Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

, at the intersection of Broad Street and

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 ...

. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, according to the will of her late husband

Nicholas Wadham Nicholas Wadham may refer to: * Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609) Nicholas Wadham () (1531–1609) of Merryfield in the parish of Ilton, Somerset, and Edge in the parish of Branscombe, Devon, was a posthumous co-founder of Wadham College, Oxfo ...

, a member of an ancient Devon and Somerset family. The central buildings, a notable example of

Jacobean architecture The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James VI and I, with whose reign (1603–1625 in England) it is associated. At the start of James' reign th ...

, were designed by the architect William Arnold and erected between 1610 and 1613. They include a large and ornate Hall. Adjacent to the central buildings are the Wadham Gardens. Amongst Wadham's most famous

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

Sir Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 church ...

. Wren was one of a brilliant group of experimental scientists at Oxford in the 1650s, the Oxford Philosophical Club, which included

Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...

and

Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that h ...

. This group held regular meetings at Wadham College under the guidance of the warden,

John Wilkins John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death. Wilkins is one of the f ...

, and the group formed the nucleus which went on to found the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

. Wadham is a liberal and progressive college which aims to maintain the diversity of its student body and a friendly atmosphere. Founded as a men's college, in 1974 it was among the first to become coeducational, and the college has a strong reputation as a promoter of gay rights. In 2011 it became the first Oxford college to fly the rainbow flag as part of queer week, a celebration of

sexual diversity Gender and sexual diversity (GSD), or simply sexual diversity, refers to all the diversities of sex characteristics, sexual orientations and gender identities, without the need to specify each of the identities, behaviors, or characteristics that ...

and individuality. Wadham is one of the largest colleges of the University of Oxford, with about 480 undergraduates and 240 graduate students. The college publishes an annual magazine for alumni, the ''Wadham College Gazette''. As of 2021, it had an estimated

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 ...

of £116 million, and in 2014/2015 ranked 3rd in the Norrington Table, a measure which ranks Oxford colleges by academic performance. In the year 2020/2021, Wadham ranked 11th in the Norrington table.

History

17th century

The college was founded by Dorothy Wadham (née Petre) in 1610, according to the wishes set out in the will of her husband

. Over four years, she gained royal and ecclesiastical support for the new college, negotiated the purchase of a site, appointed the West Country architect William Arnold, drew up the college statutes, and appointed the first warden, fellows, scholars, and cook. Although she never visited Oxford, she kept tight control of her new college and its finances until her death in 1618. The wardenship of

(1648–1659) is a significant period in the history of the college. Wilkins was a member of a group which had met for some years in London to discuss problems in the natural sciences. Many of the group moved to Oxford and held regular meetings in the Warden's lodgings at Wadham. Among them were

, John Locke,

William Petty Sir William Petty FRS (26 May 1623 – 16 December 1687) was an English economist, physician, scientist and philosopher. He first became prominent serving Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth in Ireland. He developed efficient methods to su ...

John Wallis John Wallis (; la, Wallisius; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the roya ...

, and

Thomas Willis Thomas Willis FRS (27 January 1621 – 11 November 1675) was an English doctor who played an important part in the history of anatomy, neurology and psychiatry, and was a founding member of the Royal Society. Life Willis was born on his pare ...

. Wadham provided the largest contingent, some twelve of the fifty names mentioned. These included Christopher Brookes (mathematician and instrument-maker), John Mayow (a distinguished chemist and physician), Lawrence Rooke (later astronomy professor at

Gresham College Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England. It does not enroll students or award degrees. It was founded in 1596 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts ...

, London), Thomas Sprat (later the official historian of the

), Seth Ward (mathematician and

Savilian Professor of Astronomy The position of Savilian Professor of Astronomy was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded (at the same time as the Savilian Professorship of Geometry) by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was ...

