Somerville College, Oxford

Colleges and halls of the University of Oxford Somerville College
College name	Somerville College
Motto	Donec rursus impleat orbem (translated: Until it should fill the world again)
Named after	Mary Somerville
Previously named	Somerville Hall (1879-1894)
Established	1879
Sister college	Girton College, Cambridge
Principal	Alice Prochaska
Undergraduates	408[1]
Graduates	163[2]
Location	Woodstock Road, Oxford
Location of Somerville College within central OxfordCoordinates: 51°45′35″N 1°15′43″W / 51.759644°N 1.261872°W / 51.759644; -1.261872
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Blazon	Argent, three mullets in chevron reversed gules, between six crosses crosslet fitched sable.

Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, it was one of the first women's colleges in Oxford. Today, around 50% of students are male. The first male students were admitted to the college in 1994.^[3] The college is located at the southern end of Woodstock Road, with Little Clarendon Street to the south and Walton Street to the west.

As of 2006, Somerville had an estimated financial endowment of £44.5 million.^[4]

History

Foundation

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 Dr. G. G. Bradley, Master of University College, 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 institution, which was unacceptable to most of the other members. The two parties eventually split, and Talbot's group founded Lady Margaret Hall.

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 second committee included Dr. John Percival, Dr. G. W. Kitchin, A. H. D. Ackland, T. H. Green, Mary Ward, William Sidgwick, Henry Nettleship, and A. G. Vernon Harcourt. This new effort resulted in the founding of Somerville Hall, named for the then recently deceased Scottish Mathematician Mary Somerville. 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 and access to education.

World War One

During World War I the college was converted into a military hospital as Somerville Section of the 3rd Southern General Hospital. For the duration of the war, Somerville students relocated to Oriel College. Notable patients who stayed in Somerville include Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon, who opens Siegfried's Progress with a reference to the college. Photographs of the college in this period can be found hanging in Hall, outside the pantry.

Women's College

When opened, Somerville Hall had twelve students, ranging in age between 17 and 36. In 1891 it became the first women's hall to introduce entrance exams. The hall was renamed Somerville College in 1894, becoming the first of the women's colleges to adopt this title. In 1920, Oxford University allowed women to matriculate and therefore gain degrees and in 1925, Somerville's college charter was granted. During the principalship of Janet Vaughan, Somerville, along with the other women's colleges became a full constituent college of Oxford University.

Somerville for Women and for Men

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^[3] with an intake 50% male/female, a gender balance maintained to this day.

“	In the 1890s Somerville helped fashion the “New Woman”; a century later….the college has set itself the perhaps greater challenge of educating the “New Man."	”
—Pauline Adams, Somerville for Women.

^[5][6]

Buildings and Grounds

The college and main entrance, the Porters' Lodge are located on Woodstock Road. The front of the college runs between St Aloysius Church and the Faculty of Philosophy. Somerville boasts buildings, of various architectural styles, many of which bear the names of former principals of the college.

House (1879) and Hostel (1898)

The original building of Somerville Hall, Walton House as it was originally called, was bought from St John's College in 1879. The house could only accommodate 7 of the 12 students who came up to Oxford in the first year.^[7] Today House is home to some students. It also contains Green Hall, where guests to College are often greeted and in which prospective students are registered and wait for interviews. Until 2014, it housed the college bar. Most of the administration of college and academic pigeon holes are located in House. A staircase from Green Hall leads up to Hall.

Hostel is a small block between House and Darbishire, it houses 10 students over three floors. The Bursary is on the ground floor.^[8]

Park (1886-1895) and Holtby (c.1956)

Originally known as West, due to its location within the college, the project to build a second self-contained hall was an attempt to imitate Newnham College. The building was designed by H. C. Moore and built in two stages. The 1886-7 phase saw the construction of rooms for 18 students with their own dining-room and sitting rooms. The second created two sets of tutors' rooms and the West Lodge.^[7]

Renamed Park in honour of Daphne Park, the principal from 1980-1989. There are over 60 student rooms and fellows' rooms within the building. There is a music room and since the construction of the bar beneath Vaughan in 2014, the only Junior Common Room (JCR) in college.

