Wills Hall

Wills Hall
University of Bristol
Inside Old Quad as seen from centre lawn
Location	Stoke Bishop, Bristol, England
Coordinates	51°29′00″N 2°37′38″W / 51.483209°N 2.627198°W / 51.483209; -2.627198Coordinates: 51°29′00″N 2°37′38″W / 51.483209°N 2.627198°W / 51.483209; -2.627198
Motto	Pro Aris et Focis (Latin)
Motto in English	For our altars and our hearths
Founder	George Alfred Wills
Established	1929
Architect	Sir George Oatley
Residents	370
Website	www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Wills/home.htm
Map
Location in Bristol

Wills Hall is one of more than twenty halls of residence in the University of Bristol. It is located high on the Stoke Bishop site on the edge of the Bristol Downs, accessed via Parry's Lane, and houses 330+ students in two quadrangles. The majority of these students are in their first year of study, but a number of students from other years stay on to contribute to hall life.

History

The name Wills Hall reflects the university's connection with the Wills family. The fortune made by their famous tobacco empire, W. D. & H. O. Wills and later Imperial Tobacco, enabled Henry Overton Wills III to fund the University's foundation in 1908 with a pledge of £100,000 and he financed many of its finest buildings, such as the Wills Memorial Building. His son George Alfred Wills provided the money to build a hall of residence in memory of his brother Henry Herbert Wills on the site of Downside House, formerly the residence of the Georges, a family of Bristol brewers.

George Alfred Wills originally planned to base the residence around Goldney Hall in Clifton, next to Clifton Hill House. However, the Warden of the all-female Clifton Hill House felt that having so many young men so close to her residents would pose a significant risk and demanded that the new hall be sited at least two miles away. Thus Downside House in Stoke Bishop was purchased, and a quadrangle of accommodation blocks erected around it according to the design of Sir George Oatley, with the rooms arranged on staircases (called "houses", A to N). It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.^[1] A Latin inscription on the exterior of the dining hall dedicated the hall to Henry Herbert.

Downside House, now the Warden's lodge

Wills Hall was officially opened by Winston Churchill in 1929, then the Chancellor of the University. When he returned to open Churchill Hall in the late 1950s, he allowed himself to be "kidnapped" and his "release" was allowed only after he signed the following statement, that used to be displayed in the Warden's House at Wills, but which is now in the University's Special Collections Department:

"I Winston Spencer Churchill MP, CH Chancellor of the University of Bristol, Declare There be No Finer Hostel Than Wills Hall Among The Universities of the British Empire".^[2]

The initial quadrangle sufficed until rising student numbers precipitated the building of a further accommodation block, New Court - an L-shaped configuration of three linked houses (X, Y and Z) which was opened in 1961, the original quadrangle then becoming known as Old Court. Another expansion, in 1990, included a further accommodation block arranged on three floors (U, V and W) which featured en-suite rooms and a conference centre, the better to place the University in the conference market, which was becoming an important source of revenue.^[3]. Together with X, Y and Z houses, the new development completed a quadrangle and New Court became known as New Quad, with Old Court being renamed Old Quad.

Having initially been an all-male institution, Wills became the last hall to accept both sexes, and went mixed in 1985, despite opposition from some traditionalists. In that first year, 70 women took up residence alongside 200 men, and over the next few years the numbers of women residents rose quickly. Wills today is equally balanced between the sexes. The first woman JCR president was Elise O'Connor, elected in 1986; one of the first women residents, Jane Thompson, became Deputy Warden in 1987.

The Wills name indicates clearly that the Hall owes its existence to a family fortune derived from the tobacco trade in the American Republic. The tobacco trade was hugely important to whole city of Bristol in the 18th century when slave-produced tobacco mostly came from plantations in America. American tobacco was produced by slave labour until 1865, and this included plantations owned by the Wills family. The slave trade was formally abolished in 1807, although the Act did not abolish slavery itself. The founding donation by the Wills family to the University was made in 1908. There is debate in the city and University of Bristol about historical links with slavery. Some advocate rescinding all nomenclature tainted by such trade. Others take the view that names may stay but the implications of historical donations must be interrogated and challenged.

