{{short description|Former hall of the University of Oxford}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} <!-- Infobox begins --> {{Infobox residential college | university = University of Oxford | name =St Alban Hall | photo = Aula S. Albani, David Loggan.jpeg | image_size = 270px | caption = St Alban Hall in 1675, by David Loggan | scarf = | full_name = | latin_name = Aula Sancti Albani<ref>William Upcott, ''A Bibliographical Account of the Principal Works Relating to English Topography'', Vol. 3 (London: Richard and Arthur Taylor, 1818), [https://books.google.com/books?id=y7AuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1108 p. 1108]</ref> | motto = | named_for = Robert of Saint Alban | previous_names = | established =c. 1230 | closed = 1882 (incorporated into Merton College) | sister_college = | principal = See below | undergraduates = | graduates = | location = Merton Street | coordinates = {{coord|51.7512|-1.2513|display=inline,title}} | location_map = Oxford (central) | grace = | shield = }}
'''St Alban Hall''', sometimes known as '''St Alban's Hall''' or '''Stubbins''',<ref>''The Cambridge Review'', Vol. 4 (Cambridge: Elijah Johnson, 1882–1883), [https://books.google.com/books?id=4b8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA43 p. 43]</ref> was one of the medieval halls of the University of Oxford, and one of the longest-surviving. It was established in the 13th century, acquired by neighbouring Merton College in the 16th century but operated separately until the institutions merged in the late 19th century. The site in Merton Street, Oxford, is now occupied by Merton's Edwardian St Alban's Quad.
==History== St Alban Hall took its name from Robert of Saint Alban, a citizen of Oxford, who conveyed the property to the priory of nuns at Littlemore, near Oxford, about the year 1230.<ref name=supplement/> thumb|150px|Cardinal Wolsey In February 1525, on the recommendation of Thomas Wolsey, Lord Chancellor, as a result of the Littlemore Priory scandals, the priory was dissolved.<ref>William Henry Page, “The priory of Littlemore” in ''A History of the County of Oxford'', vol. 2: Ecclesiastical History (Victoria County History / Archibald Constable & Co., 1907), [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol2/pp75-77 pp. 75–77]</ref> Its lands and houses in Oxford passed to Wolsey for the use of his new Cardinal College.<ref>J. A. F. Thomson, ''The Early Tudor Church and Society 1485–1529'' (Routledge, 1993 {{ISBN|978-0-58206-377-8}}), p. 231</ref> When Wolsey fell from power in 1529, Littlemore Priory, along with the rest of his wealth and estates, escheated to the Crown.<ref>Ralph Pugh, "Sandford on Thames" in ''A History of the County of Oxford'', vol. 5 (London: Victoria County History, 1957) [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol5/pp267-275 p. 270]</ref> Henry VIII then granted St Alban Hall to George Owen, D.M., who was both the king's physician and a Fellow of Merton College. Owen conveyed it to Sir John Williams, later Lord Williams of Thame, and Sir John Gresham. By permission of Edward VI, in 1547 they transferred the Hall to John Pollard and Robert Perrot, Esquires, who sold it to the Warden and Fellows of Merton College.<ref name=supplement>"The historical register of the University of Oxford: being a supplement to the Oxford University calendar, with an alphabetical record of University honours and distinctions completed to the end of Trinity term 1888", pp. 214–215</ref>
St Alban Hall continued for another three centuries as a separate hall with its own students and principal.<ref name=Merton>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101029190910/http://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/aboutmerton/library4.shtml St Alban Hall, Library & Archives], from Merton College web site, archived 29 October 2010 at Archive.org</ref> It was governed by the university's statutes for Academical Halls, and its principal was chosen by the chancellor of the university.<ref>John Henry Parker, ''A Hand-book for Visitors to Oxford'' (Oxford: James Parker, 1875), [https://books.google.com/books?id=z6ULAQAAIAAJ&pg=PR3 p. iii]</ref>
thumb|right|St Alban Hall in 1832 thumb|right|A view of the Hall in 1837
Chancellor Grenville appointed Richard Whately as principal in 1825, in an attempt to raise standards there.<ref>Mark C. Curthoys, ''Nineteenth-century Oxford'', Part 1 (Clarendon Press, 1997), [https://books.google.com/books?id=3bDAWHbXgi4C&pg=PA148 p. 148]</ref> John Henry Newman was Whately's vice-principal from 1825 to 1826,<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Newman, John Henry |volume= 19 | pages = 517-520 |last1= Hutton |first1= Arthur Wollaston}}</ref> and Samuel Hinds from 1827 to 1831.
