Alleyne [Allyn], Thomas (c. 1488–1558), clergyman and benefactor, was probably a native of Sudbury, Staffordshire, where he later made provision for the commemoration of his parents. A suggestion that he originated in the diocese of Salisbury and studied at Oxford seems to be without foundation. His father's name was most probably ...
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Hugh Ashton (d. 1522) by unknown sculptor © Crown copyright. NMR
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Ashton, Hugh (d. 1522), Catholic ecclesiastic and university benefactor, apparently never himself had a formal university education, his main expertise lying in administration and estate management. He probably first encountered Lady Margaret Beaufort, countess of Richmond and Derby, in Lancashire, his native county, and rose to prominence through this association. On 7 January 1496 he was admitted to the rectory of ...
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Dorothy M. Owen
Balsham, Hugh of (d. 1286), bishop of Ely and benefactor, took his name from Balsham, Cambridgeshire, one of Ely Priory's manors. Nothing is known of his background, except that during the controversy aroused by his election as bishop it was alleged that he was of servile origins. He became a monk at ...
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Roy Martin Haines
Bateman [Norwich], William (c. 1298–1355), diplomat, founder of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and bishop of Norwich, was probably born in Norwich (from which he was sometimes named), the third son of William and Margery Bateman. His father was many times bailiff of the city, and in 1326–7 its member of ...
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R. B. Dobson
Bingham [Byngham], William (d. 1451), ecclesiastic and founder of Christ's College, Cambridge, may have been the William Byngham who was presented to the vicarages of Hutton, near Beverley, Yorkshire, and Alverstoke, Hampshire, by Henry IV in 1401–2. More probably, the future founder of ...
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James Blair (1655/66–1743) by Charles Bridges Muscarelle Museum of Art, College of William and Mary
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James B. Bell
Blair, James (1655/6–1743), Church of England clergyman and founder of the College of William and Mary, was the son of Peter Blair (d. 1673), Church of Scotland minister of St Cuthbert's parish, Edinburgh, and his wife, Mary Hamilton (d. in or after 1696)...
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Susan L. Cohen
Brown, Dame Edith Mary (1864–1956), medical missionary and founder of the North India School of Medicine for Christian Women, was born on 24 March 1864 at Bank Buildings, 10A Coats Lane, Whitehaven, Cumberland. One of six children, she was the second of three daughters born to ...
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J. H. Curthoys
Chaloner, Robert (1547/8–1621), Church of England clergyman and educational benefactor, was born in Goldsborough, near Knaresborough, West Riding of Yorkshire, the second son of Robert and Ann Chaloner of Llanfyllin (possibly Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire). He was elected to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford...
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John Colet (1467–1519) after Pietro Torrigiano, c. 1520 The Conway Library, Courtauld Institute of Art, London
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Colet, John (1467–1519), dean of St Paul's and founder of St Paul's School, was born in January 1467, as attested by a contemporary document; Erasmus, always vague as to chronology, believed him to have been about thirty, two or three months younger than himself, when they first met in 1499. ...
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Alexander Gordon
revised by A. D. G. Steers
Crombie, James (1730–1790), non-subscribing Presbyterian minister and founder of the Belfast Academy, was born on 4 December 1730 at Perth, the eldest son of James Crambie, mason, and his wife, May Johnstoun. In 1748 he matriculated at St Andrews, and he graduated MA in 1752. He studied for a short time at ...
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Durham, William of (d. 1249), theologian and university benefactor, may have been born at Sedgefield, co. Durham. Nothing otherwise is known of his origins or early life, until he is recorded as a regent master in theology at Paris, at a date between 1220 and 1223. To ...
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William Elphinstone (1431–1514) by unknown artist, c.1505 University of Aberdeen
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Leslie J. Macfarlane
Elphinstone, William (1431–1514), administrator, bishop of Aberdeen, and founder of the University of Aberdeen, was probably born in Glasgow. His father, also named William, was a younger son of Sir William Elphinstone of Pittendreich, Stirlingshire, but by 1430 had embarked upon an ecclesiastical career and had thereby committed his son to the illegitimate state. The ...
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C. S. L. Davies
Fox [Foxe], Richard (1447/8–1528), administrator, bishop of Winchester, and founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was born at Pullocks Manor, Ropsley, near Grantham, Lincolnshire. He gave his age as seventy-nine in April 1527, indicating that he was born in 1447 or 1448.
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Richard Fox (1447/88–1528) by Joannes Corvus, 1530–?32 Corpus Christi College, Oxford / Bridgeman Art Library
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Anita McConnell
Fox, William (1736–1826), founder of the Sunday School Society, was born at Clapton, Gloucestershire, on 14 February 1736, the youngest of the eight children of a tenant farmer on the Clapton Manor estate (d. 1738/9) previously identified as J. or James Fox...
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William Fox (1736–1826) by Samuel Freeman, pubd 1827 © reserved
