Rhodes Scholars, Oxford, and the Creation of an American Elite. Thomas J. Schaeper
in America, his family was shocked to see him in plus fours and a flowing cape.12
Perhaps with little comprehension of what the words meant, these fake Britons marched around singing “Gaudeamus Igitur” with more fervor than any native would have displayed.13 Some of these types also outsnobbed British students in looking down at some of their fellow Rhodes Scholars – those who were not from the “good” universities back home or who refused to smooth their rough American edges while in Britain.14
One of the pleasures of being an Oxford student that the Americans soon came to enjoy was being regarded as a gentleman all over town. Scouts, porters, shopkeepers, and waiters called them “sir.” This was part of the deference given by the working classes to their “betters.” Gentlemen often did the most ungentlemanly things, but this could usually be forgiven or accepted, provided they did them with style and paid their bills – though these need not be paid immediately. Rhodes Scholars discovered that their new status enabled them to run up tabs at the tailors, in Blackwell's bookshop, in restaurants, and in virtually every other commercial establishment. Of course, they were expected to pay up by the end of the academic year. Many businesses were exceedingly patient in this matter.15
Another feature of Oxford life that Americans readily enjoyed was the pervasive alcoholic haze that hung over the place. Most Americans, that is. Two or three members of each class were teetotalers, especially those from prohibitionist states like Kansas. These few stuck out as curiosities both to their fellow Americans as well as to the British. Tobacco, beer, wine, sherry, and brandy were staples in the rooms of nearly every undergraduate. Replenishing these supplies was usually the job of the scouts. Rhodes Scholars together with other students usually gathered each evening in one of their rooms, to talk, sing, smoke, and drink. This was the socializing factor that had been so important in Cecil Rhodes' thinking when he established the scholarships.
The students usually drank hefty amounts of beer with their evening meals in the college halls. Anyone who committed a faux pas or became the butt of a joke had to drink an entire tankard of ale without taking a breath; this was called “sconcing.” If a college's boat won the Eights races, becoming “Head of the River,” both dons and students would enjoy a tumultuous Bump Supper in the college hall.
Students were not, however, permitted to enter any of the public houses (that is, pubs) in town. The university proctors and the colleges fined any student caught in those premises. This prohibition did not result from any desire to protect innocent youths from the demon alcohol. Rather, it derived from two other factors. One was the goal of protecting young men from women “of the wrong sort.” The other stemmed from the separation of social classes in England. “Gentlemen” did not socialize with the working classes in public establishments. Instead, they drank at home or in their private clubs. Oxford students could drink in their rooms, in the JCRs, and on the college barges moored on the Isis near the boat race area. First-year students often got to know one another by partaking in “freshers' drunks.” The ubiquitous parties held at the end of each term were “jolly ups.”16
Each college had a variety of student clubs and societies. Officially these organizations were for the purpose of debates, chess, bridge, and fine dining. Unofficially, some of them were mere excuses for getting drunk. Many a Rhodes Scholar marveled at the frequency by which club meetings turned into saturnalia, with participants breaking all the glasses and furniture in sight. (The colleges added the cost of repairs to the battels each student had to pay.) There were numerous student clubs that rented rooms from private landlords in the town. The most exclusive was Vincent's Club, in which students usually dressed formally for gourmet meals. The rowdiest was the Bullingdon Club, whose exploits have been recorded in fictionalized form by Evelyn Waugh and numerous other writers. Many of these clubs survive today, though their exploits have become less raucous.
The feature of Oxford life that perhaps was most peculiar and confining for Rhodes Scholars was the myriad of rules regarding comings and goings in each college. Most Rhodes Scholars were between twenty-two and twenty-four years old when they arrived, whereas the typical British fresher was eighteen. This age difference not only created a barrier in social relations, but it meant that older men were subject to rules designed to control freshmen. Many of these regulations were no worse than those in effect on American campuses through the first half of this century, but they seemed onerous to Rhodes Scholars.
The colleges were male bastions, and academic study was meant to be a semi-monastic vocation. Thus one was not permitted to bring women into college, except on a few special occasions per year, and then only for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Most colleges required attendance at chapel each morning, though in many cases non-Anglican students could petition for exemption. Some rules had, as one bemused American stated, “the pleasant savour of antiquity.”17 These included the prohibitions on playing marbles or shooting arrows in the High Street. Others were more irksome. For example, one could be fined if caught playing billiards after 10:00 p.m. or if one were spotted walking in town after dusk without wearing one's gown. A student generally had to ask permission if he wished to be outside college after 9:00 p.m. Then there were the gates. For reasons of security, going back centuries, the colleges still locked their front gates each night, usually at midnight. Dons could ring the front bell and be admitted after that hour. But students who returned after midnight or who stayed out all night were fined heavily or “gated” – that is, forbidden to leave college for several days. No wonder that some Americans considered their new homes to be more like prisons.
Joiners or Outcasts?
Once the initial fears of a Yankee invasion had been overcome, how did the Americans get along socially with their fellow students and others whom they met? By the end of their first or second terms, the overwhelming majority did splendidly. The record through the First World War shows steady involvement in a broad range of social activities. Several were elected to the presidency or other offices in their JCRs. Many were active in their college debating societies. William Bland (1910) had the distinction of becoming the first American elected to the presidency of the Oxford Union.18
Lawrence Henry Gipson was a member of the Lincoln College Sunday Evening Debating Society. One week he was asked to join a debate and take the position that Great Britain, having lost the United States, should dissolve its Empire and grant independence to all its colonies. Gipson gamely took up the challenge, though he was vehemently booed by other students. A week later, news of the debate having spread, Gipson also gained the wrath of Rudyard Kipling. Despite this, however, Gipson loved his Oxford experience. That debate sparked his interest in the topic and led him, later in his career, to embark on his Pulitzer Prize winning fifteen-volume series The British Empire before the American Revolution.19
Franklin Russell (1911) rowed for Brasenose, but he achieved his greatest popularity through his championship skills in chess. He amazed fellow students by his ability to play several boards simultaneously-while blindfolded. He played “Board 1” on the Oxford chess team in matches against Cambridge and was one of the top boards in the combined Oxford-Cambridge teams that played matches against London clubs. He also participated in the all-England team in contests against Scotland.20
Frank Morley (1919) became active in political and social causes and was one of the founders of the Oxford Labour Club.21 Other Rhodes Scholars succeeded in introducing some American customs to their new friends. Southerners, for example, helped to make mint juleps a popular drink among many undergraduates. Rhodes Scholar singing groups like the Oriel Quartette introduced Britons to ragtime.22 During the course of his three years in Britain nearly every Rhodes Scholar was invited on several occasions to spend weekends or parts of the holidays in the homes of his British classmates or other Britons who wanted to offer hospitality to the Yanks.
One Rhodes Scholar ended up marrying the daughter of his scout.23 That shows how well many of the Americans were getting along socially. Yet, ironically, it also indicated that they would never get absorbed completely into British ways. This union of the educated elite with a member of the domestic servant class was something that the typical Oxford student would never consider.
Some Americans were so active socially that it is