Harris Manchester College
University of Oxford
Harris Manchester College Arlosh Quad
Arms: Gules two torches inflamed in saltire proper, on a chief argent, between two roses of the field barbed and seeded, an open book also proper.
Location	Mansfield Road (map)
Coordinates	51°45′21″N 1°15′07″W / 51.755758°N 1.252044°W / 51.755758; -1.252044
Full name	Manchester Academy and Harris College
Latin name	Collegium de Harris et Manchester
Abbreviation	HMC
Motto	Veritas Libertas Pietas (Latin)
Motto in English	Truth, Freedom, Piety
Established	1786; 240 years ago (1786)
Named after	Philip Harris, Baron Harris of Peckham
Previous names	Warrington Academy, Manchester Academy and Manchester College
Architect	Thomas Worthington
Sister college	Homerton College, Cambridge
Principal	Beth Breeze[1]
Undergraduates	113[2] (2020)
Postgraduates	178 (2020)
Endowment	£14.4 million (2020)[3]
Website	www.hmc.ox.ac.uk
JCR	hmcjcr.co.uk
Map
Location in Oxford city centre

Harris Manchester College (HMC), officially Manchester Academy and Harris College, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

It was founded in Warrington in 1757 as the Warrington Academy, a college for Unitarian students and moved to Oxford in 1893 . It became a full college of the university in 1996, taking its current name to commemorate its predecessor the Manchester Academy and a benefaction by Lord Harris of Peckham.

The college's postgraduate and undergraduate places are exclusively for students aged 21 years or over. With around 100 undergraduates and 150 postgraduates, Harris Manchester is the smallest undergraduate college in either of the Oxbridge universities.

The college started as the Warrington Academy in 1757 where its teachers included Joseph Priestley,^[4] before being refounded as the Mancester Academy in Manchester in 1786.^[5] Originally run by English Presbyterians, it was one of several dissenting academies that provided religious nonconformists with higher education, as at the time the only universities in England – Oxford and Cambridge – were restricted to Anglicans. It taught, theology, science, modern languages, language, history, and classics. Its most famous professor was John Dalton, developer of atomic theory.^[6]

The college changed its location five times before settling in Oxford. It was located in Manchester between 1786 and 1803. It moved to York until 1840. It was located at 38 Monkgate, just outside Monkbar; later this was the first building of the College of Ripon and York St John (now York St John University). The key person in York was Charles Wellbeloved, a Unitarian minister, after whom a function room in the college is named. Because he would not move to Manchester, the college moved to York to have him as head.

In 1840, when age forced him to retire, the college moved back to Manchester, where it stayed until 1853.^[7] In 1840, the college started an association with the University of London, and gained the right to present students for degrees from London. Between 1853 and 1889 the college was located in London, in University Hall, Gordon Square.^[8]

From London it moved to Oxford, opening its new buildings in 1893.^[9] In Oxford, the Unitarian Manchester College was viewed with alarm by orthodox Anglicans. William Sanday was warned that his presence at the official opening of 'an institution which professedly allows such fundamental Christian truths as the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation to be treated as open questions' would 'tend to the severance of the friendly relation subsisting between the university and the Church'.^[10]

In its early days, the college supported reforming causes, such as the abolition of slavery (1778), and the repeal of the Test Act (1828) and the Corporation Act (1828). In 1922 the principal, L.P. Jacks, hosted Rudolf Steiner to present a conference on alternative education and the model Waldorf school at Stuttgart, Germany which led to the establishment of such schools in Britain.^[11]

Women were permitted to attend some lectures in college from 1876, and in 1877, the college set up a series of examinations in theology, which could be taken by women as well as men.^[12] In 1901, Gertrude von Petzold graduated from her training at Manchester College to become a minister in the Unitarian church- the first woman to be qualified as a minister in England.^[13] This was possible despite the fact that Oxford University did not formally accept female students or award them degrees until 1920 because Manchester College was at that time associated with the University of London, which in 1878 became the first UK university to award degrees to women.^[14]

The premises of Manchester College played a role in the planning of the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944. The Ministry of Works and Buildings requisitioned most of the college's buildings on 17 October 1941 to facilitate the Naval Intelligence and the Inter-Services Topographic Department (ISTD). ISTD operations focussed on gathering of topographical intelligence for the day when the Allies would return to continental Europe.^[15]

