© OCCPA

Love of one’s fellow man is a wonderful thing and Warden Thistlethwaite of Wadham thought likewise. In 1739, at a time when men were men and women were centuries away from being members of a college, the Warden had plumped for the butler, asking him to dinner and endeavouring to kiss and tongue him and to put his hand down the man’s trousers. The Warden declared that he would not give a farthing for the finest woman in the world, but loved a man as he did his own life.

The butler was not the only person to suddenly find the Warden fumbling around in his trousers; the college barber came in for some attention. The Warden asked, ‘How does thy cock do, my dear barber?’ giving it a good grope and attempting to kiss him. The barber, none too pleased, called him a son of a bitch and asked him what he was up to, finally punching him backwards into a chair. Abusing the college servants was one thing, but then Thistlethwaite indecently assaulted one of the undergraduates, Mr French, and was forced to flee the country, heading for Boulogne. While Thistlethwaite was en route, Mr Swinton, one of the Wadham tutors, was charged with buggering a college servant, but conveniently there was not enough evidence to prove the offence. Swinton ended his days as Archdeacon of Swindon.