Meynnart Wewcyck was a Flemish painter. He was responsible for drawing the design for Lady Margaret's tomb, a copy of which was then given to the sculptor in charge of producing the gilt-bronze tomb effigy, Pietro Torrigiano.
William Whitaker was a prominent Protestant Calvinistic Anglican churchman, academic, and theologian. He was Master of St. John's College, and a leading divine in the university in the latter half of the sixteenth century. His uncle was Alexander Nowell, the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and catechist.
He was born at Holme, near Burnley, Lancashire, in 1548. He received his early education at the local parish school and then was enrolled in St Paul's School in London by his protestant uncle Alexander Nowell. Whitaker came up to Trinity College in October 1564. He was subsequently elected a scholar on the same foundation, proceeded B.A. in March 1568, and on 6 September 1569 was elected to a minor fellowship, and on 25 March 1571 to a major fellowship, at his college. In 1571 he commenced M.A. He was supported financially at Cambridge by his uncle.
On 3 February 1578 he was installed canon of Norwich Cathedral, and in the same year was admitted to the degree of B.D., and incorporated on 14 July at Oxford. In 1580 he was appointed by the crown to the regius professorship of divinity, to which Elizabeth shortly after added the chancellorship of St. Paul's, London, and from this time his position as the champion of the teaching of the Protestant and Reformed Church of England appears to have been definitely taken up
On 28 February 1586 Whitaker, on the recommendation of Whitgift and Burghley, was appointed by the crown to the mastership of St. John's College. The appointment was, however, opposed by a majority of the fellows on the ground of his supposed leanings towards puritanism. His rule as an administrator justified in almost equal measure the appointment and its objectors. The college increased greatly in numbers and reputation, but the puritan party gained ground considerably in the society. Whitaker was a no less resolute opponent of Lutheranism than of Roman doctrine and ritual.
In 1587 he was created D.D.; and in 1593, on the mastership of Trinity College falling vacant by the preferment of Dr. John Still to the bishopric of Bath and Wells, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the post.
Francis Puryer White was born in London on 26th October 1893. He was the son of John Francis White, a schoolmaster. He was educated at Stanley Higher Elementary School and then at Owen’s School both in North London. He then entered St. John’s College as a student of mathematics in 1912, gaining a first class in part I of the Mathematics tripos in 1913 and again in Part II in 1915. He was elected in 1916 to the Isaac Newton Studentship in Astronomy and Optical Physics. There followed a short period of war service, from which he returned to St. John’s in 1919, where he was elected a Fellow. He remained a Fellow of St. John’s for the rest of his life. He was appointed a College Lecturer in 1920 and a University Lecturer in 1926 and remained a member of the mathematical teaching staff until he retired in 1961. He was Director of Studies in Mathematics, from 1945 until 1959.
When White returned to Cambridge in 1919 he came increasingly under the influence of H. F. Baker, then Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry. Baker’s real interest was in geometry, and his influence was a primary factor in causing White to devote his energies to geometry rather than astronomy. From 1922 to 1930 White wrote a series of papers on the geometry of conies rational normal curves, and other special plane curves, which were all extremely elegant. But White's main contribution to geometry was his influence on the young men reading mathematics. His enthusiasm for geometry sparked off a similar enthusiasm in others. These were the young men who went on to join the Baker school, which was extremely active from the mid-twenties to the mid-thirties. The main activity of this was a seminar, known as " Baker's Saturday tea-party ", which Baker and White presided over in person.
White served on the council of London Mathematical Society from 1923-47. He was Honorary Secretary from 1926-44 and Vice-president from 1944-46. His continuous service of 24 years on the Council of the London Mathematical Society included 18 years as secretary and simultaneously, from 1924 to 1936, he was Mathematical Secretary of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (of which he later became President). In addition to the normal duties in connection with the running of the societies, White did a vast amount of editing of mathematical papers, and his contemporaries were familiar with the sight of him carrying round proof sheets and working on them whenever he had an opportunity. There was less paper work and travelling to London to do during the war, but the responsibility of keeping the Society going during this period fell on him.
But White's services to his University and his College were not limited to mathematics. He was a member of the Cambridge University Press Syndicate continuously from 1931 to 1958, and on the Library Syndicate from 1949 to 1960. He also served on the University Financial Board, and on the Ely Diocesan Board of Finance. He was one of the local secretaries when the British Association met in Cambridge in 1938.
