Balliol College, Oxford

“ His hard reading was crowned in December, 1914, by a considerable achievement, for he won the coveted Brakenbury Scholarship in History and Modern Languages at Balliol College, Oxford. This scholarship, worth £80 per annum, is tenable for four years; to it subsequently Dulwich College added an exhibition of the annual value of £20. He was the first Balliol scholar in history from Dulwich. Not at all confident that he had won the Brakenbury, he went up to Oxford a second time, while the result of the Balliol examination was still unknown, to try for a less exacting scholarship. ”

“ He was educated successively at a private school at Reading, at University College School, London, at the Normal College, Swansea, at University College, London, and finally at Balliol College, Oxford (1876-81) . He had a distinguished university career. At London he was first in honours at matriculation, graduated B.Sc. with honours, and became university scholar in geology, being elected fellow of University College. ”

“ Raper passed to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1861, but in his first term was elected to a scholarship at Trinity College, where in 1862 he obtained the university prizes for Greek and Latin verse and a first class in moderations, and in 1865 a first class in literae humaniores and a fellowship at Queen's College. ”

“ Educated at Cheltenham and Balliol College, Oxford, he became fellow and lecturer of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1859 and rector of the college in 1884. A witty and fluent speaker both in Latin and in English, he acquired a great reputation as public orator to the university, a post he held from 1880 down to the time of his death. ”

“ Under the Balliol statutes no one could be made master who was not already a fellow; and, though the condition might be literally fulfilled by electing an outsider successively fellow and master, this supposition seems to be more hazardous than to accept the statement that Balliol was originally Wyclif's college. But there is no record, so far as is known, of the date when he came into residence, either at Oxford or at Balliol. ”

“ It was soon apparent that Balliol tutors had the knack of equipping men to face the ordeal of "the Schools"; the College speedily came to the front, and its intellectual pre-eminence in Oxford during the nineteenth century is now universally admitted. Men trained at Balliol during this period occupied and still occupy some of the very highest positions in the State. ”

“ At the end of the session he gained the Cowan gold medal in the Blackstone Latin examination, and he also specially distinguished himself in the Greek, mathematics and logic classes. Having been elected in 1850 to a Snell exhibition, he proceeded to Balliol College, Oxford. Here, contrary to the expectations of his tutors, who had the poorest opinions of his chances, he, in 1853, obtained a first class both in classical and mathematical moderations (a record for Balliol College) ; but, owing to ill-health and other causes, only a second in the final schools. ”

“ BALLIOL COLLEGE THIS College was originated about 1260 by John de Balliol, a baron of Durham, whose son for four years occupied the throne of Scotland. But inasmuch as John de Balliol only made provision for four students, and that as penance for an outrage, the greater credit attaches to his wife Dervorguilla, who endowed a dozen more and hired them a lodging close to St. Mary Magdalen Church, on the site where part of the present College stands. Devorguilla gave her scholars their first statutes in 1282. She bade them live temperately, and converse with one another in the Latin tongue. ”

“ Scott of Greek dictionary fame, and Professor Jowett, the translator of Plato and the hero of more Oxford stories than any other man, it has been ready to adapt itself to every new movement. While the governing bodies of other colleges in the middle of the last century were too often looking only to raising their own fellowships to the highest possible point, the Balliol dons were denying their own pockets to enrich and strengthen their college. ”

“ Christ Church and Queen's College are the most modern, and, I think, indisputably the best built of all the colleges. Balliol College seems particularly to be distinguished on account of its antiquity, and its complete Gothic style of building.
Mr. Maud told me that a good deal of money might be sometimes earned by preaching at Oxford; for all the members of a certain standing are obliged in their turn to preach in the church of the university; but many of them, when it comes to their turn, prefer the procuring a substitute ”

“ On 9 June 1832 he matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, but became a demy of Magdalen College in the same year, and in 1847 was elected fellow of his college. In 1835 he was placed in the first class in mathematics and in the second in literæ humaniores. ”

