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.
|
| 16th
century |
| Brasenose
College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college. |
Brasenose
College was founded on the site of the more ancient Brasenose
Hall. The exact date of its founding is unclear but is given as 1509
when stone for its buildings began to be extracted from the quarry
at nearby Headington.
Its founders - Sir Richard Sutton and William Smyth, the Bishop of
Lincoln - came from north-west England and many of the college's early
students came from the counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.
History
|
William
Golding
Nobel
Prize
for Literature, 1983
Undergraduate, 1930-34
Henry
Addington
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1801-04
Undergraduate, 1774-78
MA,
1780
David
Cameron
Prime
Minister of Britain, 2010-16
Undergraduate, 1985-88
John
Buchan
Writer
Undergraduate, 1895-99
|
|
Christ Church |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.
|
In 1525 Cardinal Wolsey began building a new college on the the site
of the 9th century St Frideswide's Monastery which he had acquired
the previous year. When finished he named it Cardinal's College.
But in 1529 Wolsey fell out with the King and Henry
VIII
took over the college, renaming it King Henry VIII's College.
In 1546 it was refounded as Christ
Church with its church becoming the cathedral for the new diocese
of Oxford.
Thirteen of the college's students have gone on to become British
Prime Minister.
History
|
William Walton
Composer
Undergraduate, 1918-20
No degree
John
Locke
Philosopher
Undergraduate, 1652-56
MA, 1658
John
Wesley
Founder
of Methodism
Undergraduate, 1720-24
MA, 1727
See Lincoln
College
Charles
Wesley
Founder
of Methodism
Undergraduate, 1726-30
MA, 1733
William Penn
Founder
of the US State of Pennsylvania
Undergraduate, 1660-62
No
degree
Edward
VII
King
of Britain, 1901-10
Undergraduate,
1859-61
No degree
The
future king transferred his studies to Trinity
College, Cambridge
Albert
Einstein
Nobel
Prize for Physics, 1921
1931-33 (3 short periods)
Einstein
accepted a five year research studentship (fellowship)
from the college in 1931 but was unable to return after 1933
Martin Ryle
Nobel
Prize
for Physics, 1974
Undergraduate, 1936-39
George
Grenville
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1763-65
Undergraduate, 1730-33
Earl
of Shelburne
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1782-83
Undergraduate, 1755-57
No degree
Duke
of Portland
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1783 and 1807-09
Undergraduate, 1755-57
MA
Lord
Grenville
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1806-07
Undergraduate, 1776-80
Earl
of Liverpool
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1812-27
Undergraduate, 1787-90
MA
George
Canning
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1827
Undergraduate, 1787-91
MA, 1794
Robert Peel
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1834-35 and 1841-46
Undergraduate, 1805-08
MA, 1814
Earl
of Derby
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1852, 1858-59 and 1866-68
Undergraduate, 1817-20
No degree
William
Gladstone
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1868-74, 1880-85, 1886 and 1892-94
Undergraduate, 1828-31
Marquess
of Salisbury
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1885-86, 1886-92 and 1895-1902
Undergraduate, 1847-50
MA, 1853
See All Souls
College
Earl
of Rosebery
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1894-95
Undergraduate, 1866-69
No
degree
Anthony Eden
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1955-57
Undergraduate, 1919-22
Alec Douglas-Home
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1963-64
Undergraduate, 1922-25
John
Ruskin
Writer.
Art critic
Undergraduate, 1836-42
Slade Professor of Fine Art, 1869-79
Lewis
Carroll
Writer
Undergraduate, 1851-54
MA, 1857
Carroll lectured at
the college from 1855 until 1881 and continued to live there until
his death in 1898
W.H.
Auden
Writer
Undergraduate, 1925-28
Professor
of Poetry, 1956-61
|
|
St John's College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.
|
|
St
John's College was founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas White with
many of its early students becoming
Anglican clergymen.
History
|
William
Laud
Archbishop
of Canterbury
Undergraduate, 1589-94
Fellow,
1590-1610
President of the College, 1611-21
Chancellor of Oxford University, 1629-40
Lester
Pearson
Nobel
Prize for Peace,
1957
Prime Minister of Canada, 1963-68
Undergraduate, 1920-23
MA,
1925
Tony
Blair
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1997-2007
Undergraduate, 1972-75
Robert
Graves
Writer
Undergraduate, 1919-25
No
degree
Professor
of Poetry, 1961-66
Kingsley
Amis
Writer
Undergraduate,
1941-42, 1945-47
Philip
Larkin
Poet
Undergraduate,
1940-43
|
|
Trinity College |
A
selection of famous people who have been connected with the college.
|
Trinity
College was founded in 1555 by Sir Thomas Pope.
The college stands on the site of the former Durham College, set up
for Benedictine monks from the cathedral at Durham in 1286.
This college was closed during the Reformation and had been dedicated
to the Trinity, the Virgin and St Cuthbert; from which its present-day
name possibly derives.
History
|
Cyril Hinshelwood
Nobel
Prize
for Chemistry, 1956
Fellow,
1921-37
Professor
of Chemistry, 1937-64
See Exeter
College
Earl
of Wilmington
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1742-43
Undergraduate, 1690
Earl
of Chatham
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1766-68
Undergraduate, 1726-28
No degree
Lord
North
Prime
Minister of Britain, 1770-82
Undergraduate, 1749-50
MA
Thomas
Warton
Poet laureate, 1785-90
Undergraduate, 1744-47
MA, 1750
Fellow,
1752-90
Professor
of Poetry, 1757-67
Camden Professor of Ancient History, 1785-90
|
|
