Editing Jesus College, Oxford (section)

== History ==

=== Foundation ===
{{Further|List of founding Fellows, Scholars and Commissioners of Jesus College, Oxford}}

[[File:Elizabeth I Jesus College.jpg|upright|thumb|alt=A woman in an elaborately-decorated long dress, patterned with jewels. A large ruff around her neck; over her head, two angels support a laurel wreath|The college's founder, [[Queen Elizabeth I]], shown in a portrait in the college hall]]

Jesus College was founded on 27 June 1571, when [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] issued a [[royal charter]].<ref name=Baker1 /> It was the first [[Protestantism in the United Kingdom|Protestant]] college to be founded at the university, and it is the only Oxford college to date from Elizabeth's reign.<ref>Gibson, p. 21</ref><ref name=beginning>{{cite web|url=http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/beginning.php |title=Jesus College&nbsp;– The Beginning |date=8 April 2001 |publisher=Jesus College, Oxford |access-date=10 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303222404/http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/beginning.php |archive-date=3 March 2007 }}</ref> It was the first new Oxford college since 1555, in the reign of [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]], when [[Trinity College, Oxford|Trinity College]] and [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]] were founded as [[Roman Catholicism in Great Britain|Roman Catholic]] colleges.<ref>Gibson, p. 20</ref> The foundation charter named a principal ([[David Lewis (lawyer)|David Lewis]]), eight [[Oxbridge Fellow|fellows]], eight [[scholarship|scholars]], and eight commissioners to draw up the statutes for the college.<ref name=Hardy13>Hardy, p. 13</ref> The commissioners included [[Hugh Price (lawyer)|Hugh Price]], who had petitioned the queen to found a college at Oxford "that he might bestow his estate of the maintenance of certain scholars of Wales to be trained up in good letters."<ref>Hardy, p. 6, quoting [[Anthony Wood (antiquary)|Anthony Wood]]</ref> The charter also transferred to the college the land and buildings of White Hall, an academic hall on part of the current site.<ref>Hardy, pp. 8–9</ref> The college was originally intended primarily for the education of clergy. The particular intention was to satisfy a need for dedicated, learned clergy to promote the [[Elizabethan Religious Settlement]] in the parishes of England, Ireland and Wales. The college has since broadened the range of subjects offered, beginning with the inclusion of medicine and law, and now offers almost the full range of subjects taught at the university. The [[letters patent]] issued by Elizabeth I made it clear that the education of a priest in the 16th century included more than just theology, however:<ref name=Baker1>Baker (1971), p. 1</ref>

{{blockquote |...to the Glory of God Almighty and Omnipotent, and for the spread and maintenance of the Christian religion in its sincere form, for the eradication of errors and heresies, for the increase and perpetuation of true loyalty, for the extension of good literature of every sort, for the knowledge of languages, for the education of youth in loyalty, morality, and methodical learning, for the relief of poverty and distress, and lastly for the benefit and well-being of the Church of Christ in our realms, [...] we have decreed that a College of learning in the sciences, philosophy, humane pursuits, knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages, to the ultimate profession of Sacred Theology, to last for all time to come, be created, founded, built, and established....|Elizabeth I| 27 June 1571.}}

[[File:Ralph Agas map of Oxford 1578 Jesus marked.jpg|thumb|alt=A bird's-eye view of a city, showing a city wall, churches, colleges, other buildings and gardens|Part of [[Ralph Agas]]'s map of Oxford (1578) (south at the top), with the early college plan (highlighted) near the city wall]]

Price continued to be closely involved with the college after its foundation. On the strength of a promised legacy, worth £60 a year on his death (approximately £{{inflation|UK|60|1574|r=-2|fmt=c}} in present-day terms),{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} he requested and received the authority to appoint the new college's principal, fellows and scholars. He financed early building work in the college's front [[Quadrangle (architecture)|quadrangle]], but on his death in 1574 it transpired that the college received only a [[lump sum]] of around £600 (approximately £{{inflation |UK|600|1574|r=-3|fmt=c}} in present-day terms).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}<ref name=Founders /> Problems with his bequest meant that it was not received in full for about 25 years. As the college had no other donors at this time, "for many years the college had buildings but no revenue".<ref name=VCH264>Baker (1954), p. 264</ref>

