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The Reverend John Hymers was born in Omersby, Cleveland in July 1803, where his father occupied a farm on an estate. He was elected to Sizar and matriculated at St John’s in 1822; graduated Second Wrangler in 1826, before being elected Fellow a year later. He was appointed Moderator in the University in 1833 and 1834, and Lady Margaret’s Preacher in 1841. Alongside this, at St John’s he became Assistant Tutor in 1829, Tutor in 1832, and President in 1848.
He was well known for being a strong teacher and getting the best out of his pupils academically. He authored several works on mathematics throughout his lifetime.
Hymers was elected to the Rectory of Brandsburton in Holderness in 1852, where he remained until his death in 1887.
On his death he bequeathed a large sum of money for the foundation of a Grammar School in Hull, to enable academically gifted pupils from any background to receive an education. This led to the foundation of Hymers College in 1893, and is still in existence today.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 14, 1887, p398

Dr George Colin Lawder Bertram was born in Worcester in April 1911, the son of Frank Bertram, Deputy Director of Civil Aviation, Air Ministry. He read Natural Sciences at St John’s College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1932 and gaining a PhD in 1939. He was awarded the Polar Medal in 1937, after taking part in the British Graham Land Exhibition from 1934-37 as Biologist.

Bertram was appointed Tutor at St John’s in 1945 and became Senior Tutor in 1965, serving in this position until 1972. During his time as a Tutor he was the Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute for eight years between 1949 and 1957. Throughout his life he published numerous papers and books on the arctic, zoological and population. He remained a Fellow of the College from 1972 until his death in 2001.

He married Kate Ricardo in 1939, and was survived by four sons.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 83, 2001, p. 69

Born on 7th June 1879 in Wiltshire, the son of Arthur Gregory and Eliza Standerwick Barnes, and schooled at Weston-Super-Mare, Reginald Gregory matriculated at St John’s in 1898. In 1901 he graduated BA in the Natural Sciences Tripos, with a focus on Botany in Part II. Elected to the Fellowship in 1904, and University Lecturer in botany in 1907, he became a Tutor in 1912 and was popular with students and colleagues.
While his mother was known for her work on the genus Viola, Reginald Gregory focussed on the genetics and cytology of plants, having many papers published on the subject in scientific journals.
At outbreak of the First World War Gregory joined the Cambridge University Officers’ Training Corp, teaching cadets at the Cambridge School, and later served in as 2nd Lieutenant in the Gloucester Regiment. In August 1917 he was discharged from the Army after being badly gassed, and in November 1918 died from pneumonia brought on by influenza. He left his wife, Joan Laidlay and three daughters.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 40, Lent 1919, p117

Thomas Lever was an English Protestant reformer and Marian exile, one of the founders of the Puritan tendancy in the Church of England. He was from Little Lever, Lancashire. Lever graduated B.A. from St John's in 1541/2 and was elected to the Fellowship in 1543. From 1547, he along with Roger Hutchinson led the discussion of the mass and transubstantiation in the College. Lever was Master of the College from 1551-1553.

Richard Longworth matriculated as a pensioner in 1549. He graduated B.A. in 1553, M.A. in 1556, B.D. in 1563 and D.D. in 1567. Longworth was a fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge from 1553-1557 and a fellow of St John's from 1559. He was elected to the Mastership of St John's in 1564 but was deprived of the position by College's Visitor, the Bishop of Ely (Richard Cox) in 1569. Longworth was an enthusiastic Protestant and under his mastership the College had become a Protestant force in the university. Under Longworth, the Master and others refused to wear the surplice in chapel and Longworth was summoned to London to explain himself. The Visitor was called on to intervene as a result of internal feuding and dissension within the College.

Born 24 May 1840 in Westminster, Charles Taylor was the son of William and Catherine Taylor. After losing his father aged 5, Taylor moved to live in Hampstead. He was educated at St Marylebone and All Souls Grammar School, London (in union with King's College), and afterwards at King's College itself. He won prizes at both of these schools, and it was at King's College that he began his lifelong friendship with Ingram Bywater (later Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford).

