William Van Mildert Saviour's Grammar School, Merchant Taylors' School (then in London) and the Queen's College, Oxford. Loosely attached to the high church party, he was appointed Bishop of Llandaff from 1819 to 1826, a post which he held in commendam with the Deanery of St Paul's between 1820 and 1826, when he was translated to Durham. Prior to this, he had been rector of the church of St. Mary-le-Bow in London and Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, where he gave the Bampton Lectures for "1814". Van Mildert is often described as a 'stormy petrel' on account of his outspoken expression of
Van Mildert College, Durham as "Mildert Would I Lie To You?" and "Van Mildert Take Me Out". At Van Mildert the undergraduate academic gown is not required to be worn to formal events nor at Matriculation, instead formal dress is used. In addition, students wear black tie attire at the end of term balls. Formals take place regularly during the academic term, with the college holding between three and five per term. As with all colleges there are a number of traditions at Formals, such as pennying and odds on. Students are not required to wear academic dress to formal dinners, instead formal dress