Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had a financial endowment of £119m. The main entrance is on the west side of Turl Street. It is flanked by Ship Street to the north and Market Street to the south.
Jesus has been called "the first Protestant College in Oxford", and was founded by Elizabeth I in 1571 for the education of clergy, though students now study a broad range of secular subjects. A major driving force behind the establishment of the college was Hugh Price (or Aprice), a churchman from Brecon in Wales, and the college continues to be associated informally with Wales to this day. Today the college has around 500 students, and the Principal is Lord Krebs.
Jesus College was founded in 1571, occupying in part the site of the earlier White Hall, which had existed for several hundred years from the 13th century up until 1570, just before Jesus began. Jesus was founded by eight commissioners, of whom Hugh Price is usually credited as the main force, and received its Royal Charter from Elizabeth I.
The college was originally intended primarily for the education of clergymen. The particular intention was to satisfy a need for dedicated, learned clergy to promote the Elizabethan Religious Settlement in the parishes of England, Ireland and Wales. The college has since broadened the range of subjects offered, beginning with the inclusion of medicine and law, and now offers almost the full range of subjects taught at the university. The letters patent issued by Elizabeth I made it clear that the education of a priest in the 16th century included more than just theology, however:
“ ...to the Glory of God Almighty and Omnipotent, and for the spread and maintenance of the Christian religion in its sincere form, for the eradication of errors and heresies, for the increase and perpetuation of true loyalty, for the extension of good literature of every sort, for the knowledge of languages, for the education of youth in loyalty, morality, and methodical learning, for the relief of poverty and distress, and lastly for the benefit and well-being of the Church of Christ in our realms, we have decreed that a College of learning in the sciences, philosophy, humane pursuits, knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages, to the ultimate profession of Sacred Theology, to last for all time to come, be created, founded, built, and established.... ”
—Elizabeth I, Dated 27 June 1571.
Hugh Price continued to be closely involved with the college after its foundation. On the strength of a promised legacy, worth £60 a year on his death, he requested and received the authority to appoint the new college's Principal, Fellows and Scholars. He financed early building work in the college's Front Quadrangle, but on his death in 1574 it transpired that the college received only a lump sum of around £600.
Significant benefactions in the 17th century placed the college on a more secure financial footing. One Herbert Westfaling, Bishop of Hereford, left enough property to support two fellowships and scholarships (with the significant proviso that "my kindred shallbe always preferred before anie others"). Sir Eubule Thelwall, principal from 1621–30, spent much of his own money on the construction of a chapel, hall and library for the college. This library, constructed above an overly-weak colonnade, was pulled down under the principalship of Francis Mansell (1630–49), who also built two staircases of residential accommodation to attract the sons of Welsh gentry families to the College.
It was Leoline Jenkins, whose 1661–73 principalship followed Mansell's brief reinstatement, who secured the long-term viability of the college. On his death in 1685 he bequeathed a large complex of estates, acquired largely by lawyer friends from the over-mortgaged landowners of the Restoration period. These estates allowed the college's sixteen Fellowships and Scholarships to be filled for the first time (officially, sixteen of each had been supported since 1622, but the college's income was too small to keep all occupied simultaneously).
In the inter-war years (1918–39) Jesus was seen by some as a small college and something of a backwater; it attracted relatively few pupils from the public schools traditionally seen as the most prestigious. The college did, however, attract many academically able entrants from the grammar schools (particularly those in northern England and Scotland). Among these grammar-school boys was Harold Wilson, who would later become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
In 1974, Jesus was among the first group of five men's colleges to admit women as members, the others being Brasenose, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine's. Five women's societies (Lady Margaret Hall, Somerville, St Hugh's, St Hilda's and St Anne's) had been granted full collegiate status fifteen years earlier in 1959.
Jesus' long-standing rivalry with nearby Exeter College reached a peak in 1979, with seven police vehicles and three fire engines involved in dealing with trouble in Turl Street.
The college has a reputation within Oxford for being a friendly, close-knit community. Some have attributed this to the relatively small physical size of the main college site, where first-year students live in close proximity to one-another and form strong bonds of friendship and a keen sense of college spirit.
