Acta

Congregation of the Regent House on 23 April 2016

A Congregation of the Regent House was held at 11 a.m. All the Graces that were submitted to the Regent House (Reporter, 6422, 2015–16, p. 476) were approved.

The following titular degrees and degrees were conferred:

in person

Master of Arts (honoris causa)

[Grace 9 of 20 February 2016]

Hugh Duberly

Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and formerly High Sheriff of the County

[Grace 10 of 20 February 2016]

Susan Edwards

formerly Civic and Twinning Officer, Cambridge City Council and Executive Assistant to The Right Worshipful The Mayor

The list of non-titular degrees conferred is available to current staff and students of the University of Cambridge. Please log in.

The Orator made the following speeches when presenting to the Vice-Chancellor the recipients of the Honorary Degree of Master of Arts.

QVI magno in orbe nomen sibi compararunt viii fere quotannis purpureo Doctoris pallio mos est nobis honestare. sed decus eo pretiosius quo rarius donatur eis reseruamus qui aut Academiae aut Municipio beneficium praestiterunt, quos in atratum hunc magistrorum ordinem placet recipere. qui nunc adstat utroque iure dignus est qui honoretur. 


si enim de ciuilibus muneribus quaeritur, primum nonne agro Huntingdonensi per v lustra nullis partibus ascriptus fideliter consulebat? deinde cum alia instituta quorum inter rectores numeratur possum memorare, tum et fudiciarios Papeuordensis quibus annos xvii praefuit, et S. Etheldredae Eliensis aerari custodes quibus etiam nunc praesidet.

tum si quid cum nobis habeat negoti rogatis, magistri, ab eo tempore est repetendum quo in hoc comitatu dominae ac principis nostrae Elizabethae legatus et uicarius creatus est. tanta enim non uetustate dico uerum etiam dignitate floret haec Academia ut nonnumquam ab ipsa regina familiaribusque regiis uisitemur. nec te, nobilissime domine, dux Edinburgensis, omitto, cuius dum xxxv annos Cancellarii solio insides consuetudine fructi sumus! quibus temporibus si secundis uentis et tranquillo mari uti uisi sumus, huic uiro in primis gratiam debemus qui tanta diligentia, tanta calliditate omnia instruxit ut sua sponte res bene evenisse uideantur.

quotiens in hoc senaculo congregati hunc uirum balteo praecinctum et gladio calcaribusque conspiciendum pro excellentissima reginae maiestate huc missum ad aliis honoratis applaudendum mirati sumus? hodie, domine, te ad hoc tribunal adducimus ut toga tituloque Magistri ornatus in intimam nostram familiaritatem ascribaris.

dignissime domine, Domine Pro-Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregium hunc uirum regalis ordinis Victoriani equitem commendatorem, excellentissimi ordinis Imperi Britannici commendatorem, Collegio Wolfsoniano adscriptum, in comitatu nostro Reginae legatum et quondam iudiciis praefectum,

HUGH DUBERLY,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Magistri in Artibus.

I T is our custom each year to decorate with Doctor’s scarlet eight or so of those who have made a name for themselves in the wider world. We reserve our rarer and more precious gift, the black gown of a Master of Arts, for those who have distinguished themselves by service to our University or to our Community. There stands before us one equally worthy of honour by either measure.


If you ask about his civic credentials, did he not faithfully serve Huntingdonshire as an independent councillor for a quarter of a century? Or I could list the charities and other institutions among whose trustees he sits: the Papworth Trust, for example, whose board he chaired for seventeen years, or the Finance Committee for the Diocese of Ely, which he chairs still.

If you ask what business he has with us, then you must go back to his appointment as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant in our County. Such is the age and (dare I say it) status of the University that Her Majesty and other members of the Royal Family are not infrequent visitors, and we have often enjoyed the company of His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, who for thirty-five years was our Chancellor. If on such occasions everything has gone smoothly, it is in no small part due to Sir Hugh, who has arranged everything with such skill and attention that it has seemed to need no arrangement at all.

How often have we seen him at our Congregations, resplendent in his uniform with sash and sword and spurs, sent as the Queen’s representative to applaud others as they receive honorary degrees? Today, sir, we call you to the dais so that we might bestow upon you the gown and title of Master and bind you in ever closer friendship to ourselves.