), and

(mathematician and

was an undergraduate at Wadham before he became a fellow of All Souls and then succeeded

Rooke Rooke is a surname, and may refer to: * Daphne Rooke (1914–2009), South African author * Sir Denis Rooke (1924–2008), English engineer * Sir George Rooke (1650–1709), English admiral * Hayman Rooke (1723–1806), English major and antiquar ...

as astronomy professor at

, London. He eventually returned to occupy rooms at Wadham while he was the

from 1661. Wren had notable achievements in pure and applied mathematics, astronomy, physics and biology to his credit before he turned to architecture, in his thirties. In mathematical ability alone, Wren was ranked by competent authorities second only to Newton among the men of his time. The Warden's lodgings were stuffed with ingenious instruments, and powerful telescopes were mounted on the college tower. The Oxford group kept up close relations with their colleagues in London, and in 1660, at Gresham, the decision was taken to create the body which, in 1662, was to be formally incorporated as the

. Wilkins was the first president of the provisional body, and became the first secretary of the Royal Society itself. These were the beginnings of organised scientific research in Britain.

The Bowra era

Maurice Bowra Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra, (; 8 April 1898 – 4 July 1971) was an English classical scholar, literary critic and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the Univers ...

was warden of the college from 1938 until 1970, and was influential in determining the character of the college as open and meritocratic. He was known for his hospitality but also for his waspish wit, and anecdotes about his time as Warden remain in circulation amongst Wadham alumni. A statue of Bowra is in the college gardens, and the college's 1992 Bowra Building bears his name.

Modern day

The college now consists of some 70 Fellows, about 230 graduate students, and about 450 undergraduates. The current Warden is Robert Hannigan. Hannigan succeeded Lord Macdonald of River Glaven QC as Warden upon Macdonald's retirement in 2021.

Promotion of equality, diversity and rights

In 1974, after more than three and a half centuries as a men-only institution, Wadham was among the first group of five all-male colleges at Oxford to admit women as full members, the others being

Brasenose Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

, Jesus College,

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea ...

and St Catherine's. Wadham College has a reputation as a supporter of gay rights partly because it plays host to "Queerfest", a celebration of the LGBTQ cause. In 2011, Wadham became the first Oxbridge college to fly the

Rainbow Flag A rainbow flag is a multicolored flag consisting of the colors of the rainbow. The designs differ, but many of the colors are based on the spectral colors of the visible light spectrum. The LGBT flag introduced in 1978 is the most recognized ...

in support of equality, as part of its annual Queerweek. The Rainbow Flag also flies over Wadham each year during February, to mark

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

Month. A Wadham student tradition is that student social events are always concluded with the playing of

the Specials The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lyn ...

' '' Free Nelson Mandela''. The motion to play the song to conclude every student event until

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

was freed from prison was passed by the Wadham Student Union in 1987, when Wadham alumnus Simon Milner (History, 1985), now Policy Director at Facebook, was SU President."Wadham students pay tribute to Nelson Mandela"
wadham.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 23 December 2013. Following Mr Mandela's liberation, the Student Union voted to continue the tradition as a mark of affection. President Mandela visited Wadham College and dined there on 11 July 1997. In 2017, this tradition was challenged by a South African student, who is a member of the ANC and active in equality campaigning in South Africa, as no longer appropriate given the complex legacy of Mandela in post-Apartheid South Africa. He also highlighted that there is much more to South Africa than just the history of Apartheid, and that constant reference to it rather than South Africa's current issues is outdated and no longer the progressive act it was intended to be. A vote to remove the constitutional requirement to play the song was narrowly defeated in a Wadham SU meeting. In 2013 the warden, Lord Macdonald of River Glaven QC, created the Wadham Human Rights Forum, a new public forum for the discussion of human rights issues that welcomes top level speakers to Wadham College. Lord Macdonald was also frequently in the media speaking on legal issues and, particularly, on issues relating to rights and security.

