4 - Colleges: tutors, bursars, and money

Summary

TUTORS

JOHN WRIGHT AT TRINITY

In the month of October, eighteen hundred and fifteen, I, and lots more, first saw the light as sons of Alma … Furnished by a friend with a letter to the tutor, the present worthy and learned rector of Kendal, in Westmoreland, I made my way with all speed to that spot of all spots – Trinity College.

With his momentous climb up the stairs to Hudson's room John Wright, from King's Lynn Grammar School and the Lincolnshire village of Frampton, begins the account of his chequered years at Cambridge: fittingly so, since the Trinity tutor (or as we would say, Senior Tutor) gave him advice that stimulated one side, the scholarly side, of Wright's dual personality, and started him on the road that led to some academic success; and if Hudson and his colleague, Brown, who became personally responsible for Wright, did not prevent the misadventures that befell their pupils it was not for want of effort. On that initiation day in October 1815 Hudson enquired into Wright's knowledge of mathematics and the classical authors, and was unimpressed by a recital of mere reading:

Then know, Sir (was the fag-end of the examination), that at this place, all things – prizes, scholarships, and fellowships, are bestowed, not on the greatest readers, but on those who, without any assistance, can produce most knowledge on paper … You must ‘write out’ all you read, and read and write some six or eight hours a day; and then you will have no reason to repent of your labour.