Somerville College was founded in 1879 to include the excluded. Named in honour of the pioneering Scottish mathematician and scientist Mary Somerville, we have a unique history of welcoming women and people of diverse faiths to Oxford when societal conventions barred their entry. Over the past 150 years, our uncompromising intellectual spirit has helped shape the careers of many leading figures in UK intellectual and public life, including author and peace activist Vera Brittain, the first female prime minister of the UK Margaret Thatcher, the novelist Iris Murdoch and the only British woman to win a Nobel Prize in Science, Dorothy Hodgkin.   

At its foundation, Somerville had only 12 students who attended lectures in a room above a baker’s shop. The institution’s student body and physical footprint grew rapidly, especially after the successful campaign to allow women to become full members of the University in 1920, led by women such as Dame Emily Penrose, Somerville’s Principal from 1907-1926. Now a mixed institution and one of the UK’s first Colleges of Sanctuary, we remain at the forefront of Oxford University’s work on inclusivity and empowerment, with our students regarding ‘The Ville’ as one of Oxford’s friendliest Colleges.