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Son of Edward (or Edmund), of Lathom, Lancashire. Born in Lathom, Lancashire. Admitted sizar at St John's, 19 May 1651, aged 19. School at Winwick, Lancashire. M.A. 1659; B.D. 1666; D.D. 1684. Fellow of St John's College from 1664. Incorporated at Oxford, 1663. First Knightbridge Professor of Moral Theology, 1683-1707. Rectir of Northchurch, Hertfordshire; vicar of Bexley, Kent, 1659-65; vicar of Barkway, Hertfordshire, 1666-94; rector of Berkhampsted, 1693. Chaplain to the King, c. 1697-1707. Died 9 Jul., 1707, aged 74. Monumental Inscription in Barkway Church, Hertfordshire.

Thomas Watson was born near Durham in 1515. Watson matriculated in 1529 and received his B.A. in 1532/3 and his M.A. in 1536. He received his degree in theology in 1543, the year in which he became domestic chaplain to Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester.
On the accession of Queen Mary, Watson was admitted Master 28 September 1553, but he soon left the College, being appointed Dean of Durham 18 November 1553; he was then appointed Bishop of Lincoln by Papal Bull dated 24 March 1556-1557, but was deprived of his bishopric on the accession of Queen Elizabeth I and spent the rest of his life in imprisonment or restraint of various kinds.

For more information see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Robert Jenkin was born c.1656 on the Isle of Thanet, Kent, and was the son of Thomas and Mary Jenkin. He was educated at the King's School Canterbury, before matriculating at St John's College, Cambridge in 1674. He obtained his BA in 1678, after which he was admitted to a fellowship on the foundress's foundation in March 1680, and achieved his MA 1681. Retaining his fellowship, he entered holy orders and was initially presented to the vicarage of Waterbeach, Cambridge (1680-89), before moving to become chaplain to Bishop John Lake. Lake then collated him to the precentorship of Chichester Cathedral in 1688. He was a controversial figure, who opposed King James' ecclesiastical policy and supported the Nonjuring Schism. In 1691 Jenkin relinquished his preferments, but was able to retain his college fellowship. In 1696 he published his most successful work, The Reasonableness and Certainty of the Christian Religion. Upon the death of Henry Gower in 1711, Jenkin became the Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, as well as Master of St John's College. New legislation in 1715 led to a vote being taken in 1717, which forced Jenkin to remove the Nonjuring fellows from the College, for which he was heavily criticised by his Nonjuring contemporaries. He died on 7 April 1727, whilst living with his brother, Henry Jenkin, at the rectory in South Runcton, Norfolk. He was buried in Holme Chapel in South Runcton, where a mural monument with a Latin inscription was erected to his memory.

Son of Nathaniel Chevalier, born c. 1730, at Casterton. He went to school at Stamford, Lincolnshire. He was admitted as sizar to St John's College, and graduated BA (1750-1), MA (1754), BD (1762), and DD (1777, Lit. Reg.). He was a Fellow of the College 1754-75, and Master 1775-89. He was also University Vice-Chancellor 1776-7, and ordained as a priest at Cambridge in 1754. He died on 7 March 1789.

Son of Richard Craven. Born c. 1730 at Gouthwaite Hall, Nidderdale (West Riding of Yorkshire), he was educated at Sedbergh. He was admitted as sizar to St John's College in 1749, and graduated BA (1753), MA (1756), BD (1763), and DD (1789, Lit. Reg.). He was a Fellow of the College 1758-89, and Master 1789-1815. He was also University Vice-Chancellor in 1790. He was ordained deacon in Chester in 1756, and priest in Lincoln in 1759. For a time he was assistant Master at Harrow. He was Professor of Arabic 1770-95, and Lord Almoner's Reader in Arabic, 1770-1815. He died on 28 January 1815.

