Masters

Current Master

The current Master of Pembroke College is The Rt Hon Sir Ernest Ryder. 

Previous Masters

2013 Dame Lynne Brindley DBE

Dame Lynne began her tenure as Master in 2013, becoming the first woman to hold the position in Pembroke’s history. She has previously held roles at a number of other British universities, including Aston, LSE, and the University of Leeds, where she was Pro-Vice Chancellor. From 2000 to 2012 Dame Lynne served as the Chief Executive of the British Library.  In 2008 she was awarded a DBE for services to education, and in 2015 was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of The British Academy. Dame Lynne has served on a number of boards and panels, including the national media regulator Ofcom and the Court of Wardens of The Goldsmiths’ Company.  In 2020, she was succeeded as Master of Pembroke by Sir Ernest Ryder.

2001 Giles Henderson CBE

Born in South Africa, Giles took his first degree at Witwatersrand University prior to reading Law at Magdalen College, Oxford, in the mid 1960s, obtaining the degrees of MA and BCL. He was then a member of the Faculty of Law at the University of California at Berkeley before returning and becoming resident in the UK. In 1992 he was awarded the CBE in recognition of his contribution to the UK Government's privatisation programme, on which he was a leading adviser.  He became Master of Pembroke in July 2001, having been Senior Partner at leading City of London law firm, Slaughter and May, since 1993.

1993 Robert Stevens

Robert Stevens was educated at Oakham School, Rutland, and then at Keble College, Oxford, where he obtained his BA and BCL degrees. He was called to the bar in 1956 as a member of Gray's Inn. In 1958, he was awarded an LLM from Yale University, then became a member of staff there, rising from assistant professor (1959–61) to associate professor (1961–65) to professor (1965–76). He was then Provost of Tulane University, Louisiana from 1976 to 1978, when he became President of Haverford College, Pennsylvania, leaving there in 1987 to become Chancellor of the University of California, Santa Cruz. He left Santa Cruz in 1991, and, in 1993, returned to England to take up office as Master of Pembroke College. He left in 2001 and was appointed an Honorary Fellow at Pembroke, also taking on a role as a Senior Research Fellow at the Constitution Unit of University College London. During his Mastership, he spear-headed the Century 5 Campaign, which raised £10m at an important time in Pembroke's development. 

1985 Sir Roger Bannister

Born in Harrow, England, on 23 March 1929, Roger Bannister went to Vaughan Primary school in Harrow before going on to be educated at Beechen Cliff School Bath; University College School, London; Exeter College and Merton College, Oxford; and at St Mary's Hospital Medical School (now part of Imperial College London). His running career started at Oxford in 1946 and he famously broke the four minute mile barrier at Oxford's Iffley Road Track on 6 May 1954. He retired from athletics later that year to concentrate on his work as a junior doctor and to pursue a career in neurology. He later became the first Chairman of the Sports Council (later called Sport England) and was knighted for this service in 1975. 

1975 Sir Geoffrey Arthur

Born on 19 Mar 1920, Geoffrey Arthur was educated at Ashby de la Zouch Grammar School and Christ Church, Oxford, his studies interrupted by service in Egypt, Iraq and Persia during WWII. After the war, he studied Arabic and Persian and entered the Foreign Service in 1947, embarking upon a diplomatic career in the Middle East. He retired in 1975 to take up the Mastership of Pembroke College, and oversaw the admission of women in 1979. He initiated the College expansion across the river with the eponymous 'Sir Geoffrey Arthur Building' (GAB) but sadly died in office on 15 May 1984, after a short illness and before the building's completion.

1968 Sir George Pickering

Born on 26 June 1904 in Whalton, Northumberland, George Pickering was educated at the Royal Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne, Dulwich College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he obtained a first in both parts of the natural sciences tripos (1925 and 1926), coming top of the whole university in his first year. He qualified MRCS, LRCP, in October 1928 and obtained the MRCP two years later in 1930. After a career in London at University College Hospital and then, from 1939, as professor of medicine at St Mary's Hospital medical school, he came to Oxford where he was Regius Professor of Medicine and student of Christ Church from 1956 to 1968. In that year, he was elected Master of Pembroke where he remained until his retirement in 1974. Pickering was made FRCP in 1938, knighted in 1957, elected FRS in 1960 and was president of the British Medical Association in 1963–1964. Pickering died in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, on 3 September 1980. Presided over the 350th anniversary celebrations and the opening of the McGowin Library (1974). He had held the Regius Chair of Medicine and was an internationally recognised leader in the study of hypertension.

