Oxford
University is the oldest in Britain. The university now has 38
colleges (in 2008 Green and Templeton Colleges merged)
(see the list
of colleges).
The colleges
Nineteen of these 38 colleges were founded in the 19th and 20th centuries,
whilst the other 19 have foundation dates stretching back as early
as 1249, the year the oldest college - University
College - was founded.
Many of the foundation years given for the colleges don't reflect
the fact that they often replaced even more ancient halls of residence,
used by students who studied in Oxford before the college system had
even developed. These institutions often date back into the 11th century
or further.
Oxford University - especially its older established colleges - has
seen many of its former students go on to achieve notable things.
No degree
But a successful completion of their studies was not always necessary
for former students to achieve success in life. The Poet Laureates
Sir
William D'Avenant,
Robert Southey and
John Betjemen, the poet Percy
Shelley and the writers Samuel
Johnson
and Robert
Graves
all left Oxford without a degree. A degree also eluded Edward
VII,
the British Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan, the founder of the US state of Pennsylvania
William Penn and the Elizabethan adventurer
Walter Raleigh.
Women
It wasn't until 1879 when Lady
Margaret Hall and Somerville
College
opened that women were finally admitted to Oxford. Since then graduates
have included the first British woman to win a Nobel Prize, Dorothy
Hodgkin; Britain's three women Prime Ministers: Margaret
Thatcher,
Theresa
May,
Liz
Truss;
the writers Iris Murdoch and Dorothy
L. Sayers; India's first woman Prime Minister, Indira
Gandhi and the Burmese winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, Aung
San Suu Kyi.
The following list shows the 38 colleges, grouped by the century in
which they were founded.
The colleges founded before the 18th century include information on
a selection of famous people who have been connected to the college
and links to the college website and its history webpage.
The colleges founded since 1700 have links to their websites.
|
| 14th
century |
| Exeter
College |
A
selection of famous people (+2) who have been connected with the college. |
Exeter
College was founded in 1314 as Stapledon Hall by Walter de Stapledon,
a Devon man who later became Bishop of Exeter.
For the first few centuries of its existence the college took its
students mainly from the counties of south-west England and especially
Cornwall and Devon with the aim of training them for the clergy.
History
|
Cornelius
Cardew (My 5x great grandfather)
Schoolmaster/Clergyman
Undergraduate, 1766-70
(BA), 1785 (MA), 1786 (DD)
Born in in Liskeard
in 1748, from 1771 he was headmaster at Truro Grammar School where
he taught Humphrey Davy. From 1772 clergyman at St Erme in Cornwall
until his death in 1831
John
Haydon Cardew (Son of Cornlelius Cardew,
above / My 4x great grandfather)
Clergyman
Undergraduate, 1790-94
(BA), 1797 (MA), 1813 (BD)
Born in in Truro in
1773 he became a clergyman in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. His granddaughter
Anne married my 2x great grandfather Gilbert Bradley in 1858
William
Morris
Artist
Undergraduate,
1853-56
Hubert
Parry
Composer
Undergraduate,
1867-70
Heather
Professor of Music, 1900-08
Cyril Hinshelwood
Nobel
Prize
for Chemistry, 1956
Fellow,
1937-64
Professor
of Chemistry, 1937-64
J.R.R.
Tolkien
Writer
Undergraduate, 1911-15
MA,
1919
See Pembroke
College
|
|
Oriel College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.
|
Oriel
College was founded by Adam de Brone in 1326.
History
|
| Explorers
and Adventurers |
Walter Ralegh
Adventurer
Undergraduate, 1568?-
No
degree
Gilbert
White
Naturalist
Undergraduate,
1740-43 (BA), 1746 (MA), Fellow, 1744-
Alexander Todd
Nobel
Prize
for Chemistry, 1957
James
E. Meade
Nobel
Prize
for Economics, 1977
Undergraduate,
1926-30
Matthew
Arnold
Poet
Fellow, 1845-52
Professor
of Poetry, 1857-67
|
|
