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The father of Lady Margaret Beaufort, John Beaufort was the second son of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, and Margaret Holland, and a descendant of John of Gaunt. He was an English nobleman and a military commander during the Hundred Years’ War, accompanying his cousin, Henry V of England, on campaigns in France. In 1425, he was captured while fighting and imprisoned until his release in 1438. He married Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso in 1439. In 1443, he was created 1st Duke of Somerset and made a Knight of the Garter. Following his death in 1444, the dukedom passed to his brother, Edmund Beaufort.

Robert Leslie Howland was born in 1905 to Robert Howland and Mary Helen Turner in Watford. In 1913 the family moved to New York, where he attended the Noble School, before returning to Great Britain to attend a Preparatory School in Dundee, followed by Shrewsbury School.
He matriculated at St John’s in 1924 to read Classics, and graduated BA in 1928. He taught briefly at Eton College, before returning to St John’s after being elected to the Fellowship on 1929. He remained a Fellow the rest of his life. He was appointed Tutor in 1932, and began lecturing at the Classical Faculty two years later. He became a Faculty Assistant Lecturer in 1936 and a University Lecturer in 1938. After serving in the Second World War, he returned to the College and became Senior Proctor 1951-52, Senior Tutor in 1956, and was elected President in 1963. Howland served as Warden of Madingley Hall, succeeding Edward Miller, in 1965 and remained in that post until his retirement in 1975.
Howland was an accomplished shot-putter, having competed for the British National Athletic Team from 1927 to 1939, and representing Great Britain at the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928. In 1950, he won the Cambridgeshire title aged 45.
Howland died in 1986 age 80 leaving two sons and one daughter.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 71, 1987, p55
Accessible online at: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1980s/Eagle_1987.pdf

Lady Elizabeth Talbot was a daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, and Lady Margaret Beauchamp. She was married to John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk.

Thomas Grey was an English landowner, courtier and peer. He was the son of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and Cecily Bonville, and the grandson of Queen Elizabeth Woodville. The wife of Henry VII of England, Elizabeth of York, was the half-sister of the 1st Marquess, and the younger Thomas became a ward of the king in 1492. He was made a knight of the Bath in 1494 and a knight of the Garter in 1501. As a prominent courtier, Thomas took part in a number of diplomaticmissions overseas and fulfilled various duties at court. He was also an active soldier and was present at the siege of Tournai and the Battle of the Spurs in 1513. He was married to (1) Eleanor St John and (2) Margaret Wotton. On his death in 1530, Thomas Grey was one of the wealthiest men in England, the owner of multiple large estates. He was buried at Astley in Warwickshire.

Roger Lupton was an English lawyer, Provost of Eton College, and chaplain to both Henry VII and Henry VIII of England. He was born in Sedbergh, Yorkshire and studied at Cambridge University. He was elected Fellow and Provost of Eton College in 1503/4, a position he retained until 1535. Lupton financed the foundation of Sedbergh School from 1525 and in 1527, established six scholarships at St. John’s College, Cambridge, to be awarded to students of Sedbergh School. He was an executor of Henry VII’s will. After his death in 1539/40, Lupton was buried at Eton College, in a side chapel commissioned by him.

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.

William Whitaker was a prominent Protestant Calvinistic Anglican churchman, academic, and theologian. He was Master of St. John's College, and a leading divine in the university in the latter half of the sixteenth century. His uncle was Alexander Nowell, the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and catechist.

He was born at Holme, near Burnley, Lancashire, in 1548. He received his early education at the local parish school and then was enrolled in St Paul's School in London by his protestant uncle Alexander Nowell. Whitaker came up to Trinity College in October 1564. He was subsequently elected a scholar on the same foundation, proceeded B.A. in March 1568, and on 6 September 1569 was elected to a minor fellowship, and on 25 March 1571 to a major fellowship, at his college. In 1571 he commenced M.A. He was supported financially at Cambridge by his uncle.

On 3 February 1578 he was installed canon of Norwich Cathedral, and in the same year was admitted to the degree of B.D., and incorporated on 14 July at Oxford. In 1580 he was appointed by the crown to the regius professorship of divinity, to which Elizabeth shortly after added the chancellorship of St. Paul's, London, and from this time his position as the champion of the teaching of the Protestant and Reformed Church of England appears to have been definitely taken up

On 28 February 1586 Whitaker, on the recommendation of Whitgift and Burghley, was appointed by the crown to the mastership of St. John's College. The appointment was, however, opposed by a majority of the fellows on the ground of his supposed leanings towards puritanism. His rule as an administrator justified in almost equal measure the appointment and its objectors. The college increased greatly in numbers and reputation, but the puritan party gained ground considerably in the society. Whitaker was a no less resolute opponent of Lutheranism than of Roman doctrine and ritual.

In 1587 he was created D.D.; and in 1593, on the mastership of Trinity College falling vacant by the preferment of Dr. John Still to the bishopric of Bath and Wells, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the post.