Students from the college participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, their successes not being limited to any one field in particular. Some contribute to student journalism for Cherwell or The Oxford Student. In the Arts, the annual Turl Street Arts Festival is of particular note. This week-long student-organised event is held annually in conjunction with Exeter and Lincoln colleges. The festival, which takes place in Fifth Week of Hilary term, includes exhibitions, plays and concerts. Although the college does not award Choral Scholarships, the Chapel Choir is well-attended by enthusiastic college members and others. The choir is non-auditioning for college members, and is run by one or more undergraduate Organ Scholars.
In common with many Oxford colleges, Jesus is well provided with sporting facilities. These include extensive playing fields at the east Oxford Bartlemas site for (association and Rugby union) football, netball, field hockey, cricket, tennis etc., and modern squash courts at a separate city-centre site on St Cross Road. In addition, the college provides students with membership of the university's Iffley Road gym and swimming pool.
Jesus College Boat Club (commonly abbreviated to JCBC) is the rowing club for members of the college. The club was formed in 1835, but rowing at the college predates the foundation of the club: a boat from the college was involved in the earliest recorded races between college crews at Oxford in 1815, when it competed against a crew from Brasenose College. These may have been the only two colleges who had boats racing at that time, and the Brasenose boat was usually victorious. Neither the men's nor the women's 1st VIIIs have earned the title of "Head of the River", which is gained by winning Eights Week, the main inter-college rowing competition at Oxford. However, college boats have had successful seasons: the 1896 Jesus College boat had a reputation of being one of the faster boats in the university, and the Women's 1st VIII of 1993 won their "blades" in the first divisions of both Torpids and Eights Week, an achievement that led to the crew being described by the editor of the Jesus College Record as vying "not just for the College team of the decade, but perhaps for the team of the last three decades", in any sport.
A number of college members have rowed for the university against Cambridge University in the Boat Race and the Women's Boat Race. Barney Williams, a Canadian rower who studied at the college, won a silver medal in rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and participated in the Boat Race in 2005 and 2006. Other students who rowed while at the college have achieved success in other fields, including John Sankey, who became Lord Chancellor, Alwyn Williams, who became Bishop of Durham, and Maurice Jones, who became Principal of St David's College, Lampeter. Another college rower, James Page, was appointed Secretary of the Amateur Rowing Association and coached both the Oxford and Cambridge University boat clubs.
The college boathouse, which is shared with the boat club of Keble College, is in Christ Church Meadow, on the Isis (as the River Thames is called in Oxford). It dates from 1964 and replaced a moored barge used by spectators and crew-members. The last college barge had been purchased from one of the Livery Companies of the City of London in 1911. It is now a floating restaurant further down the Thames at Richmond, and for some years was painted in the college colours of green and white.
Although it accepts students from all over the United Kingdom and indeed the world, Jesus has a particular association with Wales and is often referred to as "the Welsh college". The college is home to the university's Professor of Celtic, and a specialist Celtic library in addition to the college's normal library. Meyrick scholarships, from the bequest of Edmund Meyrick in 1713, are awarded for academic merit where the student is a native of Wales (or the child of a native of Wales), able to speak Welsh or was educated for the last three years of secondary school in Wales.
To reflect this connection, the college's undergraduate gossip sheet is entitled The Sheepshagger in allusion to an offensive joke about Welsh people's supposed penchant for sheep. Furthermore, the Welshness of the College is self-perpetuating, as Welsh students will often apply to Jesus because it is seen as the Welsh college. Old members recall the college having a majority of Welsh members until well into the 20th century; today, however, around 15% of undergraduates come from Wales. For comparison, the Welsh comprise around 5% of UK population.
In modern times, the Welsh roots of the college come to the fore most prominently on Saint David's Day. The feast is marked by a choral Evensong in the chapel, decorated for the occasion with the inevitable Daffodils. The service, including music, is conducted entirely in Welsh (despite only a small minority of the choir usually being native speakers of the language). It is generally well attended by members of the Welsh community in Oxford.
The college's annual St. David's Day Dinner traditionally culminates with the serving of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn's Pudding. The name recalls the Welsh politician and prominent Jacobite who attended the college early in the eighteenth century.