HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Somerville College, a constituent college of the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
,
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...
,
Dorothy Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential fo ...
, Iris Murdoch, Vera Brittain and Dorothy L. Sayers. It began admitting men in 1994. Its library is one of Oxford's largest college libraries. The college's liberal tone derives from its founding by social liberals, as Oxford's first non-denominational college for women, unlike the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
Lady Margaret Hall Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more form ...
, the other to open that year. In 1964, it was among the first to cease locking up at night to stop students staying out late. No
gowns A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gow ...
are worn at formal halls. In 2021 it was recognised as a sanctuary campus by City of Sanctuary UK. It is one of three colleges to offer undergraduates on-site lodging throughout their course. It stands near the
Science Area The Oxford University Science Area in Oxford, England, is where most of the science departments at the University of Oxford are located. Overview The main part of the Science Area is located to the south of the University Parks and to the nort ...
, University Parks,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
,
Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho ...
and Green Templeton, St Anne's, Keble and St Benet's. Over a third of its 650 students are not from the UK. Over half the UK admissions are from state schools – close to the university average. Its total net assets in 2021 were £238 million, the seventh highest of an Oxford undergraduate college. Its sister college at
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
is Girton.


History


Founding

In June 1878, the '' Association for the Higher Education of Women'' was formed, aiming for the eventual creation of a college for women in Oxford. Some of the more prominent members of the association were George Granville Bradley, Master of
University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...
, T. H. Green, a prominent liberal philosopher and Fellow of Balliol College, and Edward Stuart Talbot, Warden of Keble College. Talbot insisted on a specifically
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
institution, which was unacceptable to most of the other members. The two parties eventually split, and Talbot's group (the " Christ Church camp") founded
Lady Margaret Hall Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more form ...
, which opened its doors for students in 1879, the same year as Somerville did. Thus, in 1879, a second committee was formed to create a college "in which no distinction will be made between students on the ground of their belonging to different religious denominations." This committee was called the "
Balliol Balliol may refer to: * House of Balliol, Lords of Baliol and their fief * Balliol College, Oxford ** Balliol rhyme, a doggerel verse form with a distinctive meter, associated with Balliol College * John Balliol (King John of Scotland) (1249–1314 ...
camp" and had close ties to the Liberal Party. This second committee included A. H. D. Acland, Thomas Hill Green,
George William Kitchin George William Kitchin (7 December 1827 – 13 October 1912) was the first Chancellor of the University of Durham, from the institution of the role in 1908 until his death in 1912. He was also the last Dean of Durham to govern the university. E ...
,
James Legge James Legge (; 20 December 181529 November 1897) was a Scottish linguist, missionary, sinologist, and translator who was best known as an early translator of Classical Chinese texts into English. Legge served as a representative of the Londo ...
,
Henry Nettleship Henry Nettleship (5 May 1839 – 10 July 1893) was an English classical scholar. Life Nettleship was born at Kettering, and was educated at Lancing College, Durham School and Charterhouse schools, and gained a scholarship for entry to Corpus Ch ...
, Walter Pater, Henry Francis Pelham, its chairman John Percival, Grace Prestwich, Eleanor Smith, A. G. Vernon Harcourt, and Mary Ward. Other people who assisted in the founding were Anna Swanwick, Bertha Johnson,
Charlotte Byron Green Charlotte Byron Green born Charlotte Byron Symonds (12 August 1842 – 4 September 1929) was a British promoter of women's education. She supported Somerville College from its foundation. Life Green was born at Berkeley Square in Bristol in 1842 ...
, and Owen Roberts. This new effort resulted in the founding of ''Somerville Hall'', named after the then recently deceased Scottish mathematician and renowned scientific writer
Mary Somerville Mary Somerville (; , formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary ...
. It was felt that the name would reflect the virtues of liberalism and academic success which the college wished to embody. She was admired by the founders of the college as a scholar, as well as for her religious and political views, including her conviction that women should have equality in terms of
suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
and access to education. Madeleine Shaw-Lefevre was chosen as the first principal because, though not a well-known academic at the time, her background was felt to reflect the college's political stance. Because of its status as both women's college and non-denominational institution, Somerville was widely regarded within Oxford as "an eccentric and somewhat alarming institution."


Women's college

When opened, Somerville Hall had twelve students, ranging in age between 17 and 36. The first 21 students from Somerville and Lady Margaret Hall attended lectures in rooms above a baker's shop on
Little Clarendon Street Little Clarendon Street is a short shopping street in northwest Oxford, England. It runs east-west between the south end of Woodstock Road opposite St Giles' Church to the east, Somerville College to the north and Walton Street to the wes ...
. Just two of the original 12 students admitted in 1879 remained in Oxford for three years, the period of residence required for male students to complete a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...
. Increasingly, however, as the college admitted more students, it became more formalized. Somerville appointed Lilla Haigh as its first in-house tutor in 1882, and by the end of the 1890s female students were permitted to attend lectures in almost all colleges. In 1891 it became the first women's hall to introduce entrance exams and in 1894 the first of the five women's halls of residence to adopt the title of college (changing its name to Somerville College), the first of them to appoint its own teaching staff, and the first to build a library. In Oxford legend it soon became known as the " bluestocking college", its excellent examination results refuting the widespread belief that women were incapable of high academic achievement. In the 1910s, Somerville became known for its support for the
women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
campaign. In 1920, Oxford University allowed women to matriculate and therefore gain degrees. From the college's inception, all female students had to be chaperoned when in the presence of male students. The practice was abolished in 1925, although male visitors to the college were still subject to a curfew. In the same year the college was granted its charter.


