Royal Holloway University: A Legacy of Education and Notable Alumni

Royal Holloway, formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, stands as a public research university and a distinguished member institution of the federal University of London. Situated on a sprawling campus in Egham, between Windsor and Heathrow, the university boasts a rich history and a legacy of producing notable alumni across diverse fields.

Founding and Early Years

The Egham campus was founded in 1879 by the Victorian entrepreneur and philanthropist Thomas Holloway. Holloway, proprietor of Holloway’s Pills and Holloway’s Ointment, decided to found a college for women in England. This decision was influenced by George Martin's (his father-in-law) visit to Vassar College. Royal Holloway College was officially opened in 1886 by Queen Victoria as an all-women college. The Founder's Building, a Grade I listed red-brick building modelled on the Château de Chambord of the Loire Valley, France, dominates the campus. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner called the original college building "the most ebullient Victorian building in the Home Counties", and noted that together with its sister building the Holloway Sanatorium, it represents "the summit of High Victorian design".

In 1900, the college became a member of the University of London. It wasn't until 1945 that the college admitted male postgraduate students, followed by the admission of around 100 of the first male undergraduates in 1965.

Merger with Bedford College

A significant chapter in Royal Holloway's history unfolded in 1985 when it merged with Bedford College, another former all-women's college in London. Bedford College was founded by Elizabeth Jesser Reid in 1849 as a higher education college for the education of women. The merged college was named Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (RHBNC), this remaining the official registered name of the college by Act of Parliament. The Royal Holloway and Bedford New College Act 1985 was enacted to incorporate the Royal Holloway and Bedford New College; to transfer to the Royal Holloway and Bedford New College all rights, properties, assets and liabilities of the Royal Holloway College and Bedford College and to dissolve those colleges; to enact provisions with regard to the Royal Holloway and Bedford New College; and for other purposes.

Development and University Status

Since the merger with Bedford College, Royal Holloway has entered into collaborative discussions with Brunel University and St George's, University of London. Royal Holloway applied for university status in its own right following the passing of the University of London Act 2018. In 2022, it became a university in its own right within the University of London.

Read also: Notable Alumni of Royal Holloway

Campus and Facilities

Royal Holloway's campus is set in 135 acres (55 ha) of woodland. Around 200 species of shrubs, 150 different types of tree and numerous wild flowering plants can be found in RHC's parkland. The nearest station is Egham.

The Founder's Building contains a chapel, kitchen and dining hall, lecture theatre and the original reading room along with student rooms and offices. A number of recent projects undertaken by Royal Holloway have included an extension to the School of Management (2005 and 2011) and the library (which holds half a million books). The biological sciences laboratories have also been renovated and the Windsor Building (opened in 2007) houses seminar rooms and a 400-seat auditorium. In 2013, the Student Services Centre, which is a single point of contact for all non-academic enquiries, was opened in the Windsor Building. The Drama Department expanded its performance space with the opening of the Caryl Churchill Theatre, which seats almost 200 audience members across two levels and has a third floor for technical operation, in 2013.

The size of the campus has allowed the college to develop some of the best sports facilities of any university institution in the London area, and helped build the college's reputation as a sporting institution of excellence. An aerobics studio, fitness suite, sports Hall, sports fields and tennis courts account for some of the sporting facilities that Royal Holloway offers. The Sports Centre was refurbished in 2013 while a bequest by Margaret Young in 2014 enabled the college to further develop its sports facilities. Starting in 2015, work on constructing a new Library and Student Services Centre began.

Governance and Administration

The University Council is the governing body of the University with responsibility for "financial integrity and setting the overall strategic direction of Royal Holloway." There are 25 members of the council, many of whom are lay members from outside Royal Holloway who are initially appointed for five years.

