Rhodes House
Encyclopedia
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is located on the south of South Parks Road
South Parks Road
South Parks Road is a road in Oxford, England. It runs east-west past the main Science Area of the University of Oxford, where many of the science departments are located....
in central Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor.
History
The will of Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902) created scholarships that became known as Rhodes Scholarships, administered by the Rhodes Trust.The Rhodes House building was designed by Sir Herbert Baker
Herbert Baker
Sir Herbert Baker was a British architect.Baker was the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, 1892–1912....
in a colonial style and was completed in 1928.
During 1931, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
delivered a series of three lectures at Rhodes House. Edmund Bowen, a chemistry don at the university, saved the blackboard used in the second lecture (on 16 May). This can still be seen at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, formally presented by Sir Francis Wylie
Francis Wylie
Sir Francis James Wylie was a British university academic and administrator. He was the first Warden of Rhodes House at Oxford University, England....
, the Warden of Rhodes House at the time.
Rhodes House was the location for one of the gigs of the band Ugly Rumours
Ugly Rumours (band)
Ugly Rumours was the name of a rock band founded in part by former UK prime minister Tony Blair, while studying law at St John's College, Oxford during the early 1970s; he sang and played guitar...
in the early 1970s, of which former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
was a member. The Oxcentrics jazz band also played at Rhodes House.
Rhodes House Library
The Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House (also known as the Rhodes House Library) is part of the main Bodleian LibraryBodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
in Oxford.
The Rhodes Trust
The Rhodes Trust is based at Rhodes House. The Rhodes Trust, established in 1902 under the terms and conditions of the will of Cecil Rhodes, and by subsequent Acts of Parliament, is an educational charity whose principal activity is to support scholars selected from the citizens of 14 specified geographic constituencies in order to study at the University of Oxford. Rhodes Scholarships for a duration of one, two, or three years have been awarded annually since 1902.The Rhodes Trust consists of two registered charities
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
, The Cecil Rhodes Trust Scholarship Fund and The Rhodes Trust Public Purposes Fund.
The Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees. The business of the Trust is administered by the Warden of Rhodes House and Secretary to the Trust, Dr Don Markwell.
Current trustees
The following are trustees:- The Rt. Hon. Lord Waldegrave of North HillWilliam Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North HillWilliam Arthur Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, PC , is an English Conservative politician who served in the Cabinet from 1990 until 1997 and is a Life Member of the Tory Reform Group. He is now a life peer. Lord Waldegrave is also the Chairman of the Rhodes Trust and the Chairman of...
, Chairman (since 2002, Trustee since 1992) - Julian ThompsonJulian Ogilvie ThompsonJulian Ogilvie Thompson is a South African businessman and former chairman of De Beers and Anglo American mining....
(Diocesan College, Rondebosch and Worcester, 1953) (since 2002) - Professor Sir John BellJohn Irving BellSir John Irving Bell, FRS, PMedSci is a Canadian immunologist and geneticist who resides in the UK. As of 2008, he is President of the Academy of Medical Sciences and holds the Regius Chair of Medicine at Oxford University, UK....
(Alberta & Magdalen 1975) (since 2002) - Michael McCaffery (Pennsylvania & Merton 1975) (since 2008)
- Professor Ngaire WoodsNgaire WoodsNgaire Woods is a New Zealand-born British academic.Woods was educated at the University of Auckland where she graduated with a BA in economics and a LLB in law. She studied at Balliol College, Oxford as a New Zealand Rhodes Scholar, completing an M.Phil in International Relations and a D.Phil...
(New Zealand & Balliol 1987) (since 2009) - Dominic BartonDominic BartonDominic "Dom" Barton is a longtime top senior partner and director at management consultancy McKinsey & Company, serving as its current managing director since 2009...
(British Columbia & Brasenose 1984) (since 2010) - Don Gogel (New Jersey & Balliol 1971) (since 2010)
- Professor Margaret MacMillanMargaret MacMillanMargaret Olwen MacMillan, OC is a historian and professor at the University of Oxford, where she is Warden of St. Antony's College. She is former provost of Trinity College and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously, at Ryerson University...
(since 2010) - John MacBainJohn MacBainJohn H McCall MacBain is the founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Trader Classified Media, one of the world's largest classified advertising companies...
(Quebec & Wadham 1980) (since 2010) - Festus MogaeFestus MogaeFestus Gontebanye Mogae is a Botswana politician who was President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He succeeded Quett Masire as President in 1998 and was reelected in October 2004; after ten years in office, he stepped down in 2008 and was succeeded by Lieutenant General Ian Khama...
(since 2010) - N. R. Narayana MurthyN. R. Narayana MurthyNagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy , better known as N. R. Narayana Murthy, is an Indian industrialist and software engineer. He and six other engineers founded Infosys in 1981. Mr. Murthy served as CEO from 1981 to 2002. From 2002 to 2011, he served as Chairman...
