100 years on - Constance Coltman and her legacy

20 September 2017

In an article on the Mansfield College Website, Revd Dr Janet Wootton discusses the challenges and advantages of Mansfield alumna Constance Coltman - the first woman to be ordained in a mainstream British denomination.

Constance Coltman’s ordination was possible because two great radical movements came together in Oxford. She refused to accept that women could not reach academic excellence, and Mansfield drew on its own non-conformist roots to enable her to fulfil her religious calling.

Mansfield is a non-conformist College. It started out as a dissenting academy in Birmingham, at a time when only members of the Church of England were allowed to study at Oxford or Cambridge or, indeed, hold any public office. This led to real centres of excellence being established in the new industrial cities during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which were rooted in the vitality of developing trade and commerce, science and exploration. The non-conformist churches were at the forefront of radical movements for reform in politics and education – and religion.

When the legislation was passed...

Read the rest of the article here on the Mansfield College Website.

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