Alumni Cantabrigienses was compiled by J. A. Venn, a former president of Queen's College, Cambridge.

It is a list of all known students, graduates, and officers at The University of Cambridge, offering information from the university's earliest records right through to the year 1900. This is quite an impressive span when one considers that the earliest records of the university date from around 1261. This entire collection contains 10 volumes in 2 sets. The first set covers alumni from the earliest records to 1752 and the second set from 1752 to 1900. The compilation was completed in 1921.

Every entry offers important information which may include any of the following: notable accomplishments, occupation, birth date, birth place, other schooling, spouse's name, parent's names, siblings and other important associations.

The total number of records in the entire Alumni Cantabrigienses collection is 151,053. This figure includes 10 for the surname Rayment, 49 for Raymond, 3 for Raymonde, 2 for Raymont and 3 for Raymund, together with a very small number of other variants of the Rayment name.

Despite carrying out a very thorough search, no records were found for the following surname spellings: Raement, Raiment, Rament, Ramment, Rayement, Raymand, Raymant, Raymen, Raymend, Raymint, Raymunt, Raymondi and Rement.

In order to facilitate easy references back to each of the original records, by members wishing to verify the Rayment Society's transcription work, a list of the original record numbers has been compiled and added to this database. It can be found at the bottom of the preceding Alumni Menu.

Bibliography:
Venn, J. A., comp. Alumni Cantabrigienses. London: Cambridge University Press, 1921.

In a reference work on such a large scale as the "Alumni Cantabrigienses", Venn obviously found it necessary to employ a number of abbreviations. There follows a list of the most common of these, together with a short explanation of each where appropriate.

Admitted at a College.

Fellow-commoner; the first of the three ranks in which students were matriculated.

Incorporation in another University. It conferred the privileges of their degree.

Litterae Regiae. Royal mandates directing the conferring of a degree.

Matriculation: the formal admission of a student into the University as distinguished from his admission into a College. It occurred in each of the three terms, Lent, Easter, and Michaelmas.

Monumental inscription.

Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

Vice-Chancellor's Court, Cambridge. See notes on the Sources for Personal Histories