| Wadham College | |
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| University of Oxford | |
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| Scarf colours: black, with two grey-blue stripes a quarter of a scarf-width in from either edge, each stripe edged with a yellow pinstripe on the right-hand side only | |
| Location | Parks Road |
| Coordinates | 51°45′21″N1°15′17″W / 51.755871°N 1.254593°W /51.755871; -1.254593 |
| Full name | Warden, Fellows and Scholars of Wadham College of the Foundation of Nicholas Wadham Esquire and Dorothy His Wife in the University of Oxford |
| Latin name | Collegium Wadhami |
| Established | 1610; 415 years ago (1610) |
| Named for | Dorothy (née Petre) andNicholas Wadham |
| Sister college | Christ's College, Cambridge |
| Warden | Robert Hannigan |
| Undergraduates | 471[2] (2022) |
| Postgraduates | 217[2] (2022) |
| Website | wadham.ox.ac.uk |
| Boat club | Wadham College Boat Club |
| Map | |
  Location in Oxford city centre | |
Wadham College (/ˈwɒdəm/WOD-əm) is one of theconstituent colleges of theUniversity of Oxford[3] in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre ofOxford, at the intersection ofBroad Street andParks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 byDorothy Wadham, according to the will of her late husbandNicholas Wadham, a member of an ancient Devon and Somerset family.
The central buildings, a notable example ofJacobean architecture, were designed by the architectWilliam Arnold and erected between 1610 and 1613. They include a large and ornate Hall. Adjacent to the central buildings are the Wadham Gardens. Wadham is one of the largest colleges of the University of Oxford, with about 480 undergraduates and 240 graduate students.[2] The college publishes an annual magazine for alumni, theWadham College Gazette.[4] As of 2022, it had an estimatedfinancial endowment of £113 million,[5] and in the 2021–2022 academic year ranked seventh in theNorrington Table, a measure which ranks Oxford colleges by academic performance.[6]
Amongst Wadham's most famousalumni isSir Christopher Wren. Wren was one of a group of experimental scientists at Oxford in the 1650s, theOxford Philosophical Club, which includedRobert Boyle andRobert Hooke. This group held regular meetings at Wadham College under the guidance of the warden,John Wilkins, and the group formed the nucleus which went on to found theRoyal Society.
The college was founded byDorothy Wadham (née Petre) in 1610,[7] according to the wishes set out in the will of her husbandNicholas Wadham. Over four years, she gained royal and ecclesiastical support for the new college, negotiated the purchase of a site, appointed the West Country architectWilliam Arnold, drew up the college statutes, and appointed the first warden, fellows, scholars, and cook. Although she never visited Oxford, she kept tight control of her new college and its finances until her death in 1618.[8]
The wardenship ofJohn Wilkins (1648–1659) is a significant period in the history of the college. Wilkins was a member of a group which had met for some years in London to discuss problems in the natural sciences. Many of the group moved to Oxford and held regular meetings in the Warden's lodgings at Wadham. Among them wereRobert Boyle,Robert Hooke,John Locke,William Petty,John Wallis, andThomas Willis. Wadham provided the largest contingent, some twelve of the fifty names mentioned. These included Christopher Brookes (mathematician and instrument-maker),John Mayow (a distinguished chemist and physician),Lawrence Rooke (later astronomy professor atGresham College, London),Thomas Sprat (later the official historian of theRoyal Society),Seth Ward (mathematician andSavilian Professor of Astronomy), andSir Christopher Wren (mathematician andSavilian Professor of Astronomy).[9]
Sir Christopher Wren was an undergraduate at Wadham before he became a fellow ofAll Souls and then succeededRooke as astronomy professor atGresham College, London. He eventually returned to occupy rooms at Wadham while he was theSavilian Professor of Astronomy from 1661. Wren had notable achievements in pure and applied mathematics, astronomy, physics and biology to his credit before he turned to architecture, in his thirties.[9] In mathematical ability alone, Wren was ranked by competent authorities second only toNewton among the men of his time.[10]
The Warden's lodgings were stuffed with ingenious instruments, and powerful telescopes were mounted on the college tower. The Oxford group kept up close relations with their colleagues in London, and in 1660, atGresham, the decision was taken to create the body which, in 1662, was to be formally incorporated as theRoyal Society.Wilkins was the first president of the provisional body, and became the first secretary of the Royal Society itself. These were the beginnings of organised scientific research in Britain.[9]
