Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
m →Hall and Maitland: Recency updates - New portrait, IT room relocation |
||
Line 1:
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox residential college
| name = Somerville College
| image = [[File:Somerville College.jpg|290px|Somerville College Hall]]
| caption = Somerville College Hall
| scarf = {{scarf|{{cells|3|red}}{{cell|black}}{{cells|2|red}}{{cell|black}}{{cells|3|red}}{{cell|black}}{{cells|2|red}}{{cell|black}}{{cells|3|red}}}}
| university = [[University of Oxford]]
| full_name = Somerville College in the University of Oxford
| latin_name = Collegium de Somerville
| motto = ''Donec rursus impleat orbem''<br />(translated: Until it should fill the world again)
| named_for = [[Mary Somerville]]
| previous_names = Somerville Hall (1879–1894)
| established = {{start date and age|1879}}
| sister_college = [[Girton College, Cambridge]]
| principal = [[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]]
| undergraduates = 437<ref name=numbers>{{Cite web |title=Student statistics |publisher=University of Oxford |url=https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/CollegeBreakdown?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no#3 |year=2020 |access-date=13 January 2021 |archive-date=4 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704021749/https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/CollegeBreakdown?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no#3 |url-status=live}}</ref> (2020–21)
| graduates = 235
| endowment = £84.3 million (2021)<ref name="somerville3"/>
| ___location = [[Woodstock Road (Oxford)|Woodstock Road]], Oxford OX2 6HD
| coordinates = {{coord|51|45|33|N|1|15|45|W|display=inline,title}}
| location_map = Oxford (central)
| shield = [[File:Arms of Somerville College.svg|135px]]
| blazon = Argent, three mullets in chevron reversed gules, between six crosses crosslet fitched sable
| colours = {{color box|Red}} {{color box|Black}}
| boat_club = [[Somerville College Boat Club]]
| website = {{URL|https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/}}
}}
'''Somerville College''' is a [[Colleges of the University of Oxford|constituent college]] of the [[University of Oxford]] in England. It was founded in 1879 as '''Somerville Hall''', one of its first two [[women's college]]s. It began admitting men in 1994.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/history/ |title=History |website=Somerville College Oxford |date=21 April 2021 |access-date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=19 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819215124/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/history/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The college's liberal tone{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=26}} derives from its founding by [[Liberal Party (UK)|social liberals]], as Oxford's first [[Nondenominational Christianity|non-denominational]] college for women, unlike the [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] [[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]], the other to open that year.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/history/fuller-history/ |title=True to its Principals |access-date=27 August 2018 |publisher=Somerville College |archive-date=27 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827174125/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/history/fuller-history/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1964, it was among the first to cease locking up at night to stop students staying out late.<ref name="Somerville">{{Cite web |title=Somerville College - Oxford University Alternative Prospectus |url=http://apply.oxfordsu.org/colleges/somerville/ |website=apply.oxfordsu.org |access-date=27 June 2018 |archive-date=28 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180628044101/http://apply.oxfordsu.org/colleges/somerville/ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn |Brockliss |2016 |p=669}} No [[Academic dress of the University of Oxford#gowns|gowns]] are worn at [[Formal (university)|formal halls]].
In 2021 it was recognised as a [[sanctuary campus]] by [[City of Sanctuary (UK)|City of Sanctuary UK]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/somerville-recognised-as-university-college-of-sanctuary/ |title=Somerville has been recognised as one of the UK's first University Colleges of Sanctuary |date=27 February 2021 |access-date=1 March 2021 |publisher=Somerville College, Oxford |archive-date=4 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304175123/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/somerville-recognised-as-university-college-of-sanctuary/ |url-status=live}}</ref> It is one of three colleges to offer undergraduates on-site lodging throughout their course.<ref name="whychoose">{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/studying-here/why-choose-somerville/ |title=Why choose Somerville |website=Somerville College Oxford |date=23 May 2023 |access-date=10 August 2018 |archive-date=10 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810205658/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/studying-here/why-choose-somerville/ |url-status=live}}</ref> It stands near the [[Science Area, Oxford|Science Area]], [[University Parks]], [[Oxford University Press]], [[Jericho, Oxford|Jericho]], and [[Green Templeton College, Oxford|Green Templeton]], [[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's]], [[Keble College, Oxford|Keble]] and [[St Benet's Hall, Oxford|St Benet's]]. Over a third of its 650 students are not from the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/CollegeBreakdown?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no#3 |title=Student Statistics - nationality |publisher=University of Oxford |year=2017 |access-date=10 September 2018 |archive-date=4 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704021749/https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/CollegeBreakdown?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no#3 |url-status=live}}</ref> Over half the UK admissions are from state schools – close to the university average.<ref name="2018 Admissions">{{Cite web |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/Admissions%20Report%202019.pdf |title=4 School Type |publisher=ox.ac.uk |access-date=8 October 2018 |archive-date=10 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230310031754/https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/Admissions%20Report%202019.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Its total net assets in 2021 were £238 million,<ref name="somerville3">{{Cite web |url=https://d307gmaoxpdmsg.cloudfront.net/collegeaccounts2021/Somerville.pdf |title=Somerville College: Annual Report and Financial Statements: Year ended 31 July 2021 |website=ox.ac.uk |page=25 |access-date=25 April 2025 |archive-date=4 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204234408/https://d307gmaoxpdmsg.cloudfront.net/collegeaccounts2021/Somerville.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> the seventh highest of an Oxford undergraduate college. Its [[sister college]] at [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] is [[Girton College, Cambridge|Girton]].
Among [[List of people associated with Somerville College, Oxford|its alumnae]] have been [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[Indira Gandhi]], [[Dorothy Hodgkin]], [[Iris Murdoch]], [[Philippa Foot]], [[Vera Brittain]] and [[Dorothy L. Sayers]].
==History==
===Founding===
In June 1878, the ''[[Association for the Education of Women|Association for the Higher Education of Women]]'' was formed, aiming for the eventual creation of a college for women in Oxford. Some of the more prominent members of the association were [[George Granville Bradley]], Master of [[University College, Oxford|University College]], [[T. H. Green]], a prominent liberal philosopher and Fellow of [[Balliol College]], and [[Edward Stuart Talbot]], Warden of [[Keble College, Oxford|Keble College]]. Talbot insisted on a specifically [[Anglican]] institution, which was unacceptable to most of the other members. The two parties eventually split, and Talbot's group (the "[[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]] camp") founded [[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]], which opened its doors for students in 1879, the same year as Somerville did.{{sfn |Brockliss |2016 |p=374}}
Thus, in 1879, a second committee was formed to create a college "in which no distinction will be made between students on the ground of their belonging to different religious denominations."{{sfn |Batson |2008 |pp=22-23}} This committee was called the "[[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]] camp" and had close ties to the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]].{{sfn |Batson |2008 |p=21}}{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=11}} This second committee included [[Sir Arthur Dyke Acland, 13th Baronet|A. H. D. Acland]], [[Thomas Hill Green]], [[George William Kitchin]], [[James Legge]], [[Henry Nettleship]], [[Walter Pater]], [[Henry Francis Pelham]], its chairman [[John Percival (bishop)|John Percival]], [[Grace Prestwich]], [[Eleanor Smith (activist)|Eleanor Smith]], [[Augustus George Vernon Harcourt|A. G. Vernon Harcourt]], and [[Mary Augusta Ward|Mary Ward]].{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=11}} Other people who assisted in the founding were [[Anna Swanwick]], [[Bertha Johnson]], [[Charlotte Byron Green]], and [[Owen Roberts (educator)|Owen Roberts]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Principals and Tutors |url=https://www.firstwomenatoxford.ox.ac.uk/article/principals-and-tutors |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=firstwomenatoxford.ox.ac.uk |language=en |archive-date=8 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808013254/https://www.firstwomenatoxford.ox.ac.uk/article/principals-and-tutors |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Thomas Phillips - Mary Fairfax, Mrs William Somerville, 1780 - 1872. Writer on science - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|The mathematician and scientist [[Mary Somerville]], 1780–1872, after whom the college is named]]
This new effort resulted in the founding of ''Somerville Hall'', named after the then recently deceased Scottish mathematician and renowned scientific writer [[Mary Somerville]].{{sfn |Brockliss |2016 |p=374}} It was felt that the name would reflect the virtues of liberalism and academic success which the college wished to embody.{{sfn |Batson |2008 |p=23}} She was admired by the founders of the college as a scholar, as well as for her religious and political views, including her conviction that women should have equality in terms of [[Suffrage#United Kingdom|suffrage]] and access to education.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Collins |first=Helen |date=11 February 2022 |title=Mary Somerville: Her Legacy for Women in Science |url=https://oxsci.org/mary-somerville-her-legacy-for-women-in-science/ |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=The Oxford Scientist |language=en-GB |archive-date=24 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824000227/https://oxsci.org/mary-somerville-her-legacy-for-women-in-science/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Madeleine Shaw-Lefevre]] was chosen as the first principal because, though not a well-known academic at the time, her background was felt to reflect the college's political stance.{{sfn |Batson |2008 |p=24}} Because of its status as both women's college and non-denominational institution, Somerville was widely regarded within Oxford as "an eccentric and somewhat alarming institution."{{sfn |Batson |2008 |p=25}}
===Women's college===
When it opened, Somerville Hall had twelve students, ranging in age between 17 and 36.{{sfn|Batson|2008|p=26}} The first 21 students from Somerville and Lady Margaret Hall attended lectures in rooms above a baker's shop on [[Little Clarendon Street]].{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=33}} Just two of the original 12 students admitted in 1879 remained in Oxford for three years, the period of residence required for male students to complete a [[bachelor's degree]].{{sfn |Batson |2008 |p=28}}