Son of Joseph Lambert, born in 1677 in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire. He was admitted to St John's College as a pensioner in 1693, achieving his BA in 1696/7, his MA in 1700, and being appointed to a fellowship in 1699. He was ordained as a priest on 6 January 1705/6, and achieved his BD in 1707, his DD in 1718, and was the Lady Margaret preacher for the College 1722-1734. He succeeded Robert Jenkin as Master in 1727; a position he retained until his death on 25 January 1734/5. He was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1727-8, and again 1729-30.

Son of John Newcome, born at Grantham, Lincolnshire. He was admitted as sizar to St John's College in 1700, graduating BA 1704-5. He obtained his MA in 1708, his BD in 1715, and his DD in 1725. He was a Fellow of the College 1707-1728, and Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity 1727-1765. He was ordained as a priest in Ely on 19 September 1708, was Vicar of Thriplow, Cambridgeshire, and Rector of Offord Cluny, Huntingdonshire 1730-65. He then served as Master of St. John's College from 1735 and Dean of Rochester from 1744 until his death. He died in St John's College on 10 January 1765.

Fifth son of Richard Bateson and Lucy Wheeler Gordon, William Henry Bateson was born on 3 June 1812 in Everton. He was educated at Shrewsbury School, and admitted as pensioner to St John's College on 12 October 1829. He graduated in 1836, senior optime in mathematics and third in the first class of the classical tripos (BA 1836, MA 1839, BD 1846, DD 1857). He was elected to fellowship in 1837 and became second master at Leicester collegiate school. He briefly studied for the bar, being admitted to Lincoln's Inn on 12 April 1836, before taking holy orders. He was ordained deacon on 1 December 1839, and priest c. 1840. Between 1840 and 1843 he was attached to the Cambridgeshire parish of Horningsea, and was Vicar of Madingley 1843-7.

Bateson was a tripos examiner at Cambridge and a successful private classics tutor, before becoming St John's College preacher in 1843, followed by steward, and then Senior Bursar 1846-57; a position from which he was able to restore financial security to St John's. In 1841 he was the Rede Lecturer, and for the period 1848-57 he was Public Orator of the university. Bateson was also a key link between two important reformative committees, serving as secretary to both the 1849 revising syndicate established to modify university statutes, and the 1852 royal commission on Cambridge which recommended general university improvements. Following his success as Senior Bursar, Bateson was elected as Master of St John's in 1857. Later that same year, on 11 June, he married Anna Aiken, with whom he had six children. In 1858, he served the office of Vice-Chancellor of the university, and in 1872 he as one of several academics appointed to the second royal commission on Oxford and Cambridge universities, which investigated the extent of their property and income. A strong believer in the improvement of education, he was on the Cambridge improvement board and was on the governing bodies for Shrewsbury and Rugby Schools. He was also the inaugural chairman of the Perse Girls' School, Cambridge, where he was regarded as an enthusiastic promoter of higher education for women.

Generally thought of as leader of the liberal party in academical matters, Bateson used his positions of Bursar and then Master of St John's to introduce reforms in the College, such as leading other Cambridge clergy in a successful campaign to abolish religious tests and liberalising St John's College statutes in 1848 and 1857. In 1880 he succeeded Chief Justice Cockburn on the 1877 statutory commission and was influential in framing new college statutes for St John's, which were effected in 1882, a year after his death. Bateson was responsible for the construction of the new chapel and lodge at St John's in 1865-9, personally financing the wooden-panelled ceilings, and a few weeks before his death he anonymously donated £500 to college funds. He died in the Master's Lodge on 27 March 1881, and was buried on 31 March in Madingley churchyard.

