List of alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford

A list of alumni of Magdalen College (/ˈmɔːdlɪn/ MAWD-lin),^[1] one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Notable former students include politicians, lawyers, bishops, poets, and academics. The list is largely male as women were first admitted to study at Magdalen in 1979.^[2]

Sir John Betjeman
Oscar Wilde
King Edward VIII
J. H. C. Whitehead

Politicians, civil servants and Parliamentarians

Geoffrey Adams, British Diplomatic Service
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Indian economist and civil servant
Francis Ashley, lawyer and MP between 1614 and 1625
Sir Walter Bagot, 5th Baronet, 18th-century MP
Lord Baker, politician, former MP
Thomas Berkeley, MP
Sir John Biggs-Davison, former Conservative MP
Sir Trevor Bigham, barrister and Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, 1914–1931
Nicholas Boles, Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford
Sir Ian Bowater, Lord Mayor of London (1967–1970)
Sir Ashley Bramall, Labour Party politician, MP for Bexley, 1946–1950
George Brandis, Australian diplomat and former Attorney-General (2013–2017)
Jock, Lord Bruce-Gardyne, Conservative politician
Sir Julian Bullard, diplomat, Foreign Office Minister and Pro-chancellor of Birmingham University
Alex Chalk, Conservative MP for Cheltenham and Secretary of State for Justice
Tankerville Chamberlayne, landowner in Hampshire and a Member of Parliament for Southampton
Wesley Clark, American Army general and politician
Sir Cecil Clementi, British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Hong Kong, 1925–1930; Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements, 1930–1934
Robert Douglas Coe, diplomat and U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, 1953–1957
Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker, member of the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, and later a UK Conservative MP
Francis Patrick Donovan, Australian diplomat and jurist
Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for Banbury (1624)
Gareth Evans, Australian international policymaker, former politician and current Chancellor of the Australian National University
Jim Forbes, Australian politician
Malcolm Fraser, former Australian Liberal Party politician; 22nd Prime Minister of Australia
Sir Marrack Goulding, diplomat, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Warden of St Antony's College (1997–2006)
Dominic Grieve, Conservative politician and former Attorney General
William Hague, Conservative politician and former Foreign Secretary
John Hemming, Liberal Democrat politician and businessman^[3]
Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat politician
Jeremy Hunt, Conservative politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer
Lord Hutton, formerly John Hutton MP
Harford Montgomery Hyde, barrister, politician (Ulster Unionist MP for Belfast North), author and biographer
Christopher Jackson, politician, businessman, author (Conservative MEP for Kent East 1979–1994, Deputy Leader Conservative MEPs)
Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme, former diplomat and Chairman of the House of Lords Appointments Commission
Gladwyn Jebb, civil servant, diplomat and politician
Keith Joseph, barrister and politician
Francis Oswald Lindley, British diplomat
Stephen Milligan, Conservative politician and journalist
Randy Minchew, American politician and lawyer
Audri Mukhopadhyay, Canadian diplomat
George Osborne, Conservative MP for Tatton (2001–2017), former Chancellor of the Exchequer and newspaper editor
John Redwood, Conservative MP for Wokingham
Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, Conservative politician: Chief Whip, Minister of State and Arts Minister, 1984-1992
William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, one of the "Gang of Four" of senior British Labour Party politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
Henry Sacheverell, clergyman and politician
Duncan Sandys, politician
Sir John Scarlett, Director General of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), 2004–2009
Arthur Snell, former British High Commissioner to The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Siôn Simon, Labour politician and MP (2001–2010)
Zev Sufott, British-born Israeli diplomat, Ambassador to the Netherlands, first Israeli Ambassador to China^[4]
John Turner, lawyer and former politician; 17th Prime Minister of Canada
Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston, British diplomat and colonial official, served as commissioner of Weihaiwei and as tutor to China's last Emperor, Puyi

Peers and royalty

A number of Magdalen alumni have been associated with royal families around the world, or the peerage:

