A demyship (or demy) is a form of scholarship, specifically at Magdalen College, Oxford. Oscar Wilde, Lewis Gielgud, Lord Denning and T. E. Lawrence were famous recipients. It is derived from demi-socii or half-fellows. Magdalen's founder, William of Waynflete, originally provided them for the College. Recipients (known as demies) are still admitted to the College's Foundation as well as being able to attend certain special ceremonies and dinners. Recent demies include the historian Niall Ferguson, Kenneth Tynan, George Osborne, Stuart Jennings, and Lucy Waddicor.
When the College of St Mary Magdalen was founded in the reign of King Henry VI by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, the Founder ordained that in addition to forty senior scholars, or Fellows, there should be thirty Poor Scholars, commonly called Demies, of good morals and dispositions fully equipped for study.