Holtby is situated above the library extension, adjacent to Park. It has 10 rooms for undergraduates and is named for alumna Winifred Holtby.^[9]

Library (1903)

Designed by Basil Champneys and opened by John Morley, Somerville College Library was the first purpose built library amongst the women's colleges of the university. As such it was designed to serve readers beyond the membership of the college and to contain 60,000 volumes despite the college only possessing 6000 in 1903. The building now contains around 120,000 items and is one of the largest undergraduate college libraries in the university.

The library dominates the north wing of the main quadrangle and is open 24 hours, with wifi access which is college wide, a group study room, and many computers.

Amelia Edwards, John Stuart Mill, John Ruskin and Vera Brittain are notable benefactors to the library.^[10]

Maitland (1910-11) and Hall (1912–1913)

Until 1911, there was no hall large enough to seat the entire college. The buildings were designed by Edmund Fisher and were opened by the Vice-Chancellor of the university. A fund was raised as a memorial to Miss Maitland, the principal of Somerville Hall (College from 1894) from 1889 to 1906. This money was used to pay for the oak panelling in Hall. The buildings were constructed on the site of an adjoining building gifted to Somerville by E. J. Forester in 1897 and bought from University college and Balliol for £4000 and £1,400.^[7]

There was difficulty in the construction of the buildings, which is now thought to have been the result of the outer limit of the Oxford city fortifications running under the site.

Hall and Maitland form the East face of the main quad. The Senior Common Room is situated on the ground floor. The first floor is occupied by the pantry and the hall, in which formal hall (called guest night) is held weekly during term time.

Maitland houses few students, being mainly occupied by fellows' offices and the college IT office. The building is named after principal Agnes Maitland, and is to the south of Hall.^[8]

Penrose (1927)

The Penrose block was designed by Harold Rogers and is situated at the south western end of the main quadrangle on the site of 119 and 119A Walton Street.^[7] Penrose houses mainly first year accommodation, with around 30 rooms.^[8] Some fellows's rooms are located in Penrose. The building was refurbished in 2014, with carpets replacing the formally bare wooden floorboards, and new furniture. Penrose is named for Dame Emily Penrose, the third principal of the college.

The western wall of Penrose and the northern wall of Vaughan form two faces of the fellows' garden, which is distinct from the main quad and separated from it by a hedge and a wall.

Darbishire (1934)

Originally called the East Quadrangle and opened by Lord Halifax, Darbishire was renamed in honour of the principal of the college during its construction, Helen Darbishire.

The quad was the culmination of a long-standing project to absorb Woodstock Road properties above St Aloysius Church. In 1920, three houses, 29, 31 and 33 were purchased by the college from the vicar of St Giles' Church, Oxford for the sum of £1,300. The three properties were constructed by in 1859 and had been rented by the college prior to their purchase. The adjoining 'Waggon and Horses' was purchased from St John's College Oxford in 1923. These buildings were demolished between 1932 and 1933 together with the old Gate House.

Morley Horder was commissioned to build a quadrangle which would fill the space left by the demolished structures. The porters' lodge and a council room, the New Council Room, were constructed at the entrance to the quad, which housed undergraduate and fellows' rooms.^[7]

The archway leading to Hall was reconstructed in 1938.

Today Darbishire contains around 50 student rooms mixed with tutors' offices, the college archive and medical room.^[9] The offices of the Global Ocean Commission, co-chaired by José María Figueres, Trevor Manuel and David Miliband are situated in Darbishire as part of a partnership with Somerville.^[11]

The Chapel (1935)

Built largely with funds provided by alumna Emily Georgiana Kemp, Somerville Chapel reflects the undenominational principle on which the college was founded in 1879. No religious texts were used for admission and undenominational Christian prayers were said in college.

The chapel does not have a chaplain, but a 'Chapel Director' which is in keeping with its undenominational tradition. The chapel provides opportunities for Christian worship in addition to hosting speakers with a range of religious perspectives.^[12]

Vaughan & Margery Fry and Elizabeth Nuffield House (1958 - 1966)

Designed by Sir Philip Dowson and constructed between 1958 and 1966, Vaughan and Margery Fry and Elizabeth Nuffield House (commonly shortened to Margery Fry) are both named for former principals of the college, whilst Elizabeth Nuffield was an important proponent of women's education and along with her husband Lord Nuffield a financial benefactor of the college. Constructed in the same architectural style, with an exterior concrete frame standing away from the walls of the interior edifice, the two buildings sit atop a podium containing shops and an arcaded walkway on Little Clarendon Street. Vaughan is the larger of the two, with 11 rows to its concrete frame compared to the 8 of Margery Fry.^[13]

Margery Fry serves as the centre of the graduate community at Somerville and contains 24 graduate rooms.

