Charsley's Hall was a private hall of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. After 1891 it was renamed as Marcon's Hall. The hall was established in 1862 by

William Henry Charsley William Henry Charsley (1820 – 2 November 1900) was an English academic, Master of Charsley's Hall, Oxford from 1862 to 1891. Born at Beaconsfield in 1820, Charsley matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, but left after being blinded in an acc ...

, formerly of Christ Church, under the university statute ''De Aulis Privatis'' (On private halls), passed in 1855, which allowed any

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

or other member of Convocation aged at least twenty-eight years to open a private hall after obtaining a licence to do so. The hall was in what is now 10

Parks Road Parks Road is a road in Oxford, England, with several Oxford University colleges along its route. It runs north–south from the Banbury Road and Norham Gardens at the northern end, where it continues into Bradmore Road, to the junction with B ...

, at the eastern corner of

Museum Road Museum Road is a short road in central Oxford, England. It leads to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Radcliffe Science Library at its eastern end where it meets Parks Road. At its west end is a junction with Blackhall ...

, on the other side of the road from the

Oxford University Museum The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It a ...

. It was a red-brick Victorian house designed by

Charles Buckeridge Charles Buckeridge (''circa'' 1832–73) was a British Gothic Revival architect who trained as a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott. He practised in Oxford 1856–68 and in London from 1869. He was made an Associate of the Royal Institute of ...

and built in 1862. At the 1871 census, it contained nine residents. Charsley's Hall had no published tuition fees, members electing their tutors and making their own arrangements for payment, but in general the terms were higher than elsewhere. Despite this, the hall was popular.Edwin Wooton, ''A guide to degrees in arts, science, literature, law, music, and divinity, in the United Kingdom, the colonies, the continent and the United States'' (L. Upcott Gill, 1883), p. 39: "At Charsley's Hall the members elect their own tutors, with whom they make their own arrangements." One writer noted in 1883 By 1889, migration to Charsley's was seen as a way of circumventing some requirements of the colleges, and its demise was prematurely foreseen by ''

The Oxford Magazine ''The Oxford Magazine'' is a review magazine and newspaper published in Oxford, England.''The Oxford Magazi ...

''. Charsley's Hall features several times in ''The Lay of the First Minstrel'', a parody of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

dating from the 1870s, beginning: In 1889–1890 Charsley's had forty-seven undergraduates, while Turrell's, the only other private hall, had seven. The Master, William Henry Charsley, appears to have kept a school for boys as well as a house of the university. This is suggested as a reason for matriculations at Charsley's at an unusually young age. By the end of 1891 Charsley's Hall had closed, to be reopened by Charles Abdy Marcon as ''Marcon's Hall'' in 1892.T. H. Aston, Brian Harrison, ''The History of the University of Oxford'', vol. 7, Nineteenth-Century Oxford, Part 2 (1994), p. 120 Marcon had himself been educated at Charsley's.''

Whitaker's Almanack ''Whitaker's'' is a reference book, published annually in the United Kingdom. The book was originally published by J Whitaker & Sons from 1868 to 1997, then by The Stationery Office until 2003, and then by A & C Black which became a wholly owned ...

'' for 1897
p. 258
/ref> ''

'' for 1897 lists three private halls in the university, based on the University Calendar for 1895: Marcon's, Turrell's and Grindle's. Marcon's continued under that name until C. A. Marcon retired in 1918.'MARCON, Charles Abdy', in Crockford's Clerical Directory (1930)

Notable people

William Morfill William Richard Morfill FBA (17 November 1834 – 9 November 1909) was Professor of Russian and the other Slavonic languages at the University of Oxford from 1900 until his death. He was the first professor of Russian in Britain, and his h ...

taught philosophy and modern history at Charsley's between 1865 and 1869 *

Edward John Payne Edward John Payne (22 July 1844 – 26 December 1904) was an English barrister and historian specializing in colonial history. Life The elder son of Edward William Payne, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Payne was educated at High Wycombe Roya ...

completed his first degree at Charsley's in 1871 * Charles Abdy Marcon, who took his first degree at Charsley's in 1878, succeeded W. H. Charsley as Master in 1891

References

{{University of Oxford Private halls of the University of Oxford Former colleges and halls of the University of Oxford 1854 establishments in England 1918 disestablishments in England