OXFORD OPEN DAY | Selling the Colleges, 2017

1. Jesus College on Turl Street flaunts its
 green color, attributed to its Welsh and
Celtic appeal or its revised arms.

 Oxford is continuing to seek applications from the broadest possible pool of secondary school students.

This is good for Oxford and good for secondary schools.

Students have to apply to one of Oxford's 38 colleges or six Permanent Private Halls (PPHs). 

So every year the colleges open their doors about two weeks before Michaelmas term opens, and then a week and a half after the Trinity term ends (in 2018, the Open Days are June 27-28).

2. Exeter College, also on the Turl, has
the Welcome banner out.

The Michaelmas term is so named because term starts soon after the feast of St Michael the Archangel, on September 29. The colleges then open their doors to students and it is inconvenient for there to be an Open Day.

The colleges and halls are becoming more competitive about Open Day. 

3. Trinity College is central, next to the
White Horse, Blackwell's, and the Bodleian.

For that day, the college gates are opened wide. The Keep Out signs are replaced by welcoming  banners and balloons.  

Some colleges take it a little bit further, to get an edge. Unfairly? You be the judge. Here are some Open Day stories from five colleges. 

We start our walking tour going north on Turl Street. We pass Lincoln College on our right, visit Jesus on our left, then Exeter on our right. We now face Trinity College. We turn left to the corner, intending to head for St Regent's College in St Giles. 

However, as we pass Boswell's, we are hijacked. We are offered a free ride akin to that in Midnight in Paris, to a place called LMH, with the promise of free ice cream at the destination. Read on.

4. Regent's Park College makes its presence known
in front of the Sheldonian, perhaps to prevent
hijacking of young students on their way to St Giles. 

1. Jesus College. As one walks on The Turl north from High Street, Jesus is on the left. I was advised by Paul Walton, who knows a thing or two about Wales, that the green color of Jesus is related to its Welsh affiliation, because its foundation was promoted by Welshman Dr Hugh Price of St David's Cathedral, in 1571. However, the original field of Price's coat of arms was azure (blue). The field was later revised to vert (green), perhaps in honor of the Green family, or in homage to Price's Welsh heritage.  Queen Elizabeth is the founder of Jesus College; it is the only college she founded, and the only one founded during her long reign. Its Celtic Studies library is special. Its most famous alumnus is surely Welshman T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"). Its student body is 15 percent Welsh.

2. Exeter College. Exeter College's color is purple, referencing the fact that it was founded in 1315 by Walter de Stapeldon, a Devon man who rose to become Bishop of Exeter and Treasurer of England under Edward II. Purple is the color of bishops. The eight pairs of golden keys in the Exeter coat of arms reflect the episcopal origin of the college, as  St Peter, the first bishop, was given "the keys to the kingdom of heaven". Exeter was originally called Stapeldon Hall; it is considered the fourth-oldest college at Oxford.

3. Trinity College. Trinity's arms are those of its Founder, Sir Thomas Pope. The tincture on his  arms is azure (blue), with the metal or (gold). The college colors are blue and white. Pope was a Catholic entrusted with the task of dissolving and emptying out church-owned colleges. Durham College was a seminary established by the Bishop Prince of Durham. After Catholicism was reinstated by Mary I, Pope established a new Catholic college on the spot.

Offering a Free Ride to LMH.

4. Regent's Park College. Things are not always what they seem. Regent's Park College is not a college, but is the smallest of the six Permanent Private Halls. The PPHs are increasingly being given similar status as the full colleges, but because of their governing are presumed to be less independent of their religious origins as the colleges. 

Dishing the free ice cream.