Richard Clayton was admitted as a pensioner in 1572, but move to Oxford where he proceeded B.A. and was incorporated in that degree at Cambridge in 1576. In 1577, he was admitted to the fellowship of St John's on the Lady Margaret's foundation. He commenced M.A. at Cambridge in 1579, and was incorporated in that degree at Oxford in 1580. He received his B.D. at Cambridge in 1587 and was elected college preacher the same year. He received his D.D.in 1592.
He was made Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1593 and was installed Archdeacon of Lincoln in 1595. He was admitted as Master of SJC on 22 December 1595 in a highly politicised election manipulated by Lord Burghley.
Clayton was responsible for the building of Second Court.
He died 2 May 1612 and is buried in the College Chapel.

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

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.

Thomas Neville (died 1615) was an English clergyman and academic who was Dean of Peterborough (1591–1597) and Dean of Canterbury (1597–1615), Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge (1582–1593), and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge (1593–1615).
For more information see: https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/about/historical-overview/early-years-1546-to-1642/

John Whitgift, (born c. 1530, Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Eng.—died Feb. 29, 1604, London), archbishop of Canterbury who did much to strengthen the Anglican church during the last years of Elizabeth I and to secure its acceptance by her successor, James I. He was the first bishop to be appointed to the Privy Council by Elizabeth, who entirely trusted and supported him, insisting on his ministrations on her deathbed.

For more information see:

• https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Whitgift
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whitgift
• https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-29311?rskey=D1k6dM&result=1

John Frederick Isaacson was born in 1801. He was the second son of Reverend John Isaacson, the Rector of Lydgate, Suffolk and a fellow Johnian. Isaacson was educated at Norwich school, and then matriculated at St John’s in 1821. He graduated BA Senior Classic in 1825, also receiving the 1st Chancellor’s medal, before achieving the Bachelor of Divinity in 1835. In the same year that he achieved his BA, Isaacson was ordained deacon in Ely, and priest the following year. Around this time, he was also elected Fellow and Tutor of the college. As well as this, he also received the remarkable compliment of the post as a Lecturer of King’s College from 1829-1839.
In 1838, Isaacson became the rector of Freshwater, Isle of Wight, where he spent the rest of his life. He married Rebecca Stokes in 1840, and had two sons.
Isaacson died on the 19th August, 1886.
Obituary in The Eagle: Vol. 14, 1886, p. 236.
Accessible online at: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1880s/1887/Eagle_1886_Michaelmas.pdf

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

William Beale (died 1651) was an English royalist churchman, Master in turn of Jesus College, Cambridge and St John's College, Cambridge.
In 1642, Beale was active in raising funds for Charles I’s cause; urging St John’s and other colleges to send money and plate to the king at Nottingham. Oliver Cromwell failed to intercept Beale and the treasure in Huntingdonshire, but later arrested Beale in the College chapel along with the Masters of Jesus and Queens’ Colleges. The three men were transported to the Tower of London. He was removed from his Mastership by the earl of Manchester on 13 March 1644.
He died in Madrid on 1 October 1651.

Arrowsmith came up to St John's College in 1616 and graduated BA in 1620. He proceeded MA in 1623, and in the same year became a fellow of St Catharine's College. In 1631 he married and resigned his fellowship.Following his marriage he went to King's Lynn as curate and then vicar of St Nicholas's Church.
During the Civil War, Arrowsmith was a leading presbyterian in both Cambridge and London. In 1644 Arrowsmith was admitted by the earl of Manchester as Master, replacing the ejected royalist William Beale.

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

Peter Gunning was born in Kent and matriculated at Clare College, Cambridge in 1629, graduating in 1633. Gunning remained at Clare until he was ejected by parliamentary commissioners in 1644 due to the royalist sympathies manifested in his preaching. He then moved to be with the royal court in Oxford, where he stayed as chaplain of New College until the royalist surrender. For ten years he served as a tutor and chaplain in the households of various royalist nobles, before commencing preaching to a congregation with royalist sympathies at the chapel of Exeter House on the Strand. Services using the Book of Common Prayer were tolerated discreetly in the main, although parliamentarian troops did interrupt Gunning's Christmas Day communion in 1657. After the Restoration his career took off: he resumed his fellowship, became Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Master of Corpus Christi College, and then, in 1661, Master of St John's. He also gained positions in the Church, most notably prebendary of Canterbury Cathedral. Due to his reputation as one of the foremost churchmen of his day he took part in the Savoy Conference in the hope of reconciling episcopalian and presbyterian parties in the Church. Eventually Gunning resigned his post as Master of St John's to become Bishop of Chichester in 1670, and then of Ely in 1675.

Francis Turner was the oldest son of Thomas Turner, Dean of Canterbury. He was born 23 August 1637. From Winchester College, where he was elected scholar in 1651, Francis proceeded to New College, Oxford, where he was admitted probationer fellow on 7 November 1655, and graduated B. A. on 14 April 1659 and M. A. on 14 January 1663.
Turner’s preferments were mainly due to the favour of the Duke of York, to whom he was chaplain. In February 1664/5 he was incorporated at Cambridge, and on 8 May 1666 he was admitted fellow commoner in St. John's College, Cambridge, to which the patronage of Peter Gunning, the Regius Professor of Divinity, attracted him.
On 11 April 1670 he succeeded Gunning as Master of St. John's, Cambridge; he was vice-chancellor in 1678, and resigned his mastership, "because of a faction," at Christmas 1679.