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.

HERALDRY: Chavasse Coat of Arms

Martlets sable (St Peter's
Website)

The St Peter's College arms are impaled with the St Peter's Church arms dexter and the Chavasse arms sinister. The arms of the church are straightforward – keys for St Peter and a building for the church.

The arms of Chavasse include a four martlets (shown sometimes in outline as at left and sometimes as sable as at right) around a cross of St George, with a miter or at center. The miter is explained by the bishopric of Francis James Chavasse. But where do the martlets come from?

University College. One possible source of the martlets is the Univ coat of arms, which includes five martlets sable. The Chavasse family has had an association with Univ at least since May 1880, when after a bump supper an undergraduate played a practical joke on Fellow Albert Sidney Chavasse, cousin of Francis James Chavasse, by screwing tight the door to his room. Since Chavasse, who was a Univ. Fellow from 1864 to 1902, had recently been appointed Senior Proctor, both the university and College were angered at this affront to their authority. After a vote by the Univ Fellows, the Master (George Bradley) responded by sending down ("rusticating") the entire Univ student body unless the guilty person(s) came forward. Chavasse was the sole Fellow who was good-humored about the prank and who voted against the proposal. The undergraduates who knew the name of the perpetrator refused to squeal (snitch, peach) and the others refused to engage in a witch-hunt among their members. So they all left en masse that day. In any case, the perpetrator – one Samuel Sandbach – had already gone down to a yeomanry camp. When he was informed what had happened he confessed immediately and the undergraduates were permitted to return after a week's involuntary absence. The incident attracted newspaper comment to the effect that while the prank was ill conceived, the scope of the College's punishment was excessive. A large number of cartoons appeared about the incident, one of them with Chavasse climbing into his bedroom on a ladder. Possibly the Chavasse family takes special pride in the incident because Albert Chavasse, the victim, took the incident in his stride and did not overreact like his colleagues.

Sutton Coldfield. Bishop Chavasse was born in Sutton Coldfield and his arms may incorporate the birds in the Sutton Coldfield arms, which were in turn derived from the arms of bishop John Vesey. However, these birds are not martlets because they have feet, like the birds of the arms of Thomas More–or the choughs in the arms of Thomas à Becket. The Chavasse arms may hark back to the attributed arms of Edward the Confessor, the blazon for which is "Azure a cross flory between five martlets or."

Liverpool. Bishop Chavasse was the second Bishop of Liverpool, and the Liver Bird is a symbol of the city. However, this bird looks like a cormorant, with a beak, long neck and feet. The martlets of the Chavasse family don't look like liver birds. (Paul McCartney adopted a singing liver bird with guitar for his coat of arms.)

Bottom Line. My best guess right now is that the martlets sable in the Chavasse arms reference the arms of Univ. or those of Edward the Confessor. However, I continue to be puzzled about this and would welcome alternative hypotheses or evidence.

Sources:
Chavasse, Albert S. Undergraduate Diary, 1865-68.
Darwall-Smith, Robin, A History of Univ. College Oxford (Oxford, 2008), 402-6.   
Mitchell, L.G. "The Screwing up of the Dean", Univ. College Record, XI:4 (1996), 69-81.
Sutton Coldfield. Town website.
Univ. Library. UC:P45/MS/1, originally sent to Wild by the son of Sir Michael Sadler.
Univ. website: The Sending Down of 1880. Further Sources on the Sending Down of 1880. (Both catalogued Jan. 1996.)
Univ. website: Cartoons about the Sending Down of 1880. (Catalogued June 2013)
Wild, J.H.S. Collection, Univ. Muniment Room, Aug. 1951.

Other Posts on the Arms of Oxford Colleges and PPHs: Original Article in Oxford Today . Heraldry as Branding . Heraldry as Fun .  Coat of Arms vs. Crest . Sinister Questions . Visit to the College of Arms . Windsor Herald Talks to New Yorkers . Shaming of Harvard Law Shield :: Rapid Expansion of Oxford's Colleges and Halls . Oxford Stars . HERALDRY SUPERLINK . Harris Manchester College . Linacre College . St Catherine's . St Cross College . St Edmund Hall . St Peter's College . Trinity College :: Regent's Park College . St Benet's Hall

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