The project to upgrade and digitise the catalogue of the papers of Mary Somerville (1780-1872) is now complete. For the first time, researchers all over the world will be able to have access to the complete listing of the collection which is owned by Somerville College but held by the Bodleian Library. During the cataloguing process some interesting documents have been unearthed… Read More »Online Catalogue Complete
The recent film ‘The Railway Man’ tells the story of Eric Lomax, a British soldier captured by the Japanese in World War 2 and held in Changi Prison before being sent to work on the infamous Burma railway. As well as thousands of soldiers, around 3,000 civilians were incarcerated in Changi, including Somervillian Dr. Cicely Williams. One of the first women… Read More »Birthday in Changi Prison
As with many primary sources, the Somerville Minutes of Council were created as an official record of the institution yet they are inadvertently informative about the world outside the College walls. In the 1930s, they provide a valuable account of the response of British academia to the persecutions of the Nazi regime. Hitler’s appointment as German Chancellor in January 1933… Read More »Refugee Scholars at Somerville
In 1976 a remarkable collection of letters, books, artwork and ephemera was given to the college by a Somerville alumna, Audrey Kennet (née Withers, 1924-7) and her sister Monica. The gift was made in honour of their parents Dr Percy and Mrs Mary Withers (née Summers, Somerville, 1889-92), who were at the centre of an illustrious circle of friends including many of… Read More »A rare talent for friendship – Percy Withers
WINIFRED HOLTBY: AN INFORMED VIEW … AND A PRESCIENT ONE?Hugh Gault At the end of May 1929, and after five years of a reforming Conservative government, the first general election at which everybody aged 21 and over could vote had resulted in no clear majority. Nationally, the Labour Party had won 287 seats in parliament against 260 for the Conservatives,… Read More »Winifred Holtby on the first Female MPs
In 1880 The Graphic magazine published this collection of wood-engraved vignettes of what was then the new Somerville Hall. The engravings were taken from drawings by the first Principal Madeleine Shaw Lefevre and her cousin Mrs Nigel Madan Back to Snippets from the Archives
“I didn’t begin to write my speech for the O.S.D.S.* debate until Thursday morning, and I timed it to take exactly two minutes. I was the Proposer and the motion was, ‘That the reluctance of the modern woman to marry is a benefit to Society.’ I wore my white satin with the pink on it and, to my surprise, wasn’t… Read More »February 1914 : Somerville College Before the Outbreak of War
“I realised that I could not have any chance at all” Vera Brittain, ‘March 16th-20th, Somerville College, Oxford’ Chronicle of Youth In March 1914, Vera Brittain visited Somerville to take the College entrance examination. She had applied not just for a place but for a scholarship, despite advice from the Principal, Emily Penrose, not to try for the latter. Her anxiety… Read More »March 1914: Vera Brittain is Awarded an Exhibition
‘He had served the College for twelve and a half years with fidelity and real affection; and it was a pleasure to both Staff and Students to be able to express their appreciation of his faithful service and that of his wife in the form of presents to them for their new house in Ferry Hinksey Road: a clock and… Read More »April 1914: Scroggs Retires
On 9th May 1914, the Polish anthropologist and Somerville student Marya Czaplicka applied for funds for an expedition to Siberia. Marya Czaplicka had arrived in England in 1911 to take the diploma course in anthropology at Somerville. Intelligent and charming, she was a mature student and accomplished scholar. Speaking Russian in addition to Polish and English, she was uniquely placed to… Read More »May 1914: The Launch of Miss Czaplicka’s Siberian Expedition