Worcester College ( ) is a

constituent college A collegiate university is a university where functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the Col ...

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 ...

in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of

Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (bap. 1648 – 8 June 1701) was an English philanthropist who was the benefactor of Worcester College, Oxford and Bromsgrove School. Biography He was the eldest son of Sir William Cookes, 1st Baronet, of Norgrov ...

(1648–1701) of

Norgrove Norgrove is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *David Norgrove, British businessman *Linda Norgrove, British aid worker killed in Afghanistan, see Death of Linda Norgrove * Michael Norgrove, Zambian-born British boxer * Norgrove F ...

, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was adopted by the college. Its predecessor,

Gloucester College Gloucester College, Oxford, was a Benedictine institution of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, from the late 13th century until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. It was never a typical college of the Universit ...

, had been an institution of learning on the same site since the late 13th century until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. Founded as a men's college, Worcester has been coeducational since 1979. The provost is David Isaac who took office on 1 July 2021. As of 2022, Worcester College had a

financial endowment A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of Financial instrument, financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to Donor intent, the will of its fo ...

of £59.6 million. Notable alumni of the college include the media mogul

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

, television producer and screenwriter

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies ( ; born 27 April 1963), known professionally as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for being the original showrunner and head writer of the revival of the BBC sci-fi seri ...

, US Supreme Court justice

Elena Kagan Elena Kagan ( ; born April 28, 1960) is an American lawyer who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination ...

, Fields medallist

Simon Donaldson Sir Simon Kirwan Donaldson (born 20 August 1957) is an English mathematician known for his work on the topology of smooth function, smooth (differentiable) four-dimensional manifolds, Donaldson–Thomas theory, and his contributions to Kähl ...

, novelist

Richard Adams Richard George Adams (10 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist. He is best known for his debut novel ''Watership Down'' which achieved international acclaim. His other works included ''Maia'', '' Shardik'' and '' The Plague Do ...

(author of ''

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Hampshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natur ...

''), professional basketball player and US Senator

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was a United States Senate, United States senator from New ...

, and the Sultan of

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

, Nazrin Shah.

Buildings and grounds

The buildings are diverse, especially in the main quadrangle: looking down into the main quadrangle from the entrance through the main building, to the right is an imposing 18th-century building in the

neo-classical style Neoclassical architecture, sometimes referred to as Classical Revival architecture, is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy, France and Germany. It became one of the most promin ...

; and to the left a row of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

buildings known as "the cottages", which are among the oldest residential buildings in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. These cottages are the most substantial surviving part of

, Worcester's predecessor on the same site: this was a college for

Benedictine monks The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, the ...

, founded in 1283 and dissolved with the Dissolution of the Monasteries in about 1539. Gloucester-hall

After a lapse of 20 years, the buildings of the old Gloucester College were used in the foundation of an

academic hall Academic Hall was the original main building of the University of Missouri. It was dedicated in 1843 and destroyed by fire in 1892. Academic Hall's six Ionic columns, today known as The Columns, stand on Francis Quadrangle as the most recog ...

, ''

Gloucester Hall Gloucester College, Oxford, was a Benedictine institution of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, from the late 13th century until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. It was never a typical college of the Universit ...

'', in around 1560. The penultimate principal,

Benjamin Woodroffe Benjamin Woodroffe (1638–1711) was an English cleric and college head. Life The son of the Rev. Timothy Woodroffe, he was born in Canditch Street, St. Mary Magdalen parish, Oxford, in April 1638. He was educated at Westminster School, and wa ...

, attempted to establish there a ' Greek College' for

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

students to come to Oxford, part of a scheme to make ecumenical links with the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. This was a going concern from 1699 to 1705, although only 15 Greeks are recorded as members. In 1714, thanks to a fortunate benefaction from a Worcestershire baronet,

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Thomas Cookes, Gloucester Hall was transformed into Worcester College. Even then, there were only sufficient funds to rebuild the Chapel, Hall and Library and the north side of the Front Quad, known as the Terrace. The designs were by

George Clarke George Clarke (7 May 1661 – 22 October 1736), of All Souls, Oxford, was an English architect, print collector and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1702 and 1736. Life The son of Sir William Clark ...

