St Hugh's College is one of the

constituent colleges A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...

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 ...

. It is located on a site on

St Margaret's Road St Margaret's Road is a road in North Oxford, England. Location The road runs between Kingston Road to the west and Banbury Road to the east, crossing Woodstock Road. To the south are Farndon Road to the west and Canterbury Road to the eas ...

, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by

Elizabeth Wordsworth Dame Elizabeth Wordsworth (1840–1932) was founding Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and she funded and founded St Hugh's College. She was also an author, sometimes writing under the name Grant Lloyd. Life Wordsworth was born in 18 ...

as a

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

, and accepted its first male students in its centenary year in 1986. It enjoys a reputation as one of the most attractive colleges because of its extensive gardens.Wintle, Justin (2008) ''Perfect Hostage''. Random House, p. 177. In its 125th anniversary year, the college became a registered charity under the name "The Principal and Fellows of St Hugh's College in the University of Oxford". As of July 2018, the college's

financial endowment A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are o ...

was £37.6 million.

History

Founding and early years

St Hugh's was founded in 1886 by

(great-niece of the poet

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

) as a women's college, to help the growing number of women "who find the charges of the present Halls at Oxford and Cambridge (even the most moderate) beyond their means". Using money left to her by her father

Christopher Wordsworth Christopher Wordsworth (30 October 180720 March 1885) was an English intellectual and a bishop of the Anglican Church. Life Wordsworth was born in London, the youngest son of Christopher Wordsworth, Master of Trinity, who was the youngest b ...

, who had been Bishop of Lincoln, Wordsworth established the new college at 25 Norham Road in North Oxford. She named the college after one of her father's 13th-century predecessors,

Hugh of Lincoln Hugh of Lincoln, O.Cart. ( – 16 November 1200), also known as Hugh of Avalon, was a French-born Benedictine and Carthusian monk, bishop of Lincoln in the Kingdom of England, and Catholic saint. His feast is observed by Catholics on 16 Novem ...

, who was canonised in 1220, and in whose diocese Oxford had been. The college was initially accommodated in properties in Norham Road, Norham Gardens and Fyfield Road.''St Hugh's College Spring Newsletter 2011''; p. 9 The first principal being

Charlotte Anne Moberly Charlotte Anne Elizabeth Moberly (1846–1937) was an English academic, and first Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford. Her time-travel book ''An Adventure'', written in 1911 with fellow academic Eleanor Jourdain, became a bestseller. Fami ...

, its first students were Jessie Annie Emmerson, Charlotte Jourdain, Constance E. Ashburner, Wilhelmina J. de Lorna Mitchell and Grace J. Parsons. Students were required to ask the principal before accepting invitations to visit friends, and the college gates were locked at 9pm. Records show that rent was between £18 and £21 a term, depending on the size of the room, with fires being charged extra.''St Hugh's College Spring Newsletter 2011''; p. 14 At first tuition and lectures were arranged by the Association for the Education of Women, the first college tutor being Dora Wylie, appointed around 1898. The college began to move to its present site in 1913, when it purchased the lease of a house called "The Mount" from the Rev Robert Hartley for £2,500. This house stood on the corner of St Margaret's Road and Banbury Road, and the freehold was owned by University College. The house was later demolished to make way for the Main Building of the college, which was constructed between 1914 and 1916 thanks to a gift from Clara Evelyn Mordan; the college's new library was named Mordan Hall in her honour.''St Hugh's College Spring Newsletter 2011''; p. 13 The first book was a copy of Sale's translation of the

Koran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

, which was given to the college by the then Bishop of Tokyo.St Hugh's College Spring Newsletter 2011, p. 12 The college soon took over other properties nearby. The leasehold of 4 St Margaret's Road was acquired in 1919; it became the first "College house". The leasehold of 82 Woodstock Road was donated to the college by Joan Evans in 1924, and 89 Banbury Road was purchased from Lincoln College for £7,000 in 1927. The college obtained the freehold to the main site in 1927, and a year later the first stage of the Mary Gray Allen building was constructed on what had been the tennis courts. The freeholds of 1–4 St Margaret's Road and 74–82 Woodstock Road were purchased from St John's College in 1931 and 1932 respectively. The college received a Royal Charter in 1926. Between 1935 and 1936, 1 St Margaret's Road was demolished, and a new library was built in the Mary Gray Allen building; it was named the Moberly Library after the first principal of the college (the library was extensively renovated between 1999 and 2000 and renamed the Howard Piper Library after a St Hugh's alumnus, after his parents made a large donation to the college).

