Charsley's Hall was a private hall of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. After 1891 it was renamed as Marcon's Hall. The hall was established in 1862 by

William Henry Charsley William Henry Charsley (1820 – 2 November 1900) was an English academic, Master of Charsley's Hall, Oxford from 1862 to 1891. Born at Beaconsfield in 1820, Charsley matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, but left after being blinded in an acci ...

, formerly of Christ Church, under the university statute ''De Aulis Privatis'' (On private halls), passed in 1855, which allowed any

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

or other member of Convocation aged at least twenty-eight years to open a private hall after obtaining a licence to do so. The hall was in what is now 10

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, at the eastern corner of

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, on the other side of the road from the

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. It was a red-brick Victorian house designed by Charles Buckeridge and built in 1862. At the 1871 census, it contained nine residents. Charsley's Hall had no published tuition fees, members electing their tutors and making their own arrangements for payment, but in general the terms were higher than elsewhere. Despite this, the hall was popular.Edwin Wooton, ''A guide to degrees in arts, science, literature, law, music, and divinity, in the United Kingdom, the colonies, the continent and the United States'' (L. Upcott Gill, 1883), p. 39: "At Charsley's Hall the members elect their own tutors, with whom they make their own arrangements." One writer noted in 1883 By 1889, migration to Charsley's was seen as a way of circumventing some requirements of the colleges, and its demise was prematurely foreseen by ''

The Oxford Magazine ''The Oxford Magazine'' is a review magazine and newspaper published in Oxford, England.''The Oxford Magaz ...

''. Charsley's Hall features several times in ''The Lay of the First Minstrel'', a parody of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

dating from the 1870s, beginning: In 1889–1890 Charsley's had forty-seven undergraduates, while Turrell's, the only other private hall, had seven. The Master, William Henry Charsley, appears to have kept a school for boys as well as a house of the university. This is suggested as a reason for matriculations at Charsley's at an unusually young age. By the end of 1891 Charsley's Hall had closed, to be reopened by Charles Abdy Marcon as ''Marcon's Hall'' in 1892.T. H. Aston, Brian Harrison, ''The History of the University of Oxford'', vol. 7, Nineteenth-Century Oxford, Part 2 (1994), p. 120 Marcon had himself been educated at Charsley's.''

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'' for 1897
p. 258
/ref> ''

'' for 1897 lists three private halls in the university, based on the University Calendar for 1895: Marcon's, Turrell's and Grindle's. Marcon's continued under that name until C. A. Marcon retired in 1918.'MARCON, Charles Abdy', in Crockford's Clerical Directory (1930)

Notable people

* William Morfill taught philosophy and modern history at Charsley's between 1865 and 1869 * Edward John Payne completed his first degree at Charsley's in 1871 * Charles Abdy Marcon, who took his first degree from Charsley's in 1878, succeeded W. H. Charsley as Master in 1891

References

{{University of Oxford Private halls of the University of Oxford Former colleges and halls of the University of Oxford 1854 establishments in England 1918 disestablishments in England