SOMERVILLE COLLEGE, OXFORD

'Somerville College' is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there.

Contents

History

Principals of Somerville Hall and Somerville College

Notable alumnae

Academics/teachers

Notes

References

History

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. Bradley, master of University College, T. H. Green, a prominent liberal philosopher, and Edward Talbot, Warden of Keble College. The latter insisted on a specifically Anglican institution, which was unacceptable to most of the other members. The two parties eventually split, and one went on to found Lady Margaret Hall. Thus, in 1879, a second committee was formed "''in which no distinction will be made between students on the ground of their belonging to different religious denominations''". The members of 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 Mary Somerville, one of the greatest Scottish mathematicians of the 19th century. The hall was renamed ''Somerville College'' in 1894.
Somerville College was converted into a hospital during World War I - Robert Graves was a patient there. He comments in ''Good-bye to All That'' that in all there were only about a hundred and fifty graduates at Oxford at the time - Rhodes Scholars, Indians and men who were unfit. Thomas Earp, whom Graves met there, set himself the task of keeping the Oxford tradition alive and was president and sole member of seventeen undergraduate social and literary societies.
Somerville remained a women's college until 1994. Today around 50% of students are men.

Principals of Somerville Hall and Somerville College

★ Madelaine Shaw-Lefèvre (Principal of Somerville Hall 1879 - 1889)

★ Agnes Catherine Maitland (Principal of Somerville Hall 1889 - 1894, Principal of Somerville College 1894 - 1906)

★ Dame Emily Penrose (1906 - 1926) - classical scholar

★ Margery Fry (1927 - 1930) - social reformer

★ Helen Darbishire (1930 - 1945) - literary scholar

★ Dame Janet Vaughan (1945 - 1967) - haematologist and radiobiologist

★ Barbara Craig (1967 - 1980)

★ Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth (1980 - 1989)

★ Catherine Pestell (1989 - 1991, as Catherine Hughes 1991 - 1996^[1])

★ Dame Fiona Caldicott (1996 - present)

Notable alumnae

''See also ''

★ Vera Brittain, novelist

★ Indira Gandhi, former prime minister of India

★ Helen Goodman, politician

★ Celia Green, philosopher and author

★ Dorothy Hodgkin, Nobel Prize winner for her discovery of the structure of Vitamin B12

★ Winifred Holtby, novelist

★ Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, politician

★ Kathleen Kenyon (1906-1978), archaeologist

★ Frances Lincoln (1945-2001), publisher

★ Kathleen Ollerenshaw, mathematician

★ Rose Macaulay, novelist

★ Iris Murdoch, novelist

★ Esther Rantzen, journalist and children's welfare ambassador

★ Michèle Roberts (1949-), writer

★ Dorothy L. Sayers, author of the Lord Peter Wimsey books and translator of Dante's ''Inferno''.

★ Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1979-90

★ Shirley Williams, politician

Academics/teachers

:''See also ''
Current Fellows of Somerville College (Michaelmas Term 2006):

Miss Pauline Adams, B.Litt., M.A.

Dr Daniel Anthony, D.Phil, M.A.

Mrs Lesley Brown, B.Phil, M.A.

Dame Fiona Caldicott, D.B.E., M.A., B.M., B.Ch., Hon. MD, Hon. DSc., F.R.C.Psych., F.R.C.P. F.R.C.P.I., F.R.C.G.P., F.A.M.S.

Professor Marian E Stamp Dawkins, M.A., D.Phil

Dr Julie Dickson, LLB, Dip.L.P., D.Phil

Dr. Beate Dignas, M.A., D.Phil

Dr Karin Erdmann, M.A., Dr.rer.nat. Maths (Giessen)

Dr Benjamin Goold, BEc, LLB (Tasmania), BCL, D.Phil

Dr Manuele Gragnolati, BA (Pavia), MA (Paris), Ph.D.(Columbia University)

Professor Sarah Gurr, M.A. (BSc, A.R.C.S., D.I.C, Ph.D)

Dr Michael Hayward D.Phil, M.A.

Ms Joanna Innes, M.A. (M.A. Cantab)

Professor Carole Jordan, M.A. (Ph.D Lond) F.R.S.

Dr Neil Laws, M.A. (Ph.D.Cambs)

Miss Norma MacManaway, MA (MA, MPhil Dublin, Maîtrise-ès-lettres, DEA, Paris)

Dr James McDonnell, M.A. (Ph.D Thomas Jefferson)

Dr Lois McNay, M.A. (PhD Cantab)

Ms Helen Morton, M.A. (MSc. Boston)

Dr Natalia Nowakowska, B.A., M.St., D.Phil.

Dr Hilary Ockendon, M.A., D.Phil

Dr Josephine Peach, M.A., BSc., D.Phil

Dr Mason A. Porter, B.S., M.S., Ph.D. (starting October 2007), Lecturer of Applied Mathematics

Professor Stephen Pulman, M.A. (M.A., Ph.D Essex)

Dr Tobias Reinhardt, D.Phil (Staatsexamen, University of Frankfurt)

Professor Stephen Roberts, M.A., D.Phil

Dr Charles Spence, Ph.D Cantab

Dr Fiona Stafford, M.A., M.Phil, D.Phil

Professor Frances J Stewart, M.A., D.Phil, Professor of Development Economics.

Dr Richard Stone, M.A., D.Phil

Dr Almut Suerbaum, M.A. (Dr.Phil., staatsexamen Münster)

Dr Annie Sutherland, M.A., D.Phil

Professor Rajesh Thakker, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., May Professor of Clinical Medicine

Dr Benjamin J Thompson, M.A. (Ph.D Cantab) F.R.Hist.S.

Dr Adrianne J Tooke, M.A. (B.A. Lond, Ph.D. Cantab)

Professor Angela Vincent, M.A. (M.B., B.S., MSc. Lond), FRCPath, FMedSci

Dr Roman Walczak, M.A. (MSc Warsaw, Dr.rer.nat.Heidelberg)

Professor Stephen Weatherill, M.A. (M.A. Cantab, MSc. Edin) Jacques Delors Professor in European Community Law

Dr Jennifer Welsh, M.Phil, D.Phil (B.A.Saskatchewan)

Dr Philip West, M.A., (Ph.D.Cambs)

Dr Jeremy Whiteley, MA, D.Phil. (MA, PhD (Cantab))

Dr Matthew JA Wood, M.A., D.Phil (B.M., B.Ch. Cape Town)

Notes

1. 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.

References

★ ''Somerville for women: an Oxford college 1879 - 1993'', Pauline Adams (OUP, 1996) ISBN 0-19-920179-X