Exeter College, Oxford

Exeter College (in full: The rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university.

The college was founded in 1314 by two brothers from Devon, Bishop Walter Stapledon and Sir Richard Stapledon, as an institution to educate clergy, and has been located on Turl Street since 1315. At its foundation Exeter was popular with sons of the Devon gentry, though it has since become associated with a much broader range of notable alumni, including Raymond Raikes, William Morris, J. R. R. Tolkien, Richard Burton, Roger Bannister, Alan Bennett, and Philip Pullman.

History

thumb|left|Exeter College's [[Broad Street, Oxford|Broad Street frontage]]

Exeter College was founded in 1314 by Walter Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter and later treasurer to Edward II, and his brother, Sir Richard Stapledon, judge and politician, as a school to educate clergy. The college initially used Hart Hall, now Hertford College, and moved to Turl Street in 1315.

In the 16th century, donations from Sir William Petre, assumed to be an Exeter graduate, whose daughter Dorothy Wadham (1534–1618) was a co-founder with her husband Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609) of Wadham College, created the eight Petrean Fellowships, and further contributions from his son John Petre, 1st Baron Petre (1549–1613) helped to expand and transform the college. In a clever move by the bursar to fill the new buildings as they were completed, a significant number of noble Roman Catholic students were invited to enrol and take classes at the enlarged college; however, they were not allowed to matriculate. As a result, over time, Exeter College became one of the leading colleges in the university.

In the 18th century the college experienced declining popularity, as did all of Oxford's other colleges. University reforms in the 1850s helped to end this period of stagnation.

Women at Exeter

For over six centuries after its founding, women were not permitted to study at Exeter, but in 1979 it joined many other men's colleges in admitting its first female students. Today it admits men and women in roughly equal numbers. When Butler's tenure expired in October 2004, the college elected another woman—Frances Cairncross, former senior editor of The Economist—as rector.

In 2014, the author J. K. Rowling was elected an honorary fellow of the college for the "extraordinary contribution she has made to the field of literature, and in particular to children's reading and literacy".

Adelphi Wine Club

Formed in the 1850s, the Adelphi Wine Club is reputed to be one of the oldest three wine clubs in Oxford. The club draws its membership from undergraduates studying at Exeter College. It has been forcibly closed down by college authorities several times throughout its tumultuous existence and is currently believed to be dormant. The club was renowned for its extravagant dinners, and for excessive gambling after each meeting. One black ball was sufficient to exclude an undergraduate from membership. Beginning in 1923, the college forbade any student holding an exhibition from joining the club.

Notable past members include Sir Martin Le Quesne, and J.P.V.D. Balsdon. The quadrangle also incorporates the rector's lodgings, designed by Gilbert Scott and constructed in 1857, and staircases nine, ten and eleven, also erected during the 19th century. The premises represent the college's largest physical expansion since the 14th century. The Cohen Quad won an RIBA South Award as well as Regional Building of the Year.

In literature and films

Exeter College is the basis for the fictional Jordan College in Philip Pullman's novel trilogy His Dark Materials. The 2007 film version of the first novel, The Golden Compass (originally Northern Lights), used the college for location filming. The final episode of Inspector Morse in 2000 (season 8 episode 5), based upon the novel The Remorseful Day, was filmed in the college chapel and Front Quadrangle, where Morse has a fatal heart attack. In 2016 scenes were filmed in the college chapel for the Marvel movie Doctor Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Scenes for the 2019 movie Tolkien were shot at the college (where J. R. R. Tolkien studied), including in the Fellows' Garden. The Apple TV series Suspicion filmed scenes in the college dining hall in 2021.

Student life

thumb|upright=1.3|left|Dining hall

Exeter has a reputation for having a close-knit student body. First-year undergraduates are housed on the college's Turl Street site, and there is dedicated graduate accommodation for the college on Iffley Road.

As the university's fourth oldest college, a certain emphasis is placed on tradition, especially during special occasions such as the annual Burns Night, a dinner in honour of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, when a traditional meal of haggis is served. The college's ties with Williams College in the United States through the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford, as well as the generally international composition of the MCR, makes the annual Thanksgiving dinner a popular occasion.

Choir

Exeter has a mixed-voice choir, made up of 24 singers, which is administered, conducted and accompanied solely by the Organ Scholars. It is the only college in either Oxford or Cambridge where a choir, run entirely by the Organ Scholar, sings three services a week, and has been heard recently on a number of broadcasts for BBC Radio 4's The Daily Service. The college offers Choral and Parry–Wood Organ Scholarships, and former Organ Scholars include Robert Sharpe (Director of Music, York Minster), Christopher Herrick (International Concert Organist and former organist, Westminster Abbey), and David Trendell (director of music, King's College London), as well as directors of music at Rugby, Charterhouse, Sherborne, and Latymer Upper Schools.

Sports

thumb|Exeter Recreation Ground buildings

Sports at Exeter College are not directly organised by the college itself, but rather by student-run clubs. Exeter College own their own sports grounds, which can be used by these student clubs within University Parks. The sports that have active student run clubs as of October 2023 are: boating, netball, football, cricket, badminton, hockey, rugby, ice hockey, pool, darts, croquet, and lacrosse.

In March 2014 Exeter College Association Football Club defeated St Catherine's College 2–1 in the final of the Cuppers tournament to lift the trophy for the first time in over 40 years. In May 2019 Turl Street Rugby, made up of students from Exeter College, Jesus College and Lincoln College, won Oxford's inaugural 15-a-side Women's Rugby Union Cuppers tournament.

In May 2024, Exeter College Rugby Football Club secured the Cuppers Bowl Trophy with a narrow victory, defeating a combined team from St Catherine's, Mansfield, Corpus Christi, Somerville, and Merton Colleges by a score of 17-15.

People associated with Exeter

Former students

Amongst Exeter's alumni are many writers, including J. R. R. Tolkien, Alan Bennett, Martin Amis and Philip Pullman; Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes; the actors Richard Burton and Imogen Stubbs; Liaquat Ali Khan, the first prime minister of Pakistan, John Kufuor, the former president of Ghana and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, former president of Peru.

Academics and tutors

Basil Allchin, organist
C.T. Atkinson, Fellow and tutor in military history, 1898–1955.
Frank Close
Cornelia Druțu
Raymond Dwek
Sandra Fredman
William Gould
Catherine M. Green
Michael Hart
Elizabeth Jeffreys
Eric Waldram Kemp – Fellow, tutor, and chaplain 1946–1969, later bishop of Chichester
Jacob Klein
George Alfred Kolkhorst – Reader in Spanish 1931–1958
John Maddicott – History fellow
Michael Osborne (academic)
George Rawlinson
Andrew Steane
Magdi Wahba – Egyptian academic and lexicographer
Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly – Official fellow and tutor in German