Increasingly, however, as the college admitted more students, it became more formalised. Somerville appointed Lilla Haigh as its first in-house tutor in 1882,{{sfn |Harrison |1994 |p=258}} and by the end of the 1890s female students were permitted to attend lectures in almost all colleges.{{sfn |Brockliss |2016 |p=375; 418}} In 1891 it became the first women's hall to introduce entrance exams and in 1894 the first of the five women's halls of residence to adopt the title of college (changing its name to Somerville College),{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=47}} the first of them to appoint its own teaching staff, and the first to build [[Somerville College Library|a library]].{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=9}} In Oxford legend it soon became known as the "[[bluestocking]] college", its excellent examination results refuting the widespread belief that women were incapable of high academic achievement.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=9}}
In the 1910s, Somerville became known for its support for the [[Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom|women's suffrage]] campaign.{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=78}} In 1920, Oxford University allowed women to matriculate and therefore gain degrees.{{sfn |Batson |2008 |p=xv}} From the college's inception, all female students had to be chaperoned when in the presence of male students. The practice was abolished in 1925, although male visitors to the college were still subject to a curfew.{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=215}} In the same year the college was granted its charter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A History of Somerville College, Oxford {{!}} Oxford Summer Courses |url=https://oxfordsummercourses.com/articles/history-of-somerville-college-oxford/ |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=oxfordsummercourses.com |archive-date=8 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808013253/https://oxfordsummercourses.com/articles/history-of-somerville-college-oxford/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Somerville College Library with hyacinths.jpg|thumb|Somerville College Library with hyacinths]]
===''The Mutual Admiration Society''===
''The [[wikt:mutual admiration society#English|Mutual Admiration Society]] (MAS)'' was a [[literary society]] (or [[literary circle]]) of women who became friends at Somerville College.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fletcher |first=Christine M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PPbkDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Amphilis+Middlemore%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA2 |title=The Artist and the Trinity: Dorothy L. Sayers' Theology of Work |date=27 March 2014 |publisher=ISD LLC |isbn=978-0-7188-4219-2 |language=en |access-date=21 March 2021 |archive-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209045803/https://books.google.com/books?id=PPbkDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Amphilis+Middlemore%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA2#v=snippet&q=%22Amphilis%20Middlemore%22%20-wikipedia&f=false |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn |Adams |1996}} Its members included [[Dorothy L. Sayers]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dale |first=Alzina Stone |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=asryAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Amphilis+Middlemore%22+-wikipedia |title=Maker & Craftsman: The Story of Dorothy L. Sayers |year=1992 |publisher=H. Shaw Publishers |isbn=978-0-87788-523-8 |language=en |access-date=21 March 2021 |archive-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209045900/https://books.google.com/books?id=asryAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Amphilis+Middlemore%22+-wikipedia |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hone |first=Ralph E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEVbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Amphilis+Middlemore%22+-wikipedia |title=Dorothy L. Sayers: A Literary Biography |year=1979 |publisher=Kent State University Press |isbn=978-0-87338-228-1 |language=en |access-date=21 March 2021 |archive-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209045805/https://books.google.com/books?id=uEVbAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Amphilis+Middlemore%22+-wikipedia |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Muriel St Clare Byrne]], [[Charis Frankenburg]], Dorothy Rowe, and [[Amphilis Throckmorton Middlemore]], among others.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nolAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Amphilis+Middlemore%22+-wikipedia |title=The History of the University of Oxford: pt.2. Nineteenth-century Oxford |year=1984 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-951017-7 |language=en |access-date=21 March 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412203757/https://books.google.com/books?id=1nolAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Amphilis+Middlemore%22+-wikipedia |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn |Adams |1996}}
The society of the title was a real club. The members composed poetry and prose for each other's pleasure. Apart from Sayers, none of them was a household name, though all were notable. [[Mo Moulton]] argued in their [[Agatha Award]]-winning book, ''The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World For Women'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Moulton |first=Mo |title=The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and her Oxford Circle Remade the World for Women |year=2019 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-1-5416-4447-2}}{{psc|date=February 2023}}</ref> that each one lived a life worthy of attention.<ref>{{cite news |last=Freeman |first=Laura |title=Mutual Admiration Society by Mo Moulton review — Oxford beware: brainy girls |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/mutual-admiration-society-by-mo-moulton-review-oxford-beware-brainy-girls-s2ktfvbq3 |work=[[The Times]] |date=8 November 2019 |url-access=subscription |access-date=21 March 2021 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122224214/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mutual-admiration-society-by-mo-moulton-review-oxford-beware-brainy-girls-s2ktfvbq3 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mutual-admiration-society-review-the-case-of-the-lifelong-friends-11572015699 |publisher=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |title='The Mutual Admiration Society' Review: The Case of the Lifelong Friends |author=Anna Mundow |date=25 October 2019 |access-date=14 January 2021 |archive-date=11 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111125751/https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mutual-admiration-society-review-the-case-of-the-lifelong-friends-11572015699 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Moulton |first=Mo |title=Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers and Her Oxford Circle Remade the World For Women |year=2019 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=978-1-4721-5442-2}}{{pn|date=February 2023}}{{psc|date=February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|2399148000}} |last=Prescott |first=Barbara L |title=The Mutual Admiration Society: How Dorothy L. Sayers And Her Oxford Circle Remade The World For Women |journal=Mythlore |volume=38 |issue=136 |year=2020 |pages=163–188}}</ref>
Years later, the writer Vera Brittain — a Somerville contemporary of the group, but not one of its members — recalled that the MAS “took themselves very seriously”.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/21/mutual-admiration-society-dorothy-l-sayers-mo-moulton-review |work=[[The Guardian]] |title=Mutual Admiration Society by Mo Moulton review – the pioneering club of Dorothy L Sayers |author=Charlotte Higgins |date=21 November 2019 |access-date=14 January 2021 |archive-date=9 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109224834/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/21/mutual-admiration-society-dorothy-l-sayers-mo-moulton-review |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/1027e786-0c62-11ea-8fb7-8fcec0c3b0f9 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/1027e786-0c62-11ea-8fb7-8fcec0c3b0f9 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |title=Mutual Admiration Society — Dorothy L Sayers and her rule-breaking friends |date=29 November 2019 |access-date=14 January 2021 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
===First World War===
During the [[World War I|First World War]], Somerville College together with the [[Examination Schools]] and other Oxford buildings were requisitioned by the [[War Office]] to create the Third Southern General Hospital, a facility for the [[Royal Army Medical Corps]] to treat military casualties.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/war/military_hospitals/ |title=Military Hospitals |publisher=Oxford History |access-date=22 July 2019 |archive-date=22 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722205212/http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/war/military_hospitals/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/history/somerville-hospital-then-and-now/ |title=Somerville Hospital – Then and Now |access-date=27 August 2018 |publisher=Somerville College |archive-date=27 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827174134/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/history/somerville-hospital-then-and-now/ |url-status=live}}</ref> For the duration of the war, Somerville students relocated to [[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel College]].{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=78}} Because many male students had left Oxford to enlist in the military, Somerville was able to rent [[St Mary Hall, Oxford|St Mary Hall Quad]] which they bricked off from the rest of the college to segregate it from Oriel's remaining male students.{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=89}} Many students and tutors were involved in work in World War I and some of them went to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in France.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Somerville and the Great War |date=13 December 2018 |url=https://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/thegreatwar/ |access-date=8 August 2022 |language=en-US |archive-date=2 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702084332/https://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/thegreatwar/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
Notable patients who stayed in Somerville include the war poets [[Robert Graves]], [[Siegfried Sassoon]] and [[R. E. Vernède]]. Sassoon arrived on 2 August 1916. Graves and Sassoon later reminisced about their time at Somerville Hospital: ''How unlike you to crib my idea of going to the Ladies' College at Oxford'', Sassoon wrote to Graves in 1917, and called it ''very much like Paradise''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sassoon |first=Siegfried |author-link=Siegfried Sassoon |year=1945 |title=Siegfried's Journey, 1916-1920 |page=5}}</ref> At Somerville College, Graves met his first love, a nurse and professional pianist called Marjorie. About his time at Somerville, he wrote: ''I enjoyed my stay at Somerville. The sun shone, and the discipline was easy''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Graves |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Graves |year=1929 |title=Goodbye to All That |pages=304–305}}</ref> [[Alfred Mills (flying ace)|Alfred Mills]] was received in the hospital in 1916 and officer [[Llewelyn Davies (RFC officer)|Llewelyn Davies]] died at the college.<ref>Du Ruvigny & Raineval (1922).</ref>
Once the war ended, the return to normality between Oriel and Somerville was delayed, sparking both frustration and an incident in spring 1919 known as the "Oriel raid," in which male students made a hole in the wall dividing the sexes.{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=99}} In July 1919 the principal (Emily Penrose) and fellows returned to Somerville.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://oxfordsummercourses.com/articles/history-of-somerville-college-oxford/ |title=Somerville College, Oxford During WWII |access-date=3 September 2023 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412183304/https://oxfordsummercourses.com/articles/history-of-somerville-college-oxford/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Alumna Vera Brittain wrote about the impact of the war in Oxford and paid tribute to the work of the principal, Miss Penrose, in her memoir ''[[Testament of Youth]]''.
