St John's College, Oxford

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St John's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, and his heart is buried in the chapel. It is the most wealthy college at Oxford with an estimated financial endowment of £220m (2003).

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History

Thomas White was a Catholic, and St John's was originally intended to provide a source of educated Catholic clerics to support the Counter-Reformation under Queen Mary. Edmund Campion, the Catholic martyr, was a product of St John's. White was Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company, and established a number of educational foundations including the Merchant Taylors' schools. Although the College was closely linked to those institutions for many centuries, it became a more open society in the later 19th century. The endowments which St John's was given at its foundation, and during the 20 or so years afterward, served it very well. In the second half of the nineteenth century it benefited, as ground landlord, from the suburban development of the city of Oxford and was unusual among Colleges for the size and extent of its property within the city.

Although primarily a producer of Anglican clergymen in the earlier periods of its history, St John's also gained a reputation for both law and medicine. Fellows and alumni have included Archbishop Laud, Jane Austen's father and brothers, the early Fabian intellectual Sidney Ball, who was very influential in the creation of the Workers' Educational Association (WEA), Abdul Rasul, one of the first Bengalis to gain the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford, and more recently, Tony Blair.

The site was formerly the Cistercian monastery of St Bernard. Fairly large, it comprises approximately 400 undergraduates and 250 postgraduates and academic staff. The college stands on St Giles', and is close to the Martyrs' Memorial. The college's Sir Thomas White Quadrangle is an early work by Ove Arup which won the 1976 Concrete Society Award, but is considered a monstrosity by some members of the college.

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College buildings

The college comprises seven quadrangles (quads): Front Quad (the buildings of the former St Bernard's monastery), Canterbury Quad (the first example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Oxford), Dolphin Quad (built on the site of the old Dolphin Inn), North Quad (containing the famous "Beehive", made up of hexagonal rooms in which each internal wall is a different length), Sir Thomas White Quad (affectionately known as "Tommy White"), Garden Quad, and Rural Economy Quad.

In addition, the College accommodates a number of students, traditionally second-years but nowadays also a significant number of finalists, in the houses owned by the college on Museum Road and Blackhall Road. These houses back onto Queen Elizabeth House, which accommodates the Centre for International Development; plans are underway to convert Queen Elizabeth House into what the College is calling "the last great quad in the city centre". This will mean the college will extend for almost the entire length of the east side of St Giles, as well as owning parts of the opposite side. This includes the recent purchase of the "Eagle and Child" pub (where the well-known writers J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis often found their inspiration) to complement the "Lamb and Flag" opposite it on the college side of the road. Image:St johns college oxford.jpg

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Notable old members

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See also

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External links



Colleges of the University of Oxford

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All Souls | Balliol | Brasenose | Christ Church | Corpus Christi | Exeter | Green | Harris Manchester | Hertford | Jesus | Keble | Kellogg | Lady Margaret Hall | Linacre | Lincoln | Magdalen | Mansfield | Merton | New College | Nuffield | Oriel | Pembroke | Queen's | St Anne's | St Antony's | St Catherine's | St Cross | St Edmund Hall | St Hilda's | St Hugh's | St John's | St Peter's | Somerville | Templeton | Trinity | University | Wadham | Wolfson | Worcester

Permanent Private Halls at the University of Oxford

Blackfriars | Campion Hall | Greyfriars | Regent's Park College | St Benet's Hall | St Stephen's House | Wycliffe Hall

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