Pusey House

Pusey House is an Anglican religious institution located on St Giles', Oxford, United Kingdom, immediately to the south of Pusey Street. It is firmly rooted in the Anglo-Catholic Prayer Book tradition of the Church of England, and was founded in 1884 in memory of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University, and one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement.

The House was established as a 'House of Piety of Learning' with a Library and Chapel, both of which remain open and in use today. One of the original intentions of Pusey House was to house Dr Pusey's collection of books and, since its foundation, the House has come to possess many artefacts relating to Pusey and the Oxford Movement, with the House's Library and Archive holding one of the country's most significant collections of material pertaining to Anglo-Catholicism. The House holds daily services in its chapel, as well as regular lectures and events, and has been described as 'a centre of the Catholic life'.

Pusey House is closely associated with the University of Oxford, especially St Cross College which moved onto the Pusey House site in 1981, but is not itself a permanent private hall or constituent college.

History

Pusey House was opened on 9 October 1884 in part as a memorial to Edward Bouverie Pusey, Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University, a canon of Christ Church Cathedral and for 40 years, a leading figure in the Oxford Movement, a movement of the mid-19th century which sought to bring the Church of England to a deeper understanding of its witness as part of the universal ('Catholic') Church. It was also intended to continue the work of Pusey in restoring the Church of England's Catholic life and witness. It was established with a fund of £50,000 to provide a building for Pusey's library, purchase it and create an endowment so that two or more clergy could take charge of it and promote religious life in the university. The first principal was Charles Gore, who founded the Community of the Resurrection at the House in 1892. The Community moved to Mirfield (where it remains) when Gore resigned as Principal in 1897.

The House flourished in the following years, and came to experiment with forms of quasi-monastic life. Vincent Stuckey Stratton Coles, Principal from 1897 to 1909, later recorded that 'for a moment it seemed as if the Pusey House was trying to become a monastery. Silence was observed at dinner on Fridays. Great regularity of attendance at the chapel offices, and regulations as to the times of retirement and rising, began to be practised'. Coles had been the first Priest Librarian along with F.E. Brightman when Gore was Principal. Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln famously quipped that 'Brightman would dust the books, Gore would read them, and Coles would talk about them'.

During the Principalship of Darwell Stone, the leading Anglo-Catholic architect of his age. The House continued its work as the centre of Anglo-Catholicism in Oxford in the new buildings, attracting undergraduates including John Betjeman and Harold Macmillan.

Since 1981, a portion of the Pusey House site has been occupied by St Cross College on a 999-year lease.

Buildings

From 1884 until 1912, Pusey House occupied two townhouses on St Giles' on the site of the current building. Following a 1903 benefaction of £70,000 from a Leeds Solicitor, John Cudworth, and with a growing ministry to the University, Pusey House was able to consider rebuilding. In 1910, the Governors took advantage of the falling in of a lease at a neighbouring townhouse which was subsequently bought and demolished to make way for the new buildings.The Principal at the time, Darwell Stone