King Edward VIII (attended when Prince of Wales; did not graduate)
Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford
Wilfrid Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple, soldier and Conservative politician
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan
Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby, Conservative politician
Al-Muhtadee Billah, Crown Prince of Brunei Darussalam
Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne, Liberal politician in William Gladstone's government
Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges, civil servant and Chancellor of Reading University (1959–1969)
George Cambridge, 2nd Marquess of Cambridge, great-great-grandson of King George III
Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, Governor of Queensland (1905–1909), Governor of New South Wales (1909–1913); Viceroy of India (1916–1921)
John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore, politician, peer and soldier
Arthur Hill, 2nd Marquess of Downshire, peer and MP
Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, 17th-century politician
Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen, member of the House of Lords, Warden of All Souls College (1977–1995), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1985–1989)
Henry Pelham-Clinton-Hope, 9th Duke of Newcastle, peer and aviator
Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, cousin of Emperor Akihito
Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu, second son of Emperor Taishō
Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein, member of the British royal family
Nicolas Browne-Wilkinson, Baron Browne-Wilkinson, former Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in the United Kingdom; former Head of the Privy Council and Vice-Chancellor of the High Court
Lord Frederick Windsor, great-grandson of King George V

Justice

James Richard Atkin, lawyer and judge
Charles Arnold-Baker, barrister, author and historian
Michael Beloff, barrister and former President of Trinity College
Jocelyn Benson, lawyer, Dean and author
Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Michael Briggs, Lord Briggs of Westbourne, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton, Irish lawyer and politician
Sir Charles Caesar, Judge and Master of the Rolls
Guido Calabresi, legal scholar and senior Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit
Simon Chesterman, Dean and Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore
Alfred Denning, Baron Denning, lawyer and senior Law Lord
Reginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne, lawyer, politician, Lord Chancellor (1962—1964)
John Doyle, jurist, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia (1995—2012)
James Edelman, Justice of the High Court of Australia
Russ Feingold, US lawyer and politician
Michael Fox, barrister and High Court judge
Sir James Gobbo, jurist and 25th Governor of Victoria
Edward Anthony Hawke, Common Serjeant of London and Recorder of London
Patrick Keane, Justice of the High Court of Australia
Henry Keith, Baron Keith of Kinkel GBE, PC, Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, United Kingdom
John Neely Kennedy Bachelor of Civil Law in 1979, United States Senator from Louisiana
Harold Hongju Koh, Korean-American lawyer and legal scholar
Neal Macrossan, lawyer, judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland
Dinah Rose, human rights barrister and current President of the College
David Souter, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Gerald Thesiger, High Court Judge

Clergy

William Tyndale
Edward Barber, (Archdeacon of Chester) (1886–1914)
Hugh Boulter, Archbishop of Armagh in the Church of Ireland
John Colet, churchman and educational pioneer
Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, theologian, and writer
John Davenport, puritan clergyman and co-founder of the American colony of New Haven
Alan Don, Chaplain & Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury (1931–1941), Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, 1936–1946; Dean of Westminster, 1946–1959
David Edwards, Dean of Norwich, Provost of Southwark and a prolific author
Accepted Frewen, priest and Archbishop of York, 1660–1664
Bede Griffiths, monk and theologian
Henry Hammond, 17th-century churchman
Robert Hawker, Anglican vicar and scholar
Charles Bousfield Huleatt, Anglican priest
Basil Jellicoe, missioner to Canning Town
Owen Oglethorpe, academic and Catholic Bishop, President of Magdalen College, Oxford (1536–1552 and 1553–1555), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1551–1552)
Robert Parker, clergyman and scholar
Henry Phillpotts, Anglican Bishop of Exeter, 1830–1869
Reginald Pole, Cardinal in the Church of Rome
Jeremy Sheehy, Anglican priest and academic
William Tyndale, English reformer, linguistic genius, theologian
Timothy Ware, monk and Bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church (alias Kallistos Ware)
Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal in the Church of Rome