===Admission of men===
Starting in the 1970s, the traditionally all-male colleges in Oxford began to admit female students.{{sfn |Brockliss |2016 |p=572}} Since it was assumed that recruiting from a wider demographic would guarantee better students, there was pressure on single-sex colleges to change their policy to avoid falling down the rankings.{{sfn |Brockliss |2016 |pp=577-8}} All-female colleges, like Somerville, found it increasingly difficult to attract good applicants and fell to the bottom of the intercollegiate academic rankings during the period.{{sfn |Brockliss |2016 |p=613}}
During the 1980s, there was much debate as to whether women's colleges should become mixed. Somerville remained a women's college until 1992, when its statutes were amended to permit male students and fellows; the first male fellows were appointed in 1993, and the first male students admitted in 1994.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher-education-blue-stockings-greet-blue-socks-somerville-college-oxford-is-preparing-to-admit-its-1505082.html |title=Higher Education: Blue stockings greet blue socks: Somerville College Oxford is preparing to admit its first men next year |first=Stephen |last=Pritchard |date=18 November 1993 |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |access-date=10 September 2018 |archive-date=10 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910173047/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher-education-blue-stockings-greet-blue-socks-somerville-college-oxford-is-preparing-to-admit-its-1505082.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Somerville became the second-to-last college (after [[St Hilda's College, Oxford|St Hilda's]]) to become coeducational.{{sfn |Brockliss |2016 |p=573}} A 50 per cent male/female gender balance has been maintained to this day, though without formal quotas.<ref name=laddism>[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/15/sexist-laddism-abuse-somerville-college-oxford How we are fighting sexist laddism and abuse at Somerville College, Oxford] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417190914/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/15/sexist-laddism-abuse-somerville-college-oxford |date=17 April 2023}}, Alice Prochaska, ''[[The Guardian]]'', 15 May 2015</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/CollegeBreakdown?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no#3 |title=Student Statistics - Sex |publisher=University of Oxford |year=2017 |access-date=10 September 2018 |archive-date=4 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704021749/https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentStatistics/CollegeBreakdown?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no#3 |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=In the 1890s Somerville helped fashion the "New Woman"; a century later... the college has set itself the perhaps greater challenge of educating the "New Man." |author=Pauline Adams, ''Somerville for Women'' (1996){{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=363}}}}
==Buildings and grounds==
[[File:Somerville College, Oxford - House.JPG|thumb|right|House seen from the Quad]]
The college and its main entrance, the Porters' Lodge, are located at the southern end of [[Woodstock Road, Oxford|Woodstock Road]], with [[Little Clarendon Street]] to the south, [[Walton Street, Oxford|Walton Street]] to the west and the [[Radcliffe Observatory Quarter]] to the north. The front of the college runs between the [[Oxford Oratory]] and the [[Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford|Faculty of Philosophy]]. Somerville has buildings of various architectural styles, many of which bear the names of former principals of the college, located around one of Oxford's biggest [[quadrangle (architecture)|quads]]. Five buildings are [[listed building#England and Wales|Grade II]]-listed.
A 2017 archaeological evaluation of the site shows that in the medieval period the area now occupied by Somerville lay in fields beyond the boundary of Oxford. There is evidence of 17th-century building and earthworks beneath the site, some of which almost certainly relates to the defensive network placed around the city by [[Cavalier|Royalists]] during the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms|Civil War]]. There are also remains of some 19th-century buildings, including a stone-lined well.<ref name=hughes>{{Cite web |url=http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/the-catherine-hughes-building/ |title=The Catherine Hughes Building |access-date=30 August 2018 |website=some.ox.ac.uk |archive-date=30 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830174201/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/the-catherine-hughes-building/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Walton House===
[[File:Walton House, Somerville College, Oxford.jpg|thumb|right|House seen from the east]]
The original building of Somerville Hall, Walton House (commonly called House) was built in 1826 and purchased from [[St John's College, Oxford|St John's College]] in 1880 amid fears that the men's colleges might, in the future, repossess the site for their own purposes.{{sfn |Batson |2008 |p=26}} The house could only accommodate seven of the twelve students who came up to Oxford in the first year.<ref name="british-history.ac.uk">{{Cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63899#n43 |title=Somerville College – British History Online |website=british-history.ac.uk |access-date=15 September 2014 |archive-date=18 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140818225752/http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63899#n43 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1881, Sir [[Thomas Graham Jackson]] was commissioned to build a new south wing which could accommodate eleven more students. In 1892, [[Walter Cave]] added a north wing and an extra storey. He also installed a gatehouse at the Woodstock Road entrance. In 1897/98, the Eleanor Smith Cottages were added, adjoining Walton House.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=11}}
Today House is home to only one or two students, and, until 2014, it housed the college bar. It also contains Green Hall, where guests to college are often greeted and in which prospective students are registered and wait for interviews; some of the college's paintings by [[Roger Fry]] are located here.<ref name=artuk/> Most of the administration of college, and the academic [[pigeon-hole messagebox|pigeon-holes]] are in House, as is the Mary Somerville Room, a reception room featuring paintings by Mary Somerville, [[George Romney (painter)|George Romney]] and [[George Frederic Watts]].<ref name=artuk/>
===Park===
[[File:Park Building, Somerville College, Oxford University.jpg|thumb|right|Park Building]]
Originally known as West, from its ___location in the college, the idea of building a second self-contained hall was inspired by [[Newnham College, Cambridge]]. It was designed by [[Harry Wilkinson Moore]] and built in two stages. The 1885–1887 phase saw the construction of rooms for 18 students with their own dining-room, sitting rooms and vice-principal. This was a deliberate policy aimed at replicating the family environment that the women students had left.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=11}} It had the effect of turning House and West into rivals.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=12}} The second building stage (1888–1894) created two sets of tutors' rooms, a further 19 rooms and the West Lodge (now Park Lodge).<ref name="british-history.ac.uk"/>{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=113}} In 2004 it was renamed Park in honour of [[Daphne Park]], Principal from 1980 to 1989.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=12}}
Today there are over 60 student and fellows' rooms in the building along with a music room and a computer room. Park is a Grade II-listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1369711 |desc=Somerville College, West Building |access-date=16 September 2018}}</ref>
===Library===
{{Main|Somerville College Library}}
[[File:Somerville College Library.jpg|thumb|right|[[Somerville College Library]]]]
The Grade II-listed library designed by [[Basil Champneys]] in 1903 was opened by [[John Morley]] the following year. Specially for the opening, ''Demeter'' was written by [[Robert Bridges]] and performed for the first time. Somerville Library was the first purpose-built library in the women's colleges of the university. With some foresight it was designed to contain 60,000 volumes, although the college only possessed 6,000 when it opened. It now holds around 120,000 items (95,000 on open shelves), as one of the largest college libraries in the university.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=16}}
[[Amelia Edwards]], [[John Stuart Mill]], [[John Ruskin]] and Vera Brittain have been notable benefactors to the library.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=16}} It contains paintings by Mary Somerville, [[John Constable]], [[Maud Sumner]] and [[Patrick George]].<ref name=artuk/>
The John Stuart Mill room contains what was Mill's personal library in London at the time of his death, with annotations in many of the books.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/library-it/special-collections/john-stuart-mill-collection/ |title=John Stuart Mill Collection – Somerville College Oxford |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=8 June 2016 |archive-date=24 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424091306/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/library-it/special-collections/john-stuart-mill-collection/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
The library dominates the north wing of the main quadrangle, having been designed to bring the college together, and is open 24 hours, with access to college-wide wifi, a group study room, and computing and printing facilities. It gives full satisfaction according to several annual student surveys.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentBarometer/RanksCollege?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no |title=Student Survey |access-date=31 March 2020 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407161823/https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-StudentBarometer/RanksCollege?%3Aembed=y&%3Adisplay_count=yes&%3AshowTabs=y&%3AshowVizHome=no |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Hall and Maitland===
[[File:Somerville College, Oxford - Main quad, summer.JPG|thumb|right|View of Hall and Maitland (right) from the quad]]
[[File:Somerville College Oxford, Hall from High Table.jpg|thumb|right|Hall]]
There was no hall large enough to seat the entire college until 1911, when Maitland Hall and Maitland, designed by [[Edmund Fisher (architect)|Edmund Fisher]] in [[Queen Anne style architecture|Queen Anne style]] and [[Edwardian Baroque architecture|Edwardian Baroque]], were opened by [[H. A. L. Fisher]], the Vice-Chancellor of the university and [[Gilbert Murray]].{{sfn|Manuel|2013|p=22}} Murray, whose translations of Greek drama were performed at Somerville in 1912 and 1946, supported Somerville in many ways, including endowing its first research fellowship. A fund was raised as a memorial to [[Agnes Catherine Maitland|Miss Maitland]], Principal of Somerville Hall (College from 1894) from 1889 to 1906, and the money was used to pay for oak panelling in Hall. The panelling of the south wall was designed to frame a portrait of [[Mary Somerville]] by [[John Jackson (painter)|John Jackson]].{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=19}} The buildings were constructed on the site of an adjoining building gifted to Somerville by E. J. Forester in 1897 and bought from [[University College, Oxford|University]] and [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]] Colleges for £4,000 and £1,400 respectively.<ref name="british-history.ac.uk"/> There was difficulty in constructing the buildings, now thought to have resulted from the outer limit of the Oxford city fortifications running under the site. In 1935, [[Percy Richard Morley Horder|Morley Horder]] reconstructed the archway connecting Maitland Hall and the south wing of Walton House, creating a Reading Room off the main hall; in 1947, [[André Gide]] gave a lecture that filled both these rooms and the staircase and quadrangle outside.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=22}}
Somerville's is the one Oxford dining hall where all portraits show women. They were painted by [[Michael Noakes]], [[Herbert James Gunn]], [[George Percy Jacomb-Hood]], [[William Coldstream]], [https://www.artuk.org/discover/artists/whittall-john-b-1947-9605/ John Whittall], [[Francis Helps]], [[Claude Rogers (artist)|Claude Rogers]], [[Humphrey Ocean]], [[Thomas Leveritt]], [[Richard Twose]], and Tania Rivilis.<ref name=artuk>{{Cite web |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/search/venue:somerville-college-university-of-oxford-7538/page/4 |title=Somerville College, University of Oxford |website=[[Art UK]] |access-date=30 March 2019 |archive-date=30 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330220934/https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/search/venue:somerville-college-university-of-oxford-7538/page/4 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Hall and Maitland form the east face of the main quad, as Grade II-listed buildings. The Senior Common Room is situated on the ground floor. The first floor holds the pantry and the hall, in which Formal Hall (called guest night) is held weekly in term time.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
Maitland now houses few students, being mainly occupied by fellows' offices. The building, named after former Principal Agnes Maitland, stands to the south of Hall.<ref name="blogs.some.ox.ac.uk"/>
===Penrose===
The Penrose block was designed by Harold Rogers<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harold Sydney Rogers |url=https://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/mayors/1836_1962/rogers_harold_1937.html/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926153232/http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/mayors/1836_1962/rogers_harold_1937.html |archive-date=September 26, 2021 |website=Oxford History}}</ref> in 1925 and its first students were installed in 1927. A row of poplars had to be removed in 1926 to construct the south-western end of the main quadrangle on the site of 119 and 119A Walton Street.<ref name="british-history.ac.uk"/>{{sfn |Manuel|2013 |p=35}} It was refurbished in 2014, with carpets replacing the bare wooden floorboards, and new furniture. Penrose is named after Dame [[Emily Penrose]], third Principal of the college. It contains mainly first-year accommodation in about 30 rooms.<ref name="blogs.some.ox.ac.uk"/>
===Darbishire===
