Harris Manchester College

Harris Manchester College stands in Oxford, a small college of the University of Oxford. It began as the Warrington Academy in 1757 for Unitarian students, moving to Oxford in 1893 after stops in Warrington, Manchester, York and London. The college became a full Oxford college in 1996, taking its present name after a donation by Lord Harris of Peckham. Its teachers once included Joseph Priestley and John Dalton, known for atomic theory. During the Second World War the college’s buildings were used by Naval Intelligence and the Inter-Services Topographic Department, which helped plan the D-Day landings. The college houses research centres such as the Commercial Law Centre directed by Kristin van Zwieten and the Wellbeing Research Centre led by Jan-Emmanuel De Neve. Its chapel contains stained-glass windows by Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, and an organ painted by Morris & Co. The Arlosh Hall, added in 1913, now frames the Siew-Sngiem Clock Tower and Sukum Navapan Gate with the inscription “It is later than you think, but it is never too late.” The Tate Library occupies the main quad designed by Thomas Worthington. Visitors find a quiet Oxford quadrangle built between 1889 and 1893. The chapel and library open off this space, while Arlosh Hall and the newer gatehouse stand nearby. The stained-glass and painted organ inside the chapel remain notable features. The college’s mature-student mission is recalled by the clock tower’s inscription.