''The Mutual Admiration Society''

''The Mutual Admiration Society (MAS)'' was a literary society (or literary circle) of women who became friends at Somerville College. Its members included Dorothy L. Sayers, Muriel St Clare Byrne,
Charis Frankenburg Charis Ursula Frankenburg (née Barnett; 9 February 1892 – 5 April 1985) was a British author, one of the first women eligible for a degree from the University of Oxford, a founder of one of the first birth control clinics in England outside L ...
, Dorothy Rowe, and
Amphilis Throckmorton Middlemore Amphilis Throckmorton Middlemore (14 April 1891 – 18 July 1931) was a British writer and teacher. With her friend Dorothy L Sayers, she founded '' The Mutual Admiration Society'' at Somerville College, Oxford, had some writing published, and ...
, among others. The society of the title was a real club. The members composed poetry and prose for each other's pleasure. Apart from Sayers, none of them was a household name, though all were notable.
Mo Moulton Mo Moulton (born 1979) is an American author and historian of 20th century Britain and Ireland, interested in gender, sexuality, and colonialism/postcolonialism. They are a senior lecturer in the history of race and empire at the University of B ...
argued in their
Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no expli ...
-winning book, ''The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World For Women'', that each one lived a life worthy of attention. Years later, the writer Vera Brittain — a Somerville contemporary of the group, but not one of its members — recalled that the MAS “took themselves very seriously”.


First World War

During the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Somerville College together with the Examination Schools and other Oxford buildings were requisitioned by the
War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
to create the Third Southern General Hospital, a facility for the
Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps ...
to treat military casualties. For the duration of the war, Somerville students relocated to Oriel College. Because many male students had left Oxford to enlist in the military, Somerville was able to rent St Mary Hall Quad which they bricked off from the rest of the college to segregate it from Oriel's remaining male students. Many students and tutors were involved in work in World War I and some of them went to the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...
in France. Notable patients who stayed in Somerville include the war poets
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...
,
Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...
and R. E. Vernède. Sassoon arrived on 2 August 1916. Graves and Sassoon were both to reminisce of their time at Somerville Hospital: ''How unlike you to crib my idea of going to the Ladies' College at Oxford'', Sassoon wrote to Graves in 1917, and called it ''very much like Paradise''. At Somerville College, Graves met his first love, a nurse and professional pianist called Marjorie. About his time at Somerville, he wrote: ''I enjoyed my stay at Somerville. The sun shone, and the discipline was easy''. Alfred Mills was received in the hospital in 1916 and officer Llewelyn Davies died at the college. Once the war ended, the return to normality between Oriel and Somerville was delayed, sparking both frustration and an incident in spring 1919 known as the "Oriel raid," in which male students made a hole in the wall dividing the sexes. In July 1919 the principal (
Emily Penrose Dame Emily Penrose, (18 September 1858 – 26 January 1942) was an ancient historian and principal of three early women's university colleges in the United Kingdom: Bedford College from 1893 until 1898, Royal Holloway College from 1898 until ...
) and fellows returned to Somerville. Alumna Vera Brittain wrote about the impact of the war in Oxford and paid tribute to the work of the principal, Miss Penrose, in her memoir '' Testament of Youth''.


Admission of men

Starting in the 1970s, the traditionally all-male colleges in Oxford began to admit female students. Since it was assumed that recruiting from a wider demographic would guarantee better students, there was pressure on single-sex colleges to change their policy to avoid falling down the rankings. All-female colleges, like Somerville, found it increasingly difficult to attract good applicants and fell to the bottom of the intercollegiate academic rankings during the period. During the 1980s, there was much debate as to whether women's colleges should become mixed. Somerville remained a women's college until 1992, when its statutes were amended to permit male students and fellows; the first male fellows were appointed in 1993, and the first male students admitted in 1994. Somerville became the second-to-last college (after St Hilda's) to become coeducational. A 50 per cent male/female gender balance has been maintained to this day, though without formal quotas.How we are fighting sexist laddism and abuse at Somerville College, Oxford
Alice Prochaska, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'', 15 May 2015


Buildings and grounds

The college and its main entrance, the Porters' Lodge, are located at the southern end of Woodstock Road, with
Little Clarendon Street Little Clarendon Street is a short shopping street in northwest Oxford, England. It runs east-west between the south end of Woodstock Road opposite St Giles' Church to the east, Somerville College to the north and Walton Street to the wes ...
to the south, Walton Street to the west and the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter to the north. The front of the college runs between the Oxford Oratory and the Faculty of Philosophy. Somerville has buildings of various architectural styles, many of which bear the names of former principals of the college, located around one of Oxford's biggest quads. Five buildings are
Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
-listed. A 2017 archaeological evaluation of the site shows that in the medieval period the area now occupied by Somerville lay in fields beyond the boundary of Oxford. There is evidence of 17th-century building and earthworks beneath the site, some of which almost certainly relates to the defensive network placed around the city by Royalists during the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
. There are also remains of some 19th-century buildings, including a stone-lined well.


Walton House

The original building of Somerville Hall, Walton House (commonly called House) was built in 1826 and purchased from St John's College in 1880 amid fears that the men's colleges might, in the future, repossess the site for their own purposes. The house could only accommodate seven of the twelve students who came up to Oxford in the first year. In 1881, Sir
Thomas Graham Jackson Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, 1st Baronet (21 December 1835 – 7 November 1924) was one of the most distinguished British architects of his generation. He is best remembered for his work at Oxford, including the Oxford Military College at Cowl ...
was commissioned to build a new south wing which could accommodate eleven more students. In 1892,
Walter Cave Walter Frederick Cave (17 September 1863 – 7 January 1939) was an English architect, active in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who worked firstly in the Arts and Crafts style, and latterly in the Classical Revival. In ad ...
added a north wing and an extra storey. He also installed a gatehouse at the Woodstock Road entrance. In 1897/98, the Eleanor Smith Cottages were added, adjoining Walton House. Today House is home to only one or two students, and, until 2014, it housed the college bar. It also contains Green Hall, where guests to college are often greeted and in which prospective students are registered and wait for interviews; some of the college's paintings by Roger Fry are located here. Most of the administration of college, and the academic pigeon-holes are in House, as is the Mary Somerville Room, a reception room featuring paintings by Mary Somerville, George Romney and George Frederic Watts.


