A permanent private hall (PPH) in the University of Oxford is an educational institution within the university. There are four permanent private halls at Oxford, three of which admit undergraduates.[1] They were founded by different Christian denominations. PPHs principally differ from colleges in the sense that the latter are governed by the fellows of the college, whereas the governance of a PPH fully or partially rests with the corresponding Christian denomination.
Students at PPHs are members of the University of Oxford and have full access to the university's facilities and activities.
Regent's Park College is the largest PPH, and admits men and women of any age. Blackfriars Hall, and Wycliffe Hall were all male-only institutions historically, but both are now co-educational, training ordinands for their respective denominations, and also admitting students for a range of other courses of study. Campion Hall admits graduate students in Humanities and Social Science subjects, and occasionally in other disciplines.
See main article: Private halls of the University of Oxford. The Oxford University Act 1854 and the university statute De aulis privatis (On private Halls) of 1855, allowed any Master of Arts aged at least 28 years to open a private hall after obtaining a licence to do so.[2] The longest lived of the thirteen private halls was Charsley's Hall (1862–1891).[3] Notable masters of private halls included William Edward Addis[4] and George Butler.[5]
The Universities Tests Act 1871 opened all university degrees and positions to men who were not members of the Church of England (subject to safeguards for religious instruction and worship), which made it possible for Roman Catholics and Nonconformists to open private halls. These non-Anglican private halls included Clarke's Hall (now Campion Hall), opened by the Jesuit Order in 1896, and Hunter Blair's Hall (later St Benet's Hall) opened by the Benedictine Order in 1899.[6] [7]
In 1918 the university passed a statute to allow private halls which were not run for profit to become permanent private halls and the two halls took new names.[6]
In some cases, a PPH can be granted full collegiate status; recent examples include Mansfield College (became a full college in 1995) and Harris Manchester College (became a full college in 1996).
Greyfriars (1224; refounded 1910) closed in 2008.[8] St Benet's Hall started admitting women as graduates in 2014 and as undergraduates in 2016, but then closed in 2022. St Stephen's House ceased to be a permanent private hall in September 2023, but continued to be an Anglican theological college.[9]
| Name | Founded | PPH status since | Affiliation | Undergraduates | Graduates | Visiting students | Total students | Undergraduate degree subjects | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackfriars Hall (website) | 1221; refounded 1921 | 1994 | Roman Catholic (Dominican) | 4 | 39 | 9 | 52 | PPE, Philosophy and Theology, Theology | |
| Campion Hall (website) | 1896 | 1918 | Roman Catholic (Jesuit) | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9 | - | |
| Regent's Park College (website) | 1810 | 1957 | Baptist Union of Great Britain | 115 | 70 | 16 | 201 | Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, Classics, Classics and English, English, Geography, History, History and Politics, Law, Philosophy and Theology, PPE, Theology | |
| Wycliffe Hall (website) | 1877 | 1996 | Church of England (Evangelical) | 77 | 27 | 55 | 159 | Philosophy and Theology, Theology |
| Name | Founded | PPH status from | Affiliation | Current status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Peter's Hall | 1929 | 1929 | Church of England | Became a new foundation 1947, full college 1961 | |
| Mansfield College | 1886 | 1955 | Nonconformist (Congregational/United Reformed Church) | Became a full college 1995 | |
| Manchester College | 1889 | 1990 | Nonconformist (Unitarian) | Became a full college 1996 | |
| Greyfriars | 1224; refounded 1910 | 1957 | Roman Catholic (Franciscan) | Closed 2008 | |
| St Benet's Hall | 1897 | 1918 | Roman Catholic (Benedictine) | Closed 2022 | |
| St Stephen's House | 1876 | 2003 | Church of England (Anglo-Catholic) | Remains a theological college from 2023 |