Royal Holloway's coat of arms consists of the Royal Holloway shield and its surrounding elements. There are three crescents shown on the coat of arms, which are taken from Thomas Holloway's own coat of arms. Taken from the Bedford coat of arms, the field is coloured black and gold in a chequered design, with the addition of ermine spots (feather-like symbols representing ermine tails) from the Royal Holloway coat. Placed between two black lozenges, there is a lamp of learning. The Royal Holloway shield was created following the merger of Bedford and Royal Holloway Colleges in 1985.

Read also: Tuition Guide: Royal Holloway

Academic Excellence

In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, published on 12 May 2022, it was confirmed that Royal Holloway sits within the top 25 per cent of UK universities for "world-leading" and "internationally excellent" research. In the REF assessment, 88 per cent of Royal Holloway's research is rated as world-leading (4) and internationally excellent (3). In addition, 42 per cent of Royal Holloway's research is rated as world-leading (4*).

Royal Connections

Since its grand opening by Queen Victoria, Royal Holloway has enjoyed many royal connections. Queen Elizabeth marked the college centenary in 1986 with a visit to open the new Earth Sciences building (Queen’s Building). On 14 March 2014, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, were welcomed to Royal Holloway when they attended a ceremony to celebrate the Regius Professorship being bestowed on the Department of Music: the first of its kind. The Music Department was awarded the Regius Professorship by the Queen to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

Art Collection

Royal Holloway has a collection of important paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and watercolours from the 17th century and later. Artists include Sir John Everett Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, Christopher Nevinson, John Nash and Dame Laura Knight. The gallery is in Founder's and is open to the public every Wednesday during the autumn and spring terms and some weekends throughout the year. At the heart of the collections are the legacies of two Victorian collectors: founder Thomas Holloway and artist Christiana Herringham (1852-1929). The Two Princes Edward and Richard in the Tower, 1483 by Sir John Everett Millais, 1878.

The initial plans for the college did not include a picture gallery but Holloway was inspired to start his own art collection for his students after his brother-in-law visited Vassar College, then the world's leading college for women, which had a superb collection of art. In 1881, at the age of 81, Holloway started to buy paintings to form his collection. He amassed paintings at a fast rate and he had completed his art collection by 1883. In total he purchased 77 paintings. The pieces in the Herringham collection reflect her interests in the old masters, Indian art and women's suffrage.

The collections are a teaching resource for the Victorian Studies Centre for teaching and research in Victorian art, architecture and literature, including a taught MA under the Department of English.

Student Life

The Royal Holloway Students' Union (RHSU) actively represents and provides a service for the needs and interests of all students studying at Royal Holloway. The students' union runs general meetings, which provide an opportunity to discuss issues, make student announcements and engage in lively debate. The main union building on campus includes a large function hall, two bars, the Tommy's Kitchen food outlet and its administrative offices.

rhubarbTV is Royal Holloway's student television station, which relaunched in March 2013. The student and community radio station Insanity Radio 103.2FM was established in 1998. The Founder is the independent student newspaper.

Most halls are part of the main campus, and initially allocated to first year students who firmly accept a conditional or unconditional offer. The Founder's Building houses 493 students in original Victorian rooms and converted space, which underwent refurbishment in 2012. Kingswood I and II are 1-mile (1.6 km) away. These halls hold more than 400 students, and a free bus service operates to the campus.

Notable Alumni

Royal Holloway boasts a diverse and accomplished alumni network spanning various fields, including entertainment, literature, politics, science, sports, and other areas. Here are some notable alumni:

