Hard drinking and loose morals... life as a student (in Victorian Cambridge)



Writer: Charles Astor Bristed spent five years at Cambridge in the 1840s



An extraordinary diary has lifted the lid on the debauched behaviour of Cambridge University students.

American Charles Astor Bristed tells of fellow scholars regularly visiting prostitutes, taking part in drinking games and getting a tramp so drunk on port that he died.

But before the authorities rush to take disciplinary action, it should be noted that all this took place in the 19th century.

Bristed spent five years at Trinity College in the 1840s and was horrified by the immorality he encountered.

His diary - 'Five Years in an English University' - is being published at last thanks to the efforts of British academic Dr Christopher Stray.

In the book, Bristed says his fellow students view prostitution as something avoided only by men who are 'frigid, highly religious or seeking physical benefits'.

He says others will suggest visiting prostitutes as casually as if they were inviting him for a drink.

He recalls a student he barely knew who, whilst seated next to him in chapel, asked if he wanted to go to Barnwell - a village on the outskirts of Cambridge notorious for the vice trade.

A sketch in Bristed's diary shows how students dealt with success and failure



He also says it was widely accepted for upper-class men to treat lower class women as their playthings.

It was the view that 'a shop girl, work-woman, domestic servant, and all females in similar positions, were expressly designed for the amusement of gentlemen, and generally serve that purpose.'

Bristed adds that while British men's behaviour might be more scandalous than that of their transatlantic counterparts, at least they did not gossip.

'They minded their own business and told no lies or scandal of others.'

Time for a snooze: A sketch showing a student asleep after drinking too much



He also admits that British students are harder working and physically fitter.

'Almost every man looked able and ready to row eight miles, walk 12, or ride 20 across country at the shortest notice, and to eat half a leg of mutton and drink a quart of ale after it'.

But he bemoans the local women's lack of attractiveness.

'A pretty face is a rare sight in Cambridge,' he writes. 'You don't see one once in three months on an average.'

Dr Stray, an honorary research fellow in classics at Swansea University, said he discovered the book about 20 years ago while researching in Cambridge.

He said Bristed's 'puritanical' beliefs and sheltered upbringing might not have prepared him for British student life.

'For example, he thinks it was a disgrace when an undergraduate fell asleep for his friends to get a bit of burnt cork and draw a moustache on him, which was just a simple prank really.'