St Hilda's College, Oxford

St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; remaining an all-women's college until 2008.[3] St Hilda's was the last single-sex college in the university as Somerville College had admitted men in 1994.[3] The college now has almost equal numbers of men and women at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

St Hilda's College
Oxford
South Building
Blazon: Azure, on a fess or three estoiles gules in chief two unicorns' heads couped, in base a coiled serpent argent.
LocationCowley Place
Coordinates51.749162°N 1.245334°W / 51.749162; -1.245334
Latin nameCollegium Sanctae Hildae
Mottonon frustra vixi (I lived not in vain)
Established1893
Named forHilda of Whitby
PrincipalSir Gordon Duff
Undergraduates400[1] (2011/2012)
Postgraduates175[2]
Major eventsSt Hilda's College Ball
Websitewww.st-hildas.ox.ac.uk
Map
Location in Oxford city centre

The current Principal is Sir Gordon Duff, who took up the post in 2014.

As of 2018, the college had an endowment of £52.1 million and total assets of £113.4 million.[4]

History

St Hilda's was founded by Dorothea Beale (who was also a headmistress at Cheltenham Ladies' College) in 1893, as St Hilda's Hall. It was founded as a women's college, a status it retained until 2008. Whilst other Oxford colleges gradually became co-educational, no serious debate at St Hilda's occurred until 1997, according to a former vice-principal, and then the debate solely applied to the issue of staff appointments.[5] After a vote on 7 June 2006 by the Governing Body,[3] men and women can be admitted as fellows and students. This vote was pushed through with a narrow margin and followed previous unsuccessful votes which were protested by students because of the "high-handed" manner in which they were held.[6]

In October 2007 a supplemental charter was granted and in 2008 male students were admitted to St Hilda's for the first time. The College now has almost equal numbers of men and women at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. In August 2018, the interim Norrington Table showed that 98 per cent of St Hilda's finalist undergraduates obtained at least a 2.i in their degree.[7]

Women's rowing
Main article: St Hilda's College Boat Club

St Hilda's was the first women's college in Oxford and Cambridge to create a women's VIII in 1911. It was St Hilda's student H.G. Wanklyn who formed OUWBC and coxed in the inaugural Women's Boat Race of 1927, with five Hilda's rowers. In 1969, the St Hilda's Eight made Oxford history when they became the first ever female crew to row in the Summer Eights. They placed 12th.[8]

Documentary

St Hilda's students were the subject of the Channel 4 documentary series College Girls, broadcast in 2002.[9]

Buildings and grounds
Milham Ford Building by the River Cherwell

The college is located at the eastern end of the High Street, Oxford, over Magdalen Bridge, in Cowley Place, making it the only University of Oxford college lying east of the River Cherwell. Its grounds include six major buildings, which contain student accommodation, teaching areas, dining hall, the library and administration blocks: Hall, South, Milham Ford (demolished in 2018), Wolfson (opened in 1964), Garden (by Alison and Peter Smithson, opened in 1971), and the Christina Barratt Building (opened in 2001).[10] A new boundary building will replace Milham Ford in Autumn 2020.[11] The college also owns a number of properties on Iffley Road, and in the Cowley area. It is the most conveniently situated Oxford college for the Iffley Road Sports Complex, a focus for Oxford University Sport.

The Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building
The Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building

The Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building (JdP) is a concert venue named after the famous cellist who was an honorary fellow of the college. The JdP was the first purpose-built concert hall to be built in Oxford since the Holywell Music Room in 1742. Built in 1995 by van Heyningen and Haward Architects, it houses the Steinway-equipped Edward Boyle Auditorium and a number of music practice rooms. In 2000 the architects designed a new, enlarged foyer space; a lean-to glass structure along the front elevation to the existing music building. In addition to frequent recitals presented by the St Hilda's Music Society, the JdP also hosts concerts by a number of world-renowned performers. Musicians who have performed in the JdP in recent years include Steven Isserlis, the Jerusalem Quartet, the Chilingirian Quartet and the Belcea Quartet. The building has also been used for amateur dramatic performances, since 2008 St Hilda's College Drama Society have been producing several plays a year in the Edward Boyle Auditorium.

Grounds

The college grounds stretch along the banks of the River Cherwell, with many college rooms overlooking the river and playing fields beyond. The college has its own fleet of punts, which students of the college may use free of charge in summer months. Unfortunately, this location at times led to problems with flooding in the former Milham Ford building.

People associated with the college

Principals
NameBirthDeathPrincipal BetweenNotes
Esther Elizabeth Burrows18 October 184720 February 19351893–1910[12]
Christine Mary Elizabeth Burrows4 January 187210 September 19591910–1919[12]
Winifred Moberly1 April 18756 April 19281919–1928[13]
Julia de Lacy Mann22 August 189123 May 19851928–1955[14]
Kathleen Major10 April 190619 December 20001955–1965[14]
Mary Bennett9 January 19131 November 20051965–1980
Mary Moore8 April 19306 October 20171980–1990[14]
Elizabeth Llewellyn-Smith17 August 19341990–2001[15]
Judith English1 March 19402001–2007[15]
Sheila Forbes31 December 19462007–2014
Gordon Duff27 December 19472014–present

Former students

Fellows

Honorary fellows
Further information: List of Honorary Fellows of St Hilda's College, Oxford
  • Garden Building
  • Hall building and Porters' Lodge
  • College library
  • South Building as seen from the croquet lawn
  • The exterior of the JdP
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References
  1. "Undergraduate numbers by college 2011-12". University of Oxford.
  2. "St Hilda's College, Graduate prospectus". University of Oxford.
  3. "St Hilda's College to admit men". news.bbc.co.uk. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  4. "St Hilda's College : Annual Report and Financial Statements : Year ended 31 July 2018" (PDF). ox.ac.uk. p. 25. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  5. Hilda Brown "Sex and the Hildabeast", Times Higher Education [Supplement], 7 March 2003
  6. Peter Foster (4 December 2003). "St Hilda's college votes to remain women-only". Telegraph.co.uk.
  7. "2017/18 Interim Norrington Table". ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2019. St Hilda's 1st 37 2.1 69 2.2 2 3rd 0 Other 0 Total 108
  8. "1969 - St Hilda's Make Rowing History - St. Hilda's College Boat Club". Sites.google.com. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
  9. Anthea Milnes "No men please, we're studying" The Guardian, 5 September 2002
  10. "The Buildings". St Hilda's College, Oxford. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  11. "Transforming our Site". St Hilda's College, Oxford. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  12. Margaret Addison; Jean O'Grady (30 November 1999). Diary of a European Tour, 1900. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-7735-6800-6.
  13. Margaret E. Rayner, ‘Moberly, Winifred Horsbrugh (1875–1928)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 16 Sept 2015'
  14. Aston, T. H. (7 April 1994). The History of the University of Oxford: Volume VIII: The Twentieth Century. Clarendon Press. p. xvi. ISBN 978-0-19-822974-2.
  15. "College History - Founder and Principals". St Hilda's College. University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  16. ""Bangun Pemuda Pemudi" Bangkitkan Semangat Pelajar Indonesia". Indonesian Education and Culture Attaché in London. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  17. "Congratulations to our alumna Celine Rattray on the fifth anniversary of Maven Pictures". St Hilda's College, Oxford. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
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