When the University of Bristol conducted a review of all its residential pastoral services in 2017-18 there was energetic resistance within the University to these plans and some coverage in the press.^[4]

Motto

Over the main entrance to Wills Hall can be seen a shield emblazoned with the Wills family crest and their motto "Pro Aris et Focis". This Latin phrase literally means "for our altars and our hearths", but is used by ancient authors to express attachment to all that was most dear and venerable.

Warden and Deputy Warden

After a University-wide review of pastoral care in 2017-18, the posts of Warden and Deputy Warden were discontinued as of 1 September 2018 after nearly 90 years. The last Warden of Wills Hall was Robert Vilain, Professor of German and Comparative Literature in the School of Modern Languages. The last Deputy Warden was Chris Raistrick, who was a data manager in the University's School of Social and Community Medicine. Student welfare in Wills Hall is now the responsibility of the Head of Student Residential Life (North Village) and his team.

Organ Scholarship

An Organ Scholarship is still offered annually by the Hall, funded by generous donations from former members. The Organ Scholar will usually play for services and some concerts, and is often also dragooned into accompanying the carols at the annual Hall Christmas Formal.

The Wills Hall Association presented Wills Hall with an eleven-stop two-manual pipe organ to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Hall. The organ was built by Peter Collins in 1983 when it was installed in St. Alban's Abbey for the International Organ Festival. It was then moved to the Christian Science Church in Clifton until the closure of that church in 2007, whereupon it was transferred to Wills. The inaugural recital on the organ was given by David Bednall, the University Organist, on 1 November 2008.

Facilities

The Old Quad in the snow

Back of Old Quad as seen from the Cedar Lawn

Wills Hall has a lively bar that is open most evenings and staffed by residents of Wills or other halls. The bar runs quizzes, film nights, sports broadcasts and other events, and functions as a major social hub for the hall. There are theme-nights, including alcohol-free events, and the JCR frequently launches its functions from the Bar.

The Monica Wills Chapel was opened in 1930. It hosts a number of services a week (e.g. evensong, compline) for students from all the Stoke Bishop halls, usually on Friday evenings during term-time, and there are well-attended Christmas and Armistice events. It is also used to stage plays and concerts, and houses a grand piano and a harpsichord as well as a fully refurbished organ. The WHA is currently fund-raising to replace the piano with a concert-standard grand so that the Chapel, with its excellent acoustic, can be used for University and private concerts.

Wills Hall has an oak-panelled dining room, often likened to that of an Oxbridge college, and the Hall's architect, Sir George Oatley, deliberately took inspiration from the proportions and styles of certain Oxford Colleges when making his designs. The Hall houses tennis and squash courts that are shared with the other halls on the Stoke Bishop Site; there is a croquet lawn (and an annual croquet tournament), a table tennis room, and an oak-panelled billiard room that dates back to the original Downside House (1840s).

Formal Hall used to be a weekly tradition within Wills (and in earliest times was held every day), but in the last decade "formals" have only been held every two or three weeks, with some 14-15 such events each year. Dress has been formal (black tie / lounge suit, long / short), and residents wore an academic gown. Latin grace (Benedictus benedicat and Benedicto benedicatur) used to be said by the Warden at the beginning and end of dinner, and there was usually a speech during dessert, given either by the Warden or by a notable guest. Speeches were often on contemporary social and political issues, and rejoinders were invited from members of the Hall if the topic was controversial. A reduced diet of formal dinners continues under the new pastoral system.

Junior Common Room (JCR)

A major part of Hall life for all students is the Junior Common Room, comprising the bar and the adjacent Old Quad Lounge. The phrase also refers to the whole body of undergraduate residents of the Hall: they elect a JCR Committee annually, which organizes a wide variety of social events, parties, guest nights, debates and quizzes. It sponsors a sell-out annual summer event, recently arranged jointly with Badock Hall, the "Founders' Ball". JCR committee membership and activity are recognized as a significant component of a strong CV for residents.

The Hall's theatrical society, the Wills Hall Amateur Theatrical Society (WHATS), performs musicals, plays and variety shows for audiences from the Stoke Bishop halls and beyond. Recent productions include Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem in 2016. The discussion club "Barneys" (named after a brand of tobacco that rivalled the Wills products), dates back to the 1930s and is still going strong, with regular speaker-meetings in term time and an annual dinner at which a distinguished guest delivers a stimulating speech.

