List of alumni of St John's College, Oxford

A list of alumni of St John's College, Oxford , former students of the college of the University of Oxford. The overwhelming maleness of this list is partially explained by the fact that for over 90% of its history (from its foundation in 1555 until 1979), women were barred from studying at St John's. ^[1] The college maintains a growing list of profiles of prominent recent alumni on its website. ^[2]

• 
  John Smith, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• 
  George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave, lawyer and Conservative politician
• 
  William Laud, 76th Archbishop of Canterbury
• 
  Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997-2007)
• 
  Korn Chatikavanij, former Finance Minister of Thailand
• 
  Alan Duncan, Conservative MP
• 
  Geoff Gallop, 27th Premier of Western Australia
• 
  David Heath, Liberal Democrat MP (1997-2015)
• 
  Abhisit Vejjajiva, 27th Prime Minister of Thailand (2008-2011)
• 
  Evan Davis, journalist and TV presenter
• 
  Yannis Philippakis, musician
• 
  Jakov Milatović, 3rd President of Montenegro (2023–present)

Politicians in the United Kingdom

Name	M	Degree	Notes	Ref
Rushanara Ali	1993	BA PPE	Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow (2010–)	[3] [4]
Edward Bayntun	1636		MP for Devizes and Calne at various points between 1640 and 1679	[5]
Aaron Bell	1998	BA PPE	Conservative MP for Newcastle-Under-Lyme (2019–)	[6]
Tony Blair (HF)	1972	BA Jurisprudence (2nd, 1975)	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1997–2007); Labour MP for Sedgefield (1983–2007)	[7] [8] [9]
Aidan Burley	1998	BA Theology	Conservative MP for Cannock Chase (2010–2015)	[4]
Alistair Burt	1974	BA Jurisprudence (1977)	Conservative MP for Bury North (1983–1997) and North East Bedfordshire (2001–2019)	[4]
Alan Duncan	1976	BA PPE (1979)	Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton (1992–2019)	[10] [4]
Angela Eagle	1980	BA PPE	Labour MP for Wallasey (1992–)	[4]
John Grogan	1979	BA History and Economics (1982)	Labour MP for Selby (1997–2010)	[11] [4]
David Heath	1972	MA Physiological Sciences	Liberal Democrat MP for Somerton and Frome (1997–2015)	[12] [4]
John Howell	1978	DPhil Archaeology	Conservative MP for Henley (2008–)	[4]
Gregg McClymont	1999	DPhil History	Labour MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (2010–2015)	[4]
Andrew Smith	1969	BA PPE, BPhil	Labour MP for Oxford East (1987–2017); Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1999–2002); Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2002–2004)	[4]
David Tredinnick	1981	MLitt	Conservative MP for Bosworth (1987–2019)	[4]

• George Cave, 1st Viscount Cave
• Charles Cripps, 1st Baron Parmoor
• Henry Croke
• Edward du Cann
• William Duckett, MP
• Gwynfor Evans, former President of Plaid Cymru and first MP
• John Gilbert, Baron Gilbert
• Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington
• Auberon Herbert, MP and political philosopher.
• Richard Holme, Baron Holme of Cheltenham
• Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha
• Peter Mews of Hinton Admiral
• Rhodri Morgan, former First Minister of Wales
• John Parker, MP
• Thomas Russell
• John Smith, 17th-century Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Shaun Spiers
• Michael Stewart, Baron Stewart of Fulham
• William Trumbull
• Henry Wallop
• Francis Windebank
• Sir Richard Wrottesley, 7th Baronet

