A World War One soldier stands in uniform before he goes to the field. A sepia photo from the Union Library Stacks.
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An overview of the Oxford Union’s experiences during World War One and World War Two. The Debate Chamber is a fascinating place to stand inside. Formal debates form powerful opinions, marble busts stare out towards the centre reminding one of those who have come before, and if you look to the walls, you’ll see portraits and stone tablets- the war memorials for the staff and elected students of the Oxford Union Society who went to war and never came back. Earlier this year, the Union had a visitor to record these war memorials to ensure that they are remembered; David Austin cycles around the country and makes sure that memorials to the fallen are immortalised officially with the Imperial War Museum. Photographs are taken, details are noted, and the names are remembered. David has done this all over Oxford, and many colleges and city memorials are represented on the IWM website.

During the First World War, the Union didn’t operate. Debates weren’t carried out, and there were no elections between Michaelmas Term 1914, and Trinity Term 1919. The Oxford Magazine publication began the academic year of 1914 in October by saying “The Long Vacation, since the end of July, has been so full of gigantic external events and their consequences that we in Oxford almost forget that it had any internal history, or that there were any events of importance in our little world which took place in it.[i]” This was the only student newspaper that carried on publishing throughout the war, so it is harder to find any other records of student life in general in Oxford other than this, such became the new normal for Oxford. The Magazine from this first October issue of 1914 had a series of articles in each issue called “The Oxford Sacrifice”, naming each student, staff, or senior academic confirmed Killed in Action, which college they were from, and what could be said of them and their Oxford life. Rather than a series of names on a memorial, these articles make the people real, lively and denote a good amount of character. If anyone would care to read through these volumes, they are available to read in the Union Society Library for members and researchers alike.

A sepia photo of a British World War One officer in full army uniform in a posed photograph with a cane.
Tom Norton in officer’s uniform in the front of his memoirs.
The title page of a book dedicated to Tom Norton, the officer who was in the previous photograph. A member of the Union and died on Hill 60 at Ypres on Tuesday, April the 20th, 1915. His parents donated his memoirs in memoriam.
The title page of Norton’s memoirs, donated to the Union after his death.
A sepia photograph of men in sitting in wool suits listening to a debate speaker dressed in white tie and standing before them in the debate chamber in the Oxford Union and highly polished black fire burners are in front of them to keep them warm. The heaters look like little chimenea.
Winter Debates in the Debate Chamber could get cold- heaters fueled by coal or wood were brought in to combat this.

While the Society all but shut down during the First World War, it carried on during the Second World War, although at a limited pace. A repeat of the previous war’s outcome on the student population wasn’t desired, and it was in clear memory: future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was Librarian of the Union in 1914 and was called up with his cohort right at the beginning of the war- only he and one other returned. He was quoted afterwards as saying that for him, “Oxford was full of ghosts”, and he couldn’t bring himself to return. In the 1940s, however, a few debates were put on for the students and staff still in residence, but most had been called up. While the Union might have been quieter than we know it today, that’s not to say that Oxford was the same- it was still a busy city, what with many of the colleges being repurposed as training or medical centres, and so there were ample people around to take part in city and university life. The Oxford Union remained open throughout the Second World War. In the first week of Michaelmas term 1939, the Union reassured members that debates would continue to be held, albeit fortnightly, that the dining room would continue to serve lunches and afternoon teas, and that Library Committee would continue to meet and add books to the collection. Union membership was temporarily extended to members of other universities resident in Oxford, to officers in the armed forces and to senior officers of the Civil Service. Despite this, debates were often poorly attended. The Union also lost several of its members in the hostilities, including two former 1930s Presidents, Bill Shebbeare and Alan Fyfe- two of the names present on the War Memorial that David Austin was here to see. There was a sense, however, that keeping the Union going was part of the effort to preserve civilisation. This was reflected in the large number of Union debate topics focussed upon the post-war settlement.

The metal bronze bust of Harold Macmillan as it stands today in the Debate Chamber of the Oxford Union. The bust is looking pensive and away to his left. The wall behind him is cherry red and dark wood paneling.

The bust of Macmillan in the Debate Chamber.

A respirator gas mask from World War Two. It is in pristine condition, although the black rubber is now showing its age and is a bit brittle. The filter part in front of the nose area is an emerald green. A cardboard and canvas box for it is behind, and they both sit on a canvas tote bag with the Union crest on it.

The respirator gas mask belonging to the Library Clerk Edward Saunders.

In day-to-day running of Oxford, each college had its own fire wardens, and the Union was no exception. The Union had one of the Library Clerks on the premises to do this job. The archive has a respirator belonging to him, one Edward John Victor Saunders, who was born on the 23rd of September 1885 and served in the Royal Air Force in 1917 at its inception. He was the Library Clerk of the Union but living at Banbury Road in Oxford. It seems that he was issued this mask by the Society, but never used it as the stitching and colouration of the filter are immaculate. Perhaps, having seen the horrors of gas from the First World War, he still had his own from then, or maybe he outlived one war, so didn’t feel obliged to wear one. He lived all the way through the war and died on the 5th of November 1967.

The students of the Union displayed solidarity with other students from around the world and their struggles. On 17 November 1939 (now known as International Students’ Day), the Nazis stormed Czech Universities, killing nine student leaders and sending 1500 students to concentration camps, as well as closing higher education institutions in Czechoslovakia. As a tribute to the Czech undergraduates killed, and to protest the forced closures, the Union formally adjourned its debate on Thursday 23rd November 1939. The former President of Czechoslovakia- Edvard Beneš- sent a telegram a week later to thank the Oxford Union for this act of solidarity. Benes may have felt particularly moved by the Union’s actions because he had been elected an honorary member of the Society a year previously, following the German annexation of Czechoslovakia and his forced resignation. The following term, Benes visited the Oxford Union in person to speak against the motion that ‘this House has no faith in liberal Western democracy as a basis of Government.’ One of the most famous debates of the Union came earlier however, in the King and Country debate of 1933- a debate held ten days after Adolph Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. For more, you can read about it in another of our blog posts: King and Country Debate

A brown telegram from 1939 with full stamps, official Post Office markings and teletype. The first half of the telegram- it was sent in two parts and the other part is underneath, although only just visible in the photo.
The telegram sent to the President of the Union, member of Hertford College at the time.

See the memorials online via the IWM website:

[i] The Oxford Magazine: A Weekly Newspaper and Review, Vol.XXXIII: No.1, Oxford, Friday, October 16, 1914.