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Benefactor of Buckingham College, who built part of First Court, probably including the Hall, 1519, but thereafter got into serious debt. ‘Formidable alike by his descent, his wealth, his wide estates, and his connections’ (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography), he was a possible contender for the throne, leading to his trial and execution for treason, on very flimsy grounds.

Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham succeeded to the title as a boy in 1460. He became Lord High Constable of England, and perhaps the wealthiest Duke in England. Traditionally regarded as a benefactor of the Monks’ Hostel (financing the nucleus of First Court), though it is not obvious why he should have volunteered this role, and we now prefer to speak of the ‘Buckingham Benefactor’, maybe his grandmother, the Dowager Duchess, Anne Neville. At some point in the 1470s, Monks’ Hostel became known as Buckingham College. The Duke, after turning against Richard III, was executed for treason.

Belgian diplomat, administrator, politician and writer.

Thomas Stearn (1825 - 1905), a Cambridge tailor, founded this firm of photographers around 1866. Later he ran the firm with his wife Eliza trading as 'Mr and Mrs Stearn'. Later still he took his sons Frank b:1856, Harry Cotterell b:1860, and Walter James b:1865 into the business, trading as Messrs Stearn and later as Stearn and Sons.
After Thomas died the business was run by his sons. Harry Cotterell Stearn died in 1906. Another son, Gilbert Stearn b:1866, was involved in the business at least until 1917. Walter James Stearn died in 1929. Thomas's niece, Edith was also involved with the firm.

Stearn’s operated throughout its history from 72 Bridge Street Cambridge, narrowly avoiding the loss of their premises in a fire in their darkroom in 1898. From 1908 to 1920 local directories also listed premises at Brunswick Terrace Cambridge. At some point between 1939 and 1943 the firm was taken over by A. H. Leach and Son, a well established and growing photo processing business based at Brighouse in Yorkshire.

A new limited company, Stearn and Sons (Cambridge) Ltd, was formed in April 1943, neither the shareholders not the Directors were from the Stearn family. During the period 1942 to 1950 the firm’s processing work was done by A. H. Leach in Brighouse. In 1966 A. H. Leach was taken over by an advertising company, Hunting Surveys, until the Leach family bought the business back from them in 1999. From 1968 the new company, Stearn and Sons (Cambridge) Ltd, did not trade on their own account but acted as agents of their holding companies. In 1970 the Cambridge firm joined Eaden Lilley Photographers.

Stearn and Son took most of the rowing photos until the late 1960's when they joined Eaden Lilley Photographers. Cambridge Central Library have a lot of the original negatives from 1942-1950. The copyright of the photos taken by Eaden Lilley has now passed to Lafayette Photography.

Born in Histon, near Cambridge, in 1855, son of William, an agricultural labourer, and Louisa.

In 1877 he was appointed under-porter [MCGB/4/2/1] and rose to Head Porter serving the College for 43 years before his retirement in 1918.

1881 census – he was living at 30 Albert Street. He was married, to Elizabeth Foreman who was five years older. Their first child, four-month old Sydney James, had been born around the turn of the year.

1891 census - they had moved to number 1 Albert Street. A second son, Ernest had been born in 1883, followed by two daughters, Louisa in 1886 and Laura in 1889.

1911 census - three children were alive and two had died, suggesting there had been a fifth baby that did not survive infancy. Ernest, their second son, was eighteen in 1901, and working as a kitchen porter, although the college that employed him is not known. We might expect him to disappear from the family home as he made his life of his own, but the fact that Sydney's death notice in 1917 describes him as "only son" of James and Elizabeth suggests that Ernest had died before 1911. Louisa and Laura both trained as dressmakers.

Sydney Stearn served in the Royal Navy during the First World War and was killed in 1917.

James Stearn found it hard to cope after the death of his son. He retired, early in 1918, at the age of 63. The Fellows presented their outgoing Head Porter with a clock.

He died on 10 July 1918.

For more information see Ged Martin's article James Stearn: The Head Porter who Died of Grief

https://gedmartin.net/martinalia-mainmenu-3/344-magdalene-college-cambridge-notes-james-stearn

Archbishop of Mechelen, Belgium (from 1832).

Educated at Christ's Hospital. Matriculated in 1940. Awarded BA (English) starred First in 1946, PhD; Bye-Fellow 1948, Fellow 1950, College Lecturer in English 1954; Tutor 1958–1974; sometime Precentor, Librarian, and President (1983–88).
University Lecturer in English 1954, Reader in English & Musical History 1974, Professor of Medieval & Renaissance English 1978–1988. Chairman of the Plainsong & Medieval Music Society 1988–1995.

Obituary: College Magazine, vol. 46 (2001-02) pp. 18-22 (S. Barrington-Ward)

Matriculated in 1927.
Fairfax Scott got him involved in the Cambridge University Press, where he learned typography, and from there he studied lettering (very briefly) with Eric Gill. During the war he worked on aerial photographic interpretation, making a major contribution to the war effort. He was a consummate designer of book-plates, but also designed royal arms, and for The Times and the Bank of England. In Magdalene he designed the 1939-1945 War Memorial (cut by his cousin Will Carter). Made an Honorary Fellow in 1978.

Richard Stone was a protégé of Sir Gerald Kelly, and the youngest royal portrait painter for two centuries, painting the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret, also prime ministers Wilson and Callaghan.

He was born in 1951 and was the son of a Colchester postman. At the age of 4 he was involved in an accident that left him with a fractured skull and permanent deafness in his right ear. He began sketching in a notebook and later painted to communicate with his family and teachers. From the age of eight, he was encouraged by his next door neighbour, Frederick Heron. An amateur Essex painter, Heron taught Richard the basics of art.

