Editing St John's College, Oxford (section)

==History==
[[File:Sampson Strong Sir Thomas White.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Thomas White, founder of the college]]
On 1 May 1555, [[Thomas White (merchant)|Sir Thomas White]], lately [[Lord Mayor of London]], obtained a Royal Patent of Foundation to create a charitable institution for the education of students within the University of Oxford.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/about-college/history/ |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=St John's College |language=en}}</ref> White, a [[Roman Catholic]], originally intended St John's to provide a source of educated Roman Catholic clerics to support the Counter-Reformation under [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]], and indeed [[Edmund Campion]], the Roman Catholic martyr, studied here.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/edmundcampionbio00simpuoft|title=Edmund Campion, a biography|last=Simpson|first=Richard|date=1 January 1896|publisher=London, Hodges|pages=[https://archive.org/details/edmundcampionbio00simpuoft/page/4 4]}}</ref>

White acquired buildings on the east side of [[St Giles', Oxford|St Giles']], north of [[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]] and [[Trinity College, Oxford|Trinity]] Colleges, which had belonged to the former [[St Bernard's College, Oxford|College of St Bernard]], a monastery and house of study of the [[Cistercian]] order that had been founded in 1437 and closed in 1540 during the [[dissolution of the monasteries]].<ref>{{cite book|first=James G.|last=Clark|title=The Dissolution of the Monasteries: a new history|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2021|page=449}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/about-college/history/|title=History|website=St John's College|access-date=27 April 2019}}</ref> The grant also included half of the grove of [[Durham College, Oxford|Durham College]], which had likewise been suppressed and whose buildings had become Trinity College.<ref>{{cite book|first=Clare|last=Hopkins|title=Trinity: 450 years of an Oxford college community|location=Oxford|year=2005|edition=2007 reprint|isbn=978-0-19-951896-8|pages=9-15}}</ref> Initially the new St John's College was rather small and not well endowed financially. During the reign of Elizabeth I the fellows lectured in rhetoric, Greek, and dialectic, but not directly in theology. However, St John's initially had a strong focus on the creation of a proficient and educated priesthood.<ref>Schmitt, Charles Bernard (1983) ''John Case and Aristotelianism in Renaissance England''. Kingston [Ont.] : McGill-Queen's University Press {{ISBN|0-7735-1005-2}}</ref>

White was Master of the [[Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors|Merchant Taylors' Company]], and established a number of educational foundations, including the [[Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood|Merchant Taylors' School]]. Although the college was closely linked to such institutions for many centuries, it became a more open society in the later 19th century. (Closed scholarships for students from the Merchant Taylors' School, however, persisted until the late 20th century. As well as these, scholarships existed for students from [[Christ's Hospital]], two for [[King Henry VIII School, Coventry|Coventry School]], two for [[Bristol Grammar School]], two for [[Reading School]] and one for [[Tonbridge School]].<ref>{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=The Student's Handbook to the University and Colleges of Oxford |url=https://archive.org/details/studentshandboo00oxfogoog |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/studentshandboo00oxfogoog/page/n80 56] |date=1891}}</ref>) Female students were first admitted in 1979, after over four centuries of the college as an institution for men only.<ref name=":1" /> [[Elizabeth Fallaize]] was appointed as the first female fellow in 1990.<ref>{{cite news |last=Still |first=Judith |date=3 January 2010 |title=Elizabeth Fallaize obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/jan/03/simonedebeauvoir-oxforduniversity |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=10 March 2014 }}</ref>

Although primarily a producer of Anglican clergymen in the earlier periods of its history, St John's also gained a reputation for degrees in law, medicine and PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics).{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

===Endowments===
The endowments which St John's was given at its foundation, and during the twenty or so years afterward, served it very well and 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. The patronage of the parish of [[St Giles' Church, Oxford|St Giles]] was included in the endowment of the college by Thomas White. Vicars of St Giles were formerly either fellows of the college, or ex-fellows who were granted the living on marriage (when Oxford fellows were required to be unmarried). The college retains the right to present candidates for the benefice to the bishop.<ref>Kettler, Sarah Valente & Trimble, Carole (2003) ''The Amateur Historian's Guide to the Heart of England''. Sterling, Va.: Capital Books 1892123657</ref> Today St John's maintains the largest endowment of the Oxford colleges, for example owning the [[Oxford Playhouse]] building<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/aboutus/OPandOU.aspx |title=Oxford Playhouse and University of Oxford |quote=St John's College owns the Playhouse building, and leases the auditorium and adjoining offices to the Playhouse Trust. |publisher=Oxford Playhouse |access-date=11 December 2012}}</ref> and the [[Millwall F.C.]] training ground.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newsatden.co.uk/37291-exclusive-training-ground-purchase-is-on-millwalls-agenda.html |title=Exclusive: Training ground purchase is on Millwall's agenda |quote=St. John's College, Oxford, bought the facility for £1.85million when Peter de Savary was chairman. |publisher=News at Den Playhouse |access-date=3 July 2014 |date=3 July 2014}}</ref>

In January 2020, students carried out a five-day occupation on the college's front quad to protest against the endowment fund's continued investments in fossil fuels.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-02-04|title=Oxford alumni threaten to withhold donations to college amid row over fossil fuels|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/oxford-university-fossil-fuel-divestment-st-johns-college-students-occupation-a9316976.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/oxford-university-fossil-fuel-divestment-st-johns-college-students-occupation-a9316976.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-02|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Climate activists camp out at Oxford college|url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18199372.st-johns-oxford-climate-protest-fossil-fuels/|access-date=2021-11-02|website=Oxford Mail|date=30 January 2020 |language=en}}</ref>