1955 Ronald McCallum

Ronald McCallum was born on 28 August 1898 at Paisley, Renfrewshire. He was educated at Paisley grammar school and Trinity College, Glenalmond. He completed two years' service in the labour corps of the British expeditionary force in France (1917–19) and then read modern history at Worcester College, Oxford, obtaining first class honours in 1922. In 1925, after a year at Princeton and another as a history lecturer at Glasgow University, McCallum was elected to a fellowship and tutorship in history at Pembroke College, Oxford. After holding several college offices, McCallum was elected master of Pembroke in 1955, though he had been carrying out the role during the final years of Homes Dudden's tenure as the previous master had become increasingly frail. In 1967 McCallum resigned the mastership, shortly before retirement, in order to become principal of St Catharine's, Cumberland Lodge, Windsor Great Park, a position which he held until 1971. He died on 18 May 1973 at his home, the Old Vicarage, Letcombe Regis, Berkshire, and was cremated at Headington crematorium, Oxford. When he died, in 1973, a subscription fund established the McCallum Lecture in his memory.

1918 Frederick Homes Dudden

Born 28 Dec 1874 Frederick Homes Dudden was educated at Bath College and matriculated at Pembroke College in 1893. He obtained his 1st class B.A. in Classics in 1897 and an M.A. from Lincoln College in 1900. He was Fellow, Lecturer in Theology and Chaplain of Lincoln College, Oxford from 1898–1914 and became vicar of Holy Trinity, Sloane Square, London. In 1918 he was elected to the Mastership of Pembroke College and became, by association, Canon of Gloucester Cathedral until an endowment by Lord Nuffield released the Mastership from this connection. He held numerous other positions, including Chaplain to King George V and George VI (1929–52), Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1925–29 and 1932–49) and Vice-Chancellor (1929–32). He died on 21 Jun 1955 having been in failing health for some time. He was the first Master to live in the Lodgings, the old Master's house having been converted into undergraduate rooms in 1928. His friendship with Lord Nuffield led to the latter's endowment of the Mastership, freeing Homes Dudden's successors from the financial need to hold the Canonry of Gloucester Cathedral, given to the College by Queen Anne in 1714.

1899 John Mitchison

John Mitchinson was born on 23 September 1833 in Durham, the only son of John Mitchinson (c.1799–1835), commander and part-owner of a merchant ship, and his wife, Louisa. In December 1850 he won a scholarship to Pembroke and, after graduating, he was elected Fellow in July 1855, a position he retained until he resigned it in 1882. After a career as a schoolmaster, he was elected bishop of Barbados in February 1873, a position he held until he retired to England in June 1881. Pembroke had offered him the college living of Sibstone, Leicestershire, and he was rector there from 1881 to 1899. He was also archdeacon of Leicester (1886–99), assistant bishop of Peterborough (1881–1913), and assistant bishop of Gloucester (1904–5). Elected master of Pembroke on 8 February 1899, Mitchinson held the position until his death at his Gloucester residence on 25 September 1918, two days after his eighty-fifth birthday. His remains were cremated in Birmingham and taken to Oxford; after a funeral service in Pembroke's Chapel on 1 October 1918 they were interred in Wolvercote cemetery.

1892 Bartholomew Price

Bartholomew Price was born on 14 May 1818 at Coln St Dennis in Gloucestershire, the second son of William Price, rector of Coln St Dennis and of Farnborough in Berkshire. He matriculated as a scholar at Pembroke in 1837 and graduated BA in 1840, obtaining a first class in mathematics, and MA in 1843. In 1842 he gained the senior university mathematical scholarship, and two years later was elected a fellow of Pembroke, taking holy orders. In 1845 he became tutor and mathematical lecturer, and in 1847–8 and 1853–5 was a public examiner. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1852 and, in 1858, was also a University proctor. He was elected Master of Pembroke in 1892 when he also took the degrees of BD and DD. He died in College on 29 December 1898 and was buried in Holywell cemetery. Price listed his recreations in Who's Who as "none in particular". He was nicknamed "the bat" and it is said that the line "Twinkle Twinkle little bat, how I wonder what you're at", from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland', was inspired by him.

