Life Before Prior's Field Julia Huxley's University Days

Former parents, volunteers and keen researchers, Lizanne Milton and Elaine Sibley, took a trip to Somerville College, Oxford, to learn more about the life of Julia Huxley née Arnold, in her university days. They were met by Kate O’Donnell, the Assistant Archivist and Records Manager, who kindly took them to a reading room in the library where she had laid out the 1879–1907 Somerville College Log Book and some letters written by a student who was at Somerville at the same time as Julia and knew her well.

Julia entered Somerville Hall (as it was then) on a Clothworkers Scholarship in October 1880 and left in December 1881, when the scholarship lapsed, and she returned home. According to the log book, Julia was Class 1 in Honours Literature and at that time the Literature school was only open to women.

The log book explains how Somerville came to exist, thanks to the determination of several people who formed a committee. It wasn’t until October 1884 that female students could attend lectures at the colleges, and this was also the year that they could finally sit the same examinations as male students.

An association was set up in 1877 to promote the importance of higher education for women. Halls of residence were needed for female students who wanted to attend lectures but lived far away. Julia would have attended her lectures at the Association’s lecture rooms in Alfred Street.

There is one other recorded mention of Julia Arnold which was when, on an afternoon in June 1881, she was invited to tea by another student, Frances Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Sheldon. Miss Sheldon wrote “We had Miss Arnold and her bosom friend to tea one afternoon lately.”

In the absence of any further records about Julia, we can get a glimpse of what she must have experienced during her time at Oxford from Lizzie Sheldon’s delightful letters to her family in New York. Julia is mentioned, in passing, by Lizzie in her letters home, "Miss Arnold, Matthew Arnold’s niece, has considerable of the Dickens in her [and plays] kittenish pranks." Lizzie also mentions that Julia 'got my scholarship', by which she means that Julia went to Oxford on a Clothworkers Exhibition or Scholarship.

Lizzie’s chosen subjects were English Literature and Philology, German, Latin, Algebra and Arithmetic. In addition to studying diligently, Lizzie enjoyed outings with friends around Oxford, such as to the University Church and Oxford Castle. She enjoyed strolling in the park at Magdalen College, on Christ Church meadows, and on the High Street. She shopped in the market, attended musical recitals, had tea with friends, and made several trips to London.

It is important to shine a light on Julia Arnold’s time at Oxford, so that we can learn about the era she lived in as a young woman and how she may have been influenced in her passion for educating girls and her inspiration to open a school later in her life.

Thank you to Lizanne Milton and Elaine Sibley for taking time to research the records at Somerville College.