland | Queens' | Thomas Rawson Birks | Trinity |
| 1835 | Henry Cotterill | St John's | Henry Goulburn | Trinity |
| 1836 | Archibald Smith | Trinity | John William Colenso | St John's |
| 1837 | William Nathaniel Griffin | St John's | James Joseph Sylvester | St John's |
| 1838 | Thomas John Main | St John's | James George Mould | Corpus Christi |
| 1839 | Benjamin Morgan Cowie | St John's | Percival Frost | St John's |
| 1840 | Robert Leslie Ellis | Trinity | Harvey Goodwin | Caius |
| 1841 | George Gabriel Stokes | Pembroke | Henry Cadman Jones | Trinity |
| 1842 | Arthur Cayley | Trinity | Charles Turner Simpson | St John's |
| 1843 | John Couch Adams | St John's | Francis Bashforth | St John's |
| 1844 | George Wirgman Hemming | St John's | William Bonner Hopkins | Gonville and Caius |
| 1845 | Stephen Parkinson | St John's | William Thomson (later known as Lord Kelvin) | Peterhouse |
| 1846 | Lewis Hensley | Trinity | John Alfred Lumb Airey | Pembroke |
| 1847 | William Parkinson Wilson | St John's | Robert Walker | Trinity |
| 1848 | Isaac Todhunter | St John's | Charles Mackenzie | Gonville and Caius |
| 1849 | Morris Birkbeck Pell | St John's | Henry Carlyon Phear | Gonville and Caius |
| 1850 | William Henry Besant | Corpus Christi | Henry William Watson | Trinity |
| 1851 | Norman Macleod Ferrers | Gonville and Caius | William Charles Evans | St John's |
| 1852 | Peter Guthrie Tait | Peterhouse | William John Steele | Peterhouse |
| 1853 | Thomas Bond Sprague | St John's | Robert Braithwaite Batty | Emmanuel |
| 1854 | Edward Routh | Peterhouse | James Clerk Maxwell | Peterhouse & Trinity |
| 1855 | James Savage | St John's | Leonard Courtney | St John's |
| 1856 | Augustus Vaughton Hadley | St John's | John Rigby | Trinity |
| 1857 | Gerard Brown Finch | Queens' | Thomas Savage | Pembroke |
| 1858 | George Middleton Slesser | Queens' | Charles Abercrombie Smith | Peterhouse |
| 1859 | James Wilson | St John's | Frederick Brown & Anthony William Wilson Steel | Trinity & Gonville and Caius |
| 1860 | James Stirling | Trinity | Walter Baily | St John's |
| 1861 | William Steadman Aldis | Trinity | John Bond | Magdalene |
| 1862 | Thomas Barker | Trinity | John George Laing | St John's |
| 1863 | Robert Romer | Trinity Hall | Edward Tucker Leeke | Trinity |
| 1864 | Henry John Purkiss | Trinity | William Peverill Turnbull | Trinity |
| 1865 | John Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) | Trinity | Alfred Marshall | St John's |
| 1866 | Robert Morton | Peterhouse | Thomas Steadman Aldis | Trinity |
| 1867 | Charles Niven | Trinity | William Kingdon Clifford | Trinity |
| 1868 | John Fletcher Moulton | St John's | George Darwin | Trinity |
| 1869 | Numa Edward Hartog | Trinity | John Eliot | St John's |
| 1870 | Richard Pendlebury | St John's | Alfred George Greenhill | St John's |
| 1871 | John Hopkinson | Trinity | James Whitbread Lee Glaisher | Trinity |
| 1872 | Robert Rumsey Webb | St John's | Horace Lamb | Trinity |
| 1873 | Thomas Oliver Harding | Trinity | Edward John Nanson | Trinity |
