Queen's College, Oxford

The Queen's College, founded 1341, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Queen's is centrally situated on the High Street, and is renowned for its 18th-century architecture. The college had an estimated financial endowment of £131m as of 2006.

History
The college was founded during the 14th century by Robert de Eglesfield (d'Eglesfield), chaplain to Queen Philippa of Hainault (the wife of King Edward III of England); hence its name. Whilst the name of Queens' College, Cambridge is plural, the Oxford college is singular, and is written with the definite article. The college's coat of arms is that of the founder; it differs slightly from his family's coat of arms, which did not include the gold star on the breast of the first eagle. The current coat of arms was adopted by d'Eglesfield because he was unable to use his family's arms, being the younger son. The frontage was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, part of a substantial rebuilding in the 18th century during which the library was built. The mediaeval foundations, however, remain beneath the current 18th-century structure. Queen's is notable for the beautifully clean, classical lines of its buildings, unique among the largely gothic constructions that predominate amongst Oxford colleges.

The college has had a long association with the north of England, in part because of its founder; Eglesfield is a village in Cumberland. This connection was reinforced for many years until relatively recently by the large number of Hastings Scholarships given to men from 20 schools in Yorkshire, Westmorland and Cumberland. Graduate students from the universities of Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Sheffield, or York are still able to apply for Hastings Senior Scholarships. One of the most famous feasts of the College is the Boar's Head Gaudy, which originally was the Christmas Dinner for members of the College who were unable to return home to the north of England over the Christmas break between terms, but is now a feast for old members of the College on the Saturday before Christmas.

Library
The college has one of the best-stocked college libraries in Oxford. The current lending library consists of around 50,000 volumes. The Upper Library is considered one of the finest rooms in Oxford and has been a focal point for the College ever since its construction at the end of the 17th century. The Upper Library remains as a silent reading room for students and is virtually unique in this respect in the University. The open cloister below the Upper Library was enclosed in the 19th century to form the Lower Library, which now houses the bulk of the lending collection.

The college has one of the largest (around 100,000 volumes) and most diverse collections of rare books in Oxford.

College chapel
The chapel is noted for its Frobenius organ in the west gallery. It was installed in 1965, replacing a Rushworth and Dreaper organ from 1931. The earliest mention of an organ is 1826. The Chapel Choir has been described as "Oxford's finest mixed-voice choir".

The chapel has stood virtually unchanged since it was consecrated by the Archbishop of York in 1719.

The chapel has a significant place in College life. Holy Communion is celebrated every Sunday morning and at other times and is open to all communicant members of any Christian church or denomination. The Sunday evening service takes the traditional form of Choral Evensong, which is also held on Wednesday and Friday evenings during term. Morning and evening prayer is said daily, and at other times some like to use the stillness for their own prayer. Baptisms, confirmations, and weddings are also conducted for members or former members of the College.

Recent recordings by the Chapel Choir

 * 2008 - Caeli Porta - 17th-century sacred music from Lisbon & Granada
 * 2005 - Paradisi Portas - Music from 17th-Century Portugal
 * 2004 - Come, Holy Spirit - Music for Ascension, Pentecost & Trinity
 * 2001 - Christ Rising - Music for Holy Week and Easter
 * 1993 - Howells & Leighton - Sacred Choral Music

College life
Queen's is an active community performing strongly in intercollegiate sport competitions, having a variety of societies and, as one of the larger colleges, hosting triennial Commemoration balls. The 2004 ball was notable for the presence of Chesney Hawkes and his rendition of "The One and Only", while the 2007 ball coincided with the 666th anniversary of the college. Queen's is host to a number of dining, drinking and sports societies as well as some which are more academically orientated such as a medical society.

Sport
The College playing field, less than a mile from the main buildings (as the crow flies), runs down to the banks of the Isis: It has a football and a hockey pitch, together with hard tennis courts, a netball court and a pavilion. Queen's College shares a rugby pitch nearby with University College. In the summer the goal posts go down and a cricket square appears in the middle.