Second World War

At the outbreak of the Second World War the college site was requisitioned by the military for use as the Hospital for Head Injuries under the directorship of Hugh Cairns, the first Nuffield Professor of Surgery.St Hugh's College Spring Newsletter 2011 at page 20 Brick huts were constructed in the college grounds with space for 300 beds. Between 1940 and 1945, over 13,000 servicemen and women were treated at the college. Advances in medicine discovered at the hospital meant the mortality rate for brain-penetrating injuries fell from 90% to 9%. Staff and students were relocated to Holywell Manor, Savile House and St Hilda's College for the duration of the war.St Hugh's College Spring Newsletter 2011 at page 10 In 1943 the college acquired the leasehold of 72 Woodstock Road (known as The Shrubbery) from Dame Gertrude Whitehead for £1,500. It was used as a club for American soldiers during the war. In 1946, it was leased to the University of Paris as the

Maison française d'Oxford The Maison Française d'Oxford (MFO), known locally as simply Maison Française, is a French research centre in the humanities and social sciences and a member of the Network of French Research Institutes Established Abroad (IFRE) by the Fr ...

, an Anglo-French educational establishment. One of the cottages in the grounds of number 72 was later leased by Barbara Gwyer after her retirement as principal.

1945 onwards

The college buildings were de-requisitioned in 1945. The hospital huts were initially leased as offices to university departments, including the Bureau of Animal Population, the Department of Zoological Field Studies and the Institute of Statistics, before being demolished in 1952.

Agnes Headlam-Morley Agnes Headlam-Morley (10 December 1902 – 21 February 1986) was a British historian and academic. From 1948 to 1971, she was Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford. Upon her appointment in October 1948, ...

, a fellow of St Hugh's, became the first woman to hold a chair at the University of Oxford in 1948. In 1951 the college purchased the freeholds to 85 and 87 Banbury Road and 9 to 13 Canterbury Road from St John's College. In addition, the freehold of The Shrubbery was acquired; this meant the college now owned the freehold of the entire -acre site. The college extended the Main Building in 1958.St Hugh's College Spring Newsletter 2011 at page 11 The 1960s saw an extensive programme of building work at St Hugh's. The Shrubbery was converted into the principal's lodgings in 1963. Between 1964 and 1965 the Kenyon Building was constructed to provide accommodation for students (designed by modern architect

David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...

, the building has already been given a

heritage listing This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

). This was followed shortly after by the Wolfson Building, which was constructed between 1966 and 1967 and opened by Princess Alexandra and

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986) was a British Conservative statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Caricatured as "Supermac", he ...

in his role as chancellor of the university. The chapel was renovated in 1980; a new organ was installed. The following year, 78, 80 and 82 Woodstock Road were also renovated. The houses are now named SH Ho House, Ho Tim House and KK Leung House in recognition of the gifts from the three Hong Kong benefactors that funded the renovations.

Arrival of co-education

In 1964, New College made a proposal for the admission of women to the men's colleges, and by the early 1970s several Oxford colleges had become mixed to a limited degree in this way. In 1979, two women's colleges, Lady Margaret Hall and St Anne's, reciprocated by admitting men as undergraduates, while St Hugh's, which was already employing male college lecturers, decided to admit men as

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

s. Resistance to full co-education was led by those who predicted that it would have severely negative effects on women academics and who saw other advantages in women’s colleges. Admitting men as undergraduates was first proposed to the governing body in 1980, and there was a majority for it, but it did not secure the required two-thirds majority. The college principal,

Rachel Trickett Rachel Trickett (20 December 1923 – 24 June 1999) was an English novelist, non‑fiction writer, literary scholar, and a prominent British academic; she served as Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford, for nearly twenty years, between 19 ...

, fought off full co-education at St Hugh's for some years, even taking her case to the national newspapers, and it was not finally agreed until 1986. When Trickett retired in 1991, she was succeeded by the first male Principal, Derek Wood. Oxford boathouse 1

A new boathouse was constructed for the St Hugh's Boat Club (jointly with St Anne's and Wadham Colleges) between 1989 and 1990. This was followed by the construction of the Rachel Trickett Building between 1991 and 1992 at a cost of £3.4 million.