, who had consulted

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor ( – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principal architects ...

. In 1736, Clarke generously left to the college his great collection of books and manuscripts. These included the papers of his father William Clarke (which are of crucial importance for the history of England during the period of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

and

Protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over ...

) and a large proportion of the surviving drawings of

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

WorcesterCollegeTHShepherdEarly19thc edited

Owing to lack of funds, Worcester's 18th-century building programme proceeded by fits and starts. The west end of the Terrace and the Provost's Lodgings were added in 1773–1776 (architect: Henry Keene). The medieval cottages were to have been replaced by a further classical range, but survived because money for this purpose was never available; the Hall and Chapel, by

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...

, were not completed until the 1770s.

The Chapel

The College Chapel was built in the 18th century. George Clarke, Henry Keene, and James Wyatt were responsible for different stages of its lengthy construction (1720–1791), owing to a shortage of funds. The interior columns and pilasters, the dome, and the delicate foliage plastering are all Wyatt's work. His classical interior was insufficiently emphatic for the tastes of militant Victorian churchmen, and between 1864 and 1866 the chapel was redecorated by

William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian era, Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution, ...

. It is highly unusual and decorative; being predominantly pink, the pews are decorated with carved animals, including kangaroos and whales, and the walls are riotously colourful, and include frescoes of dodos and peacocks. Its

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows were to have been designed by

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...

, but Burges rejected his designs and entrusted the work to

Henry Holiday Henry Holiday (17 June 183915 April 1927) was an English Victorian painter of historical genre and landscapes, also a stained-glass designer, illustrator, and sculptor. He was influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, many of whom he knew. ...

. Oscar Wilde said of the Chapel, "As a piece of simple decorative and beautiful art it is perfect, and the windows very artistic."

The Chapel Choirs

Worcester is unique among the Oxford colleges in that it has not one, but two chapel choirs of equal status, which share out the weekly services between them. There is a mixed-voice choir constituted of auditioned choral scholars and volunteers, which sings twice a week: weekly on Thursday and on alternating Sunday and Monday evenings. The Boys' Choir consists of trebles from

Christ Church Cathedral School Christ Church Cathedral School is an independent preparatory school for boys in Oxford, England. It is one of three choral foundation schools in the city and educates choristers of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Chapels of Worcester College ...

and alto, tenor and bass choral scholars. This choir also sings twice weekly; on Sunday and Tuesday evenings. These choirs are run on a day-to-day basis by Worcester's two Organ Scholars alongside the director of music.

The Hall

William Burges was commissioned to redecorate the Hall, but was forced to curtail his elaborate designs by a lack of funds. A reduced scheme was completed in 1877 but was substantially altered in the early-20th century, and in 1966 Wyatt's designs were restored using his original drawings (preserved in the College Library), under the direction of architect Emil Godfrey. The Hall was refurbished and redecorated in 2018.

Modern buildings

In more recent years, several new residential blocks for undergraduates and graduates have been added, thanks in part to a series of generous benefactions. The latest of these include the Earl Building, Sainsbury Building (which won the Civic Trust Award in 1984), Linbury Building, Canal Building, Ruskin Lane Building (for undergraduates), the Franks Building (for graduates), and the Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre, which won numerous architectural awards and was shortlisted for the 2018

Stirling Prize The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The ...

. The Canal Building sits next to the north entrance to the college and, as the name suggests, beside the

Oxford Canal The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to th ...

. It houses 50 students in large en-suite single rooms. The accommodation is usually reserved for third and fourth-year undergraduates.

The Gardens

Oxford - Worcester College - playing field trees

Although Worcester is near the centre of Oxford today, it was on the edge of the city in the 18th century. This has proved a benefit in the long run, since it has allowed the college to retain very extensive gardens and contiguous

playing fields A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in Australian, American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For m ...

