The ‘Naturals’ and Victorian Cambridge: reflections on the anatomy of an elite, 1851‐1914

Abstract

The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST), one of the most successful and least studied innovations in the history of university science education in England, was introduced at Cambridge in 1848. From its first 'class' in I85i, the 'naturals', as W. Aldis Wright called them, began to occupy important positions in British public life. Created at a time of close parliamentary scrutiny into the English universities, the Natural Sciences Tripos became instrumental in winning acceptance for the scientific movement in Britain. In its inauguration and operation, the NST also raised a number of questions important both to the history of education and the history of science. These questions centre upon the adaptation of the English universities to the special imperatives of science, and upon the nature of English university science ever since. That these questions are worth considering bears directly upon the assumption that