Darwin College, Kent

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Darwin College, University of Kent


College name	Darwin College
Named after	Charles Darwin
Established	1970
Master	Anthony Ward
JCC President
Students

Darwin College is the fourth oldest college of the University of Kent. It was opened in 1970.^[1]

[edit] Namesake

After heavy debate, it was named after Charles Darwin, the biologist.^[2] Unusually for a namesake of a Kent college, Darwin had strong connections to the historic county of Kent, having lived in Down House at Downe (now in the London Borough of Bromley) for the last forty years of his life.

Other names considered in the lengthy process included:

Anselm, after Anselm a former Archbishop of Canterbury
Attlee, after Clement Attlee, the post war Prime Minister
Becket, after Thomas Becket, another former Archbishop (this was the recommendation of the college's provisional committee but rejected by the University Senate)
Conrad
Elgar, after Edward Elgar
Maitland
Marlowe, after Christopher Marlowe
Russell, after Bertrand Russell (this was the recommendation of the Senate but rejected by the Council; Russell's political activism was the cause of much opposition)
Tyler, after both Wat Tyler and the nearby Tyler Hill

The name was eventually decided by a postal ballot of members of the Senate, choosing from: Attlee, Conrad, Darwin, Elgar, Maitland, Marlowe and Tyler.^[3]