Taylor entered St John's College in October 1858, where initially he devoted most of his attention to mathematics. In 1860 he was elected to one of the new foundation scholarships, and in 1862 he obtained his BA as 9th Wrangler and was also placed in the second class of the classical tripos. In 1863, he obtained a First in the theological exam, and in 1864 he won the Crosse scholarship and the first Tyrwhitt scholarship. He was elected to a fellowship in 1864; obtaining his MA in 1865, the Kaye Prize in 1867, and his DD in 1881. Taylor also had interests in the Church, and was ordained deacon in 1866, priest in 1867, and was Curate of St Andrew the Great 1887-8. He was also Select Preacher at Cambridge 1887, 1893, and 1899, and 1873 he was appointed as College Lecturer in Theology; a position from which he soon made his mark as a Hebrew scholar.

In 1877-8, Taylor took an active part in the revision of the statutes of the College, and in 1879 he was chosen as one of three commissioners to represent the College in conferring with the University Commission. Before these new statutes could come into force, the College Master, W. H. Bateson, died, and Taylor was elected as his successor on 12 April 1881. From November 1880 Taylor was a member of the Council of the University. He represented the university at the 250th anniversary of the founding of Harvard, where he received an honorary degree on 8 November 1886. He served in the office of Vice-Chancellor of the university 1887-9, and in 1889 he was one of two university aldermen who were chosen as members of the borough of Cambridge; an office he retained until 1895. He made important donations to both the University Library and to St John's College (including the Lady Margaret Boat Club), and published many works from 1863 onwards. He was also President of the University Theological Society 1902-3, and of the Philological Society 1900-1.

As a student at St John's, Taylor was fond of sculling and rowed in the college boat races from 1863-6. He was always a great walker, and proved to be an energetic mountaineer during the period 1870-8; writing for the Alpine Journal in 1872, and being a member of the Alpine Club from 1873 until his death. In October 1907, Taylor married Margaret Sophia (1877-1962), daughter of the Hon. Conrad Adderly Dillon, but he then died suddenly less than a year later on 12 August 1908 whilst on a foreign tour at the Goldner Adler, Nuremberg. After a funeral service in St John's College, his body was buried in St Giles's cemetery, Cambridge, on the 17th. A stained-glass window was placed in the College Chapel by his widow to commemorate him.

Henry Alvey came from Nottinghamshire, matriculated at St John's in 1571, gained his BA in 1576, graduated MA in 1579 and BD in 1586. He was a Fellow from 1577 and became President of the College in 1590. In 1601 he relocated to Ireland, where he became Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. He returned to Cambridge in 1609.

Robert Booth matriculated as a sizar at St John's, 1565, graduated BA 1571, MA 1574, and was made a Fellow of St John's in 1573, where he also served as Bursar. He came from Cheshire and was probably the son of John Booth of Dunham Massey. Booth seems to have been in the household of the Countess of Shrewsbury and it was through his advocacy that St John's Second Court was built. He made a bequest of £300 to pay for a fountain in Second Court, but the money was used for other purposes

Joseph Robson Tanner was born on the 28th July 1860, the son of Joseph Tanner, who headed a printing firm in Somerset. He was educated at Mill Hill School, before coming up to St John’s in 1879. There, he placed in the First Class of the Historical Tripos, and was both Treasurer and President of the Union Society. Tanner became a Fellow of the College in 1886; from there, he also held posts as College Lecturer in History (1883-1912), Director of Historical Studies (1905-1920), Assistant Tutor (1895-1900), Tutor (1900-1912) and Tutorial Bursar (1900-1921). He was also a member of the Council of the Senate, the Press Syndicate, and edited the Historical Register of the University of Cambridge.
Tanner continued to write frequently after his post-war retirement from College services, producing and editing works such as the Cambridge Medieval History, Samuel Pepys and the Royal Navy, and English Constitutional Conflicts of the Seventeenth Century.
Tanner was married in 1888, to Charlotte Maria Larkman. He died on the 16th January 1931, and his funeral was held in the College Chapel the following week.