Vaughan contains around 60 undergraduate rooms, which are smaller than those of Margery Fry and house first year students exclusively. 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.^[9]

Wolfson (c.1967)

Sir Philip Dowson was commissioned to design a building at the back of the college, to house undergraduates and offices for fellows. Wolfson is, in common with Dowson's other work in Somerville, constructed largely of glass and concrete. It is grade II listed.^[13] A four-storey building, with five bays of each floor, Wolfson boasts impressive views of Walton Street from the rear and Somerville's main quadrangle from the front.^[9]

Wolfson is named for the building's principle benefactor Sir Isaac Wolfson.

The ground floor of the building contains the Flora Anderson Hall or FAH and the Brittain-Williams Room, named for the college's most famous mother-daughter alumnae. The room was opened on 29 November 2013 by Shirley Williams during an event which saw her unveil a portrait of herself, which now hangs in the room.^[14] The FAH is used for lectures and events. Notably it hosts college parties known as bops. The portrait of Baroness Shirley Williams is removed on these occasions.

Margaret Thatcher Centre and Dorothy Hodgkin Quadrangle (1990)

Named for the alumna-Prime Minister, the MTC comprises a lobby, lecture room and ante room, with disabled access. The lecture room enjoys AV facilities and can accommodate 60 seated patrons. The venue is used for certain term time events and is popular with conferences.^[15] A bust of Margaret Thatcher stands in the lobby.

The Dorothy Hodgkin Quad houses mainly finalists and some second year students. The Quadrangle is above the MTC and designed around self-contained flats of two and four bedrooms with communal kitchens. DHQ is named for Somerville's Nobel Prize winning laureate.^[9]

Radcilffe Observatory Quarter (2011)

ROQ East and West flank the north side of Somerville and overlook the site of the university's principal development, the Blavatnik School of Government. The ROQ buildings have won 4 awards for their architect Niall McLaughlin. The project was also awarded Oxford City Council's David Steel Sustainable Building Award, being commended for its balancing of Somervillian collegiate heritage with the need for energy efficiency to be a consideration for the new building. Energy efficiency measures include renewable technologies such as solar thermal energy and ground source heat pumps.^[16]

The buildings house 68 students and all rooms are en-suite. There are a number of rooms and facilities specifically designed to help those with disabilities, including lifts and adjoining carer rooms. The buildings were made possible by donations of over £2.7 million from over 1000 alumni and friends of the college.^[9]

'The Terrace' (2013)

The most recent construction in Somerville, the college bar in Vaughan replaces the bar in House. The bar is housed in a mainly glass structure, with seating in the college colours of red and black. Doombar is served at £2.50 a pint and the pool table costs 50p per frame.^[17]

Student life

In 2011 student satisfaction was rated in some categories as the highest in the university.^[18] Central to the college is its large quad, onto which most accommodation blocks back; it is often filled with students in summer. It is also one of the only Oxbridge colleges, where students (as opposed to just fellows) can walk on the grass.

Triennial Ball

Once every three years, Somerville hosts a ball, which is organised with Jesus College, Oxford. The last ball was held in May 2013 and was widely condemned for poor organisation, examples of which included but are not limited to the lack of canapés, the presence of only one food stand, serving pork; The vegetarian options were said to run out quickly and patrons were reportedly set on fire by the pork rotisserie.

“	The ball descended into farce with guests questioning what the organisers had done with the money paid by 1,000 guests.	”
—Conal Urquhart, The Guardian, 25 May 2013

^[19]

The next ball will be held in 2016.

Academic Reputation

Before men were admitted to the college, and under the principalship of Barbara Craig, Somerville established a position at, or near the head of the Norrington Table.^[20] Currently, by academic performance, Somerville is in the lower half of Oxford University colleges. For the academic year 2013/14, the college came 27th out of 30 in the Norrington Table, which lists the University's 29 undergraduate colleges in order of their students' examination performances. Between 2009 and 2013 Somerville performed progressively less well, falling 10 places from 19th to 29th over the course of the 4 years.^[21]

Somerville Choir

Somerville choir is mixed voice and is led by the Director of Music David Crown. In conjunction with the organ scholars, the choir is central to the musical life of the college.