Buildings

Front quad

Wadham is sometimes put forward as the last major English public building to be created according to the mediaeval tradition of the

Master Mason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. Wadham's front quadrangle (quad), which served as almost the entire college until the mid-20th century, is also an early example of the "Jacobean Gothic" style that was adopted for many of the university's buildings. The main building was erected in a single building operation in 1610–1613. The architect, William Arnold, was also responsible for

Montacute House Montacute House is a late Elizabethan mansion with a garden in Montacute, South Somerset. An example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical, and one of few prodigy houses ...

and

Dunster Castle Dunster Castle is a former motte and bailey castle, now a country house, in the village of Dunster, Somerset, England. The castle lies on the top of a steep hill called the Tor, and has been fortified since the late Anglo-Saxon period. After t ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

, and was involved in the building of Cranborne Manor, Dorset for Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury,

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

’s

Lord Treasurer The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State i ...

. The style of the building is a fairly traditional Oxford

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, modified by classical decorative detail, most notably the 'frontispiece' framing statues of James I and the Founders immediately facing visitors as they enter the college. Classical, too, is the over-powering emphasis on symmetry. The central quadrangle was originally gravelled throughout; the present lawn was laid down in 1809. The college was refaced in the 1960s, and much of the front quad has undergone further restoration work.

Hall

In 1898, the

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

was the third largest amongst Oxford colleges after Christ Church and New College. It is notable for its great hammer-beam roof and for the Jacobean woodwork of the entrance screen. The portraits include those of the founders and of distinguished members of the college. The large portrait in the gallery is of Lord Lovelace, who held Oxford for William of Orange during the Revolution of 1688; the inscription records his role in freeing England 'from popery and slavery'.

Chapel

Although a ceremonial door opens directly into Front Quad, the chapel is usually reached through the door in staircase 3. The screen, similar to that in the hall, was carved by John Bolton. Originally Jacobean woodwork ran right round the chapel. The present stone

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ...

was inserted in the east end in 1834. The monumental East window depicting

Jonah Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spo ...

's whale, top right, was made by a Dutchman, Bernard van Linge, in 1622. The elegant young man reclining on his monument is Sir John Portman, baronet, who died in 1624 as a nineteen-year-old undergraduate. Another monument is in the form of a pile of books; it commemorates Thomas Harris, one of the fellows of the college appointed at the foundation. The Chapel organ dates from 1862 and 1886. It is one of the few instruments by

Henry Willis Henry Willis (27 April 1821 – 11 February 1901), also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in busi ...

, the doyen of

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

English organ builders, to survive without substantial modification of its tonal design.

Back Quad

Limited additions were made during the 18th and 19th centuries, including a converted warehouse originally used to store bibles. A series of expansions since 1952 have made use of a range of 17th- and 18th-century houses and several modern buildings to create a Back Quad between the Front Quad and Holywell Street.

Bar Quad

The small quadrangle formed by the Junior Common Room, the 1950s accommodation block, the Holywell Music Room and (latterly) the Bowra Building was sometimes known to students as the "Ho Chi Minh" quad. It is thought to have been thus named (in honour of Vietnamese revolutionary leader

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...

) during the period of student radicalism in the 1960s. The quad is used for games of

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 W ...

Holywell Music Room

The college grounds contain the Holywell Music Room. This is said to be the oldest purpose-built music room in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, and hence

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

's first

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that m ...

. It was designed by Thomas Camplin, at that time Vice-Principal of

St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...

, and opened in July 1748. The interior has been restored to a near-replica of the original and contains the only surviving Donaldson organ, built in 1790 by John Donaldson of Newcastle and installed in 1985 after being restored.

Ferdowsi Library

The Ferdowsi Library (formerly the Ashraf Pahlavi Library) specialises in Persian literature, art, history, and culture. It possesses about 3,500 volumes, almost 800 manuscripts, about 200 lithographs in Arabic and Persian, and about 700 rare and early Armenian books, most of which were donated by Dr. Caro Minasian. At the end of the 1960s, the Warden,

, President of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

and one of the first co-founders of the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS), welcomed a donation to construct the building of the New Library in Wadham, where the emphasis would be given to Persian Studies and the post in Persian. Since then a special connection between Wadham and Iran has been established. The Wadham library building was initially funded by donations from the then (1976) Iranian ruling family, the

Pahlavi dynasty The Pahlavi dynasty ( fa, دودمان پهلوی) was the last Iranian royal dynasty, ruling for almost 54 years between 1925 and 1979. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi, a non-aristocratic Mazanderani soldier in modern times, who ...

