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At the period when Benjamin was there, the College housed eight Canons and the Dean,1 and a hundred Students, most of whom had free rooms in College, which left comparatively few rooms to be let to undergraduates, and although the Students frequently let part of their rooms, the relationship was again a personal one, and does not survive in the College records. Even in the case of such a personality as Gladstone, whose illustrious career at the College might have been thought to leave its mark, all the information comes from outside sources, and in the case of Benjamin Hall, who left in the Michaelmas term of 1821 without troubling to take a degree, there is even less possibility of finding any details.2 Casual allusions to his Oxford days in his later Journal show that his most intimate friends at Christ Church were Francis Kenelm Bouverie,3 the youngest son of the Hon. Edward Bouverie4 of Delapre Abbey, Northamptonshire, and Berkeley Portman5 'a very pleasant young man' who was the eldest son of 'Mr. Port- man6 who has a fine place not far out of Blandford;7 the property is not very large here, but his London property about the West End is very considerable'. Further light is thrown on his friends at Christ Church by his account of some young men from Cambridge who were staying with a Tutor at the Salutation Inn at Ambleside, in the Lake District, in order to study. He comments: 'They certainly must have been very romantic, and very opposite to any Ch. Ch. man with whom I was acquainted. I saw two of them, and must say they did not appear very sensible so that they may get a little brushing up in that way, tho' their external appearance may be neglected, which also needs a polish'. Throughout his life, he enjoyed meeting Christ Church men, and found it 'very agreeable' to talk over his time there, even when, as in the case of 'young Mr. Ogilvie8 son of Sir William9 and Lady Ogilvie10 of Dundee', the new acquaintance 1 The Dean during Benjamin Hall's time at Christ Church was Charles Henry Hall (1763-1827), son of Charles Hall, Dean of Bocking, Essex, of a family which had no connection with the Pembrokeshire Halls. He was Dean of Christ Church 1809-24, but was not considered a 'great ruler' after Dean Cyril Jackson, whom he succeeded. He became Dean of Durham in 1824. Barker and Stenning, op. cit. Vol. I, p. 412; History of Christ Church College and D.N.B. 2 I have to thank Mr. Geoffrey Bill, the Archivist of Christ Church, Oxford, for this information. 3 Francis Kenelm Bouverie, son of Edward Bouverie of Delapre Abbey, Northants., Brasenose College, matriculated 1816, aged 19 and died 19 September 1837. John Foster, op. cit. Vol. I, p. 140. 4 The Hon. Edward Bouverie, M.P., second son of Jacob, first Viscount Folkestone, of I Iardingstone and Delapre Abbey, Northants. M.P. for Salisbury, died 1810. ibid. 5 Edward Berkeley Portman (1799-1888), first Viscount Portman. It is a curious co-incidence that he was the first M.P. elected under the Reform Act for the Borough of St. Marylebone, in 1833-the constituency which Benjamin Hall represented from 1837, when his friend was raised to the peerage, until 1859, when Hall himself was also raised to the peerage. Burke, op. cit., and D.N.B. 6 Edward Berkeley Portman (d. 1823) of Bryanston and Orchard Portman, Dorset. Burke, op. cit., and D.N.B. 7 Bryanston Park, Dorset. 8 John Ogilvie, (1803-90), eldest son of William Ogilvie of Edinburgh, baronet. Christ Church, matriculated 5 November 1821, aged 18. Foster, op. cit. Vol 111. p. 1037. He succeeded his father as 9th baronet a year after Benjamin Hall's visit. M.P. for Dundee 1857-74. Foster, op. cit. Vol. Ill p. 1037, and Burke, op. cit., where the name is spelled Ogilvy. 9 Sir William Ogilvie, 8th baronet, Rear Admiral, R.N., succeeded his brother in 1819, and died in 1823. Burke, op. cit. 10 Sarah, daughter of James Morlev, Bombay C. S. and sometime of Kempshot, Hants. Married Sir William Ogilvie 1802 and d. 1854. ibid.