History
History of Lincoln College
1427
Lincoln College is founded by Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln, and named after his cathedral as 'The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln, in the University of Oxford, commonly called Lincoln College'.
1436
Emily Carr and her husband give the College property on the High Street.
1437
Generous bequests from benefactors allow for the construction of the Chapel, Library, Hall, Kitchen and a set of rooms in the following decades.
1465
A bequest from the Will of Thomas Beckington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, allows the College to build the first Lodgings for the Rector.
1478
The Visitor, Thomas Rotherham, Bishop of Lincoln, obtains a Charter from Edward IV, which effectively makes him the second founder of the College.
1489
The Mitre Inn is first leased to the College (pictured now).
1574
The grant of the College coat of arms is confirmed.
1611
The Authorized Version of the Bible is published; the latter part of which was translated by Rector Richard Kilby and Fellow Richard Brett.
1629-31
The College Chapel is built in the Jacobean Gothic style. It is consecrated on 15 September 1631.
1717
Former Rector, Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham, leaves a benefaction to Lincoln, founding 12 new exhibitions as well as improving the College buildings.
1726
John Wesley is elected to a Fellowship. During his time here, he was involved with the Holy Club, which laid the foundations for the Methodist Church.
1861
Mark Pattison, reputed to have inspired the character of Edward Casaubon in George Eliot’s novel Middlemarch, is elected Rector.
1880
The Lincoln College Boat Club is established. Today, there are male and female crews for all abilities.
1882
The philosopher Samuel Alexander is elected a Fellow of Lincoln, and becomes the first Jewish Fellow of an Oxford college.
1919
The Lincoln College Debating Society, founded in 1854, is renamed and becomes the Junior Common Room (JCR) for undergraduate students (pictured today).
1925
Theodor Seuss Geisel matriculates at Lincoln. He went on to write over 60 children’s books as ‘Dr Seuss’.
1938
Egon Wellesz, composer and musicologist, is elected Fellow after fleeing Nazi persecution in Vienna.
1945
Fellow Howard Florey shares the Nobel Prize with Ernst Boris Chain and Alexander Fleming for the development of penicillin.
1925
The author, David Cornwell, better known as John Le Carré, matriculates at Lincoln.
1959
The Middle Common Room (MCR) for graduate students is founded, the first common room of its kind in Oxford (pictured today).
1975
All Saints Church is converted into the College Library. It is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful libraries in Oxford.
1979
The College admits female students for the first time.
1980
The College appoints its first female Tutorial Fellow, Dr Susan Brigden, a historian.
2006
The Lincoln-EPA Graduate Centre is opened in Museum Road, providing additional accommodation for 52 graduate students.
2014
The Berrow Foundation Building, designed by architects Stanton Williams, is completed and wins the 2017 RIBA South Building of the Year Award.