Volume VII of The History of the University of Oxford completes the survey of nineteenth-century Oxford begun in Volume VI. After 1871 both teachers and students at Oxford were freed from tests of religious belief. The volume describes the changed mental climate in which some dons sought a new basis for morality, while many undergraduates found a compelling ideal in the ethic of public service both at home and in the empire. The contributors address a wide variety of issues, including women's education, architecture, sport, and scholarship.

The University of Oxford saw far-reaching intellectual and institutional changes in the course of the nineteenth century. In 1800 it was still an Anglican institution in an Anglican state, one of its foremost duties being the maintenance of the principles of the Church of England. Before the end of the century, its transformation to an undenominational `free-thinking' institution was almost complete. Volume VI of the magisterial History of the University explores the major developments of the period.