Masters of the College
Including biographical notes upon the Masters of Jesus College, 1497-1940
Reproduced from Iris and Gerda Morgan, The Stones and Story of Jesus Chapel (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 1914), pp. 347-359, with some minor amendments and additions to 1940.
William Chubbes or Stubs, D.D. |
1497-1505 |
| WILLIAM CHUBBES or STUBS, D.D., Master of Jesus 1497-1505. Born at Whitby; educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge; B.A. 1465; Deacon, 1466; Priest, 1467; M.A. 1469; Fellow and (1486) President of Pembroke; D.D. 1491. It is said to have been at his suggestion that Bishop Alcock converted the Nunnery into a College, and he was appointed first Master of Jesus by the Bishop in 1497. He died in Nov. 1561, and was a benefactor of both Pembroke and Jesus. He wrote An Introduction to Logic and a commentary on Duns Scotus, entitled Declaratio Doctoris Shubys Magistri Collegii de Jhesu Cantabrigiae super Scotium in secunde folio, ‘which covered a considerable part of the field of education of his day’. | |
John Eccleson or Egliston, D.D. |
1505-1516 |
| Appointed Master by Henry VII on 24 Nov. 1505, during a vacancy in the See of Ely. Vice-Chancellor of the University 1506, 1514, 1515. Rector of Great Shelford, Cambs.; also Chancellor of the Diocese of Ely. Said to be ‘a most pleasant and merry man’. Died Feb. 1516. 24s. expended annually in the College at his exequies. | |
Thomas Alcock, LL.D. |
February to July 1516 |
| A kinsman of Bishop Alcock. Archdeacon of Ely, 1496; Chancellor of the Diocese of Worcester, 1503; Vicar of Holy Sepulchre, Cambridge; Canon of Hereford; Vicar-General of the Diocese of Ely; Rector of Shipdam and Thorpe. Resigned the Mastership. Died 12 Sept. 1523; buried at Shipdam. | |
Wliliam Capon, D.D. |
1516-1546 |
| Born at Salcot, Essex; educated at Cambridge; B.A. 1499; M.A. 1502; Fellow of St. Catharine’s Hall, 1502; Rector of Great Shelford, circa 1516; Master of Jesus from 21 July 1516; D.D. 1517. ‘Strongly progressive in his views’. Chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey; first (1528) and last Dean of Wolsey’s College at Ipswich. Was invited to nominate scholars for Cardinal College, Oxford, of whom, says Strype, eleven were afterwards imprisoned for heresy. Held the Mastership of Jesus during nearly half the time of Cranmer’s residence and in 1533 received the following letter from him: In my right hearty wise I commend me unto you. And so certifying you that I send you here a buck to be bestowed amonges your company within your college. And, forasmuch as you have more store of money, and also less need than I at this season, therefore I bequeath a noble of your purse towards the baking and seasoning of him. And whensoever I have so much money before hand as I am now behind hand, I shall repay you your noble again. And thus fare you well. From my manor of Croydon, the xxvi day of June. To the Master of Jesus College in Cambridge. Capon held for some years the living of Barkway, Herts., but resigned it in 1534. He was Prebendary of Wells and Archdeacon of Anglesey, 1537; Rector of Duxford St. Peter, Cambs., 1543; Prebendary of Bangor. He resigned as Master of Jesus in Nov. 1546 and died in 1550. Brother of John Capon, alias Salcot, Abbot of Hulme and Hyde, and successively Bishop of Bangor and Salisbury.
