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Appointed College Porter in 1872 (with a salary of £100 pa, plus grass fines and half the gate fines, and increased by £10 pa in 1876), though he had already been employed by the College for many years, as he was given a gratuity of £15 in 1869, in consideration of long service (B/441, pp 221, 228, 232, 240). Fleet probably died in office in 1885, when James Stearn was appointed Head Porter.

Portrait of George Fleet MCWA/A/50

Born in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, England
1861 census - living on Histon Road with his wife Emma (aged 44), daughter Emma (aged 9) and sons Harry (aged 7) and George (aged 5)
1871 census - living at 11 Pleasant Row with his daughter Emma and sons Harry (cabinet maker) and George
1881 census living in Magdalene College. Widower

Son of Richard Hey, deceased, of Pudsey, Yorks

Admitted as a pensioner (age 21) at Magdalene on 7 Oct 1766
Matriculated Michaelmas 1767
B.A. (9th Wrangler) 1771; M.A. 1774
Fellow
Senior Proctor
President of the College, 1778-1786

Vicar of Steeple Ashton, Wilts., 1787-1828

Died 31 Jan 1828, aged 88

Brother of John and Richard

Buttery Book starting in 1743 [MCAD/14/2/1/19] is the first in which John Palmer's name appears.

He was witness to the bond of resignation prepared by George Sandby (Master) in 1761 at the request of the Countess of Portsmouth as part of the conditions of his appointment.

College cook. Was succeeded by William Winder. The exact date is unknown but was between 1782-84.

He was witness to the bond of resignation prepared by George Sandby (Master) in 1761 at the request of the Countess of Portsmouth as part of the conditions of his appointment.

Master of Magdalene College, 1774-1781

Born on 3 Jan 1745, the third son of John, Viscount Lymington (son of John Wallop, 1st Earl of Portsmouth) and Catherine Conduit (great niece of Issac Newton)
His eldest brother John Wallop, succeeded his grandfather and became the 2nd Earl of Portsmouth. John’s son and therefore Barton’s nephew was John Charles Wallop 3rd Earl of Portsmouth (subject of two Lunacy Commissions)

School - Eton

Admitted as a Fellow Commoner (aged 18) to Magdalene College on 5 Nov 1762
Matriculated Michaelmas 1764; M.A. 1766

Rector of Portsmouth
Rector of Cliddesden with Farleigh, Hampshire

Master of Magdalene, 1774-81
Vice-Chancellor, 1774-75

Married 14 May 1771, his cousin, Camilla Powlett, daughter of the Rev. Richard Smyth, of Crux-Easton, Hampshire
Children:
(1) Urania Catharine Camilla, born 23 November 1774
(2) Postumous son William Barton Wallop – on the 15th Dragoons, and then Captain in the Nova Scotia Fencibles. On 11 Sept 1807 he married Miss Ward of St John’s in New Brunswick, North America

Died 1 Sept 1781, at Upper Wallop

From: A History of Magdalene College, Cambridge 1428-1988

Thomas Chapman (Master) died in 1760 (either of a fever or of gluttony having eaten 5 mackerel followed later by a turbot resulting in ‘a violent looseness’ which carried him off’).

At the time the Visitor was Elizabeth, Countess of Portsmouth (daughter of James Griffin, 2nd Baron Griffin of Braybrooke). By her 2nd marriage she married John Wallop , 1st Earl of Portsmouth (also his 2nd marriage).

Her step-grandson was Barton Wallop who in 1760 was aged 16 and at Eton.

On the death of the Master Thomas Chapman the Fellows decided they wanted the current President, Lawrence Eliot, to be elected Master and they got the backing of the other Heads of Houses. But Elizabeth had promised the vacancy to her step-grandson Barton. He was only 16 so she appointed George Sandby on condition that he gave up the Mastership in favour of Barton when she or her heirs asked. This bond was witnessed by the College cook and butler. He served as Master from 1760 until 1774.

Barton ‘that pretty young gentleman’ was admitted to the College as a Fellow-Commoner in 1762 though he did not matriculate until 1764 and he did not reside [he is in the Butlers books having spent money on sizings at the buttery so I dispute this]. He took an honorary MA in July 1766 and was elected to a Goche fellowship the same day.

He seemed little interested in College affairs busying himself with hunting and shooting, financed by a series of Hampshire livings in the gift of his family including the rectory of Portsmouth.