Regent's Park College sells itself as a quiet place near the center of Oxford. Its origins go back to a Baptist conference in 1752. The original institution was founded in 1810 and moved to Pusey Street, off St Giles, in 1927. It is near to St Cross College, which shares an entrance with Pusey House. Regent's Park College welcomes students in the arts, humanities and social sciences. A few study to be Baptist ministers. The Library includes a special focus on the history of dissenters. In fact, because of its history of religious dissent, members of Regent's Park College are discouraged from using Latin! The college Grace is recited in English by the Principal: For the gifts of your grace and the community of this college, we praise your name, O God. Amen. At the end of Formal Hall the Principal signals the departure of senior members (there is usually no High Table) with the words: "The grace and peace of God be with us all. Amen." Amen to that.

5. Lady Margaret Hall (LMH). Just as Regent's Park College is a hall, so Lady Margaret Hill is a college, as is St Edmund Hall.

LMH is located at the end of Norham Gardens, with property extending to a wide frontage on the River Cherwell. 

Since this is a bit of a hike from central Oxford, the offer of a lift with ice cream waiting at the end is a clever way of attracting the interest of potential applicants.While the lure of free ice cream may seem to be unfair competition, how else expose impressionable students to the glory of the Banks of the Cherwell, where this 1918 photo of three LMHers (two Saunders sisters at left and someone at right identified as named C.S.L. who is clearly not C.S. Lewis).

Picnic at LMH by the Cherwell, 1918. Two Saunders sisters (L) and C.S.L.

BIRTH: Aug. 16–T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), Oxonian

T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, "Lawrence of Arabia", was born on August 16, in Tremadoc (aka Tremadog), Wales. T. E. was the second of five sons born to Sir Thomas Chapman and Sarah Lawrence Junner. Junner was a Scottish governess to Sir Thomas's daughters. Sir Thomas had an affair with Junner in Wales. He then left his wife and he and Junner lived together as Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence in Ireland. The Lawrences then moved to Oxford.

T. E. matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford in 1907, studying history. He was fluent in Greek, Arabic and French. While at Oxford he joined the Oxford University Officer Training Corps. T.E. became an archaeological scholar and was recruited by the British Army military to conduct a military survey of the Negev Desert while doing archaeological research.

He famously became a champion and military strategist for Arab rebels against Ottoman Turkish rule. He was awarded the DSO but refused the KBE.

His book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926) was an account of his exploits as a military advisor to Arabs in their revolt against the Turks, and was the basis for the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). He was killed on a motorcycle in 1935 after leaving the military; he had swerved to avoid two boys in the road on bicycles.

WWI: Chavasse, Lawrence, Plumer (Updated Oct 29, 2017)

This being the Centennial of the Battle of Liège in the second year of The Great War aka World War I, I have been looking up again how Oxford alumni fared during the war.

Two alumni stand out among the many Brits who died (more than 908,000 from the British Empire), the many more who were injured (2 million), and the huge number who served (8.9 million). A third person, a famed Sandhurst-trained officer in World War I, is immortalized in Oxford because his coat of arms was adopted as the arms of St. Anne's College.

Noel Chavasse (Trinity, Oxford)

Noel Chavasse, twin brother of the Francis Chavasse who became the first Master in 1929 and co-founder with his father of St. Peter's Hall (later College), Oxford. Elements of the Chavasse coat of arms are in the St. Peter's coat of arms.

Noel and Francis both matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1904 (1905?), and competed in sports (rugby and athletics) for the University. Both twins ran for Britain in the Olympics. Noel Chavasse has been described as the "Oxford's greatest military hero in the 20th century" by David Horan, author of Oxford: A Cultural and Literary Companion.

During the Great War, Noel was in the medical corps, treating injured soldiers. For his bravery in August 1916 in Guillemont, Captain Noel Chavasse was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest military honor, for the second time ("with Bar") – only one of three soldiers ever to have done so, the only soldier during World War I, and the only Oxford alumnus. His second VC was won in a battle in Belgium that killed him in 1917. He is buried in Belgium.

