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St Hugh's College, Oxford

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St Hugh's College
Oxford
File:St Hughs Crest.svg
Latin nameCollegium Sancti Hugonis
Established1886
Named forSaint Hugh, bishop of Lincoln
Colours
Sister collegeClare College, Cambridge
Principal
JCR President
MCR President		Andrew Dilnot
Victor Greenstreet
Solomon Pomerantz
Undergraduates419
Postgraduates205
WebsiteHomepage
JCR Homepage
Boat clubBoat Club Website

St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, England, located on St Margaret's Road, Oxford. It was founded in 1886 as a women's college, and accepted its first male students in 1986. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £27 million.[1] It enjoys a reputation as one of the more attractive colleges because of its extensive, pleasant gardens and as a friendly college, being one of the few where students are permitted to walk on the grass of the grounds.[2]

Location

St Hugh’s occupies a rectangular site in North Oxford. It is bordered by Banbury Road on the east, Woodstock Road on the west, St Margaret’s Road on the north and Canterbury Road on the south. The college is equally accessible via the main entrance on St Margaret's Road and the back gate, which opens onto Canterbury Road.

The gardens of the college cover about ten and a half acres and are noteworthy in particular for the numerous flowering trees and shrubs.[3][4]

History of the college

Founded in 1886, St Hugh's was originally a college admitting only women, becoming co-educational a century later. It was founded by Elizabeth Wordsworth, great-niece of the famous poet, William Wordsworth. Using money left to her by her father, who had been Bishop of Lincoln, she established the college at 25 Norham Road in North Oxford.[5] She named the college after one of his 13th-century predecessors, Hugh of Avalon, who was canonised in 1220, and in whose diocese Oxford had been. Elizabeth Wordsworth was a champion of the cause of women's education, and her foundation was intended to enable poorer women to gain an Oxford education.

There are statues of both St Hugh and Elizabeth Wordsworth, presented to the college as gifts for its Jubilee in 1936, on the Library stairs. St Hugh carries a model of Lincoln Cathedral, which would have been very familiar to Elizabeth Wordsworth, and has his other hand resting on the head of a swan, probably the famous swan of Stow, although the swan is also a symbol of purity. Elizabeth Wordsworth is depicted wearing her doctoral robes.

College life

The front entrance of the college

Undergraduate students at the college and many graduate students are eligible for college accommodation on the main college site.[6] There is a range of rooms and flats available which are decided by the room ballots organised by the student bodies.[7]

The main entrance of the college leads straight to the Main Building, which usually accommodates first year students,[8] but also houses the chapel and the dining hall. Other first year students may be accommodated in the 1960s style Kenyon Building,[8] named for Dame Kathleen Kenyon. Second years either live in the Rachel Trickett Building, named for a past principal of the college, or the Mary Gray Allen Building. Wolfson Building consists of nine staircases. Finalists usually live in the newer Maplethorpe Building,[2] whose rooms have en-suite facilities and clusters of eight rooms sharing a kitchen on each of the three floors, with four staircases altogether. All the rooms have views of gardens.

The college is big enough to accommodate all its undergraduates and a large proportion of its postgraduates for the duration of their studies. There are two big lawns which are for the use of students all year round. The gardens are also the venue for croquet, tennis and ultimate frisbee, and St Hugh's is the only Oxford college with its own basketball courts. There are a wide range of clubs and societies, both sporting, academic, and those supporting niche interests.

Buildings

The Mordan Hall Suite and the Maplethorpe Building are the main parts used for hosting conferences. The original purpose of the Mordan Hall was as the college library. The Maplethorpe Building commemorates a benefactor, Cyril Maplethorpe, and the Mordan Hall Miss Clara Evelyn Mordan.[9]

Principals

Years Principal Other Info
1886–1915 Charlotte Anne Moberly[10]
1915–1924 Eleanor Jourdain[10]
1924–1946 Barbara Gwyer[10]
1946–1962 Evelyn Procter[11]
1962–1973 Kathleen Kenyon[12]
1973–1991 Rachel Trickett[13]
1991–2002 Derek Wood[14]
2002– Andrew Dilnot[15]