Elizabeth Griffin died in 1762 but had secured an undertaking from her heir, Sir John Griffin, to honour the promise to Barton and so in April 1774 Sandby was asked to resign.
Barton was now married and aged 29 which was the minimum statutory age for appointment to the Mastership and had declared himself ‘very desirous’ to take it up.

The appointment caused consternation in the College and Cambridge as Barton’s crass ignorance and rackety life-style were well-known, and Magdalene was due to provide the next Vice-Chancellor. The prospect of such a man as head of the university was appalling. In late 1773 Archbishop Cornwallis and the Chancellor had tried to buy Barton off with a swap of preferment, and to secure the Mastership instead for the newly-appointed Regius Prof of Divinity Bishop Watson so he could live in Cambridge with a ‘dignity becoming the prof of Divinity’.
Barton refused to co-operate.
The Archbishop said ‘he will, I think, disgrace both himself and the University’, and the University expressed their displeasure by refusing to grant the honorary DD customarily granted to incoming heads of house.

Attempts were made to get him to waive his turn as vice-chancellor but he insisted on performing the office. He resided in Cambridge from the beginning of March – end of July 1775 and again for the most of Michaelmas term. Then when his round of duty was finished he took himself off to his country estates and for the rest of his Mastership was rarely seen in Cambridge.

Day to day affairs were carried out by the President and tutors.

On 1 September 1781 Barton died suddenly at his country house in Upper Wallop, as a result of ‘faintings and violent oppressions on his stomach’ possibly caused by his heavy drinking.

He was succeeded by Peter Peckard.

Daughter of James Griffin, 2nd Baron Griffin of Braybrooke, sister and co-heir of Edward, 3rd Baron Griffin of Braybrooke. She was a direct descendant of Lord Audley.
Her first marriage was to her cousin Henry Neville/Grey; her second in 1741 to John Wallop, MP (1690-1762), governor of the Isle of Wight, 1st Earl of Portsmouth (his second wife).
She secured the Mastership for her husband’s grandson, Barton Wallop; and meanwhile placed George Sandby in office under bond to resign when Barton Wallop was of age – the resignation duly took place in 1774.
Died without issue; the visitorship then passed to her nephew, Sir John Griffin Whitwell, later 1st Baron Braybrooke.

Master of Magdalene College, 1746-1760

Born at Billingham, Durham in 1717 the son of Thomas Chapman
School - Richmond

Admitted pensioner at the age of 17 at Christ's College on 17 May 1734
Matriculated in 1734
Scholar, 1734
B.A. 1737-8; M.A. 1741;
LL.D. from Magdalene, 1748; D.D. 1749 (Lit. Reg.)

Fellow of Christ's, 1741-46
Ordained priest (Lincoln), 23 Sept. 1744

Master of Magdalene, 1746-60
Vice-Chancellor, 1748-49

A History of Magdalene College, 1428-1988 describes him as follows
"Even by the easy-going standards of the 18th century Chapman was a shameless jobber, with all the delicacy of feeling of a hog: nevertheless his entry into a College which he know to have resisted his appointment can hardly have been comfortable".

"Chapman's Mastership came to gruesome but entirely fitting end on Mon 9 June 1760, when he died in the Master's Lodge, apparently as a result of his own gluttony".
"He is gone to his grave with five fine mackerel (large and full of roe) in his belly. He ate them all at one dinner; but his fate was a turbot on Trinity Sunday, of which after his sixth fish he never held up his head more, and a violent looseness carried him off. They say he made a very good end". This may have been an exaggeration and he made have died of a fever which he caught on the Friday.

Chaplain to the King
Rector of Kirkby-Overblow, Yorks., 1749-60
Prebendary of Durham, 1750

Died 9 June 1760
Buried in Magdalene Chapel

Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, 1679-1690

He was the son of Robert Peachell of Fillingham, Lincolnshire
School - Gainsborough

1 August 1645 - admitted to Magdalene College as a sizar
B.A. 1649, M.A. 1653
Elected Fellow on Smith's Foundation in 1649, on Spendluffe's in 1651, and a Foundation Fellow in 1656

In 1661 Samuel Pepys spent an evening with him at the Rose Tavern in Cambridge; but says he was embarrassed to be seen walking with Peachell on account of his drinker’s nose. Other than that he said he Peachell was 'a good natured man'

In 1663 he was presented by Sir John Cutts to the rectory of Childerley, Cambridgeshire, which he resigned on obtaining the rectory of Dry Drayton in 1681
He was also presented to the vicarage of Stanwix in Cumberland

1679 became Master of Magdalene College
1686 Vice-Chancellor of the University

In 1687 he was suspended as Vice-Chancellor and Master of Magdalene for representing the University in standing up to King James II and refusing to confer an Honorary MA on a Benedictine Monk, Alban Francis. His College stood by him and the emoluments which were officially forfeit were still paid in 1687 and 1688. No College business was transacted without him and no new Fellows were admitted. He was restored to the Mastership in 1688

He died in 1690, allegedly as a result of four days' abstinence from alcohol.