=== 17th century ===

[[File:Engraving Jesus College 1675.jpg|thumb|left|College engraving, 1675]]

The main benefactor, other than the King, was [[Eubule Thelwall (politician)|Eubule Thelwall]], from [[Ruthin]], North Wales, who became Principal in 1621; he succeeded in securing a [[List of founding Fellows, Scholars and Commissioners of Jesus College, Oxford|new charter and statutes]] for the college from [[James I of England|James I]], having spent £5,000 of his own money on the hall and chapel, which earned him the title of its second founder.<ref>[https://biography.wales/article/s-THEL-PLA-1380 National Library of Wales: On-line Biography]; accessed 6 June 2014</ref> Thelwall died on 8 October 1630, aged 68 and was buried in Jesus College Chapel where a monument was erected to his memory by his brother Sir Bevis Thelwall (Page of the King's Bedchamber and Clerk of the Great Wardrobe).<ref>{{Cite DNB|wstitle= Thelwall, Eubule |volume= 56 |last= Lloyd |first= John Edward |author-link= John Edward Lloyd |page= 110 |year=1885 |short=1}}</ref>

Other benefactions in the 17th century include [[Herbert Westfaling]], the [[Bishop of Hereford]], who left enough property to support two fellowships and scholarships (with the significant proviso that "my kindred shallbe always preferred before anie others").<ref>{{cite ODNB| url = http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29111| title = Westfaling, Herbert (1531/2–1602)| access-date =29 June 2006| last = Speight| first = Martin | year = 2004 | doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/29111}}</ref> Sir [[Eubule Thelwall (politician)|Eubule Thelwall]] (principal 1621–1630) spent much of his own money on the construction of a chapel, hall and library for the college. The library, constructed above an over-weak [[colonnade]], was pulled down under the principalship of [[Francis Mansell]] (1630–1649), who also built two staircases of residential accommodation to attract the sons of Welsh gentry families to the college.<ref name=Benefactors />

The [[English Civil War]] "all but destroyed the corporate life of the college."<ref name = VCH265>Baker (1954), p. 265.</ref> Mansell was removed from his position as principal and [[Michael Roberts (college principal)|Michael Roberts]] was installed.  After [[Stuart Restoration|the Restoration]], Mansell was briefly reinstated as principal, before resigning in favour of [[Leoline Jenkins]].<ref name = VCH265 /><ref name = VCH266>Baker (1954), p. 266</ref> It was Jenkins (principal 1661–1673) who secured the long-term viability of the college.  On his death, in 1685, he bequeathed a large complex of estates, acquired largely by lawyer friends from the over-mortgaged landowners of the Restoration period. These estates allowed the college's sixteen fellowships and scholarships to be filled for the first time&nbsp;– officially, sixteen of each had been supported since 1622, but the college's income was too small to keep all occupied simultaneously.<ref name=Benefactors>{{cite web|url=http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/benefactors.php |title=Benefactors |access-date=29 June 2006 |author=Jesus College, Oxford |date=14 May 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060329100937/http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/benefactors.php |archive-date=29 March 2006 }}</ref> In 1713, the bequest of Welsh clergyman and former student [[Edmund Meyrick]]e established a number of scholarships for students from north Wales, although these are now available to all Welsh students.<ref name=VCH267>Baker (1954), p. 267</ref>