1864 Evan Evans

Evan Evans was born in Cardiff in 1813, the second son of David Evans, a gentleman. He matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford, on 22 June 1831 but was awarded a scholarship by Pembroke College and migrated there. He obtained his Second Class B.A. in Literae Humaniores in 1835, and his M.A. in 1838. Evans was Philipps Fellow at Pembroke from 1843 to 1864, serving also as Tutor and Senior Dean.. In 1851 he was appointed Vicegerent, and then on 3 March 1864 he was elected Master of the College and Canon of Gloucester. Evans was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford on 5 November 1874, and was Vice-Chancellor from 1878 to 1882. He died at the Master's Lodgings at the age of 77 on 23 November 1891 and was buried in a vault at Holywell Cemetery.

1844 Francis Jeune

Francis Jeune was born on 22 May 1806 at St Aubin, Jersey. He matriculated at Pembroke on 21 October 1822, was soon elected into a scholarship, and took a first class in Literae Humaniores in 1827. He obtained his BA in 1827, MA in 1830, BCL and DCL in 1834; he held an Ossulston fellowship at Pembroke from 1830 to 1837, was tutor for several years, and was a public examiner in 1834. After G.W. Hall's death in 1843, Jeune was offered the Mastership of Pembroke College, and took up the role 1844, along with the associated Gloucester Canonry. He also held the rectorship of Taynton, Gloucestershire (1844-1864). Jeune was a leading exponent of University Reform and a prominent member of the Royal Commission that investigated Oxford University in 1850 and his surviving papers in Pembroke College deal mainly with the reform of the Pembroke Statutes. The vigour of his reforming Mastership is well chronicled in the Convention Books and its impact on junior members is recorded in the correspondence of Douglas Macleane who gathered information for his History of the College. Jeune also oversaw another major increase in the College buildings, including the construction of the Hall and accommodation buildings in the Chapel Quad. Jeune's daughter published an edition of her mother's diary relating to Jeune's time as Master of Pembroke - "Pages from the Diary of an Oxford Lady" ed. Margaret Jeune Gifford (Oxford, 1932). Jeune died at Whitby on 21 August 1868, and was buried in the cathedral yard at Peterborough.

1809 George Hall

George Hall was born in 1770, the son of John Hall of Chelsea, historical engraver to George III. He matriculated at Pembroke as a Wightwick Scholar on 4 Nov 1788 and became a Fellow and Tutor in 1795. He was elected Master on 2 Nov 1809 and also became Vice-Chancellor of the University, 1820-1824. After Hall's death in 1843, most of his papers were removed from Pembroke by his family, however, the account of Hall's Mastership, published in Macleane's History of Pembroke College in 1895, provoked his grandson, L.H. Hall, into writing to Macleane in 1889 to correct his account and offering to the College certain of Hall's papers, which he describes as "rescued from a garden fire". In 1949, the College purchased from another grandson, H.W. Hall, a scrap-book of letters, engravings and notes, probably complied by Hall's son, G.C. Hall, from his father's papers, together with a number of loose letters. Many of the surviving papers relate to Hall's tenure of the Vice-Chancellorship between 1820 and 1824, the first Master of Pembroke ever to hold the office. He retained most of the accounts, bills and invoices that he received in his official capacity, which probably remain in their original order, arranged by subject and by academic year, and form a highly detailed record of the administrative functions of a Vice-Chancellor, including responsibility for the University's water supply, fire service and private law enforcement agency. Much of his official correspondence as Vice-Chancellor also survives, probably in the arrangement made by his son. Hall also made a collection of printed papers and University notices, many of which relate to his tenure of office.