Entertainment, Media, and Theatre

Ali Hashem (born 1980): Lebanese journalist, writer, and broadcaster.
Chris Aldridge: British radio newsreader (BBC Radio 4).
Debra Barr (born 1986): Apprentice candidate, Series 5.
David Benson (born 1962): English comedian, writer, and actor.
Peter Bramley: British actor, director, and theatre director.
Mark Carwardine: Zoologist, writer, wildlife photographer, TV and radio presenter.
Candace Chong Mui Ngam: Hong Kong playwright.
Richard Clarke (born 1978): English radio presenter.
James Dagwell (born 1974): British journalist.
Isabel Fay (born 1979): English comedy writer and character comedian.
Emma Freud OBE (born 1962): English broadcaster and cultural commentator.
Pippa Guard (born 1952): English actress.
Janice Hadlow: Controller of BBC Two.
Lenny Henry (born 1958): Television presenter, comedian, actor and writer.
Alex Hyndman (born 1978): British newsreader.
Robin Ince (born 1969): English comedian, actor and writer.
Anthony Jabre: Film producer and financier.
Karena Johnson: English theatre director.
Roxanne McKee (born 1980): Canadian-born British actress and model.
John Moloney: Comedian and comedy writer.
Mary Nightingale (born 1964): British newsreader.
Jeremy Northam (born 1961): Actor.
Simon Nye (born 1958): English comic television writer.
Lucy Owen (born 1970): Welsh newsreader.
Ben Richardson (b.198?): British cinematographer.
Mark Strong (born 1963): English actor.
Francis Wheen (born 1957): British journalist, writer, and broadcaster.
Roger Wright (born 1956): Controller of BBC Radio 3 and director of the BBC Proms.
Georgina Campbell: English actress.

Literature

Tahmima Anam (born 1975): Bangladeshi-born writer and novelist.
Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884-1969): English novelist.
Richmal Crompton (1890-1969): English writer of Just William.
George Eliot (1819-1880): British novelist, poet, journalist, translator.
Jane Gardam OBE FRSL (born 1928): Novelist.
Rosemary Manning (1911-1988): British author.
Gerda Mayer: English poet.
Jojo Moyes (born 1969): English journalist, screenwriter and novelist.
Redell Olsen (born 1971): Poet, performer, and academic.
Sophie Robinson (born 1985): Contemporary English poet.
Miranda Seymour (born 1948): Biographer, novelist.
Jacqueline Simpson (born 1930): British author and folklorist.
Carol Townend (born 1953): English author.
Freya Madeline Stark: British-Italian explorer and travel writer.
Kate Williams: British historian, author, and television presenter.

Music

Richard Baker (born 1972): British composer and conductor.
Susan Bullock CBE (born 1958): English soprano.
Jonathan Cole (born 1970): British composer.
Tansy Davies (born 1973): British composer.
Example (musician) (born 1982): English musician, singer, songwriter and record producer.
Sarah Fox (born 1973): English operatic soprano.
Geoff Hannan (born 1972): British composer.
Dame Felicity Lott DBE (born 1947): English soprano.
Paul Newland (born 1966): British composer.
Ewan Pearson (born 1972): British music producer.
Andrew Poppy (born 1954): British composer, pianist, and music producer.
China Soul (born 1988): American-British singer/songwriter.
Joby Talbot: British composer.
Joby Talbot (born 1971): British composer
KT Tunstall (born 1975): Scottish singer and songwriter.
John Scott Whiteley (born 1950): York Minster organist and composer.

Politics

Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi (born 1957): Iranian politician.
Catherine Ashton (born 1956): British Labour politician; High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; vice president, European Commission.
Norman Baker (born 1957): Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes 1997-2015.
Gregory Barker MP (born 1966): British politician.
Emily Davison (1872-1913): English suffragette activist.
Dame Janet Fookes DBE DL (born 1936): English politician, Conservative member House of Lords.
Norvela Forster (1931-1993): British businesswoman, exporter and politician (MEP).
Jean Henderson (1899-1997): British barrister and Liberal Party politician.
Moussa Ibrahim (born 1974): Gaddafi spokesman during the 2011 Libyan civil war.
Stewart Jackson MP (born 1965): British politician.
Tess Kingham (born 1963): British politician.
Jessica Lee MP (born 1976): British politician.
Victoria Prentis MP (born 1971): Conservative MP.
Jenny Randerson (born 1948): Welsh Liberal Democrat politician.
Andrew Stephenson MP (born 1981): British politician.
Frances Stevenson (1888-1972): Personal secretary and second wife of David Lloyd George.
Valerie Vaz MP (born 1954): British politician.
Diana Warwick, Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (born 1945): Labour member House of Lords.
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay: Indian social reformer.

