XXI. KEBLE COLLEGE.

By Rev. Walter Lock, M.A., Sub-Warden of Keble College.

This, the most recent of the Oxford colleges, was opened in 1870, the foundation of it being due to a combination of three different but cognate causes: the first was a widespread desire to make University education more widely accessible to the nation, and especially to those who were anxious to take Holy Orders in the Church of England; the second, the desire to ensure that this education should be in the hands of Churchmen; and the third, the desire to perpetuate the memory of the Rev. John Keble, formerly Fellow and Tutor of Oriel College, Professor of Poetry in the University (1832-1841), Vicar of Hursley (1836-1866), and author of The Christian Year, Lyra Innocentium, A Treatise on Eucharistical Adoration, &c.

Of these motives the first had been stirring in Oxford for many years. In 1845 the following address was presented to the Hebdomadal Board—

“Considerable efforts have lately been made in this country for the diffusion of civil and spiritual knowledge, whether at home or abroad. Schools have been instituted for the lower and middle classes, churches built and endowed, missionary societies established, further Schools founded, as at Marlborough and Fleetwood, for the sons of poor clergy and others; and, again, associations for the provision of additional Ministers. But between these schools on the one hand, and on the other the ministry which requires to be augmented, there is a chasm which needs to be filled. Our Universities take up education where our schools leave it; yet no one can say that they have been strengthened or extended, whether for Clergy or Laity, in proportion to the growing population of the country, its increasing empire, or deepening responsibilities.

“We are anxious to suggest, that the link which we find thus missing in the chain of improvement should be supplied by rendering Academical education accessible to the sons of parents whose incomes are too narrow for the scale of expenditure at present prevailing among the junior members of the University of Oxford, and that this should be done through the addition of new departments to existing Colleges, or, if necessary, by the foundation of new Collegiate bodies. We have learned, on what we consider unquestionable information, that in such institutions, if the furniture were provided by the College, and public meals alone were permitted, to the entire exclusion of private entertainments in the rooms of the Students, the annual College payments for board, lodging, and tuition might be reduced to £60 at most; and that if frugality were enforced as the condition of membership, the Student’s entire expenditure might be brought within the compass of £80 yearly.

“If such a plan of improvement be entertained by the authorities of Oxford, the details of its execution would remain to be considered. On these we do not venture to enter; but desire to record our readiness, whenever the matter may proceed further, to aid, by personal exertions or pecuniary contributions, in the promotion of a design which the exigencies of the country so clearly seem to require.

“Sandon, Ashley, R. Grosvenor, W. Gladstone, T. D. Acland, Philip Pusey, T. Sothron, Westminster, Carnarvon, T. Acland, Bart., W. Bramston, Lincoln, Sidney Herbert, Canning, Mahon, W. B. Baring, J. Nicholl (Judge Advocate), W. T. James, S. R. Glynne, J. E. Denison, Wilson Patten, R. Vernon Smith, S. Wilberforce, R. Jelf, W. W. Hall, W. Heathcote, Edward Berens, J. Wooley, Hon. Horace Powys, W. Herbert (Dean of Manchester), G. Moberley, A. C. Tait.”[359]

In spite of this influential list of signatures no action was taken by the Board, but the subject gave rise to many pamphlets, one of which, by the Rev. C. Marriott, deserves a special notice. In it he propounded a definite scheme for the foundation of a college either in or out of Oxford, which should contain about one hundred students living “a somewhat domestic kind of life,” which should be shared in close intercourse by their tutors. Mr. Marriott received considerable promises of help towards the endowment of such a college, but his early death cut short the scheme.[360] The University Commission of 1854 tended to stimulate the desire to make University education more national; but it was not until 1865 that any definite step was taken. On Nov. 16 of that year a meeting of graduates was held at Oriel College, “to consider the question of University Extension with a view especially to the education of persons needing assistance and desirous of admission into the Christian ministry.” The conveners of this meeting were chiefly influenced by the belief that the education of the national clergy was the unquestionable duty of the Universities, but that it was to a large extent passing out of their hands. They recognized, however, that this was far from the sole ground of University Extension, and especially urged that the system of Local Examinations required as its natural complement some further movement which should enable the successful candidates to follow out their studies at the University itself. At this meeting six sub-committees were formed to consider various methods of such extension. The history of Keble College is concerned only with the first of these, of which Dr. Shirley, the Professor of Ecclesiastical History, was Chairman, the other members being Professors Bernard, Burrows, Mansel, Pusey, and the Revs. W. Burgon, R. Greswell, W. Ince, and J. Riddell.

