St John's College, University of Cambridge

St John's College
View over the rear buildings of St John's from the Backs
Arms of St John's College, being the arms of the foundress Lady Margaret Beaufort: Royal arms of England a bordure componée azure and argent
University	Cambridge University
Location	St John's Street (map)
Full name	The College of St John the Evangelist of the University of Cambridge
Motto	Souvent me Souvient (Old French; motto of the foundress Lady Margaret Beaufort)
Motto in English	I often remember
Founder	Lady Margaret Beaufort
Established	1511
Named for	The Hospital of St John the Evangelist
Sister colleges	Balliol College, Oxford Trinity College, Dublin Ghislieri College, Pavia
Master	Chris Dobson
Undergraduates	534
Postgraduates	340
Website	www.joh.cam.ac.uk
JCR	www.sjcjcr.com
MCR	sbr.soc.srcf.net

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge (the full, formal name of the college is The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge). The college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The aims of the college, as specified by its Statutes, are the promotion of education, religion, learning and research.

The college's alumni include the winners of ten Nobel Prizes, seven prime ministers and twelve archbishops of various countries, at least two princes and three Saints. The Romantic poet William Wordsworth studied at the college, as did William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, the two abolitionists who led the movement that brought slavery to an end in the British Empire. HRH Prince William was affiliated with St John's while undertaking a university-run course in 2014.

St John's College is also well known for its choir, its members' success in a wide variety of inter-collegiate sporting competitions and its annual May Ball. In 2011, the college celebrated its quincentenary, an event marked by a visit of HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

The site was originally occupied by the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, probably founded around 1200. By 1470 Thomas Rotherham Chancellor of the University, extended to it the privileges of membership of the University. This led to St. John's House, as it was then known, being conferred the status of a college. By the early 16th century the hospital was dilapidated and suffering from a lack of funds. The Lady Margaret Beaufort, having endowed Christ's College sought to found a new college, and chose the hospital site at the suggestion of Saint John Fisher, her chaplain and Bishop of Rochester.. However, Lady Margaret died without having mentioned the foundation of St John's in her will, and it was largely the work of Fisher that ensured that the college was founded. He had to obtain the approval of King Henry VIII of England, the Pope through the intermediary Polydore Vergil, and the Bishop of Ely to suppress the religious hospital, by which time held only a Master and three Augustinian brethren, and convert it to a college.