Science

David Bellamy OBE (1933-2019): Botanist, environmentalist, author and broadcaster.
Martin Buck FRS (born 1956): Microbiologist.
John B. Cosgrave (born 1946): Irish mathematician.
Jackie Hunter (born 1956): Chief executive BBSRC.
Dame Kathleen Lonsdale DBE FRS (1903-1971): Crystallographer.
Rosalind Pitt-Rivers FRS (1907-1990): Biochemist.
Helen Porter FRS (1899-1987): Botanist, first female professor of Imperial College London.
Eva Germaine Rimington Taylor (1871-1966): English geographer, historian of science.
Derek Yalden (1940-2013): English zoologist, reader at the University of Manchester.

Sport

Sophie Christiansen CBE (born 1987): Gold medal winner, Paralympics equestrian events.
Jessica Eddie (born 1984): British rower, Olympic silver medalist.
Helene Raynsford (born 1979): British paralympic rower and gold medallist.
Andy Sheridan (born 1979): Rugby Union, Sale Sharks and England.
Joe Saward (born 1961): British Formula One journalist.
Alex Lewington (born 1991): English rugby player.
Theo Brophy-Clews (born 1997): English rugby player.
Adrian Genziani: Olympic rower.

Other

Kitty Anderson DBE (1903-79): BA PhD Head North London Collegiate School 1945-65.
Muhammad Abdul Bari MBE (b.1953): Former Secretary General Muslim Council of Britain.
Sophie Bryant (1850-1922): Anglo-Irish mathematician, educator, feminist and activist.
Helen Cam CBE FRHistS (1885-1968): English historian.
Lucy Caslon: Founder and director of charity Msizi Africa.
Ilse Crawford (born 1962): British designer.
Edith Durham (1863-1944): British traveller, artist, writer and anthropologist.
Tania El Khoury (born 1976): Lebanese artist.
Dame Janet Finch (born 1946): VC, Prof Social Rel, Keele 1995-2010, hon fellow RHC 1999.
Jayne-Anne Gadhia (born 1961): Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Money UK.
Robert Garside (born 1967): English record-breaking adventurer.
Nick Hallard (born 1975): British artist.
Giles Hart (1949-2005): British engineer and trade union activist.
Duncan McCargo: British academic.
Louisa Martindale CBE FRCOG (1872-1966): British physician and surgeon.
Victor Olisa QPM: Former senior Metropolitan Police officer.
Jennifer Page CBE (b. 1944): Former chief executive of the London Millennium Dome project.
Thea Porter (1927-2000): Fashion designer (expelled).
Sarah Parker Remond (1815-c.1894): African-American lecturer, abolitionist and doctor.
Simon Thurley CBE (born 1963): British architectural historian.
Amanda Vickery: Professor of early modern history at Queen Mary, University of London.
Ronald Alan Waldron (born 1927): English medievalist.
Ahmed Yerima: Nigerian professor, administrator.
Sofia Abramovich (born 1995): Daughter of Roman Abramovich.
Elizabeth Blackwell: English-American physician, notable as the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States.
Leilani Dowding: English former beauty pageant titleholder, former glamour model, media personality and conservative commentator.
Bobby Seagull: English mathematics teacher, broadcaster and writer.
Aaron Bastani: British political commentator, journalist and author.
Amir El-Masry: Egyptian-British actor.
Ben Key: Senior Royal Navy officer.

