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List of principals of Somerville College, Oxford

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Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford.[1] It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of the university's first two women's colleges. Male students were admitted for the first time in 1994. The head of the college is the principal. Chosen by the college's governing body, the principal is currently normally appointed for a term of seven years and is charged with "general supervision over the conduct, administration, and educational work of the college".[2] Somerville is the only Oxford college to have had exclusively female principals; St Hilda's, the last college other than Somerville to have been headed only by women, appointed its first male principal in 2014.

Walton House, Somerville College
The Principal's offices are located in Walton House.

The first principal of Somerville Hall was Madeleine Shaw Lefevre, who was appointed in 1879. She was not an academic, but was well known for her social work. When approached by the chairman of the hall's council, John Percival, she was hesitant to accept the post and initially only agreed to take the role for one year, but ultimately remained in post until 1889. The first female tutor at the hall was appointed in 1882, and in 1884 women were permitted to sit university examinations for the first time. Upon her retirement, she was succeeded by Agnes Catherine Maitland, under whom Somerville was the first of the five women's halls which now formed part of the university to formally adopt the title of college. The college's library opened for the first time during Maitland's tenure.

The current principal of Somerville is Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, who took up the appointment in August 2017, succeeding Alice Prochaska.[3]

List of principals edit

Key
‡ Studied at Somerville College
Image Name Birth Death Principal between Notes Ref(s)
  Madeleine Shaw Lefevre 1835 1914 1879–1889 First Principal of Somerville Hall [4]
  Agnes Catherine Maitland 1850 1906 1889–1906 Second Principal of Somerville Hall, and first Principal of Somerville College, from 1894; introduced the tutorial system to Somerville [5]
  Emily Penrose ‡ 1858 1942 1907–1926 Classical scholar [6]
  Margery Fry ‡ 1874 1958 1926–1930 Social reformer
— Helen Darbishire ‡ 1881 1961 1930–1945 Literary scholar
  Janet Vaughan ‡ 1899 1993 1945–1967 Haematologist and radiobiologist
— Barbara Craig ‡ 1916 2005 1967–1980 Classical archaeologist
— Daphne Park ‡ 1921 2010 1980–1989 Spy
— Catherine Pestell (later Hughes) 1933 2014 1989–1996 First Principal to marry while in office, in 1991; as the statutes of the college did not permit the principal to marry, she resigned, married, and was re-elected as principal.
  Fiona Caldicott 1941 2021 1996–2010 First woman to be President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1993–96) and its first woman Dean (1990–93)
  Alice Prochaska ‡ 1947 2010–2017 Head Librarian at Yale University
  Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon 1955 2017– Leader of the House of Lords; then Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords

References edit

  1. ^ "Somerville College | University of Oxford". University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Somerville College Statute" (PDF). University of Oxford. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  3. ^ "New Somerville Principal announced | University of Oxford". ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  4. ^ Huws-Jones, Enid (23 September 2004). "Lefevre, Madeleine Septimia Shaw (1835–1914)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  5. ^ Huws-Jones, Enid (23 September 2004). "Maitland, Agnes Catherine (1849–1906)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
  6. ^ Adams, Pauline (23 September 2004). "Penrose, Dame Emily (1858–1942)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
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