New College Archives - Biographical information

If your ancestor was a fellow, student, employee or tenant of New College, we may be able to help.

A. Fellows or Students

1.     For brief biographies of fellows or students, there are various published sources which may help:

A.B. Emden's A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to 1500 (3 vols, not available online.)

A.B. Emden's A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford A.D. 1501 to 1540 (not available online.)

Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 vol 1 Aban - Dyson | vol 2 Eade - Kyte | vol 3 Labdon - Ryves | vol 4 Sabery - Zouch

Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses 1715-1886 vol 1 Abbay - Dyson | vol 2 Eade - Kyte | vol 3 Labouchere - Ryves | vol 4 Sabin - Zouch

Joseph Foster Oxford men & their colleges. Illustrated with portraits & views. Together with the matriculation register, 1880-1892

Joseph Foster Oxford men, 1880-1892, with a record of their schools, honours and degrees.

2.     Many New College fellows or students will have first attended Winchester College and a number of published biographical registers now cover 1836-1975:

Winchester College 1836-1906 A Register, ed J.B. Wainewright (Winchester 1907)

Winchester College 1867-1920 A Register, ed H.J. Hardy (Winchester 1923)

Winchester College 1884-1934 A Register, ed M.S. Leigh (Winchester 1940)

Winchester College 1915-1960 A Register, ed L.H. Lamb (Winchester 1974)

Winchester College 1930-1975 A Register, ed C.F. Badcock & J.R. La T. Corrie (Winchester 1992)

3.     The only similar work for New College has been an attempt to record biographical details of all those alumni then alive in 1997:

The New College Register (2001)

4.     Meantime, New College has also been recording the essential details of its students (names, age/birth, father, address, matriculation, school, exams) in 2 student registers covering 1871-1924 and 1925-1957 (ADM/R1-2) Access to these can only be had via the archivist (archives@new.ox.ac.uk)

5.     Annual lists of fellows and students of New College, and also of all other colleges, with exam passes and degrees taken, are published in the annual Oxford University Calendar for 1810,1813-1977. Crucially for New College, these lists include all those on the foundation, which includes members of the choir (lay clerks and choristers) who may not appear in any of the other lists and registers cited above. From 1978 only the senior members (tutors, lecturers etc) and choir members are recorded in the Calendars.

6.     Other sources will generally require a visit and some research to yield any information, and they may well not help at all; archives@new.ox.ac.uk) can advise.

Information we usually do not have

Precise dates of birth of students before the 1880s (although this can often be estimated from the given age at matriculation)

Names of relatives other than the father, or any other details about the family

Copies of essays, dissertations or theses. Dissertations and theses may be held in the University Library.

Details of course work or examination results. This information is generally collected by the University rather than Colleges.

Information on a student’s post-New College life, career or family.

Information on former members still living; the Development Office is the start-point for such enquiries.

Information about female students before 1979; there were none.

Why isn’t there more information about students?

College records tend to hold little information about individual students’ time here, except mentions in Society papers or sport photographs. Until relatively recently, a student’s course of study tended to be decided in tutorial meetings and was usually not recorded at all. The college holds very few examples of student essays or other work.

Exams and academic records in general are administered through the University rather than the Colleges and so any record of actual exam marks will be in the University Archives. For similar reasons we have no lecture lists etc. The University’s old examination papers can be a source for information on subject curricula.

B. Employees and College Servants

If an ancestor may have been an employee of or worked for New College, it is more likely that this will be confirmed by local sources (census, directories, parish registers, electoral rolls, rate books and the like) than by college sources, so it might be better to start at Oxfordshire History Centre (First steps in researching your Oxfordshire family history | Oxfordshire County Council). The college archives do contain some staff cards, which might have useful personal details, and wages books for the later 19th and earlier 20th centuries, but for earlier periods it is usually the position rather than the person that is paid. So the information available is unlikely to be much more than a name, date, amount being paid and possibly a job title.

C. Tenants

The considerable range of estate records in the New College Archives may well be able to help with those who might have been tenants of the college across the south and east of England. The main sources of names are going to be such as manorial court rolls, rentals, terriers, supported by individual tenancy agreements or leases, and possibly correspondence. Many of these sources are not yet indexed to the depth that might reveal such names, so some research will be required to find information on such individuals. It will also be necessary to have some key information on such as location and date to make the search parameters reasonable. For earlier periods, ie pretty well before 1800, there may be issues of palaeography – being able to read the writing – and Latin – being able to understand the writing – to cope with as well. That is not to say that the rewards might be there, but there are few biographical registers of localities to help in the way that there are for the college itself. archives@new.ox.ac.uk will advise and facilitate as far as possible.