page_title: Westminster College, Cambridge
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Westminster College, Cambridge / History
caption_attribution_description: Depicted person&#58; &#32;Agnes Smith Lewis&#32;– alumnus of the universities of Halle, St. Andrews, Heidelberg and Dublin
context_page_description: Westminster College in Cambridge is a theological college of the United Reformed Church, formerly the Presbyterian Church of England. Its principal purpose is training for the ordination of ministers, but is also used more widely for training within the denomination.
context_section_description: The college was founded in London in 1844 with a temporary home in the Exeter Hall before moving to permanent premises in Queen's Square, London in 1859.  It then moved to Cambridge in 1899 following the gift of a prime site of land near the centre of the city by two Scottish sisters, Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson, both noted biblical scholars. Following an appeal for funds from the wider Presbyterian congregation, the college commissioned a new building designed by Henry Hare and built between 1897–1899. In 1967 the college began to amalgamate with Cheshunt College, Cambridge, presaging the union of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches to form the United Reformed Church in 1972.
caption: Agnes Smith Lewis, benefactor
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