Maurice Bowra was warden of the college from 1938 until 1970, and was influential in determining the character of the college as open and meritocratic. He was known for his hospitality but also for his waspish wit, and anecdotes about his time as Warden remain in circulation amongst Wadham alumni. A statue of Bowra is in the college gardens, and the college's 1992 Bowra Building bears his name.[11]
The college now consists of some 70 Fellows, about 230 graduate students, and about 450 undergraduates. The current Warden isRobert Hannigan. Hannigan succeededLord Macdonald of River Glaven QC as Warden upon Macdonald's retirement in 2021.[12]
In 1974, after more than three and a half centuries as a men-only institution, Wadham was among the first group of five all-male colleges at Oxford to admit women as full members, the others beingBrasenose,Jesus College,Hertford andSt Catherine's.[13]
Wadham College has a reputation as a supporter of gay rights partly because it plays host to "Queerfest", a celebration of the LGBTQ cause.[14] In 2011, Wadham became the first Oxbridge college to fly theRainbow Flag in support of equality, as part of its annual Queer Week.[15] Therainbow flag also flies over Wadham each year during February, to markLGBT history month.[citation needed]
A Wadham student tradition is that student social events are always concluded with the playing ofthe Specials'Free Nelson Mandela. The motion to play the song to conclude every student event untilNelson Mandela was freed from prison was passed by the Wadham Student Union in 1987, when Wadham alumnus Simon Milner (History, 1985), now Policy Director at Facebook, was SU President.[16] Following Mandela's liberation, the Student Union voted to continue the tradition as a mark of affection. President Mandela visited Wadham College and dined there on 11 July 1997.[17] In 2017, this tradition was challenged by a South African student, who is a member of theANC and active in equality campaigning in South Africa, as no longer appropriate given the complex legacy of Mandela in post-Apartheid South Africa. He also highlighted that there is much more to South Africa than just the history of Apartheid, and that constant reference to it rather than South Africa's current issues is outdated and no longer the progressive act it was intended to be. A vote to remove the constitutional requirement to play the song was narrowly defeated in a Wadham SU meeting.
In 2013 the warden,Lord Macdonald of River Glaven QC, created the Wadham Human Rights Forum, a new public forum for the discussion of human rights issues that welcomes top level speakers to Wadham College. Lord Macdonald was also frequently in the media speaking on legal issues and, particularly, on issues relating to rights and security.[18]
Wadham is sometimes put forward as the last major English public building to be created according to the mediaeval tradition of theMaster Mason. Wadham's frontquadrangle (quad), which served as almost the entire college until the mid-20th century, is also an early example of the "Jacobean Gothic" style that was adopted for many of the university's buildings.[citation needed]
The main building was erected in a single building operation in 1610–1613. The architect,William Arnold, was also responsible forMontacute House andDunster Castle inSomerset, and was involved in the building of Cranborne Manor, Dorset forRobert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury,James I'sLord Treasurer. The style of the building is a fairly traditional OxfordGothic, modified by classical decorative detail, most notably the 'frontispiece' framing statues of James I and the Founders immediately facing visitors as they enter the college. Classical, too, is the over-powering emphasis on symmetry. The central quadrangle was originally gravelled throughout; the present lawn was laid down in 1809. The college was refaced in the 1960s, and much of the front quad has undergone further restoration work.[citation needed]
In 2019 a new 135 bed student accommodation was completed for the campus.[19]
In 1898, thehall was the third largest amongst Oxford colleges afterChrist Church andNew College.[10] It is notable for its greathammer-beam roof and for the Jacobean woodwork of the entrance screen. The portraits include those of the founders and of distinguished members of the college. The large portrait in the gallery is ofJohn Lovelace, who held Oxford forWilliam of Orange during theRevolution of 1688; the inscription records his role in freeing England 'from popery and slavery'.[20]
Although a ceremonial door opens directly into Front Quad, the chapel is usually reached through the door in staircase 3. The screen, similar to that in the hall, was carved by John Bolton. Originally Jacobean woodwork ran right round the chapel. The present stonereredos was inserted in the east end in 1834. The elegant young man reclining on his monument is Sir John Portman, baronet, who died in 1624 as a nineteen-year-old undergraduate. Another monument is in the form of a pile of books; it commemorates Thomas Harris, one of the fellows of the college appointed at the foundation. The Chapel organ dates from 1862 and 1886.[21] It is one of the few instruments byHenry Willis, the doyen ofVictorian English organ builders, to survive without substantial modification of its tonal design.[citation needed]
