Talk:Wycliffe Hall, Oxford

Alumni
Why are some of Wycliffe Hall's more famous alumni like Donald Coggan not on the list? When I try and add them they are promptly deleted without explanation.
 * Is he an alumnus? Providing a source always helps against removal. I thought he was just a speaker in the Chavasse Lectures in World Mission and was a Cambridge student - St John's.--Alf melmac 10:14, 25 April 2009 (UTC)


 * He is a former Archbishop of Canterbury, not just a speaker in the Chavesse Lectures in World Mission! It was not referenced as none of the others seem to be and I assumed people would already know. But is any case he is an alumnus of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, he trained there after leaving Cambridge. I refer you to http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/1235 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Landan19 (talk • contribs) 13:39, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure what connection being Arch of Cant is to Wycliffe, Oxford so I don't get your first sentence. Nope, people obviously didn't know, it doesn't appear in his article for instance...--Alf melmac 18:46, 25 April 2009 (UTC)
 * In any case he did train for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford after leaving Cambridge. As I said this link http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/1235 can serve as verification. I have also added a few more of Wycliffe's alumni. Verification is on all of their respective wiki pages.

File:Oldlodgewh.jpg Deleted
An image used in this article,, has been deleted from Wikimedia Commons by Shizhao for the following reason: In category Media missing permission as of 5 April 2011; no permission You can remove the code for this image from the article text (which can look messy), however a different bot may already have done so. You could also try to search for new images to replace the one deleted. If you think the deletion was in error please raise the issue at Commons.
 * What should I do?

This notification is provided by a Bot, currently under trial --CommonsNotification (talk) 12:30, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20130323002549/http://www.wycliffehall.org.uk:80/press-releases/hall-council-statement-appointment-of-principal to http://www.wycliffehall.org.uk/press-releases/hall-council-statement-appointment-of-principal#.USJ2GvLsw8p

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 17:30, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

Series of unsourced edits
In recent months, most of the content added by has been unsourced. I've nibbled at particularly trivial information, but left the bulk of it for other editors to look at, rather than deleting en masse. Today EJGKeene added some cites from Wycliffe Hall's publications and student handbooks, and are therefore of limited value--the article can not rely too heavily on WP:PRIMARY sources. Elsewhere, the editor has stated that they're not a paid employee of the college, but that responds most narrowly to WP:COI concerns. The tone hasn't struck me as especially promotional, but it reads like a lot of WP:OR by someone who knows the place. Ministerial formation and student life are worthwhile topics, but if the content can't be supported by WP:RELIABLE, it is subject to removal. 2601:188:180:B8E0:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 02:30, 26 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Weeded a bit today. Springnuts (talk) 12:24, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

"The Hall" or "The hall".
So, a quick search here [] reveals capitalisation of the word "hall" when it is "the Hall" - - eg

"This policy contains the Hall's commitment to disability equality"

(rather than "This policy contains the hall's commitment to disability equality"

But we more commonly use "the hall" (but not invariably: eg "Language schools regularly hire the Hall for use during the long summer vacation."

Fowler's Modern English Usage is my go-to for these things. After describing the topic as "anarchic" Fowler says "When only part of a title is given the practice of retaining a capital for the 'particular' but dropping it for the 'general' is fairly common and ... usually harmless"; and "In reference to institutions ... it is desirable, when the names are repeated in shortened form, to retain the capital for the shortened title."

So I will do a bit of a global search/replace. Hope this is OK with other editors :) With all respect, Springnuts (talk) 18:22, 16 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Done where appropriate. However, the word "college" might usefully be substituted in places I think.  Springnuts (talk) 18:27, 16 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Springnuts, thank you for cutting some of the trivia. Generally Wikipedia articles follow the Manual of Style rather than Fowler. Manual of Style/Capital letters begins "Wikipedia avoids unnecessary capitalization" and does not favour capitalising common nouns. Also Oxford college articles generally don't capitalise college or hall (e.g. All Souls College, Oxford). I also think that "hall" should be used rather than "college" as Wycliffe is a permanent private hall rather than one of the Oxford colleges. TSventon (talk) 19:33, 16 March 2021 (UTC)


 * TSventon, I take the point that we generally follow the MoS. I also take the point that it is not a college of the university in the same way as, say, Balliol.  However, a PPH is a college, and some are in fact called colleges (St Peter's, Regent's Park etc). (and no matter how helpful it would be, I'm not after changing the MoS for all the colleges of the university hahaha!)  There is a great deal of inconsistency around the various articles on halls/Halls, colleges/Colleges and houses/Houses.  I really don't have a strong view on it. so I will go back through and put the consistency the other way :) Springnuts (talk) 20:42, 16 March 2021 (UTC)