[[File:Somerville College, Oxford UK.png|thumb|right|Darbishire Quad]]
Darbishire Quad was the culmination of a long-standing project to absorb Woodstock Road properties above the Oxford Oratory. In 1920, three houses (29, 31 and 33) were bought by the college from the vicar of [[St Giles' Church, Oxford]] for £1,300. The three had been constructed in 1859 and rented by the college before the purchase. The adjoining ''Waggon and Horses'' pub was purchased from St John's College in 1923. These buildings were demolished in 1932–1933 together with the old Gate House.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
Morley Horder was commissioned to build a quadrangle that would fill the space left by the demolished structures, using a loan of £12,000 from [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]]. The porters' lodge and New Council Room were constructed at the entrance to the quad, which housed undergraduates and fellows.<ref name="british-history.ac.uk"/> The coat of arms of Somerville and of co-founder [[John Percival (bishop)|John Percival]], first Principal [[Madeleine Shaw-Lefevre]] and Helen Darbishire were carved by [https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1208276253/ Edmund Ware] inside the quadrangle. The archway leading to Hall was added in 1938.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
Originally the East Quadrangle, it was opened in June 1934 by [[Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Halifax]] as "a notable addition to buildings of varying styles" (''varii generis aedificiia additamentum nobile'') in the [[Creweian Oration]] during the [[Encaenia]]. Darbishire was renamed in 1962 in honour of the principal of the college during its construction, [[Helen Darbishire]].{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=26}}
Today Darbishire contains some 50 student rooms, along with tutors' offices, the college archive and a medical room.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The offices of the [[Global Ocean Commission]], co-chaired by [[José María Figueres]], [[Trevor Manuel]] and [[David Miliband]], were housed in Darbishire as part of a partnership with Somerville in 2012–2016, when the organisation completed its work.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
Darbishire Quad is described on the opening page of ''[[Gaudy Night]]'' by alumna Dorothy L. Sayers. The clock was donated by alumna [[Eleanor Rathbone]].{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=28}}
===Chapel===
{{Main|Somerville College Chapel}}
[[File:Chapel and Vaughan, Somerville College, Oxford.jpg|thumb|right|[[Somerville College Chapel]] with Vaughan on the right]]
Built largely with funds provided by alumna [[Emily Georgiana Kemp]] in 1935, [[Somerville Chapel]] reflects the non-denominational principle on which the college was founded in 1879. No religious tests were used for admission and non-denominational Christian prayers were said in college.<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17432200.2017.1418478 A House of Prayer for all Peoples? The Unique Case of Somerville College Chapel, Oxford] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412183303/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17432200.2017.1418478 |date=12 April 2023}} 5 March 2018</ref>
Instead of a chaplain, there is a "Chapel Director", in keeping with its non-denominational tradition. The chapel provides opportunities for Christian worship in addition to hosting speakers with a multiple range of religious perspectives.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/living-here/the-chapel/ |title=The Chapel |access-date=31 March 2020 |archive-date=13 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413045839/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/living-here/the-chapel/ |url-status=live}}</ref> It holds an excellent mixed-voice [[Choir of Somerville College, Oxford|Choir of Somerville College]], which tours and issues occasional recordings.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.somervillechoir.com/ |title=Home |website=The [[Choir of Somerville College, Oxford]] |access-date=8 June 2016 |archive-date=18 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218174403/http://www.somervillechoir.com/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Hostel and Holtby===
Hostel is a small block between House and Darbishire completed in 1950 by [[Geddes Hyslop]].{{sfn |Fair |2014 |p=357}} It houses 10 students on three floors. The Bursary is on the ground floor.<ref name="blogs.some.ox.ac.uk">{{Cite web |url=https://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/mcr/freshers-guide-2/college-map/ |title=College Map |access-date=18 March 2021 |archive-date=25 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025131543/https://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/mcr/freshers-guide-2/college-map/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
Holtby, designed in 1951 and completed in 1956 by Hyslop,{{sfn |Fair |2014 |p=357}} lies above the library extension, adjacent to Park. It has ten rooms for undergraduates and is named after the alumna [[Winifred Holtby]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite web |title=Somerville JCR – Welcome! |url=https://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/jcr/ |website=Somerville JCR |access-date=6 September 2021 |archive-date=6 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906182728/https://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/jcr/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Vaughan and Margery Fry & Elizabeth Nuffield House===
Designed by [[Sir Philip Dowson]] between 1958 and 1966, [[Janet Vaughan|Vaughan]] and [[Margery Fry]] & [[Elizabeth Nuffield]] House (commonly shortened to Margery Fry) are both named for former principals of the college, while Elizabeth Nuffield was an important proponent of women's education and along with her husband [[Lord Nuffield]], a financial benefactor of the college. Margery Fry was opened in 1964 by [[Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit]] and Vaughan in 1966. Constructed in the same architectural style, with an exterior concrete frame standing away from the walls of the interior edifice, the two buildings overlie a podium of shops and an arcaded walkway in Little Clarendon Street.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
Vaughan is the larger of the two, with eleven rows to its concrete frame compared to eight.<ref name="manchesterhistory.net">{{Cite web |url=http://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1960/somerville.html |title=Somerville College 1960s, Oxford, UK |website=manchesterhistory.net |access-date=15 September 2014 |archive-date=2 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402090747/http://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1960/somerville.html |url-status=live}}</ref> It is Grade II-listed and contains some 60 undergraduate rooms, smaller than those of Margery Fry and used exclusively for first-year students, along with the junior deans.<ref name=thetab>{{Cite web |url=https://thetab.com/uk/oxford/2016/01/19/somerville-first-choice-25551 |last=Haberfield |first=Catrin |title=Somerville should have been your first choice |publisher=[[The Tab]] |year=2015 |access-date=1 September 2018 |archive-date=1 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901215710/https://thetab.com/uk/oxford/2016/01/19/somerville-first-choice-25551 |url-status=live}}</ref> Vaughan was refurbished in 2013, with new bathroom facilities, including, for the first time, sinks. Beneath the two buildings, a tunnel provides access to Somerville from Little Clarendon Street.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
Margery Fry serves as the centre of the postgraduate student community at Somerville, with 24 graduate rooms. Other accommodation for graduate students is provided in buildings adjacent to the college.<ref name="Accommodation">{{Cite web |title=Accommodation |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/life-here/accommodation/ |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=Somerville College Oxford |date=16 June 2021 |language=en-GB |archive-date=2 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702141711/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/life-here/accommodation/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Wolfson===
[[File:Wolfson Building, Somerville College, Oxford.jpg|thumb|right|Wolfson building]]
Sir Philip Dowson was commissioned to design a building at the back of the college to house undergraduates and offices for fellows and Wolfson. Like his other work in Somerville, it is constructed largely of glass and concrete; it is also Grade II listed.<ref name="manchesterhistory.net"/> A four-storey building with five bays on each floor, Wolfson has impressive views of Walton Street from the rear and Somerville's main quadrangle from the front.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Wolfson is named after the building's main benefactor, [[Sir Isaac Wolfson]], and was opened in 1967 by Principal [[Barbara Craig]], with [[Harold Macmillan]], Dorothy Hodgkin and Lord Wolfson giving speeches.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=45}}
The ground floor contains the Flora Anderson Hall (FAH) and Brittain-Williams Room, named after Vera Brittain and [[Shirley Williams]], the college's most famous mother-daughter alumnae. The room was designed in 2012 by the architect [[Niall McLaughlin]] and opened on 29 November 2013 by Williams at an event that included her unveiling a portrait of herself, which now hangs in the room.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/shirley-williams-opens-brittain-williams-room-at-somerville/ |title=Brittain-Williams Room |date=6 August 2015 |access-date=31 March 2020 |archive-date=13 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113211926/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/shirley-williams-opens-brittain-williams-room-at-somerville/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The FAH is used for lectures and events, notably college parties (or bops) and mock exams, known as [[Collection (Oxford colleges)|Collections]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
===Margaret Thatcher Centre and Dorothy Hodgkin Quadrangle===
Named after the [[Margaret Thatcher|alumna-Prime Minister]], the MTC comprises a lecture room, ante room and lobby used for meetings, conferences and other internal college events. The lecture room has full AV facilities and for 60 seated patrons.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://conference-oxford.com/venues/conference/somerville-college |title=Somerville College – Conference Oxford |website=conference-oxford.com |access-date=15 September 2014 |archive-date=8 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108205249/http://conference-oxford.com/venues/conference/somerville-college |url-status=live}}</ref> A bust of Margaret Thatcher stands in the lobby and the meeting room has portraits of Somerville's two prime-minister alumnae: of Margaret Thatcher by [[Michael Noakes]] and Indira Gandhi by Sanjay Bhattacharyya.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) {{!}} Art UK |url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/indira-gandhi-19171984-223418 |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=artuk.org |language=en |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118080101/https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/indira-gandhi-19171984-223418 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The Dorothy Hodgkin Quad (DHQ) was conceived in 1985, completed in 1991 and named after Somerville's Nobel Prize-winner.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=47}}<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The quadrangle is above the MTC and designed around self-contained flats of two and four bedrooms with communal kitchens, housing mainly finalists and some second-year students.<ref name="Accommodation"/>
Architect Geoffrey Beard's scheme was submitted to [[Oxford City Council]] in 1986 and the energies of Sir [[Geoffrey Leigh]] and alumna and former principal Baroness [[Daphne Park]] brought support from around the world. The buildings were opened in 1991 by Margaret Thatcher, Dorothy Hodgkin, Principal [[Catherine Hughes (civil servant)|Catherine Hughes]] and College Visitor Baron [[Roy Jenkins]].{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=48}}
===St Paul's Nursery===
Somerville College was the first Oxford college to provide a [[nursery school|nursery]] for children of Fellows and staff and is still one of the few colleges to do so. Alumna Dorothy Hodgkin donated much of her Nobel Prize money to the project.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=49}} St Paul's Nursery is also open to families unconnected with the college and cares for 16 children between the ages of three months and five years.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/living-here/st-pauls-nursery/ |title=St Paul's Nursery |website=some.ox.ac.uk |access-date=30 August 2018 |archive-date=30 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830174130/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/living-here/st-pauls-nursery/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Radcliffe Observatory Quarter===
[[File:Somerville College, Oxford - ROQ.JPG|thumb|right|ROQ East from outside the college]]
ROQ East and West flank the north side of Somerville and overlook the site of the university's new [[Blavatnik School of Government]] and [[Mathematical Institute]]. Completed in 2011, they were the first new buildings in the university's [[Radcliffe Observatory Quarter]] and have won four awards for their architect Niall McLaughlin. The project was also awarded Oxford City Council's David Steel Sustainable Building Award, being commended for balancing Somerville's collegiate heritage with the need for energy efficiency. Energy-efficiency measures include renewable technologies such as solar thermal energy and ground source heat pumps.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/roq-accommodation-wins-sustainable-building-award/ |title=ROQ awards |date=6 August 2015 |access-date=31 March 2020 |archive-date=13 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113184036/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/roq-accommodation-wins-sustainable-building-award/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
The buildings house 68 students in en-suite rooms. There are several rooms and facilities designed to help those with disabilities, including lifts and adjoining carer rooms. The buildings were funded by donations of over £2.7 million from over 1,000 alumni and friends of the college and by a significant loan.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> There is now an unimpeded view of the [[Radcliffe Observatory]].