(since 2010) - Karen Stevenson (Maryland & Magdalen 1979) (since 2010)
- John Wylie (Queensland & Balliol 1983) (since 2010)
- Dame Helen GhoshHelen GhoshDame Helen Frances Ghosh DCB is a British civil servant. She is currently the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, having moved from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the end of 2010...
(since 2011)
Notable former trustees
- The Rt. Hon. Lord Butler of BrockwellRobin Butler, Baron Butler of BrockwellFrederick Edward Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, is a retired British civil servant, now sitting in the House of Lords as a Life Peer.-Life:Butler was born in Lytham St Annes on on 3 January, 1938...
- Sir Rod EddingtonRod EddingtonSir Roderick Ian Eddington is an Australian businessman. He is currently chair of the government body Infrastructure Australia, a director of News Corporation, continuing his long association with that company, and has served in other senior positions including as former CEO of British...
- The Rt. Hon. The 4th Earl GreyAlbert Grey, 4th Earl GreyAlbert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey was a British nobleman and politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the ninth since Canadian Confederation....
- The Rt. Hon. The 1st Viscount HailshamDouglas Hogg, 1st Viscount HailshamDouglas McGarel Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham PC was a British lawyer and Conservative politician.-Background:...
- Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
List of Chairmen of the Trust
- Earl of RoseberyArchibald Primrose, 5th Earl of RoseberyArchibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
1902-1917 - Viscount MilnerAlfred Milner, 1st Viscount MilnerAlfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner KG, GCB, GCMG, PC was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played an influential leadership role in the formulation of foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and early 1920s...
1917-1925 - Sir Otto BeitOtto BeitSir Otto John Beit, 1st Baronet, KCMG, FRS was a German-born British financier, philanthropist and art connoisseur.- Life history and career :...
1925-1930 - Lord LovatSimon Fraser, 14th Lord LovatBrigadier-General Simon Joseph Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat and 3rd Baron Lovat KT, GCVO, KCMG, CB, DSO , was a leading Roman Catholic aristocrat, landowner, soldier, politician and the 23rd Chief of Clan Fraser. He was the son of Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat, and Alice Mary Weld-Blundell...
1930-1933 - Rt Hon. L. S. Amery 1933-1955
- Sir Edward PeacockEdward Robert PeacockSir Edward Robert Peacock, GCVO was a Canadian merchant banker, born in St. Elmo, Glengarry County, Ontario. He is perhaps best known as a director of the Bank of England, or for his role as Receiver General to the Duchy of Cornwall.-Early life:...
1955-1962 - Sir Kenneth WheareKenneth WheareSir Kenneth Clinton Wheare CMG was an Australian academic, who spent most of his career at Oxford University in England...
1962-1969 - Sir George Abell 1969-1974
- Viscount Harcourt 1974-1979
- Sir William Paton 1979-1982
- Lord BlakeRobert Blake, Baron BlakeRobert Norman William Blake, Baron Blake was an English historian. He is best known for his 1966 biography of Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, and for The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill, which grew out of his 1968 Ford lectures...
1983-1987 - Sir John Baring, later Lord AshburtonJohn Baring, 7th Baron AshburtonJohn Francis Harcourt Baring, 7th Baron Ashburton, is a British merchant banker and former chairman of British Petroleum...
1987-1999 - Sir Richard SouthwoodRichard SouthwoodSir Thomas Richard Edmund Southwood DL, FRS was Professor of zoology and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford....
1999-2002 - The Rt. Hon. Lord Waldegrave of North HillWilliam Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North HillWilliam Arthur Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of North Hill, PC , is an English Conservative politician who served in the Cabinet from 1990 until 1997 and is a Life Member of the Tory Reform Group. He is now a life peer. Lord Waldegrave is also the Chairman of the Rhodes Trust and the Chairman of...
2002-present
List of Wardens
- Sir Francis WylieFrancis WylieSir Francis James Wylie was a British university academic and administrator. He was the first Warden of Rhodes House at Oxford University, England....
1903-1931 - Professor Sir Carleton AllenCarleton AllenSir Carleton Kemp Allen MC KC was an Australian-born professor and Warden of Rhodes House, University of Oxford.-Early life and student career:...
1931-1952 - Brigadier Sir Edgar WilliamsEdgar WilliamsBrigadier Sir Edgar "Bill" Williams played a significant role in the Battle of El Alamein in World War II. He was a Fellow of Balliol College and Warden of Rhodes House, Oxford, and Editor of the Dictionary of National Biography....
1952-1980 - Dr Robin Fletcher 1980-1989
- Sir Anthony KennyAnthony KennySir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion...
1989-1999 - Dr John Rowett 1999-2004
- Sir Colin Lucas 2004-2009
- Professor Don MarkwellDonald MarkwellFor the Montgomery, Alabama, talk radio personality, Don Markwell, see Don Markwell Professor Donald John 'Don' Markwell is an Australian social scientist and college president...
2009-present
Further reading
- Ziegler, Philip. Legacy: Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Trust and Rhodes Scholarships (Yale University Press, 2008); 388 pp. ISBN 978-0-300-11835-3.