Darlington Studentships

 

The Richard Darlington Studentships have been endowed by the family of Richard Darlington and are intended to help gifted students from Somaliland universities to undertake advanced work at Cambridge. They are open to candidates who are not already members of the College but who propose to register as Postgraduate students in the University of Cambridge and follow a Master's course.  Students wishing to apply for a second BA may also be considered.

The Studentship usually covers University fees and a maintenance allowance for up to one year. The final value of the Studentship is determined after consideration of the successful candidate's income from other sources. Students should also apply for studentships or other research awards for which they may be eligible.

Candidates must be from Somaliland and be of outstanding academic ability. Tenure of a Darlington Studentship is conditional upon the elected student being accepted for admission to the University by the Postgraduate Admissions Office (PAO). Preference is given to those who put Caius as their first-choice college. The award of a Studentship may be conditional upon the candidate's obtaining satisfactory results in their final degree examinations.

Candidates who wish to apply for a second BA should apply for undergraduate admission in the usual way.

 

Richard Darlington and the Gacmadheere Scholarship Fund

Richard R. Darlington was born on 9 January 1919. He was educated at Harrow, and came up to Gonville & Caius in 1938 to study the Geographical Tripos, though his studies were interrupted by the WWII, and he therefore took his BA degree in 1948. He was an officer in the Somaliland Protectorate’s contingent that fought in Burma during WWII. Admiring the bravery and culture of the Somalis in Burma, Darlington decided to settle in Somaliland after the war and switched his career to education. He spent most of his working life in that country. He started his educational mission as the first headmaster of the Amoud Secondary School, where he stayed some time before he was asked to run the then newly built Sheikh Secondary School, and is regarded as having turned them into some of the finest secondary schools in the region. He was awarded the MBE in 1956 and the OBE in 1962. He was regarded with enormous affection by many Somalis, who gave him the nickname 'Gacmadheere'. He left Somaliland for Wales in 1971, just two years after the coup d’état staged by Siad Barre, and died in April 2007.

During his lifetime Mr Darlington contributed to an account with the Charities Aid Foundation and the Executors of his Will were authorised to determine an appropriate way to distribute the proceeds of this account. They decided that the funds should be used to assist with the education of students from Somaliland.