===The Terrace===
The bar and café of the college, The Terrace, opened in 2013 (replacing the old bar in House) and is attached to the Vaughan building. It is housed in a mainly glass structure, with seating in the college colours of red and black. It has an open-air [[terrace (building)|terrace]] looking down on [[Little Clarendon Street]]. The Terrace has the usual pool table and bar facilities and serves the college drink, "Stone-cold Jane Austen", consisting of blue [[alcopop|VK]], [[Southern Comfort]], and [[Magners]] cider,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cherwell.org/2007/06/01/drink-the-bar-dry-worcester-st-hughs-sommerville/ |title=Drink the bar dry: Worcester, St Hugh's, Sommerville |author=Cherwell |date=1 June 2007 |author-link=Cherwell (newspaper) |access-date=28 August 2018 |archive-date=29 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829000717/http://cherwell.org/2007/06/01/drink-the-bar-dry-worcester-st-hughs-sommerville/ |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as the "College Triple" and the non-alcoholic "Somerville Sunset".
===Catherine Hughes Building===
Named after Somerville's late principal in 1989–1996, the [[Catherine Hughes (civil servant)|Catherine Hughes]] Building was completed in October 2019 and provides 68 additional bedrooms. Designed by [[Niall McLaughlin Architects]], it includes en suite bathrooms, kitchens and accessible rooms on every floor and a new communal study area for graduate students.<ref name=hughes/>
The red-brick building has a frontage onto Walton Street and additional access from the college gardens, aligning with key levels on the adjacent Penrose Building. The bedrooms are arranged in clusters with kitchens and circulation spaces forming social focal points.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
The building's construction has given Somerville sufficient accommodation to be one of three Oxford colleges which can allow all students applying from 2017 to live in college for the entirety of their three or four-year undergraduate degree courses.<ref name=Oxfordwebsite>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/college-listing/somerville-college?wssl=1 |title=Somerville College | University of Oxford |website=ox.ac.uk |access-date=17 August 2018 |archive-date=17 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817161512/https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/colleges/college-listing/somerville-college?wssl=1 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=whychoose/>
===Gardens===
[[File:Park Lawn, Somerville College, Oxford.jpg|thumb|]]
Somerville is one of few Oxford colleges where students may walk on the grass. An unassuming frontage opens onto a vast green space looked after by two gardeners.<ref name="SU Green spaces">{{Cite web |url=http://apply.oxfordsu.org/colleges/compare/green-spaces/ |title=Green spaces |publisher=oxfordsu.org |access-date=12 December 2018 |archive-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215223516/http://apply.oxfordsu.org/colleges/compare/green-spaces/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=gardens>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/living-here/gardens/ |title=Gardens |website=Somerville College Oxford |date=3 March 2022 |access-date=30 August 2018 |archive-date=22 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822181703/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/living-here/gardens/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The original site consisted of a paddock, an orchard and a vegetable garden and was bounded by large trees. It was home to a donkey, two cows, a pony and a pig.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=11}} The paddock was soon transformed into tennis courts, where huge tents were erected during World War I. During World War II, large water tanks were dug in the Main Quad and in Darbishire Quad in case of firebombing, and the lawns dug up and planted with vegetables.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=35}}
In the Main or Library Quad has a cedar planted by [[Harold Macmillan]] in 1976, after an earlier cedar fell victim to a winter storm. Another tree, a ''[[Picea likiangensis]]'' (var. ''rubescens''), was planted in 2007 on the chapel lawn, providing Somerville with an outdoor Christmas tree.{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=35}} The library border of lavender and ''[[Agapanthus]]'' references the [[bluestocking]] reputation of Somerville. The [[Conservative Party (UK)|tory]] blue ''[[Ceratostigma willmottianum]]'' stands outside the Margaret Thatcher Centre. The garden outside the Thatcher Centre, now dedicated to Lisa Minoprio, was originally designed by the former director of the [[University of Oxford Botanic Garden|Oxford Botanic Garden]] and Lecturer in Plant Sciences [[Timothy Walker (botanist)|Timothy Walker]], and retains yellow and blue as its theme colours.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
There are nods to Somerville's long-standing links with [[India]], the most notable being a large specimen of the Indian horse chestnut, ''[[Aesculus indica]]'', planted on the Library lawn in 2019. Features of interest include a narrow bed of low-growing Mediterranean plants in front of Wolfson in a modernist style, a varied selection of mature trees in the Library Quad, and large herbaceous borders containing emblematic Somerville thistles (''[[Echinops]]'').<ref name=gardens/>{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=36}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/ever-green-robert-washington-celebrates-30-years-at-somerville/ |title=Ever Green – Robert Washington celebrates 30 years at Somerville |date=11 June 2014 |website=some.ox.ac.uk |access-date=30 August 2018 |archive-date=16 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916202139/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/ever-green-robert-washington-celebrates-30-years-at-somerville/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
The annual summer and winter bedding plants in Darbishire Quad, the beds outside the SCR, and those in pots around site have traditionally been in the Victorian style, to reflect the era of inception of the college. However, this is evolving due to a change in garden management in late 2019, with aims of following more environmentally friendly growing principles and developing a more contemporary style. The western wall of Penrose and the northern wall of Vaughan form a secluded area, historically known as the Fellows' Garden (currently in a transitional phase). It is distinct from the main quad and separated from it by a hedge and a wall, and which were previously kitchen gardens. This walled garden is home to a sundial, commissioned in 1926 and commemorating first principal [[Madeleine Shaw-Lefevre]], and a garden roller gifted by the parents of tutor [[Rose Sidgwick]].{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=29}}{{sfn |Manuel |2013 |p=27}}
In 1962, [[Henry Moore]] lent his work ''Falling Warrior'' to the college and [[Barbara Hepworth]] lent ''Core'' shortly afterwards. There are also permanent sculptures by [[Wendy Taylor]], [[Friedrich Werthmann]] and [[Somervillian]] [[Polly Ionides]]. The most striking sculpture on site is Taylor's ''Triad'' (1971), situated on the Chapel Lawn in front of Maitland building.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Triad |url=http://www.wendytaylorsculpture.co.uk/work/triad/ |access-date=8 August 2022 |website=Wendy Taylor |language=en-GB |archive-date=8 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808013254/http://www.wendytaylorsculpture.co.uk/work/triad/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Student life==
[[File:Somerville College Hall in snow.jpg|thumb|right|Somerville College in snow]]
In 2011 student satisfaction was rated in some categories as the highest in the university.<ref name=satisfaction>{{Cite web |url=http://oxfordstudent.com/2012/04/19/somerville-soars-in-satisfaction-survey/ |title=Somerville soars in satisfaction survey |first=Jonathan |last=Tomlin |date=19 April 2012 |access-date=8 February 2013 |archive-date=11 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211053328/https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2012/04/19/somerville-soars-in-satisfaction-survey/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Central to it is its large quad, onto which most accommodation blocks back; it is often filled with students in summer. Somerville is one of the few Oxford colleges where students (as opposed to just fellows) may walk on the grass.<ref name=thetab/> Somerville is sometimes nicknamed ''The Ville''. [[Formal (university)|Formal Halls]] take place on some Tuesdays and Fridays about six times a term.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/mcr/graduate-community/formal-dinners/ |title=Formal Dinners |publisher=Somerville College MCR |access-date=19 September 2018 |archive-date=19 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919132635/http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/mcr/graduate-community/formal-dinners/ |url-status=live}}</ref> No [[Academic dress of the University of Oxford#gowns|gowns]] are worn and the [[grace (prayer)|grace]] is ''Benedictus benedicat''. The college song is ''Omnes laetae nunc sodales''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leavers' Service |url=http://www.somervillechoir.com/2/post/2014/06/leavers-service1.html |access-date=3 January 2021 |website=The Choir of Somerville College, Oxford |language=en |archive-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209045912/http://www.somervillechoir.com/home/leavers-service1 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Sports===
Somerville has a gym beneath Vaughan with treadmills, cross-trainers and weights. It shares a sports ground with [[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham College]] and [[St Hugh's College, Oxford|St Hugh's College]], in [[Marston Ferry Road]]. There are clubs and teams in men's and women's football, rugby (with [[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi]]), mixed lacrosse, cricket, swimming, hockey, netball, basketball, pool, water polo, tennis, squash, badminton, cycling, golf, rounders, and croquet.<ref name=sports>{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/mcr/graduate-community/sports/ |title=Sports – MCR website |date=22 August 2018 |access-date=22 August 2018 |archive-date=22 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822214207/http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/mcr/graduate-community/sports/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/jcr/social/sports/ |title=Sports – JCR website |date=22 August 2018 |access-date=22 August 2018 |archive-date=22 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822214413/http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/jcr/social/sports/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
Both the Somerville cricket and netball team won [[Cuppers]] for the 2014/15 season.<ref name=sports/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://oxfordstudent.com/2015/06/16/somerville-defeat-brasenose-in-thrilling-cricket-cuppers-final-2/ |title=Somerville defeat Brasenose in thrilling Cricket Cuppers final |first=David |last=Barker |date=16 June 2015 |access-date=23 June 2015 |archive-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620080033/http://oxfordstudent.com/2015/06/16/somerville-defeat-brasenose-in-thrilling-cricket-cuppers-final-2/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The swimming team won Cuppers for the 2015/16 season.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/victory-for-somerville-at-swimming-cuppers/ |title=Victory for Somerville at Swimming Cuppers |date=9 December 2016 |access-date=22 August 2018 |archive-date=22 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180822213817/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/victory-for-somerville-at-swimming-cuppers/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