Obituary in the Eagle: Vol. 46, Easter 1931, p. 184

James Pilkington, was the son of Richard Pilkington and his wife, Alice, of Rivington, Lancashire. He was one of seven boys, his younger brother Leonard (1527-1599) was also Master of St John's. James Pilkington entered Pembroke College at 16 but soon transferred to St John's, receiving his B.A. in 1539. He was elected to the Fellowship shortly after receiving his degree. He became a senior fellow and preacher, taking part in the a disputation on transubstantiation. He was ordained between 1547-1550 and was presented to the vicarage of Kirby in Kendal by Edward VI but he resigned to continue his studies at Cambridge, taking his BTh. in 1551.

Pilkington left for the continent upon Mary's accession to the throne, travelling to Switzerland and Germany. He was appointed Master of St John's shortly after his return to England in 1559. In February 1561 he was made Bishop of Durham and resigned the mastership of SJC in October of that year. He was succeeded by his brother Leonard.

For more information see the Oxford DNB

Leonard Pilkington, was the younger brother of James Pilkingon. He, like his brother, was born at Rivington, Lancashire. Leonard matriculated at St John's as a sizar and graduated BA in 1544. He was appointed to the fellowship in 1546 and proceeded to the MA the following year. He was named mathematical examiner at the College in 1548, lecturer in mathematics in 1550 and a senior fellow in 1551. He was ordained a deacon at St Paul's, London in May 1552, and he was appointed preacher at St John's later that year. He was forced to resign his fellowship shortly after Mary took the throne. He left England like his brother. He returned to England upon Elizabeth's accession. He was named Master of the College on 19 October 1561 succeeding his brother James.
For more information see the Oxford DNB

Joseph Timmis Ward was born in Banbury in 1853, and subsequently educated at King’s School, Rochester. He was matriculated at St John’s in 1872, and took his degree in 1876 as Senior Wrangler. Following this, he was first Smith’s prizeman, and was elected to a Fellowship that lasted until his death.
Ward was ordained as a deacon in 1877, and then as a priest at Ely in 1879. After returning to Cambridge, he became mathematical lecturer at St John’s, where he also served as a tutor for twelve years started in 1883. From 1896 to 1903, he was also Senior Dean.
Ward was an original founder of Westcott House, Cambridge. He was a supporter of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi, and served as Secretary of the Committee for the St John’s College Mission at Walworth c.1906-1910. He died in Cambridge on the 23rd June 1935.

Obituary in the Eagle: Vol. 49, Mich 1935, p. 122

Adams was born at Lidcot farm, Cornwall, in 1819, the eldest son of a tenant farmer. He developed an early interest in astronomy and in 1831 was sent to his cousin's academy, where he distinguished himself in classics and spent his spare time on astronomy and mathematics. Adams's progress was such that his parents decided that he should be sent to university, and in October 1839 he sat for examinations at St John's College and won a sizarship. In July 1841, at the end of his second year, he wrote himself the following memorandum: 'Formed a design ... of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities in the motion of Uranus, which are yet unaccounted for; in order to find whether they may be attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it ...' Having won the highest mathematical prizes in his college, Adams graduated in 1843 as senior wrangler and won a fellowship. He could now return to his deferred investigation of Uranus. By October 1843 Adams, aged just 24, had arrived at a solution of the inverse perturbation problem and although his first result was approximate, it convinced him that the disturbances of Uranus were due to an undiscovered planet.

In February 1844 Adams applied to the astronomer royal, Sir George Biddell Airy, for more exact data on Uranus. With Airy's figures Adams then computed values for the elliptic elements, mass, and heliocentric longitude of the hypothetical planet. He gave his results to James Challis, Director of the Cambridge Observatory, in September 1845, and after two unsuccessful attempts to present his work to Airy in person, left a copy at the Royal Observatory in October. Airy replied to Adams a few weeks later but did not institute a search for the planet until July 1846.

