page_title: St Cuthbert's Society, Durham
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: St Cuthbert's Society, Durham / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Painting of St Cuthbert's Society buildings in South Bailey, Durham. The original painting is in the Senior Common Room of the college.
context_page_description: St Cuthbert's Society, colloquially known as Cuth's, is a college of Durham University. It was founded in 1888 for students who were not attached to the existing colleges. St Cuthbert's Society is a Bailey college, based on Durham's peninsula next to the River Wear, although it also has other accommodation a few minutes' walk away in Old Elvet.
  St Cuthbert's retains its title of 'society', although its workings have changed since its formation. Its foundation differed from that of Durham's other colleges in that it was established as a common room for, and by, its students. Other Societies followed: St Aidan's Society – now St Aidan's College, and the Graduate Society – now Ustinov College. It is still home to the highest proportion of local students of those at Durham-based colleges, and also traditionally houses a high proportion of mature students.
  It is the only collegiate body to offer undergraduates catered, self-catered, and part catered accommodation.
context_section_description: At its formation, the Society consisted largely of mature students, was non-residential and run by the students themselves. It elected a President and an Executive Committee to organise social events, sports teams and other clubs, manage the common room and other facilities largely (but not exclusively) provided by the University, and represent members' concerns to the academic authorities. The University appointed a Junior Proctor and later a Censor who was employed by the University to oversee the Society's members. Among the early Censors, Frank Byron Jevons and Percy John Heawood were both scholars of considerable note.
  The Society grew in size until the Second World War when numbers of students in the University dropped sharply and the Society was effectively in abeyance until 'refounded' in 1945 by veterans returning from combat who wished to complete their degrees. When the Society moved to the South Bailey in 1951, it began to offer accommodation to a small number of students and created the position of Principal to replace that of Censor.  The first Principal, Clifford Leech, a distinguished academic and widely acknowledged expert on Jacobean literature, served for several years in this role before going on to become Professor of English at the University of Toronto.  His portrait, by Thomas William Pattison (1894–1983), hangs in the college hall.  The Principal is now responsible for managing all aspects of the Society. The Society includes a dedicated team of University staff, a junior common room, a senior room, an alumni association and a group of fellows.
  Over the years the Society has expanded a great deal and now has a large body of accommodation on the Bailey as well as elsewhere in Durham.  In 2006 'Brooks House' was built and this allowed all first year undergraduates to live-in for the first time, as well as a number of returners and postgraduate students.
caption: View down South Bailey to Prebends Bridge including 12 South Bailey.
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