Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Established
  
1878

Principal
  
Postgraduates
  
205

Undergraduate tuition and fees
  
7,500 GBP (2012)

Phone
  
+44 1865 274300

Named for
  
Lady Margaret Beaufort

Undergraduates
  
390 (2014/2015)

Website
  
www.lmh.ox.ac.uk

Total enrollment
  
580 (2010)

Colors
  
Yellow, White, Blue

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford

Address
  
Norham Gardens, Oxford OX2 6QA, UK

Motto
  
Souvent me Souviens; English: I remember often (French)

Sister college
  
Newnham College, Cambridge

Notable alumni
  
Bridget Kendall, Samuel West, Benazir Bhutto, Nigella Lawson, Eglantyne Jebb

Similar
  
University of Oxford, Christ's College - Cambridge, St John's College - Cambridge, Murray Edwards College, Girton College - Cambridge

Profiles

One last term at lady margaret hall oxford


Lady Margaret Hall (commonly referred to as LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford.

Contents

It was founded in 1878 as the first women's college in Oxford and has accepted both men and women since 1979. LMH admits both undergraduate and graduate students. In 2015 it ranked 28th in Oxford's Norrington Table.

The current principal of the college is Alan Rusbridger.

History

Lady Margaret Hall, the first women's college in Oxford, was founded in 1878 and opened its doors to its first nine students the following year. It was founded by Edward Stuart Talbot, then Warden of Keble College, and his wife Lavinia. The college was named after Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII, renowned patron of scholarship and learning. Its first principal was Elizabeth Wordsworth, the great-niece of the poet William Wordsworth and daughter of Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln.

In 1979, one hundred years after its foundation, LMH began admitting men as well as women; it was the first of the women's colleges to do so, along with St. Anne's.

The college's coat of arms features devices that recall those associated with its foundation. The portcullis is from the arms of Lady Margaret Beaufort, the bell is a symbol of the Wordsworth family, and the Talbot dogs represent Edward Talbot.

Its colours are blue and yellow (sometimes also with white), and its motto is "Souvent me Souviens", an Old French phrase meaning "I remember often".

Buildings and architecture

Lady Margaret Hall is one of the few Oxford colleges on the River Cherwell and is known for its lovely gardens set in spacious grounds (about 12 acres (49,000 m2)). The college's original house, now known as Old Old Hall, is still in use.

Just behind the main buildings are a set of playing fields and tennis courts, a punt house, as well as a manicured Fellows' Garden, hidden from view by tall hedgerows. Giles Gilbert Scott, famous for designing Liverpool Cathedral and the K2 red telephone box designed the college's Byzantine-style chapel. Its grounds, along with those of Trinity College, Oxford, were the basis for Fleet College in the American author Charles Finch's novel set in Oxford University, The Last Enchantments.

The architect of the main college buildings was Sir Reginald Blomfield who used the French Renaissance style of the 17th century and chose red brick with white stone facings. The central block, the Talbot Building (1910) contains the Hall and Library, while the accommodation for students and tutors is divided between three wings, the Wordsworth Building (1896), the Toynbee Building (1915) and the Lodge Building (1926). The Hall contains some fine oak panelling donated by former students to honour Elizabeth Wordsworth. The portraits in the Hall include the work of notable artists; among the portraits of principals is Sir J. J. Shannon's portrait of Dame Elizabeth, Philip de Laszlo's of Miss Jex-Blake, Sir Rodrigo Moynihan's of Dr Grier and Maud Sumner's of Miss Sutherland. In the Library is a fine marble statue by Edith Bateson. The chapel in the form of a Greek cross was dedicated by the college's founder Edward Stuart Talbot, in January 1933.

In the summer of 2006 a new law library was constructed beneath the extant library; it was opened that year by Cherie Blair.

In 2005 the college commissioned John Simpson Architects to prepare a masterplan for the enlargement of LMH. The first phase, the Pipe Partridge Building, was completed in early 2010. This building includes the 136-seat Simpkins Lee theatre, a dining hall, seminar rooms, JCR common rooms, and 64 new undergraduate study bedrooms. It won the Georgian Group award for the best new building in the classical tradition and was opened by the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Lord Patten of Barnes, in April 2010.

The bell in the clock above the lodge rings hourly between 08:00 and 22:00.

Middle Common Room

The college's Middle Common Room (MCR) admits approximately 100 members each year and consists of around 160 members. Currently, each MCR member has the use of his/her own common room, consisting of a kitchen, TV room and lounge and his/her own computer room. Next year building will commence for a new graduate centre which will see increased facilities for the MCR, including a new common room as well as increased graduate accommodation. This building will be part of a large change to the front of the college.

Notable alumni

  • James Allen, Formula One commentator
  • Diana Athill, publisher's editor
  • Gertrude Bell, writer and diplomat
  • Nora Beloff, journalist and political writer
  • Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan
  • Elisabeth Blochmann, educationalist
  • Katharine Mary Briggs, writer
  • Edith Bülbring, pioneering scientist in the field of smooth muscle physiology, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford, and one of the first women accepted to the British Royal Society as a fellow, FRS
  • Caryl Churchill, playwright
  • Danny Cohen, former Controller of BBC One
  • Charles C. W. Cooke, journalist and broadcaster
  • Donal Coonan, presenter
  • Lindsey Davis, novelist
  • Vivien Duffield, philanthropist
  • Antonia Fraser, writer
  • Michael Gove, former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
  • Eric Greitens, 56th Governor of Missouri, author, former Rhodes Scholar and Navy SEAL, founder of The Mission Continues
  • Alethea Hayter, author
  • Stephen Hester, former CEO of RBS
  • Tim Hetherington, photojournalist
  • Baroness Hogg, journalist
  • George Hollingbery, politician
  • Philip Hollobone, politician
  • Richard Howitt, politician
  • Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children
  • Charlotte Johnson Wahl, artist
  • Matthew Jones, actor and musical comedian
  • Lucy Kellaway, journalist
  • Bridget Kendall, BBC diplomatic correspondent
  • Joanna Kennedy, civil engineer
  • Nigella Lawson, journalist and celebrity television cooking show presenter
  • Ann Leslie, journalist
  • Goodwin Liu, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California, former Rhodes Scholar
  • Josie Long, comedian
  • Elizabeth Longford, writer
  • Elinor Lyon, children's writer
  • Eliza Manningham-Buller, former director general of MI5
  • Sujata Manohar, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India
  • Simon Mason, author of juvenile and adult fiction
  • Lucasta Miller, writer and critic
  • Barbara Mills, former Director of Public Prosecutions
  • Priscilla Napier, author
  • Pauline Neville-Jones, former Minister of State for Security and Counter Terrorism
  • Cathy Newman, Channel 4 News presenter and journalist
  • Michelle Paver, author
  • H. F. M. Prescott, historian
  • Diana Quick, actress
  • Dominic Raab, politician
  • Margaret Rawlings, actress
  • Johnny Rogan, author and broadcaster
  • Victoria Schofield, author
  • Conrad Shawcross, artist
  • Marie Slocombe, founder of the BBC Sound Archive
  • Matthew Taylor, politician
  • Ann Trindade, historian
  • Anna Walker, British civil servant
  • Baroness Warnock, philosopher
  • C. V. Wedgwood, historian
  • Samuel West, actor
  • Helen Whately, politician
  • Ann Widdecombe, politician
  • Marina Warner, writer
  • References

    Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Wikipedia