The East Window, which depicts several scenes from theOld andNew Testaments, was created byBernard van Linge in 1622.[22] The windows on the north and south sides of the chapel depict various Old Testament prophets, such asJonah, and apostles, such asSt Andrew. They originate from different periods. One window is dated 1616, and attributed to Robert Rutland, a local craftsman.[22] The windows of the antechapel, which also show saintly figures, are Victorian. They were designed by John Bridges, and created by David Evans in 1838.[22]
Limited additions were made during the 18th and 19th centuries, including a converted warehouse originally used to store Bibles. A series of expansions since 1952 have made use of a range of 17th- and 18th-century houses and several modern buildings to create a Back Quad between the Front Quad andHolywell Street.
The small quadrangle formed by the Junior Common Room, the William Doo Undergraduate Centre, the Dr. Lee Shau Kee Building, the Holywell Music Room and (latterly) the Bowra Building was sometimes known to students as the "Ho Chi Minh" quad. It is thought to have been thus named (in honour of Vietnamese revolutionary leaderHo Chi Minh) during the period of student radicalism in the 1960s.[citation needed]
The college grounds contain theHolywell Music Room. This is said to be the oldest purpose-built music room inEurope, and henceEngland's firstconcert hall.[23] It was designed by Thomas Camplin, at that time Vice-Principal ofSt Edmund Hall, and opened in July 1748. The interior has been restored to a near-replica of the original and contains the only surviving Donaldson organ, built in 1790 by John Donaldson of Newcastle and installed in 1985 after being restored.[24]
TheFerdowsi Library (formerly theAshraf Pahlavi Library) specialises in Persian literature, art, history, and culture. It possesses about 3,500 volumes, almost 800 manuscripts, about 200 lithographs in Arabic and Persian, and about 700 rare and early Armenian books, most of which were donated by Dr. Caro Minasian.[25]
At the end of the 1960s, the Warden,Maurice Bowra, President of theBritish Academy and one of the first co-founders of theBritish Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), welcomed a donation to construct the building of the New Library in Wadham, where the emphasis would be given to Persian Studies and the post in Persian. Since then a special connection between Wadham and Iran has been established.[25]
The Wadham library building was initially funded by donations from the then (1976) Iranian ruling family, thePahlavi dynasty. The funds were secured by Fellow and tutor in economics, Eprime Eshag.[25][26] The building, with associated accommodation blocks, was designed byGillespie, Kidd & Coia. Today the library is open 24/7 and has wireless connectivity throughout.[27]
The Bowra Building next to the Ferdowsi Library and Bar Quad was designed bySir Richard MacCormac and opened in 1992. It includes a cafeteria, gym, seminar rooms, squash court and the Moser Theatre as well as student rooms.[28] It also included a bar, which has since been moved to the Dr Lee Shau Kee Building and William Doo Undergraduate Centre.
The McCall MacBain Graduate Centre was designed by Lee/Fitzgerald Architects and opened in 2012. It won a 2014 Riba Regional Award and Conservation Award.[29] It provides a dedicated social and study space for Wadham's graduate students on the main site of Wadham college.[30]
The Dr Lee Shau Kee Building and William Doo Undergraduate Centre were designed byAmanda Levete Architects. They replaced the Goddard building of 1951 and now provide facilities for the college's access activities and student union. Construction began in 2018 and was completed in late 2020.[31]
The Merifield annexe, named afterMerryfield, Ilton once home to the Wadhams, is inSummertown, about 1.2 miles from the centre of Oxford.[32]Most of the graduate student accommodation is at Merifield.[33]
The Dorothy Wadham Building, onIffley Road, was designed byAllies and Morrison and opened in 2019. It houses undergraduates, predominantly in their second year of studies.[34]
Wadham Gardens are relatively large when compared with those of other Oxford colleges, even without the land sold to buildRhodes House in the 1920s. Originally a series of orchards and market-gardens carved out from the property of the previously existingAugustinian priory, their appearance and configuration have been significantly modified over the course of the last four hundred years to reflect their constantly changing functional and aesthetic purpose.
