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. 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), and Abdul Rasul, one of the first Bengalis to gain the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford.

The site was formerly the Cistercian monastery of St Bernard. Fairly large, it comprises approximately 400 undergraduates and 250 postgraduates and academic staff, and is the wealthiest college in Oxford. The college stands on St Giles, which it owns, and is close to the Martyrs' Memorial. The college's Sir Thomas White Quadrangle is an early work by Ove Aup .

The college comprises six quadrangles (quads): Front Quad (the buildings of the former St. Bernard's monastery), Canterbury Quad, Dolphin Quad, North Quad (containing the infamous 'Beehive', made up of hexagonal rooms in which each internal wall is a different length), Sir Thomas White Quad (affectionately known as 'Tommy White'), and Garden 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 (including the recent purchase of the Eagle and Child pub to complement the Lamb and Flag opposite it on the college side of the road).

Notable Alumni

• Kingsley Amis
• Tony Blair
• Edmund Campion
• Geoffrey Gallop
• Robert Graves
• A. E. Housman
• William Juxon
• Philip Larkin
• William Laud
• Dean Rusk
• Stephen Wolfram

External link

• Official Website