(a total of , including a lake). The gardens have won numerous awards, including the Oxford in Bloom college award every time they have been entered for the competition. Extensive work on the gardens was carried out between 1817 and 1820, and they may have been laid out in the Picturesque style by Richard Greswell in 1827. They are now managed by head gardener Simon Bagnall and a team of seven gardeners. A production of ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' was directed by

Patrick Garland Patrick Ewart Garland (10 April 1935 – 19 April 2013) was a British director, writer and actor. Career Garland was educated at St Mary's College, Southampton, and St Edmund Hall, Oxford where he studied English and was Literary Editor of Is ...

in the gardens with

Oz Clarke Robert Owen Clarke (born 1949), known as Oz Clarke, is a British wine writer, actor, television presenter and broadcaster. Early life Clarke's parents were a chest physician and a nursing sister. He is of Irish descent and was brought up Roma ...

Sir Toby Belch Sir Toby Belch is a character in William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's ...

and Francis Matthews. Other garden plays have included ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

'' on the lake, directed by

Nevill Coghill Nevill Henry Kendal Aylmer Coghill (19 April 1899 – 6 November 1980) was an Anglo-Irish literary scholar, known especially for his modern-English version of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. He was an associate of the literary discuss ...

in 1949, and ''

'' in the Provost's garden, directed by provost

Jonathan Bate Sir Andrew Jonathan Bate (born 26 June 1958) is a British academic, biographer, literary critic, broadcaster, and scholar, known for his work on Shakespeare, Romanticism, and ecocriticism. He is currently Foundation Professor of Environmental ...

and undergraduate Georgia Figgis in 2016. From February 2009 until December 2018 the college's gardeners kept a

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

to provide an insight into the work involved in looking after the .

Gallery

File:WorcesterQuadrangle.JPG, The main quadrangle of Worcester College; on the left are the medieval buildings known as "the cottages", the most substantial surviving part of

, Worcester's predecessor File:Worcester_College,_Oxford_archway.JPG, The 15th-century gate of Gloucester College, surviving to the side of the current gate and bearing the arms of the abbeys of Winchcombe, St Albans and Ramsey File:Worcester College from the quad.JPG, The main building rebuilt between 1720 and 1786. Above the arcade is the Old Library; behind the arcade are the main entrance to the College (centre) and the entrances to the Chapel (left) and the Hall (right) File:Worcester College, Oxford - geograph.org.uk - 1325095.jpg, North range of the Quad, the 18th-century Terrace File:Oxford - Worcester College - Provost lodging.jpg, Provost's Lodgings, added to the North range in 1773–1776 by the architect Henry Keene File:Worcester College Oxford England.jpg, The cottages from the Nuffield lawn File:Oxford - Worcester College - lake sun.jpg, Lake File:Sainsbury Building.jpg, Sainsbury Building (which won the Civic Trust Award in 1984) File:Nazrin Shah Centre.jpg, Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre, added in 2017, viewed across the cricket field

Traditions

Oxford - Worcester College - lake playing field

Every three years in June, the college hosts a

commemoration ball A Commemoration ball is a formal ball held by one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in the 9th week of Trinity Term, the week after the end of the last Full Term of the academic year, which is known as "Commemoration Week". Commemoration ...

. The College holds a

Formal Hall Formal hall or formal meal is a meal held at some of the oldest universities in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (as well as some other Commonwealth countries) at which students usually dress in formal attire and often gowns t ...

on several days of the week; dress is formal with gowns compulsory for matriculated students. Before each meal, the college grace is recited by a scholar, or student studying a field related to Literae Humaniores. The text is the same as that recited at Christ Church but, in comparison, always given in the long form, in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Translated into English: Every Hilary (spring) term on the Saturday of 4th Week, second-year members of the College celebrate 'Midway' to mark the point at which they are exactly halfway through their degree (given that students on 3-year courses attend for nine terms, each lasting eight weeks). The occasion is marked with the taking of professional photographs: one in formal dress (but not gowns), and the other in costumes made by the students, usually reflecting themes decided by individual groups of friends. Later in the day, a meal is served in

to distinguish the event.