The instructions given to them were to consider the suggestion of extending the University “by founding a college or hall on a large scale, with a view not exclusively but especially to the education of persons needing assistance and desirous of admission into the Christian ministry.” The substance of the report was to the effect that, without interfering with either the moral and religious discipline or the social advantages of an academical life, it would be possible very considerably to reduce the average of expenditure. With this purpose they suggest the building of a new Hall, by private subscription, large enough to hold one hundred undergraduates; for the sake of economy the rooms should be smaller than in most colleges, they should be arranged along corridors instead of by staircases, and be furnished by the College; breakfast as well as dinner should be taken in common, caution-money and entrance fees abolished, and all necessary expenditure included in one terminal payment. By this means it was hoped that the University would be opened to a class of men who cannot now enter, but without placing them apart from the classes who now avail themselves of it. The Hall was not to be “such an eleemosynary establishment as would be sought only by persons of inferior social position, less cultivated manners, or of attainments and intellect below the ordinary level of the University, but rather one which is adapted to the natural tastes and habits of gentlemen wishing to live economically.”[361]

In the following year (on March 16, 1866) the Rev. John Keble died, and on the day of his funeral it seemed to his friends that the most fitting memorial to him would be to build such a college as had been contemplated by this committee. Mr. Keble had himself joined in the movement which led to the appointment of the committee; he had seen and approved the Report. This report was accordingly taken as the basis of action. The details were, in the main, arranged upon its lines; perhaps the chief difference was that from the first the preparation of candidates for Holy Orders was less insisted upon, and more emphasis was laid upon the duty of providing a suitable education for all Churchmen, whatever their vocation might be. To quote the words of the appeal which was issued, “The College was intended first to be a heartfelt and national tribute of affection and admiration to the memory of one of the most eminent and religious writers whom the Church of England has ever produced, one whose holy example was perhaps even a greater power for good than his Christian Year; secondly, to meet the great need now so generally felt of some form of University Extension, which may include a large portion of persons at present debarred through want of means from its full benefits; while, thirdly, it is hoped that it will prove, by God’s blessing, the loyal handmaid of our mother Church, to train up men who, not in the ministry only but in the manifold callings of the Christian life, shall be steadfast in the faith.”[362] The aims of the promoters of Keble College were, in a word, exactly the same as those of the munificent founders of the earlier colleges, viz. to extend University education to those who could not otherwise enjoy it, to extend it in the form of collegiate life, and in loyalty to the English Church.

A public appeal for subscriptions was at once made, and these amounted in a very short time to more than £50,000. The building of the College was intrusted to Mr. Butterfield. On St. Mark’s Day (the anniversary of Mr. Keble’s birthday), 1868, the first stone was laid by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Longley); and rooms for one hundred undergraduates and six tutors were ready for occupation in 1870, and at Commemoration the first Warden, the Rev. E. S. Talbot, senior student of Christ Church, was formally installed by the Chancellor of the University. A council had already been elected by the subscribers: this constitutes the Governing Body of the College, and perpetuates itself by co-optation as vacancies arise. The Council elect the Warden, who nominates the Tutors. On June 6th a Royal Charter of Incorporation was granted. This, after reciting that the subscribers had joined together to give public and permanent expression to their feeling of deep gratitude for the long and devoted services of the Rev. John Keble to the Church of Christ, and with that intent had resolved to establish a college or institution in which young men now debarred from University education might be trained in simple and religious habits, according to the principles of the Church of England, created the Warden, Council, and scholars into a corporate body with power to hold lands not exceeding the value of five thousand pounds (A subsequent amendment of the Mortmain Act, passed by Parliament in August 1888, extended to Keble College the exemption of the Mortmain Act, by which persons are enabled to bequeath property to it.) This Royal Charter carried with it no academical privileges. It left the Council free to move the College elsewhere, or even to wind up the Corporation; at the same time it authorized them, if they saw fit, to obtain the incorporation of the College within the University of Oxford.

