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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

Admitted as sizar (aged 15) to St. John's in 1637. Born in Lincolnshire.

Thomas Bourchier was an English cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury. He was the son of William Bourchier and Anne of Gloucester, and the half-brother of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (father of Lady Margaret Beaufort’s third husband, Sir Henry Stafford). Educated at Oxford University, Thomas was appointed Chancellor of the University in 1434. In the same year, he was made Bishop of Worcester and in 1443, consecrated as Bishop of Ely. In 1454, Thomas was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and also served briefly as Lord Chancellor of England from 1455. He was made a cardinal in 1467 and died in 1486 at Knole House, Kent. He was buried at Canterbury Cathedral.

Studied at Shrewsbury School, later admitted to St. John's College as sizar and awarded B.A. in 1680/1. Awarded M.A. in 1684 and DD (Lambeth) in 1716. Consecrated as Bishop of Chichester in October 1722.

Head Porter, 1936(?)-1952

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.

Son of John Brackenbury of Sellaby near Barnard Castle, County Durham. Went to school at Guisborough, Yorkshire. Admitted to St John's as a pensioner, 1650, aged 16. Graduated BA, 1654/5; MA, 1658. A Fellow of St John's from 1656 until his death. He was admitted to Gray's Inn in 1656 and was licensed to practise medicine in 1662, graduating MD in 1665. His brothers Robert and Henry were also students at St John's. Pierce Brackenbury died in 1692.

Charles Brandon was a magnate, courtier, and soldier, and a member of King Henry VIII's privy council.
He was the only surviving son of Sir William Brandon (d. 1485) and his wife, Elizabeth Bruyn (d. 1494) of South Ockendon.
By about 1503 Charles Brandon waited on King Henry VII at table and became well-known for his skill at jousting. He became close to the young Prince Henry (who succeeded Henry VII as King of England), and although he was some seven years older than Henry VIII, and eventually predeceased him, he remained his lifelong intimate.
At Brandon's uncle's death in January 1510 he became marshal of the king's bench and in November 1511 he added the parallel post of marshal of the king's household. In October 1512 he became master of the horse. He was knighted on 30 March 1512, elected a knight of the Garter on 23 April 1513, created Viscount Lisle on 15 May 1513. Then, on 1 February 1514 he was named Duke of Suffolk.
As Cardinal Wolsey fell from power in 1529, Suffolk was appointed president of the king's council. But as the new regime settled down from 1530, his attendance in council and parliament was erratic, his influence limited, and his position uncomfortable. He did, however, serve on the increasingly well-defined privy council. In the household reforms of 1539 he was appointed to the great mastership of the household, an upgraded version of the lord stewardship. He led both the party which met Anne of Cleves on her arrival in 1539 and the team which negotiated with her the terms of her divorce from the king in 1540.

He had a varied military career, including leading a successful assault in the siege of Tournai (1513). He was also instrumental in suppressing the Lincolnshire Revolt and the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. The king commanded him to move his home to Lincolnshire, and Suffolk eventually became the greatest landowner in Lincolnshire, with a dense belt of estates spread across the centre of the county.
In the 1540s he took a major part in Henry's last wars against France and Scotland, while between campaigns he sat more regularly in the privy council, as a senior statesman and military expert. In October and November 1542 he guarded the northern English border while Norfolk and others invaded Scotland. From January 1543 to March 1544 he was the king's lieutenant in the north. Based mostly at Darlington, from there he supervised regional government and border warfare and planned for a major invasion which he never had the chance to command. Nevertheless, his work laid the basis for the capture of Edinburgh by Edward Seymour, in May 1544. By then Suffolk had been called away to France, where he led the siege of Boulogne with conspicuous bravery and skill, from July to November 1544 commanding the king's ward in the huge army which eventually captured the town.
Charles Brandon was married four times. Firstly to Dame Margaret Mortimer in 1507 and her niece Anne Brown in 1508 who died in 1510. He then married in secret (later in public) Henry VIII’s sister Mary (1496–1533) who had been recently widowed by the death of Louis XII of France. Mary died on 25 June 1533 and Suffolk married again in September 1533: his fourth wife was the fourteen-year-old Katherine Willoughby, originally intended as his son's bride. His son Henry, earl of Lincoln, died on 8 March 1534.
When Charles Brandon died of unknown causes at Guildford, on 22 August 1545, the king decreed that he should be buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor. Charles Brandon left two sons, Henry Brandon (1535–1551) and Charles Brandon (1537/8–1551), successively second and third dukes of Suffolk.