Elder son of the Revd Francis Powell and his wife, Susan. He was born at Colchester on 27 September 1717, and was educated at Colchester grammar school. He was admitted pensioner at St John's College Cambridge in 1733, matriculating several years later in 1738. In November 1735 he was elected a foundation scholar, holding exhibitions from the College in November 1735, 1736, and 1738. He graduated BA (1738-9), MA (1742), BD (1749), and DD (1757). He was admitted as a fellow of St John's in 1740. In 1741 he became private tutor to Charles Townsend, who later became Chancellor of the Exchequer. In December 1741 he was ordained deacon and priest, and was presented to the rectory of Colkirk in Norfolk on 13 January 1742. He then returned to College, and was Assistant Tutor for two years; becoming Principal Tutor in 1744. In 1745 he acted as Senior Taxor of the University, and became a Senior Fellow of St John's in 1760. He resigned his fellowship in 1763, and was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1764. On 25 January 1765, he was unanimously elected Master of St John's College, and succeeded to the Vice-Chancellorship of the University for the period 1765-6. In December 1766 he was appointed to the archdeaconry of Colchester by the Crown, and then in 1768 he somewhat controversially claimed the rich College rectory of Freshwater on the Isle of Wight for himself, resigning the benefice of Colkirk as he did so.

During his first year as Master of St John's, Powell established College examinations, the success of which led him into an engagement with John Jebb and his wife about annual examinations for the University as a whole. He also provoked two further controversies during his time at Cambridge. The first, his sermon preached in 1757 and subsequent publication of A Defence of the Subscriptions Required in the Church of England inadvertently initiated the major controversy concerning the undergraduate and clerical subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles which led to the Feathers tavern petition in 1772. The second was his anonymous debate and attempted sabotage of Edward Waring's candidature for the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics in 1760. Powell had a stroke of apoplexy in 1770 and died from paralysis on 19 January 1775. He was buried in St John's College Chapel on 25 January, the anniversary of his election as Master.

James Mann Wordie was born on the 26th April 1889, the son of John Wordie and Catherine Mann. He came up to St John’s in 1910 after taking his degree at the University of Glasgow, to study Natural Sciences.
During the First World War, Wordie joined the Royal Artillery and served in France. Upon returning to Cambridge, he was elected a Fellow of the college in 1921, and became a Tutor in 1923. In the same year, he also started a tenure as Junior Proctor of the University. Then, in 1933, Wordie was appointed Senior Tutor, before becoming President in 1950 and, finally, Master of the College in 1952.
Outside of his services for St John’s College, Wordie was a keen enthusiast of Polar exploration. In 1914, he was a geologist and chief of scientific staff on the Endurance expedition: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. The party’s boat became stranded in ice, and Wordie was marooned for some months on Elephant Island. However, this experience did not dent his enthusiasm, and Wordie remained involved in Polar exploration for the rest of his life. He was Chairman of the Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge and president of the Royal Geographic Society. Wordie’s work afforded him many honours, including the Founders’ gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, the Daly medal of the American Geographical Society, and, in 1957, a knighthood.
In 1923, Wordie married Gertrude Henderson; together they had two daughters and three sons; all of their sons also attended St John’s College. Sir James Wordie died on the 16th January 1962, but his name lives on in the Wordie glacier in Greenland and the Wordie Crag in Spitzbergen; both are named for him.

The Reverend John Sandwith Boys Smith was born in Hampshire on 8th January 1901, the son of Edward Percy Boys Smith, Clerk in Holy Orders and St John’s College Alumnus, and Charlotte Cecilia Sandwith. Boys Smith matriculated at St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1919 and read Economics/Theology, graduating BA in 1922.

After a short time at Marburg University in 1924-25, Boys Smith was appointed to the Fellowship of St John’s in 1927. This was to be the start of a long commitment to the College, and it was a position which, apart from the 10 years he was Master of the College (1959-69), he was to hold until his death in 1991. He served as Chaplain 1927-1934, Director of Studies and Supervisor in Theology 1927-1952, Praelector 1929-1931, Assistant Tutor 1931-34, Tutor 1939-1939, Junior Bursar 1939-1944 and Senior Bursar 1944-1959.