This was not, however, the course actually adopted; the question of formal incorporation was not free from difficulties, as in previous cases such incorporation had been generally effected either by Royal Charter or by an Act of Parliament, and so it has never been raised. What actually happened was as follows. On June 16th, 1870, a decree was passed by Convocation, authorizing the Vice-Chancellor to matriculate students from Keble College pending further legislation. On March 9th, 1871, a new statute dealing with New Foundations for Academical Study and Education was passed, and on April 8th Keble College was admitted to the privileges granted by it. By this statute all its members have in relation to the University the same privileges and obligations as if they had been admitted to one of the previously existing Colleges or Halls, and the Warden has with regard to the members of his society the same obligations, rights, and powers as are assigned to the heads of existing Colleges or Halls, though the statute does not impose upon him any other obligations or confer any other right, privilege, or distinction. Any other statutes in which Colleges are mentioned by name, such as those respecting the University sermons or the election of Proctors, would not apply to any such new foundations, unless so amended as to include them expressly. The statute affecting the Proctorial cycle was so amended in 1887, and Keble College was for that purpose placed on a level with other colleges. The further question whether the head of such a society possesses the rights possessed by the heads of the earlier colleges has never been decided.[363]

Meanwhile the College had been opened successfully in Michaelmas Term 1870. At that time the north, east, and west blocks were completed, with a temporary chapel and hall on the south. The rooms were arranged in corridors, but subsequent experience has since partly modified this arrangement. The quadrangle south of the gateway was commenced in 1873, and finished on the eastern side in 1875, on the western in 1882. In 1873 W. Gibbs, Esq., of Tynterfield, laid the foundation of the permanent Chapel, of which he was the sole and munificent donor. This was formally opened on St. Mark’s Day, 1876, and on the same day the foundation-stone of the Hall and Library was laid, these being the scarcely less munificent gifts of his sons, Messrs. Antony and Martin Gibbs. The architect of these buildings also was Mr. Butterfield. In the Chapel, the general aim of the decoration is to set forth the Christ as the sum and centre of all history, to whom all previous ages pointed, from whom all subsequent ages have drawn their inspiration. In the main body of the Chapel the mosaics represent typical scenes from the lives of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, and Moses, while the great prophets and kings of the Old Testament are portrayed in the windows. Around the Sanctuary the ornament is richer as it attempts to do honour to the fact of the Incarnation—alabaster and marble take the place of stone. On either side in the mosaics are seen the Annunciation, the Birth, the Baptism, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection of the Lord; in the windows the leading Apostles and Doctors of the Christian Church. The Ascension is given in the east window; while in the quatre-foil mosaic, the centre of the whole decoration, appears a vision of the Lord Himself as described by St. John in the Apocalypse, seated in the midst of the candlesticks, with the stars in His hand, and the sword coming out of His mouth. Around the Living Lord are grouped saints of all the Christian centuries and of every vocation in life. The western mosaic closes the series with the Last Judgment.

In one respect the arrangement differs from that of all the other College chapels—all the seats are ranged eastwards, not north and south. This results from the change which has passed over college life in Oxford. The earlier chapels were built for colleges in which every one was in theory a life-member on the foundation, and had his permanent seat as in a cathedral body; but a modern college chapel, containing almost exclusively a large passing congregation of undergraduates, presents conditions much more like that of an ordinary church, and alike for purposes of worship and of preaching it seemed better that the whole body should face eastward in the usual manner. It should also be mentioned that the chapel has not been formally consecrated, it being a question whether such consecration might not limit the powers conferred upon the Council by the Charter.

