15/06/2026
“You desire me to write you an account of my examinations, I have had so many, that to enlarge upon them would fill my letter…”
You can almost hear the exasperation across the centuries, can’t you?
No, these are not the words of a current undergraduate, contemplating the final, seemingly endless, few days of this year’s exams. They belong to 18th-century Freshman Henry Ainslie (1777), writing to his father, a physician in Cumbria.
Examinations during that period were oral and heavily focused on Classical authors. “Mr Turner the Mathematical Lecturer first examin’d me in Cicero’s ‘Orations’, Homer & Sophocles, in all which he said he was perfectly satisfied & paid me some compliments.” It’s only when he reveals that he has been independently reading Euclid that he is tested in maths.
He also describes how the Master (James Brown) summons the freshmen one by one after breakfast to be examined in Cicero’s ‘De Officiis’ and Xenophon’s ‘Memorabilia’, observing that “the story of them both is the same, & he choses (sic) it as an oblique method of telling us that we can obtain nothing without pains & labour.”
Despite being examined on his knowledge of Ancient Greek and Roman texts in his first year, Henry would go on to graduate as Senior Wrangler, the top mathematics student, in 1781, one place ahead of his elder brother Montague (Trinity, 1776). Appointed a Fellow in 1782, Henry would later follow in his father's footsteps and become a physician.
He was one of the first of a long line of family members to study at Cambridge, many at Pembroke. In 1828, his fourth son, Gilbert (Trinity, 1810), would become Master of Pembroke, a position he held until his death in 1870.
A small collection of Henry’s letters to his father was given to the College in the 1930s. They paint a vivid picture of student life in the 1770s. This particular letter also refers to a contemporary, a “younger son of Chatham’s, who is reckon’d pretty clever” – future Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger – and asks his mother to get his shirts “ruffled” before sending them on to him, so he could copy the fashion of the other men.
Good luck to all our students who have exams between now and Thursday. You're almost there!