Academics

Economists

Caroline Hoxby, American economist

Philosophers

Ronald Dworkin, legal philosopher
James Frederick Ferrier, metaphysical writer
Edward Goldsmith, writer, environmentalist and philosopher
A. C. Grayling, philosopher
Peter Heylin, ecclesiastic and author of theological works
Benedikt Isserlin, former Reader and Head of the Department of Semitic Studies at the University of Leeds
Larry Siedentop, political philosopher
Terence Irwin, philosopher

Historians and linguists

Donald Adamson, author and historian
Richard J. C. Atkinson, historian and archaeologist
Robert Blake, Baron Blake, historian and life peer
John Rouse Bloxam, historian and Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford
Thomas Sherrer Ross Boase, art historian, President of Magdalen College (1947–1968) and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1958–1960)
Derek Brewer, author and scholar, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1977–1990)
Lionel Harry Butler, academic and Principal of Royal Holloway College, University of London (1973–1981)
William Camden, antiquarian and historian
Sir Neil Chalmers, former Director of the Natural History Museum London and Warden of Wadham College, Oxford
Richard Chandler, antiquary
William Cleaver, churchman and academic, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford (1785–1809)
Prof Edward Byles Cowell, translator of Persian poetry and the first Professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge University
Norman Davies, historian
Arthur Geoffrey Dickens, academic and author, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull (1959–1962)
George Edmundson, clergyman and academic historian
James Fenton, poet, journalist and literary critic
Niall Ferguson, historian
Felipe Fernández-Armesto, historian and author
Theophilus Gale, educationalist, nonconformist and theologian of dissent
Bernard Gardiner, Warden of All Souls College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1712–1715)
N. H. Gibbs, Chichele Professor of the History of War of Oxford University (1953–1977)
Edward Gibbon, historian and Member of Parliament
Martin Gilbert, historian
Richard Gombrich, scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli, and Buddhist Studies, currently Founder-President of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
Giles Henderson, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford
R. L. Holdsworth, educationalist, cricketer and Himalayan mountaineer
Albert Hourani, historian
Reginald Johnston, academic, diplomat and tutor to Puyi
Professor Anthony King, psephologist and political commentator
Robin Lane Fox, classicist and gardener
Francis Leighton, academic and Warden of All Souls College, Oxford (1858–1881)
David Marquand, academic and former Labour Party MP
David Thomas Powell, genealogist and antiquarian
Hormuzd Rassam, native Assyriologist, British diplomat and traveller
Adam Roberts, professor of international relations
John Steane, former headmaster, archaeologist, and author

Mathematicians and scientists

Nobel laureates are identified

Paul Attfield, chemist and materials scientist
John D. Barrow, cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician
James Bateman, horticulturist
H. A. Berlin, neuroscientist
Humphry Bowen, chemist and botanist
Henry Clerke, academic and physician, President of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1672–1687
Frank Close, particle physicist, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford
William Henry Corfield
Charles Daubeny, chemist, botanist and geologist
Sir Gavin de Beer, evolutionary embryologist, Director of the British Museum of Natural History and President of the Linnean Society of London
Robin Dunbar, anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist, currently Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at Oxford
John Eccles, Nobel laureate (1963, Medicine)
Sir John Bretland Farmer, botanist; Professor of Botany at Imperial College London
James Fisher, author, editor, broadcaster, naturalist
Howard Walter Florey, Nobel laureate (1945, Medicine)
Ben Goldacre, physician, academic and science writer
Jeffrey Alan Gray, psychologist
John M. Goldman, haematologist, oncologist and medical researcher; pioneer in bone-marrow transplantation for chronic myeloid leukaemia; founding Chairman of the charity Leuka^[5]
Brian Greene, theoretical physicist and string theorist
Frank Robinson Hartley, chemist, Vice Chancellor Cranfield University
Geoffrey Herford, entomologist and civil servant
Francis Charles Robert Jourdain, amateur ornithologist and oologist
Anthony James Leggett, physicist Nobel Laureate (2003, physics)
Alfred Lodge, mathematician and President of the Mathematical Association
Amory Lovins, American physicist, environmental scientist and writer
Peter Medawar, Nobel laureate (1960, Medicine)
Desmond Morris, zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter
Gareth A. Morris, chemist
Sheffield Airey Neave, naturalist and entomologist
Matt Ridley, scientist, journalist, popular author, member of the House of Lords
Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders, biologist and sociologist and later Director of the London School of Economics (1937–1957)
A. Michael Spence, Nobel laureate (2001, Economics)
Jon Stallworthy, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Oxford
Thomas William Webb, astronomer