Katherine Brandon was born in 1519, the only child of William Willoughby, eleventh Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and his wife Lady Maria de Salinas, a Castlian noblewoman who was maid of honour to Catherine of Aragon. After he father’s death, she became the ward of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.

The Duke was married to Mary, sister of Henry VIII, and their son together was created earl of Lincoln in 1525 as well as being a potential heir to the throne. The acquisition of Katherine’s lands would help Brandon to develop his growing sphere of influence, and he married Katherine three months after Mary’s death in 1533.

Katherine was known as a pious woman. After her husband’s death in 1545, she became associated with the circle of Queen Catherine Parr. Once Edward VI ascended the throne, Katherine became involved in shaping a new protestant culture in England. Many books were dedicated to her, including biblical translations, and she also printed her own: The Lamentacion of a Sinner, in 1547. The hope was that the book would help to lift restrictions on Bible reading by women and the lower classes.

After the coronation of Queen Mary, Katherine and her servants travelled to the continent. Their exile lasted until 1559, and its story was incorporated into John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments as well as becoming the subject of a popular ballad. Katherine had a strained relationship with Elizabeth I, due to the puritan tone of her faith which contrasted with the Queen’s.

Katherine had four children: two sons with her first husband, who both died of sweating sickness in 1551, and two children with her second, Richard Bertie. She died on the 19th of September 1580, two years before Bertie.

Architect, English courtier, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster under Henry VII, from 1486-1503. Bray was born c. 1440 in the parish of St. John Bedwardine, near Worcester, and was educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester. From 1467 onwards, he assumed an important role in Lady Margaret Beaufort’s household as receiver-general, primarily to Lady Margaret Beaufort and Sir Henry Stafford until 1471, and then subsequently to Lady Margaret and Thomas Stanley. He remained in the service of Lady Margaret until c.1499 and held principal responsibility for managing lands granted to her in 1487.

Other notable appointments include Knight of the Bath, and subsequently, Knight of the Garter; and Steward of the University of Oxford (1496).

In his work as an architect, Bray designed both St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and Henry VII’s Chapel at Westminster. Together with John Alcock, he also played a key part in the construction of Jesus College, Cambridge, founded in 1496.

Bray married Katherine Hussey (d.1506) around 1475 and died without issue. He was buried at Windsor in St. George’s Chapel.

Clerk to Christ's Hospital, 1711-1745.

Arthur Browne was an architect and designer based in Norwich. Browne was a founding member of the Norwich Society of Artists in 1805 and was its president in 1807. In the same year, he was commissioned by Joseph Salusbury Muskett to rebuild Intwood Hall in Norfolk. In 1823 he designed and built the cast iron Magdalene Bridge, also known as the Great Bridge, in Cambridge. In 1825 he was invited to submit plans for New Court at St John’s College, Cambridge, but his designs were not implemented. He died in 1840.

Adm. sizar to St. John's College (matric. 1672); B.A. 1675-1676; M.A. 1679; Fellow 1678-1708.

Brumell was born at Morpeth, and admitted a sizar to Christ’s College, Cambridge in 1832. He did not reside, but matriculated at St John’s College the following year. He was the Smith’s Prizeman, BA 1837 (3rd Wrangler) and Bachelor of Divinity 1848.

He was a fellow and tutor at St John’s College, and during 1846 served as Senior Proctor of the University. Ordained a deacon in 1844 and a priest in Ely a year later, Brumell became rector of Holt in Norfolk in 1853, and remained there until his death in 1901. He served as Rural Dean 1858-1900.

Brumell died without issue in 1901.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 23, Michaelmas Term 1901, p. 78
Accessible online at: https://documents.joh.cam.ac.uk/public/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1900s/1902/Eagle_1901_Michaelmas.pdf

B.A. 1871. Physician and surgeon

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

George Bullock was an English Roman Catholic theologian. He studied at Cambridge and had become a College fellow by 1538. He was one of the appellants who challenged the governance of John Taylor. Although many of his fellow appellants left the College, Bullock remained. Uncomfortable with the protestant leanings of Edward VI, Bullock fled to the Netherlands. Bulllock returned to England after Mary's accession to the throne. He returned to Cambridge and took a degree of BTh in 1554 and on 12 May was elected Master of St John's.

