© OCCPA

For most of its history Oxford was a male-dominated society which only really achieved something approaching equality in the 1970s. When women were formally allowed to study at the University at the beginning of the twentieth century they resided in separate colleges and halls. Men and women alike were subject to curfew at an early hour. At one time Somerville College (for women) was next to Oriel College (for men).

On 19 June 1919 certain members of Oriel decided to enter Somerville College by the shortest route: through the intervening wall. After the liberal use of a pickaxe several undergraduates jumped through the wall into Somerville’s quad. They were finally induced to return to Oriel by the college authorities on both sides of the divide. The commotion had started when the Somerville women dragged bedding into the quad in order to sleep there while the Oriel men, fresh from victory on the river, were celebrating into the night. Upon the inebriated men stumbling into Somerville, the Somerville porter ran for reinforcements, gathering Fellows and the college Warden along the way.

The Oriel men ran for cover back through the hole and amid the confusion Viola Garvin seized the pickaxe and darted back to her room with the trophy. While Somerville’s Warden stood on one side of the wall and Oriel’s porter on the other, Oriel’s Warden’s appearance was commanded. The Warden stayed on his own ground, refusing to tackle Somerville’s Warden on her home turf and assuring her that all was now quiet, he made a hasty exit back to his lodgings. The Somerville Warden, being made of sterner stuff, stayed put and organised the college Fellows into an all-night vigil at the hole. She retired to her rooms to swap her second-best hat for her best before returning to sit in front of the hole in an armchair, complete with cushions and coffee, all provided by the students.

What became of the pickaxe? According to one story, after Viola Garvin’s assertion that the proof of Oriel’s embarrassment, the pickaxe, was in her possession, the Oriel porter came to claim it a few days later. Another story says that Somerville retained the trophy, bringing it out at inter-collegiate debates, presumably to terrify the opposition.