JCR presidents

Year JCR president Vice president Other Info
2011 [16] Victor Greenstreet (Law) Annie MacIver (History)
2010 Liam O'Connor (Chemistry)[17] Cameron Dobbs (Mathematics)[18] Cameron Dobbs was elected Deputy Returning Officer of OUSU [19] for MT10.
2009[20] Chris Blake (Human Sciences) Joseph Wales (Mathematics) Joe Wales was elected Chair of OUSU Council for HT10, TT10 and MT10. He was also elected OUSU Returning Officer for MT10
2008[21] Barry Wright (Mathematics) Nikita Malik (Economics & Management) Nikita Malik became President of OUSU's International Students' Committee (ISC) in 2009-2010
2007[22] Alistair Wrench (English) Andrew Hearn (PPE)
2006 Martin McCluskey Sam Tombs Martin McCluskey was elected President of OUSU in November 2006 and led the student protests against Nick Griffin and David Irving in 2007.[citation needed]
2005 Steph Charalambous Ingrid Frater Ingrid Frater became Vice-President (Graduates) of OUSU in 2006-7
2004 (Michaelmas) Matt Jobber Cedric Soule Matt Jober, JCR Treasurer, stood in for Dom Curran in the final term of 2004 2004 Dom Curran Cedric Soule
2003 Nicholas Wilson Louise Southern
2002 Damian Jenkins Richard Kenny
2001 Piers Varley Rebecca Welsford
2000 Sarah Tullis
1999 Raphael Mokades
1998 Tom Startup

MCR presidents

Year MCR president Vice president Other Info
2010-2011[23] Solomon Pomerantz Lisa Moevius
2010 (interim) Lisa Moevius (Theoretical Physics)[24] Joerg Robin (Atomic and Laser Physics)
2009-10 Therese-Heather Belen (Oxford Internet Institute)[24] Iain (Kip) Perdue (Medical Anthropology)[24]
2008-09 Iain (Kip) Perdue[24]

Choir

Like most other colleges in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, St. Hugh's has a choir which sings weekly evensong on Sundays. The choir draws its members from all three common rooms, and has performed for a wide variety of different guests, ranging from the Jamaican High Commissioner to many (Arch)bishops.[citation needed]

The present organ was constructed by the Italian organ-builder Tamburini[25] in the 1970s. The college offers an organ scholarships[26] along with four choral exhibitions each year, and employs a professional organist to oversee the chapel music.

Notable alumni

See also: Category:Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford

St Hugh's students are present in all spheres of public life. Theresa May is the incumbent Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality and until recently Barbara Castle, former Secretary of State, was the woman MP with the longest continuous service. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner studied at the college, as did musician Joe Goddard (from electropop outfit Hot Chip) and the mathematical child prodigy Ruth Lawrence, who joined the college in 1983 aged 12.

References

  1. ^ Oxford College Endowment Incomes, 1973-2006 (updated July 2007)
  2. ^ a b "St Hugh's College Alternative Prospectus" (PDF). St Hugh's JCR. p. 7. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  3. ^ Alden's Oxford Guide'. Oxford: Alden & Co., 1958; p. 123
  4. ^ "Of the women's colleges S. Hugh's has indisputably the best garden, and for many years now it has been under the loving care of Miss Rogers. It is a well-planned garden, and ... full of interest all the year round."--Rohde, Eleanour Sinclair (1932) Oxford's College Gardens. London: Herbert Jenkins; pp. 173-78
  5. ^ Judy G. Batson, Her Oxford, Vanderbilt University Press, 2008. St. Hugh's: Life on a Shoestring, pages 51–56. ISBN 978-0-8265-1610-7.
  6. ^ "St Hugh's College - College Life". Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  7. ^ "Room ballot procedure" (PDF). St Hugh's JCR. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  8. ^ a b "St Hugh's College Alternative Prospectus" (PDF). St Hugh's JCR. p. 6. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  9. ^ "Conference Facilities Brochure" (PDF). St Hugh's College, Oxford. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  10. ^ a b c Jalland, Beatrice. The Victoria History of the County of Oxford Volume III: The University of Oxford. University of London Institute of Historical Research. pp. 347–348.
  11. ^ Highfield, J. R. L. (September 2010). "Procter, Evelyn Emma Stefanos (1897–1980)" ((subscription or UK public library membership required)). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 November 2010. {{cite web}}: External link in |format= (help)
  12. ^ Parr, P. J. (2004). "Kenyon, Dame Kathleen Mary (1906–1978)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 23 November 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "Trickett, (Mabel) Rachel" ((subscription required)). Who Was Who 1920–2008. Oxford University Press. December 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  14. ^ "Wood, Derek Alexander". Who's Who 2010. Oxford University Press. November 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  15. ^ "Mr A Dilnot". St Hugh's College, Oxford. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  16. ^ St Hugh's JCR Returning Officer's Report
  17. ^ St Hugh's JCR Website: President
  18. ^ St Hugh's JCR Website: Vice-President
  19. ^ OUSU Minutes
  20. ^ St Hugh's JCR Meeting Agenda
  21. ^ JCR Meeting Minutes
  22. ^ JCR Meeting Minutes
  23. ^ "St Hugh's College MCR - Committee". Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  24. ^ a b c d "St Hugh's College MCR - Committee". Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  25. ^ "St Hugh's Freshers Guide 2009" (PDF). p. 91. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
  26. ^ "St Hugh's College - Chapel Music". Retrieved 28 November 2010.

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