“ The manners of the undergraduates were not much better than those of the pot-house-haunting seniors. Dr. Good, the Master of Balliol, ‘a good old toast,’ had much trouble with his students.
‘There is, over against Balliol College, a dingy, horrid, scandalous ale-house, fit for none but draymen and tinkers, and such as, by going there, have made themselves equally scandalous. Here the Balliol men continually, and by perpetuall bubbing, add art to their natural stupidity, to make themselves perfect sots.’
The envy and jealousy of the inferior colleges, alas! ”

“ He matriculated at Oxford from Balliol College in 1837, but left the university on receiving in 1839 a nomination for the East India Company’s civil service, and was completing his course of training at Haileybury when the entreaties of his mother, who had lost a son in India, prevailed upon him to relinquish his nomination and return to Oxford. As Balliol was full, he entered University College and, devoting himself to the study of Sanskrit, he gained the Boden scholarship in 1843. ”

“ I shall not be sorry to go to Oxford now, for I find Stanley and Lake like it very much; and I dare say Dr. Arnold will be a bishop before long. I only hope it may not be just yet. I must, however, do my best to go there as I wish, viz. with a Balliol scholarship; and that not only for the honour’s sake, though the honour is the greatest part of it, but for the 30l. per annum which, with an exhibition, will, I trust, all but pay my way at Oxford, as Balliol is 20l. or 30l. cheaper than any other college, I understand. ”

“ In October 1855 he entered Balliol College, Oxford, as a pupil of Mr. Jowett. He obtained only a second class in moderations, but in 1859 was in the first class in literæ humaniores afterwards obtaining a third class in the school of law and modern history. In 1860 he became a lecturer upon ancient and modern history in Balliol during the absence of Mr. ”

“ To live at one of them would be more expensive than to put up with the rough lodging and fare of a "chamber dekyn," or to enter at the average hall; and it is reasonable to suppose that a student at Balliol or Merton, unless he came to Oxford at the charges of a wealthy patron, must have belonged to a fairly prosperous family. according to an undisturbed tradition, John Wyclif was a scholar at Balliol, either as soon as he came up or after preliminary training at a grammar school. He afterwards became fellow and master of the college. ”

“ An incident in the life of Bathurst may excite a smile. No college in Oxford suffered more severely in the Civil Wars than Balliol. After the Restoration, Trinity, which had been more fortunate, soon recovered itself, but the blackened walls of Balliol remained for years a picture of desolation, and a sad memento of the fury of factious animosity. ”

“ Jihn's, and the master of Balliol— with a view to the education at some collee or hall in Oxford University of scholars from his own college of Glasgow, to which his letters and benefactions show him to have been warmly attached. By decree of the court of chancery in 1693, it was appointed that the scholars should go to Balliol College. A provision in the will that they should enter into holy orders and return to Scotland for preferment has several times given rise to litigation. ”

“ Oxford has now 21 colleges, among which are Balliol, Christ Church, Magdalen, Oriel, Trinity, and University College; 64 professors and teachers, and 3000 students. It is rich in museums and libraries; the Bodleian Library is of great value, the Taylor Library is devoted to modern literature. The Oxford or Tractarian Movement, one of the most remarkable religious impulses of modern times, had its centre in the University between 1834 and 1845. Among distinguished Oxford alumni were Hooker, Jeremy Taylor, Wesley, Newman ”

“ The founder was a Cumberland man, and his college attracted a neighbour or a man who spoke with his accent or had the same traditions to become one of the fellows, equal in number with Christ and His apostles. Before and after the beginning of colleges, men from the same district made a small “new Scotland” or “new France” in Oxford streets. Thus the scholars of St. George’s and Oriel were for some time largely Welsh; at Balliol and University College there were many northerners. At all times these divisions were emphasised by conflicts with tongue and arrow and sword. ”