The Chavasse family compiled an extraordinary record in WW I. Noel's twin, Christopher, an Army chaplain wounded at Cambrai in 1917, won the MC. His younger brother Captain Francis Bernard Chavasse, also of the RAMC, was wounded at Hooge and was awarded the MC. His other younger brother, Lieutenant Aidan Chavasse also served with the 11th Battalion of the King’s Liverpool regiment, renowned as volunteering for dangerous missions and was judged by his Brigade-Major to be the bravest man under his command. He was wounded on a mission to inspect German wire near Sanctuary Wood in July 17. He sent his patrol back to safety and took cover in a shell-hole. His body was never found. In total, the Chavasse boys were awarded 21 medals for their actions during WW1. Their two sisters, Marjorie and May, volunteered to nurse at soldiers’ hospitals.

T. E. Lawrence (Jesus, Oxford)

T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, "Lawrence of Arabia", was born on August 16, in Tremadoc, Wales. Thomas Edward was the second of five sons born to Sir Thomas Chapman and Sarah Junner, the governess to his daughters with whom Sir Thomas had an affair in Wales and then in Ireland.

T. E. matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford in 1907, studying history. He was fluent in Greek, Arabic and French. While at Oxford he joined the Oxford University Officer Training Corps. T.E. became an archaeological scholar and was recruited by the British Army military to conduct a military survey of the Negev Desert while doing archaeological research. He famously became a champion and military strategist for Arab rebels against Ottoman Turkish rule. He was awarded the DSO but refused the KBE.

His book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926) was an account of his exploits as a military advisor to Arabs in their revolt against the Turks, and was the basis for the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). He was killed on a motorcycle in 1935 after leaving the military; he had swerved to avoid two boys in the road on bicycles.

Field Marshal Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer has become an Oxford hero of sorts because of although his daughter Eleanor Plumer. He did not attend Oxford, but she did, via an extension course at St. King's College, London. She then she became the fourth Principal of St. Anne's and took St. Anne's to full college status at Oxford. His memory is preserved in the form of the coat of arms of St. Anne's College, which were adopted in 1942 from Plumer's own arms, by permission of his daughter.

Field Marshal Plumer

Field Marshal Plumer was born in Torquay on March 13, 1857, and was educated at Eton and Sandhurst. He is best known for commanding the 2nd Army in the Ypres Salient in 1915-1917.  He came up through the ranks, understood his troops and was popular among his men, who nicknamed him ‘Old Plum and Apple’. He was both a disciplinarian and someone with a sense of humor.

Plumer first saw service in the Sudan at El Teb in 1884. In 1885-1887, Plumer took the Staff Course and fought in South Africa during the Boer War, where he led the relief column to Mafeking. In 1906 Plumer was made a Knight of the Realm. In May 1915,  given command of Second Army Corps based in the Ypres Salient, he moved the base from the Salient to Ypres, leaving behind the elevated Messines Ridge. Determined to recapture the Ridge, he had his engineers build tunnels underneath German lines. In June 1917, after detonating a gigantic explosion, his artillery and infantry attacked the ridge using a creeping barrage. Unlike the Battle of the Somme a year earlier, the attack was a major success. “Plumer is one of the few commanders who came out of the Great War with an enhanced reputation,” said Robin Neillands in The Great War Generals. In 1918, Plumer was appointed Commander of the British Army of the Rhine, a year later Governor of Malta and finally High Commissioner of Palestine. He died on July 16, 1932 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Plumer burned all his private papers before his death; the first book that came out about him was in 1935, by General Sir Charles Harrington.

(Postscript July 31: Today in 1917 began a major offensive against the Germans in Flanders. After many setbacks, leading to the replacement of Gough by Plumer, Haig eventually ordered major attacks on Passchendaele in late October, and ultimately the village was captured by Canadian and British troops on November 6, 1917, allowed Haig to claim victory. Some victory - made Pyrrhus look good. There were 310,000 British casualties vs. 260,000 Germans, to little advantage.  The Third Battle of Ypres remains one of the most costly and controversial offensives of World War I, symbolizing, for the British, the futile nature of trench warfare.)