In response to increasing numbers of ministerial students in WM after 1920, a house near Cheshunt College was rented and H. Maldwyn Hughes was appointed Principal. Its first intake of students in October 1921 was a distinguished one: Eric W. Baker, H.S. Collins,Harold Roberts, G.E. Grieve, W. Russell Shearer and G. Basil Jackson. Through the generosity of Michael Gutteridge and Willam Greenhalgh, Wesley House was built in Jesus Lane, Cambridge and opened in 1925, with special links to Fitzwilliam College within the University. Most students were entered for the theology tripos as part of their ministerial training.R. Newton Flew, tutor from 1928, succeeded as Principal in 1937 and was followed by William F. Flemington in 1955, E. Gordon Rupp in 1967, Michael J. Skinner in 1974, Brian E. Beck in 1980, Ivor H. Jones in 1984, Philip Luscombe in 1999 and Jane Leach in 2011. The college survived the cuts of the 1970s through its semi-independent character, protected by a special Trust Deed and became a foundation partner in the ecumenical Cambridge Theological Federation. In 2014, as a consequence of the 'Fruitful Field' process, initial ministerial training was discontinued, but the college was reopened in 2017 in reduced and redesigned premises, as an international centre for Methodist theological study and research.

Entry written by: TSAM
Category: School/College
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