“ B.A. 1804, M.A. 1806, B.D. and D.D. 1819, master of the schools 1809, public examiner 1811–12, vice [81] chancellor 1824–28; V. of Evercreech, Somerset 1822–40; preb. of Wells cath. 1824–45; R. of Dinder, Somerset 1824–46; dean of Wells 4 June 1845 to death; one of the 6 doctors who condemned Pusey’s sermon in 1843; founder of the modern greatness of Balliol college. d. Balliol college, Oxford 6 March 1854. bur. Wells 13 March; by his will founded 2 exhibitions of £100 at Balliol. G.M. xli 425–6 (1854) ; G. V. Cox’s Recollections of Oxford 2 ed. (1870) 209–11; The Month, Jany. 1866 pp. 50–9. ”

“ Educated at Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford, after a brilliant university career he was elected fellow of Balliol, where he was tutor from 1835 to 1840. After holding successively the college livings of Duloe and South Luffenham, in 1854 he was elected master of Balliol. This office he held, together (from 1861) with that of the professorship of the exegesis of Holy Scriptures, down to 1870, when he accepted the deanery of Rochester. As master of Balliol he kept the college up to the high level it had attained under his predecessor Dr Jenkyns. ”

“ During his career in Glasgow Tait came to the resolution to enter the ministry of the church of England. Owing to his father’s pecuniary difficulties, he competed in 1829 for a Snell exhibition to Balliol College at Oxford. He was successful and matriculated from Balliol on 29 Jan. 1830, and went into residence in October. In November he gained one of the Balliol scholarships. In the same month he was confirmed by Bishop Bagot.
His tutor at Balliol was George Moberly (afterwards headmaster of Winchester and bishop of Salisbury) . ”

“ Not much is known of his early days except that he went to school and to Oxford University. In time he became one of the most learned men of his day, and was made Head, or Master, of Balliol College.
This is the first time in this book that we have heard of a university. The monasteries had, until now, been the centers of learning. But now the two great universities of Oxford and Cambridge were taking their place. Men no longer went to the monasteries to learn, but to the universities; and this was one reason, perhaps, why the land had become filled with so many idle monks. ”

“ It is nine years since four or five Oxford undergraduates chose to spend part of their vacation in East London, working as Charity Organization Agents, becoming members of clubs, and teaching in classes or schools. It is long since a well-known 97Oxford man said, “The great work of our time is to connect centres of learning with centres of industry”. Freshmen have become fellows, since the Master of Balliol recommended his hearers, at a small meeting in the College Hall, to “find their friends among the poor”. ”

“ Some of the college halls preserved their old central fireplaces, under a louvre, until early in the last century. While the fellows dined, a servitor stood there, and read aloud from the Bible, in the first days of the college; or, as at Trinity in 1792, recited a passage from Homer or Virgil or Milton. Southey records it as a rule, that every member of the University could go by right once a year to Balliol hall, and “be treated with bread and cheese and beer, and all on condition that, when called upon, he should either sing a song or tell a story.” ”

“ In the first bay of the wall, seen through the palisade fence, is the old Ashmolean Museum, and farther on is a glimpse of Exeter College. The spire is that of the College Chapel.
By the large tree standing near the Church of St. Mary Magdalen are the buildings of Balliol College, and nearer to the spectator is the entrance to Trinity College and Kettle Hall.
Some of the houses to the right of the picture are fair specimens of eighteenth-century domestic architecture.
Two or three bicycles are shown, and the time is early noon. ”

“ In the unconscious preparation for such a place William of Durham was the first to leave money; the founders of Balliol the first to gather a number of scholars under one roof, with a corporate life, and as we may assume, a set of customary, unwritten laws; but Walter de Merton was the first to endow and provide with tenements and statutes a college, in all important respects, like a college of to-day,—a place even at that time standing in a genial avuncular relationship towards [Pg 92] the students, which was rich in influence and the making of endearing tradition. ”

“ We have seen how the foundation of Merton, and therefore of Exeter and Oriel, was directly due to the coming of the friars. And it is to their influence that yet another great and once beautiful college, beautiful no longer, but greater now and more famous than ever by virtue of the services in politics and letters of its successful alumni, owes its origin. For it was under the guidance of a Franciscan friar, one Richard de Slikeburne, that the widow of Sir John de Balliol carried out her husband’s intention of placing upon a thoroughly organised footing his house for poor scholars. ”