| 1874 | George Constantine Calliphronas | Gonville and Caius | W. W. Rouse Ball | Trinity |
| 1875 | John William Lord | Trinity | William Burnside & George Chrystal | Pembroke & Peterhouse |
| 1876 | Joseph Timmis Ward | St John's | William Loudon Mollison | Clare |
| 1877 | Donald MacAlister | St John's | Frederic Brian De Malbisse Gibbons | Gonville and Caius |
| 1878 | E. W. Hobson | Christ's | John Edward Aloysius Steggall | Trinity |
| 1879 | Andrew James Campbell Allen | Peterhouse | George Francis Walker | Queens' |
| 1880 | Joseph Larmor | St John's | J. J. Thomson | Trinity |
| 1881 | Andrew Forsyth | Trinity | Robert Samuel Heath | Trinity |
| 1882 | Robert Alfred Herman | Trinity | John Shapland Yeo | St John's |
| 1882 | William Welsh | Jesus | Herbert Hall Turner | Trinity |
| 1883 | George Ballard Mathews | St John's | Edward Gurner Gallop | Trinity |
| 1884 | William Fleetwood Sheppard | Trinity | Walter Percy Workman | Trinity |
| 1885 | Arthur Berry | King's | Augustus Edward Hough Love | St John's |
| 1886 | Alfred Cardew Dixon | Trinity | William Charles Fletcher | St John's |
| 1887 | H. F. Baker, Sir Alfred William Flux, John Henry Michell & John Cyril Iles | St John's, St John's, Trinity & Trinity | James Bennet Peace | Emmanuel |
| 1888 | William McFadden Orr | St John's | William Edwin Brunyate | Trinity |
| 1889 | Gilbert Walker | Trinity | Frank Watson Dyson & Percy Cory Gaul | Trinity & Trinity |
| 1890 | Geoffrey Thomas Bennett; Philippa Fawcett placed "Above the Senior Wrangler" | St John's (Fawcett: Newnham) | Hugh William Segar | Trinity |
| 1891 | James Goodwillie | Corpus Christi | David Beveridge Mair & Robert Hume Davison Mayall | Christ's & Sidney Sussex |
| 1892 | Philip Herbert Cowell | Trinity | Francis Robert Sharpe | Christ's |
| 1893 | George Thomas Manley | Christ's | Gilbert Harrison John Hurst & Charles Percy Sanger | King's & Trinity |
| 1894 | Walter Sibbald Adie & William Fellows Sedgwick | Trinity & Trinity | William Edward Philip | Clare |
| 1895 | Thomas John I'Anson Bromwich | St John's | John Hilton Grace & E. T. Whittaker | Peterhouse & Trinity |
| 1896 | William Garden Fraser | Queens' | Ernest William Barnes, George Edward St Lawrence Carson & Algernon Charles Legge Wilkinson | Trinity, Trinity & Trinity |
| 1897 | William Henry Austin | Trinity | Francis John Welsh Whipple | Trinity |
| 1898 | Ronald William Henry Turnbull Hudson | St John's | John Forbes Cameron & James Hopwood Jeans | Gonville and Caius & Trinity |
| 1899 | George Birtwhistle & R. P. Paranjpye | Pembroke & St John's | Samuel Bruce McLaren | Trinity |
| 1900 | Joseph Edmund Wright | Trinity | Arthur Cyril Webb Aldis | Trinity Hall |
| 1901 | Alexander Brown | Gonville and Caius | Herbert Knapman | Emmanuel |
| 1902 | Ebenezer Cunningham | St John's | Frank Slator | St John's |
| 1903 | Harry Bateman & Philip Edward Marrack | Trinity & Trinity | James Sidney Barnes, Ernest Gold, George Frederic Sowden Hills and Sidney Hill Phillips | Trinity, St John's, Trinity and St John's |