Park

Originally known as West, from its location in the college, the idea of building a second self-contained hall was inspired by
Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millic ...
. It was designed by Harry Wilkinson Moore and built in two stages. The 1885–1887 phase saw the construction of rooms for 18 students with their own dining-room, sitting rooms and vice-principal. This was a deliberate policy aimed at replicating the family environment that the women students had left. It had the effect of turning House and West into rivals. The second building stage (1888–1894) created two sets of tutors' rooms, a further 19 rooms and the West Lodge (now Park Lodge). In 2004 it was renamed Park in honour of Daphne Park, Principal from 1980 to 1989. Today there are over 60 student and fellows' rooms in the building along with a music room and a computer room. Park is a Grade II-listed building.


Library

The Grade II-listed library designed by Basil Champneys in 1903 was opened by
John Morley John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, (24 December 1838 – 23 September 1923) was a British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor. Initially, a journalist in the North of England and then editor of the newly Liberal-leani ...
the following year. Specially for the opening, ''Demeter'' was written by
Robert Bridges Robert Seymour Bridges (23 October 1844 – 21 April 1930) was an English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is ...
and performed for the first time. Somerville Library was the first purpose-built library in the women's colleges of the university. With some foresight it was designed to contain 60,000 volumes, although the college only possessed 6,000 when it opened. It now holds around 120,000 items (95,000 on open shelves), as one of the largest college libraries in the university.
Amelia Edwards Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (7 June 1831 – 15 April 1892), also known as Amelia B. Edwards, was an English novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist. Her literary successes included the ghost story "The Phantom Coach" (1864), the novel ...
,
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...
,
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...
and Vera Brittain have been notable benefactors to the library. It contains paintings by Mary Somerville, John Constable, Maud Sumner and Patrick George. The John Stuart Mill room contains what was Mill's personal library in London at the time of his death, with annotations in many of the books. The library dominates the north wing of the main quadrangle, having been designed to bring the college together, and is open 24 hours, with access to college-wide wifi, a group study room, and computing and printing facilities. It gives full satisfaction according to several annual student surveys.


Hall and Maitland

There was no hall large enough to seat the entire college until 1911, when Maitland Hall and Maitland, designed by Edmund Fisher in Queen Anne style and Edwardian Baroque, were opened by
H. A. L. Fisher Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher H.A.L. Fisher: ''A History of Europe, Volume II: From the Beginning of the Eighteenth Century to 1935'', Glasgow: Fontana/Collins, 1984, p. i. (21 March 1865 – 18 April 1940) was an English historian, educator, a ...
, the Vice-Chancellor of the university and Gilbert Murray. Murray, whose translations of Greek drama were performed at Somerville in 1912 and 1946, supported Somerville in many ways, including endowing its first research fellowship. A fund was raised as a memorial to Miss Maitland, Principal of Somerville Hall (College from 1894) from 1889 to 1906, and the money was used to pay for oak panelling in Hall. The panelling of the south wall was designed to frame a portrait of
Mary Somerville Mary Somerville (; , formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary ...
by John Jackson. The buildings were constructed on the site of an adjoining building gifted to Somerville by E. J. Forester in 1897 and bought from
University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
and
Balliol Balliol may refer to: * House of Balliol, Lords of Baliol and their fief * Balliol College, Oxford ** Balliol rhyme, a doggerel verse form with a distinctive meter, associated with Balliol College * John Balliol (King John of Scotland) (1249–1314 ...
Colleges for £4,000 and £1,400 respectively. There was difficulty in constructing the buildings, now thought to have resulted from the outer limit of the Oxford city fortifications running under the site. In 1935, Morley Horder reconstructed the archway connecting Maitland Hall and the south wing of Walton House, creating a Reading Room off the main hall; in 1947, André Gide gave a lecture that filled both these rooms and the staircase and quadrangle outside. Somerville's is the one Oxford dining hall where all portraits show women. They were painted by
Michael Noakes Michael Noakes (28 October 1933 – 30 May 2018) was an English artist and portrait painter.
,
Herbert James Gunn Sir Herbert James Gunn RA RP (30 June 1893– 30 December 1964) was a Scottish landscape and portrait painter. Early life Sir Herbert James Gunn (also known as Sir James Gunn) was born in Glasgow on 30 June 1893, the son of Richard Gunn, a dr ...
,
George Percy Jacomb-Hood George Percy Jacomb-Hood (6 July 1857 – 11 December 1929) was a painter, etcher and illustrator. He was a founding member of the New English Art Club and Society of Portrait Painters. Early life Jacomb-Hood was born on 6 July 1857 at Redhi ...
, William Coldstream
John Whittall
Francis Helps, Claude Rogers, Humphrey Ocean, Thomas Leveritt and Richard Twose. Hall and Maitland form the east face of the main quad, as Grade II-listed buildings. The Senior Common Room is situated on the ground floor. The first floor holds the pantry and the hall, in which Formal Hall (called guest night) is held weekly in term time. Maitland now houses few students, being mainly occupied by fellows' offices and the college IT office. The building, named after Principal Agnes Maitland, stands to the south of Hall.


Penrose

The Penrose block was designed by Harold Rogers in 1925 and its first students were installed in 1927. A row of poplars had to be removed in 1926 to construct the south-western end of the main quadrangle on the site of 119 and 119A Walton Street. It was refurbished in 2014, with carpets replacing the bare wooden floorboards, and new furniture. Penrose is named after Dame
Emily Penrose Dame Emily Penrose, (18 September 1858 – 26 January 1942) was an ancient historian and principal of three early women's university colleges in the United Kingdom: Bedford College from 1893 until 1898, Royal Holloway College from 1898 until ...
, third Principal of the college. It contains mainly first-year accommodation in about 30 rooms.