. The funds were secured by Fellow and tutor in economics, Eprime Eshag. The building, with associated accommodation blocks, was designed by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia. Today the library is open 24/7 and has wireless connectivity throughout. Wadh10

Bowra Building

The Bowra Building next to the Ferdowsi Library and Bar Quad was designed by Sir Richard MacCormac and opened in 1992. It includes a cafeteria, bar, seminar rooms, squash court and the Moser Theatre as well as student rooms.

McCall MacBain Graduate Centre

The McCall MacBain Graduate Centre was designed by Lee/Fitzgerald Architects and opened in 2012. It won a 2014 Riba Regional Award and Conservation Award. It provides a dedicated social and study space for Wadham's graduate students on the main site of Wadham college.

Dr Lee Shau Kee Building and William Doo Undergraduate Centre

The Dr Lee Shau Kee Building and William Doo Undergraduate Centre were designed by Amanda Levete Architects. They replaced the Goddard building of 1951 and now provide facilities for the college's access activities and student union. Construction began in 2018 and was completed in late 2020.

Merifield

The Merifield annexe, named after

Merryfield, Ilton Merryfield (''alias'' Merrifield, Murefeld, Merefeld, Muryfield, Merifield, Wadham's Castle, etc.) is a historic estate in the parish of Ilton, near Ilminster in Somerset, England. It was the principal seat of the Wadham family, and was called ...

once home to the Wadhams, is in Summertown, about 1.2 miles from the centre of town."Merifield Graduate Accommodation"
wadham.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 16 May 2019. Most of the graduate student accommodation is at Merifield."Wadham Graduate Accommodation"
wadham.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 16 May 2019.

Dorothy Wadham Building

The Dorothy Wadham Building, on Iffley Road, was designed by

Allies and Morrison Allies and Morrison LLP is an architecture and urban planning practice based in London and Cambridge. Founded in 1984, the practice is now one of Britain's largest architectural firms. The practice's work ranges from architecture and interio ...

and opened in 2019. It houses undergraduates, predominantly in their second year of studies.

Gardens

Wadham Gardens are relatively large when compared with those of other Oxford colleges, even without the land sold to build Rhodes House in the 1920s. Originally a series of orchards and market-gardens carved out from the property of the previously existing Augustinian priory, their appearance and configuration have been significantly modified over the course of the last four hundred years to reflect their constantly changing functional and aesthetic purpose. The land was shaped, in particular, by two major periods of planning. Gardens were first created under Warden Wilkins (1648–1659) as a series of formal rectangles laid out around a (then fashionable) mound which was, in turn, surmounted by a figure of

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

. These gardens were notable not least for their collection of mechanical contrivances (including a talking statue and a rainbow-maker), a number of

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

s and a Doric temple. Under Warden Wills (1783–1806), the terrain was then radically remodelled and landscaped (by Shipley) and became notable for a distinguished collection of trees. Restored and reshaped following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the present Gardens are divided into the Warden's Garden, the Fellows’ Private Garden and the Fellows’ Garden, together with the Cloister Garden (originally the cemetery) and the White Scented Garden. They are still notable for their collection of trees (specimens include a

holm oak Holm oak may refer to: * '' Quercus ilex'', tree native to South and Southeast Europe and parts of France * '' Quercus rotundifolia'', tree native to the Iberian Peninsula and Northwest Africa * ''Quercus agrifolia ''Quercus agrifolia'', the Cal ...

, silver pendent lime,

tulip tree ''Liriodendron'' () is a genus of two species of characteristically large trees, deciduous over most of their populations, in the magnolia family ( Magnoliaceae). These trees are widely known by the common name tulip tree or tuliptree for their ...