====Rowing====
[[File:Somerville College Boat Club Rowing Blade.svg|thumb|right|Rowing blade design of [[Somerville College Boat Club]]]]
{{Main|Somerville College Boat Club}}
Somerville formed a rowing team in 1921.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scbcrowing.com/?page_id=10 |title=History – Somerville College Boat Club |website=scbcrowing.com |access-date=7 June 2015 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090559/http://www.scbcrowing.com/?page_id=10 |url-status=live}}</ref> It competes in both of the annual university [[bumps race]]s, [[Torpids]] and [[Summer Eights]]. The women are the most successful women's rowing team at the university, having won the title Head of the River eight times in Summer Eights and five times in Torpids. The club shares the award-winning [[University College Boathouse]] on [[The Isis]] with [[St Peter's College, Oxford|St Peter's College]], [[University College, Oxford|University College]] and [[Wolfson College, Oxford|Wolfson College]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
===Choir===
{{main|Choir of Somerville College, Oxford}}
[[File:Somerville College Oxford, Chapel inside.jpg|thumb|right|[[Somerville College Chapel]]]]
The [[Choir of Somerville College, Oxford|Choir of Somerville College]] is mixed voice and led by the Director of Chapel Music, Will Dawes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/will-dawes-appointed-as-director-of-chapel-music/ |title=Will Dawes appointed as Director of Chapel Music – Somerville College Oxford |date=16 December 2016 |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=7 February 2017 |archive-date=8 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208035245/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/will-dawes-appointed-as-director-of-chapel-music/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In conjunction with the organ scholars, the choir is central to the musical life at the college.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
There are regular concerts and cathedral visits, and recitals featuring soloists from the choir. In recent years it has toured Germany (2005 and 2009), Italy (2010) and the United States (2014 and 2016).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.somervillechoir.com/tours.html |title=Tours |website=The Choir of Somerville College, Oxford |access-date=5 October 2015 |archive-date=6 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151006034137/http://www.somervillechoir.com/tours.html |url-status=live}}</ref> It sings every term-time Sunday at the evening service. The organ of the college chapel is a traditionally voiced instrument by [[Harrison & Harrison]].<ref>{{NPOR |id=N07885}}</ref>
Somerville offers up to eight Choral Exhibitions a year to applicants reading any subject.<ref name="Scholarships">{{Cite web |date=2021-06-12 |title=Choral and Organ Scholarships - Somerville College Oxford |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about/chapel-choir/scholarships/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241207183638/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about/chapel-choir/scholarships/ |archive-date=2024-12-07 |access-date=2025-01-14 |website=www.some.ox.ac.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref>
The college choir has released two CDs on the [[Stone Records]] label, "Requiem Aeternam" (2012)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://classical-iconoclast.blogspot.de/2012/09/durufle-milford-requiem-aeternam-stone.html |title=Milford, Duruflé Requiem Aeternam – Stone Records |website=classical-iconoclast.blogspot.de |date=19 September 2012 |access-date=12 October 2012 |archive-date=14 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914200855/http://classical-iconoclast.blogspot.de/2012/09/durufle-milford-requiem-aeternam-stone.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and "Advent Calendar" (2013).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://stonerecords.co.uk/album/advent-calendar |title=Advent calendar :: Stone Records, Independent Classical Music |website=stonerecords.co.uk |access-date=4 November 2013 |archive-date=23 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140723200537/http://stonerecords.co.uk/album/advent-calendar/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Triennial Ball===
Once every three years, Somerville hosts a ball jointly with [[Jesus College, Oxford]]. The last, for over a thousand people, was held in April 2022 and the next ball will come in 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news-events/event/somerville-jesus-ball/ |title=Somerville-Jesus Ball |date=12 January 2022 |access-date=6 May 2024 |archive-date=3 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403043153/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news-events/event/somerville-jesus-ball/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
However, the 2013 ball, ''The Last Ball'', was mired in controversy reported in national news. The organisers had intended to display a live [[nurse shark]] as entertainment. Permission for the shark was initially granted by the principal [[Alice Prochaska]], but was subsequently revoked following student protests. The ball was widely condemned for poor organisation, examples of which included a lack of canapés and the presence of only one food stand, serving pork; the vegetarian options were said to run out quickly and revellers were reportedly set on fire by the pork rôtisserie. ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported "The ball descended into farce with guests questioning what the organisers had done with the money paid by 1,000 guests."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/24/oxford-cancel-display-shark-ball_n_3144870.html |title=Oxford's Somerville College Cancels Student Plans To Display Living Nurse Shark At Summer Ball |first=Lucy |last=Sherriff |work=[[HuffPost]] |date=24 April 2013 |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-date=23 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210327/https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/24/oxford-cancel-display-shark-ball_n_3144870.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=oxfordstudent>{{Cite news |url=https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2013/05/23/somer-them-say-sorry-for-their-balls-up/ |title=Somer' Them Say Sorry For Their Balls Up |first=Sarah |last=Poulten |newspaper=[[The Oxford Student]] |date=23 May 2013 |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-date=23 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174346/https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2013/05/23/somer-them-say-sorry-for-their-balls-up/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://cherwell.org/2013/05/09/somervillejesus-last-ball-goers-are-ripped-off/ |title=Somerville-Jesus 'Last Ball' goers are "ripped off" |first=Nathalie |last=Wright |newspaper=[[Cherwell (newspaper)|Cherwell]] |date=9 May 2013 |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-date=23 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823174823/http://cherwell.org/2013/05/09/somervillejesus-last-ball-goers-are-ripped-off/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/may/25/student-ball-oxford-university-catastrophe |title=Student ball at Oxford University ends in 'catastrophe' |first=Conal |last=Urquhart |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=25 May 2013 |access-date=23 August 2018 |archive-date=23 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210247/https://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/may/25/student-ball-oxford-university-catastrophe |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Academic reputation===
[[File:Somerville CollegeNorrington Ranking.svg|thumb|Somerville's Position in the Norrington Table since 2006]]
Before men were admitted Somerville, under the principalship of [[Barbara Craig]], established a position at or near the head of the [[Norrington Table]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3351/all/1/From_strength_to_strength.aspx |title=From strength to strength - Somerville College |access-date=15 September 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140618061455/http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/3351/all/1/From_strength_to_strength.aspx |archive-date=18 June 2014}}</ref> Currently Somerville is in the lower half of the university's colleges for academic achievement. For the academic year 2018/19, it came 21st out of 30 in the Norrington Table, which lists the university's undergraduate colleges in order of their students' examination performances.<ref>[https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/undergraduate-degree-classifications?wssl=1 "Undergraduate Degree Classifications"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106141208/https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/undergraduate-degree-classifications?wssl=1 |date=6 January 2017}}. ox.ac.uk. Retrieved on 27 December 2019.</ref> The college has been recognised as a University College of Sanctuary by the UK charity [[City of Sanctuary (UK)|City of Sanctuary]], and offers a fully-funded postgraduate Sanctuary scholarship.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 March 2021 |title=Somerville, Mansfield recognised as University Colleges of Sanctuary |url=https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2021/03/05/somerville-mansfield-recognised-as-university-colleges-of-sanctuary/ |access-date=6 March 2021 |website=The Oxford Student |language=en-GB |archive-date=6 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306012758/https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2021/03/05/somerville-mansfield-recognised-as-university-colleges-of-sanctuary/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
===''University Challenge''===
Somerville has had recent success disproportionate to its size on the TV quiz show ''[[University Challenge]]''. It won the competition once, triumphing in the [[University Challenge 2001–02]] series by beating [[Imperial College London|Imperial College]], London by 200 points to 185. [[Croatia]]n quizzer [[Dorjana Širola]] was one of the contestants.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.blanchflower.org/uc/uc02.html |title=University Challenge - 2001–2 |website=blanchflower.org |access-date=18 March 2021 |archive-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616070138/https://blanchflower.org/uc/uc02.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Recently the college team reached the final of the [[University Challenge 2013–14]] series, losing in the final to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], with a score of 135 to 240.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/10749365/University-Challenge-the-2014-final-review-Trinity-triumph.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/10749365/University-Challenge-the-2014-final-review-Trinity-triumph.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=University Challenge, the 2014 final, review: Trinity triumph |date=7 April 2014 |last=Hawksley |first=Rupert}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
==India==
