Pembroke College, Oxford

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Pembroke College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Related Topics:
University of Oxford - United Kingdom

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Founded in 1624, the College was named after the third Earl of Pembroke, who was at the time Chancellor of the University and the patron of William Shakespeare. The official founder was James VI of Scotland and I of England, and it is in his name that Pembroke students are permitted to wear silver tassels in their caps (mortarboards). Part of the College is situated in buildings formerly used by the mediæval Hall Broadgates.

Related Topics:
1624 - William Shakespeare - James VI of Scotland and I of England - Tassel - Mortarboard

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The main buildings of the College date mainly from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and are built of Cotswold limestone. Pembroke also has modern accommodation built nearby on the banks of the River Thames at Grandpont, providing accommodation for almost a hundred undergraduates.

Related Topics:
17th - 18th - 19th - Cotswold - Limestone - River Thames - Grandpont

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Samuel Johnson was one of the College's more famous alumni, though he did not complete his degree (he was later awarded an honorary degree by the University); lack of funds forced him to leave Oxford after about a year and a half. Two of his desks and various other possessions (his teapot, mug, and the like) are on display in the library and elsewhere in the College.

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James Smithson, whose bequest founded the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., despite his never having visited the United States, was an undergraduate at Pembroke, under the name "James Lewis Macie" — he changed his name to that of his natural father after the death of his mother.

Related Topics:
James Smithson - Smithsonian Institution - Washington, D.C. - United States

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Senator J. William Fulbright, who established the Fulbright Fellowships, was a Rhodes Scholar at Pembroke in the 1920s.

Related Topics:
J. William Fulbright - Fulbright Fellowships - Rhodes Scholar - 1920s

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Although he had been an undergraduate at Exeter College, J.R.R. Tolkien was a Fellow of Pembroke from 1925 to 1945, and wrote The Hobbit and the first two books of The Lord of the Rings during his time there.

Related Topics:
Exeter College - J.R.R. Tolkien - Fellow - 1925 - 1945 - The Hobbit - The Lord of the Rings

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Among the College's more recent Masters was Roger Bannister, the first man to run the mile in under four minutes.

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