Sports

Worcester College is known for its sporting prowess, especially in football, cricket, and hockey, and is one of the few colleges to have its sporting grounds onsite (football, rugby, tennis, basketball, netball, croquet, and cricket). In the 2011/2012 season, Worcester won Men's and Women's Football Cuppers. During recent years the hockey side has won numerous league titles, 'Varsity Cuppers' or 'Supercuppers' in 2015, and Cuppers in 2016.. The

Worcester College Boat Club Worcester College Boat Club (WCBC) is a Sport rowing, rowing club for members of Worcester College, Oxford. It is based on the Isis (river), Isis at Boathouse Island, Christ Church Meadow, Oxford, Oxford. History The club was founded in 1825 an ...

was founded in 1825 and shares the boathouse building with Merton College Boat Club.

People associated with Worcester

Provosts

* Richard Blechinden, 1714–1736 * William Gower, 1736–1777 * William Sheffield, 1777–1795 *

Whittington Landon Whittington Landon (c. 1758 – 29 December 1838) was an academic at the University of Oxford and an Anglican clergyman who became Dean of Exeter. Life Whittington Landon, the son of John Landon from Tedstone, Herefordshire, matriculated at the ...

, 1795–1839 *

Richard Lynch Cotton Richard Lynch Cotton (14 August 17948 December 1880) was a British vicar and academic administrator at the University of Oxford. Cotton was born in Whitchurch-on-Thames, Whitchurch, Oxfordshire, the son of Henry Calveley Cotton and Matilda Lock ...

, 1839–1881 *

William Inge William Motter Inge (; May 3, 1913 – June 10, 1973) was an American playwright and novelist, whose works typically feature solitary protagonists encumbered with strained sexual relations. In the early 1950s he had a string of memorable Broad ...

, 1881–1903 *

C. Henry Daniel Charles Henry Olive Daniel (30 September 1836 – 6 September 1919) was a British classicist, Anglican clergyman and printer. Having been a lecturer in classics at King's College, London, he was elected a fellow of Worcester College, Oxford in 1863 ...

, 1903–1919 *

Francis John Lys Francis John Lys (1863–1947) is a British lecturer and academic administrator. He was Provost of Worcester College, Oxford (1919–46) and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1932 until 1935. The elder son of F. D. Lys, of Highclere, Weym ...

, 1919–1946 *

John Cecil Masterman Sir John Cecil Masterman OBE (12 January 1891 – 6 June 1977) was a British academic, sportsman and author. His highest-profile role was as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, but he was also well known as chairman of the Twenty ...

, 1946–1962 *

Oliver Franks, Baron Franks Oliver Shewell Franks, Baron Franks, (16 February 1905 – 15 October 1992), was an English civil servant and philosopher who has been described as 'one of the founders of the postwar world'. Franks was involved in Britain's recovery after the ...

, 1962–1976 * Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs, 1976–1991 *

Richard Smethurst Richard Good Smethurst (born 17 January 1941) is an economist, who was provost of Worcester College, Oxford. Education Smethurst was educated at Liverpool College, Worcester College, Oxford, and Nuffield College, Oxford. Career In 1964, Smeth ...

, 1991–2011 * Sir

, 2011–2019 * Kate Tunstall, Interim Provost 2019–21 * David Isaac, from 1 July 2021–

Fellows

Notable alumni

Fictional alumni of the college include Nick Guest from

The Line of Beauty ''The Line of Beauty'' is a 2004 Man Booker Prize-winning novel by Alan Hollinghurst. Plot The novel is set in Britain in three parts, taking place in 1983, 1986 and 1987. The story surrounds the young gay protagonist, Nick Guest. Nick is mid ...

Alan Hollinghurst Sir Alan James Hollinghurst (born 26 May 1954) is an English novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. He won the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award and the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. In 2004, he won the Booker Prize for his novel ...

References

Sources

External links

Worcester College homepage

Worcester College JCR

Worcester College MCR

Worcester College Chapel
* {{Authority control 1714 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1714 Universities and colleges established in the 18th century Colleges of the University of Oxford Grade I listed buildings in Oxford Grade I listed educational buildings Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford William Burges buildings