History

Applying to St Hugh’s for History

We admit up to 12 undergraduates a year to read Main School History. We also admit additional people for the Joint Schools of Ancient and Modern History, History and Economics, History and English, History and Modern Languages, and History and Politics. Candidates who apply for the Joint Schools are also considered for the Main School.

What we are looking for in prospective undergraduate historians is an ability to think imaginatively, a willingness to argue, a real interest in ideas, and above all an enthusiasm for reading widely and reflectively.

We have no preference for particular subjects at A-level, in the IB, or other qualifications. Most candidates will have studied History, but even this is not essential. However, languages (modern and classical), English Literature, and Economics have in their different ways proved useful preparations for the course. We welcome pre- and post-qualification applicants, and those from Scotland, Ireland, and further afield.

To encourage excellence in History in schools, the College has for many years offered an annual prize for the best essay on an historical subject written by a Sixth Former. Details of the Julia Wood Prize may be found here.

Choosing St Hugh’s for History

St Hugh’s has three teaching Fellows in History: Professor George Garnett, Professor Jon Parkin, and Dr Alex Middleton. They cover the medieval, early modern, and modern periods respectively. Further details about their interests can be found on the History Faculty’s website here. Professor Michael Bentley, the distinguished historian of Victorian politics and post-Enlightenment historiography, is a Senior Research Fellow who occasionally teaches for us. St Hugh’s undergraduate historians are completely free to explore the full, uniquely wide range of courses offered by the Faculty.

Professor Michael Bentley

Studying and Living at St Hugh’s

St Hugh’s has a strong and distinctive tradition in History, not least as the College of the great Gladstone scholar, Colin (H.C.G.) Matthew. We have excellent facilities for study of the subject. Our Library has unusually extensive and up-to-date holdings in all periods. The copy of the first edition of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan illustrated at the top of this subject entry is in the Library.  There is an active (and occasionally rumbustious) History Society. We encourage our undergraduates to travel in the vacations, and try to support them in doing so. The College administers the Colin Matthew Trust travel bursaries, to help fund research trips. We aim to foster a sense of intellectual ambition and shared enterprise amongst our historians, and they tend to perform very well indeed in University examinations. Every year a number go on to undertake graduate work in History and related fields; others pursue careers in journalism, television, law, teaching, the civil service, the UN, banking, management consultancy, publishing, politics, the priesthood, disc jockeying, etc.

The world has proved to be their oyster, with their education at St Hugh’s providing them with the essential bit of grit.