, golden yew, purple beech, cedar of Lebanon,

ginkgo ''Ginkgo'' is a genus of non-flowering seed plants. The scientific name is also used as the English name. The order to which it belongs, Ginkgoales, first appeared in the Permian, 270 million years ago, and is now the only living genus withi ...

giant redwood ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

tree of heaven ''Ailanthus altissima'' , commonly known as tree of heaven, ailanthus, varnish tree, or in Chinese as ''chouchun'' (), is a deciduous tree in the family Simaroubaceae. It is native to northeast and central China, and Taiwan. Unlike other membe ...

incense cedar ''Calocedrus'', the incense cedar (alternatively spelled incense-cedar), is a genus of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae first described as a genus in 1873. It is native to eastern Asia and western North America. The generi ...

, Corsican pine,

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

and a rare Chinese gutta-percha) and they still contain a number of vestigial curiosities from the past (notably an 18th-century 'cowshed' set into the remnants of the Royalist earthworks of 1642, one of the second generation of 'Emperors Heads' that adorned the Sheldonian Theatre from 1868 to around 1970, and a sculpture of Warden Bowra).

Student life

Undergraduate students at Wadham are offered accommodation for three years of their course, from 2019. Accommodation is provided within college for the first and final years of their course, and during the second (or fourth) year within the newly constructed Dorothy Wadham Building, on Iffley Road, or within the Merifield annexe in Summertown. Since 1976, Wadham has been distinctive in having a Student Union, which in principle represents both undergraduate and graduate members. In practice the SU is more concerned with undergraduate interests and activities, whilst the separate MCR committee represents graduate students. All students can use the on-site facilities such as the Moser Theatre, squash court, gym, kitchen, laundry room, music practice rooms and various meeting rooms. The JCR Lounge is the main common room space used by undergraduate students, along with the bar. Since 2012 the MCR has had its own social area in the McCall MacBain Graduate Centre, with its kitchen, small bar, and media room. The college sports ground is located in Summertown, adjoining the Merifield residential complex. The Wadham JCR common room consists of a pool table and a table tennis table . Famously, this has been the home of the Wadham bar sports team for over 15 years which has now grown to over 30 members. Notable alumni include influential figures from the finance, tech and legal sectors, in particular

BlackRock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with tri ...

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and

Hogan Lovells Hogan Lovells is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington, D.C., Washington, DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the Mergers_and_acquisitions, merger of the American law firm Hogan & Hartson and the British law firm ...

. An annual dinner is an important part of student life and has brought the years together over a shared love of pool and darts. In 2022 the Wadham pool team set a new record with a 78% frame win rate in Cuppers. Wadham has a student exchange program with the

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sarah Lawrence scholarship, particularly i ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. About 30 students come each year and live at Merifield, and about six Wadham students go to SLC in the spring each year for 3 weeks. There are elected welfare officers on both the SU and MCR committees. There is a general welfare room, as well as a men's room and women's room. The college also has a nurse who runs an open surgery.
thestudentroom.co.uk. Retrieved on 20 December 2013. Wadham has a relatively high number of state school students, compared to other Oxford colleges. Wadham hosts ''Queer Festival'' (formally ''Queer Bop''), and ''Wadstock'' (a twelve-hour live music festival). It also hosts ''bops'' five times a term in

Michaelmas term Michaelmas term is the first academic term of the academic year in a number of English-speaking universities and schools in the northern hemisphere, especially in the United Kingdom. Michaelmas term derives its name from the Feast of St Mich ...

and

Hilary term Hilary term is the second academic term of the University of Oxford A Wadham student tradition is that events are always concluded with the playing of ''Free Nelson Mandela''. There are three football teams, two chess teams, a cricket team, men and women's boat crews, a hockey team with Trinity, trampolining Cuppers side (mixed); Gaelic Football Cuppers side, men's darts, men's rugby, women's rugby Fives, mixed pool, weightlifting as well as Ultimate Frisbee. Wadham College Boat Club is the rowing club for students at Wadham, and it also allows Harris Manchester College students to join. The college boat house is located on Boathouse Island.

