St John's College, Oxford

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, whose heart is buried in the chapel. The college is reputed to be the wealthiest in Oxford, with an estimated financial endowment of £304 million as of 2006, and its undergraduate finals results regularly place it at or near the top of the University's Norrington Table, in which it curren... more

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, whose heart is buried in the chapel. The college is reputed to be the wealthiest in Oxford, with an estimated financial endowment of £304 million as of 2006, and its undergraduate finals results regularly place it at or near the top of the University's Norrington Table, in which it currently ranks 1st. On 1 May 1555, Sir Thomas White, lately Lord Mayor of London, obtained a Royal Patent of Foundation to create an eleemosynary institution for the education of students within the University of Oxford. White, a Catholic, originally intended St John's to provide a source of educated Catholic clerics to support the Counter-Reformation under Queen Mary, and indeed Edmund Campion, the Catholic martyr, was a product of St John's. White acquired buildings on the east side of St Giles', north of Balliol and Trinity Colleges, which had... less