As later recalled by Dr Henry Robinson, in the mid-1830s there was only one undergraduate, John Robert Tennant,<ref>{{alox2|title=Tennant, John Robert (1)}}</ref> who was known as "the solitary tenant of Alban Hall".<ref name=HR>Henry Robinson, DD, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mzYZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA191 "St Alban Hall, Oxford"] in ''London Society'', January 1887, reprinted in Volume 51, London: F. V. White & Co., 1887, pp. 191–198</ref> There were seven members when Robinson arrived in 1838, rising to twelve by the time he came down. The only tutor was the vice-principal, while the principal, Edward Cardwell, was a university lecturer on divinity. Those aiming for an honours degree took a private tutor, of whom Bob Lowe of Magdalen was the most popular. The Hall then had four servants, a cook, a manciple, a porter, and a boy. Robinson had found St Alban Hall "rather an expensive place, the number being so few, and there was no endowment."<ref name=HR/>
The last principal, William Salter, was appointed in 1861 and resigned in 1882. In 1877 Prime Minister Disraeli appointed commissioners under Lord Selborne and later Mountague Bernard to consider and implement reform of the university and its colleges.<ref name="Brockliss 1">L. W. B. Brockliss, ''The University of Oxford: A History'' (Oxford University Press, 2016), [https://books.google.com/books?id=iMDmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA365 p. 364–365]</ref> The commissioners came to the view that the four remaining medieval halls were not viable and should merge with colleges.<ref name="Brockliss 2">Brockliss (2016), [https://books.google.com/books?id=iMDmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA370 pp. 370–371]</ref> In 1881, the commissioners made a University Statute which provided for St Alban Hall to be united with Merton College in the event of Principal Salter's resignation or death.<ref name=supplement/> The Hall then had eighteen members in residence, who were admitted to Merton.<ref name=Merton/> In 1887, a similar Statute extinguished New Inn Hall and combined it with Balliol College, on the death of Henry Hubert Cornish.<ref>"The historical register of the University of Oxford: being a supplement to the Oxford University calendar, with an alphabetical record of University honours and distinctions completed to the end of Trinity term 1888", p. 213</ref> In the event, of the halls only St Edmund Hall would avoid merger.<ref name="Brockliss 2"/>
Henry Robinson cast some of the blame for the end of the Hall on Lord Salisbury, the university's chancellor: {{Blockquote|"St Alban Hall is destroyed because it has no friends. No one is interested in it except the principal, and he has been pensioned off... I am sure its extinction was not called for, but there was no one to speak up for it. The Chancellor of the University is the Visitor of all the halls, and he holds his place in trust for his successor."<ref name=HR/>}}
Robinson died a few days after his article was published.<ref>{{alox2|title=Robinson, Henry (2)}}</ref>
== Buildings ==
St Alban Hall's buildings included a main quadrangle and a smaller court. The Merton Street front of the quad was rebuilt in 1600, funded by Benedict Barnham. The buildings were reconstructed again and a chapel added by John Gibbs from 1863, funded by Principal Salter.<ref>''Kelly's directory of Berkshire, Bucks and Oxon'' (Kelly's Directories Ltd, 1911), [https://books.google.com/books?id=qQFcAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA188 p. 188]</ref><ref>[https://manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk/index.php/architects/john-gibbs John Gibbs], Dictionary of Greater Manchester Architects (The Victorian Society), accessed 1 December 2020</ref> After 1882 the chapel was no longer needed and was secularized.<ref>Oxford Historical Society Publications, Vol. 22 (1892), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z7JEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA349 p. 349]</ref> Between 1904 and 1910 the buildings of the former hall were demolished, apart from part of their front elevation on Merton Street, and the St Alban's Quadrangle of Merton College built on the site.<ref>Nikolaus Pevsner and Jennifer Sherwood, ''The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire'' (Yale University Press, 1996), [https://books.google.com/books?id=F2QwMeMZO5wC&pg=PA164 p. 164]</ref>
thumb|Surviving front elevation on Merton Street
