The Academic Robes of Graduates of the University of Cambridge from the End of the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day

Authors

Nicholas Groves

Abstract

The aim of this article is to examine the developments in the academic dress of the graduates of the University of Cambridge from the end of the eighteenth century (where Hargreaves-Mawdsley ended his account) to the present day. (Undergraduate dress has been largely a matter for college regulation at Cambridge, and thus does not come within our remit.) Without doubt, the most important development was the complete revision of the scheme in 1934, of which a very biased account is to be found in Franklyn’s Academical Dress of 1970; it does however have useful transcripts of the various Reports of the Council of Senate. This article will concentrate on the colours of the hoods and robes, and to an extent on the styles of the black gowns, but will not enter into discussion of the variations in the hood shape. We ignore also the ‘business’ or Congregation dress of doctors, as by about 1880 it had virtually disappeared from ordinary use. [Excerpt].

Recommended Citation

Groves, Nicholas (2014) "The Academic Robes of Graduates of the University of Cambridge from the End of the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day," Transactions of the Burgon Society: Vol. 13. https://doi.org/10.4148/2475-7799.1110