Wills Hall used to publish its own newsletter, The Executor, which was edited by students in hall and was published several times a year. This was the successor to the Wills Hall Loo Sheet, a newsletter that took its name from the fact that it was distributed by being posted in all communal lavatories around the hall. In 2015, a satirical newspaper called The Oracle was published for two issues before being shut down.^[5] There is scope for a revival of such publications.

Wills Hall Association

Former members of Hall are encouraged to join The Wills Hall Association, which has been running since 1930. The Association offers very good networking opportunities for old members and holds a well-attended annual reunion in Bristol every summer in July when former members return for a reception in one of the gardens followed by a black-tie dinner in Hall with a notable guest speaker. In 2009 the guest of honour was Bob Marshall-Andrews QC MP, parliamentarian and wit; in 2016 the speaker was the new Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Hugh Brady; 2017 saw Lord Boateng (Bristol graduate and former resident of Badock Hall) give an inspiring speech. The July event includes a concert or recital and a service in the Monica Wills Chapel. The Association also holds a popular annual reception in London in the autumn, which attracts members who live in London and the South East, a "young members" bar night in London, and a reception that used to be held in the Warden's House (usually in February or March) but will in future take place in the Dame Monica Wills Chapel following the recently instituted Arthur Graves Lecture. Colonel Graves was the fifth Warden of Wills, a kind and popular man, and generous donations from former residents have allowed the WHA to institute an annual lecture in his memory. The Association produces a Yearbook and a Newsletter for its growing membership which comes from every era of those who enjoyed Wills Hall from the 1930s to the present.

Wardens

There have been ten Wardens of Wills Hall, the last being made redundant in August 2018, a year short of the Hall's 90th anniversary:

• Harry Norton Matthews (1929-1935)
• Richard Keigwin (1935-1945)
• Oliver Kendall (1945-1959)
• John Sloane (1959-1973)
• Arthur Graves (1973-1982)
• Sean Gill (1982-1991)
• Phyllida Parsloe (1991-1997)
• Donald Shell (1997-2009)
• Julian Rivers (2009-2015)
• Robert Vilain (2015-2018)

Controversy

In 2003, as part of the national controversy surrounding claims that British universities were discriminating in favour of public school applicants, The Observer ran an article purporting to highlight class-strife and prejudice in Wills.^[6] Letters in reply followed the next week vigorously defending Wills.^[7]

In 2008 a Harrow-educated undergraduate at Wills Hall crashed a Mini Cooper in the grounds of the Hall while intoxicated.^[8] Vehicles (including the Warden's), beds and other unorthodox objects have mysteriously appeared on the lawn of the Old Quad on many occasions.

In 2017 there were allegedly incidents of drink-spiking in the Hall's "welcome week", widely reported in the press. None could be medically confirmed as spiking. The Warden and other pastoral staff responded quickly and firmly and no further incidents were reported.^[9]

In December 2017 the University announced a new model for pastoral support in the residences, which included the abolition of the posts of Warden, Deputy Warden and Student Support Adviser. Support from 2018-19 is provided from offices in central 'hubs' or 'villages', each serving a group of halls. Wills is served from a hub based in Hiatt Baker Hall. There are a small number of Senior Residents and a Chief Resident (undergraduate and postgraduate students) living on site in Wills Hall, but staff are based in the hub and are contactable in person or by phone 24/7.

The decision to implement a new system of pastoral care generated significant controversy, reflected in the national and local press, partly in the light of Bristol University's regrettable record of student suicides (11 since 2016). The first proposals by the University were modified in February 2018. Students resident in Wills Hall were very prominent in the debate surrounding the changes, leading on a petition that secured thousands of signatures and publishing in student and national newspapers. No action was taken by the University in response to this petition. ^[10]

Filming

The 2012 BBC television film The Best of Men was filmed at Wills Hall, Manor Hall and Goldney Hall in Bristol.

Notable former students

• James Blunt, musician
• Derren Brown, illusionist
• Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver FRS, Engineer and former Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University
• Sir Liam Donaldson, former Chief Medical Officer for England
• David Gibbins, author
• Peter Haggett, geographer and academic
• Bob Marshall-Andrews QC, MP (Labour)
• Laura Tomlinson, Olympic gold-medallist (team dressage)
• Georgie Twigg, Olympic gold-medallist (hockey)
• Stephen Williams, MP (Liberal Democrat)

References

External links

• Wills Hall official website
• Wills Hall Association
• Wills Hall JCR