Distinguished Vice-Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

Sir Hugh DUBERLY, K.C.V.O, C.B.E.,

of Wolfson College, H. M. Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and formerly High Sheriff of the County,

that he may receive the title of the degree of Master of Arts, honoris causa.

IOSEPHI illius Gilbertiani scilicet meministis, magistri. ea quam nunc salutamus uitae curriculum haud dissimile persequitur. ille apud iurisconsultos quosdam scribae ministerio aliquamdiu fungitur; haec decimo sexto anno nondum exacto studiis amissis non anni dicam ne septem dierum quidem spatio interposito aedilis scriniarium ingreditur. illi ianuae ansa erat polienda; haec tabellariae more ad collegia nostra missa ianitoribus seuerioribus tremebunda manu litteras tradebat. ille tandem regiae classi praepositus; haec urbi nostrae praefecti fit adiutrix. ‘en quid dicis?’ inquis. ‘aliud enim est imperare, aliud imperanti adesse.’ ain tu? scientiam ipsam potentiam esse quis negabit? quod si alio anno alium urbi praefectum uidemus, hanc tamen constantem permanere, quem penes esse scientiam iudicatis, quem penes ueram potentiam? ‘potestne hoc fieri?’ si requiris uel ‘quem ad modum hoc perficiamus?’, hanc mulierem consulas censeo quae bis uiginti fere annos praetores non dum ducunt adiuuabat tantum dico sed ut ducere possent efficiebat. adde quod si quo extero hospitio urbs nostra fruitur, per eandem stat ut ad Nicri ripas Heidelbergenses, ad Marisum Daci nomen Cami tanta caritate colant.


etiam si in iuuentute apparitores nostri aliquantulum timoris tibi praebuerunt, domina, hodie etiam bedellis, procuratoribus, omnibus etiam praeclaris huius Academiae insignibus stipatam—memini enim te collegam habuisse lictorem—nulla iam cum formidine sed eodem gaudio, eadem quae nobis est hilaritate te adstare spero ut in hunc ordinem te accipiamus.

dignissime domine, Domine Pro-Cancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam hanc mulierem, Collegio Sancti Ioannis Euangelistae adscriptam, municipi nostri olim administram et per xxxx annos urbani praetoris adiutricem,

SUSAN EDWARDS,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Magistri in Artibus.

Y OU doubtless remember W. S. Gilbert’s Sir Joseph Porter. Our second honorand followed quite a similar career. He served a term as office boy to an attorney’s firm; she left school at fifteen, and—taking not so much a gap year as a gap weekend—went to work at the Town Clerk’s office. He polished up the handle on the big front door. She was sent around the Colleges to deliver mail—and, she admits, she found some of the Porters more than a little intimidating. He ended up as ruler of the Queens’ Navee, she as Executive Assistant to the Mayor. ‘Well, that’s not the same thing at all!’ you might say. ‘It’s one thing to occupy the top seat, and quite another to stand beside it.’ Do you really think so? Knowledge, so they say, is power. And if mayors come and go each year while she has remained constant, who, do you suppose, has the knowledge? Who has the real power? If you want to know whether something can be done, or how to get it done, she is the one you should ask, she who has not so much assisted as enabled the administrations of our mayors for nearly forty years. And I might add that if the name of Cambridge is held in any affection on the banks of the Neckar or the Mureş, that too is largely down to her.


If in your youth our officers were a cause of fear, today, even surrounded by Bedells and Proctors and all the trappings of the University, remembering that you, too, had a colleague titled Sergeant-at-Mace, I hope that you stand here with no trepidation but with the same joy and happiness that we feel as we welcome you into this our family.

Distinguished Vice-Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

SUSAN EDWARDS,

of St John’s College, formerly Civic and Twinning Officer for the City of Cambridge and Executive Assistant to The Right Worshipful The Mayor,

that she may receive the title of the degree of Master of Arts, honoris causa.

J. W. NICHOLLS, Registrary

END OF THE OFFICIAL PART OF THE ‘REPORTER’