He became Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity in 1556 and graduated Doctor of Divinity in 1557. He was appointed vicar of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in 1556, and later the same year rector of Great Munden. On the accession of Elizabeth I he was deprived of all his positions, when he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy.

Bullock once again left for the continent and travelled to Paris where he was invited to take refuge in the monastery at Ninove in the Netherlands. He remained at Ninove for eight years before moving to Antwerp where he printed Oeconomia methodica concordantiarum scripturae sacrae.

Bullock died in 1572 a few months after the publication of his book.

Professor Revd. Alfred Caldecott was born in Chester on 9 November 1850. His father, John Caldecott was a hatter and founder of the Institute of Accountants. Caldecott was his sixth child by his first wife Mary Dinah (née Brookes). His older brother Randolph was an English artist and illustrator. In 1860 the family moved to Boughton, Cheshire and he spent the last five years of his schooling at The King Henry VIII School in Chester. He then attended St. John’s College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1876. He read the Moral Sciences Tripos and he took First Class honours in 1880. He was then elected to a Fellowship at St John's. He was one of the founders of the Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club and the first meeting took place on 19 October 1878 in his rooms at St John's.
Caldecott joined King's College London in 1891 as Professor of Logic, Mental and Moral Philosophy. He developed a syllabus with a renewed emphasis on theological issues. He was a lecturer of Logic, Ethics and Psychology to the King’s College London Ladies Department. He became the Boyle Lecturer in 1913 and was Dean of King's College from 1913–17.
In his religious life Caldecott took Holy Orders and became the curate of Stafford from 1880-82, then he was Vicar of Horningsea, Cambridgeshire from 1883-84. He was the Select Preacher at Cambridge University for many individual years between 1884 and 1916. He was the Rector of North and South Topham in Norfolk from 1895-1898 and then the Rector of Frating with Thorington in Essex from 1898-1906. He became Prebendary of St Paul's from 1915 to 1935 and the Rector of Great Oakley in Essex from 1917-1925.
Caldecott was a regular contributor to 'Cambridge Theological Essays' and to the 'University of London Theological Essays'. He wrote several books on philosophical, historical and religious subjects including: 'English Colonialism and the Empire' (1891), ‘The Church in the West Indies’ (1898) and 'The Philosophy of Religion in England and America' (1901). He contributed a paper in 1908 to the Pan-Anglican Congress on Christian Philosophy in contrast with Pantheism, Christian Science, and Agnosticism. He also collaborated with his brother Randolph on the book 'Aesop's Fables' (1883) which contained his translation of Aesop from the original Greek.
In 1910 he made up a deputation with Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Louisa Garrett Anderson who were allowed to put forward the case, for women to have the vote, to the Prime Minister.
He died on 8 February 1936, aged 85, in Upton-upon-Severn in Worcestershire. A portrait of Alfred painted by his brother Randolph Caldecott hangs in the Liverpool Academy of Arts.

Born in Berwick upon Tweed, reputedly the illegitimate son of Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, Governor of Berwick from 1568. Matriculated as sizar from Christ's College, Cambridge, 1585; graduated BA 1589; made fellow of St John's 1591; proceeded MA 1592. Transferred to Christ's, 1597; proceeded BD 1599; resigned his fellowship 1600. Married Dorothy Coke, sister of John Coke (secretary of state from 1625) and George Coke, a contemporary of Carey's at St John's and later Bishop of Hereford. He was made a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral in 1601 and acquired a number of ecclesiastical offices over the next few years, including archdeacon of Shropshire from 1606 (resigned 1613) and prebendary of Lincoln from 1607. In 1610 he was appointed to the rectory of Toft, Cambridgeshire, at the instigation of Owen Gwyn, Bursar (later Master) of St John's. In 1610 he was also made Master of Christ's College, appointed by King James I. In 1612 he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University. In 1614 he was made Dean of St Paul's. He was nominated as Bishop of Exeter by Owen Gwyn's cousin, John Williams, lord keeper and Bishop of Lincoln, and appointed to the post in 1621.