page_title: Jesus College, Oxford
section_title: 18th and 19th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Jesus College, Oxford / History / 18th and 19th centuries
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of the interior of the first quadrangle of Jesus College, Oxford from "MEMORIALS OF OXFORD By James Ingram DD. President of Trinity College. The engravings by John Le Keux from drawings by F. Mackenzie." (1837)
context_page_description: Jesus College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street. The college was founded by Elizabeth I on 27 June 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, a churchman from Brecon in Wales. The oldest buildings, in the first quadrangle, date from the 16th and early 17th centuries; a second quadrangle was added between about 1640 and about 1713, and a third quadrangle was built in about 1906. Further accommodation was built on the main site to mark the 400th anniversary of the college, in 1971, and student flats have been constructed at sites in north and east Oxford.
  The life of the college was disrupted by the English Civil War. Leoline Jenkins, who became principal after the war in 1661, put the college on a more stable financial footing. Little happened at the college during the 18th century, and the 19th century saw a decline in numbers and academic standards.
context_section_description: The 18th century, in contrast to the disruption of the 17th century, was a comparatively quiet time for the college. A historian of the college, J. N. L. Baker, wrote that the college records for this time "tell of little but routine entries and departures of fellows and scholars".  The Napoleonic Wars saw a reduction in the numbers of students and entries in the records for the purchase of muskets and other items for college members serving in the university corps. After the war, numbers rose, to an average of twenty new students per year between 1821 and 1830. However, debts owed to the college had increased, perhaps due to the economic effects of the war – by 1832, the college was owed £986 10s 5d (approximately £92300 in present-day terms). During the first half of the 19th century, the academic strength of the college diminished: scholarships were sometimes not awarded because of a lack of suitable candidates, and numbers fell: there were only seven new entrants in 1842. Ernest Hardy wrote in his history of the college in 1899 that it had been becoming "increasingly evident for years... that the exclusive connection with Wales was ruining the college as a place of education."
  A Royal Commission was appointed in 1852 to investigate the university. The college wished to retain its links with Wales, and initial reforms were limited despite the wishes of the commissioners: those scholarships that were limited to particular parts of Wales were opened to the whole of Wales, and half of the fellowships awarded were to remain open only to Welshmen "'if and so long as the Principal and Fellows shall deem it expedient for the interests of education in connection with the Principality of Wales'". All the scholarships at the college, except for two, and all the exhibitions were still restricted to students from Wales. The numbers of students at the college still fell, despite prizes being awarded for success in university examinations. Daniel Harper, principal from 1877 to 1895, noted the continuing academic decline.  Speaking in 1879, he noted that fewer students from the college were reaching high standards in examinations, and that more Welsh students were choosing to study at other Oxford colleges in preference to Jesus. A further Royal Commission was appointed. This led to further changes at the college: in 1882, the fellowships reserved to Welshmen were made open to all, and only half (instead of all) of the 24 scholarships were to be reserved for Welsh candidates. Thereafter, numbers gradually rose and the non-Welsh element at the college increased, so that by 1914 only about half of the students were Welsh.
caption: An 1837 engraving of the first quadrangle
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