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John Reston or Royston, D.D |
1546-1551 |
| A Fellow of St. John’s, 1529; Rector of Hildersham, Cambs.; Canon of St. Paul’s. Established in Jesus Lodge an oratory, which seems to have been raided by King Edward VI’s Commissioners but was still in use, nearly a century later, in the time of Sherman. Founded one Fellowship and seven scholarships at Jesus. Died, probably of the sweating sickness, before 24 Aug. 1551. | |
Edmund Pierpont or Perpoynte, B.D. |
1551-1557 |
| A Fellow of Christ’s; Prebendary of Lincoln; Rector of Doddington, in the Isle of Ely, and probably also of Fen Ditton. Rebuilt the Manor House of St. Radegund (off Jesus Lane, opposite the College) at his own expense. Died in Jesus Lodge, 7 January 1557; buried in Jesus Chapel on 8 January. Bequeathed books and vestments to Jesus College, two spoons to Christ’s College, and donations to the poor of Jesus Lane, Doddington and March, Cambs. He mentions his wife in his will. | |
John Fuller, LL.D |
1557-1558 |
| Born in Gloucestershire; educated at All Souls’ College, Oxford: Fellow there 1536. Rector of Hanwell, Middlesex, 1547-1551; Vicar-General of Diocese of Norfolk under Bishop Thirlby, and held livings of Swaffham, East Dereham, and North Creake, Norfolk; Chancellor and Canon of Ely, 1554. Merciless in his search for heretics in the Diocese. Pronounced death sentence on John Hullier in the University Church, 1555. While Chancellor of Ely occupied rooms in Queens’ College, and in Paternoster Row. Prebendarv of Ely, 1555; Master of Jesus from 23 February 1557; Prebendary of St. Paul’s, 1558; Rector of Little Wilbraham, Fen Ditton, and Hildersham, Cambs. Died before 14 December 1558, and wished to be buried within the choir of Jesus Chapel. A generous and honourable man. Bequeathed two of his best geldings to the Bishop of Ely, with the advowson of the Archdeaconry of Norfolk; one-third of his goods and the manor and advowson of Graveley, Cambs., to Jesus College, where he also founded four Fellowships. | |
Thomas Redman, B.D. |
1559-1560 |
| One of the original Fellows of Trinity, Cambridge; Chaplain to Bishop of Ely; Rector of Barley, Herts., until 1557; appointed Master of Jesus, January 1559. Deprived of Mastership 1560 and restrained to the counties of York, Westmoreland, and Lancashire. Described by Strype as an ‘unlearned’ popish recusant. | |
Edward Gascoyne, LL.D. |
1560-1562 |
| Fellow of Queens’ College, 1541; Canon of Ely, 1558-1559. He was one of the Chancellors of the Diocese of Norwich in 1558, and in that capacity took part in the examination of Alice Driver, of Grundisburgh in Suffolk, who was charged with heresy and ultimately burnt at Ipswich. The narrator of her case says that ‘Gascoigne made an oration with many fair words, but little to purpose, both offensive and odious to the minds of the godly.’ When the examination was over, he ‘was out of countenance’, whilst Mrs. Driver, ‘though condemned, returned to prison as joyful as the bird of day. She suffered only thirteen days before the death of Queen Mary.’ Dr. Gascoigne was appointed Master of Jesus in 1560 and resigned in 1562. He bequeathed his books to the College. | |
John Lakin or Larkyn, B.D. |
1562-1563 |
| B.A. 1552; Fellow of St. John’s, 1553; M.A. 1556; Fellow of Jesus, 1562; Master of Jesus from 1562. Resigned or died, 1563. | |
Thomas Ithell, LL.D. |
1563-1579 |
| Fellow of Magdalene; Prebendary of St. Patrick’s, Dublin; Master of Jesus from 1563; then or soon afterwards Chancellor of the Diocese of Ely; Canon of Ely, 1567; Commissary of the University; a Visitor of King’s College in 1570; a Commissioner for the revision of the University Statutes, 1570, and for those of St. John’s College, 1576. His brother Ralph, reported to be a dangerous emissary of the Church of Rome, was placed in his custody by the University authorities in 1577, but soon escaped. This drew the suspicion of the Puritan party in Cambridge on the Master of Jesus. He is said to have been a very intelligent and capable man, whom the Chancellor of the University, the Lord Treasurer Burleigh, held in high regard. The firmness and capacity of his government had brought the College into high repute, and the number of students more than doubled during his tenure of office. He died on 15 May, 1579. | |