The Hall and Library were formally opened in 1878, Mr. Gladstone being among the speakers on the occasion. Since then the Hall has been enriched with a beautiful oil painting of the Rev. J. Keble, painted by G. Richmond after Mr. Keble’s death from a crayon drawing which he had made in his lifetime; by portraits of Archbishop Longley, who laid the foundation stone of the College; of Dr. Shirley, Chairman of the Committee on whose report the College was based; of Earl Beauchamp, the senior member of the Council, from the first one of the most strenuous and munificent friends of the College; of the Rev. E. S. Talbot, the first Warden (1870-1888); of W. Gibbs, Esq., the donor of the Chapel; and of J. A. Shaw Stewart, Esq., the treasurer of the original Memorial Fund and resident Bursar of the College (1876-1880). To these is to be added soon a portrait of Dr. Liddon, member of the Council (1870-1890), and of the Rev. Aubrey L. Moore, Tutor (1881-1890). In addition to these, all of which are connected with the College history, Earl Beauchamp has presented a portrait of Archbishop Laud.

In the Library the nucleus of the collection was formed by the gift of the majority of Mr. Keble’s own books and many of his MSS., presented mainly by his brother, partly also by his nephew. Among these are the original drafts of the Lyra Innocentium and many of the Miscellaneous Poems (written on stray scraps of paper or on backs of envelopes), of the Eucharistical Adoration, the sermons on Baptism, and the translation of St. Irenæus; and, most interesting of all, a fair copy made by himself of the greater part of the Christian Year, written in an exquisitely clear and delicate hand in seven small note-books. Other relics of Mr. Keble, including his study-table and the candelabrum presented to him by his pupils on leaving Oxford, are preserved in the common room. The Library has also received large donations or legacies of books from Cardinal Newman, Archbishop Trench, Lord Richard Cavendish, Miss Yonge, &c. Quite recently there has been added to it Dr. Liddon’s library, rich especially in historical, liturgical, and theological books, and containing also an excellent collection of Dante literature. Mr. Holman Hunt’s picture, The Light of the World, presented by Mrs. Combe of the University Press, at present hangs in the Library, though it will probably be ultimately transferred to the chapel.

Of the history of the internal working of the College there is little to say. From the opening till the present its rooms have always been full; and clear proof has thus been given of the reality of the demand for University extension on such a plan. The annual charge to each undergraduate is £82 a year, which includes tuition, board, and rent of furnished rooms; groceries, wines, &c. have been supplied from the College stores; and a special common room is open to undergraduates, serving both for entertainment and as a reading-room. Two of those who have worked as tutors in the College have already been raised to the Episcopate—Dr. Mylne, the Senior Tutor in the first years of the College, now Bishop of Bombay, and Dr. Jayne, now Bishop of Chester.

In academical distinction the College has quite held its own with many of the older Colleges, and has specially gained distinction in the Honour Schools of Theology, Modern History, and Natural Science. Several private benefactions, notably those of Miss Wilbraham (1872), Mrs. William Gibbs (1875), A. J. Balfour, Esq., M.P. (1875), Lady Gomm (1878), Miss Chafyn Grove (1879), H. O. Wakeman, Esq. (1882), and a subscription raised to found a “Caroline Talbot” Scholarship in memory of the first Warden’s mother, have enabled the College to offer several scholarships for open competition to members of the Church of England, or to aid those who are already members of the College to complete their career. There are also special prizes to encourage the study of theology, such as the Wills and Phillpott’s prizes for undergraduates, the Liddon prize, and the “Edward Talbot” studentship, founded to commemorate the services of the first Warden, for graduates; but these are all the endowments that the College has, and they are not sufficient to enable it to compete on equal terms with the other colleges in the offer of scholarships.

The College has also received many advowsons, and is likely to do useful service to the Church of England as patron of livings.