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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