List of principals of Somerville College, Oxford
# List of principals of Somerville College, Oxford

The head of Somerville College, University of Oxford, is the Principal. The current principal is Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon who took up the appointment in August 2017, succeeding Alice Prochaska.

| Name | Birth | Death | Principal between | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Madeleine Shaw-Lefèvre | 1835 | 1914 | 1879–1889 | First Principal of Somerville Hall |
| Agnes Catherine Maitland | 1850 | 1906 | 1889–1906 | Second Principal of Somerville Hall, and first Principal of Somerville College, from 1894; introduced the tutorial system to Somerville |
| Emily Penrose | 1858 | 1942 | 1906–1926 | Classical scholar |
| Margery Fry | 1874 | 1958 | 1926–1930 | Social reformer |
| Helen Darbishire | 1881 | 1961 | 1930–1945 | Literary scholar |
| Janet Vaughan | 1899 | 1993 | 1945–1967 | Haematologist and radiobiologist |
| Barbara Craig | 1916 | 2005 | 1967–1980 | Classical archaeologist |
| Daphne Park, Baroness Park of Monmouth | 1921 | 2010 | 1980–1989 | Spy |
| Catherine Pestell | 1933 | 2014 | 1989–1991 | Civil servant and diplomat |
| No principal | No principal | No principal | No principal | As the statutes of the college did not permit the principal to marry, Miss Pestell resigned, married and was re-elected as principal; however there was a two-week period when the college had no principal. |
| Catherine Hughes (née Pestell) | 1933 | 2014 | 1991–1996 | As the statutes of the college did not permit the principal to marry, Miss Pestell resigned, married and was re-elected as principal; however there was a two-week period when the college had no principal. |
| Fiona Caldicott | 1941 | 2021 | 1996–2010 | First woman to be President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1993–96) and its first woman Dean (1990–93) |
| Alice Prochaska | 1947 | | 2010–2017 | Head Librarian at Yale University |
| Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon | 1955 | | 2017– | Leader of the House of Lords; then Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords |

* Emily Penrose (1906–1926)
* Margery Fry (1926–1930)
