Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886: Their Parentage, Birthplace, and Year of Birth, with a Record of Their Degrees
Being the Matriculation Register of the University, Alphabetically Arranged, Revised and Annotated
📘 About This Book
Compiled by Joseph Foster and published in 1887, this comprehensive reference work provides a definitive biographical record of individuals who matriculated at the University of Oxford between the years 1715 and 1886. Spanning over eight hundred pages, the volume meticulously details the academic careers, familial backgrounds, and geographic origins of thousands of students and graduates. For each listed member, the text typically supplies the full name, college or hall attended, father’s name, social status or parentage, birthplace, recorded age at matriculation, and the progression of university degrees earned. Serving as an invaluable resource for historians, genealogists, and biographers, the work captures a critical era of British higher education spanning the late Georgian and Victorian periods. By documenting the networks of privilege, lineage, and scholarship that shaped the university, the publication remains an essential primary source for researching the socio-economic and academic demographics of the British elite over a period of more than 170 years.
📖 Summary
Published in 1887, Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886: Their Parentage, Birthplace, and Year of Birth, with a Record of Their Degrees stands as a monumental work of genealogical, biographical, and institutional reference. Spanning 828 pages, this extensive volume compiles the historical records of individuals who matriculated at the University of Oxford over a period spanning more than a century and a half. Compiled by the institution itself, the book serves as a vital documentary bridge linking the Georgian era through the Victorian age, capturing the demographic shifts, familial continuity, and academic achievements of thousands of students and scholars. At its core, the work functions as a comprehensive registry. For each listed member, the text provides critical genealogical and biographical anchors, including parentage, recorded birthplace, estimated or exact year of birth, and a detailed chronicle of the academic degrees they attained. By systematically gathering these data points, the book paints a vivid collective portrait of the institutional makeup of one of the world's oldest and most prestigious universities during a time of immense political, social, and industrial transformation. Rather than offering a narrative history in the traditional sense, Alumni Oxonienses presents history through the raw materials of its participants. It reveals patterns of elite education, the geographical reach of Oxford's recruitment, and the hereditary nature of higher learning during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Researchers can trace dynasties of families sending successive generations to the university, observing how privilege, regional ties, and professional ambitions intersected within Oxford's colleges. The volume offers deep insight into the social history of Britain, illuminating the backgrounds of the clergymen, statesmen, lawyers, scientists, and writers who shaped the British Empire and its domestic institutions. While primarily designed as a reference tool for historians, biographers, and genealogists, the book holds broader significance for anyone interested in the sociology of elite education. It documents the gatekeepers of British society during a pivotal era of modernization, reflecting the values, structures, and limitations of higher education at the time. Through its meticulous preservation of names, dates, and lineage, Alumni Oxonienses ensures that the individual threads comprising the vast tapestry of Oxford's institutional history remain accessible to future generations of scholars.
🎯 Key Lessons
⚖️ Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
Provides an unmatched level of detail for Oxford members between 1715 and 1886.
Serves as an indispensable primary resource for family history and genealogical research.
Offers valuable data for sociological studies of elite British education.
Meticulously organized for targeted academic and historical reference.
⚠️ Cons
Contains dense, specialized data that lacks narrative flow for casual readers.
Limited in scope strictly to those who matriculated at Oxford during the specified years.
❓ FAQ
What time period does Alumni Oxonienses cover? +
It covers the members of the University of Oxford from 1715 to 1886.
What kind of biographical information is included for each member? +
The entries typically include parentage, birthplace, year of birth, and a record of the degrees they earned.
Who published this massive reference work? +
The book was published by the University of Oxford in 1887.
How many pages are in this volume? +
The book spans 828 pages of dense biographical and genealogical data.
Who would find this book most useful? +
It is primarily used by historians, genealogists, and researchers studying British social history and institutional lineages.
