09/09/2026
📜 On this day, 130 years ago, our story began.
On 9 September 1896, Campion Hall (as we call it today) opened at 40 St Giles’, Oxford (first picture, as the building looks today).
At this stage, though, Campion Hall was not its name, for it was known as Clarke’s Hall, named after its first Master, Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839–1900). At this time, Oxford’s Private Halls took the names of their licensed Masters.
Its foundation marked an important moment in Oxford’s history. The Society of Jesus was the first Catholic body to open a Hall at the University, making it possible for Jesuits to study for Oxford degrees.
Clarke’s Hall did not remain at 40 St Giles’ for long, though. In June 1897, it moved to 11 St Giles’, to the building known as Middleton Hall (second picture, undated, although likely early 20th century). And as successive Masters took charge, Clarke’s Hall became Pope’s Hall and then Plater’s Hall...
In 1918, the Hall became a Permanent Private Hall (PPH) of the University and formally took the name Campion Hall, in honour of St Edmund Campion, Oxford University’s only Catholic saint and martyr. Campion Hall remains a Permanent Private Hall of the University today.
In 1935, a brand new chapter began when the Hall moved from St Giles’ to its purpose-built home on Brewer Street, designed by renowned architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. This is the very same place you will find Campion Hall today (third picture).
And so, 130 years after that first opening in Oxford, we recall the beginnings of Campion Hall, its changing locations and brickwork, and the continuity of Jesuit life, learning and scholarship that still lives within (and, indeed, reaches far beyond) its walls today.