Darbishire

Darbishire Quad was the culmination of a long-standing project to absorb Woodstock Road properties above the Oxford Oratory. In 1920, three houses (29, 31 and 33) were bought by the college from the vicar of St Giles' Church, Oxford for £1,300. The three had been constructed in 1859 and rented by the college before the purchase. The adjoining ''Waggon and Horses'' pub was purchased from St John's College in 1923. These buildings were demolished in 1932–1933 together with the old Gate House. Morley Horder was commissioned to build a quadrangle that would fill the space left by the demolished structures, using a loan of £12,000 from Christ Church. The porters' lodge and New Council Room were constructed at the entrance to the quad, which housed undergraduates and fellows. The coat of arms of Somerville and of co-founder John Percival, first Principal Madeleine Shaw-Lefevre and Helen Darbishire were carved b
Edmund Ware
inside the quadrangle. The archway leading to Hall was added in 1938. Originally the East Quadrangle, it was opened in June 1934 by
Lord Halifax Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 19 ...
as "a notable addition to buildings of varying styles" (''varii generis aedificiia additamentum nobile'') in the Creweian Oration during the Encaenia. Darbishire was renamed in 1962 in honour of the principal of the college during its construction,
Helen Darbishire Helen Darbishire, (1881–1961) was an English literary scholar, who was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, from 1931 until her retirement in 1945.'Obituary: Miss Helen Darbishire, former principal of Somerville College', ''The Guardian' ...
. Today Darbishire contains some 50 student rooms, along with tutors' offices, the college archive and a medical room. The offices of the Global Ocean Commission, co-chaired by
José María Figueres José María Figueres Olsen (born 24 December 1954 in San José, Costa Rica) is a Costa Rican businessman and politician, who served as President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. He also ran for president in the 2022 presidential election bu ...
,
Trevor Manuel Trevor Andrew Manuel (born 31 January 1956) is a South African politician who served in the government of South Africa as Minister of Finance from 1996 to 2009, during the presidencies of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, and ...
and David Miliband, were housed in Darbishire as part of a partnership with Somerville in 2012–2016, when the organisation completed its work. Darbishire Quad is described on the opening page of '' Gaudy Night'' by alumna Dorothy L. Sayers. The clock was donated by alumna Eleanor Rathbone.


Chapel

Built largely with funds provided by alumna Emily Georgiana Kemp in 1935, Somerville Chapel reflects the non-denominational principle on which the college was founded in 1879. No religious tests were used for admission and non-denominational Christian prayers were said in college. Instead of a chaplain, there is a "Chapel Director", in keeping with its non-denominational tradition. The chapel provides opportunities for Christian worship in addition to hosting speakers with a multiple range of religious perspectives. It holds an excellent mixed-voice Choir of Somerville College, which tours and issues occasional recordings.


Hostel and Holtby

Hostel is a small block between House and Darbishire completed in 1950 by Geddes Hyslop. It houses 10 students on three floors. The Bursary is on the ground floor. Holtby, designed in 1951 and completed in 1956 by Hyslop, lies above the library extension, adjacent to Park. It has ten rooms for undergraduates and is named after the alumna Winifred Holtby.


Vaughan and Margery Fry & Elizabeth Nuffield House

Designed by Sir Philip Dowson between 1958 and 1966, Vaughan and Margery Fry & Elizabeth Nuffield House (commonly shortened to Margery Fry) are both named for former principals of the college, while Elizabeth Nuffield was an important proponent of women's education and along with her husband Lord Nuffield, a financial benefactor of the college. Margery Fry was opened in 1964 by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and Vaughan in 1966. Constructed in the same architectural style, with an exterior concrete frame standing away from the walls of the interior edifice, the two buildings overlie a podium of shops and an arcaded walkway in Little Clarendon Street. Vaughan is the larger of the two, with eleven rows to its concrete frame compared to eight. It is Grade II-listed and contains some 60 undergraduate rooms, smaller than those of Margery Fry and used exclusively for first-year students, along with the junior deans. Vaughan was refurbished in 2013, with new bathroom facilities, including, for the first time, sinks. Beneath the two buildings, a tunnel provides access to Somerville from Little Clarendon Street. Margery Fry serves as the centre of the postgraduate student community at Somerville, with 24 graduate rooms. Other accommodation for graduate students is provided in buildings adjacent to the college.


Wolfson

Sir Philip Dowson was commissioned to design a building at the back of the college to house undergraduates and offices for fellows and Wolfson. Like his other work in Somerville, it is constructed largely of glass and concrete; it is also Grade II listed. A four-storey building with five bays on each floor, Wolfson has impressive views of Walton Street from the rear and Somerville's main quadrangle from the front. Wolfson is named after the building's main benefactor,
Sir Isaac Wolfson Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS (; 17 September 1897 – 20 June 1991) was a Scottish businessman and philanthropist. He was managing director of Great Universal Stores (G.U.S. or Gussies) 1932–1947 and chairman 1947–1987. He established ...
, and was opened in 1967 by Principal
Barbara Craig Barbara Denise Craig (née Chapman; 22 October 1915 – 25 January 2005) was a British archaeologist, classicist, and academic, specialising in classical pottery. From 1967 to 1980, she was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. Early li ...
, with
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as " Supermac", ...
,
Dorothy Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential fo ...
and Lord Wolfson giving speeches. The ground floor contains the Flora Anderson Hall (FAH) and Brittain-Williams Room, named after Vera Brittain and Shirley Williams, the college's most famous mother-daughter alumnae. The room was designed in 2012 by the architect Niall McLaughlin and opened on 29 November 2013 by Williams at an event that included her unveiling a portrait of herself, which now hangs in the room. The FAH is used for lectures and events, notably college parties (or bops) and mock exams, known as
Collections Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collection ...
.


Margaret Thatcher Centre and Dorothy Hodgkin Quadrangle

Named after the alumna-Prime Minister, the MTC comprises a lecture room, ante room and lobby used for meetings, conferences and other internal college events. The lecture room has full AV facilities and for 60 seated patrons. A bust of Margaret Thatcher stands in the lobby and the meeting room has portraits of Somerville's two prime-minister alumnae: of Margaret Thatcher by
Michael Noakes Michael Noakes (28 October 1933 – 30 May 2018) was an English artist and portrait painter.
and Indira Gandhi by Sanjay Bhattacharyya. The Dorothy Hodgkin Quad (DHQ) was conceived in 1985, completed in 1991 and named after Somerville's Nobel Prize-winner. The quadrangle is above the MTC and designed around self-contained flats of two and four bedrooms with communal kitchens, housing mainly finalists and some second-year students. Architect Geoffrey Beard's scheme was submitted to Oxford City Council in 1986 and the energies of Sir Geoffrey Leigh and alumna and former principal Baroness Daphne Park brought support from around the world. The buildings were opened in 1991 by Margaret Thatcher, Dorothy Hodgkin, Principal Catherine Hughes and College Visitor Baron
Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...
.


