No . 132
The Trusty Servant
A Brief History of Ad Portas
The Director of Win Coll Soc , Christopher Normand ( F , 76-81 ), explains :
The ceremony of Ad Portas and the Election of Scholars to Winchester and New College are closely bound by history . The statutes of this College required that the Warden of New College along with two of his Fellows were to travel to Winchester annually for the Election of Scholars . Election week , the exact date of which was at the discretion of the Warden of New College , took place between the Feast of St Thomas the Martyr ( 7 th July ) and 1 st October . It was presumed to be something of a celebration , occurring as it did outside the Oxford term , so the statutes constrained the New College party ’ s excesses by making them travel at their own expense and using ‘ no more than six horses .’
Election itself was carried out by a party of six : Wardens of both Colleges ; two New College Fellows , known as the Senior and Junior Poser ( in the sense that they posed questions as one would in a viva voce examination or interview today ); the Headmaster and the Sub-Warden . In addition to the processes of Electio ad Winton and Electio ad Oxon , the current Winchester scholars would be examined , leading to much anxiety among the scholars awaiting the arrival of the Posers . On entering through Outer Gate , the New College party would be greeted by the school , with the Prefect of Hall delivering a Latin speech of welcome ad portas . Historical references to this arrival suggest that the welcome was conducted from under Middle Gate .
In later years , other notable speeches were made during Election Week : in honorem Fundatoris ( originally delivered by the Prefect of Hall on
21 st December ) and Elizabethae et Jacobi ( 24 th March ) joined Ad Portas . The three scholars who delivered them were each paid 13s 4d for their trouble .
The payments were drawn from a gift made to New College during the reign of James I by Mrs Letitia Williams , Founder ’ s Kin and presumably a supporter of the Stuart monarchy . Her annual gift of £ 12 to New College also supported the £ 1 6s 8d paid to the Fellow of Winchester who delivered the Gunpowder Plot sermon on 5 th November in which he was expected to rail against popish dissidents . Mrs Williams ’ s brother had been at the top of ad Winton Election Roll in 1605 and in later life was the Warden of New College .
Prior to 1873 , therefore , Ad Portas was at least an annual event and there is evidence of declamations ad portas
HRH The Prince of Wales in 1893
being spoken on other occasions . Bishops of Winchester were certainly welcomed : a draft of the speech welcoming Peter Mews on becoming Bishop of Winchester in 1684 was found in the handwriting of the then Headmaster ; Bishop Brownlow North was welcomed in 1788 and Bishop George Tomline in 1822 . Most Kings and Queens have visited the College . As Peter Gwynn ( Archivist , 64-76 ) summarised in a 1971 version of this article , ‘ There are in fact 21 recorded visits [ not including the visit by HM The Queen on 19 May 1982 ] and 20 suspected visits . The Kings and Queens who are not suspected of visiting us are Richard III , Edward VI , William III , George I and George IV , William IV and perhaps most surprisingly Queen Victoria . She did , however , send Prince Albert in 1847 .’ We can reasonably add most Bishops of Winchester to Gwynn ’ s list of suspects .
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