Trinity College Cambridge - Master of Trinity

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Home > Master & Fellows > The Master of Trinity

The Master of Trinity

The Mastership of Trinity is a Crown Appointment, made by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Master must hold a degree from Cambridge, and has in the past usually been a member of Trinity College. He or she is responsible for superintending the running of the College, and chairs the meetings of the College Council and Governing Body. The executive powers of the office, however, are limited. The Master holds office until the age of seventy, although there is provision in the Statutes for him or her to be continued by the Fellowship until the age of seventy-five. For the duration of tenure of the office, the Master resides in the Master's Lodge. In modern times the Master has customarily been of the highest academic distinction.

Master's Lodge

The present Master of Trinity, Martin Rees, P.R.S., was installed on 15 January 2004. In August 2005 it was announced that Sir Martin had been appointed to the House of Lords as a non-party-political peer, sitting on the Cross Benches; he has taken the title of Lord Rees of Ludlow. In December 2005 Lord Rees became President of the Royal Society. The Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics in the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge, Lord Rees is also a noted writer on scientific topics. Among many other academic distinctions he holds the title of Astronomer Royal. He is a graduate of Trinity and was previously an Honorary Fellow of the College.

The Master of Trinity may be contacted through his secretary.

Between 1998 and January 2004 the Master of Trinity was Professor Amartya Sen, C.H., F.B.A. Professor Sen remains as a Fellow of Trinity, but he currently also holds an appointment at Harvard University. Further information about Professor Sen may be obtained from his autobiography, written for the Nobel Foundation.

Other former Masters currently on the Fellowship include Sir Michael Atiyah (Master 1990–1997) and Sir Andrew Huxley (Master 1984–1990).

Previous Masters of Trinity College

John Redman (1546-1551)
William Bill (1551-1553
John Christopherson (1553-1558)
William Bill (1558-1561)
Robert Beaumont (1561-1567)
John Whitgift (1567-1577)
John Still (1577-1593)
Thomas Nevile (1593-1615)
John Richardson (1615-1625)
Leonard Mawe (1625-1629)
Samuel Brooke (1629-1631)
Thomas Comber (1631-1645)
Thomas Hill (1645-1653)
John Arrowsmith (1653-1659)
John Wilkins (1659-1660)
Henry Ferne (1660-1662)
John Pearson (1662-1672)
Isaac Barrow (1672-1677)
John North (1677-1683)
John Montagu (1683-1699)
Richard Bentley (1700-1742)
Robert Smith (1742-1768)
John Hinchliffe (1768-1789)
Thomas Postlethwaite (1789-1798)
William Lort Mansel (1798-1820)
Christopher Wordsworth (1820-1841)
William Whewell (1841-1866)
William Hepworth Thompson (1866-1886)
Henry Montagu Butler (1886-1918)
Joseph John Thomson, PRS (1918-1940) *
George Macaulay Trevelyan (1940-1951)
Edgar Adrian, PRS (1951-1965) *
Richard Austen Butler (1965-1978)
Alan Hodgkin, PRS (1978-1984) *
Andrew Huxley, PRS (1984-1990) *
Michael Atiyah, PRS (1990-1997) §
Amartya Sen (1998-2004) *

* Nobel Prizewinner
§ Fields Medalist