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.
|
| 15th
century |
| Lincoln
College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. |
Lincoln
College was founded in 1427 by the Bishop of Lincoln, Richard
Fleming.
Its earliest students all studied for the clergy and tended to come
from the counties of Lincolnshire, Yorkshire and Northamptonshire
as well as Wales and the West Country.
History
|
John
Wesley
Founder
of Methodism
Fellow, 1726-51
Howard Florey
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1945
Fellow,
1934-62
Professor
of Pathology, 1935-62
Rishi Sunak
Prime
Minister of Britain, from 2022
Undergraduate,
1998-2001
William D'Avenant
Poet
laureate, 1638-68
Undergraduate,
1621-22
No degree
D'Avenant
broke off his studies after the death of his parents
John Le Carré
Writer
Undergraduate,
1952-56
|
|
All Souls College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.
|
All
Souls College was founded by Henry Chichele, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the foundation stone being laid in 1438.
Set up to educate men for the clergy its students originally came
from Canterbury.
History
|
Christopher Wren
Architect
Fellow,
1653-57
Savilian
Professor of Astronomy, 1661-73
| Explorers
and Adventurers |
T.E.
Lawrence
Adventurer.
Writer
Fellow, 1919-26
Isaiah Berlin
Philosopher
Fellow, 1932-38 and
1950-66
Chichele
Professor of Social and Political Theory, 1957-67
See New
College
John R. Hicks
Nobel
Prize
for Economics, 1972
Fellow,
1965-71
Joseph
E. Stiglitz
Nobel
Prize
for Economics, 2001
Fellow, 1976-79
Amartya
Sen
Nobel
Prize
for Economics, 1998
Fellow, 1980-88
Marquess
of Salisbury
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1885-86, 1886-92 and 1895-1902
Fellow
|
|
Magdalen College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.
|
In 1448 William of Waynflete, the Bishop of Winchester founded Magdalen
Hall close to the college's present location.
Waynflete needed more land to realise his ambitions for the institution
and so he acquired the site of a derelict hospital just outside the
then city boundary. It was here that in 1458 Magdalen
College was founded.
History
|
Reginald
Pole
Archbishop
of Canterbury
Undergraduate
See Corpus Christi
College
Terrence
Malick
Film director
Rhodes Scholar, 1966-68
Edmund
Cartwright
Inventor
MA,
1766
Fellow, 1764-73
Charles Sherrington
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1932
Fellow,
1913-35
Waynflete Professor of Physiology,
1913-35
Howard Florey
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1945
Rhodes Scholar, 1921-23
MA, 1924
See Gonville
& Caius
College, Cambridge
John Eccles
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1963
Rhodes Scholar,
1925-29
Fellow,
1934-37
Robert Robinson
Nobel
Prize
for Chemistry, 1947
Fellow,
1930-55
Waynflete Professor of Chemistry,
1930-55
Peter B. Medawar
Nobel
Prize
for Physiology or Medicine, 1960
Undergraduate, 1932-35
Fellow,
1938-44 and 1946-47
Erwin
Schrödinger
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 1933
Fellow, 1933-38
Anthony
J. Leggett
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 2003
Fellow, 1963-67
A.
Michael Spence
Nobel
Prize
for Economics, 2001
Rhodes
Scholar, 1966-68
Seamus
Heaney
Nobel
Prize
for Literature, 1995
Fellow, 1989-94
Professor
of Poetry, 1989-94
Thomas
Hobbes
Philosopher
Undergraduate, 1603-08
Oscar
Wilde
Writer
Undergraduate, 1874-78
C.S.
Lewis
Writer
Fellow, 1925-54
See Magdalene
College, Cambridge
John Betjeman
Poet
laureate, 1972-84
Undergraduate, 1925-28
No degree
|
|