He was buried in Magdalene College Chapel on 5 February 1690

Born on 15 October 1882 the son of Rev. Charles MacMichael of Walpole Rectory, Wisbech
Educated at Bedford Grammar School
Admitted pensioner 28 July 1901

There is a photograph of him in the Football team (1904-1905 - see MCCP/AVP/2 and a carte de visite size portrait in MCPP/AVP4)
He was a member of the Boat Club and rowed in the Lent and May Boats in 1902, 1903, 1904 and 1905. He was Secretary in 1903 and Captain in 1904

After leaving Magdalene he passed his civil service exam and entered the Sudan Political Service in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. He then served in the Blue Nile Province until 1915, when he became a senior inspector of Khartoum Province. He rose to the position of civil secretary in 1926. In 1933, he became governor of Tanganyika until 1937.

In 1938 he became High Commissioner of the British Mandate of Palestine.
In 1942 he was blamed for sending at least 768 Jewish refugees aboard MV Struma to their deaths.
During his tenure, he was the target of seven unsuccessful assassination attempts.

MacMichael also served as High Commissioner of Malta.

Succeeded Charles Prosser as College cook in 1846.

Edward Hills of Littleport.

1851 census – listed as a cook (that is, caterer) employing three men and two women, and living at 6 Magdalene Street.

1861 census - lived at 8 Magdalene Street, and is listed as ‘Master Cook’, employing four men.
His houses stood in the row that was demolished for street-widening in the early twentieth century. Today, their foundations lie under the Master’s front garden and Benson Hall.

Hills died in 1866, aged about 53.

Hills was succeeded by John Hobson.

Born at Somerleigh House, Dorchester, the son of Sir Edward Robert Pearce Edgcumbe and Clara Jane Conybeare

School - Winchester

Admitted to Magdalene on 16 May 1905

Took Part I of the Classical Tripos in 1908

He married in 1932 and lived in Winchester St Cross with St Faith, Winchester in 1901and in Cambridge in 1911

He died in 1974, in Norwich

Educated at Isleworth Grammar School and St John's College (Matriculated in 1956); PhD 1963, LittD 1993; College Lecturer in History, 1960–2000.
Fellow, 1962 (Emeritus 2003); College Librarian, 1963–1993; Admissions Tutor, 1980–1982; President, 1996–1998 (Acting 1992–1993, Michaelmas 1994); Archivist, 2000.
University Lecturer in History, 1965–1996; Reader in British Imperial History, 1996 (Emeritus 1999); Smuts Distinguished Lecturer, 2000. Research Editor, British Documents on the End of Empire Project, 1987–2000 and member of the Project Committee, 1991–2005.

The Favell family seem to have a long history as painters and glaziers in Cambridge.

In the Magdalene Archives there are receipts from John Favell, painter (c. 1781-1812).

According to the Jesus College Archives:
Elizabeth Favell (d. 1840) was a widow who ran a decorating firm under the name Elizabeth Favell and Son. She lived in Petty Cury, Cambridge, and had at least four children: Edward, James, Samuel, Thomas and Mary. She was already a widow when, in 1809, the Norfolk Chronicle reported that she and James Favell 'painters' had filed for bankruptcy. In 1813, the Prince Regent granted her a pension of £40p/a following the death of her son, Captain Samuel Favell, at the Battle of Salamanca in 1812. She also lost another son, Lieutenant Thomas Favell, during the Siege of Cadiz. By the 1830s, she was running the business with her son Edward and his signature features on many of the receipts. (Norfolk Chronicle, Saturday 21 October 1809, p. 2; Will of Elizabeth Favell, 1840, National Archives, PROB/11/1936/73; Norfolk Chronicle, Saturday 29 August 1812, p. 4; Bury and Norwich Post, Wednesday 3 February 1813, p. 2; Sussex Advertiser, Monday 8 February 1813, p. 4).