John Bell, D.D. |
1579-1589 |
| Born circa 1531; educated at St. John’s College; Fellow of Peterhouse, 1554; Rector of Fulbourn; Canon of Ely, 1566; Rector of Fen Ditton, 1571; Dean of Ely, and resigned Mastership, 1589; died 1591. Buried in the presbytery of Ely Cathedral. Marprelate calls him a dunce. | |
John Duport, D.D. |
1590-1617 |
| Born at Shepeshead, Leics. Descended from an ancient family originally settled at Caen. Undergraduate at Jesus; Fellow, 1580; Rector of Harlton, Cambs., 1580. Held also two rectorships in Leicestershire. Rector of Fulham, Middlesex, 1583; Precentor of St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1585; four times Vice-Chancellor of the University: 1593, 1594, 1601, 1609; Prebendary of Ely, 1609. One of the Cambridge divines chosen to help in the production of the Authorised Version of the Bible, 1606-1611. Gave the advowson of Harlton to the College. Married Rachel, daughter of Richard Cox, D.D., Bishop of Ely, 1559-81. Queen Elizabeth’s ‘Proud Prelate’. His children were: (1) Eudocia, bap. 10 Nov. 1592, married Samuel Hill, D.D., and was buried at Medbourne, Christmas Day, 1614. (2) John, bap. 26 April, 1596, died young. (3) Richard, bap. 4 Sept. 1597. Graduate of Cambridge. (4) Rachel, bap. 22 Oct. 1598. (5) Thomas. (6) Luce, bap. Sept. 16O4, died unmarried, 6 Feb. 1665. (7) James, born in Jesus Lodge, 1606. Educated at Trinity; Regius Professor of Greek, 1639; ejected, 1654; Vice-Master of Trinity, 1655; Dean of Peterborough, 1664; Master of Magdalene, 1668; died 1679. ‘Enjoyed an almost transcendent reputation for a great length of time among his contemporaries, as well as in the generation which immediately succeeded.’ (8) Cornelia.
Dr. Duport was of rubicund and imposing appearance. ‘A reverend man in his generation.’ He died about Christmas, 1617, and Mrs. Duport died in 1618.
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Roger Andrewes, D.D. |
1618-32 |
| Fellow of Pembroke. One of the Cambridge divines appointed to help produce the Authorised Version of the Bible. Appointed Master of Jesus, 1618, by his brother, Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Ely. Held several canonries and other benefices. He was overbearing, quarrelsome, and unscrupulous. Forced to resign Mastership by Charles I, 1632; d. 1635. | |
William Beale, D.D. |
1632-1634 |
| Westminster Scholar of Trinity, 1605; B.A. 1609-1610; Fellow of Jesus, 1611; M.A. 1613; Archdeacon of Caermarthen, 1623; D.D. 1627; Master of Jesus, 14 July 1632; Master of St. John’s, 20 Feb. 1634; Vice-Chancellor, 1634; Rector of Paulerspury and of Cottingham, Northants., and of Aberdaron. Arrested by Cromwell in St. John’s Chapel in the summer of 1642, and imprisoned for three years in London. Released by exchange and joined the King at Oxford; nominated in 1646, but never admitted, Dean of Ely; Chaplain to Sir Edward Hyde and Lord Cottington on their embassy to Spain. Died 1 Oct. 1651 at Madrid, and was buried secretly. Sir Edward Hyde calls him ‘his worthy and learned Chaplain’, and ‘commemorates the blessings he had enjoyed from him and bewails his loss’. Thomas Baker (entered St. John’s, 1674; d. 1740), in his celebrated MSS., says ‘he was one of the best administrators the University ever had’. | |
Richard Sterne, D.D. |
1634-1644 and 1660 |
