Last month, the University officially unveiled the historic Rothenstein Mural that hangs in the Senate Room. The vibrantly coloured mural by Sir William Rothenstein, former Principal of the Royal College of Art, was created in 1916 as a memorial to members of British universities serving in the Great War. 

The mural was first displayed at the 11th Exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society at the Royal Academy in the autumn of 1916. It depicts an academic procession and the conferring of a degree on an ‘unknown soldier’ undergraduate by the then Chancellor of Cambridge University. 

Presented to the University of Southampton in 1959, by the artist’s son, Sir John Rothenstein, the work represents a unique piece of art history. It features many key academics from the era of the Great War, including Vice-Chancellors and Chancellors, and the Poet Laureate Robert Bridges. 

Do have a look at the mural in the Senate room in B37.