In April 1854 Edward Favell went into partnership with Robert Ellis to found the company Favell & Ellis.

Robert's son Augustus Ellis (1836-1912) worked in the business and it was later known as Favell, Ellis & Sons and then Favell, Ellis & Kirkman.
They had offices at 5 St Andrews Street.

MCAC/2/2/8 is an account book with Favell, Ellis & Sons between 1906 and 1912

In the 1914 trade directory the company is listed as Favell, Ellis & Kirkman

Ironmonger, son was named R. Paul

Eldest son of Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey and, his second wife, the Hon. Elizabeth Wharton

Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire

Entered Parliament as MP for Boston in 1685
Commissioned captain of an independent troop of horse raised to suppress the Monmouth Rebellion on 20 June 1685
1688 - took part in the northern rising led by his kinsman, the Earl of Danby, in favour of William of Orange. He was rewarded with the chancellorship of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1689, a post which enabled him to secure a seat at Preston at the general election of 1690
He moved to the House of Lords after receiving a writ of acceleration as Baron Willoughby de Eresby
He inherited the earldom of Lindsey on his father's death in 1701, and was invested a Privy Counsellor one month later. Along with the Earldom of Lindsey, he also inherited the offices of Lord Great Chamberlain and Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, both of which he would hold until his death.

1706 - created Marquess of Lindsey
1715 - created Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven

In 1715, he employed Sir John Vanbrugh to design a baroque front to his house at Grimsthorpe to celebrate his ennoblement as first Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven

Son of Timothy Douthwaite. Born in Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham
School - Bishop Auckland

Admitted sizar (age 19) at Magdalene on 17 June 1729

Matriculated 1729
B.A. 1732/3
M.A. 1736
Fellow, 1735
Tutor

Ordained priest (Ely) June 1734
Rector of Stoke St Mary, Ipswich
Vicar of Rushmere, Suffolk

Son of Samuel Purkis of Wisbech
School - Wisbech

Admitted sizar (age 17) at Magdalene on 3 July 1752
Matriculated Michaelmas 1753
B.A. (5th Wrangler) 1756; M.A. 1760; D.D. 1786
Fellow
Senior Proctor, 1772-73

Rector of Anderby with Cumberworth, Lincs., 1765-91
F.S.A. 'Bishop Watson complains in 1762 that the dinner-hour [in Cambridge] had changed from 12 to 3, and foolish dons, like William Purkis, of Magdalene, talked of combining the scholar and the gentleman.
Purkis got in consequence the name 'Mr Union'.

Author of Sermons, preached before the University, 1786 and 1789

Died 25 February 1791

Master of Magdalene College, 1760-74

Son of the Rev. Josiah Sandby, Prebend of Worcester

Matriculated from Merton College, Oxford, 5 April 1734, age 17
B.A. (Oxford) 1737; M.A. (Oxford) 1740

M.A. 1760, incorported from Oxford; D.D. 1760

Vice-Chancellor, 1760-61

Rector of Denton, Norfolk, 1750-1807
Rector of Skeyton
Chancellor of the Diocese of Norwich, 1768

Died 24 March 1807, aged 90, at Denton

Son of Charles, ironmonger and born Louth in Lincolnshire
School - Louth

2 Oct 1713 - Admitted as a pensioner (age 17) at Magdalene College
B.A. 1718
M.A. 1721
Fellow 1719
Senior Proctor 1741-2
Ordained deacon (Lincoln) on 12 June 1720
Priest Sept. 23 1722
Rector of Ingoldmells, Lincs., 1722
Rector of Westley Waterless, Cambs., 1735-66
Died 1766

Son of William Thompson (clerk). Born at Well, Lincolnshire
School - Alford

Admitted sizar (age 18) at Magdalene on 3 Jan 1724
B.A. 1728
M.A. 1731
Fellow, 1728

Ordained deacon (Lincoln) 22 Feb 1730; priest, 19 Sept 1731
Curate of Chapel Allerton (West Riding of Yorkshire)

Died May 1734

Born in Barnsley, Yorkshire

Admitted to Magdalene College

1931
sailed for China to serve with the China Inland Mission and spent the next few years primarily in Szechwan, West China, working in various hospitals and in outlaying towns and villages

1940
married Irene Walker (another CIM missionary) at Yingshan, Szechwan

1944
their first child (they had four in total) was born in China and soon after Irene and her son were forced to leave China for India because of the national unrest. Max later joined them and they all returned to the UK. In 1946 Frank and Irene returned to China to carry on their work.

