St Peter's College, Oxford
Encyclopedia
St Peter's College is one of the constituent colleges
of the University of Oxford
, Oxford
, United Kingdom
, located in New Inn Hall Street
. It occupies the site of two of the University's oldest Inns, or medieval hostels - Bishop Trellick's, later New Inn Hall, and Rose Hall - both of which were founded in the 13th century and were part of the University in their own right. During the First English Civil War
, the University's college plate was requisitioned by the King's Oxford Parliament
and taken to New Inn Hall to be melted down into "Oxford Crowns". In the 18th century, William Blackstone
became the Principal of New Inn Hall after being appointed the Vinerian Professor of English Law
at Oxford. New Inn Hall and Rose Hall later became part of Balliol College.
The modern history of the college in its present form began in 1929 when St Peter's Hall was founded by Francis James Chavasse
, Bishop
of Liverpool
, who was concerned at the rising cost of education in the older universities in Britain, and projected St Peter's as a College where promising students, who might otherwise be deterred by the costs of College life elsewhere, could obtain an Oxford education. The commitment to make Oxford accessible to any student of ability, irrespective of means, remains a feature of St Peter's today.
In 1961, the University approved a statute giving St Peter's Hall full collegiate status. With the granting of its Royal Charter
in the same year, it took the name St Peter's College. As of 2006, the college has an estimated financial endowment of £34 million.
The College Dining Hall, known as Hannington Hall after the Victorian missionary, Bishop James Hannington
, dates from 1832 and is the only surviving part of New Inn Hall. The College chapel was originally the Church of St Peter-le-Bailey
, built in 1874, and the third church of that name on this site. The buildings of the former Oxford Girls' School, which adjoin the original site of the College, have been acquired more recently and provide living accommodation for students, seminar rooms, a Middle Common Room (for postgraduates) and a Music Room.
The college has four quads: Linton Quad (the main quad), Mulberry Quad, Hannington Quad and Chavasse Quad. On-site, students are housed in the modern New Block, in the spacious Chavasse building, in Staircase IV and in the Matthews block (this latter building also housing a spacious JCR and student run bar). The senior executive of the MCR are generally provided with housing in the Morris Building. Fellows and college staff occupy rooms mostly in Staircases I-III, the Latner building and Staircase IV.
St Peter's also has a few off-site accommodation blocks for students, all just a few minutes away from the main college site. St Thomas Street, and St George's Gate house undergraduates, while Paradise Street (which was only officially opened in June 2008) houses postgraduates and fourth-year undergraduates.
The college's sports teams have been very successful in recent years, with the college's boat club being a particular source of pride. In Torpids 2009, no fewer than five boats competed, winning two "blades" and +15 "bumps", a result only bettered by two other colleges. In Torpids 2010 the boat club bettered this achievement and were the most successful college on the river, achieving the equal most bumps as a college in total, and the most bumps per boat on average.
:Category:Fellows of St Peter's College, Oxford
Colleges of the University of Oxford
The University of Oxford comprises 38 Colleges and 6 Permanent Private Halls of religious foundation. Colleges and PPHs are autonomous self-governing corporations within the university, and all teaching staff and students studying for a degree of the university must belong to one of the colleges...
of the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, located in New Inn Hall Street
New Inn Hall Street
New Inn Hall Street is a street in central Oxford, England. It is a shopping street running north-south parallel and to the west of Cornmarket Street, with George Street to the north and Queen Street to the south...
. It occupies the site of two of the University's oldest Inns, or medieval hostels - Bishop Trellick's, later New Inn Hall, and Rose Hall - both of which were founded in the 13th century and were part of the University in their own right. During the First English Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
, the University's college plate was requisitioned by the King's Oxford Parliament
Oxford Parliament (1644)
The Oxford Parliament was the Parliament assembled by King Charles I for the first time 22 January 1644 and adjourned for the last time on 10 March 1645, with the purpose of instrumenting the Royalist war campaign.Charles was advised by Edward Hyde and others not to dissolve the Long Parliament as...
and taken to New Inn Hall to be melted down into "Oxford Crowns". In the 18th century, William Blackstone
William Blackstone
Sir William Blackstone KC SL was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the Commentaries on the Laws of England. Born into a middle class family in London, Blackstone was educated at Charterhouse School before matriculating at Pembroke...
became the Principal of New Inn Hall after being appointed the Vinerian Professor of English Law
Vinerian Professor of English Law
The Vinerian Professorship of English Law, formerly Vinerian Professorship of Common Law, was established by Charles Viner who by his will, dated 29 December 1755, left about £12,000 to the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford, to establish a Professorship of the Common Law...
at Oxford. New Inn Hall and Rose Hall later became part of Balliol College.
The modern history of the college in its present form began in 1929 when St Peter's Hall was founded by Francis James Chavasse
Francis James Chavasse
Francis James Chavasse was an Anglican priest. After serving in parishes in Preston, London and Oxford, he was principal of the evangelical theological college Wycliffe Hall, Oxford for 11 years from 1889. In 1900 he was appointed Bishop of Liverpool, the second incumbent of the post...
, Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, who was concerned at the rising cost of education in the older universities in Britain, and projected St Peter's as a College where promising students, who might otherwise be deterred by the costs of College life elsewhere, could obtain an Oxford education. The commitment to make Oxford accessible to any student of ability, irrespective of means, remains a feature of St Peter's today.
In 1961, the University approved a statute giving St Peter's Hall full collegiate status. With the granting of its Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
in the same year, it took the name St Peter's College. As of 2006, the college has an estimated financial endowment of £34 million.
Buildings
St Peter's has an interesting and varied set of buildings, many of them much older than the College itself. The College has, in effect, adapted existing buildings to provide the collective facilities needed for College life, and built new ones to provide for student accommodation. Linton House, a handsome Georgian rectory, dating from 1797, is the entrance to the College, and houses the Porters' Lodge and College library. Canal House, the Master's Lodge, dates from the early 19th century.The College Dining Hall, known as Hannington Hall after the Victorian missionary, Bishop James Hannington
James Hannington
James Hannington was an Anglican missionary, saint and martyr.-Life:Hannington was born at Hurstpierpoint in Sussex, England, on 3 September 1847. A poor scholar, he left school at fifteen to work in his father's Brighton counting house. At twenty-one, Hannington decided to pursue a clerical...
, dates from 1832 and is the only surviving part of New Inn Hall. The College chapel was originally the Church of St Peter-le-Bailey
Church of St Peter-le-Bailey
The Church of St Peter-le-Bailey is a church on New Inn Hall Street in central Oxford, England. It was formerly next to Bonn Square, which was originally the churchyard...
, built in 1874, and the third church of that name on this site. The buildings of the former Oxford Girls' School, which adjoin the original site of the College, have been acquired more recently and provide living accommodation for students, seminar rooms, a Middle Common Room (for postgraduates) and a Music Room.
The college has four quads: Linton Quad (the main quad), Mulberry Quad, Hannington Quad and Chavasse Quad. On-site, students are housed in the modern New Block, in the spacious Chavasse building, in Staircase IV and in the Matthews block (this latter building also housing a spacious JCR and student run bar). The senior executive of the MCR are generally provided with housing in the Morris Building. Fellows and college staff occupy rooms mostly in Staircases I-III, the Latner building and Staircase IV.
St Peter's also has a few off-site accommodation blocks for students, all just a few minutes away from the main college site. St Thomas Street, and St George's Gate house undergraduates, while Paradise Street (which was only officially opened in June 2008) houses postgraduates and fourth-year undergraduates.
Student life
The student-run Junior Common Room organises a wide variety of social events throughout the academic year, ranging from formal events to celebrate such things as Burns Night (complete with Haggis and poetry) to creatively-themed parties that run into the early hours of the morning. The college is one of the few to feature its own student-edited arts magazine, "Misc", which is published termly..The college's sports teams have been very successful in recent years, with the college's boat club being a particular source of pride. In Torpids 2009, no fewer than five boats competed, winning two "blades" and +15 "bumps", a result only bettered by two other colleges. In Torpids 2010 the boat club bettered this achievement and were the most successful college on the river, achieving the equal most bumps as a college in total, and the most bumps per boat on average.
Succession of Masters
- The Reverend Christopher Maude ChavasseChristopher Maude ChavasseChristopher Maude Chavasse OBE MC ED was a British athlete, soldier, and religious leader. He competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, served in the First World War, and was later Bishop of Rochester.-Pre-war:...
, M.C. (1929) - Julian Thornton-Duesbery
- Robert Wilmot Howard
- Julian Thornton-Duesbery
- Sir Alec Cairncross
- Gerald AylmerGerald AylmerGerald Edward Aylmer was an English historian of seventeenth-century England.Gerald Aylmer was the only child of Edward Arthur Aylmer, from an Anglo-Irish naval family, and Phoebe Evans. A great-uncle was Lord Desborough...
- John Barron (1991-2003)
- The Reverend Professor Bernard SilvermanBernard SilvermanBernard Silverman FRS is a British statistician. He was Master of St Peter's College, Oxford from 1 October 2003 to 31 December 2009...
FRS (2003-2009) - Mark DamazerMark DamazerMark Damazer CBE is the Master of St Peter's College, Oxford, and a former controller of BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 7 in the United Kingdom.He is the son of a Polish-Jewish delicatessen owner in Willesden in North London....
(2010-)
Notable alumni
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- Simon BeaufoySimon BeaufoySimon Beaufoy is a British screenwriter. Born in Keighley, he was educated at Malsis School in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School and Sedbergh School, he read English at St Peter's College, Oxford and graduated from The Arts Institute at Bournemouth...
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See also
:Category:Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford:Category:Fellows of St Peter's College, Oxford