Robert Metcalfe was a native of Beverley in Yorkshire. He graduated from St John's in 1605, gained his MA in 1606, and subsequently become a Fellow. In 1616 he was elected preacher at St John's, and later became vicar of Burwell in Cambridgeshire. He was appointed Regius Professor of Hebrew, and became college lecturer in Hebrew at Trinity in 1646, after he had migrated there the previous year. Leading a fairly solitary life, he was able to leave numerous charitable bequests, particularly with regard to education and the poor, in both his native town and Cambridge.

John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, and later Archbishop of York, is one of the key figures in the Library's history, having largely financed the building of what is now the Old Library. Born in Aberconwy he attended school in Ruthin before graduating from St John's in 1601, and taking his MA in 1605. He entered the clergy and began to rise through the ranks of ecclesiastical preferment, attracting the notice of King James. In 1620 he gained the position of Dean of Westminster, which provided him with a base in London close to the court and political power.

Thomas Dawes was the eldest son of Sir Abraham Dawes, of Roehampton. Sir Abraham was a Farmer of the Customs, and one of the wealthiest men of his age. He died around 1640. Thomas married Judith, daughter of Sir Cuthbert Hacket, Lord Mayor of London. He appears to have been an alumnus of St John’s, and was perhaps a fellow-commoner. He was knighted at Whitehall in December 1639, and served as Gentleman-in Ordinary to King Charles’s Bedchamber. During the Civil Wars the Dawes family appears to have sent money to the exiled Royal family, and for a time their estates were sequestered.

Sir John Lambe studied at St John's, graduating in 1587. He then became a lawyer in the diocesan courts of Peterborough, where he displayed strong anti-puritan sympathies. He later became Chancellor of Peterborough Diocese, leading prosecutions against Northamptonshire puritans, found favour with Archbishop Laud, and became Chancellor to Queen Henrietta Maria. At the outbreak of the Civil War many of his verdicts were overturned by Parliament, and he was fined, before fleeing to royalist Oxford. He died on his return to London in 1646.

Richard Holdsworth gained his BA at St John's in 1610, before being elected a Fellow in 1613. He was ordained at Peterborough in 1617, the same year in which he was incorporated MA at Oxford. He was later to become a University preacher and professor of divinity at Gresham College. Holdsworth's main vocations were as a tutor and preacher. As the former he followed a fairly novel curriculum, and amassed one of the largest private libraries of the time. As the latter he became very well-known in London, and was president of Sion College.

Thomas Spell gained his BA from St John's in 1602/3, his MA in 1606, and became BD in 1614. He was a Fellow from 1605 until his death. In 1612, the same year that he was made Taxor, he was ordained at Peterborough, and appears to have been Rector at Scraptoft in Leicestershire. While a senior Fellow of the College he helped oversee the building of the Old Library at St John's.

Spell's gift to the Library

Spell left fifty pounds to the Library, which appears to have been chiefly used to purchase a range of theological works.

Timothy Hutton gained his BA from St John's in 1618/19, his MA in 1622, and became BD in 1630. He was a Fellow from 1622. Ordained deacon at Peterborough in 1627, he was Rector of Chelsworth in Suffolk from 1633 until his death.

Hutton's bequest to the Library

Hutton left twenty pounds to the Library, and volumes containing over sixty items bear his book label. These are a mixture of 16th-century theological and classical texts.

Provenance markings

Francis Dee graduated from St John's in 1600, gained his MA in 1603, and was elected to a Fellowship. He was ordained in 1602 and later proceeded BD and DD. He held various clerical positions including the chancellorship of Salisbury Cathedral, a chaplaincy to the English Ambassador to Paris, and the deanery of Chichester. From 1634 he was Bishop of Peterborough, and associated himself very closely with Laud's reforms, in particular those regarding altars. These were very unpopular but Dee died before the repercussions were felt.

William Platt matriculated from St John's in 1609, and pursued a legal career, being admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1612, and called to the Bar in 1619. He was a notable benefactor to his old college, and on his death left large amounts of property in London, and funds for scholarships.

Wolley Leigh attended Queen's College in Oxford from 1631. He lived in Thorpe, Surrey, but the precise nature of his relationship with St John's is unknown.

Leigh's gift to the Library