St Paul's Nursery

Somerville College was the first Oxford college to provide a nursery for children of Fellows and staff and is still one of the few colleges to do so. Alumna
Dorothy Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential fo ...
donated much of her Nobel Prize money to the project. St Paul's Nursery is also open to families unconnected with the college and cares for 16 children between the ages of three months and five years.


Radcliffe Observatory Quarter

ROQ East and West flank the north side of Somerville and overlook the site of the university's new
Blavatnik School of Government The Blavatnik School of Government is a school of public policy founded in 2010 at the University of Oxford in England. The School was founded following a £75 million donation from a business magnate Leonard Blavatnik, supported by £26 millio ...
and Mathematical Institute. Completed in 2011, they were the first new buildings in the university's Radcliffe Observatory Quarter and have won four awards for their architect Niall McLaughlin. The project was also awarded Oxford City Council's David Steel Sustainable Building Award, being commended for balancing Somerville's collegiate heritage with the need for energy efficiency. Energy-efficiency measures include renewable technologies such as solar thermal energy and ground source heat pumps. The buildings house 68 students in en-suite rooms. There are several rooms and facilities designed to help those with disabilities, including lifts and adjoining carer rooms. The buildings were funded by donations of over £2.7 million from over 1,000 alumni and friends of the college and by a significant loan. There is now an unimpeded view of the Radcliffe Observatory.


The Terrace

The bar and café of the college, The Terrace, opened in 2013 (replacing the old bar in House) and is attached to the Vaughan building. It is housed in a mainly glass structure, with seating in the college colours of red and black. It has an open-air
terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...
looking down on
Little Clarendon Street Little Clarendon Street is a short shopping street in northwest Oxford, England. It runs east-west between the south end of Woodstock Road opposite St Giles' Church to the east, Somerville College to the north and Walton Street to the wes ...
. The Terrace has the usual pool table and bar facilities and serves the college drink, "Stone-cold Jane Austen", consisting of blue VK,
Southern Comfort Southern Comfort (often abbreviated SoCo) is an American, naturally fruit-flavored, whiskey liqueur with fruit and spice accents. The brand was created by bartender Martin Wilkes Heron in New Orleans in 1874, using whiskey as the base spirit. W ...
, and Magners cider, as well as the "College Triple" and the non-alcoholic "Somerville Sunset".


Catherine Hughes Building

Named after Somerville's late principal in 1989–1996, the Catherine Hughes Building was completed in October 2019 and provides 68 additional bedrooms. Designed by
Niall McLaughlin Architects Niall McLaughlin Architects is an architectural firm in London, England. Niall McLaughlin established the practice in 1991. He has been described as "a favourite with Oxbridge clients"; as of 2022, McLaughlin has had commissions from 15 colleges at ...
, it includes en suite bathrooms, kitchens and accessible rooms on every floor and a new communal study area for graduate students. The red-brick building has a frontage onto Walton Street and additional access from the college gardens, aligning with key levels on the adjacent Penrose Building. The bedrooms are arranged in clusters with kitchens and circulation spaces forming social focal points. The building's construction has given Somerville sufficient accommodation to be one of three Oxford colleges which can allow all students applying from 2017 to live in college for the entirety of their three or four-year undergraduate degree courses.


Gardens

Somerville is one of few Oxford colleges where students may walk on the grass. An unassuming frontage opens onto a vast green space looked after by two gardeners. The original site consisted of a paddock, an orchard and a vegetable garden and was bounded by large trees. It was home to a donkey, two cows, a pony and a pig. The paddock was soon transformed into tennis courts, where huge tents were erected during World War I. During World War II, large water tanks were dug in the Main Quad and in Darbishire Quad in case of firebombing, and the lawns dug up and planted with vegetables. In the Main or Library Quad has a cedar planted by
Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as " Supermac", ...
in 1976, after an earlier cedar fell victim to a winter storm. Another tree, a '' Picea likiangensis'' (var. ''rubescens''), was planted in 2007 on the chapel lawn, providing Somerville with an outdoor Christmas tree. The library border of lavender and '' Agapanthus'' references the bluestocking reputation of Somerville. The tory blue ''
Ceratostigma willmottianum ''Ceratostigma willmottianum'', Chinese plumbago, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plumbaginaceae that is native to western China and Tibet. It is an ornamental deciduous shrub that grows to 1 metre in height, with pale blue plumbago ...
'' stands outside the Margaret Thatcher Centre. The garden outside the Thatcher Centre, now dedicated to Lisa Minoprio, was originally designed by the former director of the
Oxford Botanic Garden The University of Oxford Botanic Garden is the oldest botanic garden in Great Britain and one of the oldest scientific gardens in the world. The garden was founded in 1621 as a physic garden growing plants for medicinal research. Today it conta ...
and Lecturer in Plant Sciences Timothy Walker, and retains yellow and blue as its theme colours. There are nods to Somerville's long-standing links with
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, the most notable being a large specimen of the Indian horse chestnut, '' Aesculus indica'', planted on the Library lawn in 2019. Features of interest include a narrow bed of low-growing Mediterranean plants in front of Wolfson in a modernist style, a varied selection of mature trees in the Library Quad, and large herbaceous borders containing emblematic Somerville thistles (''
Echinops ''Echinops'' is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly known as globe thistles. They have spiny foliage and produce blue or white spherical flower heads. They are native to Europe, east to central As ...
''). The annual summer and winter bedding plants in Darbishire Quad, the beds outside the SCR, and those in pots around site have traditionally been in the Victorian style, to reflect the era of inception of the college. However, this is evolving due to a change in garden management in late 2019, with aims of following more environmentally friendly growing principles and developing a more contemporary style. The western wall of Penrose and the northern wall of Vaughan form a secluded area, historically known as the Fellows' Garden (currently in a transitional phase). It is distinct from the main quad and separated from it by a hedge and a wall, and which were previously kitchen gardens. This walled garden is home to a sundial, commissioned in 1926 and commemorating first principal Madeleine Shaw-Lefevre, and a garden roller gifted by the parents of tutor Rose Sidgwick. In 1962, Henry Moore lent his work ''Falling Warrior'' to the college and
Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a lea ...
lent ''Core'' shortly afterwards. There are also permanent sculptures by Wendy Taylor, Friedrich Werthmann and Somervillian Polly Ionides. The most striking sculpture on site is Taylor's ''Triad'' (1971), situated on the Chapel Lawn in front of Maitland building.


