Why is Cuth’s called St Cuthbert’s Society and not St Cuthbert’s College?
In the 1870s, there were a number of students who wished to study at Durham but not have to belong to a college. These were primarily local and mature students who already had homes nearby and families. The University agreed to recognise these students as having no collegiate designation. They were designated into what the University called the ‘College of Science’ although they were known as ‘The Unattached’. After a number of years, the Unattached began to desire some of what their fellow students had: sports teams, societies, clubs and a real identity. In 1888 they founded themselves as St. Cuthbert’s Society; a society of students but not a college. They adopted the motto “collegae non collegum” (colleagues not a college) and worked for the mutual benefit of one another without support from the University. It was not until the 1950s that the University provided the Society with a fixed base at 12 South Bailey, which remains our headquarters to this day. St. Cuthbert’s Society becam