Somerville College plays a major role in relations between Oxford and [[India]].<ref name=bs>{{Cite news |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/visa-woes-why-americans-chinese-students-outnumber-indians-at-oxford-univ-117111700362_1.html |title=Visa woes: Why Americans, Chinese students outnumber Indians at Oxford Univ |date=18 November 2017 |last=Patil |first=Reshma |publisher=[[Business Standard]] |newspaper=Business Standard India |access-date=18 September 2018 |archive-date=18 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918160654/https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/visa-woes-why-americans-chinese-students-outnumber-indians-at-oxford-univ-117111700362_1.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=India>{{Cite web |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/37743249/the-indira-gandhi-centre-for-sustainable-development-india |title=Somerville's enduring links with India - ''The Indira Gandhi Centre for Sustainable Development at Somerville College, Oxford'' |publisher=Somerville College, Oxford |year=2015 |access-date=1 September 2018 |archive-date=26 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226143842/https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/37743249/the-indira-gandhi-centre-for-sustainable-development-india |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Cornelia Sorabji]], born in the [[Bombay Presidency]] of [[British India]], became the first Indian woman to study at any British university, when she came to Somerville in 1889 to read law,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Becoming a Google Doodle: India's first woman lawyer |url=https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/becoming-google-doodle-india%E2%80%99s-first-woman-lawyer |journal=[[Counsel (journal)|Counsel]] |access-date=23 July 2018 |archive-date=23 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723182229/https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/articles/becoming-google-doodle-india%E2%80%99s-first-woman-lawyer |url-status=live}}</ref> while Indira Gandhi, India's first female prime minister, read Modern History at the college in 1937. [[Radhabai Subbarayan]], the first woman member of the [[Rajya Sabha|Indian Council of States]] (Rajya Sabha) studied at Somerville College as well,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Somerville for women: an Oxford college, 1879–1993 |page=118 |author=Pauline Adams |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0199201792}}</ref> as did princess [[Bamba Sutherland]], the last surviving member of a family that had ruled the [[Sikh Empire]] in the [[Punjab region|Punjab]], and her sister [[Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Gurhapal |others=Darshan Singh Tatla |title=Sikhs in Britain: the making of a community p. 45 |year=2006 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sikhsinbritainma0000sing/page/274 274] |url=https://archive.org/details/sikhsinbritainma0000sing |url-access=registration |quote=bamba sutherland. |access-date=16 December 2018 |isbn=978-1-84277-717-6 |publisher=Zed Books}}</ref> Other [[List of people associated with Somerville College, Oxford|alumni]] with links to India include [[Moon Moon Sen]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bollywoodmdb.com/celebrities/biography/moon-moon-sen/6707 |title=Moon Moon Sen Biography |access-date=26 August 2018 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826214412/https://www.bollywoodmdb.com/celebrities/biography/moon-moon-sen/6707 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Agnes de Selincourt]],<ref>Jane Haggis, Margaret Allen (Spring 2008) Imperial emotions: affective communities of mission in British Protestant women's missionary publications c1880-1920. Journal of Social History 41(3) 691-716.</ref> [[Smit Singh]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/demonetisation-event-25-november |title=An Event at University of Oxford |access-date=26 August 2018 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826214428/http://www.southasia.ox.ac.uk/demonetisation-event-25-november |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Gurmehar Kaur]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.whtrust.org/alumni-profiles/gurmehar-kaur |title=Gurmehar Kaur |website=Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412183305/https://www.whtrust.org/alumni-profiles/gurmehar-kaur |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Hilda Stewart Reid]] and [[Utsa Patnaik]].<ref name=India/> Former principal of Somerville College [[Barbara Craig]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dauphin |first=Claudine |date=April 2005 |title=Barbara Craig (1915–2005) |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/peq.2005.137.1.6 |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |language=en |volume=137 |issue=1 |pages=6–7 |doi=10.1179/peq.2005.137.1.6 |issn=0031-0328|url-access=subscription }}</ref> from 1967 to 1980 and fellow [[Aditi Lahiri]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lahiri |first=Aditi |title=Who's Who 2018 |date=November 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-954088-4 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U254070}}</ref> were born in [[Kolkata]].
[[Sonia Gandhi]] visited Somerville in 2002 and presented a portrait of her late mother-in-law to her alma mater. Indira Gandhi received an honorary degree from the college in 1971.<ref name=india2/>
In 2012, the college and Oxford University announced a £19 million ''Indira Gandhi Centre for Sustainable Development''.<ref name=India/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2012-12-07-indian-government-seed-funds-somerville-centre |title=Indian government seed funds Somerville centre | University of Oxford |website=ox.ac.uk |access-date=18 March 2021 |archive-date=22 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022010736/https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2012-12-07-indian-government-seed-funds-somerville-centre |url-status=live}}</ref> India provided £3 million and the university and college £5.5 million.<ref>[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Indira-Gandhi-Centre-for-Sustainable-Development-at-Oxford-University-approved/article12438185.ece Indira Gandhi Centre for Sustainable Development at Oxford University approved] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024121316/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Indira-Gandhi-Centre-for-Sustainable-Development-at-Oxford-University-approved/article12438185.ece |date=24 October 2020}}, ''The Hindu'', 7 December 2012</ref> The name was later changed to the ''Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development'' (OICSD).<ref name=india2>[https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/indira-gandhi-s-name-dropped-from-oxford-centre/story-uoMXA4z51zJ2o3IHhqKzlJ.html Indira Gandhi's name dropped from Oxford centre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180429155154/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/indira-gandhi-s-name-dropped-from-oxford-centre/story-uoMXA4z51zJ2o3IHhqKzlJ.html |date=29 April 2018}}, ''[[Hindustan Times]]'', 15 July 2017</ref> The OICSD carries out research on sustainable development challenges facing India and provides scholarships for outstanding Indian students.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Oxford's "Gateway to India" |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/oxfords-gateway-to-india/article5187040.ece |work=[[The Hindu]] |access-date=23 July 2018 |archive-date=18 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118073749/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/oxfords-gateway-to-india/article5187040.ece |url-status=live}}</ref> The centre now hosts 12 India scholars.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/india-ties-celebrated-at-house-of-lords/ |title=India ties celebrated at House of Lords |date=9 July 2018 |website=some.ox.ac.uk |access-date=23 July 2018 |archive-date=13 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713071417/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/news/india-ties-celebrated-at-house-of-lords/ |url-status=live}}</ref> A new building is planned in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, adjacent to the college's ROQ accommodation.<ref name=India/><ref>''Entwicklungshilfe. Indien steuert Geld für Oxford bei'' in [[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung|FAZ]] of 20 December 2012, page 30</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180429155102/https://www.telegraphindia.com/1140130/jsp/nation/story_17879900.jsp India hub in Indira's old college at Oxford] [[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]], 30 January 2014</ref>
[[Choir of Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville's choir]] was in 2018 the first Oxford college choir to tour India.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.somervillechoir.com/performances.html |title=Future Events |access-date=6 September 2018 |website=somervillechoir.com |archive-date=7 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907110159/http://www.somervillechoir.com/performances.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
==People associated with Somerville==
{{main|List of people associated with Somerville College, Oxford}}
===Alumni===
{{multiple image
|align = right
|total_width = 250
|footer =
|image1 = Margaret Thatcher (1983).jpg
|alt1 =
|caption1 = [[Margaret Thatcher]], Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1979–1990)
|image2 = Indira Gandhi 1977.jpg
|alt2 =
|caption2 = [[Indira Gandhi]], Prime Minister of India (1966–77 and 1980–1984)
}}
[[Somervillians]] include Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi, Nobel Prize winning scientist Dorothy Hodgkin, television personalities [[Esther Rantzen]] and [[Susie Dent]], reformer [[Cornelia Sorabji]], writers [[Marjorie Boulton]], [[A. S. Byatt]], Vera Brittain, [[Susan Cooper]], [[Penelope Fitzgerald]], [[Winifred Holtby]], [[Nicole Krauss]], [[Iris Murdoch]] and Dorothy L. Sayers, politicians [[Shirley Williams]], [[Thérèse Coffey]], [[Margaret Jay]] and [[Sam Gyimah]], Princess [[Bamba Sutherland]] and [[Catherine Hilda Duleep Singh|her sister]], biologist [[Marian Dawkins]], philosophers [[G. E. M. Anscombe]], [[Patricia Churchland]], [[Philippa Foot]] and [[Mary Midgley]], psychologist [[Anne Treisman]], archaeologist [[Kathleen Kenyon]], actress [[Moon Moon Sen]], soprano [[Emma Kirkby]], banker [[Baroness Vadera]] and numerous (women's rights) activists.
Somerville alumnae have achieved an impressive number of "firsts", both (inter)nationally and at the [[University of Oxford]]. Arguably the most prominent of these are: the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher; the first, and only, British woman to win a [[Nobel Prize]] in science Dorothy Hodgkin and the first woman to lead the world's largest democracy Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister of India for much of the 1970s.
Somerville has educated at least 29 [[Dame]]s, 18 [[Heads of Houses|heads]] of [[Colleges of the University of Oxford|Oxford colleges]], 11 [[life peer]]s, 11 [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]]s, four [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] rowers,<ref name=olympics>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/Oxford-at-the-Olympics |title=Oxford at the Olympics |access-date=26 August 2018 |publisher=[[University of Oxford]] |archive-date=26 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526023454/http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/oxford-people/Oxford-at-the-Olympics |url-status=live}}</ref> three of ''The 50 greatest British writers since 1945'',<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/the-50-greatest-british-writers-since-1945-ws3g69xrf90 |title=The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 |date=5 January 2008 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |access-date=30 November 2019 |archive-date=19 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219025130/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-50-greatest-british-writers-since-1945-ws3g69xrf90 |url-status=live}}</ref> two [[prime minister]]s, two [[princess]]es, a [[queen consort]], a [[first lady]], and a [[Nobel laureate]].