There are termly orchestral concerts featuring soloists from the choir. In July 2010 the choir took a successful tour of Italy. The choir sings every Sunday during term time at the evening service. The organ of the college chapel is a traditionally voiced instrument by Harrison and Harrison.

Someville offers up to 5 Choral Exhibitions each year to applicants reading any subject. College Organ Scholars are guaranteed rooms in college for the duration of their course.

The college choir has released two CDs on the Stone Records label, "Requiem Aeternam" (2012)^[22] and "Advent Calendar" (2013).^[23]

In March 2014, Somerville Choir used Hubbub to crowdfund their tour of the USA, and in doing so became the first Oxford college choir to crowdfund their activities. They raised £6,506 in 3 weeks.

University Challenge

Somerville has recently enjoyed success on University Challenge disproportionate to the college's size. The college has won the competition once, triumphing in the University Challenge 2001–02 series and beating Imperial College, London by 200 points to 185. Most recently, the college team reached the final of the University Challenge 2013–14 series, losing in the final to Trinity College, Cambridge, with a score of 134 to 240.^[24]

Politics

Somerville is regarded as being one of the more liberal colleges in the university. Despite its most famous alumna, Margaret Thatcher, being a Conservative, it is regarded as a left-wing college and has a socially diverse intake.

Sport

Somerville has a healthy sports culture. There is a gym situated beneath Vaughan, replete with treadmills, cross-trainers and weights. Somerville shares a sports ground with Wadham College and St. Hugh's College, on Marston Ferry Road.

Football

Somerville men's football team missed out on promotion in the 2013-14 season. Football is played every term. Somerville women reached the semi-finals of Cuppers in the 2013-14 year and remained in the top division.

Rugby

Corpus Christi College forms Corpusville RFC with Somerville. Recently the team has been composed solely of Somervillians. Rugby is played for two terms a year. Corpusville currently play in the 3rd division.

Rowing

Somerville was one of the first colleges to form a rowing team, in 1920. The college competes in both of the annual University Bumps races, Torpids and Summer Eights.

Cricket

Somerville cricket team will play in the 1st division for the 2014-15 university season.

Lacrosse

The Somerville, mixed lacrosse, team came second in Cuppers in the 2013-14 tournament, despite it being their first year fielding a team.

Croquet

Croquet is played in summer on the lawn to the south-west of the main quad. It is the most widely played sport in Somerville with 16 teams of four entering the Cuppers tournament in the year 2013-14, one of which reached the final 8 out of almost 500 entering teams.

Principals of the college

Name	Birth	Death	Principal Between	Notes
Madeleine Shaw-Lefèvre	1835	1914	1879–1889	Only principal of Somerville Hall and first principal of Somerville College, from 1884.
Agnes Catherine Maitland	1850	1906	1889–1906	Introduced the tutorial system to Somerville.
Emily Penrose	1858	1942	1906-1926	Classical Scholar.
Margery Fry	1874	1958	1926–1930	Social reformer.
Helen Darbishire	1881	1961	1930-1945	Literary scholar.
Janet Vaughan	1899	1993	1945–1967	Haematologist and radiobiologist.
Barbara Craig	1916	2005	1967–1980	Classical archaeologist.
Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth	1921	2010	1980–1989	Spy.
Catherine Pestell	1933	2014	1989–1991
No Principal
Catherine Hughes	1933	2014	1991–1996	As the statutes of the College did not permit the Principal to marry, Miss Pestell resigned, married and was re-elected as Principal; however there was a two-week period when the College had no Principal.
Fiona Caldicott	1941		1996–2010	First woman to be President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1993–96) and its first woman Dean (1990–93).
Alice Prochaska	1947		2010-	Involved with the design of the first National Curriculum for history

Notable alumni

Somerville alumnae have achieved an impressive number of “firsts” - the most distinguishable being that of the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher. Also the first, and only, British woman to win a Nobel prize in science Dorothy Hodgkin; the highest ranking female officer of her time in the British intelligence services (the Queen of Spies) Daphne Park; and also the first woman to lead the world’s largest democracy Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister of India for much of the 1970s.

