Regents Park College (known colloquially within the university as Regents) is a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford, situated in central Oxford, just off St Giles.
Founded in 1810, the college moved to its present site in 1927, and became a licensed hall of the university in 1957. The college now admits both undergraduate and graduate students to take Oxford degrees in a variety of arts, humanities and social science subjects. It is one of the few academic institutions within the University of Oxford to have accepted women as well as men since before the mid-twentieth century, with women attending the college since the 1920s. The college also trains men and women for ordained ministry among Baptist churches in Great Britain and overseas.
Regents Park College traces its roots to the formation of the London Baptist Education Society in 1752. This venture led to the development of the Baptist College, Stepney, a dissenting academy in the East End of London, in 1810. The impetus for the creation of the college arose from the fact that only members of the Church of England were given places at ancient universities. There were only three students in 1810, but by 1850 the number had risen to 26.
In 1849, Joseph Angus (Principal 1849–1893) became principal at just 33 years old. At the beginning of his time as principal, Angus admitted a small number of lay students to the college. His belief was that it would benefit the ministerial students to have contact with them, as well as bringing much-needed finances to the college. After sites in Gordon Square and Primrose Hill were considered, Angus decided on 12 December 1855 to relocate the college to Holford House in the rural environs of Regents Park and to change its name to Regents Park College. Holford House was a private dwelling built in the classical Georgian style on crown land. Students were able to read for university degrees in the arts and law, as well as training for Christian ministry.
After many long ties with University College London, which date back to 1856, the college became an official divinity school of the University of London in 1901. In 1920, G. P. Gould (1896–1920) passed the role of principal on to H. Wheeler Robinson, who would hold the post until 1942. Wheeler Robinson was educated at Regents Park College for one session; he then went to Edinburgh University and finally to Mansfield College, Oxford. Wheeler Robinson believed that Oxford was a more congenial setting than London for a college. This belief, coupled with the lure of the advantages of the tutorial system and the fact that the Baptist Church remained the only free church denomination without a college in one of the ancient universities, led Wheeler Robinson to decide to relocate the college to Oxford.
In 1927, the main portion of the site was purchased and the buildings, including various farm buildings and two wells in Pusey Street were secured shortly afterwards from St Johns College. The college appointed T Harold Hughes (1897–1949) as the architect for the site. Hughes was responsible for much extension and restoration work in Oxford, including Exeter College, Hertford College and Corpus Christi College. The first four students arrived in 1928. At this time, many of the classes were held at Mansfield College and other lectures were held at various other colleges. However, as early as 1924, Wheeler Robinson started to promote his plans for a new building scheme on the Oxford site to former students. Between 1935 and 1938, he and E. A. Payne spoke a various meetings and raised £20,000 of the £50,000 needed for the project. The foundation stones for Helwys Hall were laid on 21 July 1938, by representatives from the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, the Particular Baptist Fund, and the Baptist Missionary Society. Stones were also laid in memory of Angus and Gould, former principals of the college.
Main Block, consisting of 16 study bedrooms, Helwys Hall, the College Library, the Senior Common Room and part of the building on Pusey Street, were constructed from 1938 to 1940. However, the outbreak of the Second World War along with a lack of funds meant that the ambitious plans for the completion of the quadrangle had to be put on hold.
In 1957, Regents Park College became a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. During this period, the college once again started to accept non-ministerial undergraduates and new buildings on Pusey Street were erected to accommodate the colleges growing size, thus completing the quadrangle. Since then, the student body has grown to include around 110 undergraduate students and 50 graduates, as well as ministerial students. The Balding student accommodation block was built in 1960, and a large window was fitted in a three-storey high wall overlooking Balding Quadrangle behind the main quadrangle – allegedly the largest single pane of glass in Europe. In 1977, the Angus student accommodation block was built thus providing Balding Quadrangle with an extra side. Extra accommodation was built in Wheeler Robinson House in 1988. When Greyfriars closed in 2008 (having been a permanent private hall since 1958), the remaining 30 students joined Regents Park College.
