91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥

In 1800, William of Wykeham would still have broadly recognised his institution. By 1900, though, 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ had completely transformed itself with new statutes, new buildings, and critical repairs to the original college buildings. This was a time of refoundation, expansion, and restoration—a time when the college reacted to the birth of modern society in the Victorian era.

Britain reached the height of its power and economic influence in the world under Queen Victoria. Profound change was experienced across all areas of society—the country rapidly industrialised, the British Empire expanded across continents, new technologies like the railways vastly reduced travel distances, and suffrage started to be expanded thanks to the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832.

University education and 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ had no choice but to react to this new world. Indeed, this process had already started in the first part of the nineteenth century as more universities were established to provide the education needed for an industrial society—at much lower prices than the education offered by England’s two ancient universities. The third English university, for example, was founded in Durham in 1832, along similar lines to Oxford and Cambridge. In 1836, though, a profoundly different university was established in London. This University of London was a secular institution from the start, in stark contrast to the Anglican dominated Oxford and Cambridge and teaching a more radical, modern curriculum for a new era.

Such a changing educational environment made the medieval statutes at 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ look increasingly outdated. These statutes made the college very separate from the outside world—a deliberately closed institution. 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥, essentially, still operated as a seminary, training clergy for the Church of England as envisaged by William of Wykeham in the fourteenth century. Only seventy fellows could be appointed, all had to be Anglican, and all had to have attended Winchester College—Wykeham’s other educational foundation (pictured above). 

The role of ‘Founder’s Kin’ in college perfectly encapsulates the medieval nature of the statutes at this point. Rather amazingly, even in the nineteenth century you could claim a fellowship at 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ if you declared you were related to William of Wykeham. The way to determine this relationship was not through genealogy, either. Instead, a boy claiming Founder’s Kin at Winchester would be struck on the head with the stout of a flat wooden trencher. If this trencher broke, he was Founder’s Kin!

The government of the time recognised that there was a need to reform education at both Oxford and Cambridge and it set up an official University Commission in 1850 to suggest recommended changes. This commission led to the passing of the Oxford University Act 1854, which opened the university to students outside the Church of England, established formal governance over the collegiate university, and curbed the powers of the heads of colleges.

Although there was some resistance to changes at 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥, many fellows also recognised that several aspects of the college’s governance needed to be modernised. Here, you can see the first page of the results of this process—updated statutes first published in 1857 and now held in the 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ Archives (). These statutes modernised the governance of Wykeham’s college: only graduates could now become fellows; founder’s kin had no privileges at all; and half the fellows were to be elected from students of Winchester or 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ with the other half chosen through open competition.

This reform was by no means static. Instead, the statutes were developed and expanded over the following two decades—with members of college spending a lot of time deliberating over planned changes. This process can be seen in Warden Sewell’s personal annotated copy of the later statutes, printed in 1870. In the gallery below, you can see the Warden's many amendments, revealing not only just how much the original statutes had changed, but also how they continued to change during this period.

The draft statutes depicted above became official in 1882, after they had been approved by Royal Commission. Once approved, they completely changed 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ forever. This change can, perhaps, be personified by the 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ fellow Walter Croke Robinson. Shortly after the repeal of religious tests, he converted to Catholicism in 1872—becoming the first Roman Catholic fellow of 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ since the Reformation. Statutes may, at first glance, seem like mere bureaucratic documents, but the myriad changes they included had a large and tangible impact on the lives of the people that taught, studied, and worked in the college. 

The change in governance in the new statutes was accompanied by an equal change in the college estate—with the Warden and Fellows deciding to expand along Holywell Street, to the north of the main college site. 

As the nineteenth century progressed, student numbers in Oxford and across the country had increased due to an increased demand for higher education. At the same time, 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥â€”along with other colleges in the city—were reacting to a profound era of agricultural depression. Following the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, agricultural rents had slumped. This had resulted in a reduction of traditional income for college—income that could be replaced with greater tuition fees.

To accommodate all these extra students, land was purchased from Merton College along Holywell Street and the existing terraced houses were demolished to make way for a new set of buildings. These buildings were to be designed by architect Gilbert Scott and represented the first major extension of college buildings for over 150 years.

Scott was no standard architect. One of the foremost designers in Victorian Britain, he worked on several medieval buildings across the country and was a scholar of medieval history. Below, you can see the front cover and the frontispiece illustration of the first part of his two volume , published in 1879 and still held in New College Library today:

Construction started in 1872 with the first part of the buildings completed in 1874. As the college was able to purchase an additional six other houses in Holywell Street, this first phase was then followed by a western extension carried out between 1875 and 1878. Documents in the 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ Archives give us a unique insight into the construction and appearance of these buildings, as seen in the gallery below. Click on the dots to discover more:

Once complete, Scott praised his new buildings as being in a style ‘generally in accordance with the date of the college’. Unfortunately, not everyone agreed, as shown in the quote from Fellow Charles Mayo below:

Even the leading architect of his time evidently couldn’t please everyone! Whether loved or loathed, the Holywell buildings have stood the test of time, marking the transition of 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ from a purely medieval institution into a centre of modern higher education. Today, they are still an integral part of college—home of lecture rooms, student bedrooms and, of course, the Porters’ Lodge: the heart of any Oxford college.

Not the only construction work during the nineteenth century was on new buildings—William of Wykeham’s original buildings were not completely exempt from change either. Gilbert Scott was also contracted to work on restoring the Hall and the Chapel, with particular attention paid to the restoration of the roofs of the two buildings, which were in need of serious repair.

The first project completed was the re-roofing of 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ Hall between 1862 and 1865. A successful piece of work, Scott made an effort to respect the medieval architecture of the existing structure, even securing timber from the college’s own estates at Whaddon in Buckinghamshire.

The second project, in the college chapel, proved to be more controversial. Due, perhaps, to the importance of the chapel within college life, there was indecision amongst the fellowship about the preferred course of action for the chapel roof and to what extent changes should be made to the chapel’s interior. This fact, combined with its vast expense, created a long delay before work could begin. In a in the archives, Scott wrote to the Warden discussing the high cost of the Chapel roof, proposing wooden vaulting with coloured decoration as a possible method to lower its cost. 

After consultation with the fellowship, Scott submitted three designs—with the College eventually deciding on his least favourite option. The final design consisted of wooden vaulting without coloured decoration, as can be seen in the of the completed work here that dates from the early 20th century.

Work finally began on the chapel in 1877, in part due to a successful subscription campaign. Below, you can see the opening of a to the Chapel Restoration Fund, now held in 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ Archives:

As you can see above, this campaign was very successful. In total, the very large sum of £13,242 16s was promised, with advance payments amounting to £8,328 14s. Sadly, these funds came too late for Scott to see the results of his work in the Chapel. He died in 1878, leaving his sons to finish work on the roof, stalls, and organ.

Thanks to the generosity of alumni and benefactors, though, the work to restore the Chapel was largely complete before the college’s 500th anniversary. The Bishop of Winchester at the time, Harold Browne (1811–1891) gave an address in 1879 to celebrate this important anniversary underneath the newly restored roof.

91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ was a very different institution at the start of the twentieth century to the one it had been at the start of the nineteenth.

During this century, the college developed from an antiquated institution fixed on its medieval past into one of the foremost colleges of the entire university—respected as a centre for excellence not only within Oxford itself but also wider afield. The reforms, construction, and restoration work helped 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ to become part of a much more modern university, ready to meet the demands of the 20th century and beyond.

Click below to continue your journey and explore the history of 91»Æ¹ÏÖ±²¥ in the modern era.