Younger son of Philip St George Mansergh and Mrs E. M. Mansergh, born on 27 June 1910 in Tipperary, Ireland. Mansergh was educated at Abbey School, Tipperary and St Columba's College, Dublin (1923-9). He then entered Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1929, where he read modern history. Despite not managing to obtain a first, he began postgraduate research under W.G.S Adams (Gladstone professor of political theory and institutions). He achieved his DPhil in 1936, and was subsequently appointed as a tutor (but not Fellow) in politics at Pembroke. This post enabled him to produce a major work, Ireland in the Age of Reform and Revolution (1940). At this time he was also secretary to the Oxford University Politics Research Committee. In 1939 Mansergh married Diana Mary Keeton (undergraduate at Lady Margaret Hall, daughter of the headmaster of Reading School) on 12 December 1939, and their marriage produced 5 children (3 sons and 2 daughters).

During the Second World War , Mansergh became the Irish expert and director of the empire division of the Ministry of Information, which led to his appointment as OBE in 1945, and then as an assistant secretary at the Dominions Office (1946-7). After this foray into the civil service, Mansergh returned to academic life in 1947 as a research professor at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. In 1953 he moved to Cambridge as the first Smuts Professor of the history of the British Commonwealth. From this position, which he held from 1953-1970, Mansergh was concerned to raise the profile of the study of both Irish and Commonwealth history. During this time, Mansergh also became an honorary fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford (1954), and Trinity College, Dublin (1971), obtained an Oxford DLitt in 1960, as well as a fellowship of the British Academy in 1973. He was Master of St John's College from 1969-1979, after which he returned to being a Fellow until his death in 1991. Perhaps his greatest work was the publication, as editor-in-chief, of the 12-volume, highly-acclaimed series Transfer of Power in India, 1942-7 (TOPI), which appeared from 1970 at the rate of one a year.

Mansergh died at Brookfields Hospital, Cambridge, on 16 January 1991, from pneumonia which set in at the end of a prolonged period of ill health which was unfortunately begun by a fall on an escalator of the London underground.

Robert Forsyth Scott was born on 28 July 1849, at St Thomas Manse, Leith, Edinburgh. He was the eldest son of the Rev. George Scott and his wife, Mary (daughter of Robert Forsyth). He was baptised on 16th August 1849, and was educated at High School, Edinburgh, and then in Stuttgart and London before being admitted pensioner to St John's College in 1871. At St John's he was elected to a scholarship in 1873, after which he obtained his BA (4th Wrangler, 1875), MA (1878), before being elected to a fellowship in 1877, which he retained until 1908. He was Assistant Master at Christ's Hospital 1877-9. Scott then went on to study law, being admitted to Lincoln's Inn in December 1876 and then being called to the Bar in 1880. He was Junior Proctor to the University 1887-8 and Senior Bursar for St John's College 1888-1908, before being elected to the office of Master following the death of Charles Taylor in 1908. He also served the office of Vice-Chancellor for the period 1910-12, and received the honorary degree of LL.D. at St Andrews. In 1922 he became a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and in 1924 he received the honour of Knighthood.

During the course of his career he had several important publications, which included the History of St John's College in 1907, and many papers on the College History. His recreational interests included rowing, as well as antiquarian and biographical pursuits. In 1898 he married Jenny Webster, the daughter of General Thomas Edward Webster. Robert Forsyth Scott died on 18th November 1933, at Cambridge.

Born c. 1778 in Barton, Whittingham, Northumberland, Ralph Tatham was the eldest son of Rev. Ralph Tatham (BA 1776). He was baptised there on 6 November 1778, and was educated at Durham School before being admitted as pensioner to St John's. He matriculated Michaelmas Term 1796, and was then admitted as Scholar. He graduated as 12th Wrangler in 1800, and achieved his MA 1803, BD 1811, and DD (per Lit. Reg.) 1839. Both his brothers, Thomas Tatham (BA 1806) and William Tatham (BA 1810) also attended St John's College. Ralph Tatham became a Fellow of the College in 1802; was a tutor 1814-30; was President 1827-39; and on the death of James Wood he was unanimously elected Master in May 1839, a position he held until his death in 1857. He was also Junior Proctor 1809-10, and Public Orator for the University of Cambridge 1809-36. For the years 1839-40, and 1845-6 he also served the office of University Vice-Chancellor.

