Pembroke College

Hover over image to zoom in and see detail of image

William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, Chancellor of the University from the year 1617 would have given more than his name to the college had he not died suddenly and intestate. James I stood for founder; the foundation funds were provided however by the benefactions of Thomas Tesdale and later, Rich­ard Wightwicke. There were further complications. The college was built on the ruins of an ancient hall, the history of which goes back into the realms of conjecture and appears before the reign of Henry VI to have been called Segrum Hall. Then again Tesdale's first students were at first accommodated at Balliol, leading to a legal dispute in which the king sought to get back from Balliol monies left by Tesdale because in his love of learn­ing he wished to be personally associated with a separate found­ation as its royal founder.

Tesdale was a rich farmer and merchant of Abingdon and following the death of all of his three children, he left 55,000 to found thirteen scholarships (some tied to Abingdon School) to Balliol. To this was added a generous benefaction by Richard Wightwicke, himself a Balliol man " it was a pity so great a bounty, substantial enough to stand of itself, should be adjected to an earlier foundation; whereupon a new college (formally call­ed Broadgates Hall) was erected herewith by the name of Pem­broke College."

The college was opened in 1624: statutes were drawn up by representatives of the king, and these were signed in 1628, by, among others, the Earl of Pembroke and the first Master, Thomas Clayton who was also the last principal of Broadgates

Hall, where it is said boys had been taught even before the Norman Conquest.

Of the old hall buildings only the refectory remains, con­verted into the library when in 1846 the new college hall was built. Clayton was a most capable man. He graduated at Balliol and among other appointments became the University's Regius Professor of Physics and with another eminent physician of Broadgates Hall established on the site of the Jews' old burying ground opposite Magdalen, the new Physic Garden, now known as the Botanical Gardens. Clayton built the south and west sides of the front quad incorporating into the south side the 12th. century city wall. The chapel with the wall of the fellows' garden form the south side.

Samuel Johnson, entered the college as a commoner in 1728. He left Oxford without a degree, but this was conferred on him in 1755. His portrait by Reynolds hangs in the common room and in the library is the desk upon which he wrote his Dictionary.

Another remarkable Pembroke man was the eccentric Rob­ert Stephen Hawker, the poet and parson of Morwenstow, who in 1827 had won the Newdigate.

Arnold Toynbee, matriculated at Pembroke in 1873 but rec­ognised by Jowett as being no ordinary man, was whisked away to Balliol.

Further dates- Library 1600-1620, First Quad 1626-70, Gate­house 1673-94, Chapel 1732, Second Quad 1844.

Buy this Print

Delivery is an additional £3.50 to anywhere in the world (this covers multiple items).