Editing Mansfield College, Oxford (section)

== History ==
The college was founded in 1838, under the patronage of George Storer Mansfield (1764–1837) and his two sisters Sarah (1767–1853) and Elizabeth (1772–1847), as [[Spring Hill College, Birmingham]], a college for [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] students.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk/about/historical-background.html?type=0|title=Mansfield College Historical Background|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514172042/http://www.mansfield.ox.ac.uk/about/historical-background.html?type=0|archive-date=14 May 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVMBAAAAYAAJ |title=Mansfield College, Oxford: Its Origin and Opening, October 14-16, 1889 |location=Oxford |year=1890 |oclc=794856901 |pages=3–4  }}</ref> In the nineteenth century, although students from all religious denominations were legally entitled to attend universities, they were forbidden by statute from taking degrees unless they conformed to the [[Church of England]].{{fact|date=March 2021}}

[[File:Oliver Cromwell College Chapel.jpg|thumb|left|Stained glass window in the college chapel, L-R [[Sir Henry Vane the Younger|Sir Henry Vane]], [[Oliver Cromwell]] and [[John Hampden]] ]]
In 1871, the [[Universities Tests Act]] abolished all religious tests for non-theological degrees at Oxford, [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] and [[Durham University|Durham]] Universities.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1871/cukpga_18710026_en_1|title= Universities Tests Act 1871 s.3}}</ref> For the first time the educational and social opportunities offered by Britain's premier institutions were open to some Nonconformists. The Prime Minister who enacted these reforms, [[William Ewart Gladstone]], encouraged the creation of a Nonconformist college at Oxford.{{fact|date=March 2021}}

Spring Hill College moved to Oxford in 1886<ref>''Mansfield College'', pp.&nbsp;25–26, 38–41.</ref> and was renamed Mansfield College after George Mansfield and his sister Elizabeth. The Victorian buildings, designed by [[Basil Champneys]] on a site bought from [[Merton College]], were formally opened in October 1889.<ref name=building>''Mansfield College'', pp.&nbsp;45–49.</ref>

Mansfield was the first Nonconformist college to open in Oxford. Initially the college accepted men only, the first woman ([[Constance Coltman]]) being admitted to read for an external degree in 1913.{{fact|date=March 2021}}

During [[World War II]], over forty members of staff from the [[Government Code and Cypher School]] moved to the college to work on British codes and cyphers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/hist/wartime/diaries/august1939.rhtm|title=Our Story|publisher=Bletchley Park}}</ref>

Like many of Oxford's colleges, Mansfield admitted its first mixed-sex cohort in 1979, having previously not accepted women to read for Oxford degrees.<ref>Communication from Nicola Patrick, college librarian</ref>

In 1955 the college was granted the status of [[permanent private hall]] within the University of Oxford and in 1995 a [[royal charter]] was awarded giving the institution full college status.{{fact|date=March 2021}}

=== Nonconformist roots ===
Since the college was first formally integrated into the university structure in 1955, its Nonconformist aspects have gradually diminished. Until 2007 Mansfield trained [[United Reformed Church]] (URC) ordinands, who became fully matriculated members of the university and received degrees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.urc.org.uk/news/2009/june/mansfield_college|title=The last URC minister to qualify through Mansfield College|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226114921/http://www.urc.org.uk/news/2009/june/mansfield_college|archive-date=26 February 2011}}</ref>

The Nonconformist history of the college is however still apparent in a few of its features. A portrait of [[Oliver Cromwell]] hangs in the Senior Common Room and portraits of the [[English Dissenters|dissenters of 1662]] hang in the library and the corridors of the main college building, together with portraits of [[William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele|Viscount Saye and Sele]], [[John Hampden]], [[Thomas Jollie]] and [[Hugh Peters]].
The college chapel is unconsecrated, and contains stained glass windows and statues depicting leading figures from Nonconformist movements, including Cromwell, [[Sir Henry Vane the Younger|Sir Henry Vane]] and [[William Penn]].<ref name=building/> Chapel services are still conducted in a Nonconformist tradition. Over the years attendance at chapel services has declined and the make-up of the general student body no longer reflects the Nonconformist religious origins of the college.{{fact|date=March 2021}}