Student life

In 2011 student satisfaction was rated in some categories as the highest in the university. Central to it is its large quad, onto which most accommodation blocks back; it is often filled with students in summer. Somerville is one of the few Oxford colleges where students (as opposed to just fellows) may walk on the grass. Somerville is sometimes nicknamed ''The Ville''. Formal Halls take place on some Tuesdays and Fridays about six times a term. No
gowns A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gow ...
are worn and the
grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninc ...
is ''Benedictus benedicat''. The college song is ''Omnes laetae nunc sodales''.


Sports

Somerville has a gym beneath Vaughan with treadmills, cross-trainers and weights. It shares a sports ground with Wadham College and St Hugh's College, in Marston Ferry Road. There are clubs and teams in men's and women's football, rugby (with Corpus Christi), mixed lacrosse, cricket, swimming, hockey, netball, basketball, pool, water polo, tennis, squash, badminton, cycling and croquet. Both the Somerville cricket and netball team won Cuppers for the 2014/15 season. The swimming team won Cuppers for the 2015/16 season.


Rowing

Somerville formed a rowing team in 1921. It competes in both of the annual university
bumps race A bumps race is a form of rowing race in which a number of boats chase each other in single file, each crew attempting to catch and ‘bump’ the boat in front without being caught by the boat behind. The form is mainly used in intercollegiat ...
s, Torpids and Summer Eights. The women are the most successful women's rowing team at the university, having won the title Head of the River eight times in Summer Eights and five times in Torpids. The club shares the award-winning
University College Boathouse University College Boathouse is the boathouse of University College Boat Club (UCBC) on the southern bank of the River Thames (locally known as "The Isis") in Oxford, England. It is owned by University College, Oxford. UCBC's Boathouse has be ...
on The Isis with St Peter's College,
University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...
and Wolfson College.


Choir

The Choir of Somerville College is mixed voice and led by the Director of Chapel Music, Will Dawes. In conjunction with the organ scholars, the choir is central to the musical life at the college. There are regular concerts and cathedral visits, and recitals featuring soloists from the choir. In recent years it has toured Germany (2005 and 2009), Italy (2010) and the United States (2014 and 2016). It sings every term-time Sunday at the evening service. The organ of the college chapel is a traditionally voiced instrument by Harrison & Harrison. Somerville offers up to five Choral Exhibitions a year to applicants reading any subject. The college choir has released two CDs on the Stone Records label, "Requiem Aeternam" (2012) and "Advent Calendar" (2013).


Triennial Ball

Once every three years, Somerville hosts a ball jointly with
Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...
. The last, for 1500 people, was held in May 2019 and the next ball will come in 2022. However, the 2013 ball, ''The Last Ball'', was mired in controversy reported in national news. The organisers had intended to display a live nurse shark as entertainment. Permission for the shark was initially granted by the principal Alice Prochaska, but was subsequently revoked following student protests. The ball was widely condemned for poor organisation, examples of which included a lack of canapés and the presence of only one food stand, serving pork; the vegetarian options were said to run out quickly and revellers were reportedly set on fire by the pork rôtisserie. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' reported "The ball descended into farce with guests questioning what the organisers had done with the money paid by 1,000 guests."


Academic reputation

Before men were admitted Somerville, under the principalship of
Barbara Craig Barbara Denise Craig (née Chapman; 22 October 1915 – 25 January 2005) was a British archaeologist, classicist, and academic, specialising in classical pottery. From 1967 to 1980, she was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. Early li ...
, established a position at or near the head of the
Norrington Table The Norrington Table is an annual ranking of the colleges of the University of Oxford based on a score computed from the proportions of undergraduate students earning each of the various degree classifications based on that year's final examinat ...
. Currently Somerville is in the lower half of the university's colleges for academic achievement. For the academic year 2018/19, it came 21st out of 30 in the Norrington Table, which lists the university's undergraduate colleges in order of their students' examination performances. The college has been recognized as a University College of Sanctuary by the UK charity City of Sanctuary, and offers a fully-funded postgraduate Sanctuary scholarship.


''University Challenge''

Somerville has had recent success disproportionate to its size on the TV quiz show '' University Challenge''. It won the competition once, triumphing in the University Challenge 2001–02 series by beating
Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
, London by 200 points to 185.
Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...
n quizzer
Dorjana Širola Dorjana Širola (born 9 June 1972) is a Croatian quizzer, linguist, anglicist and software tester. She has been the highest placed woman at the World Quizzing Championship from 2005 to 2011, and again from 2013 to 2018 (losing out in ...
was one of the contestants. Recently the college team reached the final of the University Challenge 2013–14 series, losing in the final to
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
, with a score of 135 to 240.