Anecdotes and curiosities

* Under the original statutes, women were forbidden from entering the college, with the exception of a laundress who was to be of 'such age, condition, and reputation as to be above suspicion.' * Wadham had amongst its fellowship the notable poet

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court. The Restoration reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. Rochester embodi ...

(1647–1680) who earned a reputation as the most famous womanizer of his era. The 2004 movie '' The Libertine'', which starred

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awar ...

as Rochester, coincidentally also starred

Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and '' Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...

, a Wadham alumna. * In 1739 the warden of Wadham, Robert Thistlethwayte, fled England after a homosexual scandal. The event prompted the limerick: :The college was renowned for its relaxed attitude to homosexuality, and revelled in its nickname of 'Sodom'. * In 1968, as student protests became commonplace at centres of learning in Europe and the Americas, the Warden and Fellows are reported to have sent this reply to a set of "non-negotiable demands":

Dear Gentlemen: We note your threat to take what you call 'direct action' unless your demands are immediately met. We feel it is only sporting to remind you that our governing body includes three experts in chemical warfare, two ex-commandos skilled with dynamite and torturing prisoners, four qualified marksmen in both small arms and rifles, two ex-artillerymen, one holder of the Victoria Cross, four karate experts and a chaplain. The governing body has authorized me to tell you that we look forward with confidence to what you call a 'confrontation,' and I may say, with anticipation.

The letter seemed to have dimmed the students' fire, was reprinted in Harper's Bazaar, and cited in newspaper columns and speeches for at least two years following its publication. * In the days when Oxford colleges locked their gates overnight, Wadham was regarded as a particularly difficult college to climb into after the gates closed. One route into the college was said to be via the Warden's Lodgings in the corner of the front quad. College legend has it that an undergraduate was quietly making his way through the lodgings when Warden Bowra entered the room. The undergraduate rapidly secreted himself behind a sofa, whilst Bowra took a book from the bookcase and settled down to read for several hours. When Bowra eventually rose to leave, he quipped "turn the lights off before you go, there's a good fellow". * The pattern in the pavement outside the student bar at Wadham College is a

Penrose tiling A Penrose tiling is an example of an aperiodic tiling. Here, a ''tiling'' is a covering of the plane by non-overlapping polygons or other shapes, and ''aperiodic'' means that shifting any tiling with these shapes by any finite distance, without ...

, named after the Wadham mathematician

Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose (born 8 August 1931) is an English mathematician, mathematical physicist, philosopher of science and Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics in the University of Oxford, an emeritus f ...

who invented it in the 1970s. Penrose tilings have many interesting mathematical properties, and they also explain the structure of some unusual metallic crystals, called

quasicrystal A quasiperiodic crystal, or quasicrystal, is a structure that is ordered but not periodic. A quasicrystalline pattern can continuously fill all available space, but it lacks translational symmetry. While crystals, according to the classical ...

s, that were discovered in the 1980s and won

Dan Shechtman Dan Shechtman ( he, דן שכטמן; born January 24, 1941)Dan Shechtman
. (PDF). Retri ...

the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2011. * The 2004 computer-animated film '' Pinocchio 3000'', a science fiction retelling of the classic tale by Carlo Collodi, is replete with oblique visual cues and other references to various Oxford colleges, but predominantly Wadham, the alma mater of three of the senior production team. * In January 2013, skeletons were discovered during building works on college grounds. Contrary to previous rumours of bullet wounds being found on one of the bodies, these remains were found to be medieval in origin.

