Keble College

Keble College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall Road.

Keble was established in 1870, having been built as a monument to John Keble. John Keble had been a leading member of the Oxford Movement, which sought to stress the Catholic nature of the Church of England. Consequently, the College traditionally placed a considerable emphasis on theological teaching, although this has long since ceased to be the case. In the period after the second World War the trends were towards scientific courses (the major area devoted to science east of the University Museum influenced this) and eventually co-education for men and women from 1979 onwards. As originally constituted it was for men only and the fellows were mostly bachelors resident in the college.

It remains distinctive for its neo-gothic red-brick buildings designed by William Butterfield. The buildings are also notable for breaking from tradition by arranging rooms along corridors rather than around staircases.

Keble is one of the larger colleges, with 435 undergraduates and 226 graduate students.

History

The best-known of Keble's Victorian founders was Edward Pusey, after whom parts of the College are named. The College itself is named after John Keble, one of Pusey's colleagues in the Oxford Movement, who died four years before its foundation in 1870. It was decided immediately after Keble's funeral that his memorial would be a new Oxford college bearing his name. Two years later, in 1868, the foundation stone was laid by the Archbishop of Canterbury on St Mark's Day (April 25, John Keble's birthday). The college first opened in 1870, taking in thirty students, whilst the Chapel was opened on St Mark's Day 1876. Accordingly, the College continues to celebrate St Mark's Day each year.

William Butterfield, the original architect, produced a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic. The College is built of red, blue, and white bricks; the main structure is of red brick, with white and blue patterned banding.

On its construction, Keble was not widely admired within the University, particularly by the undergraduate population of nearby St John's College (from which Keble had purchased their land). A secret society was founded, entrance to which depended upon removing one brick from the College and presenting it to the society's elders. Some accounts specify that one of the commonest red bricks was necessary for ordinary membership, a rarer white brick for higher-level membership, and one of the rarest blue bricks for chairmanship. The hope was that eventually Keble would be completely demolished. As a result, there remains a healthy rivalry between St John's and Keble to this day.

An apocryphal story claims that a French visitor, on first sight of the college exclaimed C'est magnifique mais n'est pas la gare? ("It is magnificent but is it not the railway station?"). This is a play on Field Marshal Pierre Bosquet's memorable line, referring to the Charge of the Light Brigade, C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre ("It is magnificent, but it is not war").

Keble were champions of the ITV quiz show University Challenge in 1975 and 1987.

In 2005, Keble College featured in the national UK press when its bursar, Roger Boden, was found guilty of racial discrimination by an employment tribunal. An appeal was launched by the College and Mr Boden against the tribunal's judgement, resulting in a financial out-of-court settlement with the aggrieved employee.

Keble is mentioned in John Betjeman's poem "Myfanwy at Oxford", as well as in the writings of John Ruskin and John Cleese.

Ronald Reagan, former President of the United States of America (1981-89) was an Honorary Fellow of the College.