| Born at Mansfield, Notts., circa 1596; Scholar of Trinity; migrated to Corpus, 1620; Fellow, 1623; Rector of Harlton, Cambs., circa 1633-34. Married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Dickinson, Lord of the Manor of Farnborough. (One of his thirteen children became the Grandfather of Laurence Sterne.) Appointed Master of Jesus and Chaplain to Archbishop Laud, 1634. D.D. 1635. An admirable business man. Reorganised the finances of the College. Arrested in the Chapel by Cromwell, 1642. Ejected 1644. Imprisoned meanwhile in London. Released temporarily so that he might attend Archbishop Laud at his execution, 10 Jan. 1644. Printed the sermon which he preached from the scaffold. Was released permanently soon afterwards, and kept a private school at Stevenage, Herts. Was reappointed Master of Jesus, 1660; Bishop of Carlisle, 1660; Archbishop of York, 1664. Founded (in 1671) four scholarships at Jesus. Died in 1683. | |
Thomas Young or Yonge |
1644-1650 |
| Born in Perthshire, 1587; son of a Scotch minister. Educ. at Grammar School, Perth, and St. Andrew’s University, where he graduated M.A. in 1606. Tutoring in London, 16l2. Private tutor to John Milton, c. 1618-1622; appointed Chaplain to the English merchants in Hamburg, 1622. Milton, writing to him from London on the 26th March 1625, to acknowledge the gift of a Hebrew Bible, expresses ‘boundless and singular gratitude’ and says he regards him ‘in the light of a father.’ Returned to England 1628, and appointed to Vicarages of St Peter and St Mary at Stowmarket. Author of Dies Dominica, on the keeping of the Sabbath and one of the leaders among the five divines who wrote the famous pamphlet entitled Smectymnuus attacking episcopacy. Member of the Assembly of Divines, 1643, and preacher of St. James, Duke Place; installed Master of Jesus in Jesus Chapel by the Earl of Manchester, 12 April 1644. Deprived of Mastership 1650, and retired to Stowmarket; d. 28 Nov. 1655, aged 68. Buried in the parish church, Stowmarket, beside his wife, Rebecca, who had died in 1651. His eldest son Thomas, ‘M.A. and President of Jesus College’, is buried with him. | |
John Worthington, D.D. |
1650-1660 |
| Born Manchester, Feb. 16l7; educ. Emmanuel; B.A. 1635; M.A. 1639; Fellow, 1642; Dean, 1644; Deacon, Priest and B.D. 1646. Appointed Master of Jesus by the Committee for Reforming the Universities, 14 Nov. 1650. Rector of Horton, Bucks, 1653-1654; of Graveley, 1652-1654; Rector of Fen Ditton, 1654; Vice-Chancellor, 1657; displaced from Mastership in favour of Dr Sterne, 1660, and retired to Fen Ditton; Vicar of Barking and Needham, Suffolk, and of Moulton All Saints, Norfolk, 1663. Preacher at St Benet Fink, London, 1664; remained at his cure throughout the Great Plague; his church and vicarage both burnt in the Fire. Rector of Ingoldsby, Lincs. 1666, and Prebendary of Asgarby. Lecturer parish church, Hackney, 1667. Published excellent editions of John Smith’s Select Discourses and of the works of the theologian Joseph Mede. Married Mary Whichcote, 1657. Their children were: Damaris, b. 1661, m. Nathaniel Turner of Fleet Street; John, b. 1663, educ. Eton, Jesus, and Peterhouse; Anne, m. Meshach Smith of Jesus College, Vicar of Hendon. Two others died in infancy. Dr. Worthington and his wife both delighted in music. Mrs. Worthington died in 1667, aged 27. He died 30 Nov. 1671, and was buried in the chancel of Hackney Church. Archbishop Tillotson thus described his beautiful character in the funeral sermon:
His whole Demeanour was Pious and Grave; and yet not blemish’d with any Moroseness or fond Affectation. And as his Knowledge was great, so was his Humility. He was a zealous and sincere Friend where he profess’d Kindness . . . He was universally inoffensive, kind and obliging, even to those that differ’d from him: And, to set off these Virtues, there was added to them, in a very eminent degree, the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which in the sight of God is of great Price. Especially in Debates and Controversies of Religion he was not apt to be passionate and contentious … But that which was most singularly Eminent in him was the Publickness of his Spirit, and his great Zeal and Industry to be profitable and useful to the World, especially in those things which tended to the promoting of Learning and Piety.