| 1904 | Arthur Stanley Eddington | Trinity | G. R. Blanco-White | Trinity |
| 1905 | John Edensor Littlewood & James Mercer | Trinity & Trinity | H. Smith | Trinity Hall |
| 1906 | Arunachala Tyaga Rajan & Clarence John Threlkeld Sewell | Trinity & Trinity | W. J. Harrison | Clare |
| 1907 | G. N. Watson | Trinity | Herbert Westren Turnbull | Trinity |
| 1908 | Selig Brodetsky & A. W. Ibbotson | Trinity & Pembroke | H. Minson | Christ's |
| 1909 | Percy John Daniell | Trinity | E. H. Neville | Trinity |

## Senior Wranglers since 1910

| Year | Senior Wrangler | College |
| 1912 | Bhupati Mohan Sen | King's |
| 1914 | Brian Charles Molony | Trinity |
| 1915 | Francis Puryer White | St. John's |
| 1923 | Frank Ramsey | Trinity |
| 1928 | Donald Coxeter | Trinity |
| 1930 | Jacob Bronowski | Jesus |
| 1934 | David Scott Dunbar | Clare |
| 1939 | James Wilkinson | Trinity |
| 1940 | Hermann Bondi | Trinity |
| 1944 | Denis Sargan | St John's |
| 1948 | Michael Edward Ash | Trinity |
| 1952 | John Polkinghorne | Trinity |
| 1953 | Crispin Nash-Williams | Trinity Hall |
| 1959 | Jayant Narlikar | non-collegiate |
| 1964 | Geoffrey Fox | Trinity |
| 1966 | Nigel Kalton | Trinity |
| 1967 | Colin Myerscough | Churchill |
| 1970 | Derek Wanless | King's |
| 1972 | Gordon Woo | Christ's |
| 1973 | Lee Hsien Loong | Trinity |
| 1975 | Peter J. Young | St John's |
| 1977 | Glyn Moody | Trinity |
| 1981 | Mike Giles | Churchill |
| 1982 | Christopher Budd | St John's |
| 1983 | John Lister | Trinity |
| 1985 | Nick Mee | Trinity |
| 1990 | Kevin Buzzard | Trinity |
| 1992 | Ruth Hendry | Queens' |
| 1993 | Ian Dowker | Trinity |
| 1994 | Wee Teck Gan | Churchill |
| 1995 | Balazs Szendroi | Trinity |
| 1996 | David W. Essex | Trinity |
| 1997 | Alexander G. Barnard | Trinity |
| 1998 | Ben Joseph Green | Trinity |
| 1999 | Paul Russell | Peterhouse |
| 2000 | Toby Gee | Trinity |
| 2001 | Mohan Ganesalingam | Trinity |
| 2002 | Jeremy Young | Trinity |
| 2003 | Thomas Barnet-Lamb | Trinity |
| 2004 | David Loeffler | Trinity |
| 2005 | Tim Austin | Trinity |
| 2006 | Antonio Lei | Trinity |
| 2007 | Paul Jefferys | Trinity |
| 2008 | Le Hung Viet Bao | Trinity |
| 2009 | Thomas Beck | Trinity Hall |
| 2010 | Zihan Hans Liu | Trinity |
| 2011 | Sean Eberhard | Gonville and Caius |
| 2012 | Sean Moss | Trinity |
| 2013 | Arran Fernandez | Fitzwilliam |
| 2014 | Yang Li | Downing |
| 2015 | Timothy Large | Trinity |
| 2016 | Leo Lai | Churchill |
| 2017 | Jonathan Zheng | Trinity |
| 2018 | Barnabas Janzer | Trinity |
| 2019 | Warren Li | Trinity |
| 2020 | Exam cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreak | N/A |
| 2021 | Alejandro Epelde Blanco | Trinity |
| 2022 | Gheehyun Nahm | Trinity |
| 2023 | Rubaiyat Khondaker | Trinity |
| 2024 | Timur Pryadilin | St John's |
Senior Wranglers since 1910 also include:
* David Hobson (Christ's College) (1940s)
* Peter Swinnerton-Dyer (Trinity College) (1940s)
* Jack Leeming (St John's College)
* Michael Hall (Trinity College) (1950s)