In theory, candidates to Oxford University can claim a place by beng related to founders, writes CHRIS KOENIG

Here is a question to puzzle the brains of Oxford University admissions tutors: can some candidates to some colleges still pull rank over their fellows and claim a place by simply being related to a college founder?

That ancient scourge of Oxford called Founders' Kin was at one time such a menace that it looked as though nearly everyone at that curious place called All Souls, which even now claims charity status as an educational establishment despite having no students, was there by blood rather than merit.

By the 18th century there were so many such claimants, all saying they were somehow related to Archbishop Chichele, who had founded All Souls more than 300 years earlier in 1438, that they were threatening to bring the whole college into disrepute and ridicule.

That was where Britain's foremost jurist, Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780), stepped in to save the day. He became bursar of All Souls and wrote his Essay on Collateral Consanguinity to thwart still more kith and kin from climbing aboard the gravy train.

But even as late as the great reforming Royal Commision of 1850, such privileges still existed at 16 of the 24 colleges and halls which were then part of the university. Founders' Kin, already seen as an anachronistic abuse, became a primary target for reform and most were swept away in 1857 and 1858.

However an intriguing entry in the Encyclopaedia of Oxford, edited by Henley resident Christopher Hibbert, holds that the privileges still exist, or at least did when it was published in 1988. It describes some Kith and Kin scholarships which, it says, still exist.

The only kith and kin privileges which the statutes and ordinances of the commission spared were the How Exhibitions at Exeter College (established 1831) and the Fereday Fellowships at St John's, both of which still exist.

Then there are the Gomm Scholarships at Keble College, which were established in 1878 (after the Royal Commission), in favour of relatives of the then Marquess of Lothian. They also still exist.

And in 1880 three scholarships were endowed at Hertford College by its founder T.C. Baring which were limited to relatives of him and his wife.

The Encyclopaedia of Oxford says of the Baring scholarships: "Though too late for the foundation statutes of the college, they are indubitably Founders' Kin scholarships."

So should any smart young Baring present himself at Hertford and demand a place?

A spokesman for the university said: "What is certainly the case is that all admissions decisions are solely based on academic merit and potential, so it would certainly not be the case that anyone related to a college's founder would get preferential treatment. Gomm Scholarships are part of academic funds which exist for all subjects at the college, which are given to deserving students on the basis of academic merit (not family relation), in recognition of excellent work in their studies."

A spokesman for Hertford College said: "Nobody is aware of the scholarships being used in the sense of Founders' Kin for the support of undergraduates (or graduates) associated with the Baring family most certainly within at least the second half of the 20th century. There are no records in existence any more to indicate what they were used for prior to this."

Apparently, the How Scholarships at Exeter exist in name only and have not been awarded in living memory and the university spokesman was unable to trace the Feredey scholarships at St John's.

So for any smart young Baring try your luck if you can find the right papers in the attic.