India

Somerville College plays a major role in relations between Oxford and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. Cornelia Sorabji, born in the
Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...
of
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, became the first Indian woman to study at any British university, when she came to Somerville in 1889 to read law, while
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...
, India's first female prime minister, read Modern History at the college in 1937.
Radhabai Subbarayan Kailash Radhabai Subbarayan, ''nee'' Kudmul (22 April 1891 - 1960) was an Indian politician, women's rights activist and social reformer. She was the wife of Indian politician P. Subbarayan and mother of Mohan Kumaramangalam, P. P. Kumaramanga ...
, the first woman member of the Indian Council of States (Rajya Sabha) studied at Somerville College as well, as did princess
Bamba Sutherland Princess Bamba Sutherland (29 September 1869 – 10 March 1957) was the last surviving member of the family that had ruled the Sikh Empire in the Punjab. After a childhood in England, she settled in Lahore, the capital of what had been her fathe ...
, the last surviving member of a family that had ruled the Sikh Empire in the
Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...
, and her sister
Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh Princess Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh (27 October 1871 – 8 November 1942), was the second daughter of Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh and Maharani Bamba (née Müller). She was educated in England and in 1894 she was presented at Court. She becam ...
. Other alumni with links to India include Moon Moon Sen, Agnes de Selincourt, Smit Singh, Gurmehar Kaur,
Hilda Stewart Reid Hilda Stewart Reid (30 November 1898 – 24 April 1982) was an English novelist and historian. Her four novels, published between 1928 and 1939, are ''Phillida'', ''Two Soldiers and a Lady'', ''Emily'', and ''Ashley Hamel''. Early life Hilda ...
and Utsa Patnaik. Former principal
Barbara Craig Barbara Denise Craig (née Chapman; 22 October 1915 – 25 January 2005) was a British archaeologist, classicist, and academic, specialising in classical pottery. From 1967 to 1980, she was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. Early li ...
(1967–1980) and fellow Aditi Lahiri were born in
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
.
Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (''née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independen ...
visited Somerville in 2002 and presented a portrait of her late mother-in-law to her alma mater. Indira Gandhi received an honorary degree from the college in 1971. In 2012, the college and Oxford University announced a £19-million ''Indira Gandhi Centre for Sustainable Development''. India provided £3 million and the university and college £5.5 million. The name was later changed to the ''Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development'' (OICSD).Indira Gandhi’s name dropped from Oxford centre
''
Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...
'', 15 July 2017
The OICSD carries out research on sustainable development challenges facing India and provides scholarships for outstanding Indian students. The centre now hosts 12 India scholars. A new building is planned in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, adjacent to the college's ROQ accommodation. Somerville's choir was in 2018 the first Oxford college choir to tour India.


People associated with Somerville


Alumni

Somervillians include Prime Ministers
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
and
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...
, Nobel Prize winning scientist
Dorothy Hodgkin Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (née Crowfoot; 12 May 1910 – 29 July 1994) was a Nobel Prize-winning British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential fo ...
, television personalities Esther Rantzen and
Susie Dent Susie Dent (born 1964) is an English lexicographer, etymologist, and media personality. She has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show ''Countdown'' since 1992. She also appears on ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'', a pos ...
, reformer Cornelia Sorabji, writers Marjorie Boulton, A. S. Byatt, Vera Brittain, Susan Cooper, Penelope Fitzgerald, Winifred Holtby, Nicole Krauss, Iris Murdoch and Dorothy L. Sayers, politicians Shirley Williams, Thérèse Coffey, Margaret Jay and Sam Gyimah, Princess
Bamba Sutherland Princess Bamba Sutherland (29 September 1869 – 10 March 1957) was the last surviving member of the family that had ruled the Sikh Empire in the Punjab. After a childhood in England, she settled in Lahore, the capital of what had been her fathe ...
and her sister, biologist Marian Dawkins, philosophers
G. E. M. Anscombe Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (; 18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), usually cited as G. E. M. Anscombe or Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action ...
,
Patricia Churchland Patricia Smith Churchland (born 16 July 1943) is a Canadian-American analytic philosopher noted for her contributions to neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. She is UC President's Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of Cali ...
,
Philippa Foot Philippa Ruth Foot (; née Bosanquet; 3 October 1920 – 3 October 2010) was an English philosopher and one of the founders of contemporary virtue ethics, who was inspired by the ethics of Aristotle. Along with Judith Jarvis Thomson, she is c ...
and Mary Midgley, psychologist Anne Treisman, archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, actress Moon Moon Sen, soprano Emma Kirkby, banker Baroness Vadera and numerous (women's rights) activists. Somerville alumnae have achieved an impressive number of "firsts", both (inter)nationally and at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
. Arguably the most prominent of these are: the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher; the first, and only, British woman to win a
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
in science Dorothy Hodgkin and the first woman to lead the world's largest democracy Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister of India for much of the 1970s. Somerville has educated at least 28
Dame ''Dame'' is an honorific title and the feminine form of address for the honour of damehood in many Christian chivalric orders, as well as the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system and those of several oth ...
s, 17
heads A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals m ...
of
Oxford colleges The University of Oxford has thirty-nine colleges, and five permanent private halls (PPHs) of religious foundation. Colleges and PPHs are autonomous self-governing corporations within the university. These colleges are not only houses of resid ...
, 11
life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
s, ten MP's, four
Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
rowers, three of ''The 50 greatest British writers since 1945'', two
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
s, two princesses, a queen consort, and a Nobel laureate. Former students of Somerville belong to an alumni group, the Somerville Association, which was originally founded in 1888.


Fellows

Notable fellows of Somerville College (excluding alumni) include philosopher
G. E. M. Anscombe Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe (; 18 March 1919 – 5 January 2001), usually cited as G. E. M. Anscombe or Elizabeth Anscombe, was a British analytic philosopher. She wrote on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of action ...
, biochemist Louise Johnson, classical archaeologist
Margarete Bieber Margarete Bieber (31 July 1879 – 25 February 1978) was a Jewish German-American art historian, classical archaeologist and professor. She became the second woman university professor in Germany in 1919 when she took a position at the Unive ...
, Egyptologist
Käthe Bosse-Griffiths Käthe Bosse-Griffiths (16 July 1910 – 4 April 1998) was an eminent Egyptologist. Born in Germany, she moved to Britain as a political refugee and married a Welshman. She became a writer in the Welsh language, and made a unique contributio ...
, classicists Edith Hall and
Lotte Labowsky Carlotta Minna "Lotte" Labowsky (1905–1991) was a Jewish German classicist who left Germany in 1934 and became a Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford. She specialised in "the transmission of ancient Greek thought to the western world", working ...
, author
Alan Hollinghurst Alan James Hollinghurst (born 26 May 1954) is an English novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. He won the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award, the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 2004 Booker Prize. Early life and education Ho ...
, astronomer
Chris Lintott Christopher John Lintott (born 26 November 1980) is a British astrophysicist, author and broadcaster. He is a Professor of Astrophysics in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford. Lintott is involved in a number of popular sci ...
,
International Federation of University Women Graduate Women International (GWI), originally named the International Federation of University Women (IFUW), is an international organisation for women university graduates. IFUW was founded in 1919 following the First World War by both British an ...
founder Rose Sidgwick, botanist Timothy Walker and philologist
Anna Morpurgo Davies Anna Elbina Morpurgo Davies, (21 June 1937 – 27 September 2014) was an Italian philologist who specialised in comparative Indo-European linguistics. She spent her career at Oxford University, where she was the Professor of Comparative Philol ...
.


