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 first woman Prime Minister, Margaret
Thatcher;
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.




|
13th
century |
University
College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. |
William of Durham founded
University College
and the foundation date is given as 1249 - the year of his death.
This makes the college
the oldest in Oxford and the English-speaking world.
History


|
Prince
Felix Yusupov
Assassin of Rasputin

Undergraduate,
1909-12

William Beveridge
Social reformer

Master, 1937-45 

Bob
Hawke
Prime Minister of Australia,
1983-91 
Rhodes Scholar, 1953-56


Bill
Clinton
President of the United States,
1993-2001 
Rhodes Scholar, 1968-70


Edmund
Cartwright
Inventor

Undergraduate, 1760-64

See Magdalen
College


Stephen
Hawking
Theoretical physicist

Undergraduate, 1959-62

See Trinity
Hall,
Cambridge


Viscount
Cecil of Chelwood
Nobel
Prize
for Peace, 1937 
Undergraduate, -1886


V.S.
Naipaul
Nobel
Prize
for Literature, 2001 
Undergraduate, 1950-53


Clement
Attlee
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1945-51

Undergraduate,
1901-04

Harold
Wilson
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1964-70 and 1974-76 
Fellow,
1938-39 

Percy
Shelley
Poet 
Undergraduate, 1810-11
No
degree

Shelley
was expelled
for
publishing a pamphlet on atheism

C.S.
Lewis
Writer

Undergraduate, 1917,
1919-24 
See Magdalen
College


Stephen Spender
Writer

Undergraduate,
1927-30

Andrew
Motion
Poet
laureate,
1999-2009 
Undergraduate,
1971-74
MA, 1977




|
Balliol
College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.
|
Balliol
College was founded by John Balliol, the wealthy father of John
de Balliol,
the king of Scotland from 1292-96.
The exact foundation date is not known but is given as around 1263.
History


|
John
Wycliffe
Religious reformer

Master 

William Beveridge
Social reformer

Undergraduate, -1902

See University
College 

Adam
von Trott
Plotter in 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler

Rhodes Scholar, 1931-33


Olav
V
King of Norway, 1957-91 
Undergraduate, 1924-26


Harald
V
King of Norway, 1991-present 
Undergraduate, 1960-62


Cyril Hinshelwood
Nobel
Prize
for Chemistry, 1956 
Undergraduate, 1919-
Fellow,
1920-21

Professor
of Chemistry, 1937-64 
See Trinity
College 

John R. Hicks
Nobel
Prize
for Economics, 1972

Undergraduate,
1922-26 
See
Gonville &
Caius College, Cambridge


Baruch
S. Blumberg
Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1976

Undergraduate,
1955-57
Master,
1989-94


Anthony
J. Leggett
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 2003 
Undergraduate, 1955-59

See Merton
College 

Oliver
Smithies
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 2007 
Undergraduate, 1943-46


Herbert
Henry Asquith
Prime Minister of Britain, 1908-16

Undergraduate,
1870-74
Fellow

Harold
Macmillan
Prime Minister of Britain, 1957-63

Undergraduate,
1912-14
No degree 

Edward Heath
Prime Minister of Britain, 1970-74

Undergraduate,
1935-39

Boris
Johnson
Prime Minister of Britain, 2019-

Undergraduate,
1983-87

Adam
Smith
Economist.
Writer

Undergraduate, 1740-46


Robert
Southey
Poet
laureate, 1813-43

Undergraduate, 1792-94
No degree


Matthew
Arnold
Poet

Undergraduate,
1841-44
Professor
of Poetry, 1857-67
See Oriel College


Gerard
Manley Hopkins
Writer

Undergraduate, 1864-66


Aldous
Huxley
Writer

Undergraduate, 1913-16


L.P.
Hartley
Writer

Undergraduate, 1915-16,
1919-22


Graham
Greene
Writer

Undergraduate,
1922-25



|
Merton College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.
|
Merton
College was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, the Bishop of
Rochester.
It is one of only three Oxford colleges to have been founded in the
13th century.
History


|
John
Wycliffe
Religious reformer

See Balliol
College


Kris
Kristofferson
Singer-Songwriter.
Actor 
Rhodes Scholar, 1958-60


William
Harvey
Physician. Discoverer of the circulation of blood 
Warden,
1645-46


Frederick
Soddy
Nobel
Prize
for Chemistry, 1921 
Undergraduate, 1895-98

Professor
of Chemistry, 1919-37 

T.S.
Eliot
Nobel
Prize
for Literature, 1948 
Undergraduate, 1914-15


Nikolaas
Tinbergen
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1973 
Fellow, 1949-74


Anthony
J. Leggett
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 2003 
Undergraduate, 1959-61

See Magdalen
College


Louis
MacNeice
Writer

Undergraduate, 1926-30


Edmund
Blunden
Writer

Fellow,
1931-44

Professor
of Poetry, 1966-68


J.R.R.
Tolkien
Writer

Professor of English
Language and Literature, 1945-59

Tolkien lived at the
college from 1971 until his death two years later




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