Wadham College was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham in the reign of King James I. In 2010 we celebrated our 400th anniversary. Nicholas Wadham, a member of an ancient Somerset family, died in 1609 leaving his fortune to endow a college at Oxford. The hard work of translating intentions into reality fell on his widow, Dorothy, a formidable lady of 75. She fought all the claims of Nicholas's relations, lobbied at court, negotiated the purchase of a site and drew up the college statutes. She appointed the first Warden, Fellows and Scholars, as well as the college cook, to such effect that the college was ready for opening within four years of Nicholas's death. She added considerably to the endowment from her own resources, and kept tight control of its affairs until her death in 1618, although she never actually visited Oxford from her home in Devon to see the results of her generosity and business acumen. Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham are honoured as the co-founders of the college.

Notable members of the college in its early years include Robert Blake, Cromwell's admiral and founder of British sea-power in the Mediterranean, and Christopher Wren. Wren attended the meetings of scientifically-inclined scholars which were held by Warden John Wilkins (Cromwell's brother-in-law) in the college in the 1650s. Those attending formed the nucleus of the Royal Society at its foundation in 1662. Arthur Onslow (1708), a great Speaker of the House of Commons, and Richard Bethell, who became Lord Chancellor as Lord Westbury in 1861, were members of the college. Two twentieth-century Lord Chancellors, F E Smith (Lord Birkenhead) and John Simon, were undergraduates together in the 1890s, along with the great sportsman C. B. Fry; Sir Thomas Beecham was an undergraduate in 1897, though soon abandoning Oxford for his musical career. Frederick Lindemann, Lord Cherwell, Churchill's scientific adviser during the Second World War, was a fellow of the college. Cecil Day-Lewis, later Poet-Laureate, came up in 1923, and Michael Foot M.P. in 1931. Sir Maurice Bowra, scholar and wit, was Warden between 1938 and 1970.   Among recent members have been Dr Rowan Williams, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, and Melvyn Bragg, broadcaster and novelist.

The college was founded for men only. Indeed, under the original statutes no woman was even to be employed in the college, except for the laundress, and she was to be of 'such age, condition, and reputation as to be above suspicion'. These rules were relaxed over the years. But a momentous change occurred in 1974, when the statutes were altered to allow the admission of women as full members of the college at all levels. The college was one of the first in Oxford to make the change.

The college now consists of some 55 Fellows, about 130-150 graduate students, and about 450 undergraduates. The current Warden is Sir Neil Chalmers, formerly Director of the Natural History Museum.