Opening of Darbishire (East as was)

As the opening of the new ROQ buildings grows nearer, it seems appropriate to show the opening ceremony of a Somerville building from years gone by.  This is an informal snap taken at the 1935 opening of the East Quadrangle (now know as Darbishire).  The ceremony took place at the Gaudy for that year, when Dorothy L Sayers happened to be Chairman of the Somerville Association.  She can be glimpsed, third from the right,  turning round to talk to someone in the back row.  DLS immortalised this particular Gaudy in her novel Gaudy Night written the following year,  which was set in  fictional Shrewsbury College – a thinly disguised Somerville!

Maude Clarke

Maude Clarke was a tutor in history at Somerville from 1919 till her early death in 1935.  A noted medievalist in a still largely male academic world, she published important and sometimes controversial work on fourteenth century England with a particular focus on constitutional history.  We have eight of her publications in the College library but many more books that she gave the College during her sixteen year career at Somerville and on her death.  One of her first pupils when she arrived at Somerville was Vera Brittain who based one of the characters in her first novel Dark Tide on Maude Clarke.   

Maude Clarke was highly respected by colleagues and students for her charm, wisdom and clarity.  She was particularly valued for her contributions to college governance and administration where she combined a sense of due process with a skilful tact and diplomacy.

Maude Clarke’s study in East Quad (now Darbishire) c 1934

Approaching House in the 1880s

Approach to House in the early days of Somerville, almost unrecognisably rural!  The cottages on the right were originally used to house students but were demolished in 1930s to make way for the East quadrangle which is now known as Darbishire.  Below is the roughly equivalent view today.

Darbishire

View towards House through Darbishire Quad