St Catherine's College, Oxford traces its origins to 1868. In its first iteration, it was established as a delegacy for ('Scholars enrolled in no college or hall'), by university statute on 11 June 1868. This delegacy, informally known as the "Delegacy for Unattached Students", was created in response to the recommendation of a
Royal Commission in 1850, that the university be open to a "larger and poorer" sector of the population. The delegacy appointed two of its
stipendiaries,
George Kitchin and George S. Ward, to be known as "Censors", to oversee the education and welfare of the students. Nineteen students matriculated in October 1868 as and were joined throughout the year by another forty, bringing the total number in the first year to 59. Growing quickly, by 1872 the delegacy had admitted 330 students. In 1884, the delegacy was renamed the "Delegacy for Non-Collegiate Students". After acquiring from
Merton College, Oxford on part of Holywell Great Meadow for £57,690, monies were sought from the
University Grants Committee who also agreed to supply £250,000 towards the building, and additional funds up to £400,000 for all facilities. By 1960, Alan Bullock raised a further £1,000,000 with assistance from two industrialists,
Alan Wilson (whom he met by chance on the ) and Sir
Hugh Beaver. After a total expenditure of £2.5 million, the college opened in 1962. In 1974, St Catherine's was one of the first men's colleges to admit women as full members, the others being
Brasenose,
Jesus College,
Hertford and
Wadham. In keeping with its complete history, including its earliest incarnation, the college celebrated its 150th anniversary in the academic year 2018–2019, coinciding with the 2018 Ball 'Continuum'. The 50th anniversary of the establishment of the College itself, as a
college, was celebrated in 2012.
College name In 1931, the delegacy officially acquired the name, "St Catherine's Society", with the current spelling. Variations of
St Catharine having been used by the students for their sporting teams and various clubs since the 1870s, the name was already strongly associated with the delegacy. First forming a social club in April 1869, the students called it the "Clarendon University Club", taking that name from the Old Clarendon Building where the delegacy had been allocated a room. The students soon expanded their organised activities. By 1874 they began a more comprehensive association, which they called the St Club, after its headquarters, the hall where they dined and held meetings. St Catharine's Hall had long been associated with the saint, having been built as a chapel, popularly called St Catherine's Chapel, (though officially "
Chapel of Our Lady at Smith Gate"). Although deconsecrated, the 16th-century appellation of "St Catharine's" remained attached to the site throughout its later history. The building's address at the time of the Club's tenancy was 29
Broad Street; it fronted, though, onto
Catte Street, also known as Catherine Street from some point in the late 19th century until 1930—and first recorded as Kattestreete ,
Catte in 1402,
Cate or
Kate in the 17th century, and
Cat or
Catte again in the 1800s, the street's name enhancing the association with
Catherine. In this way, the college became indirectly associated with the saint,
Catherine of Alexandria. Despite the initially accidental relationship, St Catherine is celebrated as the college's patron saint "with a special Catz Night dinner... at the end of which a giant Catherine wheel is lit in the quad". ==Buildings==