> Thematic History

> 1850-1901:
Education for Women
- Victorian Ideals
- Woman Physician
- Ladies College

> 1902-1913:
Education & Vocation
- Learning at ELC
- The Westfield Way

> 1914-1945:
War & Circumstance
- The Great War
- WWII Evacuation
- Learning & Leisure

> 1946-1959:
Peace & Acceptance
- Restoration
- Medicine & Dentistry

> 1960-present:
Change & Opportunity
- Women in Science
- Creativity & Diversity
- Then & Now

Students and staff continued university life despite disruption from air raid warnings and the constantly changing international situation. Westfield students assimilated well into Oxford University life, with several becoming presidents of University societies and all enjoying the benefits of access to Oxford libraries, lectures and the Botanical Gardens, and use of the University’s Botanical Laboratories.

Two Westfield students at St Peter’s Hall, Oxford, 1939-1940 academic session. Courtesy of Queen Mary, University of London Archives.

Westfield College Annual Report, 1939-40. Courtesy of Queen Mary, University of London Archives.

War, however, was never far from people’s minds, and entrants in 1941-42 in particular were affected by the call-up for national service, with 65 students departing for the services or civilian war work.

Westfield College, Principal’s Log Book, May 1940.
Courtesy of Queen Mary, University of London Archives.

During the wartime evacuation, Principal Mary Stocks, continued the practice of keeping notes of College life in the Principal's Log Book. She described the experiences and anxieties of wartime, and how Westfield students assimilated easily with university life in Oxford. This page includes items on the war situation and how staff and students managed during their evacuation from Hampstead to Oxford.

The College Archives hold the Principal's Log Book and other materials that tell the story of Westfield's wartime evacuation, including a recording of Rosalind Hill's vivid reminiscences. More...