White was dedicated to serving St. John’s College for his whole life. As a regular Chapel-goer, he was active in the affairs of the College Mission, and he served the College in a number of minor offices, including that of Tutorial Bursar. He was also Senior Treasurer of the Committee for the St. John's College Mission at Hoxton from 1921. But his greatest service was in the office of Librarian, which he held from 1948 to 1961. He had always been a collector of early mathematical and scientific books, many of which he later gave to the University Library, and he was well equipped for a librarian's duties. Every aspect of the Library received his loving attention, and his labours to arrange and catalogue vast numbers of documents were unceasing. The College records, particularly the Records of Admissions, claimed his constant attention, and on his retirement under the statutory age limit from the Librarianship, the College fittingly recognised his services by creating for him the special office of Keeper of the College Records.
White was married to Barbara Dale, daughter of Sir Alfred Dale, Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University, whom he married in 1934. She was for many years Fellow and Bursar of Newnham College. White died on 11th July 1969.
John Whitgift, (born c. 1530, Grimsby, Lincolnshire, Eng.—died Feb. 29, 1604, London), archbishop of Canterbury who did much to strengthen the Anglican church during the last years of Elizabeth I and to secure its acceptance by her successor, James I. He was the first bishop to be appointed to the Privy Council by Elizabeth, who entirely trusted and supported him, insisting on his ministrations on her deathbed.
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William Allen Whitworth was a mathematician and Church of England clergyman. He was born in Runcorn on 1 February 1840. He was the eldest son in the family of four sons and two daughters of William Whitworth and his wife, Susanna Coyne.
He was educated at Sandicroft School, Northwich from 1851-57 and then at St John's College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1858. In 1862 he graduated BA as sixteenth wrangler, he obtained his MA in 1865, and he was fellow of St. John’s College from 1867 to 1884. He was successively chief mathematics master at Portarlington School and Rossall School and professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Liverpool.
Whilst he was an undergraduate he was principal editor, along with Charles Taylor and others, of the Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin Messenger of Mathematics, which was started at Cambridge in November 1861. Whitworth remained one of the editors until 1880, and was a frequent contributor. Whitworth's best-known mathematical work, Choice and Chance, an Elementary Treatise on Permutations, Combinations and Probability (1867), developed from lectures delivered to women at Queen's College, Liverpool, in 1866. A model of clear and simple exposition, it presented a very ample collection of problems on probability and kindred subjects.
Whitworth was ordained deacon in 1865 and priest in 1866, and won high repute in his clerical career. He was the curate at St Anne's, Birkenhead (1865), and of St Luke's, Liverpool (1866–70), and perpetual curate of Christ Church, Liverpool (1870–75). He was vicar of St John the Evangelist, Hammersmith (1875–86), and from November 1886 until his death, vicar of All Saints, Marylebone. He also held a college living from 1885 in the diocese of Bangor, and was in the 1891–2 commissary of the South African diocese of Bloemfontein. Whitworth was select preacher at Cambridge five times and the Hulsean lecturer there in 1903–4. He was made a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral in 1900. On 10 June 1885 he married Sarah Louisa Elwes. The couple had four sons, all graduates of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Whitworth, though he had been brought up an evangelical, was influenced at Cambridge by the scholarship of J. B. Lightfoot and B. F. Westcott, and he later studied the German rationalizing school of theology. He was considered to be a good and original preacher. His sympathies lay mainly with the high-church party, and in 1875 he joined the English Church Union. His ecclesiastical publications included an almanac of dates of Easter (1882), a description of All Saints Church, Margaret Street (1891); Worship in the Christian Church (1899), and two posthumous volumes of sermons (1906, 1908).
Whitworth died on 12 March 1905 at Home Hospital, Fitzroy Square, London after a serious operation on 28 February. He was buried at on 16 March in ground belonging to St Alban the Martyr, Holborn. There is a slab to his memory in the floor of All Saints Church, Margaret Street.
Born at Willenhall, Staffs. in March 1690/91. Matric. 1710, B.A. 1713/14, M.A. 1717. SJC Fellow 1717-23. Prominent physician, historian and diarist.
James Wood was born on the 14th December 1760 in Holcombe, the son of James Wood of Tottingham. He was admitted to St John’s in 1778, and graduated as Senior Wrangler in 1782. He was subsequently appointed Fellow (in 1782) and Tutor (in 1789) at the college, and served as President from 1802 to 1815. He was Master of the college from 1815 to 1839.
Wood was ordained as a deacon at Peterborough in 1785, and as a priest in 1787. He served as the Dean of Ely from 1820 until his death.
Wood was also a generous benefactor of St John’s College. He gave money to the College to found scholarships, and upon his death on the 23rd of April 1839, left the College £20,000 which contributed to the building fund for the new Chapel, where he is now buried.
Fulk Woodhull, of Warkworth, Northamptonshire, was the eldest son of John Wodhull and Joan (Jean) Etwell. He was married first to Anne Newnham, with whom he had three children, and second, to Elizabeth Webb. He served as Sheriff of Northamptonshire from around 1500 and died in 1508.
