History

Applying to St Hugh’s for History

St Hugh’s aims to be the best place in Oxford to study History. We admit intellectually ambitious students and give them the resources, and the freedom, to realise their potential. The results achieved by our historians are usually at or near the top of the University.

The St Hugh’s History School is among the largest in Oxford. The College admits up to 12 undergraduates a year to read Main School History. We also offer places in the Joint Schools, of which St Hugh’s offers all five: Ancient and Modern History, History and Economics, History and English, History and Modern Languages, and History and Politics. This makes History one of the most substantial subject groups in the College.

What the Tutors look for in applicants 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. We welcome both pre- and post-qualification applicants, and students from across the UK and further afield.

Choosing St Hugh’s for History

St Hugh’s has three teaching Fellows in History. Professor George Garnett is a medievalist whose interests range forward and backward from the Norman Conquest. He writes a regular column for History Today. Professor Jon Parkin is an early modernist specialising in the Early Enlightenment. Dr Alex Middleton is a modernist interested in British politics and thought. Between them the Fellows cover a considerable part of the Oxford undergraduate syllabus. St Hugh’s also has a Senior Research Fellow in History, Professor Michael Bentley, a world authority on post-Enlightenment historiography, who contributes to our undergraduate methodological and historiographical courses and occasionally tutors.

St Hugh’s has a particular strength in intellectual history. The Oxford Centre for Intellectual History was founded from the College. Unlike some colleges, however, we impose no restrictions on the papers available to our students. St Hugh’s undergraduate historians are completely free to explore the full, uniquely wide range of courses offered by the Faculty.

St Hugh’s is also the home of the Julia Wood History Essay Competition. This was instituted by the College more than thirty years ago to encourage excellence in History in schools. It offers a generous annual prize for the best essay on a self-selected subject written by a sixth former. It is the longest-established school History essay prize in Britain, and is generally regarded as the most prestigious. Details can be found here.

Professor Michael Bentley

Studying and Living at St Hugh’s

The College’s strong and distinctive tradition in History corresponds with its first-class facilities for the study of the subject. Most importantly, our very large library has unusually extensive and up-to-date holdings of books in all periods. Among other treasures, it contains a copy of the first edition of Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, depicted at the top of this subject entry. The College has an energetic History Society, which meets several times a term to host talks by eminent historians, and for an annual History Dinner. The College also administers the Colin Matthew Trust travel bursaries – named after the great Gladstone scholar, Colin (H.C.G.) Matthew, who was a Fellow of St Hugh’s – to help fund history-related research trips. We encourage our undergraduates to travel in the vacations, and support them to do so.

Our goal as Tutors is to foster a sense of intellectual determination and shared enterprise among our historians. Every year a number of graduating students go on to undertake postgraduate 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.