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John Pearson, D.D. |
1660-1662 |
| Born at Great Snoring, Norfolk, 28 Feb. 16l2. Son of the Rector, the Rev. Robert Pearson, and ‘Joanna, daughter of Dr. Vaughan, successively Bishop of Bangor, Chester, and London. Educated at Eton under Sir Henry Wotton. ‘Spent all his money on books and hardly took natural rest, so intent was he on the acquisition of learning.’ Admitted to Queens’ College, Cambridge, 1631; Scholar of King’s, 1632; Fellow, 1634; B.A. 1635; M.A. 1639; Prebendary of Salisbury and Rector of Thorington, Suffolk, 1640; Chaplain to Goring’s forces at Exeter, 1645. During the Commonwealth lived in studious retirement in London. Weekly preacher at St. Clements, East Cheap, 1654-60; Rector of St. Christopher-le-Stocks, Prebendary of Ely, Archdeacon of Surrey, and a Royal Chaplain, 1660; Master of Jesus from Nov. 30, 1660; Lady Margaret Professor, 1661; assisted in the revision of the Prayer-Book, 1662. Master of Trinity, 1662. Prepared, by order of Convocation, a Latin and Greek Grammar for use in all the schools of England. Bishop of Chester, 1673. Died at Chester 16 July, 1686, and was buried in the Cathedral. The substance of his famous Exposition of the Creed (1658), was originally preached at St. Clement’s, East Cheap. Dr. Bentley described him as ‘the most excellent Bishop Pearson, the very dust of whose writings is gold.’ Burnet declared him ‘in all respects the greatest divine of the age.’ | |
Joseph Beaumont, D.D. |
1662-1663 |
| Born at Hadleigh, 16l5; educ. at Peterhouse; Fellow, 1636; ejected, 1644; Chaplain to Bishop Wren, 1650; D.D. by royal mandate, 1660. Obtained a dispensation from the Vice-Chancellor to eat meat in Lent, 1662, for his health’s sake. Master of Jesus, April, 1662; Master of Peterhouse, April, 1663. Married Bishop Wren’s step-daughter, 1650. Only one of their six children, Charles, survived youth. Mrs. Beaumont died in 1662; he died in 1699. Psyche first printed 1648; again, revised and enlarged by his son, 1702. He left a number of English and Latin poems to Peterhouse, with the injunction that none should be printed. Some were printed, with Psyche, 1749. In the biography prefixed to them the Rev. John Gee says: ‘He was religious without bigotry, devout without superstition, learned without pedantry, judicious without censoriousness, eloquent without vanity, charitable without ostentation, generous without profusion, friendly without dissimulation, courteous without flattery, prudent without cunning, and humble without meanness.’ | |
Edmund Boldero, D.D. |
1663-1679 |
| Born at Bury St. Edmunds, 1608; educ. Ipswich School; Fellow of Pembroke, 1631; Curate at Ipswich, 1643. Ejected from Fellowship in 1644, and suffered long in the Royalist cause; narrowly escaped the gallows. D.D. and Chaplain to Bishop Wren of Ely, 1660; Rector of Glemsford, Suffolk, 1662, also of Westerfield and Harkstead; Master of Jesus from 26 April, 1663; Rector of Snailwell, Cambs., 1663; Vice-Chancellor of the University, 1668, 1674. Died in Jesus Lodge, 5 July, 1679; buried in Jesus Chapel. The Latin inscription over the entrance to Jesus Library tells that ‘he constructed anew the book-cases, bestowed much pains in arranging the classes, and, to complete his good services, bequeathed all his books to the Library.’ | |
Humphrey Gower, D.D. |
July to November, 1679 |
| Born at Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire; son of the rector, the Rev. Stanley Gower; educ. at St. Paul’s and Dorchester Schools and St. John’s College, Cambridge; B.A. 1658; Fellow, 1659; M.A. 1662; Vicar of Hammoon, Dorset, 1663, of Packlesham, 1667-75, of Newton in the Isle of Ely, 1675-77, of Fen Ditton, 1677; Master of Jesus from 11 July, 1679; resigned Nov. 1679 on his election to the Mastership of St. John’s. Entertained Charles II at St. John’s, 17 Sept. 1681. Died at St. John’s Lodge, 27 March, 1711; buried in St. John’s Chapel. His portrait survives. ‘A mighty, high proud man.’ | |