On the opposite bank of the river is a boathouse, shared with two other colleges. The College's two squash courts, located at the College's Cardo Building, are amongst the best in Oxford.

The College has a designated table tennis room in College for which a new table was purchased 5 years ago. The University clubs, free to any member of any college of the university, supports sports from golf, fencing, and boxing, to karate and hillwalking.

In the summer, cricket is played at the sports ground, and the cricket team have flourished recently, reaching the Cuppers final, and narrowly losing the league title last year.

The Queen's College competes strongly in most of the intercollegiate Cuppers (tournament style) and league sports with many first teams placed in the 1st division. In 2005 the 1st XI football team won the league competition and netball has been especially strong. The football team have in recent years struggled, although signs from this season show that they are well on their way to making a recovery towards the upper echelons of college football once again.

The College is notable for having one of the oldest boat clubs in the world, along with many other colleges. In 1837, The Queen's College Boat Club represented Oxford in the third Boat Race against Lady Margaret Boat Club, representing Cambridge, and won. This event, held on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames, is credited with leading to support from the town for the establishment of the Henley Royal Regatta, one of the most famous rowing events in the world, in 1839. The college's colors were changed thereafter from red and white to navy blue and white, the colors of the university. Rowing is still a major sport in the College, with the men placed 12th in Torpids and 14th in Eights and the women 4th in Torpids and 20th in Eights.

Music
The Queen's College is well known in and beyond Oxford for the quality and quantity of its musical activities. The mixed-voice Chapel Choir is conducted by the Organist and Praelector in Music, Dr. Owen Rees, a noted scholar of Iberian polyphony, and occasional services are conducted by the Organ Scholars, Benedict Lewis-Smith and Matthew Burgess. The singers include Choral Scholars (up to eighteen at any one time) and volunteers, all of whom are auditioned. The Choir sings Evensong three times a week during term, and performs one major concert each term, often with a noted orchestral ensemble; most recently, the choir performed Bach's B Minor Mass with the London Handel Orchestra. The choir also undertakes regular tours and short visits both within this country and abroad. The Eglesfield Musical Society, named after the Founder (and the oldest musical society in Oxford), organizes a substantial series of concerts each year, ranging from chamber music to orchestral works. These concerts provide performing and conducting opportunities for the College's many musicians, as well as featuring visiting artists. There are weekly lunchtime organ recitals in College, including, during 2000, a series featuring the complete organ works of Bach, to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer's death.

Jazz and popular music also have regular adherents. Facilities for individual and group rehearsal are available in the Music Practice Room. In addition to the organ, the chapel contains a concert grand piano and harpsichord, and is acoustically one of the best chapels in Oxford for musical performance.

Academic issues
The college has been strong academically for many years. In 2005, 21 members of the college were awarded First Class B.A. degrees, 6 were awarded University Prizes and 17 were awarded D. Phil. degrees.

The college was ranked number seven in the 2008 Norrington Table.

The Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship, named after an Iranian student who died in the 2009 Iranian election protests, was established at Queen's in 2009.

Notable former students
Notable former students of the college include:
 * Tony Abbott, Leader of the Opposition in the Australian Parliament
 * Joseph Addison, co-founder of The Spectator
 * Rowan Atkinson, actor, known for Blackadder and Mr. Bean
 * Jeremy Bentham, English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer
 * Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web Consortium
 * Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey
 * Vere Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist
 * John Crewdson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times
 * Ernest Dowson, English poet and prose writer
 * Edmund Halley, English astronomer
 * King Henry V of England
 * Edwin Powell Hubble, American astronomer
 * The Rt Hon. Ruth Kelly MP
 * Kenneth Leighton twentieth-century English composer
 * Thomas Middleton, English Jacobean playwright and poet
 * John Owen, seventeenth-century English theologian
 * Walter Horatio Pater, English essayist
 * Oliver Sacks, neurologist and writer
 * John Wycliffe, English theologian
 * Thomas Davis, English hymn-writer
 * Adam Zamoyski, Historian
 * Mom Rajawongse Kukrit Pramoj, Thai prime minister