Politicians and royalty of other countries

Name	M	Degree	Notes	Ref
Korn Chatikavanij	1983	BA PPE	Thailand Finance Minister (2008–2011)	[13] [14]
Prince Diego Massimiliano De Giorgi	2010	-	Visiting research student at the Faculty of Law; Head of the House of Giorgi (2014–)
Prince Fumihito	1988	-	Visiting graduate student at the Department of Zoology; Prince Akishino of Japan	[15] [16]
Geoff Gallop	1972	BA PPE (2nd, 1974)	Rhodes Scholar; 27th Premier of Western Australia (2001–2006)	[17] [18] [19]
Olara Otunnu	1973	BA Jurisprudence	St John's Overseas Scholar; Uganda's Ambassador to the United Nations (1980–1985); President of the International Peace Academy (1990–1998); UN Under-Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict (1998–2005); President of the Uganda People's Congress (2010–)	[20] [21] [22] [23]
Lester B. Pearson (HF, 1946)	1921	BA Modern History (2nd, 1923), MA (1925)	Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1957); 14th Prime Minister of Canada (1963–1968)	[24] [25]
Dean Rusk	1931	BS (1933), MA (1934)	Rhodes Scholar; Secretary of State of the United States (1961–1969)	[26] [27]
A. N. R. Robinson (HF)	1951	BA PPE (2nd, 1953), MA	3rd Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (1986–1991); 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (1997–2003)	[28] [9]
Craig Scott	1984	BA Jurisprudence (1986, 1st)	Rhodes Scholar; Canadian politician	[29]
Abhisit Vejjajiva	1983	BA PPE (1st), MPhil	27th Prime Minister of Thailand (2008–2011)	[13] [30]

Civil servants and diplomats

• Alan Bailey, formerly Permanent Secretary, Department of Transport ^[9]
• Mervyn Brown, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Madagascar (1967–70), High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Tanzania (1975–78), High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Nigeria (1979–83)
• Ash Carter, United States Secretary of Defense ^[31]
• Charles Crawford, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Bosnia and Herzegovina (1996–98), Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Yugoslavia (2001–03), Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Poland (2003–07)
• David Faulkner, civil servant
• David Frost, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Denmark (2006–08), CEO of the Scotch Whisky Association (2014–)
• Arnold Heeney
• Geoffrey Holland, former Permanent Secretary, Department of Employment and Department of Education and Vice-Chancellor, Exeter University; chairman, Quality Improvement Agency ^[9]
• Khoo Boon Hui, president of INTERPOL ^{[32] [33]}
• Michael McFaul, United States Ambassador to Russia (2012-2014)
• Frank Newsam
• Michael Partridge, former Permanent Secretary, Department of Social Security; Pro-Chancellor and Governor, Middlesex University ^[9]
• Sir David Pepper, former director of GCHQ ^[34]
• R. James Woolsey, Jr., United States Under Secretary of the Navy (1977–79), 16th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1993–95)
• Chris Wormald, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health
• Heath Tarbert, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets and Development in the U.S. (2017) ^[35]

Judges and lawyers

• Nigel Carrington, lawyer and Vice-Chancellor of University of the Arts London
• Brian Cregan, Irish High Court judge
• James Eyre, judge
• Nicholas Hamblen, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• Gérard La Forest, former Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
• Keith Lindblom
• John Nicholl
• Stephen Richards, Lord Justice
• John Silvester, Recorder of London
• Mark Warby, judge
• James Whitelocke

Clergy

Saints, blessed and archbishops of Canterbury

Name	M	Degree	Notes	Ref
Edmund Campion (F)	c. 1557	-	Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, martyr and saint	[36]
Edward James	c. 1575	-	Roman Catholic priest, martyr and saint	[36]
William Juxon (F)	1598	BCL (1603), DCL (1621)	President of St John's (1621-1633); Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford (1626-1628); Lord High Treasurer (1636-1641); 77th Archbishop of Canterbury (1660-1663)	[36] [37]
William Laud (F)	1589	BA (1594), MA (1598)	President of St John's (1611–1621); Chancellor of the University of Oxford (1630–1641); 76th Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645)	[38]
John Roberts	1596	-	Roman Catholic Benedictine monk, priest, martyr and saint	[36] [39]

Other bishops

• Alfred Averill, Archbishop of New Zealand
• Paul Barber
• John Buckeridge
• Robert Hay, Bishop of Buckingham
• Kenneth Kirk
• Peter Mews
• Hugh Montefiore
• Edwin Morris, Archbishop of Wales
• Peter Selby
• David Wilcox
• Kenneth Woollcombe

Other priests

• Frederick Copleston
• Edward Drax Free
• Vicesimus Knox
• Peter Thomson
• George Austen
• James Austen
• Henry Thomas Austen