Present day

Between 1998 and 2000 the Maplethorpe Building was constructed; the building contains conference facilities on the ground floor and student accommodation on the upper three floors. The building missed its planned opening date of summer 2000, meaning students had to be accommodated in B&Bs throughout Michaelmas term. In addition, a new main entrance was constructed at the back of the college on Canterbury Road. Between 1999 and 2000 the library was extensively renovated. It was reopened by

Betty Boothroyd Betty Boothroyd, Baroness Boothroyd (born 8 October 1929) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. From 1992 to 2000, she served as Speaker of the House of ...

and was renamed after Howard Piper, a Maths student of the college who, shortly after graduating, died in a rafting accident. Mordan Hall, an older library, underwent a major refurbishment, reopening in 2007. It was renamed the Patrick Byfield law library, after a law student who made a significant financial contribution to the college. There are statues of both St Hugh and Elizabeth Wordsworth on the library stairs. These were presented to the college as gifts for its Jubilee in 1936. St Hugh carries a model of Lincoln Cathedral, which would have been very familiar to Elizabeth Wordsworth, and has his other hand resting on the head of a swan, probably the famous swan of

Stow Stow may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Stow, Lincolnshire or Stow-in-Lindsey, a village * Stow of Wedale or Stow, Scottish Borders, a village * Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, a small town * Stow, Shropshire or Stowe, a village * Stow ...

, although the swan is also a symbol of purity. Elizabeth Wordsworth is depicted wearing her doctoral robes. St Hugh's College celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2011; a summer garden party was attended by over 1,200 guests.

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from ...

sent a message to the college, saying "Happy moments are one of the pillars that keep the spirit uplifted during hard times. St Hugh’s and Oxford are inextricable from my happiest memories, those that I could draw on when the beauty of the world seemed dim. I so wish I could be with you at this very moment to relive old joys and to stir up new ones for the future. I would like to thank all my friends for the happiness we shared. To the present students of St Hugh’s I would simply like to say: Make the most of your time in this wonderful place." In 2012 the college was sued for allegedly discriminating against the poor by requiring evidence of funds for living costs. St Hugh's, which filed defence papers to the court, accepted barring the student on financial grounds, but claimed the measure was necessary to ensure students can complete their studies. The college eventually settled the claim, with the university promising to conduct a review of the Financial Guarantee policy. In September 2013, it was revealed that the university had decided to abolish the Financial Guarantee policy and replace it with a less restrictive 'Financial Declaration'.

Recent development

In 2008, the college began a fundraising drive for a new building on the college site. In November 2010, it was confirmed that Hong Kong businessman

Dickson Poon Sir Dickson Poon (; born 19 June 1956) is a Hong Kong businessman in the luxury goods retailing sector. Poon is the executive chairman of his Hong Kong based and listed company Dickson Concepts (DCIL), which owns companies including Harvey Nic ...

had made a £10 million donation to the college for the construction of the Dickson Poon China Centre. The centre houses the university's China Studies department, as well as providing accommodation for St Hugh's postgraduate students and The Wordsworth Tea Room. The Dickson Poon building was opened by Prince William in September 2014.

Buildings and location

St Hugh's occupies a rectangular site in

North Oxford North Oxford is a suburban part of the city of Oxford in England. It was owned for many centuries largely by St John's College, Oxford and many of the area's Victorian houses were initially sold on leasehold by the College. Overview The le ...

. It is bordered by

Banbury Road Banbury Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England, running from St Giles' at the south end, north towards Banbury through the leafy suburb of North Oxford and Summertown, with its local shopping centre. Parallel and to the west is the ...

to the east, Woodstock Road to the west,

to the north (the front entrance) and Canterbury Road to the south (the back gate). The gardens of the college cover about ten and a half acres. The main entrance of the college leads straight into the Main Building, containing accommodation, teaching facilities, the chapel, and the dining hall. As of 2022, the majority of first year students are housed in the Main Building, in addition to the Kenyon Building (named for

Kathleen Kenyon Dame Kathleen Mary Kenyon, (5 January 1906 – 24 August 1978) was a British archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent. She led excavations of Tell es-Sultan, the site of ancient Jericho, from 1952 to 1958, and has been called ...

). Some first years are housed in the Maplethorpe and Mary Gray Allen Buildings, although the majority within these buildings are second years and finalists. The Rachel Trickett Building (named for a past principal) and 82 Woodstock Road are further used as second and third year accommodation, whilst the Wolfson Building is almost exclusively used for second years. Further finalist accommodation is provided for in houses on Banbury Road. All undergraduate rooms have kitchen access, with the majority sharing bathroom access (barring Maplethorpe and the Rachel Trickett Building, which have en-suite access). The Wolfson Building became notable across the university as a result of frequent maintenance issues. In response to a 2018 outbreak of rats in the building, the college adopted two cats– Admiral Flapjack and Professor Biscuit. Due to the installation of cat-flaps in 2019, the cats have free roam of the majority of buildings.

