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Bailey was born in Stapleford in 1901, the son of farmer John Bailey. He was educated at Coldicott School, Hitchin, Manor House School, Clapham, Grammar School Reigate, and Queen’s College, Taunton. He came to St John's College in 1919 to study Natural Sciences. In 1921 Bailey switched to study Law, and graduated LLB in 1923 with a 2.1. In 1922 he was called to the Bar and joined the staff of Messrs Gibson & Weldon. In 1926 Bailey moved to Aberystwyth to lecture at the University College of Wales, and from there moved to Birmingham University as Reader in English Law. He returned to Cambridge in 1931 to become a Fellow and College Lecturer at St John's. A University Lectureship followed in 1934, and then a Readership in Law in 1946. When H.A. Holland retired from the Rouse Ball Chair of English Law in 1950, Bailey was elected to succeed him, holding the post until 1968.

Bailey served his College as Director of Studies (1934-50) and Tutor (1939-46), and served the University as Senior Proctor (1936-7). Bailey wrote on legal history, editing the Cambridge Legal History Series, and on property law. His best known work, however, is his 'Law of Wills', first published in 1935. Bailey was a popular lecturer.

He was twice married and had one son, and died in 1980.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 69, Easter Term 1981, p. 29
Accessible online at: https://documents.joh.cam.ac.uk/public/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1980s/Eagle_1981.pdf

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/

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.

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

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

The Reverend Stephen Parkinson was born in 1823 near Keighley in Yorkshire. He was admitted Sizar to St John’s in 1841, gaining his BA as Senior Wrangler and 2nd Smith’s Prize in 1845. He graduated Bachelor of Divinity in 1855 and Doctor of Divinity in 1869.
The rest of his life was spent in connection with the College, and he was elected to a Fellowship the same year that he completed his BA. From 1864 to 1882 he served as a College Tutor, and as President between 1865 and 1871. In 1881 the Mastership of the College was vacant, however Parkinson declined to enter as a candidate.
Parkinson published two textbooks, An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics, and A Treatise on Optics, both of which ran to numerous editions and were the standard works in use at the University. He was a well-liked and generous Tutor, with his Eagle Obituary detailing a student who would have been unable to complete his degree without Dr Parkinson’s financial support. A window in the College Chapel was also gifted by Parkinson, as well as a donation to the College Mission.
In 1870 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society , and a year later married Elizabeth Lucy, who was to outlive him following his death in 1889.

Obituary in the Eagle: Vol. 15, 1889, p. 356.

Accessible online at:

https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1880s/1889/Eagle_1889_Lent.pdf

Edward Ernest Sikes was born on the 26th April, 1867, in Kent, and educated at Aldenham School. At the end of 1885, he was awarded a scholarship at St John’s College, where he would also go on to win a Brown Medal and achieve first place in the First Class in Part I of the Classical Tripos of 1889. He later went out to study at the British School at Athens, before being elected to a Fellowship in 1891.
Sikes’ career at St John’s continued when the next year he was awarded the title of Assistant Lecturer; and, then, Lecturer, a position which he held from 1894 to 1938. He became a Tutor in 1900, a task which he undertook for the next twenty-five years.
When not teaching, Sikes was also a prolific author, publishing works such as Roman Poetry, The Greek View of Poetry, and a translation of Hero and Leander. He was also known to enjoy football, cricket, and music; Sikes was a Chairman of the Smoking Concerts, and President of the musical society.
Sikes remained at St John’s for almost all of the rest of his life, with the exclusion of a brief tenure as a Visiting Professor at Harvard University. He died at Bournemouth, on the 5th February 1940.

Obituary in the Eagle: Vol. 52, Mich 1941, p. 43.
Accessible online at: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1940s/1942/Eagle_1941_Michaelmas.pdf

James Wood was born on the 14th December 1760 in Holcombe, the son of James Wood of Tottingham. He was admitted to St John’s in 1778, and graduated as Senior Wrangler in 1782. He was subsequently appointed Fellow (in 1782) and Tutor (in 1789) at the college, and served as President from 1802 to 1815. He was Master of the college from 1815 to 1839.
Wood was ordained as a deacon at Peterborough in 1785, and as a priest in 1787. He served as the Dean of Ely from 1820 until his death.
Wood was also a generous benefactor of St John’s College. He gave money to the College to found scholarships, and upon his death on the 23rd of April 1839, left the College £20,000 which contributed to the building fund for the new Chapel, where he is now buried.