He also had interests in the Church, and was first ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Rochester on 8 July 1804, followed by Priest on 30 September that same year. He was Curate of Longstowe with Croxton, Cambridgeshire, in 1807, and Chaplain of Horningsea in 1809. In 1816 he was instituted Rector of St Mary Colkirk with Stibbard, Norfolk, and he held this position until his death. He died on 19 January 1857, at St John's Lodge, aged 79, and was buried beside his brother, Thomas Tatham, in the old Ante-chapel. The slab covering his grave can be seen on the site of the old Chapel.

Born on 26 November 1918 in Walsall, to Thomas Henry and Emma Hinsley. He was educated at the local elementary school, and then at Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall, before winning a scholarship to St John's College to read history. He obtained a First in Part I of the Historical Tripos (1939), but never went on to complete a first or any subsequent degree. After the breakout of the Second World War, Hinsley was recruited into the naval section at the Government Code and Cipher School at Bletchley Park. Here, he became the leading expert on decryption and analysis of German wireless traffic and, after the capture of the German Enigma Code machines and materials, played a vital role in supplying the Admiralty with crucial intelligence analysis derived from Admiral Doenitz's signals, which helped to win the battle against U-boats in the Atlantic. In later life he wrote both official and more personal accounts of the work that had been undertaken at Bletchley Park.

At the conclusion of the war Hinsley returned to St John's College, where he had been elected a research fellow in 1944. On 6 April 1946, Hinsley married Hilary Brett Brett-Smith (Goldsmith's reader in English at Oxford 1939-47), with whom he went on to have three children (2 sons, 1 daughter). He became a university lecturer in history (1949-65), tutor (1956-63) reader in the history of international relations (1965-69), and professor of the history of international relations (1969-83). He also served as President (1975-9) and then Master (1979-89) of St John's College, and in the office of University Vice-Chancellor (1981-3). One of his greatest achievements during his time at Cambridge was the establishment of the research school in the history of international relations in the 1960s and 70s. His research and publications, as well as the research and publications of his PhD students changed the way in which both international relations and their history were studied, and the result was an alteration in the intellectual basis of discussion.

Hinsley was made OBE for his work at Bletchley Park in 1946, was awarded an FBA in 1981, and was also knighted in 1985. He was an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin (1981), and Darwin College, Cambridge (1987), and was awarded an Honorary DLitt from Witwatersrand (1985) and DMilSci from Royal Roads Military College, Canada (1987). He died of lung cancer at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, on 16 February 1998.

Youngest child of Ernest Bertram and Isabella Hinde, born on 26 October 1923 in Norwich. He was educated at Oundle's preparatory school followed by Oundle senior school. At the start of the Second World War Hinde signed up for the RAF, and following a length training in Africa, Hinde was posted to a Coastal Command, initially on Catalina flying boats, and then Sunderlands, before being promoted to flight lieutenant (1941-5). Following demobilization, Hinde received an exhibition to St John's College, where he read chemistry, physiology, and zoology; achieving a First in Part II of the Zoology Tripos in 1948. On 11 August the same year, he married Hester Cecily Coutts, who had been studying at Newnham College, Cambridge. They then moved to Oxford where Hinde undertook his DPhil at the Edward Grey Institute, and had four children together (two sons, two daughters). In 1950, Hinde returned to Cambridge at the invitation of William Thorpe to take up the position of curator of the Ornithological Field Station at Madingley, which he retained until 1965. Under Hinde's guidance, Madingley field station evolved as an important centre for the study of behaviour. Hester and Robert Hinde divorced in 1970, and on 7 May 1971 Hinde married Joan Gladys Stevenson, an American psychologist. They had two daughters together, and collaborated on the study of child development.