James Mann Wordie was born on the 26th April 1889, the son of John Wordie and Catherine Mann. He came up to St John’s in 1910 after taking his degree at the University of Glasgow, to study Natural Sciences.
During the First World War, Wordie joined the Royal Artillery and served in France. Upon returning to Cambridge, he was elected a Fellow of the college in 1921, and became a Tutor in 1923. In the same year, he also started a tenure as Junior Proctor of the University. Then, in 1933, Wordie was appointed Senior Tutor, before becoming President in 1950 and, finally, Master of the College in 1952.
Outside of his services for St John’s College, Wordie was a keen enthusiast of Polar exploration. In 1914, he was a geologist and chief of scientific staff on the Endurance expedition: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. The party’s boat became stranded in ice, and Wordie was marooned for some months on Elephant Island. However, this experience did not dent his enthusiasm, and Wordie remained involved in Polar exploration for the rest of his life. He was Chairman of the Scott Polar Institute in Cambridge and president of the Royal Geographic Society. Wordie’s work afforded him many honours, including the Founders’ gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, the Daly medal of the American Geographical Society, and, in 1957, a knighthood.
In 1923, Wordie married Gertrude Henderson; together they had two daughters and three sons; all of their sons also attended St John’s College. Sir James Wordie died on the 16th January 1962, but his name lives on in the Wordie glacier in Greenland and the Wordie Crag in Spitzbergen; both are named for him.
Cofferer to Lady Margaret Beaufort, also named as treasurer of the chamber from 1506.
Sir Christopher Wren was born on 20th October 1623 in East Knoyle, Wiltshire. He was educated at home by both his father and a private tutor. The details of his schooling are not well-known, but he learned both to draw and to read Latin. Wren then entered Wadham College, Oxford, in June of 1650. He graduated BA the following year, and MA in 1653. In the same year, he was elected to a fellowship at All Souls College, but also spent much time in London. Wren continued to pursue his interests in invention and scientific research. In 1657, he was appointed to the chair of astronomy at Gresham College in the City of London. His inaugural lecture at the College survives in both Latin and English. In 1664, he was incorporated MA at Cambridge.
Wren is probably most famous for his contributions to the field of architecture. After the Reformation, his association with the Royal Society brought him to the attention of King Charles II, and he came to give unofficial advice on the restoration of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1661. Wren had mastered the art of architecture by the early 1660’s. His study of architecture led him to travel to France between 1665 and 1666, incidentally avoiding most of the Great Plague of London. Wren’s architectural projects included the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, a series of chapel screens in various Colleges, and the new chapel and cloister range at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. However, he is most famous for rebuilding St Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire of London. He helped guide the regulations for building in London which followed the city’s recovery from the fire.
Wren married twice, both times briefly, and had two children with each of his wives. He died on the 25th February 1723, and was buried in the crypt at St Paul’s.
Member of Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge; Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, 1979-1989
John Drayton Wyatt was an architect who was born in 1820. He began working for Sir George Gilbert Scott, who designed the chapel at St John’s College, in 1841 as an assistant draughtsman. During his career, he contributed drawings to the Civil Engineer and Architects Journal, worked on the restoration of Sudeley Castle, and eventually became the diocesan architect for Bath and Wells. He died in 1891.
George Udny Yule was born on the 18th February 1871, to George Udny Yule and Henrietta Peach Pemberton. Though born in Scotland, Yule’s parents moved to London when he was four, and it was there he grew up. Yule boasted an impressive military family history, and so his father wished him to become a solider. Yule, however, disagreed. He was educated at Winchester College School, which he left at sixteen to study engineering at University College, London. Yule worked various appointments in London, but the most important was that of Newmarch Lecturer in Statistics. These lectures produced a book published in 1911: An Introduction to the Theory of Statistics, a landmark text translated into many languages and reproduced in many editions.
Yule finally arrived at Cambridge as University Lecturer in Statistics in 1912—matriculated in 1913— but went on to lecture in a number of faculties. He was a Fellow of the College from 1922-1951, a member of the College Council, and a Director of Studies in Natural Sciences.
When Yule gave up his teaching post, he began devoting his time to reading. Studying the statistical similarities of vocabulary between texts led him to write Statistics of Literary Vocabulary. Yule read widely across genres and donated many books to the College, not just printed editions but four manuscript copies of De Imitatione Christi and various tracts on agriculture.
Yule died on the 26th June 1951.
Obituary in the Eagle: Vol. 55, Easter 1952, p. 89.
Accessible online at:
https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1950s/1952/Eagle_1952_Easter.pdf