Dining marquee on South Front

All who at present eat their meals in the large tent on South Front, might like to know that a somewhat similar structure was put there just over 100 years ago, again because of an emergency. In March 1919 there was a fire in the main Eastern block of College, starting in what is now the Hardinge and spreading into the Blucher. So much damage was caused that the whole block became uninhabitable, and 140 students were not able to move back in until rebuilding was completed in October. Temporary iron huts were obtained from the War Office and erected immediately outside Waterloo Hall, and this was where the students slept in the intervening months, using the Hall as a common room. The photo below shows the huts on the site of the present marquee, with the rebuilding work behind.