XL— BRASENOSE COLLEGE.
UIDED in some measure by historical associations extending over 250 years,
William Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) Richard
Sutton founded this College in 1509, as is recorded in a modern copy of
the original foundation stone which is placed over the entrance to the stair-
case in the south-west corner of the old quadrangle, bearing the following
inscription : —
" Anno Christi 1509 et Regis Henrici octavi primo | Nomine divino lincoln | presul quoque sutton. Hanc posu I ere petram regis ad imperium | primo die Iunii. " The College occupies the site of several ancient Halls, and took its name from Biasenose Hall which stood in the position now occupied by the old gateway of the College. The earliest record of the name of Brasenose is in an Inquisition of the year 1278 which contains these words : ' Item eadem Universitas habet quandam aliam domum quae vocatur Brasenose cum quatuor Scholis ' (i.e. lecture rooms). As to the origin of the name there has been much controversy, but it is now generally agreed that the most obvious derivation is the right one, and that the Hall was so called from a brazen nose forming the knocker or handle on its door. In the year 1334 there was a migration of students from Oxford to Stamford in Lincolnshire, and when Edward III. issued a mandate to compel them to return, a certain ' Philippus obsonator Eneanasensis' was one of the thirty seven recalcitrants who refused to obey the order. It may be inferred that among the students who found their way to Stamford were members of Brasenose Hall, and they probably gave the name of their Hall to a similar institution at Stamford. Certain it is that an ancient Hall existed there, from time immemorial called Brasenose, of which there still remains a fourteenth century archway, originally bearing a brazen nose. It is believed that this emblem was carried away from Oxford to Stamford by the migrating students of Brasenose Hall in 1334. In 1890 it became the property of the College by the purchase of the Stamford ' Brasenose,' and it is now placed in the College Dining Hall. Brasenose College grew out of Brasenose Hall, and this fact is recorded in the official title of the society, as given e.g. in the College statutes of 1522 : — ' The King's Haule and Colledge of Brasennose in Oxford.' The original foundation was for a Principal and twelve Fellows, who were all to be, if possible, natives of the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, with a preference for natives of Lancashire and Cheshire, and especially natives of Prescot in Lancashire [the birthplace of William Smyth], and Prestbury in Cheshire [the seat of the Sutton family and probably the birthplace of Richard Sutton], Failing fit candidates from the diocese aforesaid, the Principal and Fellows were to be natives of the diocese of Lincoln, and failing this, to be taken ' de aptioribus et habilioribus qui in Universitate praedicta reperiri poterunt.' Thus originated the connection of the College with the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire ; it was further cemented by the subsequent foundation of two Fellowships with local qualifications, and by the endowment of various Scholarships especially (1) by Queen Elizabeth and Alexander Nowell (1572- J S79)> f° r scholars from the school of Middleton in Lancashire and other schools in the same county ; and (2) by the Duchess of Somerset (from 1679 to 1686), partly for scholars educated at the Grammar School of Manchester. The Exhibitions founded by Mr. William Hulme in 1691 also tended to confirm this con- nection in two ways: (1) The Exhibitioners were nominated (till 1881 when a new scheme for the Hulmeian Exhibitions framed by the Charity Commissioners came into operation) by three Lancashire clergymen viz., the Warden (afterwards Dean) of Manchester, and the Rectors of Prestwich and Bury ; (2) a surplus on the Hulme trust was partly employed in the purchase of advowsons of ecclesiastical benefices to be held by former Hulmeian Exhibitioners, and twenty-two out of the twenty-eight livings thus purchased are in Lancashire or Cheshire. This local connection has had considerable influence upon the fortunes of the College, the link with the Manchester Grammar School having been especially important. It may be noted that three Principals of the College at least (if not more) were Manchester school boys, viz., William Gwyn (1770), Frodsham Hodson (1809- 1822), and Ashurst Turner Gilbert (1822- 1842.) All local qualifications in the case of the Principal and the
[ 337—338 ] Z