Notable Staff

Royal Holloway has also been home to numerous notable staff members who have contributed significantly to their respective fields. These include:

H. B. Acton: Taught political philosophy.
Philip Allen, Baron Allen of Abbeydale: Member college council at the merger with Bedford.
Khizar Humayun Ansari OBE: Director of the Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies.
Sarah Ansari: Professor of history.
Geoffrey Alderman RSA: Professor of politics and contemporary history.
Giovanni Aquilecchia: Professor of Italian and Italian Renaissance scholar.
Akil N. Awan: Lecturer in Modern History.
Gillian Bailey: Fellow in theatre studies.
George Barger: Professor of chemistry.
Dame Gillian Beer: Former President of Clare Hall, Cambridge.
Sir William Benham: Fellow of the Royal Society, zoologist.
Margaret Jane Benson: Professor of Botany.
John Bercow: Professor of Politics, former Speaker of the House of Commons.
Francis Berry: Professor of English literature.
Luiza Bialasiewicz: Senior lecturer in human geography.
James Booth: Fellow of the Royal Society, mathematician.
Mark Bowden: Professor of composition.
Andrew Bowie: Professor of philosophy and German.
Mary Boyce: Taught Anglo-Saxon literature and archaeology.
David Bradby: Professor of drama and theatre studies.
Daniel Joseph Bradley: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Peter Bramley: Professor of biochemistry.
Kai Brodersen: Visiting professor in ancient history and classics.
Jonathan Burrows: Visiting professor of drama and theatre.
Hugh Longbourne Callendar: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Chris Carey: Professor of classics.
William Benjamin Carpenter CB: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Lorna Casselton FRS: Fungal geneticist.
Philip Cashian: Composer, taught in the music department.
David Cesarani, OBE: Research Professor in History.
William Gilbert Chaloner: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Justin Champion: Professor of the history of early modern ideas.
Alexey Chervonenkis: Professor of computer science.
Christopher Cocksworth: College chaplain, now Bishop of Coventry.
Paul Cohn: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Grenville Cole: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Peter Conrad: Visiting professor in sociology.
Nicholas Cook: Professorial research fellow in music.
Glen Cowan: Professor of physics.
Denis Cosgrove: Professor of geography and dean of the graduate school.
Joseph Mordaunt Crook CBE FBA: Historian.
Tim Cresswell: Professor of human geography.
J. Mordaunt Crook: Professor of architectural history.
Hilda Ellis Davidson: Lecturer in archaeology and anthropology.
Veronica Della Dora FBA: Professor of human geography.
Whitfield Diffie: Visiting professor at the information security group.
Richard Dixon: Fellow of the Royal Society, biologist.
Roland Dobbs: Emeritus professor of physics.
Klaus Dodds FRGS: Professor of geopolitics.
Felix Driver FBA FAcSS FRGS: Professor of human geography.
Michael Eysenck: (now emeritus) professor of psychology.
Lilian Faithfull CBE: University administrator.
Giles Foden: Fellow in creative and performing arts.
Sir Gregory Foster: Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of London.
Mary Fowler: Professor of geology, now Master of Darwin College, Cambridge.
Harold Munro Fox: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Dame Jane Francis: Director of the British Antarctic Survey.
Dame Helen Gardner: Assistant lecturer in English literature.
Reginald Gates: Fellow of the Royal Society.
A. C. Grayling CBE: Master of New College of the Humanities.
Edith Hall: Professor of classics and drama.
Robert Gavin Hampson: Professor of modern literature.
Glyn Harman: Professor of mathematics.
Nick Hardwick CBE: Former HM Chief Inspector of Prisons.
J. P. E. Harper-Scott: Professor of music history and theory.
Leonard Hawkes: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Harriet Hawkins FRGS: Professor of geography.
John F Healy: Professor of classics and archaeology.
Sir Frank Heath GBE, KCB: Educationist and civil servant.
Olaus Henrici: Fellow of the Royal Society.
Frank Horton: Professor of physics and vice.

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