page_title: Hatfield College, Durham
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Hatfield College, Durham / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: an aerial view of hatfield college, durham
context_page_description: Hatfield College is one of the constituent colleges of Durham University in England. Founded in 1846 as Bishop Hatfield's Hall by former Oxford don David Melville, it was the second college to be associated with the university, after University College.
  Taking its name from Prince-Bishop Thomas Hatfield, the college pioneered the concept of catered residences for students – a practise later introduced at Keble College, Oxford and eventually worldwide.
  After many decades as a single-sex institution, the first female undergraduates were formally admitted in Michaelmas term 1988.
  Hatfield occupies a large site above the River Wear on North Bailey and close to Durham Cathedral on the World Heritage Site peninsula. The buildings are an eclectic blend of 17th-century halls, early Victorian buildings and major additions during the last century. A£5 million refurbishment to the Jevons building, including the bar and student accommodation, was unveiled in October 2018.
  The master of the college is Ann MacLarnon, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Durham University.
context_section_description: In October 1939 Hatfielders suffered the misfortune to be barred from their own college when the university decided to use Hatfield as a temporary site for the new Neville's Cross College, an institution for training women teachers. Having spent over a decade taking meals in Castle, they would now be prevented from using Hatfield buildings altogether. Without its own buildings and Master, and the issue of the ongoing war, Hatfield was in a poor position to recruit new students, an era later described as the 'wilderness years' by college archivist Arthur Moyes.
  However, the college received an unexpected new lease of life when the Royal Air Force established short courses at the university for some of its cadets, and soon these cadets made up half of the Hatfield student body. This led the university to postpone plans to merge Hatfield with University College. Plans were revived again in 1943, but met the strong opposition of Hatfield dons, especially Hedley Sparks. In 1946, the centenary year of the college, members formed the Hatfield Association to both represent alumni and demonstrate to the university council that Hatfield was supported.
caption: a bird's-eye view of Hatfield in the late 20th century
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