==Principals== {{See also|Category:Principals of St Alban Hall, Oxford}} A list of the principals of St Alban Hall.<ref name=supplement/> *1437: Roger Martin *1439: Robert Ashe *1444: John Gygur *1450: William Shyrefe *1452: William Romsey *1468–1477: Thomas Danett<ref>S. L. Ollard, ''Fasti Wyndesorienses'' (Windsor: Dean and Canons of St George's Chapel, 1950</ref> *1477: Richard FitzJames, later Bishop of London *Thomas Lynley *Robert Gosbourne *Ralph Hamsterley *1501: Hugh Saunders, alias Shakspeere *1503: John Forster *1507: John Beverstone *1507: William Bysse *1509: Richard Walker *1510: John Pokyswell *1514: John Hoper *Simon Balle *1527: Walter Buckler *1530: Robert Tailer *1532: William Pedyll *1535: Robert Huyck *1536: Richard Smyth, also first Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford *1539: Humphrey Burneford *1543: John Estwyck *1547: William Marshall *1567: Arthur Atye *Richard Radclyffe thumb|150px|Richard Zouch *1599: Robert Masters *1603: Henry Masters *1614: Anthony Morgan *1621: Richard Parker *1624: Edward Chaloner *1625–1661: Richard Zouch *1641: Sir Giles Sweit<ref>John Ayliffe, ''The Antient and Present State of the University of Oxford'', Volume 1, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hFtLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA509 p. 509]</ref> *1664–1673: Thomas Lamplugh<ref>Stuart Handley, "Lamplugh, Thomas (bap. 1615, d. 1691)" in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) online at doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15956 {{subscription required}}</ref> *1673–1679: Narcissus Marsh<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Marsh, Narcissus |volume= 17 | page = 769 |short=x}}</ref> *1679: Thomas Bouchier *1692: Richard Duckworth,<ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Duckworth, Richard | volume= 16 |last= Rigg |first= James McMullen |author-link= |page = 96 |short=1}}</ref> *1723: James Bouchier *1736: Robert Leyborne *1759: Francis Randolph thumb|150px|Richard Whately *1797–1823: Thomas Winstanley *1823–1825: Peter Elmsley *1825–1831: Richard Whately, later Archbishop of Dublin <ref name=HR/> *1831–1861: Edward Cardwell *1861–1882: William Charles Salter
==Notable alumni== {{See also|Category:Alumni of St Alban Hall, Oxford}} thumb|150px|Cuthbert Mayne *Cuthbert Mayne (c. 1543–1577), Roman Catholic priest executed in the time of Elizabeth I *Sir Thomas Gresham (died 1630), landowner and member of parliament<ref>{{alox1|title=Gresham, (Sir) Thomas}}</ref> *Robert Harcourt (died 1631), explorer<ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Harcourt, Robert | volume= 24 |last= Goodwin |first= Gordon |author-link= |page = 321 |short=1}}</ref> *Thomas Crompton (died 1608), a barrister and judge *Thomas Lawton (c. 1558–1606), a barrister and judge<ref>[http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/lawton-thomas-1558-1606 LAWTON, Thomas (c.1558-1606), of Church Lawton, Cheshire and Smithfield, London], History of Parliament Online, accessed 30 November 2020</ref> *John Penry (1563–1593), Welsh Protestant martyr<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Penry, John |volume= 21 | page = 117 |short=x}}</ref> *Matthew Slade (1569–1628), nonconformist minister *Gervase Clifton, 1st Baron Clifton (c. 1570–1618), landowner and peer *Edward Lapworth (1574–1636), physician and Latin poet *Philip Massinger (1583–1640), dramatist *William Lenthall (1591–1662), Speaker of the House of Commons,<ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Lenthall, William | volume= 33 |last= Firth |first= Charles |author-link= Charles Firth (historian) |pages = 55-60 |short=1}}</ref> *Samuel Turner (c. 1582–1647), Cavalier soldier *Sir Richard Browne, 1st Baronet, of Deptford (died 1683), English ambassador to France<ref>“Browne, (Sir) Richard”, in Joseph Foster, ''Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714'' (Oxford, 1891)</ref> *Richard Alleine (1610/11–1681), Puritan divine<ref>"Alleine, Theodosia (fl. 1654–1677), nonconformist writer", in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP, 2004) doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/67079</ref> *William Alleine (1614–1677), clergyman,<ref>{{Cite DNB |wstitle= Alleine, William | volume= 01 |last= Grosart |first= Alexander Balloch |author-link= Alexander Balloch Grosart |pages = 301-302 |short=1}}</ref> *Bartholomew Ashwood (1622–1680), puritan divine *John Durel (1625–1683), clergyman *Thomas Hancorne (1642–1731), clergyman *Francis Willis (1718–1807), physician *John Evans (1756–1846), Welsh surgeon and cartographer<ref>{{cite DWB|first=Frederick John |last=North |author-link=F. J. North|id=s-EVAN-JOH-1756 |title=Evans, John (1756–1846), surgeon |mode=cs2}}, accessed 29 November 2020</ref> *Stephen Reay (1782–1861), Laudian Professor of Arabic<ref>D. S. Margoliouth, revised by Elizabeth Baigent, “Reay, Stephen [pseud. Pileus Quadratus] (1782–1861)”, in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), online https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/23239</ref> *Nathaniel Dawes (1843–1910), Anglican bishop in Australia<ref>John Bayton, "Dawes, Nathaniel (1843–1910)" in Australian Dictionary of Biography (Melbourne University Press, 1966, ISSN 1833-7538)</ref> *Edward Smith (1854–1908), clergyman and first class cricketer
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links== *Henry Robinson, DD, [https://books.google.com/books?id=mzYZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA191 "St Alban Hall, Oxford"] in ''London Society'', January 1887, reprinted in Volume 51, London: F. V. White & Co., 1887, pp. 191–198
{{University of Oxford}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Alban Hall}} Category:St Alban Hall, Oxford Category:Former colleges and halls of the University of Oxford Category:1882 disestablishments in England Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1905 Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Oxfordshire