Journalists and writers

• Mark Abley, poet and journalist
• Kingsley Amis, novelist
• Daniel Blythe, author
• Ivor Bulmer-Thomas
• David Chater, award-winning British television foreign correspondent
• Tom Chatfield, author
• Victoria Coren Mitchell
• Edmund Crispin
• Evan Davis, journalist
• Janine Gibson, journalist ^[40]
• Robert Graves, poet
• John Lawrence Hammond, journalist and editor
• A. E. Housman, classical scholar, and poet
• Simon Jack, BBC Business Editor, Presenter of Today Programme
• Simon Jenkins, journalist and editor
• John Lanchester
• Philip Larkin, poet and librarian
• Bronwen Maddox
• Vic Marks, journalist and cricketer ^[41]
• Timothy Mo, novelist
• Musa Okwonga, writer
• Peter Preston, journalist and editor
• Alan Ross
• Hugh Schofield, BBC Paris correspondent
• James Shirley
• J. K. Stanford
• D. J. Taylor
• James Townley
• Jason Webster
• Norman Webster, journalist and editor
• John Wain
• Henry Willobie, poet
• Jonathan Wright, journalist and translator

Sports

• Sue Day, England rugby captain
• John Davis, Welsh cricketer
• William Evans, Welsh international footballer
• Mike Fitzpatrick, footballer
• Chris Penny, American rower, 1988 Blue Boat, Olympic silver medallist
• Barbara Slater, sports producer and gymnast ^[42]
• Norman Taber, Olympic Athlete ^[43]
• Chris Tavare, England international cricketer
• John Young, cricketer ^[44]

Name	M	Degree	Notes	Ref
Jennifer Howitt Browning	2005	MPhil Development Studies (2007)	Rhodes Scholar. 2004 Athens Paralympics Wheelchair Basketball  Gold medal for the USA.	[45] [46] [47]
Rosara Joseph	2006	BCL, DPhil (2011)	Rhodes Scholar from New Zealand. 2005 Oceania Mountain Biking champion. 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games  Silver medal. 2008 Beijing Olympics Women's Mountainbike Cross-Country 9th.	[48] [49] [50]
Annette Salmeen	1997	DPhil Biochemistry (2001)	Rhodes Scholar. 1996 Atlanta Olympics Swimming (800m freestyle relay)  Gold medal for the USA.	[47] [51]

Others

• Robert G. W. Anderson, museum curator
• Cyril Beeson, entomologist and forest conservator
• Arthur Bell, consultant paediatrician ^[52]
• Trevor Bench-Capon, computer scientist
• Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, scientist
• Paula Booth - Daniell Chair of Chemistry at King's College London
• Ian Bostridge, tenor ^[53]
• Christopher Brewin
• Hector Catling, archaeologist ^[54]
• Winston Churchill
• Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas think-tank
• John Cottingham
• Reginald de Koven
• Andrew Dilnot
• Henry Ellis, librarian
• Reginald John Farrer
• Antony Flew, philosopher
• Robert Fludd
• Paul Grice, philosopher (fellow 1939–1967, not an alumnus) ^[55]
• Ronald Gurner
• Tyrone Guthrie, theatre director and producer ^[56]
• Peter Hacker, philosopher (fellow 1966–2006, not an alumnus)
• Ralph Hartley
• Paul M. Hayes (1942–1995), historian
• Eric Heaton
• Gilbert Highet
• Alastair Humphreys, adventurer
• Roger Howell, Jr.
• Frank Kearton, Baron Kearton
• Patrick Kennedy
• Jason Kingsley, Rebellion Developments co-founder ^[57]
• Belinda Kirk, explorer
• Basil Lam, musicologist
• Alexander Leeper, Australian educationist
• Henry Longueville Mansel
• Mohammed Mamdani, social entrepreneur
• Sir John Marsham, 1st Baronet
• Edward Maufe, architect and designer
• Gilbert Murray, classical scholar
• Yannis Philippakis, lead singer of British indie rock band Foals (band)
• Alfred W. Pollard
• Quilla Constance, aka Jennifer Allen, fine artist
• William Mitchell Ramsay
• Sanjeev Sanyal, writer and economist
• Faiza Shaheen, economist ^[58]
• Peter Frederick Strawson, philosopher ^[59]
• Jethro Tull, agriculturist
• Sundeep Waslekar, Founder and President of Strategic Foresight Group think-tank
• Stephen Wolfram

Fictional

• Inspector Morse, fictional TV crime series character, suggested to have won a scholarship

References

1. Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist
2. Alumni Spotlight | https://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-spotlight/
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