=== 18th and 19th centuries ===

The 18th century, in contrast to the disruption of the 17th century, was a comparatively quiet time for the college. A historian of the college, [[J. N. L. Baker]], wrote that the college records for this time "tell of little but routine entries and departures of fellows and scholars".<ref name=VCH267 /> The [[Napoleonic Wars]] saw a reduction in the numbers of students and entries in the records for the purchase of [[musket]]s and other items for college members serving in the university corps. After the war, numbers rose, to an average of twenty new students per year between 1821 and 1830. However, debts owed to the college had increased, perhaps due to the economic effects of the war&nbsp;– by 1832, the college was owed £986 10s 5d (approximately £{{inflation |UK|986.5|1832|r=-2}} in present-day terms).<ref name=VCH267 /><ref name=VCH268>Baker (1954), p. 268</ref>{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} During the first half of the 19th century, the academic strength of the college diminished: scholarships were sometimes not awarded because of a lack of suitable candidates, and numbers fell: there were only seven new entrants in 1842.<ref name=VCH268 /> [[Ernest George Hardy|Ernest Hardy]] wrote in his history of the college in 1899 that it had been becoming "increasingly evident for years... that the exclusive connection with Wales was ruining the college as a place of education."<ref>Hardy, p. 190</ref>

[[File:Jesus College engraving quadrangle 1837.JPG|thumb|alt=Stone buildings on two sides of a square, all topped with crenellations; from left, a three-storey building with a shell-hood above the door; a chapel with a bell turret and four gothic pointed windows, with the entrance porch under the furthest left window; this meets another three-storey building at the corner of the square, which has a large open archway in which two figures stand|An 1837 engraving of the first quadrangle]]

A [[Royal Commission]] was appointed in 1852 to investigate the university. The college wished to retain its links with Wales, and initial reforms were limited despite the wishes of the commissioners: those scholarships that were limited to particular parts of Wales were opened to the whole of Wales, and half of the fellowships awarded were to remain open only to Welshmen {{"'}}if and so long as the Principal and Fellows shall deem it expedient for the interests of education in connection with the Principality of Wales{{'"}}.<ref name=VCH268 /> All the scholarships at the college, except for two, and all the [[exhibition (scholarship)|exhibitions]] were still restricted to students from Wales.<ref>Hardy, p. 197</ref> The numbers of students at the college still fell, despite prizes being awarded for success in university examinations. [[Daniel Harper (headmaster)|Daniel Harper]], principal from 1877 to 1895, noted the continuing academic decline.  Speaking in 1879, he noted that fewer students from the college were reaching high standards in examinations, and that more Welsh students were choosing to study at other Oxford colleges in preference to Jesus. A further Royal Commission was appointed. This led to further changes at the college: in 1882, the fellowships reserved to Welshmen were made open to all, and only half (instead of all) of the 24 scholarships were to be reserved for Welsh candidates.<ref name= VCH269>Baker (1954), p. 269</ref><ref>Hardy, p. 208</ref> Thereafter, numbers gradually rose and the non-Welsh element at the college increased, so that by 1914 only about half of the students were Welsh.<ref name=VCH269 />

=== 20th century ===
During the [[First World War]], "the college in the ordinary sense almost ceased to exist".<ref name= VCH269 /> From 129 students in the summer of 1914, numbers dropped to 36 in the spring of 1916.  Some refugee students from Belgium and Serbia lodged in empty rooms in the college during 1916, and officers of the [[Royal Flying Corps]] resided from August 1916 to December 1918. After the war, numbers rose and fellowships were added in new subjects: history (1919 and 1933); theology (1927); physics (1934); a second fellowship in chemistry (1924); and modern languages (lectureship 1921, fellowship 1944). The improved teaching led to greater success in university examinations and prizes.<ref name=VCH270>Baker (1954), p. 270</ref>

[[File:Harold_Wilson.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A man in his late 40s, with short greying hair in a slight wave, wearing a dark jacket and tie with a white shirt|[[Harold Wilson]], who was twice [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]], studied Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) at Jesus College, graduating with first class honours.]]
In the inter-war years (1918–1939) Jesus was seen by some as a small college and something of a backwater; it attracted relatively few pupils from the [[Independent school (UK)|public schools]] traditionally seen as the most prestigious.<ref>{{cite book | last = Pimlott | first = Ben | title = Harold Wilson | year = 1992 | publisher = Harper Collins | location = London | isbn = 0-00-215189-8}}</ref> The college did, however, attract many academically able entrants from the [[Grammar schools in the United Kingdom|grammar schools]] (particularly those in [[northern England]] and Scotland). Among these grammar-school boys was [[Harold Wilson]], who would later become [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/cent20.php |title=The 20th Century |access-date=4 April 2006 |author=Jesus College, Oxford |date=18 July 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060101212330/http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/cent20.php |archive-date=1 January 2006 }}</ref> During the Second World War, many of the fellows served in the armed forces or carried out war work in Oxford. The college remained full of students, though, as it provided lodgings for students from other colleges whose buildings had been requisitioned, and also housed officers on military courses.<ref name=VCH271>Baker (1954), p. 271</ref>

