Cocks and Hens has had its home at 3 locations over its 140+ year history, all based in the Newnham district of Cambridge. Firstly, in the newly-built grounds of Newham College (from the 1880s), then at Clerk Maxwell Road (from 1964) and now at the current site in South Newnham since 2016. 

A link with more information on the locations of the club will be available soon. 

The History of Cocks and Hens Tennis Club 

Cocks and Hens was founded as the Cambridge University Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club (C.U.C & L.T.C) at some time between 1875 and 1889, but its very earliest origins are unclear.

Investigations suggest that the club would have been playing lawn tennis by at least 1880, but sadly we don’t have records of an exact date for when the club was formed.  It may have started as a croquet club that developed into a tennis club (as happened at many town clubs and at Oxford University in 1884) or it many have formed as a joint croquet and tennis club from the start.

As a reference, the rules of lawn tennis were codified in 1875, the first official men's singles tournament was held in 1876, Wimbledon held its first All England tournament in 1877 and by 1880 there were already 33 open tournaments staged by clubs around the country (plus several in the USA and Australia).  

In 1880s Cambridge, college lawns were filled with lawn tennis courts. The Cambridge University Tennis Club was established in 1881 for its male undergraduate students and there was a University Graduates Club, playing on gravel courts by 1883. Meanwhile, C.U.C & L.T.C (Cocks and Hens) was set up separately by dons, local professionals and their families. Unlike the other all-male university and college clubs, it was a club where both gentlemen and ladies could play the revolutionary new sport together, providing a rare opportunity for the genders to socialise, exercise and compete on an equal footing. Although it was very much a club for the "well-to-do" it also helped bring together "Town & Gown" members who would previously have moved in different circles.

The earliest hard evidence of the club’s existence comes from the Silver Salver Trophy (now called “The Newnham Plate”), which is a Mixed Doubles trophy competed for annually at the club to this day. The plate dates from 1890 and on it are engraved the 25 winning pairs from 1890 up to World War I, plus the 9 winning pairs from 1920 to 1928. There are 38 different names in total but no two pairs playing together ever won more than once. Many of the names are linked to famous people, both locally and on the international stage.  Most have fascinating stories which highlight the enormous social, economic, technical and cultural changes of that period. 

Past players at the club include: 

• A Wimbledon quarter finalist in the ladies singles
• The brother of a Wimbledon men’s doubles champion, who became Wimbledon Vice-President
• Players who toured (with some success) on the tennis circuit, playing against the best in world tennis. 
• The wife of Hungary's most eminent Nobel Prize winner 
• The Esquire Bedell at Cambridge University  
• A renowned Cambridge Mayor 
• A Cambridge University tennis "Blue" who died on the Somme 
• A Wing Commander who became adviser to the Government on chemical warfare in WWII 
• The co-inventor of the cricket bowling machine and son of the inventor of the Venn diagram 
• The wife of the inventor of the Punnett Square  
• A pioneering  geologist and "Steamboat lady"
• A key figure in the creation of the women's international hockey federation
• A member of one of Cambridge's "civic titan" families
• The man who saved the Leys School from bankruptcy 
• Plus a plethora of University College Masters, bursars, mathematicans, freemasons, artists, authors, reformers, county cricketers, solicitors and clergymen. 

(A link to some of their stories will be available here soon) 

Why “Cocks and Hens”? 

No-one can remember when the name Cocks and Hens was introduced to the club. Present members recall that the name was in use at least before World War II, but it’s believed that the name was used much earlier in the club’s history, since it is a particularly Victorian term. 

Letters from the Newnham College archives show correspondence between the club and the college from 1899 onwards. The club letters always used the title of “Cambridge University Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club”, "CULTC", "C.U.C & L.T.C", or "C.U.C. and L.T.C." and most of its committee members were prominent members of the University who would have been proud of using the title.

But the name is undoubtedly long and unwieldy, and the following theory seems the most likely as to why “Cocks and Hens” was regualrly used informally amongst members. 

1. A "Cock-and-Hen Club" was a commonly used phrase throughout the Victorian period. It referred to any club that admitted both men and women. It contrasted with the exclusive men-only clubs and the male dominated university institutions that proliferated Victorian society. In some contexts it was used irreverently to imply seedy goings-on, especially amongst the “lower-classes”, but in high-society, at a time of great social change, for a club based in a pioneering ladies college, amongst many of the most vocal advocates for women’s rights, its use would have had a clear message - that this was a progressive club for the informal enjoyment of both sexes. 

2. Cambridge University members have long had the habit of shortening names just as they do today. Croquet & Tennis club would most easily have been shortened to “Croqs & Tens “, - an easy step away from “Cocks and Hens”. Alternatively the title "CUC. and tennis" club could just have easily been shortened.

Despite the longevity of the official name of “Cambridge University Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club”, in 2019, when the club applied for charity status, the Charity Commissioners insisted that permission from the University was needed in order to include their name in the title. Permission was unsurprisingly withheld as there never had been any official affiliation. As a result, the informally used “Cocks and Hens” became the Club’s official name. 

A link with more information on the use of “Cock and Hen Club” will be available soon. 

If you have any queries or information about the history of the club, please contact us by email using: General  enquiries