Portal:University of Oxford/Selected college/17

Mansfield College, to the north-east of the city centre near the University Parks, is one of the smaller colleges, with about 210 undergraduates and 80 postgraduates. It was originally founded in 1838 as "Spring Hill College" in Birmingham, as a college for non-conformist students; at that time, only members of the Church of England could obtain degrees at the universities. The Universities Tests Act 1871 abolished religious tests for non-theological degrees at Oxford. Spring Hill moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed in honour of two donors, George and Elizabeth Mansfield. Women were first admitted in 1913. It became a Permanent Private Hall in 1955 and acquired full college status in 1995; its non-conformist aspects have gradually diminished but still remain in the chapel, where services are conducted in that tradition. The principal is the lawyer Helena Kennedy, a former chair of the Human Genetics Commission. Former students include the theologians G. B. Caird and C. H. Dodd, the journalist Stephen Pollard and the German resistance member Adam von Trott zu Solz, executed for his part in the plot to kill Hitler. (Full article...)