The college had its own science laboratories from 1907 to 1947, which were overseen (for all but the last three years) by the [[physical chemistry|physical chemist]] [[David Chapman (scientist)|David Chapman]], a fellow of the college from 1907 to 1944. At the time of their closure, they were the last college-based science laboratories at the university.<ref name=Chapman>{{cite ODNB | url= http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32364 | title= Chapman, David Leonard (1869–1958) | last= Bowen | first= E. J. | author-link= E. J. Bowen |author2 = rev. [[Keith J. Laidler|Laidler, Keith J]] | year= 2004 | doi= 10.1093/ref:odnb/32364 |access-date=2 April 2009}}</ref> They were named the [[Leoline Jenkins|Sir Leoline Jenkins]] laboratories, after a former principal of the college. The laboratories led to scientific research and tuition (particularly in chemistry) becoming an important part of the college's academic life.<ref name=labs>{{cite journal |journal=Jesus College Record |year=1996 |orig-year=1995 |title= Sir Leoline Jenkins Laboratories 1907–47 |pages=46–57 |last=Long |first=Derek}}</ref> The brochure produced for the opening ceremony noted that the number of science students at the college had increased rapidly in recent years, and that provision of college laboratories would assist the tuition of undergraduates, as well as attracting to Jesus College graduates of the [[University of Wales]] who wished to continue their research at Oxford. A link between one of the college science lecturers and [[Imperial Chemical Industries]] (ICI) led to 17 students joining ICI between the two World Wars, some, such as [[John Rose (chemist)|John Rose]], reaching senior levels in the company. The laboratories became unnecessary when the university began to provide centralised facilities for students; they were closed in 1947.<ref name=labs />

The quatercentenary of the college, in 1971, saw the opening of the Old Members' Buildings in the third quadrangle.<ref name=Hibbert /> Further student accommodation has been built at the sports ground and at a site in north Oxford.<ref name=Accomm /> In 1974, Jesus was among the first group of five men's colleges to admit women as members, the others being [[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose]], [[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham]], [[Hertford College, Oxford|Hertford]] and [[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's]];<ref name="Women_at_Oxford">{{cite web |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/women-at-oxford |title=Women at Oxford |publisher=[[University of Oxford]] |access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref> between one-third and one-half of the undergraduates are women.<ref name=Modern /> A long-standing [[Colleges of the University of Oxford#College rivalries|rivalry]] with nearby [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter College]] reached a peak in 1979, with seven police vehicles and three fire engines involved in dealing with trouble in Turl Street.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Record|year=2018 |publisher=Jesus College |url=https://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-02/The%20Record%202018.pdf 
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214115725/https://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2019-02/The%20Record%202018.pdf |archive-date=14 February 2019}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> [[John Habakkuk|Sir John Habakkuk]] (principal 1967–1984) and [[Peter North (academic)|Sir Peter North]] (principal 1984–2005) both served terms as Vice-Chancellor of the university, from 1973 to 1977 and from 1993 to 1997 respectively.<ref name=Modern>{{cite web |url=http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/modernday.php |title=The Modern Day |publisher=Jesus College, Oxford |date=27 September 2005 |access-date=9 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424071835/http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/modernday.php |archive-date=24 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===21st century===
The hereditary [[visitor]] of the college remains the [[Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery|Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery]] ''[[ex officio]]''.{{r|jesus-ox-statutes}} The current visitor is [[William Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke | William Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke, 15th Earl of Montgomery]]. Jesus, [[Magdalene College, Cambridge]] and [[Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge]] are the only three [[Oxbridge]] colleges that continue to prescribe by [[statute]] visitations held by [[hereditary peers]].