When he was fourteen, he saw a portrait by Sir Gerald Kelly at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. He wrote to Sir Gerald saying how much he had admired the portrait and asking if he could possibly help and advise him. This was the start of a friendship that lasted until Sir Gerald’s death in 1972.

One of his earliest subjects was Sir Arthur Bliss, the Master of the Queen’s Musick. After accepting a commission to produce a likeness of Lady Adam Gordon, Richard was invited to paint the Queen Mother’s portrait. The finished work was greeted with tremendous critical acclaim.

In 1992 his portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery and is his most famous work. To commemorate HM becoming Britain’s longest reigning monarch, Richard was commissioned by The Realms to paint Her Majesty’s portrait again in 2015. Upon completion, it was acquired by The Royal Collection and now hangs in St James’s Palace, London.

Educated at the Central School (later the Grammar School for Boys, now part of Netherhall School). Apprenticed as a carpenter. For many years he worked in the College while employed by the local builders Nunn, acquiring an unrivalled knowledge of the College buildings and infrastructure from 1958, before formally being employed by the College Maintenance Department from 1971, where he remained (long after the retiring age) part-time from 1978 until 1991, at one time acting as Clerk of Works.
He brought ingenuity and dexterity to the solution of a variety of problems throughout this time.

College Magazine
Obituay in College Magazine vol. 43 (1998-99) p. 24

Lytton Strachey studied History at Trinity College, Cambridge (1899–1905). There he met Leonard Woolf, Clive Bell, Saxon Sydney-Turner, and Thoby Stephen (brother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf) and their friendship formed the basis of what became known as the Bloomsbury Group. In 1902 he was elected to the famous undergraduate society known as the Apostles, where he met Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, Roger Fry, Desmond MacCarthy, E. M. Forster and John Maynard Keynes.

He was also introduced to George Mallory. On first sight he described Mallory in a letter to Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's sister) in the following terms: “Mon Dieu! George Mallory! My hand trembles, my heart palpitates ... he’s six foot high, with the body of an athlete by Praxiteles and a face – oh incredible – the mystery of Botticelli, the refinement and delicacy of a Chinese print ...”

Scottish painter and printmaker, notable for illustrating the works of Bunyan, Coleridge and Kipling. Strang was born at Dumbarton, the son of Peter Strang, a builder, and was educated at the Dumbarton Academy. For fifteen months after leaving school he worked in the counting-house of a firm of shipbuilders, then in 1875, when he was sixteen, went to London. There he studied art under Alphonse Legros at the Slade School for six years. Strang had great success as an etcher and became assistant master in the etching class. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, and his work was part of its first exhibition in 1881. Some of his early plates were published in The Portfolio and other art magazines.

Edward Strutt was born in 1874, he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and Innsbruck University. He spent his holidays climbing, and he joined the Alpine Club at the age of 21. He was also a member of Sektion Bernina of the Swiss Alpine Club.

During the Boer War Strutt served with the Royal Scots, 1900-02 (dispatches, Queen’s Medal and four clasps, King’s Medal and two clasps).

He married Florence Nina Hollond in 1905.

In the period 1916-17 he was Field-Marshal Milne’s principal liaison officer with French headquarters at Salonika, and for his services in the war received many decorations and honours (D.S.O., 1917; C.B.E., 1919). In March 1919, as an officer of the Allied Council in Vienna, he escorted the Austrian Imperial Family to safety in Switzerland. In 1920 he became High Commissioner at Danzig.

On the Mount Everest expedition of 1922 he was second in command to General Bruce.

He was editor of the Alpine Journal from 1927 to 1937 and president of the Alpine Club from 1935 to 1938. His last visit to Switzerland was in May 1946, when he addressed a gathering of mountaineers at Zürich.

Napoleon’s niece. Secretly married Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart at a Catholic church near Rome in 1824.

Appointed as cook in 1875 [MCGB/4/2/1] and was the last of the cooks to run the kitchens as an independent business. On his retirement in 1901 the College took the kitchens in-house (being the last College to do so). This decision as guided by the then Steward A.S. Ramsey. He purchased the cooking utensils and crockery owned by Swannell which was valued at £700.

1841 Census – his father, George Swannell’s occupation is listed as ’Cook’ and the family were living in King St

1851 Census - his father, George Swannell’s occupation is listed as ’Cook’ and the family were living in Fitzroy St

His father was George (aged 48), his mother was Mary Ann (aged 33)
William was 14 and listed as an errand boy
John (aged 13), Elizabeth Sarah (aged 11), Thomas (aged 7)
Rachel Hayles - servant

1861 Census – William’s occupation is listed as ‘Cook’ and he was married to Hannah and living on Histon Rd

1871 Census – same as the 1861 census but with the addition of children:
William G (aged 9), Elizabeth (aged 4)
William Hewson (nephew aged 18)
John A.W. Culpin (boarder aged 18)

1881 Census – Now living at 74 Castle St with his wife Hannah, his daughter Elizabeth and their domestic servant Emma Smith (aged 15)

1891 Census – Had moved to Huntingdon Road
Servant was now Eliza Beldam

1901 Census – Living at 6 Huntingdon Rd
Listed as ‘widow’
Occupation ‘Head College Cook’
Living on his own and two servants - Lucy Baker (aged 50) and Annie Adams (aged 23)

William died on 16 September 1902 at Carnarvonshire. He left to Elizabeth Hannah Sarah Robinson (his daughter and the wife of the Revd Henry Edwin Robinson) effects worth £14865 5s 4d

Businessman and philanthropist, born in Calcutta, Bengal, India, the second son of Rammani Tagore (1759–1833), police officer, and his first wife, Menaka, daughter of Ramakanta Roy of Jessore.