Oxford in 1909 was a conservative, wealth-gated training ground for Americans too.

Evidence

Oxford in 1909 was the castle keep of British conservatism. The key to its ancient gates was wealth; in the year Robert Moses entered Oxford’s Wadham College, the university was largely closed to the student whose family was not rich. Conservatism characterized the attitude of its students—including the ninety Americans among them. When, three months after Moses’ arrival, an American Club was organized, its first meeting featured two speakers who said, respectively, “We are as much interested as anyone in preserving Oxford as a home of English conservatism and tradition” and “We should carry into the bustle and stir of the New World, the atmosphere of the Old.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 211

Categorization

• QUESTION: Ninety Americans at Oxford in 1909 — worth noting how common the Gilded-Age noble-pilgrimage to Oxford was before the Rhodes system spread.