Wolfson College, Oxford, remembers a great Jewish philanthropist of the 20th century

Wolfson College, Oxford, remembers Sir Isaac Wolfson, one of the great Jewish philanthropists of the 20th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

Wolfson College on the banks of the River Cherwell in north Oxford is an all-graduate college with around 60 governing body fellows, as well as both research and junior research fellows. Like the majority of the newer colleges in Oxford, it has been coeducational since its foundation in 1965.

The name of Wolfson College remembers one of the great Jewish philanthropists of the 20th century, Sir Isaac Wolfson (1897-1991), who set up the Wolfson Foundation in 1955 to promote education, health and youth activities.

The Wolfson Foundation was instrumental in founding Wolfson College, Oxford, and Sir Isaac Wolfson was a Founder Fellow. He gives his name to a number of buildings in Oxford and also to Wolfson College, Cambridge. This makes him the only non-religious figure to have a college named after him in both Oxford and Cambridge, and one of a handful of figures – including the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, Saint Peter, Catherine of Alexandria and Edmund of Abingdon – who have both Cambridge and Oxford colleges named after them.

The influential political philosopher Sir Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) was the first president of Wolfson College, Oxford. He was instrumental in its founding in 1965 and in establishing its traditions of academic excellence and egalitarianism.

Isaiah Berlin was renowned for his conversational brilliance, his defence of liberalism and pluralism, his opposition to political extremism and intellectual fanaticism, and his accessible writings on people and ideas.

Wolfson College began life as Iffley College, offering a new community for graduate students at Oxford, particularly in natural and social sciences. Twelve other Oxford colleges provided grants towards the establishment of Iffley College.

However, in 1965 the college had neither a president nor a building. Berlin set out to change this, eventually securing support from the Wolfson Foundation and the Ford Foundation in 1966 to establish a separate site for the college. This included Cherwell, the former residence of the physician, physiologist and philosopher JS Haldane, as well as new buildings built around it.

The coat of arms of Wolfson College echo the coat of arms of Sir Isaac Wolfson (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

In recognition of Sir Isaac Wolfson’s contribution to the foundation of the college, its name was changed from Iffley College to Wolfson College.

Today, Wolfson College is one of the largest graduate colleges in the University of Oxford and it is unique in its academic scope and international reach. The main college building one of the most modern main buildings of all Oxford colleges. It has three quadrangles: the central quadrangle named the Berlin Quad after Isaiah Berlin; the Tree Quad built around established trees; and the River Quad, where the River Cherwell has been diverted to form a punt harbour.

The college hall is one of the few in Oxford to have a common table. Past fellows have included Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994), the biographer of John Desmond Bernal, who supervised her PhD research in Cambridge. She also did pioneering research on Vitamin B12, one of the most structurally complex vitamins known, and brought her the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964.

Wolfson College stands within 13 acres of stunning gardens, including the newly opened ‘Bishop’s Garden’ at 27 Linton Road.

Wolfson College stands within 13 acres of gardens (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Sir Isaac Wolfson was a Scottish businessman and philanthropist, the managing director of the mail order business Great Universal Stores (GUS) or Gussies in 1932-1947 and the chairman in 1947-1987.

He was born in Glasgow, the son of a Jewish cabinet maker, Solomon Wolfson, an immigrant from Rajgród in Poland, who settled in the Gorbals. At school in Glasgow, he was highly capable in mathematics. But he could not afford to train as an accountant and so became a salesman for his father, who made cheap tables and chairs for local people.

He left for London in 1920, and started his own business, selling clocks, mirrors and upholstery. In 1926 he married Edith Specterman, whose father owned a chain of suburban cinemas and helped him financially in his early days.

He joined Great Universal Stores in 1932, becoming joint managing director later that year. He turned the company round, and made it not only a very strong business but also the principal source of his wealth. He was succeeded by his son Leonard Wolfson.

Wolfson was a devout Orthodox Jew, and in 1962 he was appointed president of the United Synagogue, the first to be selected from descendants of 19th century Jewish immigrants. He is quoted as having said, ‘No man should have more than £100,000. The rest should go to charity’. He gave immense amounts to charities: from 1948 he included Zionist charities at the urging of his friend Israel Sieff.

When a new post-war synagogue was built in Great Portland Street, London, in 1956-1958 to replace the Central Synagogue destroyed during the blitz in 1941, it was mainly thanks to Sir Isaac Wolfson and his son, the philanthropist Leonard Wolfson (1927-2010), Lord Wolfson, who lived in Portland Place.

The Wolfsons offered £25,000 towards rebuilding the Central Synagogue, which meant that, with war-damage compensation, the new building would cost the congregation very little.

The new synagogue was designed by C Edmund Wilford & Sons in 1956-1958, who was appointed the architect at the suggestion of Leonard Wolfson. Wilford had made a name with cinemas before World War II. He had no known connection with the Jewish community, but may have worked for the Wolfsons and Great Universal Stores. The foundation stone of the new Central Synagogue was laid by Sir Isaac Wolfson and the synagogue was consecrated by the Chief Rabbi, Dr Israel Brodie, on 23 March 1958.

The Wolfson Hall at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, is a 20th-century dining hall behind the the Front Quad and the older, traditional college buildings (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Sir Isaac Wolfson set up the Wolfson Foundation in 1955 to distribute most of his fortune to good causes, and to support the advancement of education, health and youth activities. The charity awards grants to support work in science and medicine, health, education, the arts and humanities.

The Wolfson Foundation has supported the establishment of Wolfson College, Oxford, Wolfson College, Cambridge, the Wolfson Building at Somerville College, Oxford, the Wolfson Building at Trinity College, Cambridge, the Wolfson Room at St David’s College, and the Wolfson Building on the Milton Keynes Campus of the Open University. There are professorships named after him at Bar-Ilan, Haifa, Jerusalem, Oxford and Tel Aviv.

The Wolfson Building at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, was built in 2021. It offers Britain’s first dedicated centre for the prevention of stroke and dementia research, and brings together a complementary research group.

The Wolfson Building at Somerville College on Walton Street, Oxford, is a residential block for students and staff, with ground floor meeting room. It was built in 1966-1967.

The Wolfson Hall at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, is a 20th-century dining hall that seats about 230 people. It is used by students on a daily basis for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and stands behind the Front Quad.

Shabbat Shalom