William Saywell, D.D. |
1679-1701 |
| Born 1643; son of the Rev. Gabriel Saywell, Rector of Pentridge, Dorset; educ. at Cranbourne School and St. John’s, Cambridge; B.A. 1663; Fellow of St. John’s, 1666; M.A. 1667; M.A. Oxon. 1669; Chancellor of the Diocese of Chichester, 1672; D.D. and Prebendary of Ely, 1679; Master of Jesus from 9 Dec. 1679; Archdeacon of Ely, 1681. He gave Jesus College £1600 for the adornment of the Hall, and £200 for the purchase of advowsons. Died in London, 9 June 1701; buried in Jesus Chapel, 14 June. ‘He had considerable reputation among his contemporaries as a theologian.’ | |
Charles Ashton, D.D. |
1701-1752 |
| Born 25 May, 1665, at Bradway, Norton, Derbyshire. Admitted to Queens’ College, Cambridge, 1682; Fellow, 1687; Chaplain to Bishop Patrick of Ely, Vicar of Rattenden and Chaplain of Chelsea Hospital, 1699; Prebendary of Ely and D.D., 1701; Master of Jesus from 4 July 1701; Vice-Chancellor, 1702; attained the Jubilee of his Mastership, 1751; died in March, 1752, aged 87, and was buried in Jesus Chapel. Thomas Nevile, of Jesus, said to be the author of the attack on the Heads of Houses at Cambridge, entitled The Capitade (first printed in the London Evening Post, 1 Nov. I750), had the grace in this scandalous composition to respect his own revered Head:
‘ Ashton the wise, the learn’d, the ag’d, the good,
Whose soul unmov’d Temptation hath withstood; Heedless of courts and courtiers to his trust He steadfast lives, nor dares to be unjust; Gen’rous, sincere, free as when life began, He rests a college monarch, yet a worthy man.’ |
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Philip Yonge, D.D. |
1752-1758 |
| Fellow of Trinity; Public Orator; Canon of Westminster. Resigned Mastership in 1758 on his appointment to the Bishopric of Bristol. Translated to Norwich, 1761; d. 1783. ‘A very worthy man.’ His portrait survives. | |
Lynford Caryl, D.D. |
1758-1781 |
| Admitted a sizar at Jesus, 1723; Fellow, 1733-50; also Bursar of Jesus; Prebendary of Canterbury, 1750; Registrary of the University, 1751. Continued the biographical notes in Sherman’s history. Catalogued the Jesus muniments. Ideal as Bursar and Registrary. Died 18 June 1781 and is buried beside his wife in the nave of Jesus Chapel. His portrait survives. | |
Richard Beadon, D.D. |
1781-1789 |
| Born at Pinkworthy, Devonshire, 1737; son of the Rev. Robert Beadon, Rector of Oakford; educ. at Blundell’s School, Tiverton; admitted to St. John’s, Cambridge, 1754; eighth Wrangler and Senior Chancellor’s Medallist, 1758; Fellow and Tutor of St. John’s; Archdeacon of London, 1775; Master of Jesus, 1781; Tutor to Prince Frederick William, afterwards Duke of Gloucester; Bishop of Gloucester, 1789; of Bath and Wells, 1802. Married Rachel, granddaughter of Bishop Gooch, of Ely, and had one son, Richard. He was admirable both as Master and Vice-Chancellor, and a very handsome man. His portrait survives. Died 21 April 1824. | |
William Pearce, D.D. |
1789-1820 |
| Born at St. Kevern’s, Cornwall, 1744; educ. at St. John’s College, Cambridge; Third Wrangler and Second Chancellor’s Medallist, 1767; Fellow and Tutor of St. John’s; Public Orator, 1778; Master of the Temple, 1787-1797; Dean of Ely, 1797-1820. A shrewd and kindly man, with a keen wit. Married Miss Serocold, of Cherryhinton and had one son, Edward Serocold Pearce; died in 1820, and is buried in Jesus Chapel. | |
William French, D.D. |
1820-1849 |
