Wadham was founded in 1610 by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham. Dorothy Wadham did so in accordance to the will of her late husband, Nicholas. Architecturally, the College is splendid, a number of the works done by William Arnold and Sir Christopher Wren (Wren was himself an Alumnus of Wadham). The College is considered to be one of Oxford's most progressive and liberal Colleges and is nicknamed 'The People's Republic of Wadham' amongst students at the University for this reason.