In the meantime the French astronomer Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier had independently published several papers on Uranus and reached the same conclusions as Adams regarding an exterior planet. It was as a result of Le Verrier's efforts that Johann Gottfried Galle, of the Berlin Observatory, discovered Neptune on 23 September 1846, less than one degree distant from where Le Verrier had predicted it would lie. While Le Verrier was showered with honours, Adams's earlier prediction, which agreed closely with Le Verrier's, remained unpublished. First publicised in a letter from Sir John Herschel to the London Athenaeum in October 1846 it provoked a long and bitter controversy over priority of discovery and the issue became a public sensation. Adams and Le Verrier themselves, however, met at Oxford in 1847 and became good friends. Adams was offered a knighthood by Queen Victoria in 1847 but declined. In 1848 the Adams Prize was founded at Cambridge and the Royal Society awarded him its highest award, the Copley Medal.

Adams was elected President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1851 and began work on lunar theory. On the expiration of his fellowship at St John's he moved to Pembroke College in 1853 and shortly afterwards presented to the Royal Society a remarkable paper on the secular acceleration of the Moon's mean motion, showing Laplace's 1788 solution to be incorrect. While this provoked a sharp scientific controversy, Adams was later proved to be right.

In 1858 Adams became Professor of Mathematics at St Andrew's University but returned to Cambridge in 1859 to become Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry. In 1861 he took over as Director of the Cambridge Observatory and two years later married Eliza Bruce of Dublin. In the 1860s and 70s he undertook work on the Leonid system, observations for the Astronomische Gesellschaft program, work on Bernoulli numbers and Euler's constant, and the arrangement and cataloguing of Newton's mathematical papers, presented to Cambridge University by Lord Portsmouth. While much of Adams's later work has been superseded, as the co-discoverer of Neptune he occupies a special place in the history of science.

Joseph Bickersteth Mayor was born in the Cape of Good Hope, on October 24th 1828, to Rev. Robert Mayor and his wife Charlotte. He was educated at Rugby School—of which he would later become a Governor—before going up to Cambridge in 1847; following his two older brothers, Robert and John. All three Mayor brothers would become Fellows; Joseph was appointed Fellow in 1852, the year after he took his degree. He was also given the position of College Lecturer in Moral Science.

Mayor was ordained as a Deacon in 1859, and a Priest in 1860, the same year that he became a Tutor at Cambridge. Three years later, his marriage to Miss A.J. Grote made it necessary to give up his position at the College, and he instead became the Head Master of a school in London. This was later followed by his appointment as a Professor at King’s College, first in Classical Literature and then in Moral Philosophy. He left his post in 1883, and moved to live out the rest of his life in Kingston-on-Thames.

There, Mayor undertook important work with local schools, but most of his focus fell to writing. He published many different works, the most important of which include his translations of Cicero, De Natura Deorum, Epistle of St. James, Clement of Alexandria, and Epistle of St. Jude and Second Epistle of Peter.

Mayor died on the 29th of November, 1916.

Obituary in the Eagle, vol. 38, Easter 1917, p. 323

Kenneth Budden was born on 23rd June 1915 in Portsmouth, the son of George Easthope Budden, Engineer and Civil Servant, Admiralty, and Hannah Gertrude Homer Rea. He was admitted to St John’s in 1933 to study Natural Sciences where he chose to specialise in Physics. He graduated BA in 1936 and subsequently joined a research group in the Cavendish Laboratory working on the propagation of very-long-wavelength radio waves, being awarded his PhD in 1940.

Between 1939 and 1941 Budden was employed by the Telecommunications Research Establishment, before moving to the British Air Commission, Washington, DC 1941-1944. In 1945 he was engaged with Air Command, South-East Asia before working at Delanium Limited as Director of Research until 1947.

In 1947 he returned to the University of Cambridge and St John’s, initially as a University Demonstrator in Physics until 1953 when he became Lecturer in Physics, a position he held until 1965. Between 1965 and 1982 Budden achieved the position of Reader in Physics (Emeritus 1982). Parallel to this, at St John’s he was a Supervisor in Physics from 1947 to 1956, as well as Lecturer between 1956 and 1982, and Director of Studies for Physics 1961-77. He was also a Fellow of the College from 1947 until his death in 2005.