1948
Missionary work in China became increasingly difficult due the rise of Communism and in 1951 the CIM recalled all missionaries from China.
This journey was extremely difficult and fraught with danger - at one point Max was arrested at gun point and taken away. He returned some time later and was then held under room imprisonment until they could continue the journey to Hong Kong and then back to England.

Max and Irene later spent time working in Malaya returning when Max needed surgery. They then settled in England whilst he recovered by starting two part time roles in GP practices. He supplied Bible reading notes and Christian books and newspapers to patients. Irene became heavily involved in the Reading Chinese Christian Fellowship.

c. 1980
Max retired from active medical service but continued his mission work through letter writing

1991
Max died in Reading

1999
Irene died

George Nuttall was born in San Francisco, California, and was the second son of Robert Kennedy Nuttall MD, from Tittour, co. Wicklow, and his wife, Magdalena. In 1865 the family returned to Europe, and the children were educated in England, France, Germany, and Switzerland and as a result Nuttall could speak several languages. He returned to America in 1878 and entered the University of California, where he proceeded MD in 1884. Between 1886 and 1891 he studied botany and zoology in Germany. He spent further time studying in America and Germany before giving a course of lectures on bacteriology in Cambridge in 1899.

In 1901 was appointed University Lecturer in bacteriology and preventive medicine and in the same year founded the Journal of Hygiene which he edited up to the time of his death. In 1908 he founded Parasitology, which he edited until 1933.

In 1906 he was elected the first Quick Professor of Biology at Cambridge (1906 - 1931). In 1907 he became a professorial Fellow at Magdalene in succession to Alfred Newton.

He was the founder of the Molteno Institute for Research in Parasitology (later known as the Molteno Institute of Biology and Parasitology), which was formally opened in 1921.

Nuttall resigned the Quick Professorship in 1931 and became Emeritus Professor of Biology.

In 1895 he had married Paula and they had two sons and a daughter. His hobby was heraldry. He died suddenly on 16 December 1937.

Arms in Hall glass, W2

Further Reading: College Magazine, Vol. X, No. 9, December 1938 'George Henry Falkiner Nuttall' by A. S. Ramsey and David Keilin

Arms in Hall glass, W2.

Worked for Jeffs and Dawson.

Admitted as a pensioner at Magdalene on 15 May 1806
Matriculated Michaelmas 1806
B.A. 1810; M.A. 1813
Fellow

Ordained deacon (Norwich) 8 July 1810; priest, 21 June 1812
Rector of Long Stanton St Michael's, Cambs., 1819-23

Died 1823.

In the Audit receipts and Account Books he signs as Steward in 1811, 1814-1818 and as Bursar in 1813 - not comprehensive as we are still cataloguing (Nov 2025)

Baptised in January 1740
School - Shrewsbury

Admitted as a pensioner at Magdalene college on 31 Dec 1758
Matriculated Michaelmas 1759
B.A. 1763; M.A. 1766

Made a Fellow in 1763
Ordained a deacon (Norwich) 18 Dec 1763

Master of Magdalene College 1948-1966

Educated at Trinity College.
MP (National Conservative) for Croydon North, 1940-1948
Minister of Health, 1943-1945
Vice-Chancellor, 1953-1955
Created Baronet 1957, ‘for public services’ – he chaired four Royal commissions or commissions of inquiry between 1951 and 1962
Made an Honorary Fellow on his retirement from the Mastership in 1966

Arms in Hall glass, E3.

College Magazine
Article by F.H.H. Clark, College Magazine, No. 70 (1948) pp. 9-11
Article College Magazine No. 17 (1972-73) pp. 3-13
Article 'Past Master. Sir Henry Willink, 1948-1966' (F. McD C. Turner), College Magazine, No. 44 (1999-2000)
Obituary by R. Hyam College Magazine 1966

Educated at Queens’ College Cambridge (double starred first in History). University Reader in History, Royal Holloway College, London (1942-1968), Professor of History, University of Toronto (1968-1969), Research Fellow of Magdalene College (1970-1972), Official Fellow and Pepys Librarian (1972-1982), Honorary Fellow (1984).
Editor of the definitive edition of The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 11 vols (1970-1983).

College Magazine
Obituary by R. Luckett, College Magazine, No. 39 (1994-95) pp. 3-6