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St Hugh’s Honorary Fellow and alumna awarded CBE in King’s New Years Honours 2026

Congratulations to St Hugh’s Honorary Fellow and alumna Judge Patrice Wellesley-Cole CBE (Law, 1971) who has been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the King’s New Year Honours 2026 for services to Charity. The award was given in recognition of her work as the President of Graduate Women International (GWI). Previously, she served as a Tribunal Judge in London, specialising in immigration, asylum, deportation, and human rights cases from 2002 until her early retirement in 2017.

In the early 1970s Patrice was the only black undergraduate at the College, and she describes her time at Oxford as “one of the happiest times of my life and a rare privilege”. Patrice was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) after graduating from St Hugh’s and returned to Freetown, where she had lived for six months before coming up, as a qualified barrister. She set up a general law practice specialising in conveyancing, wills, probate, commercial, and crime.

In 1990 she returned to England, eventually becoming a full-time judge in 2002, with jurisdiction covering immigration and asylum and deportation, human rights, bail, and EU cases.