Showing 374 results

Edward Lapidge was an architect, designer and surveyor based in London. He was the eldest son of Samuel Lapidge, a former assistant to Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown and the Chief Gardener at Hampton Court Palace. In 1824 Edward was appointed Surveyor to the County of Surrey. Between 1825 and 1828 he designed and built Kingston Bridge in London. Lapidge submitted designs that were not adopted for new buildings at King’s College in 1823 and the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1835. In October 1830, Lapidge produced a plan for the new Cambridge Botanical Gardens, but legal issues meant that the work was delayed and his designs were never carried out in full. Two years later, he submitted plans for the landscaping of the grounds around New Court at St John’s College, Cambridge. Lapidge was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1838. He died in February 1860.

Tenant in the bishopric of Ely at Bishop's Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

Agnes Metcalfe was the mother of Nicholas Metcalfe, Master of St John's College. She lived in the parish of Askrigg, near Aysgarth in the North Riding of Yorkshire.

Chris Paley Johnson was the Senior Bursar from 1970-1991. He oversaw the development of a number of College building projects, including the Innovation Centre.

William Bolton was a canon of the Augustinian order, prior of St. Bartholomew’s in West Smithfield, London, and master of the king’s works. While little information survives concerning the early years of his life, Bolton is known to have attended St. Mary’s College, Oxford, between 1501 and 1503, with his election at St. Bartholomew’s confirmed by the bishop of London in 1505. As a royal adminstrator, Bolton oversaw a number of important building projects, including the chapel of Henry VII and the monument to Lady Margaret Beaufort in Westminster Abbey, and from 1517, the reconstruction of New Hall in Boreham, Essex. He is cited as master of the king’s works in the will of Henry VII (1509), but is likely to have occupied this position from around 1504 onwards. In addition to his royal engagements, Bolton also oversaw important reconstruction of the priory church at St. Bartholomew’s between 1513 and 1517. In 1522, he received preferment as rector of Harrow on the Hill in Middlesex. He died in London in 1532 and was buried at St. Bartholomew’s.

William Longforth was Fellow and President of St. John’s College, and Vicar of Ospringe in Kent from September 1527. He also appears to have held positions as Vicar of St. James’s Church, Isle of Grain, Kent, between 1528 and 1530, and Vicar of St. Mary’s Church in Gillingham, Kent, from 1530. Prior to his ordination, Longforth was a student at Cambridge, graduating B.A. 1514-15; MA 1518. He died sometime in or during the years soon after 1530.

John Hussey was born in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, and was the son of Sir William Hussey (1443-1495), Chief Justice of the King’s Bench. He was first knighted in 1497 at the Battle of Blackheath and was subsequently promoted to Knight Banneret by Henry VIII at Tournai on 16 August 1513, following a string of other appointments, including Sheriff of Lincolnshire (1493); Comptroller of the Household (1509); and custos rotulorum (1513).

Hussey served as Chief Butler of England from 1521 until his death in 1536/7. He was also Chamberlain to King Henry VIII’s daughter, Mary I of England, and a member of the House of Lords. He was elected as a knight of the shire for Lincolnshire and as Member of Parliament on 6 July 1523. In 1529, he was created Lord Hussey of Sleaford by King Henry VIII.

Hussey was implicated in the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace and accused of conspiracy against the king. Tried on the charge of treason, he was found guilty by the House of Lords and executed at Lincoln in 1536.

Sir Robert Southwell was a lawyer and a royal administrator during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. A descendant of a wealthy Norfolk family, Southwell was a member of Lincoln’s Inn and rose to prominence during the 1490s, when he worked in the crown lands administration on various appointments, receiverships and special commissions. By 1503, he occupied the role of general surveyor of all the royal lands. From 1504, he served as chief butler of England and in 1510, he was appointed chief auditor of the exchequer. He died in 1514.

Alan Percy was the second Master of the College. He was Prebendary of Dunnington in York Cathedral to which he was admitted 1 May 1513. He was admitted Master of St John's 29 July 1516, at the formal opening of the College, though he seems to have been perfoming the duties for about a month before that date. He vacated his Prebend at York in 1517 and Robert Shorton, his predecessor as Master of St John's, succeeded him there, 1 November 1517.
Percy had been appointed Rector of St Anne with St Agnes in the City of London by the Abbot and Convent of Westminster, and was instituted 6 May 1515. He resigned both his Rectory and his Mastership in 1518. The pension assigned to him by the College (£10/year) was a liberal one at the time, for the stipend of the Master was only £12. However, Percy did not claim the pension long as King Henry VIII in 1520 gave him an estate in Middlesex, whereupon, he surrendered his claim upon College revenues.

George Day was the third son of Richard Day of Newport, Shropshire and Agnes Osborne. In 1521, he graduated BA from St John's and in 1522 he was elected to the Fellowship. He became first Linacre professor of medicine in 1525, and then college praelector in Greek. In 1528 he became public orator of the university.
He was ordained deacon at Lincoln on 7 March 1528 and became John Fisher's chaplain. As orator he wrote the university's decree in support of the royal supremacy and despite his connections with Fisher as appointed royal chaplain. He was appointed master of the College 27 July 1537 (with some royal support) and 5 June 1538 he was made provost of King's College, Cambridge.
On 15 April 1543 he was nominated as bishop of Chichester, Day resigned all his benefices, but kept the provostship of King's by royal dispensation.
Day survived Henry VIII's reign, with a spell in prison during Edward VI's and was released from prison with Mary's accession on 4 August 1553. He was popular with the Queen and preached at the funeral of Edward VI. He became Mary's almoner and preached at her coronoation.
He died in London 2 August 1556 and was buried in Chichester Cathedral.

Taylor served as bursar then proctor of Queens' College, Cambridge from 1523 to 1537, and master of St John's College, Cambridge from 1538 to 1546. He was rector of St Peter upon Cornhill, London, of Tatenhill, Staffordshire, Dean of Lincoln Cathedral, a Reformer and Commissioner for the first Prayer Book.
His government of SJC was not felicitous and he was involved in continual disputes with the fellows. These occasioned a visitation by the bishop of Ely in May 1543, and subsequently the formation of a new code of statutes for the government of the College. In 1546, Taylor resigned his mastership of the College.
He died at the home of his friend in Buckinghamshire in 1554.

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

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 Thirlby (or Thirleby; c. 1506–1570), was the first and only bishop of Westminster (1540–50), and afterwards successively bishop of Norwich (1550–54) and bishop of Ely (1554–59). While he acquiesced in the Henrician schism, with its rejection in principle of the Roman papacy, he remained otherwise loyal to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church during the English Reformation.
For more information see: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/thomas-thirlby

Ken North first came to College in 1923 as a chorister. He remained a member of the Choir until 1926. He worked at Eaden Lilley's grocery department until he was appointed Kitchen Clerk in October 1935.

William Bill was Master of St John's (1546/7 to 1551), Vice-Chancellor of the University (1548) and twice Master of Trinity College (1551-1553, 1558-1561), Provost of Eton College (1558-1561) and Dean of Westminster (1560-1561).
Bill was born in Ashwell, Hertfordshire and had two brothers and two sisters. His brother, Thomas became physician to Henry VIII. William was educated at St John's and was elected a Fellow in 1534. He received his B.D. 1544-1546.

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.

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

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