21-537: The Cambridge Apostles (also known as the Conversazione Society) is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson , a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar . Student George Tomlinson founded what he called the " Conversazione Society" at the University of Cambridge on 1 April 1820. This intellectual society soon was called
42-416: A discussion group to explore and debate, in a small group, questions of philosophy, politics, ethics, governance, and religion, inter alia. Meetings were held once per week, traditionally on Saturday evenings, during which one member would give a prepared talk on a topic (or a question for debate) that was then thrown open for discussion. Members also shared poetry and dance lessons. In the early 20th century,
63-764: A commissioner. The commission was dissolved at the end of 1874. From 1866 to 1868, he was professor of jurisprudence at University College London , lecturing on Roman Law. In 1877, he was made life governor and a member of the Council of Owens College , and a governor of Manchester Grammar School . Between 1871 and 1874 Roby expanded his 1862 publication into a two volume Grammar of the Latin Language, from Plautus to Suetonius , described by Encyclopædia Britannica as "a storehouse of illustrative quotations from Latin literature". In 1884 he published Introduction to Justinian's Digest and Commentary , for which he
84-621: A confined space moving vagueley in the dark". In 1860, he left Cambridge, becoming under master of the Upper School at the College of God's Gift, Dulwich . On 13 August 1861, he married Mary Ann Mathilda Ermen, the daughter of Peter Albert Ermen, a Dutch -born Manchester cotton spinner. Finding the teaching of Latin at Dulwich in need of reform, he wrote An Elementary Latin Grammar in 1862. He remained at Dulwich until 1865. Roby
105-478: A leather diary of their membership, the Photo Book, stretching back to its founding. These include handwritten notes about the topics on which each member had spoken. It was included in the so-called Ark, a cedar chest containing a collection of papers about the topics discussed and the results of votes on the propositions nominated for debate. It was a point of honour that the question voted upon should bear only
126-648: A tangential relationship to the matter debated. Active members were referred to as Apostles; they called each other Brethren. After retirement from the society, Apostles were said to "take wings" and become Angels. Undergraduates applied to become Angels after graduating or being awarded a fellowship. Every few years, amid great secrecy, all the Angels were invited to an Apostles' dinner at a Cambridge college. There used to be an annual dinner, usually held in London. There are only twelve members at any given time, and membership
147-404: Is secret. Membership consisted largely of undergraduates, but there have been graduate students and members who already have held university and college posts. The society traditionally drew most of its members from Christ's , St John's , Jesus , Trinity and King's Colleges, although, in the 20th century, the majority of its members came from King's and Trinity. Women first were elected into
168-565: The Apostles are still active. The Apostles' papers, through 1930, are housed at King's College, Cambridge , archives. The members would meet weekly to eat sardines on toast, called whales, and discuss an essay written by a member. The debate at each meeting was called the discussion on the Hearth Rug because the speaker stands with the moderator on a hearth rug when speaking if one were present. The Apostles retained minutes of meetings and
189-461: The Apostles in the early 1930s. Conversazione A conversazione is a "social gathering [predominantly] held by [a] learned or art society" for conversation and discussion, especially about the arts, literature, medicine, and science. The writer Horace Walpole is credited with the first recorded English use of conversazione in a letter written (from Italy) on 11 November 1739 to Richard West (1716–1742) in which he writes, "After
210-479: The Cambridge Apostles because of its twelve original members. These founding members were it seems Tory , evangelical Anglican students from St John's College, Cambridge . New members were invited and elected to membership by the extant membership. Membership and activities of the society are secret, but the society has met regularly for at least 150 years. The Apostles was essentially formed as
231-451: The Cambridge Apostles were considered by some "as a haven for overt, full-blooded—almost aggressive— homosexuality ." After reading her son's letters, one Apostle's mother called the group "a hotbed of vice". The Apostles first admitted women in the 1970s. As of 2023, the society's annual dinner has become "a somewhat erratic occurrence". Its last known members graduated from Cambridge in the 1970s, leading one writer to question whether or not
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#1732765587628252-590: The group's unseriousness and style of humour. He was admitted in 1912 but resigned almost immediately because he could not tolerate the level of the discussion on the Hearth Rug. He also had trouble tolerating the discussions in the Moral Sciences Club . He rejoined in the 1920s when he returned to Cambridge. Soviet spies Anthony Blunt , Guy Burgess and John Cairncross , three of the Cambridge Five , and Michael Straight were all members of
273-540: The play we were introduced to the assembly, which they [viz., the Italians] call the conversazione ". In Italy, the term generally refers to a gathering for conversation; and was first used in English to identify the sort of private social gathering more generally known today as an "At Home". In England, however, it soon came to be far more widely used to denote the gatherings of a far more intellectual character and
294-504: The reading of a curse, originally written by Apostle Fenton John Anthony Hort , the theologian, on the occasion of the resignation of Henry John Roby from the Apostles after his joining in 1855. Alfred Tennyson joined the Apostles in 1829, probably through the invitation of his friend Arthur Hallam . Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore joined as students, as did John Maynard Keynes , who invited Ludwig Wittgenstein to join. Russell had been worried that Wittgenstein would not appreciate
315-493: The society in the 1970s, though the question "Should we like to elect women" was put (and the division upon it apparently won) at a much earlier meeting. Undergraduates being considered for membership were called embryos and were invited to embryo parties, where members judged whether the student should be invited to join. The embryos attended these parties without knowing they were being considered for membership. Becoming an Apostle involved taking an oath of secrecy and listening to
336-482: Was an English classical scholar and writer on Roman law , and a Liberal Member of Parliament . He was a Cambridge Apostle . Roby was the son of a solicitor and was born in Tamworth , and was educated at Bridgnorth Grammar School . He won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge in 1849. He graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1853, and was the "Senior Classic" or top classics student of that year. He
357-929: Was an active member of the Liberal Party , serving variously as chairmen of the Manchester Liberal Executive, the Executive for the North-West Manchester Liberal Association and of the Manchester Liberal Union, and as president of the Eccles Liberal Association. In 1890, the incumbent M.P. for the Eccles division of Lancashire died, and Roby was chosen to contest the seat at the ensuing by-election. He won
378-576: Was applied in the more specific sense of a scientific, artistic, or literary assembly/ soirée , generally held at night. In its report on the first conversazione ever conducted by the Lambeth Literary Institution (on 22 June 1836), The Gentleman's Magazine noted that, According to Yeates (2018): The arts-oriented social media website Conversazione.org takes its name from the English meaning. Henry John Roby Henry John Roby (20 August 1830 – 2 January 1915),
399-548: Was awarded the honorary degree of LL.D by the University of Edinburgh . This was followed in 1902 by Roman Private Law in the Time of Cicero and the Antonines . With the ending of his work as a schools commissioner in 1874, Roby became a partner in his father in law's firm of Ermen and Engels , sewing cotton manufacturers of Patricroft near Manchester. Soon afterwards the firm changed its name to Ermen and Roby . Roby
420-616: Was involved in reforming the governance of public and grammar schools . In December 1864 he was appointed secretary of the Schools Inquiry Commission, which examined some 800 institutions. He was the author of much of the final report of the commission, which led to the enactment of the Endowed Schools Act 1869 . The 1869 Act established an Endowed Schools Commission of which Roby was the first secretary, serving in that office until 1872, when he became
441-473: Was made a fellow of St John's College in the following year. He worked as a lecturer and private tutor in Cambridge from 1854 to 1861. He was, however, highly critical of the administration of the university. In particular he felt that the constituent colleges were prone to pursue policies in complete isolation from each other, leading to frequent conflicts. This he likened to the collision of "17 bodies in
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