St Alban Hall, sometimes known as St Alban's Hall or Stubbins,The Cambridge Review, Vol. 4 (Cambridge: Elijah Johnson, 1882–1883), p. 43 was one of the medieval halls of the University of Oxford, and one of the longest-surviving. It was established in the 13th century, acquired by neighbouring Merton College in the 16th century but operated separately until the institutions merged in the late 19th century. The site in Merton Street, Oxford, is now occupied by Merton's Edwardian St Alban's Quad.

History St Alban Hall took its name from Robert of Saint Alban, a citizen of Oxford, who conveyed the property to the priory of nuns at Littlemore, near Oxford, about the year 1230.

In February 1525, on the recommendation of Thomas Wolsey, Lord Chancellor, as a result of the Littlemore Priory scandals, the priory was dissolved.William Henry Page, “The priory of Littlemore” in A History of the County of Oxford, vol. 2: Ecclesiastical History (Victoria County History / Archibald Constable & Co., 1907), pp. 75–77 Its lands and houses in Oxford passed to Wolsey for the use of his new Cardinal College.J. A. F. Thomson, The Early Tudor Church and Society 1485–1529 (Routledge, 1993 ), p. 231 When Wolsey fell from power in 1529, Littlemore Priory, along with the rest of his wealth and estates, escheated to the Crown.Ralph Pugh, "Sandford on Thames" in A History of the County of Oxford, vol. 5 (London: Victoria County History, 1957) p. 270 Henry VIII then granted St Alban Hall to George Owen, D.M., who was both the king's physician and a Fellow of Merton College. Owen conveyed it to Sir John Williams, later Lord Williams of Thame, and Sir John Gresham. By permission of Edward VI, in 1547 they transferred the Hall to John Pollard and Robert Perrot, Esquires, who sold it to the Warden and Fellows of Merton College."The historical register of the University of Oxford: being a supplement to the Oxford University calendar, with an alphabetical record of University honours and distinctions completed to the end of Trinity term 1888", pp. 214–215

St Alban Hall continued for another three centuries as a separate hall with its own students and principal.St Alban Hall, Library & Archives, from Merton College web site, archived 29 October 2010 at Archive.org It was governed by the university's statutes for Academical Halls, and its principal was chosen by the chancellor of the university.John Henry Parker, A Hand-book for Visitors to Oxford (Oxford: James Parker, 1875), p. iii

Chancellor Grenville appointed Richard Whately as principal in 1825, in an attempt to raise standards there.Mark C. Curthoys, Nineteenth-century Oxford, Part 1 (Clarendon Press, 1997), p. 148 John Henry Newman was Whately's vice-principal from 1825 to 1826, and Samuel Hinds from 1827 to 1831.

As later recalled by Dr Henry Robinson, in the mid-1830s there was only one undergraduate, John Robert Tennant, who was known as "the solitary tenant of Alban Hall".Henry Robinson, DD, "St Alban Hall, Oxford" in London Society, January 1887, reprinted in Volume 51, London: F. V. White & Co., 1887, pp. 191–198 There were seven members when Robinson arrived in 1838, rising to twelve by the time he came down. The only tutor was the vice-principal, while the principal, Edward Cardwell, was a university lecturer on divinity. Those aiming for an honours degree took a private tutor, of whom Bob Lowe of Magdalen was the most popular. The Hall then had four servants, a cook, a manciple, a porter, and a boy. Robinson had found St Alban Hall "rather an expensive place, the number being so few, and there was no endowment."

The last principal, William Salter, was appointed in 1861 and resigned in 1882. In 1877 Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli appointed commissioners under Lord Selborne and later Mountague Bernard to consider and implement reform of the university and its colleges.L. W. B. Brockliss, The University of Oxford: A History (Oxford University Press, 2016), p. 364–365 The commissioners came to the view that the four remaining medieval halls were not viable and should merge with colleges.Brockliss (2016), pp. 370–371 In 1881, the commissioners made a University Statute which provided for St Alban Hall to be united with Merton College in the event of Principal Salter's resignation or death. The Hall then had eighteen members in residence, who were admitted to Merton. In 1887, a similar Statute extinguished New Inn Hall and combined it with Balliol College, on the death of Henry Hubert Cornish."The historical register of the University of Oxford: being a supplement to the Oxford University calendar, with an alphabetical record of University honours and distinctions completed to the end of Trinity term 1888", p. 213 In the event, of the halls only St Edmund Hall would avoid merger.

Henry Robinson cast some of the blame for the end of the Hall on Lord Salisbury, the university's chancellor:

Robinson died a few days after his article was published.