Regents Park College is located just off St Giles in the heart of Oxford, near St Cross College and St Johns College. The site is based around a large neoclassical quadrangle (as seen in the adjacent picture). The quadrangle is well known for the extensive Virginia creeper which covers most of the buildings. On the south side of the quad is the college entrance and lodge. On the west side is the Hall, with two Ionic columns flanking the main entrance to the room. The names Thomas Helwys and William Carey are carved on either side of the glass door leading into the Hall. Thomas Helwys was a religious refugee in Holland and returned to England to start the first Baptist church. William Carey was a missionary to India and inspired the foundation of the Baptist Missionary Society in 1792.
The college also owns seventeenth- and eighteenth-century houses which face out onto St. Giles as well as more recent developments, such as Wheeler Robinson House, which is used for third year accommodation, and Gould House and Angus House, both of which are used either for undergraduates or tutors. All undergraduate accommodation is on-site, or less than a three-minute walk away from the main college buildings. The college also makes use of some central University accommodation provisions for postgraduates, notably the Castle Mill development in North Oxford and some houses in Wellington Square.
Helwys Hall, known affectionately by some in the undergraduate community as Hell Hall or, more rarely, Hell Hole, is an imposing room with a very high ceiling clad in Canadian pine. Above the High Table there is a symbolic representation of the main emphases of Baptist life and faith designed by H. Wheeler Robinson (principal 1920–1942). Helwys Hall is home to a series of portraits which, taken together, present a brief history of the college. Most of the former principals portraits are displayed including a recent portrait of Professor Paul Fiddes. There are also portraits of Joshua Marshman, Hannah Marshman, William Carey, and Willam Ward who were all missionaries to India and Andrew Fuller who was a missionary and first secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society. Helwys Hall was completely renovated in 2009 with a gift to the colleges Annual Fund from an anonymous donor.
The Junior Common RoomThe JCR is a large oak panelled room which is adorned with the pictures of Regents many sports teams. The room also has a JCR presidents board with the name of every JCR President and a board recording all Regents students who have received a Blue from the university. When heads of houses and bursars made a recent inspection of all the Junior Common Rooms in Oxford it was agreed that Regents recently refurbished, wood-panelled common room is one of the finest.
The Senior Common RoomThe Senior Common Room (SCR), which is used by academic and administrative staff, was provided by a gift from the nieces and nephews of George Pearce Gould (principal 1896–1920). One of the striking features of the room is the portrait of Gould which hangs over an Adams brothers mantelpiece. Facing Gould is a portrait of William Kiffin which dates back to 1667. The SCR was refurbished in 2008 using gifts to the colleges Annual Fund from the American Friends of Regents Park College.
The College Library is on the third floor of the college above Helwys Hall, and houses many key works relating to theology, as well as many works on history, geography and politics. It is furnished with dark wood and contains graduate study rooms as well as a number of computers.
In the library there is a semi-circular window with sixteen panels, on which is etched a map of the world with many interesting symbols and emblems. The window came from the Glasgow Empire Exhibition of 1937 and is a fine example of modern glass work. The library contains portraits of both William Carey and John Bunyan, and outside it hangs a portrait of Henry Havelock.
The Angus Library and Archive is a scholarship library holding many volumes and documents which are critical to the understanding of Baptist history and culture, many of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The core of the collection was left to the college by Joseph Angus who was principal from 1849 to 1893. The Angus now comprises over 70,000 printed books, pamphlets, journals, church and association records, church histories, manuscript letters and other artefacts from the late fifteenth century to the present day. The collection relates to the life and history of Baptists in Britain and the wider world. Alongside this unique insight into Baptist and nonconformist history there is a considerable amount of material from non-Baptist sources relating to issues and controversies in which Baptists were involved.
The Angus Library and Archive is used by international scholars researching Baptist history, the history of dissent in the UK, the social history of foreign missions and linguistics. It is also used by members of the public researching, among other things, the history of their families or local communities. Each year there are in the region of 1000 requests for information from outside the University of Oxford. The people involved in research come from a variety of countries including the US, Australia, China, India, the Caribbean and Europe.
Students are admitted and matriculated according to the same admissions procedures as the other colleges and halls of the University of Oxford. The college specialises in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Students are provided with accommodation in the first and final years of study. In the first year, this usually takes the form of a study bedroom, whereas in the third year students tend to live on site in flats in either Wheeler Robinson House, the Gould Building or the Angus Building.
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