Finances

In its 125th anniversary year, the college became a registered charity under the name 'The Principal and Fellows of St Hugh's College in the University of Oxford'. As of July 2018, the college's

was £37.6 million. This was amongst the lowest of the Oxford colleges; by comparison, St John's college had a financial endowment of £551.5 million.

Student life

The college is big enough to accommodate all its undergraduates for the duration of their studies. There are three large lawns for the use of students all year round. The gardens are also the venue for

croquet Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Its international governing body is the Wor ...

. There are a wide range of clubs and societies – sporting, academic, and those supporting niche interests, such as horticulture. Like other more recently founded Oxford and Cambridge colleges, the college has Formal Hall—a formal three or four course dinner served with wine—once a week. Grace is said by the presiding fellow, usually the principal, immediately prior to the meal: ''Benedic nobis, Domine Deus, et his donis, quae ex liberalitate Tua sumpturi sumus, per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.''

Junior Common Room

As is the practice at all Oxford Colleges that offer undergraduate degrees, the undergraduate body is represented by a committee, known as the JCR Committee. Otherwise, 'JCR' refers to the physical common room in the college. The JCR was previously known as the Aung San Suu Kyi Junior Common Room, but in 2017 the student body voted to remove her name from the room's title. ''The Swan'' is a weekly student-managed newspaper.

Middle Common Room

The college is also home to a Middle Common Room (MCR), located on 87 Banbury Road.

Choir

St. Hugh's has a choir which sings weekly

evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became ...

on Sundays. The choir draws its members from all three common rooms, and has performed for a wide variety of different guests. The present organ was constructed by the Italian organ-builder Tamburini in 1980. The college offers

organ scholar An organ scholar is a young musician employed as a part-time assistant organist at a cathedral, church or institution where regular choral services are held. The idea of an organ scholarship is to provide the holder with playing, directing and adm ...

ships along with four choral exhibitions each year, and employs a professional organist to oversee the chapel music.

People associated with St Hugh's

Principals

Fellows

Notable alumni

File:Emily_Wilding_Davison.jpg,

Emily Davison Emily Wilding Davison (11 October 1872 – 8 June 1913) was an English suffragette who fought for Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, votes for women in Britain in the early twentieth century. A member of the Women's Social and Polit ...

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

who fought for votes for women File:Mme Barbara Castle, Ministre britannique du développement outre-mer.jpg,

Barbara Castle Barbara Anne Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, (''née'' Betts; 6 October 1910 – 3 May 2002), was a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1979, making her one of the longest-serving female MPs in Bri ...

, former Health Secretary File:Theresa May (2016) (cropped).jpg,

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

, former

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...

File:NickyH&SJan10.jpg,

Nicky Morgan Nicola Ann Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Cotes, (; born 10 October 1972) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities from 2014 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, ...

, former Education Secretary File:Remise du Prix Sakharov à Aung San Suu Kyi Strasbourg 22 octobre 2013-18.jpg,

, State Counsellor of Myanmar St Hugh's students are present in all spheres of public life: In politics,

, former

;

, former

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the C ...

;

Rachel Maclean (politician) Rachel Helen Maclean (née Cooke; born 3 October 1965) is a Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Redditch in Worcestershire since 2017 and current Conservative Party Vice Chairman. She served as the Minister o ...

, current Conservative Party Vice Chairman;

, former Secretary of State;

Khairy Jamaluddin Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar ( Jawi: ; born 10 January 1976) is a Malaysian politician. He most recently served as Minister of Health in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob from August 2021 ...

, Malaysian Government Minister; and

, the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

laureate and State Counsellor of Myanmar, studied at the college. Current members of the U.K. House of Lords include

James O'Shaughnessy, Baron O'Shaughnessy James Richard O'Shaughnessy, Baron O'Shaughnessy (born 26 March 1976) is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords. He is now a senior partner at Newmarket Strategy, a medical consultancy which he founded in 2021. Life ...

, Olivia Bloomfield, Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist, and Jo Valentine, Baroness Valentine. British diplomat Lindsay Croisdale-Appleby , ambassador to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and former ambassador to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and St. Hugh's.