During his career, Hinde published a vast amount of work, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (1974), Honorary Fellow of the British Academy (2002) and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1988), foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (1978), and an honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1974). He also received awards and medals for his various research. Nevertheless, he was always a devoted member of St John's College, being a Fellow (1951-54, 1958-89, and 1994-2016) and, after retiring from his Royal Society Professorship in 1989, serving as Master (1989-94). He was also made an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford (1986), and Trinity College, Dublin (1990), and received honorary doctorates from from the Université Libre (Brussels, 1974), Université de Paris (Nanterre, 1979), Stirling University (1991), Göteborg University (Sweden, 1991), Edinburgh University (1992), University of Western Ontario (Canada, 1996), and Oxford University (1998). In 1988 he was made a CBE and in 1996 was awarded the royal medal of the Royal Society.

Hinde was not only a dedicated academic, but also recognised the need for a responsible society, and was committed to the peace movement. He became chair and president of the British Pugwash Group and president of the Movement for the Abolition of War. He maintained an academically active life long after his official retirement age, during which period he wrote some of his most socially-important books. He died of prostate cancer at the Arthur Rank Hospice in Great Shelford, Cambridge on 23 December 2016. A memorial service was held in St John's College Chapel on 13 May 2017, and a conference in his honour was organised by the college on 1 June 2018.

Born on 3 September 1945 to Herbert Charles and Rosina Sarah Goddard, Peter Goddard was educated at Emanuel School, London, before entering Trinity College, Cambridge where he obtained his BA (1966), and both his MA and PhD (1971). He then became a Research Fellow at Trinity College (1969-73), during which time he also became a Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Durham University (1972-74). He then returned to Cambridge, where he progressed through a multitude of university positions, including: Assistant Lecturer (1976-5); Lecturer (1976-98); Reader in Mathematical Physics (1989-92); Professor of Theoretical Physics (1992-2004); and was a member of the University Council (2000-03). Goddard was also the Department Director, Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (1991-94), becoming a Senior Fellow (1994-2010) after resigning this position, and then an Honorary Fellow (2011).

During his time teaching at Cambridge, Goddard also held positions at St John's College. He was elected to a Fellowship of the College in 1975, and then proceeded to be: Lecturer in Mathematics (1975-91); Tutor (1980-87); and Senior Tutor (1983-87). He remains a Fellow, but did take a break from his fellowship during the period 1994-2004, when he was serving as Master of the College. Goddard was also elected as Fellow of the Institute of Physics (1990), Fellow of Imperial College (1987), and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin (1995). He was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1989 and appointed CBE in 2002. He was also awarded an ScD Cantab in 1996, and has held a significant number of roles in the US as well as Britain.

He married Helena Barbara Ross in 1968, and together they have one son and one daughter. Goddard is currently Emeritus Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, having started there as Director (2004-12) and then becoming Professor (2012-16).

Associate professor in History of Architecture, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Architettura, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italia; Visiting Professor at Silpakorn University Bangkok, Thailand; Life Member St John's College, University of Cambridge, UK; Life Member Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, UK; Membro Associazione degli Storici di Architettura (Aistarch); Member Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (SAHGB)

Edward Miller, known more commonly as Ted, was born in Northumbria on the 16th July 1915. He was the son of a farm steward, and was educated as a northern grammar school before coming up to Cambridge in 1934 to earn starred Firsts in both Parts of the Historical Tripos. In 1939, he was elected to a Research Fellowship, but took a six-year leave of absence in 1940 for war service; Miller served with the Durham Light Infantry, and then the British Control Commission in Germany.

After the war, Miller returned to Cambridge in order to teach. Throughout his time at the College, he was appointed as Director of Studies in History, Tutor, Assistant Lecturer, and Lecturer in History. He focused on the history of medieval England, publishing works such as The Abbey and Bishopric of Ely, The Agrarian History of England and Wales (drawing on his own youth) and the two-volume Medieval England. Miller also later became an Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, of which he was the second Master after a stint as Professor of Medieval History at the University of Sheffield.

Miller married Fanny Salinger in 1941, and their son John went on to become a Professor of history at Queen Mary and Westfield College London. Miller died in Cambridge on the 21st December 2000.

Obituary in the Eagle, vol. 83, 2001, p. 80