People associated with Wadham

Notable people

In common with many Oxford colleges, Wadham has produced a wide range of graduates in the fields of economics, history, law, physiology, medicine, management, humanities, mathematics, science, technology, media, philosophy, poetry, politics and religion who have contributed significantly to public life. Notable members of the college in its early years include Robert Blake, Cromwell's admiral and founder of British sea-power in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

, John Cook the first solicitor general of the

English Commonwealth The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and exec ...

and prosecutor of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

, the libertine poet and courtier John Wilmot 2nd Earl of Rochester, and

. Wren attended the meetings of scientifically inclined scholars which were held by Warden

(Cromwell's brother-in-law) in the college in the 1650s. Those attending formed the nucleus of the

at its foundation in 1662.

invited

to Oxford in 1653, writing that " shall be most ready to provide the best accommodations for you, that this place will afford". Boyle moved to Oxford in 1655, but preferred not to accept Wilkins's offer of accommodation, choosing instead to arrange his own rooms where he could carry out his scientific experiments."Biography of Robert Boyle"
history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk. Retrieved on 22 December 2013. Boyle became a member of the Oxford Philosophical Club that met weekly in Wilkins's chambers at Wadham, as did

who became Boyle's assistant after having been a chorister at Christ Church.

Arthur Onslow Arthur Onslow (1 October 169117 February 1768) was an English politician. He set a record for length of service when repeatedly elected to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons, where he was known for his integrity. Early life and educat ...

(1708), a great Speaker of the House of Commons, and Richard Bethell, who became

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. T ...

as Lord Westbury in 1861, were members of the college. Two 20th century Lord Chancellors, F. E. Smith (Lord Birkenhead) and John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, John Simon, were undergraduates together in the 1890s, along with the sportsman C. B. Fry; Sir Thomas Beecham was an undergraduate in 1897, though soon abandoning Oxford for his musical career. Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell, who was Winston Churchill, Churchill's scientific adviser during the

, was a fellow of the college. Cecil Day-Lewis, later Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet-Laureate, came up in 1923, and Michael Foot, later leader of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, in 1931. Sir

, scholar and wit, was Warden between 1938 and 1970. Robert Moses, the city planner, rose to the college in 1911. Among recent members have been Rowan Williams, Dr Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, John Dyson, Lord Dyson, Lord Dyson, former justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and Master of the Rolls, author and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, writer and journalist Jonathan Freedland, novelists Hari Kunzru and Monica Ali, and Wasim Sajjad, former Chairman of the Senate of Pakistan and twice President of Pakistan. The mathematical physicist and philosopher Sir

was Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics 1973–1999, and is now an emeritus fellow. Andrew Hodges, the theoretical physicist and author of ''The Imitation Game'', the biography of Alan Turing, is a Tutorial Fellow in mathematics at Wadham. Having taught at Wadham since 1986, Hodges was elected a Fellow in 2007, and was appointed Dean from start of the 2011/12 academic year. File:Christopher Wren by Godfrey Kneller 1711.jpg, Sir Christopher Wren, architect and astronomer File:The Shannon Portrait of the Hon Robert Boyle.jpg,

, physicist File:Roger Penrose 9671.JPG, Sir

, mathematician File:CB Fry batting.jpg, C. B. Fry, cricketer File:Arthur Onslow by Hans Hysing.jpg,

, former Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons File:Kamisese Mara.jpg, Sir Kamisese Mara, first prime minister of Fiji File:Abdul Halim of Kedah.jpg, Abdul Halim of Kedah, Yang di-Pertuan Agong, King of Malaysia File:Retouched portrait of Sir William Fox.jpg, Sir William Fox (politician), William Fox, former List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand, Prime minister of New Zealand File:Robert Blake.jpg, Robert Blake, ''Father of the Royal Navy'' File:Michael Foot (1981).jpg, Michael Foot, former Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party File:Rowan Williams -001b.jpg, Rowan Williams, former archbishop of Canterbury File:Rosamund Pike at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival.jpg,

, actress File:Felicity Jones December 2016.jpg, Felicity Jones, actress File:Melvyn bragg head crop.jpg, Melvyn Bragg, broadcaster and author File:Sautoy2 cropped.JPG, Marcus du Sautoy, mathematician and Simonyi Professorship for the Public Understanding of Science, Simonyi Professor