Robert Forsyth Scott, Address to the boys of Oakham School. English, c. 1922

Sir Robert Forsyth Scott, Master of St John’s College (1849-1933): address at a prize-giving ceremony at Oakham School, 26 July [?1922]. The day and month are found in a reference on p. 6. The text refers to the recently ended Great War.

Hugh Francis Russell-Smith, Humorous verses. English, 1910 and undated

Hugh Francis Russell-Smith, Fellow of St John’s College (1887-1916): letter in blank verse to E. A. Benians, Fellow and later Master of the College, thanking him for sending ‘cap and ribboned gown, proud emblem of BA’, 2 Dec. 1910. Written while a temporary schoolmaster at Rugby. Also ‘A Sonnet (prosy) written in the Chetwynd Lecture Room’, no date. The Sonnet disparages King’s College. Russell-Smith died of wounds sustained during the early stages of the Battle of the Somme.

Jasper Rootham, ‘John Kennedy’. English, 1963

Jasper St John Rootham, of St John’s College (1910-90): ‘John Kennedy’, a poem written on the day of Kennedy’s assassination and published in the Sunday Times on 24 Nov. 1963.

Receipt for a benefaction from Francis Robins. English, 1724

Receipt signed by Robert Lambert (d. 1735), Senior Bursar and subsequently Master of St John’s College, and witnessed by John Whitfeild, for the sum of £243 19s 4d received 19 Feb. 1723/4 from the executors of Francis Robins, Fellow of St John’s (d. 1720), late of Suttons Valence, Kent, in part payment of bequests made to the College. The executors are named as John Bowtell DD, John Smyth and Richard Fowle. The total benefaction received amounted to more than £2617.

William Previté-Orton, ‘The Athanasian Creed: its damnatory clauses’. English, 1875

William Previté-Orton, of St John’s College (1837-1912): ‘The Athanasian Creed: its damnatory clauses’, 1875. 

Arthur Pressland, Article on Lady Margaret Beaufort’s birthplace. English, 1928

Arthur James Pressland, of St John’s College (1865-1934): ‘Lady Margaret [Beaufort]’s birthplace’, and article written and submitted in 1928 for The Eagle, but not published there, possibly because the work remains unfinished. Lady Margaret was born at Bletsoe, Bedfordshire.

Peter Porter, Worksheets. English, 1964 and earlier

Peter Porter (1929-2010): worksheets and early drafts of poems including the works that became ‘The Frankenstein Project’ and ‘Your Attention Please’, no date, but before 1964.

William Philpot, Cambridge bills and an IOU. English, 1839-69

Isaac Pennington, Index to a collection of theses. Latin and English, c. 1800

Isaac Pennington, Fellow and President of St John’s College (1745-1817): alphabetic index to a collection of eighteen volumes of theses, printed in Latin, for medical degrees awarded at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow between 1782 and 1796.

Isaac Pennington, Power of Attorney. English, 1795

Isaac Pennington, Fellow and President of St John’s College (1745-1817): appointment of William Pennington, Edward David Batson, Edward Stephenson, John Stephenson, William Remington and John Smith as his attorneys to receive payments from the Exchequer on account of his salary as Reader of Physic at Cambridge, 11 Apr. 1795.