The Rhodes Scholarships were established under the will of Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902)
The terms of the will and its codicils were subsequently changed on four separate occasions: the Rhodes Estate Act of of 1916 (formally abolishing the German Scholarships during World War I), the Rhodes Trust Act of 1929 (which granted greater discretionary powers to the Trustees), the Rhodes Trust Act of 1946 (which formalised the incorporation of the Trustees), and the Rhodes Trust (Modification) Order of 1976 (which, at the initiative of the Trustees, opened the Scholarships to women for the first time).