The land was shaped, in particular, by two major periods of planning. Gardens were first created under WardenWilkins (1648–1659) as a series of formal rectangles laid out around a (then fashionable) mound which was, in turn, surmounted by a figure ofAtlas. These gardens were notable not least for their collection of mechanical contrivances (including a talking statue and a rainbow-maker), a number ofobelisks and aDoric temple.[35] Under Warden Wills (1783–1806), the terrain was then radically remodelled and landscaped (byShipley) and became notable for a distinguished collection of trees.
Restored and reshaped following theSecond World War, the present Gardens are divided into the Warden's Garden, the Fellows' Private Garden and the Fellows' Garden, together with the Cloister Garden (originally the cemetery) and the White Scented Garden.
They are still notable for their collection of trees (specimens include aholm oak, silver pendant lime,tulip tree, golden yew, purple beech,cedar of Lebanon,ginkgo,giant redwood,tree of heaven,incense cedar,Corsican pine,magnolia and a rareChinese gutta-percha) and they still contain a number of vestigial curiosities from the past (notably an 18th-century 'cowshed' set into the remnants of the Royalist earthworks of 1642, one of the second generation of 'Emperors Heads' that adorned theSheldonian Theatre from 1868 to around 1970, and a sculpture of WardenBowra).
Undergraduate students at Wadham are offered accommodation for all years of their course.[36]Accommodation is provided within college for the first and final years of their course, and during the second (or fourth) year within the newly constructed Dorothy Wadham Building,[34] onIffley Road, or within the Merifield annexe[32][33] inSummertown.
Since 1976, Wadham has been distinctive in having a Student Union,[37] which in principle represents both undergraduate and graduate members. In practice the SU is more concerned with undergraduate interests and activities, whilst the separate MCR committee represents graduate students.[38]
All students can use the on-site facilities such as the Moser Theatre, squash court, gym, kitchen, laundry room, music practice rooms and various meeting rooms. The JCR Lounge is the main common room space used by undergraduate students, along with the bar. Since 2012 the MCR has had its own social area in the McCall MacBain Graduate Centre, with its kitchen, small bar, and media room. The college sports ground is located inSummertown, adjoining the Merifield residential complex.
The Wadham JCR common room consists of a pool table and a table tennis table.[citation needed] Famously, this has been the home of the Wadham bar sports team for over 15 years which has now grown to over 30 members. Notable alumni include influential figures from the finance, tech and legal sectors, in particularBlackRock,Google andHogan Lovells. An annual dinner is an important part of student life and has brought the years together over a shared love of pool and darts.[citation needed] In 2022 the Wadham pool team set a new record with a 78% frame win rate in Cuppers.[citation needed]
Wadham has a student exchange programme with theSarah Lawrence College inNew York. About 30 students come each year and live at Merifield, and about six Wadham students go to SLC in the spring each year for 3 weeks.[39][40]
There are elected welfare officers on both the SU and MCR committees. There is a general welfare room, as well as a women's room. The college also has a nurse who runs an open surgery.[41]
Wadham has a relatively high number ofstate school students, compared to other Oxford colleges. Wadham hosts Queerfest (formally Queer Bop), and Wadstock (a twelve-hour live music festival named afterWoodstock). It also hosts bops five times a term inMichaelmas term andHilary term.[41] A Wadham student tradition is that events are always concluded with the playing ofFree Nelson Mandela.[16]
There are three football teams, two chess teams, a cricket team, aboat club, a hockey team with Trinity, trampolining Cuppers side (mixed); Gaelic Football Cuppers side, men's darts, men's rugby, women's rugby Fives, mixed pool as well as Ultimate Frisbee.[41] There is also Wadham Women's Weightlifting, an inclusive weightlifting club for marginalised genders.[42]
Wadham College Boat Club is the rowing club for students at Wadham, and it also allows Harris Manchester College students to join. The college boat house is located on Boathouse Island.