Former students of Somerville belong to an alumni group, the Somerville Association, which was originally founded in 1888.{{sfn|Adams|1996|p=43}}
===Fellows===
Notable [[List of people associated with Somerville College, Oxford#Fellows|fellows of Somerville College]] (excluding alumni) include philosopher [[G. E. M. Anscombe]], biochemist [[Louise Johnson]], classical archaeologist [[Margarete Bieber]], Egyptologist [[Käthe Bosse-Griffiths]], classicists [[Edith Hall]] and [[Lotte Labowsky]], author [[Alan Hollinghurst]], astronomer [[Chris Lintott]], [[International Federation of University Women]] founder [[Rose Sidgwick]], botanist [[Timothy Walker (botanist)|Timothy Walker]] and philologist [[Anna Morpurgo Davies]].
===Principals===
[[File:Official portrait of Baroness Royall of Blaisdon crop 2, 2024.jpg|thumb|upright|150px|[[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]], the current principal]]
{{main|List of Principals of Somerville College, Oxford}}
The first principal of Somerville Hall was [[Madeleine Shaw-Lefèvre]] (1879–1889). The first principal of Somerville College was [[Agnes Catherine Maitland]] (1889–1906), when in 1894 it became the first of the five women's halls to adopt the title of college, the first to appoint its own teaching staff, the first to set an entrance examination, and the first to build a library. She was succeeded by the classical scholar Emily Penrose (1906–1926), who set up in 1903 the ''Mary Somerville Research Fellowship'' offering women in Oxford opportunities for research.
The current principal is [[Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]], who took up the appointment in August 2017, succeeding [[Alice Prochaska]].<ref name="ox">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-02-10-new-somerville-principal-announced |title=New Somerville Principal announced | University of Oxford |website=ox.ac.uk |date=10 February 2017 |access-date=20 August 2018 |archive-date=20 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820204946/http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-02-10-new-somerville-principal-announced |url-status=live}}</ref> To date, seven principals have been alumnae of Somerville, two of [[St Hilda's College, Oxford|St Hilda's College]].
==Coat of arms and motto==
Like all Oxford colleges, Somerville has a variety of symbols and colours which are associated with it. The college's colours, which feature on the [[Academic scarf|college scarf]] and on the blades of its boats, are red and black. The combination was originally adopted in the 1890s.{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=47}} Its flag has the shield from the arms on a yellow background.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb_ousom.html |title=Oxford University – Somerville College (England) |website=crwflags.com |date=17 July 2010 |access-date=17 September 2018 |archive-date=22 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200822183005/https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb_ousom.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
The two colours also feature in the college's [[coat of arms]], which depicts three [[Star (heraldry)|mullets]] in [[Chevron (insignia)|chevron]] reversed [[gules]], between six [[Cross#Emblems|crosses crosslet fitched]] [[Sable (heraldry)|sable]]. The college's motto, ''Donec rursus impleat orbem'', was originally that of the family of [[Mary Somerville]].{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=47}} Her family befriended the new hall, allowing it to adopt their arms and motto.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://oac.web.ox.ac.uk/somerville-college |title=Somerville College |website=Oxford College Archives |access-date=3 September 2018 |archive-date=3 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215221/https://oac.web.ox.ac.uk/somerville-college |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Latin]] motto itself is described as "baffling" as, although it translates as "Until It Should Fill the World Again", what the [[Subject (grammar)|subject]] of the sentence ("it") is left unspecified.{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=47}} The [[crest (heraldry)|crest]], which is often omitted, is a hand grasping a [[crescent]] and occasionally a [[helmet (heraldry)|helmet]] with [[mantling]] is added.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
==In popular culture==
* The [[mystery fiction|mystery novel]] ''[[Gaudy Night]]'' by Dorothy L. Sayers featuring [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] is set in [[List of fictional Oxford colleges|Shrewsbury College]], which is a thinly veiled take on Sayers' own Somerville College (although in a different ___location).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/somerville-stories/dorothy-l-sayers/ |title=Dorothy L. Sayers |website=Somerville College |access-date=14 April 2020 |archive-date=13 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413124244/https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/somerville-stories/dorothy-l-sayers/ |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn |Adams |1996 |p=195}}
* In the 2014 film ''[[The Amazing Spider-Man 2]]'' directed by [[Marc Webb]], one of the protagonists, [[Gwen Stacy]], is offered a place to study medicine at Somerville.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/17/amazing-spider-man-2-review |title=The Amazing Spider-Man 2 review – appealing leads and zappy scraps, but a sense of deja vu |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 April 2014 |author=Peter Bradshaw |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-date=4 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104021704/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/17/amazing-spider-man-2-review |url-status=live}}</ref> Its coat of arms is featured in one scene.
* The 2014 biopic ''[[Testament of Youth (film)|Testament of Youth]]'', based on Brittain's memoir of the same name, substituted [[Merton College, Oxford]] in the scenes showing Brittain's time as a student at Somerville, arguing that filming in Somerville itself would have been too difficult in light of the new buildings constructed there since the film's time period.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2015/05/07/james-kents-testament-of-youth/ |title=Testament of Youth |website=Oxford Student |date=7 May 2015 |access-date=14 April 2020 |archive-date=23 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223201825/https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2015/05/07/james-kents-testament-of-youth/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
* Somerville is the recognisable model for St Bride's College in ''[[Michaelmas Term at St Bride's]]'' by [[Brunette Coleman]] ([[Philip Larkin]]).
* In the film ''[[Iris (2001 film)|Iris]]'' from 2001, telling of alumna Iris Murdoch and her relationship with her husband [[John Bayley (writer)|John Bayley]], whom she meets during a dinner at the Somerville.
* Somerville is featured in the BBC series ''[[Testament of Youth (TV series)|Testament of Youth]]'' (1979).
* In the Japanese [[manga]] series ''[[Master Keaton]]'', the main character married a mathematics student from Somerville.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.comicsandcola.com/2015/02/the-absentpresent-mother-and-wife-in.html |title=The absent/present mother, and wife, in Master Keaton |access-date=21 August 2018 |archive-date=21 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821160407/http://www.comicsandcola.com/2015/02/the-absentpresent-mother-and-wife-in.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
* St Jerome's College in ''[[Endymion Spring]]'' by alumnus [[Matthew Skelton]] is based on Somerville. The cat Mephistopheles is based on the former college cat Pogo.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.randomhouse.com/teens/endymion/qa.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902105803/http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/endymion/qa.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2 September 2006 |title=Matthew Skelton Tour Dates |website=randomhouse.com}}</ref>
* Amory Clay, the main character in ''[[Sweet Caress]]'' by [[William Boyd (writer)|William Boyd]], was encouraged by her teacher to go to Somerville.
* Grace Ritchie, the protagonist in ''Slave Of The Passion'' by [[Deirdre Wilson]] has gone up to Somerville.
* Helena Warner from ''[[A Likeness in Stone]]'' by Julia Wallis Martin, was a student of Somerville.
* Eleanor Drummond, the protagonist in ''Daddy's Girl'' by [[Valerie Mendes]], went to Somerville.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
===Bibliography===
* {{Cite book |last=Adams |first=Pauline |title=Somerville for Women: An Oxford College, 1879-1993 |year=1996 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |___location=Oxford |isbn=9780199201822}}
* {{Cite book |last=Batson |first=Judy G. |title=Her Oxford |url=https://archive.org/details/heroxford00bats_401 |url-access=registration |year=2008 |publisher=[[Vanderbilt University Press]] |___location=Nashville |isbn=978-0-8265-1610-7}}
* {{Cite book |last=Brockliss |first=L. W. B. |title=The University of Oxford: A History |year=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |___location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-924356-3}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Fair |first=Alistair |year=2014 |title='Brutalism Among the Ladies': Modern Architecture at Somerville College, Oxford, 1947—67 |journal=Architectural History |volume=57 |pages=357–392 |jstor=43489754 |doi=10.1017/S0066622X00001465 |s2cid=191089683}}
* {{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Harrison (historian) |title=The History of the University of Oxford: Volume VIII: The Twentieth Century |year=1994 |publisher=[[Clarendon Press]] |___location=Oxford |isbn=978-0198229742}}
* {{Cite book |last=Manuel |first=Anne |title=Breaking New Ground: A History of Somerville College as seen through its Buildings |year=2013 |publisher=Somerville College |___location=Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |first=Marquis |last=du Ruvigny and Raineval |author-link=Melville Henry Massue |title=The Roll of Honour. A biographical record of all members of His Majesty's naval and military forces who have fallen in the war |volume=IV |orig-year=1922 |publisher=Naval & Military Press Ltd |date=1 October 2006 |isbn=978-1843425304}}
==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last1=Byrne |first1=Muriel St. Clare |last2=Hope Mansfield |first2=Catherine |title=Somerville College 1879–1921 |year=1922 |publisher=Oxford University Press |___location=Oxford |author-link1=Muriel St. Clare Byrne |oclc=557727946}}
* {{Cite book |chapter=Somerville College |last1=Salter |first1=H. E. |last2=Lobel |first2=Mary D. |title=The Victoria History of the County of Oxford |volume=3: The University of Oxford |___location=London |publisher=British History Online |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63899 |pages=343–347 |year=1954}}
* {{Cite book |last=Leonardi |first=Susan J. |title=Dangerous by degrees: women at Oxford and the Somerville College novelists |year=1989 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |___location=[[New Brunswick, New Jersey|New Brunswick]] |isbn=9780813513669}}
* {{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=Allan |title=Mary Somerville and the World of Science |year=2007 |publisher=Canopus |___location=Bristol |isbn=9780953786848}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Somerville College, Oxford}}
* [http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/ Official website]
* [http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/jcr/ JCR website]
* [http://blogs.some.ox.ac.uk/mcr/ MCR website]
* [http://www.somervillechoir.com Choir Website]
{{Somerville College, Oxford}}
{{University of Oxford}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]]
[[Category:Colleges of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Universities and colleges established in 1879]]
[[Category:1879 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Former women's universities and colleges in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Grade II listed buildings in Oxford]]
[[Category:Grade II listed educational buildings]]
[[Category:Feminism in England]]
[[Category:Charities based in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Literary circles]]
| |||