Somerville College, a constituent of England's University of Oxford, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Iris Murdoch, Vera Brittain and Dorothy L. Sayers. It began taking men in 1994. Somerville College Library is one of Oxford's largest college libraries, known for varied architecture. Its liberal tone, derives from its founding by social liberals as Oxford's first non-denominational college, unlike the Anglican Lady Margaret Hall, the other women's college to open that year. In 1964 it was among the first to cease locking up at night to stop students staying out late. No gowns are worn at Formal Halls. In 2021 it was recognised as a sanctuary campus by City of Sanctu