Sports people

Mark Andrews, rower in the 1981 World Rowing Championships
Harold Arkwright, cricketer
Francis Barmby, cricketer
Edgar Burgess, rower
Charles Burnell, rower in the 1908 Summer Olympics
John Carr, first-class cricketer
Sir Christopher Chataway, former middle and long-distance runner, television news broadcaster, and Conservative politician
Sir Collier Cudmore, lawyer, politician and Olympic rower who won the gold medal in the 1908 Summer Olympics
Michael England, cricketer
Philip Fleming, banker, rower, competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics
Stanley Garton, rower, competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics
Sir James Angus Gillan, Scottish rower and colonial service official; competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the 1912 Summer Olympics
Ewart Horsfall, rower (1912 Summer Olympics and 1920 Summer Olympics)
Alister Kirby, rower at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Sir Clement Courtenay Knollys, rower and Colonial Administrator and Governor
David Laitt, cricketer
Sir Henry Leveson Gower, England cricketer and Test Captain
Alister Kirby, rower who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics
Duncan Mackinnon, rower in the 1908 Summer Olympics
Gilchrist Maclagan, rower in the 1908 Summer Olympics
Evelyn Montague, athlete and journalist; ran in the 1924 Paris Olympics, and is immortalized in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire
Guy Nickalls, rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics
Guy Oliver Nickalls, son of Guy Nickalls, rower who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics and in the 1928 Summer Olympics
Malcolm Nokes, schoolteacher, soldier, research scientist and Olympic athlete (hammer throw and discus throw)
Tuppy Owen-Smith, sportsman who played Test cricket for South Africa and captained England at Rugby Union
Henry Wells, judge and coxswain at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Leslie Wormald, rower in the Leander-eight in the 1912 Summer Olympics

Artists and writers

Donald Adamson, author and historian
Julian Barnes, writer
Neil Bartlett, author, theatre director
Sir John Betjeman, poet, writer and broadcaster
John Bensusan-Butt, landscape painter^[6]
Christopher Derrick, author, reviewer, publisher's reader and lecturer
Lord Alfred Douglas, author, poet and translator
Fernanda Eberstadt, writer
Duncan Fallowell, novelist, travel writer, memoirist
John Florio, linguist and lexicographer
Alan Garner, novelist
John Gerrard, Legacy Fellow at Magdalen and artist
Alan Hollinghurst, novelist and poet
Pico Iyer, essayist and writer
Girish Karnad, Indian writer and actor
Gavin Lambert, screenwriter, novelist and biographer
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Peer of the realm and music composer
John Lyly, writer, poet, dramatist, playwright and politician
Robert Macfarlane, travel writer
Compton Mackenzie, writer of fiction, biography, histories, and memoir
Andrew McNeillie, currently Literature Editor at Oxford University Press
Dave Morris, author of gamebooks, novels and comics
Douglas Murray, author, writer and commentator
Stephen Potts, author
Benjamin Schwarz, writer
Andrew Sullivan, author, editor, political commentator and blogger
Wilfred Thesiger, explorer and travel writer
Lucy Wadham, writer
Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet
George Wither, poet, pamphleteer and satirist

Journalists

Aravind Adiga, writer and journalist
Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, journalist and columnist
Clive Crook, columnist for the Financial Times
Matthew D'Ancona, journalist
Geoffrey Dawson, editor of The Times (1912–1919 and 1923–1941)
Bill Emmott, editor of The Economist (1993–2006)
Ronan Farrow, investigative journalist
Sagarika Ghose, journalist, news anchor and author
Julia Hartley-Brewer, presenter of the weekday morning radio show on Talkradio
Bevis Hillier, art historian, author and journalist
Ian Hislop, editor Private Eye magazine and TV series Have I Got News for You team captain
Paul Johnson, journalist, historian, speechwriter and author
Robert Kee, broadcaster, journalist and writer
Nicholas D. Kristof, journalist, author, op-ed columnist
Donald McLachlan, Scottish journalist and author, founding editor of The Sunday Telegraph
John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist
Peter Millar, journalist
John Sergeant, journalist and TV personality
Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, UK Peer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, journalist and broadcaster
John Thornhill, deputy editor of the Financial Times
George Will, columnist, journalist and author