, the

who famously died after being hit by the king's horse when she walked onto the track during the

1913 Epsom Derby The 1913 Epsom Derby, sometimes referred to as “The Suffragette Derby”, was a horse race which took place at Epsom Downs on 4 June 1913. It was the 134th running of the Derby. The race was won, controversially, by Aboyeur at record 100–1 ...

race, enrolled at St Hugh's for one term to sit her

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. American Olympic rower

Anders Weiss Anders Weiss (born November 5, 1992) is an American rower. He competed in the men's coxless pair event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. In 2018 he was selected in the number four seat of the Oxford boat at the 2018 Boat Race while studying at St ...

competed for Oxford University in the 2018 Boat Race. Polar expedition leader

Alex Hibbert Alexander Piers William Hibbert (born 19 April 1986) is a British polar expedition leader, public speaker, author and photographer. He lives in London. Family and education Hibbert was born in Southsea, England, the second son of Commodore Ric ...

read biological sciences at St Hugh's, graduating in 2007. In the arts, the musician Joe Goddard (from electropop outfit

Hot Chip Hot Chip are an English synthpop band formed in London in 1995. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former member Rob Smoughton for ...

) studied at St Hugh's. BBC arts broadcaster and writer Suzy Klein read music at St Hugh's. TV writer

Richard Hurst Richard Hurst is a British writer and director of comedy, theatre and television. Biography Born Richard Turner in Surrey, he attended Boston Grammar School and Oakham School before studying at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and training as a dire ...

wrote his first play at St Hugh's. BAFTA Award-winning actress and comedian

Rebecca Front Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for '' The Thick of It'' (2009–2012).Jennifer Lipma"Bafta for Jewish actress Rebecca Front" ...

began her career at the college, touring with the

Oxford Revue The Oxford Revue is a comedy group primarily featuring students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians, actors and satirists. The Revue w ...

in 1984. Writer

Mary Renault Eileen Mary Challans (4 September 1905 – 13 December 1983), known by her pen name Mary Renault ("She always pronounced it 'Ren-olt', though almost everyone would come to speak of her as if she were a French car." ), was an English writer best ...

studied at St Hugh's too. In science and academia, mathematical child prodigy

Ruth Lawrence Ruth Elke Lawrence-Neimark ( he, רות אלקה לורנס-נאימרק, born 2 August 1971) is a British–Israeli mathematician and an associate professor of mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusale ...

joined the college in 1983 aged 12. Dorothy Bishop, a psychologist specialising in developmental disorders, studied at St Hugh's. Other academics include sociologist and intelligence researcher

Noah Carl Noah Carl is a British sociologist and intelligence researcher. He was investigated and subsequently dismissed from his position as a Toby Jackman Newton Trust Research Fellow at St Edmund's College, Cambridge after over 500 academics signed a l ...

; philosopher Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe, linguist and revivalist

Ghil'ad Zuckermann Ghil'ad Zuckermann ( he, גלעד צוקרמן, ; ) is an Israeli-born language revivalist and linguist who works in contact linguistics, lexicology and the study of language, culture and identity. Zuckermann is Professor of Linguistics and Ch ...

and mathematician

Mary Cartwright Dame Mary Lucy Cartwright, (17 December 1900 – 3 April 1998) was a British mathematician. She was one of the pioneers of what would later become known as chaos theory. Along with J. E. Littlewood, Cartwright saw many solutions to a problem ...

. Another mathematician,

Jillian Beardwood Jillian Beardwood (1934–2019) was a British mathematician known for the Beardwood-Halton-Hammersley Theorem. Published by the Cambridge Philosophical Society in a 1959 article entitled "The Shortest Path Through Many Points", the theorem ...

, known for her solution to the

travelling salesman problem The travelling salesman problem (also called the travelling salesperson problem or TSP) asks the following question: "Given a list of cities and the distances between each pair of cities, what is the shortest possible route that visits each cit ...

, graduated from St Hugh's with first-class honours in 1956. In law, Court of Appeal judge and chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry

Heather Hallett, Baroness Hallett Heather Carol Hallett, Baroness Hallett, (born 16 December 1949) is a retired English judge of the Court of Appeal and a crossbench life peer. She was the fifth woman to sit in the Court of Appeal, and led the independent inquest into the 7/7 ...

is a St. Hugh's graduate. Other High Court Judges include Dame Jennifer Eady in London and the Honourable Madam Justice Maggie Poon in Hong Kong. Human rights barrister

Amal Clooney Amal Clooney (; ar, أمل علم الدين; born 3 February 1978) is a Lebanese and British barrister. Her clients include Filipino and American journalist Maria Ressa; former President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed; Julian Assange, the ...

graduated with a BA degree in jurisprudence (Oxford's equivalent to the LLB) from St Hugh's.

History

Founding and early years

Second World War

1945 onwards

Arrival of co-education

Present day

Recent development

Buildings and location

Finances

Student life

Junior Common Room

Middle Common Room

Choir

People associated with St Hugh's

Principals

Fellows

Notable alumni

References

More readings

External links