Departments were divided between Oxford and Cambridge, but it was the ISTD section housed in Manchester College which planned Operation Overlord, known as the D-Day landings. The college's Arlosh Hall served as the main centre of operations, with Nissen huts and tents put up in the quads. The nearby School of Geography of the university also supplied the ISTD with many maps and charts which proved an essential part in the success of the invasion.^[15][16]

Manchester College became a permanent private hall of Oxford University in 1990 and subsequently a full constituent college, being granted a royal charter in 1996.^[17] At the same time, it changed its name to Harris Manchester College in recognition of a benefaction by Philip Harris, Baron Harris of Peckham. It is now formally listed in the University Statutes as Manchester Academy and Harris College, and at university ceremonies it is called Collegium de Harris et Manchester.^{[citation needed]}

Today the college only accepts students over the age of 21, both for undergraduate and graduate studies.

The college houses several research centres, including the Commercial Law Centre, directed by Kristin van Zwieten;^[18] and the Wellbeing Research Centre, directed by Jan-Emmanuel De Neve.^[19]

In 2013, a student of the college, who was a general practitioner suffering from depression, hanged himself whilst living in the college accommodations.^[20] In 2020, a student studying philosophy, politics, and economics died by overdose in her college room.^[21]

In 2017, the college was accused of racial discrimination and profiling after it warned students to be "vigilant" after a black man was spotted on the college grounds, circulating CCTV images of the person.^[22] After the college email was leaked to the public, it was revealed that the man was an alumni of Oxford University.^[23] The man later accused the college, in a Guardian op-ed, of sharing a "criminalised image" of him, because of his skin colour.^[24]

In 2020, a PhD student of the college was convicted and sentenced to prison after attempting to solicit sex from a 14-year old boy in his accommodation. Following his conviction, he was suspended from the course but remained a registered student with the college.^[25]

The main quad was designed by architect Thomas Worthington, and built between 1889 and 1893. It houses the Tate Library and the chapel. The Arlosh hall, designed by Percy Worthington, was added in 1913.^[26] The college also has several newer buildings to the West of the main quad. In 2013–2014 the Siew-Sngiem Clock Tower & Sukum Navapan Gate were added to the Arlosh quad.^[27] The inscription on the tower "It is later than you think, but it is never too late", refers to the role of the college in educating mature students.^[28][29]

The chapel designed by "Worthington and Elgood" was inaugurated in 1893. The chapel is notable for its stained-glass windows by the Pre-Raphaelite artists Sir Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, as well as its ornate wood carvings and organ, which was painted by Morris and Co. Seating in the chapel consisted of individual chairs until pews were added in 1897. The oak screen was added in 1896 and the original windows were made of plain glass until the installation of stained glass windows in 1895 and 1899.^[30]

Particularly noteworthy are the stained glass windows on the north wall of the chapel, which were installed in 1896 and depict the Six Days of Creation. These were donated by James and Isabella Arlosh in memory of their son Godfrey.^[31]

It houses a collection of books and manuscripts dating back to the fifteenth century and is famous for its antiquarian books, tract collection, and library of Protestant Dissent.^[32]

In recent years the college's ice hockey team has been successful, once winning second place in the intercollegiate cuppers tournament, with the Basketball team winning third place in its intercollegiate cuppers tournament the year before.^[33]

Harris Manchester has one of the three remaining student run college bars in Oxford (the others being Balliol College and St Cross College).^[34]

• 
  Siew-Sngiem Clock Tower and Sukum Navapan Gate
• 
  Tate Library
• 
  Stained-glass windows of chapel
• 
  College grounds
• 
  Dining hall
• 
  Exterior of chapel

• Notable people associated with Harris Manchester College
• 
  Joseph Priestley, (Warrington Academy) Credited with discovery of oxygen
• 
  Thomas Malthus, (Warrington Academy), British political economist
• 
  James Martineau (Manchester College, York), English religious philosopher
• 
  Gertrude von Petzold (Manchester College), First woman church minister in England
• 
  Tope Folarin (Harris Manchester College), Nigerian-American writer
• 
  Íngrid Betancourt (Harris Manchester College), Colombian senator and anti-corruption activist

Since October 2025 the principal of the college has been the sociologist, Beth Breeze.

• List of dissenting academies (19th century)

• Davis, V.D. (1932). A History of Manchester College: From Its Foundation in Manchester to Its Establishment in Oxford. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.
• Schulman, Frank (1999). A Fine Victorian Gentleman: The Life and Times of Charles Wellbeloved. Oxford: Harris Manchester College. ISBN 0953484912.

• Harris Manchester College official website
• Virtual tour