Principals

The first principal of Somerville Hall was
Madeleine Shaw-Lefèvre Madeleine Septimia Shaw Lefevre (6 May 1835 – 19 September 1914) was the Principal of Somerville Hall for its first 10 years, from 1879 to 1889. The hall became Somerville College, Oxford in 1894. Early life Shaw Lefevre was born in 1835, th ...
(1879–1889). The first principal of Somerville College was
Agnes Catherine Maitland Agnes Catherine Maitland (1850–1906) was the principal of Somerville College, Oxford, England. She did much to gain it full college status within the University of Oxford and to expanding its library. She also wrote books about cookery. Life ...
(1889–1906), when in 1894 it became the first of the five women's halls to adopt the title of college, the first to appoint its own teaching staff, the first to set an entrance examination, and the first to build a library. She was succeeded by the classical scholar
Emily Penrose Dame Emily Penrose, (18 September 1858 – 26 January 1942) was an ancient historian and principal of three early women's university colleges in the United Kingdom: Bedford College from 1893 until 1898, Royal Holloway College from 1898 until ...
(1906–1926), who set up in 1903 the ''Mary Somerville Research Fellowship'' offering women in Oxford opportunities for research. The current principal is Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, who took up the appointment in August 2017, succeeding Alice Prochaska. To date seven principals have been alumnae of Somerville, two of St Hilda's College.


Coat of arms and motto

Like all Oxford colleges, Somerville has a variety of symbols and colours which are associated with it. The college's colours, which feature on the college scarf and on the blades of its boats, are red and black. The combination was originally adopted in the 1890s. Its flag has the shield from the arms on a yellow background. The two colours also feature in the college's
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...
, which depicts three mullets in
chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...
reversed gules, between six crosses crosslet fitched
sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
. The college's motto, ''Donec rursus impleat orbem'', was originally that of the family of
Mary Somerville Mary Somerville (; , formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary ...
. Her family befriended the new hall, allowing it to adopt their arms and motto. The
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
motto itself is described as "baffling" as, although it translates as "Until It Should Fill the World Again", what the subject of the sentence ("it") is left unspecified. The crest, which is often omitted, is a hand grasping a crescent and occasionally a helmet with mantling is added.


In popular culture

*The mystery novel '' Gaudy Night'' by Dorothy L. Sayers featuring Lord Peter Wimsey is set in
Shrewsbury College Shrewsbury College is a further education college located in the Sutton Farm suburb of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Previously called Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology and, earlier, Shrewsbury Technical College, the college is bas ...
(which is a thinly veiled take on Sayers' own Somerville College). *In the 2014 film ''
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' (internationally titled ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro'') is a 2014 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The film was directed by Marc Webb and produced by Avi ...
'' directed by Marc Webb, one of the protagonists, Gwen Stacy, is offered a place to study medicine at Somerville. Its coat of arms is featured in one scene. *The 2014 biopic '' Testament of Youth'', based on Brittain's memoir of the same name, substituted
Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...
in the scenes showing Brittain's time as a student at Somerville, arguing that filming in Somerville itself would have been too difficult in light of the new buildings constructed there since the film's time period. *Somerville is the recognisable model for St Bride's College in '' Michaelmas Term at St Bride's'' by
Brunette Coleman Brunette Coleman was a pseudonym used by the poet and writer Philip Larkin. In 1943, towards the end of his time as an undergraduate at St John's College, Oxford, he wrote several works of fiction, verse and critical commentary under that name, ...
( Philip Larkin). *In the film '' Iris'' from 2001, telling of alumna Iris Murdoch and her relationship with her husband John Bayley, whom she meets during a dinner at the Somerville. *Somerville is featured in the BBC series '' Testament of Youth'' (1979). *In the Japanese
manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...
series '' Master Keaton'', the main character married a mathematics student from Somerville. *St Jerome's College in ''
Endymion Spring ''Endymion Spring'' is a children's fantasy novel by English Canadian author Matthew Skelton. It was first published in 2006. Origins and publishing history At some point during the drafting of his Ph.D., the character that would later become ...
'' by alumnus Matthew Skelton is based on Somerville. The cat Mephistopheles is based on the former college cat Pogo. *Amory Clay, the main character in '' Sweet Caress'' by
William Boyd William, Willie, Will or Bill Boyd may refer to: Academics * William Alexander Jenyns Boyd (1842–1928), Australian journalist and schoolmaster * William Boyd (educator) (1874–1962), Scottish educator * William Boyd (pathologist) (1885–1979), ...
, was encouraged by her teacher to go to Somerville. *Grace Ritchie, the protagonist in ''Slave Of The Passion'' by Deirdre Wilson has gone up to Somerville. *Helena Warner from '' A Likeness in Stone'' by Julia Wallis Martin, was a student of Somerville. *Eleanor Drummond, the protagonist in ''Daddy's Girl'' by
Valerie Mendes Valerie Helene Mendes (''née'' Barnett, born October 1939) is an English novelist and poet. Mendes is best known for her teenage fiction novels, ''Girl in the Attic'', ''Coming of Age'', ''Lost and Found'' and ''The Drowning'', and for her hist ...
, went to Somerville.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * *


External links


Official websiteJCR websiteMCR websiteChoir Website
{{Authority control Somerville College Colleges of the University of Oxford Educational institutions established in 1879 1879 establishments in England Former women's universities and colleges in the United Kingdom Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford Grade II listed buildings in Oxford Grade II listed educational buildings Feminism in England Charities based in Oxfordshire