Musicians

Paul Agnew, operatic tenor
John Mark Ainsley, lyric tenor
Robin Blaze, countertenor
Paul Brough, conductor and teacher
Harry Christophers, conductor
Vinicius de Moraes, poet, essayist, playwright and lyricist
Anna Lapwood, organist, conductor and broadcaster
David Lloyd-Jones, conductor
Dudley Moore, actor, comedian, composer and musician
Nicholas O'Neill, composer, arranger, organist and choral director
Paul Sartin, oboist, violinist and singer with Bellowhead, and others
James Whitbourn, composer and conductor

Broadcasters and entertainers

Peter Brook, film and stage director
Michael Denison, actor
Freddie Grisewood, radio broadcaster
Robert Hardy, actor
Brian Inglis, journalist, historian and television presenter
Terrence Malick, film director, screenwriter and producer
Katie Mitchell, theatre director
Wallace Shawn, actor
Louis Theroux, broadcaster
Simon Woods, actor

Business

David Abraham, Channel Four CEO
Sir Eric Berthoud, oil man and diplomat
Raymond Bonham Carter, banker; father of Helena Bonham Carter
Sir Rupert Clarke, 3rd Baronet, soldier, businessman and horse rider
Sir Vernon Ellis, Chair of the British Council
Darius Guppy, British-Iranian businessman
Dido Harding, CEO of TalkTalk
Luke Johnson, businessman and Financial Times columnist
J. Paul Getty, Anglo-American industrialist
Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, co-founder of Lastminute.com and Peeress
Prince Rupert Loewenstein, manager of the Rolling Stones^[7]
Sir Humphrey Mackworth, industrialist and politician
Clare Melford, former CEO of the International Business Leaders Forum
Michael Montague, Baron Montague of Oxford, businessman and politician
Pete Flint, founder of Trulia, Internet entrepreneur
Sir Simon Robey, investment banker, co-founder of Robey Warshaw
Laura Wade-Gery, Director of multi-channel e-commerce at Tesco and member of the British Government's Digital Advisory Board

Other people

T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), 'Lawrence of Arabia'
Thomas Tudor Loveday (1875–1966), Principal of Southampton University College (1920–1922) and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol (1922–1944)
Simon Forman, Elizabethan astrologer, occultist and herbalist
Robert Peverell Hichens, officer in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
Marc S. Ellenbogen, diplomat, philanthropist and President of the Prague Society for International Cooperation
Vincent Cartwright Vickers, economist, humorist, artist, and Governor of the Bank of England.
James Rebanks, author and sheep farmer.

Fictional characters

P. G. Wodehouse attributes a Magdalen undergraduateship to his fictional literary character Bertie Wooster.
Tibby, in E. M. Forster's Howards End, is also a Magdalen undergraduate.
Bridey in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited
Nicholas Glozier in J.H. Fox's A Kentish Dream
Bernard Woolley, the political adviser in Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister.

References

^ "Magdalen (Name)". First Names Dictionary on AskOxford.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011.
^ "College History | Magdalen College Oxford". www.magd.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
^ "John Hemming".
^ Twersky, Mordechai I. (21 April 2014). "Zev Sufott, Israel's first ambassador to China, dies aged 86". Haaretz. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
^ Leuka
^ "BENSUSAN-BUTT, John Gordon, landscape painter" in Bernard Dolman, ed., Who's Who in Art, Vol. 26 (Art Trade Press, 1994), p. 36
^ Sweeting, Adam (22 May 2014). "Prince Rupert Loewenstein obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2014.

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