See also Former students of Somerville College, Oxford

Name	Birth	Death	Notable for
Manel Abeysekera	1933		Sri Lanka's first woman career diplomat
Alyson Bailes	1949		Former British ambassador and Director of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Vera Brittain	1893	1970	Writer and pacifist, author of Testament of Youth.
Averil Cameron	1940		Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History and former Warden of Keble College.
Kay Davies	1951		Human geneticist.
Judith Green (historian)	1961		English medieval historian, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh.
Susie Dent	1967		Dictionary Corner.
A. S. Byatt	1936		Novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner.
Philippa Foot	1920	2010	Philosopher and Ethicist.
Margaret Forster	1938		Author.
Indira Gandhi	1917	1984	Prime minister of India.
Maggie Gee	1948		Author
Helen Goodman	1958		Labour politician.
Celia Green	1935		Philosopher and author.
Nia Griffith	1956		Labour politician.
Dorothy Hodgkin	1910	1994	Nobel Prize winner for her discovery of the structure of Vitamin B12.
Winifred Holtby	1898	1935	Novelist and Journalist, author of South Riding.
Ethel Hurlbatt	1866	1934	Principal of Bedford College, London and former warden of Royal Victoria College, Montreal.
Sarah Ioannides	1972		Music director and conductor.
Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington	1939		Labour Party politician and life peer
Kathleen Kenyon	1906	1978	Archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent. Former Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford.
Emma Kirkby	1949		Soprano and renowned early music specialist.
Akua Kuenyehia	1947		Judge at the International Criminal Court
Frances Lincoln	1945	2001	Publisher.
Genevieve Lloyd	1941		Philosopher and feminist.
Cindy Gallop	1960		Advertising consultant, founder and former chair of the US branch of advertising firm Bartle Bogle Hegarty, and founder of the IfWeRanTheWorld and MakeLoveNotPorn.
Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera	1962		British investment banker and Labour politician.
Rose Macaulay	1881	1958	Writer.
Alice Prochaska	1947		Principal of Somerville College, historian, librarian and museum curator.
Kara Miller	1977		Writer and director, Breakthrough Brits award winner
Peter Morris (playwright)	1973		Playwright.
Iris Murdoch	1919	1999	Author and philosopher.
Eirene White, Baroness White	1909	1999	British Labour politician and journalist.
Kathleen Ollerenshaw	1912	2014	Mathematician.
Onora O'Neill	1941		Kantian philosopher and member of the House of Lords[25]
Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth	1921	2010	Spy.
Esther Rantzen	1940		Journalist and television presenter. Founder of Childline.
Michèle Roberts	1949		Writer.
Tessa Ross	1961		BAFTA award winning film executive.
Emma Georgina Rothschild	1948		Economic Historian.
Dorothy L. Sayers	1893	1957	Author of the Lord Peter Wimsey books and translator of Dante's Divina Commedia.
Caroline Series	1951		Mathematician.
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Baroness Neville-Rolfe	1953		Tesco. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Intellectual Property at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Matthew Skelton	1971		Children's writer.
Frances Stewart	1940		Pre-eminent development economist.
Cornelia Sorabji	1866	1954	First female Indian barrister, social reformer, and writer.
Hilary Spurling	1940		Writer, journalist and biographer.
Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher	1925	2013	Conservative Party Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1979-90 and life peer
Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby	1930		Liberal Democrats politician and life peer, one of the gang of four founders of the SDP.
Olive Willis	1877	1964	Founder of Downe House.
Audrey Withers	1905	2001	Editor of Vogue[26]
Fasi Zaka	1976		TV personality, Critic, Journalist.
Sam Gyimah	1976		Conservative MP for East Surrey.
Kate Williams (historian)	1979		Historian, Author, Television Personality.

References

Bibliography

• Somerville for Women: an Oxford College 1879–1993, Pauline Adams (Oxford University Press, 1996) ISBN 0-19-920179-X.
• Breaking New Ground: A history of Somerville College through its buildings, (Somerville College, Oxford, 2013)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Somerville College, Oxford.

• Official website
• JCR website
• MCR website
• The Choir of Somerville College, Oxford
• Somerville Music Society
• Somerville Boat Club Website

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