page_title: History of Brasenose College, Oxford
section_title: Victorian period
hierarchical_section_title: History of Brasenose College, Oxford / Nineteenth century / Victorian period
caption_attribution_description: English: Oxford college rowing jerseys - booklet of lithograph plates - 1 of 6 - c. 1848
context_page_description: The history of Brasenose College, Oxford, stretches back to 1509, when Brasenose College was founded on the site of Brasenose Hall. Its name is believed to derive from the name of a bronze knocker that adorned the hall's door. The college was associated with Lancashire and Cheshire, the county origins of its two founders – Sir Richard Sutton and the Bishop of Lincoln, William Smyth – a link that was maintained strongly until the latter half of the nineteenth century. The first principals navigated Brasenose, with its Catholic sympathisers, through the reformation and continuing religious reforms. Most of Brasenose favoured the Royalist side during the English Civil War, although it produced notable generals and clergy on both sides. The library and chapel were completed in the mid-seventeenth century, despite Brasenose suffering continuing financial problems.
  The post-1785 period would see an era of prosperity of the college under Principal William Cleaver. The college began to be populated by gentlemen, its income doubling between 1790 and 1810, and academic success considerable.
context_section_description: Gilbert's successor in 1842 was Richard Harrington, who inherited a college in good shape: income was around £15,000; only Christ Church was significantly bigger in size. Academic reforms, particularly with regard to examinations – which were to be administered by the university, rather than the college – were instituted across Oxford in the first half of the century. Brasenose's proportion of first-class degrees fell sharply from its previous peak. By 1850, no matriculation exam was instituted at Brasenose, as at other colleges, although the other examinations were altered: responsions moved forward and moderations instituted. Brasenose, like the university, was yet to truly reform the range of subjects studied, however. It was only in 1849 that modern sciences were only given a separate School (and thus examination) in 1849; law and modern history a year later.
  Edward Hartopp Cradock (known as "Chief") became principal in 1853, and would lead the college until 1886; most notable in his tenure was the introduction of organised sports and the resulting public image of Brasenose as a sporting college. This included the membership of oarsman Walter Bradford Woodgate, founder of Vincent's Club, and sometime president of the club Tom Edwards-Moss. It produced many blues rowers, seven in 1860–1867 alone. Between 1870 and 1872, the Oxford varsity cricket team was similarly dominated by Brasenose men, including Conrad Wallroth. One, Arthur Heath, went on to become a Conservative Party politician, although legal and careers in the church still dominated. Brasenose was also very well turned out in rugby and football – including Cuthbert Ottaway and Heath – but cricket and rowing defined its success.
  Among other pursuits, amateur dramatics flourish (even though Brasenose was an all-male college). Overall, the intake and careers of undergraduates remained dominated by the Church (up to half), drawn from a range of backgrounds. The college remained largely independent of the large public schools. Brasenose's academic record remained solid, if unremarkable; its strengths lay in classics, although one of its most prominent academics – Arthur Evans – studied modern history.
  Brasenose was staunchly opposed to the establishment of the first Royal Commission of 1850–51 into standards at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, claiming that it lacked authority and served an "ignorant" purpose. The college believed that if it were to support the commission, it might "at all future times be exposed to fluctatuions of political parties, attacks and influences  very injurious to the peace and to the steady performance of its duties". It instead petitioned the crown to abandon the commission, citing certain freedoms under the Bill of Rights 1689. However, the commissioners were granted the authority to force cooperation and the petition rejected.
  As it turned out, the college was happy to pursue many of the commission's aims: the restriction of the preference for candidates from the north-west (although the Somerset scholars remained), and the reduction of living expenses – something for which new buildings offering cheaper living and even union with Lincoln College were considered but ultimately rejected. More problematic were reforms to the distribution of power and funding between senior and junior fellows – although in 1855–1857 ordinances were put in place giving junior fellows the same role in governance as their seniors. Thus the situation began to improve for junior fellows as the older fellows were gradually replaced. The changes made by the second Royal Commission (brought to "inquire into the property and income" of Oxford and Cambridge colleges) to the running of the accounts and the system of university-wide finances were unopposed by Brasenose. The accounts which the college submitted reveal an income of £16,000, of which nearly £10,000 came from land, other property, stocks and shares. Expenditure was around £13,600, which left Brasenose in a secure financial position. Although the university as a whole was hit hard by the agri
caption: A card showing Brasenose rowing colours, 1840
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