Buildings

St Alban Hall's buildings included a main quadrangle and a smaller court. The Merton Street front of the quad was rebuilt in 1600, funded by Benedict Barnham. The buildings were reconstructed again and a chapel added by John Gibbs from 1863, funded by Principal Salter.Kelly's directory of Berkshire, Bucks and Oxon (Kelly's Directories Ltd, 1911), p. 188John Gibbs, Dictionary of Greater Manchester Architects (The Victorian Society), accessed 1 December 2020 After 1882 the chapel was no longer needed and was secularized.Oxford Historical Society Publications, Vol. 22 (1892), p. 349 Between 1904 and 1910 the buildings of the former hall were demolished, apart from part of their front elevation on Merton Street, and the St Alban's Quadrangle of Merton College built on the site.Nikolaus Pevsner and Jennifer Sherwood, The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire (Yale University Press, 1996), p. 164

Principals

A list of the principals of St Alban Hall. 1437: Roger Martin 1439: Robert Ashe 1444: John Gygur 1450: William Shyrefe 1452: William Romsey 1468–1477: Thomas DanettS. L. Ollard, Fasti Wyndesorienses (Windsor: Dean and Canons of St George's Chapel, 1950 1477: Richard FitzJames, later Bishop of London Thomas Lynley Robert Gosbourne Ralph Hamsterley 1501: Hugh Saunders, alias Shakspeere 1503: John Forster 1507: John Beverstone 1507: William Bysse 1509: Richard Walker 1510: John Pokyswell 1514: John Hoper Simon Balle 1527: Walter Buckler 1530: Robert Tailer 1532: William Pedyll 1535: Robert Huyck 1536: Richard Smyth, also first Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford 1539: Humphrey Burneford 1543: John Estwyck 1547: William Marshall 1567: Arthur Atye Richard Radclyffe

1599: Robert Masters 1603: Henry Masters 1614: Anthony Morgan 1621: Richard Parker 1624: Edward Chaloner 1625–1661: Richard Zouch 1641: Sir Giles SweitJohn Ayliffe, The Antient and Present State of the University of Oxford, Volume 1, p. 509 1664–1673: Thomas LamplughStuart Handley, "Lamplugh, Thomas (bap. 1615, d. 1691)" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004) online at doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15956 1673–1679: Narcissus Marsh 1679–1723: Thomas Bouchier 1692: Richard Duckworth 1723–1736: James Bouchier 1736: Robert Leyborne 1759: Francis Randolph

1797–1823: Thomas Winstanley 1823–1825: Peter Elmsley 1825–1831: Richard Whately, later Archbishop of Dublin 1831–1861: Edward Cardwell 1861–1882: William Charles Salter

Notable alumni

Cuthbert Mayne (c. 1543–1577), Roman Catholic priest executed in the time of Elizabeth I Sir Thomas Gresham (died 1630), landowner and member of parliament Robert Harcourt (died 1631), explorer Thomas Crompton (died 1608), a barrister and judge Thomas Lawton (c. 1558–1606), a barrister and judgeLAWTON, Thomas (c.1558-1606), of Church Lawton, Cheshire and Smithfield, London, History of Parliament Online, accessed 30 November 2020 John Penry (1563–1593), Welsh Protestant martyr Matthew Slade (1569–1628), nonconformist minister Gervase Clifton, 1st Baron Clifton (c. 1570–1618), landowner and peer Edward Lapworth (1574–1636), physician and Latin poet Philip Massinger (1583–1640), dramatist William Lenthall (1591–1662), Speaker of the House of Commons, Samuel Turner (c. 1582–1647), Cavalier soldier Sir Richard Browne, 1st Baronet, of Deptford (died 1683), English ambassador to France“Browne, (Sir) Richard”, in Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (Oxford, 1891) Richard Alleine (1610/11–1681), Puritan divine"Alleine, Theodosia (fl. 1654–1677), nonconformist writer", in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP, 2004) doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/67079 William Alleine (1614–1677), clergyman, Bartholomew Ashwood (1622–1680), puritan divine John Durel (1625–1683), clergyman Thomas Hancorne (1642–1731), clergyman Francis Willis (1718–1807), physician John Evans (1756–1846), Welsh surgeon and cartographer, accessed 29 November 2020 Stephen Reay (1782–1861), Laudian Professor of ArabicD. S. Margoliouth, revised by Elizabeth Baigent, “Reay, Stephen [pseud. Pileus Quadratus] (1782–1861)”, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004), online https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/23239 Nathaniel Dawes (1843–1910), Anglican bishop in AustraliaJohn Bayton, "Dawes, Nathaniel (1843–1910)" in Australian Dictionary of Biography (Melbourne University Press, 1966, ISSN 1833-7538) Edward Smith (1854–1908), clergyman and first class cricketer

Notes

References

External links Henry Robinson, DD, "St Alban Hall, Oxford" in London Society, January 1887, reprinted in Volume 51, London: F. V. White & Co., 1887, pp. 191–198