List of people associated with Balliol College, Oxford

See also: List of masters of Balliol College, Oxford

The following comprises lists of notable people associated with Balliol College, Oxford , namely alumni and those who taught at the College or were based at the College or were involved in college life. The alumni are grouped into categories corresponding to fields of work and are arranged chronologically. Almost all the individuals have a wiki page. The majority are men because women were only admitted to the college from 1979. ^[1]

Alumni

Lists for specific categories

• Academics
• Economists
• Historians and Classicists
• Lawyers
• Media
• Musicians
• Philosophers
• Politicians
• Religious
• Scientists and Mathematicians
• Sports
• Writers

Balliol Chancellors of Oxford University

• Richard FitzRalph (1332)
• William de Wilton (1374)
• Thomas Chace (1426) ^[2]
• Richard Rotherham (1440)
• William Grey (1440)
• Robert Thwaytes (1445)
• George Neville (1453); (1461)
• John Morton (1494)
• George Nathaniel Curzon (1907)
• Alfred Milner (1925)
• Edward Grey (1928)
• Harold Macmillan (1960)
• Roy Harris Jenkins (1987)
• Christopher Francis Patten (2003)

College Alumni

Security, Military and Intelligence

Image	Name	Join Date	Field of work	Comments	Refs
	Cressida Dick	1979	police	commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police daughter of Balliol Senior Tutor Marcus Dick	[3] : 134
	Lieutenant-General Simon Mayall	1975	army	Defence Senior Advisor Middle East	[3] : 367
	Sir John Rennie	1932	intelligence	Director MI6	[4] : 87
	Group Captain Archie Hope	1930	RAF	DFC RAF pilot WW2	[4] : 67
	Lt Col J. L. Austin	1929	intelligence	D Day Intelligence Leader	[5] : 433
	Hon Richard Gilbert Hare	1925	propaganda	Head of Russian propaganda, Ministry of Information WW2 Russian art historian	[5] : 411
	Lieutenant Arthur Rhys-Davids	1916	RFC	MC declined scholarship to join the RFC	[5] : 183
	Captain John Aidan Liddell	1908	RFC	VC MC	[5] : 129
	Lieutenant-General Adrian Carton de Wiart	1899	army	VC left before graduating to fight in Boer War	[5] : 56
	Vice-Admiral William Monson	1581	navy	Matriculated at 14. His Naval Tracts describe Navy life [6]	[7]

Sources of information

The main source of information confirming college membership is the relevant edition of The Balliol College Register which lists Fellows and students by year of matriculation, thus providing evidence of existence, dates and some biographical information.

• 1st edition — 1832–1914 ^[8]
• 2nd edition — 1833–1933 ^[9]
• 3rd edition — 1900–1950 ^[10]
• 4th edition — 1916–1967 ^[11]
• 5th edition — 1950–1980 ^[12]
• 6th edition — 1940–1990 ^[13]
• 7th edition — 1950–2000 ^[14]

Other sources of information include the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Who's Who and Who was Who both published by Oxford University Press .

Fictional alumni

• Sir Humphrey Appleby (from TV series Yes Minister )
• Sir Arnold Robinson (from TV series Yes Minister )
• The Rev Francis Arabin (from Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope)
• John Blaylock (from Whitley Streiber's The Hunger )
• Captain Hook from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
• Captain John Charity Spring (from Flash for Freedom! by George MacDonald Fraser)
• Lord Peter Wimsey (from short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers)

Notable applicants who did not matriculate

• Isaiah Berlin  – British philosopher (1909–1997) ^[15]
• Tony Blair  – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 ^[16]
• Bill Clinton  – President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 ^[17]
• Daniel Dennett  – American philosopher (1942–2024) ^[18]
• A. Hyatt Mayor  – American art historian and curator (1901–1980) ^[19]
• Avrion Mitchison  – British zoologist and immunologist (1928–2022) ^[20]
• Colin McGinn  – British philosopher (born 1950) ^[21]
• John Simon - served variously as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1873-1954) ^[22]
• Lytton Strachey  – English writer and critic (1880–1932) ^[23]

References

1. "Balliol Women: Some Alumnae of the College | Balliol College, University of Oxford". www.balliol.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
2. Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas. National Archives.; CP 40 / 677; in 1430; Thomas Chace appears as first name, but as defendant in a case of debt, brought by Thomas Coventre.
3. Balliol College Register (Seventh Edition) by Tom Bewley and John Jones. 2005.
4. Balliol College Register (Fifth Edition) by John Jones and Sally Viney 1983
5. Balliol College Register (Second Edition) by Ivo Elliott 1934
6. The Naval Tracts of Sir William Monson, in Publications of the Navy Records Society, v. 43, 1912 (London, 1913)
7.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Monson, Sir William". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 740.
8. Balliol College (University of Oxford); Jones, John; Viney, Sally; Hilliard, Edward; Elliott, Ivo d'Oyle; Lemon, Elsie (1914). The Balliol College Register (1st ed.). Oxford. Retrieved 25 March 2013.(1914, covering matriculations 1832-1914)
9. Balliol College (University of Oxford) (1934). The Balliol College Register (2nd ed.). Oxford. Retrieved 25 March 2013.(1934, covering matriculations 1833-1933)
10. Balliol College (University of Oxford) (1953). The Balliol College Register (3rd ed.). Oxford. Retrieved 25 March 2013.(1953, covering matriculations 1900-1950)
11. Lemon, Elsie (1 January 1969). Balliol College Register 1916-1967 (4th ed.). Balliol College.
12. John Jones and Sally Viney (November 1982). Balliol College Register 1950-1980 (5th ed.). Balliol College.
13. John Jones and Catherine Willbery (January 1993). Balliol College Register 1940-1990 (6th ed.). Balliol College.
14. Tom Bewley and John Jones (11 October 2005). Balliol College Register 1950-2000 (7th ed.). Balliol College.
15. Isaiah Berlin Old Pauline Club, 7 July 2020. Accessed 31 December 2024
16. Did Balliol Make Bill a President? Richard Jenkins, The Spectator, 15 July 2000, Page 15. Archive accessed 31 December 2024
17. Did Balliol Make Bill a President? Richard Jenkins, The Spectator, 15 July 2000, Page 15. Archive accessed 31 December 2024
18. What Makes a Philosopher, Daniel Dennett, Autobiography Part 1, Philosophy Now. Accessed 31 December 2024
19. Oral history interview with A. Hyatt Mayor, Smithsonian Archives of American Art, 1969. Accessed 31 December 2024
20. Avrion, Mitchison. "Getting into New College, Oxford". Web of Stories. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
21. As quoted in the book review by Anthony Campbell of Colin McGinn's autobiographical "The Making of a Philosopher, My Journey Through Twentieth-Century Philosophy" accessed 31 December 2024
22. Dutton, D. J. (2011) [2004]. "Simon, John Allsebrook, first Viscount Simon (1873–1954)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press
23. Holroyd, Michael. Lytton Strachey, 1994, ISBN 0-09-933291-4 (paperback) p129