Armistice Day: Memorials and Memories

This exhibition, marking the centenary of the end of the First World War, explores the impact of war on the College community. It traces the history of some of the students, staff and Fellows who left St John’s to fight overseas or to contribute to the war effort in other ways. Contemporary documents, personal accounts, and photographs paint a vivid picture of life in the College during the war, both for the Johnians who remained in Cambridge, and the many military personnel for whom St John’s became a temporary home. Rifles replaced rugby; cadets were prepared for combat where undergraduates had studied for degrees. When the lights quite literally came back on after Armistice Day the College calendar resumed a familiar pattern of lectures, Tripos papers, Bumps and Balls. It was business as usual, yet those who did not return from the battlefield could not and would not be forgotten. The experiences of war had shaped all those who lived through 1914-18, and the impact of war on University finances, student numbers, and organization brought lasting change.