George Udny Yule was born on the 18th February 1871, to George Udny Yule and Henrietta Peach Pemberton. Though born in Scotland, Yule’s parents moved to London when he was four, and it was there he grew up. Yule boasted an impressive military family history, and so his father wished him to become a solider. Yule, however, disagreed. He was educated at Winchester College School, which he left at sixteen to study engineering at University College, London. Yule worked various appointments in London, but the most important was that of Newmarch Lecturer in Statistics. These lectures produced a book published in 1911: An Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, a landmark text translated into many languages and reproduced in many editions.
Yule finally arrived at Cambridge as University Lecturer in Statistics in 1912—matriculated in 1913— but went on to lecture in a number of faculties. He was a Fellow of the College from 1922-1951, a member of the College Council, and a Director of Studies in Natural Sciences.
When Yule gave up his teaching post, he began devoting his time to reading. Studying the statistical similarities of vocabulary between texts led him to write Statistics of Literary Vocabulary. Yule read widely across genres and donated many books to the College, not just printed editions but four manuscript copies of De Imitatione Christi and various tracts on agriculture.
Yule died on the 26th June 1951.

Obituary in the Eagle: Vol. 55, Easter 1952, p. 89.
Accessible online at: https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1950s/1952/Eagle_1952_Easter.pdf

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.

Humphrey Gower was born in Herefordshire and graduated from St John's in 1659. He then proceeded MA, BD, DD, and was elected to the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity. Over the course of his career he was also rector of a number of parishes in counties as far apart as Dorset and Norfolk, as well as prebendary of Ely. Peter Gunning made him Master of Jesus College in 1679, and later that year he became Master of St John's. During his Vice-Chancellorship Gower received Charles II at Newmarket, and later that year in St John's itself. When William III came to power he was indicted for not having ejected non-juring fellows, but the charges against him were rejected. As well as making important benefactions to the Library, Gower ensured the upkeep of the material of the College, arranging the building of a new bridge over the Cam.

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.

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.

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 Fisher was an English bishop, theologian and humanist academic, who was instrumental in the founding of St John's College. He is venerated as a martyr and saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Born in the town of Beverley, Yorkshire, in 1469, Fisher was a student at Cambridge in the 1480s, gaining his BA in 1488. He was subsequently elected Fellow of Michaelhouse, one of the two Colleges later refounded as Trinity College by Henry VIII. He became chaplain and confessor to Lady Margaret Beaufort, and in 1504, was appointed as Bishop of Rochester. At Cambridge, Fisher was made Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1501 and served as President of Queens’ College from 1505 to 1508. He also encouraged the creation of the University’s oldest professorship, the Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity, in 1502, and was elected as its first occupant.

It was through Fisher’s influence that Lady Margaret was moved to support the foundation of Christ's College (1505) and St John's College, and it was Fisher who was to secure the establishment of St. John’s in 1511, after Lady Margaret’s death in 1509. Fisher fiercely opposed the dissolution of Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon, a position which brought him into grave conflict with the King. Fisher’s refusal to take an oath supporting Henry's right to act as Supreme Head of the Church in England led ultimately to his imprisonment in the Tower of London in 1534. Since such a refusal was considered a treasonable offence, Fisher was tried and sentenced to death, despite his late appointment to the office of cardinal by Pope Paul III. He was executed on Tower Hill on 22 June 1535.

A prominent English churchman and statesman, Richard Foxe held many important ecclesiastical offices during the course of his life, including positions as the Bishop of Exeter, Durham, and from 1501, as Bishop of Winchester. He was a powerful political ally of King Henry VII of England and assumed a number of important diplomatic and ministerial responsibilities during Henry’s reign, both domestically and abroad. Foxe was appointed Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal in 1487, a position which he held until his resignation in 1516. A generous benefactor, Foxe built and endowed grammar schools at Grantham and Taunton, and in 1517, officially founded Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

Foxe held a number of close connections to Cambridge. In 1500, he was elected Chancellor of the University and from 1507 to 1518, served as Master of Pembroke Hall. As one of Lady Margaret Beaufort’s executors, Foxe worked closely with John Fisher in establishing the foundation of St. John’s College. He died at Wolvesey in October 1528.

Son of Sir John Marney of Layer Marney, Essex, and Jane Throckmorton. Served as Privy Councillor for Henry VII in 1485-1487 and for Henry VIII in 1509. Fought for Henry VII at the Battle of Stoke Field, 1487, and in putting down the Cornish Rebellion in 1497. Fought for Henry VIII in France in 1513. He held positions of power in Essex, including J.P. and M.P., and by Henry VIII was given offices including Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1509), Vice-Chamberlain and Captain of the King's Guard, constable of Castle Rising, steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, and Lord Privy Seal (1523).

Son of Ralph Lovell of Beachamwell, Norfolk. Studied Law at Lincoln's Inn and practised in Norfolk. Joined revolt against Richard III in 1483. In 1485 he served as Speaker of the House of Commons in Henry VII's first Parliament, and in the same year was made Treasurer of the King's Chamber and Chancellor of the Exchequer. He was a leading councillor of both Henry VII and Henry VIII. He fought for Henry VII and the Battle of Stoke Field (1487), in France (1492), and in putting down the Cornish Rebellion (1497). In Henry VIII's wars of 1511-1514 he supervised the procurement of artillery and the fortification of Calais. Other offices held included: Treasurer of the King's Household (1503); Lieutenant of the Tower of London (1513), and Steward of the Universities of Oxford (1507) and Cambridge (1509).