Founding and early years St Hugh's was founded in 1886 by
Elizabeth Wordsworth (great-niece of the poet
William Wordsworth) as a women's college. A large percentage of the young women who came to St Hugh's in the early years were the daughters of clergymen; most of the other fathers were professional, middle-class men. Its purpose was "to make it possible for women of modest means to live and study in Oxford...with religious teachings (
Church of England) on the same lines as
Lady Margaret Hall" of which Elizabeth Wordsworth had been founding principal. Using money left to her by her father
Christopher Wordsworth, who had been Bishop of Lincoln, Wordsworth established the new college at 25
Norham Road in North Oxford. She named the college after one of her father's 12th-century predecessors,
Hugh of Lincoln, who was canonised in 1220, and in whose diocese Oxford had been. The college was initially accommodated in properties in Norham Road,
Norham Gardens and Fyfield Road. The first principal being
Charlotte Anne Moberly, its first students were Jessie Annie Emmerson, Charlotte Jourdain, Constance E. Ashburner, Wilhelmina J. de Lorna Mitchell and Grace J. Parsons. At first tuition and lectures were arranged by the
Association for the Education of Women, the first college tutor being Dora Wylie, appointed around 1898. The college began to move to its present site in 1913, when it purchased the lease of a house called "The Mount" from the Rev Robert Hartley for £2,500. This house stood on the corner of St Margaret's Road and Banbury Road, and the freehold was owned by University College. The first book was a copy of
George Sale's 1734 translation of the
Koran, which was given to the college by the then Bishop of Tokyo. In 1919,
J. R. R. Tolkien began to tutor undergraduates at St Hugh's, given that the women's colleges were in great need of good teachers in their early years, and Tolkien as a married professor (then still not common) was considered suitable, as a bachelor don would not have been. The college soon took over other properties nearby. The leasehold of 4 St Margaret's Road was acquired in 1919; it became the first "College house". In 1936, to mark 50 years since it was founded, a "Group Portrait" was painted of
Evelyn Procter, History Tutor;
Edith Wardale, English Language Tutor; Elizabeth Francis, French Tutor;
Barbara Gwyer, Principal; and
Cecilia Ady, History Tutor by
Henry Lamb. In the same year 1 St Margaret's Road was demolished, and a new library was built in the Mary Gray Allen building; it was named the Moberly Library after the first principal of the college Brick huts were constructed in the college grounds with space for 300 beds. Between 1940 and 1945, over 13,000 servicemen and women were treated at the college. In 1943 the college acquired the leasehold of 72 Woodstock Road (known as The Shrubbery) from Dame Gertrude Whitehead for £1,500. It was used as a club for American soldiers during the war. In 1951 the college purchased the freeholds to 85 and 87 Banbury Road and 9 to 13 Canterbury Road from St John's College. In addition, the freehold of The Shrubbery was acquired; this meant the college now owned the freehold of the entire -acre site. The 1960s saw an extensive programme of building work at St Hugh's. The Shrubbery was converted into the principal's lodgings in 1963. This was followed shortly after by the Wolfson Building, which was constructed between 1966 and 1967 and opened by
Princess Alexandra and
Harold Macmillan in his role as chancellor of the university. When Trickett retired in 1991, she was succeeded by the first male Principal,
Derek Wood. A new boathouse was constructed for the St Hugh's Boat Club (jointly with St Anne's and Wadham Colleges) between 1989 and 1990. This was followed by the construction of the Rachel Trickett Building between 1991 and 1992 at a cost of £3.4 million. These were presented to the college as gifts for its Jubilee in 1936. St Hugh carries a model of Lincoln Cathedral, which would have been very familiar to Elizabeth Wordsworth, and has his other hand resting on the head of a swan, the famous
swan of Stow. Elizabeth Wordsworth is depicted wearing her doctoral robes. St Hugh's College celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2011; a summer garden party was attended by over 1,200 guests.
Aung San Suu Kyi sent a message to the college, saying "Happy moments are one of the pillars that keep the spirit uplifted during hard times. St Hugh’s and Oxford are inextricable from my happiest memories, those that I could draw on when the beauty of the world seemed dim. I so wish I could be with you at this very moment to relive old joys and to stir up new ones for the future. I would like to thank all my friends for the happiness we shared. To the present students of St Hugh’s I would simply like to say: Make the most of your time in this wonderful place." St Hugh's, which filed defence papers to the court, accepted barring the student on financial grounds, but claimed the measure was necessary to ensure students can complete their studies. The college eventually settled the claim, with the university promising to conduct a review of the Financial Guarantee policy. In September 2013, it was revealed that the university had decided to abolish the Financial Guarantee policy and replace it with a less restrictive 'Financial Declaration'.
Recent development In 2008, the college began a fundraising drive for a new building on the college site. In November 2010, it was confirmed that Hong Kong businessman
Dickson Poon had made a £10 million donation to the college for the construction of the Dickson Poon China Centre. The centre houses the university's China Studies department, as well as providing accommodation for St Hugh's postgraduate students and The Wordsworth Tea Room. == Buildings and location ==