| Born at Eye, Suffolk; educ. at Ipswich Grammar School and Caius College, Cambridge; Second Wrangler and Smith’s Prizeman, 1811; soon afterwards Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College; M.A. 1814; appointed Master of Jesus 1820 by Bishop Sparke, of Ely, in whose family he had been private tutor; D.D. 1821 by royal mandate; Vice-Chancellor 1821 and 1834, when he was one of the Syndics appointed to superintend the building of the Fitzwilliam Museum. The Lord Chancellor gave him the living of Moor Monkton, Yorks., 1827. Married Miss Whythe and had two daughters, the younger of whom, Victoria, became Lady Kay. Canon Of Ely, 1832. Died 12 Nov. 1849, in his sixty-third year, and was buried at Brockdish, Norfolk. ‘His mathematical attainments were of the highest order, and to classical scholarship he added a considerable acquaintance with oriental languages.’ The eastern lancets in Jesus Chapel were built at his expense, and they were filled with glass by Mrs. French as a memorial to him. His portrait survives. | |
George Elwes Corrie, D.D. |
1849-1885 |
| Born at Colsterworth, Lincs., 28 April 1793. Son of the Rev. John Corrie, then Curate of Colsterworth, afterwards Vicar of Morcott, Rutland. Entered St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, 1813; 18th Wrangler, Fellow, Deacon, and Priest, 1817; Tutor, 1821-49; Norrisian Professor of Divinity, 1838-54; Chaplain to Bishop Turton of Ely, 1845; Master of Jesus, 1849; Vice-Chancellor, 1850; Rector of Newton-in-the-Isle, 1851; D.D. 1852. Published A Concise History of the Church and State of England in conflict with the Papacy during the Reign of Henry VIII (1874). For many years leader of the Cambridge Conservative party. ‘He had been embued with patriotic principles during the great wars of his youth.’ One of the founders and for several years President of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Died in Jesus Lodge, 20 Sept. 1885, and was buried at Newton-in-the-Isle. His portrait survives. | |
Henry Arthur Morgan, D.D. |
1885-1912 |
| Of mixed Welsh, English and Hungarian ancestry; born in 1830; educated at Shrewsbury and King’s College, London. Admitted to Jesus College 1849; B.A. as 27th Wrangler, 1853. Fellow; Tutor, 1864. Married Charlotte Linda Barnes of Liverpool, 1882. A man of ‘immense vitality and energy’; a regular oarsman and member of the Alpine Club. As Tutor, revived student numbers and Jesus College’s reputation; ‘reckoned among the leaders of the party of progress in the University’. An obituary appears in the College magazine, The Chanticlere, no. 60, Michaelmas Term 1912, pp. 3-8; see also the Memoirs of Henry Arthur Morgan … compiled by his daughter Iris L. Osborne Morgan (Hodder and Stoughton, London, [1927]). | |
Arthur Gray, M.A. |
1912-1940 |
| Born 28 Sept. 1852. Admitted to Jesus College 1870; 14th Classic, 1874; Fellow 1875; Tutor 1885; Senior Tutor 1895; Vice-Master 1907-12. An active and tireless Master, and brilliant speaker; ‘a restless reformer … essentially an iconoclast’ (according to his obituary in the J.C.C.S. Annual Report, Sept. 1940). Turned from classics to history, publishing The priory of St Radegund (1898) and Jesus College (F. E. Robinson & Co., 1902), amongst other works. Also wrote ghost stories, first published in the local press and later collected as Tedious Brief Tales of Granta and Gramarye (W. Heffer, 1919; reprinted as The Everlasting Club, 1996); these are the source of many current College legends. | |
Wynfrid Laurence Henry Duckworth |
1940-1945 |
Eustace Mandeville Wetenhall Tillyard |
1945-1959 |
Denys Lionel Page (knighted 1971) |
1959-1973 (d. 1978) |
Alan Cottrell (knighted 1971) |
1974-1986 |
Colin Renfrew (Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn) |
1986-1997 |
David Crighton |
1997-2000 |
Robert Mair |
2001-2011 |
Ian White |
2011- |