Cost of a college education in the 1700's

[bwarnerok]

I have a Reverend William Parker who was at St. James Piccadilly and is listed as having attended Oxford and died about 1803.

His brother or nephew was Captain William Parker who was in the Royal Engineers and was the Governor of the Isle of Man for awhile before he died in 1793.

In my research of the Royal Engineers it appears that this was not a group that you could buy your commission and that it was mandatory that you attend the school at which time you were an Engineer and then granted the comparable army commission.

A brother of the Rev Parker, James Parker, patented Parker's Roman Cement in 1796 but there are suggestions that he was also a member of the clergy although I have not found him in any biographies or school records.

Nowhere have I found what the requirements were to enter these colleges. Was money the only requirement or did it take sponsors and/or social status as well?

Betsy

[Jan1954]

I have a Reverend William Parker who was at St. James Piccadilly and is listed as having attended Oxford and died about 1803...

...Nowhere have I found what the requirements were to enter these colleges. Was money the only requirement or did it take sponsors and/or social status as well?

Betsy

Betsy,

If you look at the Wikipedia entry for Oxford Colleges, it lists the colleges that are at Oxford with links to their individual websites.

If you know which college William attended, you could try it and check out their history page.

Jan

[bwarnerok]

I've tried that route and the histories talk about the improvements in buildings, etc that happened in different eras, they never get right down to who could attend and what the requirements were.

I read somewhere that some of the colleges required you be Church of England which would have kept out some of the population regardless of their financial or social status but otherwise, I've not come across any other requirements.

--b