Budden wrote numerous books and papers on the propagation of radio waves, and in 1999 was awarded the Gold Medal of The Royal Astronomical Society in recognition of his contribution to Geophysics.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 88, 2006, p. 80

Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, was born in Westminster to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, and his wife Lady Mildred, on the 1st of June 1563. Due to a sickly childhood, Cecil was educated at home by his notably-learned mother, and also tutors; one of these tutors was almost certainly Richard Howland, who would go on to become bishop of Peterborough and Master of St John’s College. The family’s mansion was often used to entertain the royal court, so Cecil was likely acquainted with Queen Elizabeth I from his childhood.

In 1580, Cecil was admitted to Gray’s Inn. The following year he was also at Cambridge, but never obtained a degree. He was tutored at home by William Wilkinson, a fellow of St John’s, before travelling to Paris. He spent the next several years travelling and sitting in the House of Commons. He was knighted in 1591, and subsequently elevated to the privy council. In the same year, he also became the high steward of Cambridge University. At the time, his father was the acting secretary of state, and Cecil often assisted him with his work. In 1596, he was finally granted the title of secretary of state for himself, after seemingly being poised to take the role for several years.

Cecil competed with Elizabeth I’s favourite, the Earl of Essex, for various positions both before and after the death of his influential father. In May 1599 Cecil became master of the wards, a position which Essex had hoped for and which had previously been held by Burghley. The pair also clashed over their opinions on foreign policy; Essex sought escalation of warfare, while Cecil desired peace. Cecil went on to collect evidence against Essex after his 1601 revolt, and spoke at the trial which led to his execution.

After Essex’s death, Cecil was widely recognised as the most powerful privy councillor. Because of this, he was able to undertake a secret-- and technically treasonous-- correspondance with James VI of Scotland to assure him of his future ascension to the English throne. As Elizabeth’s health failed, Cecil drafted the proclamation of the new king’s ascension. His friendliness with James I ensured that Cecil held his privy council position in the court of the new king. He was also appointed lord high steward to the king’s wife. Cecil’s power increased under James I, owing in part to the king’s frequent absences from court. Cecil led the commission to investigate the Guy Fawkes plot. His position under James was cemented on the 4th of May, 1605, when Cecil was elevated to the earldom of Salisbury. In 1608, he also became the lord treasurer.

Cecil married Elizabeth Brooke, a servant of Elizabeth I, in August 1589. She was a favourite of the queen, and her influence likely contributed greatly to Cecil’s early career. They had a son, William, in 1591, and a daughter, Frances, in 1593. However, a third pregnancy sadly led to a miscarriage and Lady Cecil’s death in January of 1597. She was buried at Westminster Abbey on the insistence of the Queen, and Cecil never remarried. He died on the 24th of May, 1612.

Anthony Tuckney was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and a fellow there from 1619 to 1630. He was town preacher at Boston, Lincolnshire from 1629 and in 1633, succeeded John Cotton as vicar of St Botolph's Church, Boston. From 1645 to 1653 he was Master of Emmanuel and then from 1653 to 1661 Master of St John's College, Cambridge. In 1655, he became the Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge – then the seat of Puritan thought. After the English Restoration in 1660, he was removed from his positions and retired from professional life.
For more information on Tuckney see the Oxford DNB

Sarah was the daughter of Edward Alston of London, physician, President of the College of Physicians, who was knighted by King Charles II at the Restoration in 1660, and his wife Susanna, daughter of Christopher Hudson of Norwich and widow of Jasper Hussey, fishmonger of Billingsgate. Sarah married in 1652 George Grimston, son of barrister and politician Sir Harbottle Grimston. George Grimston died three years later and their two children died in infancy. Sarah married, secondly, Lord John Seymour, son and heir of the second Duke of Somerset. Unlike her first marriage, this was a marriage of convenience by which Seymour benefitted financially and Sir Edward gained entrance into the circle of the aristocracy; it was an unhappy match. Her marriage settlement did allow for a measure of financial independence, with £300 per annum set aside for her sole use, a wise precaution given the Somerset family's financial difficulties and her husband's gambling addiction. Following Somerset's death in 1675, Sarah was permitted to retain her title and her control of her late husband's estates in Herefordshire. In 1682 she married Henry Hare, second Baron Coleraine, again through the marriage settlement retaining some financial autonomy. She died in 1692.