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Harris Manchester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Formerly known as Manchester College, it is listed in the University Statutes (V.1) as Manchester Academy and Harris College, and at University ceremonies it is called Collegium de Harris et Manchester.

Located in Mansfield Road in central Oxford, Harris Manchester is one of very few mixed-sex Higher Education colleges in the UK whose undergraduate places are exclusively for mature students (aged 21 or over). It is the smallest of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, and as of 2006 had an estimated financial endowment of £7 million.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Student life 3 Academics/teachers 4 External links

The college started as the Manchester Academy in Manchester in 1786. Originally run by English Presbyterians, it was one of the few remaining dissenting academies that provided religious nonconformists with education. At the time, nonconformists were denied admission to Oxford and Cambridge.

The Manchester Academy went back to the well-known Warrington Academy. It taught radical theology as well as modern subjects, such as science, modern languages, language, or history. This did not mean that the classics were neglected.

The college changed its location five times before settling in Oxford.

• It was located in Manchester between 1786 and 1803.
• It then moved to York where it stayed until 1840. The key person in York was Charles Wellbeloved, a Unitarian minister. Its location was at Blenheim House, 13 Monkgate, just outside Monkbar. The House was later used as the first building of the College of Ripon and York St John (now York St John University), and was demolished in 1939.^{[citation needed]}

Because Wellbeloved would not move to Manchester, the college moved to York to have him as head. At first he taught all subjects. He hired additional tutors after a year. He always worked hard and several times his health broke. In 1840, when age forced him to retire, the college moved back to Manchester. [1]

Wellbeloved did not allow the school to be called Unitarian because he wanted students to have an open mind and to discover the truth for themselves. In 1809 he wrote to George Wood,

"I do not and will not teach Unitarianism or any ism but Christianism. I will endeavour to teach the students how to study the Scripture—nice if they find Unitarianism there—well if animism—well if Trinitarianism—well, only let them find something for themselves."

Under Wellbeloved's Principalship 235 students were educated at the college. Divinity students numbered 121 and laymen 114. Of the divinity students 30 did not enter the ministry and 5 entered the Anglican priesthood. Among the lay students were scholars, public servants, notable people in the arts and businessmen. The majority was Unitarian. Among the distinguished Unitarian students were James Martineau (later Principal), William Gaskell, Philip Pearsall Carpenter, John James Tayler (later Principal), Joseph Hunter, Joseph Hutton, William Raynor Wood, Daniel Jones, William Turner, Jr., James Yates, Robert Wallace (later Principal), Mark Philips (prominent Member of Parliament), and Edward Worthington.

• The college moved back from York to Manchester in 1840. It stayed there until 1853.
• Between 1853 and 1889 the college was located in London
• From London it moved to Oxford, opening its new buildings designed by Unitarian architect Thomas Worthington in 1893. In 1840, the college started an association with the University of London, and gained the right to present degrees from London.

Harris Manchester College was granted Permanent Private Hall status in 1990. It was only in 1996 that the college became a full college of Oxford University.

Today the college focuses on mature students (i.e. for those above the age of 21), both for undergraduate and graduate studies. The college tries to continue its liberal and pioneering ethos; considering its mature student focus as a modern means of providing higher education to those that have, in the past, been excluded from it. In its early days, the College supported reforming causes, such as the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts and the abolition of slavery. In 1901 the College was the first academic institution in Britain to accept a woman candidate for the Nonconformist ministry. In the 1920s and 30s the College provided courses for the Workers' Educational Association (W.E.A.).

Harris Manchester College is also the base for the Farmington Institute for Christian Studies which sponsors the ongoing training of teachers of Religious Education.

Despite the small student body, the college offers a wide array of courses and has a very international atmosphere. Most undergraduate tutorials are carried out in the college, though for some specialist papers undergraduates may be sent to tutors in other colleges.

Members are generally expected to dine in the Arlosh Hall, where there is a twice-weekly formal dinner at which grace is always recited and students dress in jackets, ties, and gowns.

Aside from the College punt, The Royle Yacht, and a croquet lawn, the college has no real sports facilities. However, the College is collectively a member of a central Oxford gym and health club to which members of the college have free access. In recent years the college's basketball team has been exceptionally successful, winning third place in the intercollegiate cuppers tournament last year. Moreover, Harris Manchester also has an affiliation with neighbouring Wadham College for those interested in rowing and other popular sports.

The college boasts one of the largest, if not the largest, specialist non-conformist college theological libraries in Oxford - it owns approximately 70,000 items. The collection has been built up and developed over the two hundred years of the College's existence. It includes a range of artefacts, an antiquarian book collection, and a large collection of manuscripts relating to the college and a specialist collection relating to the Non Conformist and Dissenting movement in England.

The college is also the home of a chapel with ornate wood carvings, an organ, and notable stained-glass windows by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris.

• Joseph Priestley
• John Dalton
• William Gaskell
• L. P. Jacks
• Francis Newman
• James Martineau

• Harris Manchester College (official website)
• Harris Manchester College JCR
• Prints of Harris Manchester College

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