There once was a Warden of Wadham
Who approved of the folkways of Sodom,
For a man might, he said,
Have a very poor head
But be a fine Fellow at bottom.[45]
The letter seemed to have dimmed the students' fire, was reprinted inHarper's Bazaar,[48] and cited in newspaper columns[49] and speeches[50] for at least two years following its publication.Dear Gentlemen: We note your threat to take what you call 'direct action' unless your demands are immediately met. We feel it is only sporting to remind you that our governing body includes three experts in chemical warfare, two ex-commandos skilled with dynamite and torturing prisoners, four qualified marksmen in both small arms and rifles, two ex-artillerymen, one holder of the Victoria Cross, four karate experts and a chaplain. The governing body has authorized me to tell you that we look forward with confidence to what you call a 'confrontation,' and I may say, with anticipation.
In common with many Oxford colleges, Wadham has produced a wide range of graduates in the fields of economics, history, law, physiology, medicine, management, humanities, mathematics, science, technology, media, philosophy, poetry, politics and religion who have contributed significantly to public life.
Notable members of the college in its early years includeRobert Blake,Cromwell's admiral and founder of British sea-power in theMediterranean,John Cook the first solicitor general of theEnglish Commonwealth and prosecutor of KingCharles I, the libertine poet and courtierJohn Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester, andSir Christopher Wren. Wren attended the meetings of scientifically inclined scholars which were held by WardenJohn Wilkins (Cromwell's brother-in-law) in the college in the 1650s. Those attending formed the nucleus of theRoyal Society at its foundation in 1662.
John Wilkins invitedRobert Boyle to Oxford in 1653, writing that "[I] shall be most ready to provide the best accommodations for you, that this place will afford".[55] Boyle moved to Oxford in 1655, but preferred not to accept Wilkins's offer of accommodation, choosing instead to arrange his own rooms where he could carry out his scientific experiments.[56] Boyle became a member of theOxford Philosophical Club that met weekly in Wilkins's chambers at Wadham, as didRobert Hooke who became Boyle's assistant after having been a chorister atChrist Church.
Arthur Onslow (1708), a great Speaker of the House of Commons, andRichard Bethell, who becameLord Chancellor as Lord Westbury in 1861, were members of the college.
Two 20th-century Lord Chancellors,F. E. Smith (Lord Birkenhead) andJohn Simon, were undergraduates together in the 1890s, along with the sportsmanC. B. Fry;Sir Thomas Beecham was an undergraduate in 1897, though soon abandoning Oxford for his musical career.
Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell, who wasChurchill's scientific adviser during theSecond World War, was a fellow of the college.Cecil Day-Lewis, laterPoet-Laureate, came up in 1923, andMichael Foot, later leader of theLabour Party, in 1931. SirMaurice Bowra, scholar and wit, was Warden between 1938 and 1970.Robert Moses, the city planner, joined the college in 1911.
Among recent members have beenDr Rowan Williams, the formerarchbishop of Canterbury,Lord Dyson, formerjustice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom andMaster of the Rolls, author and broadcasterMelvyn Bragg, writer and journalistJonathan Freedland, novelistsHari Kunzru andMonica Ali, andWasim Sajjad, formerChairman of the Senate of Pakistan and twicePresident of Pakistan. The mathematical physicist and philosopher SirRoger Penrose wasRouse Ball Professor of Mathematics 1973–1999, and is now anemeritus fellow.
Andrew Hodges, the theoretical physicist and author ofThe Imitation Game, the biography ofAlan Turing, is a Tutorial Fellow in mathematics at Wadham. Having taught at Wadham since 1986, Hodges was elected a Fellow in 2007, and was appointed Dean from start of the 2011/12 academic year.
Film directorsLindsay Anderson andTony Richardson were Wadham alumni.
ActorsRosamund Pike andFelicity Jones studied English at the College. Each has a portrait displayed in the college hall, and Rosamund Pike is an Honorary Fellow.
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