St. Mary Hall, Oxford

St Mary Hall was an academic hall of the University of Oxford associated with Oriel College since 1326, but which functioned independently from 1545 to 1902.

History
In 1320, Adam de Brome was appointed rector of the Church of St Mary the Virgin. Along with the appointment, he was given the rectory house, St Mary Hall, on the High Street. St Mary Hall was acquired by Oriel College in 1326. Bedel Hall, adjoining St Mary's to the south, was given by Bishop Carpenter of Worcester in 1455. These two halls, along with St Martin's Hall, served as annexes for Oriel College.

In the early 16th century, the St Dudley and Dudley exhibitioners were lodged in St Mary Hall and Bedel Hall, and around this time the two halls were united. St Mary Hall steadily developed into an independent entity, and in 1545, on the order the Visitor, Bishop Longland of Lincoln, the door between St Mary Hall and Oriel was blocked up. The Hall took on its own lecturers, and for a time, the numbers of St Mary's exceeded those of Oriel.

In 1552, there were 18 members excluding the principal. The Principals of St Mary Hall continued to be Fellows of Oriel until 1656. By 1875 its undergraduate body had risen to 60, a large number at that time.

The Hall was effectively the property of its Principal, who was also Vicar of St Mary's Church, and the last Principal, Drummond Percy Chase, who had been appointed in 1857, agreed with Oriel that on his death the Hall would revert to Oriel. It was not until his death in 1902 that the Hall was incorporated into Oriel College. Some remnants of the relationship still exist, in that the benefice of the Vicar of St Mary's Church carries dining rights at Oriel.

The present-day St Mary's Quad, or third quadrangle, of Oriel occupies three ranges of the former buildings of the Hall, while the Principal's house was demolished for the construction of the Rhodes Building, designed by Basil Champneys and completed in 1911.

Principals

 * Adam de Brome
 * 1546–1550 Morgan Phillips
 * 1556–1561: William Allen, later a Cardinal
 * 1656–1660 Thomas Cole
 * 1664–1689: Joseph Crowther (died 1689), also Chaplain to the Duke of York
 * 1689–1712: William Wyatt (died Nov. 1712)
 * 1712–1719: John Hudson
 * 1719–1764: William King
 * 1764–1801: Thomas Nowell
 * 1801–1815: Phineas Pett
 * 1815–1833: John Dean (born 1769, died 1833)
 * 1833–1848: Renn Dickson Hampden
 * 1848–1857: Philip Bliss (born 1787, died 1857)
 * 1857–1902: Drummond Percy Chase (born 1820, died 1902)

Notable former students

 * John Ball (Puritan), BA 1608
 * William Henry Charsley, Master of Charsley's Hall, Oxford
 * Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot, matriculated 1742
 * Brajendranath De, of the Indian Civil Service, matriculated 1875
 * Thomas Elyot (alleged)
 * Thomas Harriot, 16th-century astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator
 * Theodore Hook, matriculated but did not come into residence; author
 * Robert Hues, B.A. 1578
 * John Hunter, matriculated 1755
 * Sir Christopher Hatton, lord chancellor of England
 * Geoffrey Osbaldeston, High Court judge in Ireland, matriculated 1575
 * Robert Parsons, leading Jesuit priest
 * George Sandys (did not graduate)