1796 John Smyth

John Smyth matriculated at Pembroke from Abingdon School on 13 Nov 1761, aged 17. He obtained his B.A. in 1765, his M.A. in 1769, his B.D. and D.D. in 1796. In addition to the Mastership, to which he was elected on 28 Apr 1796,  and the Canonry of Gloucester, Smyth held the rectories of St. Aldates (1789), Coln Rogers (1799), Rudford (1801) and Fairford (1804) and was perpetual curate of Eastleach Turville (1799). He died on 19 Oct 1809.

1789 William Sergrove

The son of Thomas Sergrove of London and a descendant of co-founder Thomas Tesdale's guardian, Richard Tesdale, William Sergrove matriculated at Pembroke on 3 Nov 1762, aged 16. He obtained his B.A. in 1766, M.A. in 1769, B.D. in 1778 and D.D. in 1789. He was Rector of St. Aldates, 1774-1789 and Vicar of Penmark with Llantwit Major and Llysworney, in the diocese of Llandaff. He succeeded William Adams as Master of Pembroke on 28 Jan 1789 but died in London on 16 Apr 1796, aged 49.

1775 William Adams

Born on 17 August 1706, the son of John Adams, mayor of Shrewsbury in 1726, and his wife, Elizabeth Jorde, William Adams matriculated at Pembroke College on 6 August 1720, graduated MA in 1727, and became Fellow in 1734. In 1730, Adams accepted the curacy of St Chad's in Shrewsbury. In 1747 he was made prebendary of Gaia Major in Lichfield Cathedral, and in 1749 prebendary of Llandaff, where he became precentor in 1750. In 1755 he became rector of Counde in Shropshire, and in 1756 proceeded BD and DD at Oxford. He was elected to the Mastership of Pembroke in 1775, and resigned St Chad's. He was made archdeacon of Llandaff in 1777 and retained these offices and the rectory of Counde until his death at his prebendal house in Gloucester on 13 January 1789. Unlike Ratcliffe, he became very close friends with Dr Johnson, who was a frequent visitor to the Master's Lodgings.

1738 John Ratcliffe

John Ratcliffe was elected on 23 Feb 1738, and was Master until his death on 13 Jul 1775. Ratcliffe caused Samuel Johnson to retort "There lives a man, who lives by the renowns of literature, and will not move a finger to support it". He had received Johnson very coldly on his first return to Oxford in 1754 and declined to purchase a copy of the Dictionary.

1714 Matthew Panting

The son of Matthew Panting of Oxford, the young Matthew entered Abingdon School and was scholar of Pembroke College, matriculating on 5 Nov 1698, aged 15. He obtained his B.A. in 1702, became a Fellow in 1705 and obtained his B.D. and D.D. in 1715. He became Master of Pembroke in 1714 and his tenure was notable for the building of the Chapel and also for the entrance of Samuel Johnson in 1728. Panting was also Rector of St Ebbe's church (1714–19), Rector of Coln St Rogers and Canon of Gloucester Cathedral (1718-39). He died on 12 Feb 1739 and was buried in St. Aldates. 

1710 Colwell Brickenden

Colwell Brickenden was elected a Tesdale Scholar at Pembroke and matriculated on 10 Dec 1680, aged 16. He obtained his B.A. in 1685, M.A. in 1687, B.D. and D.D. in 1710. After the death of John Hall, he was elected Master on 15 Feb 1710 and retained this position until his death on 23 Aug 1714. During his time as Master, he oversaw the annexation by Queen Anne of a Gloucester canonry to the Mastership. He was also Rector of Chawton, Hampshire (1690) and of Inkpen, Berkshire (1703). 

1664 John Hall

John Hall was born on 29 Jan 1633, the son of John Hall, vicar of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, then matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford (1648) before transferring to Pembroke College as a scholar in 1650 where he was taught by his uncle Edmund who was a Fellow. He, in turn, became a Fellow in 1650 and graduated BA in 1651, proceeding MA in 1653 and receiving presbyterian ordination in 1655. He was elected Master of Pembroke on 1 December 1664, aged only thirty-one. He became BD in 1666, DD in 1669, and was elected Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in Mar 1676. As Master of Pembroke, Hall oversaw a substantial building project, constructing the gate tower and the north and east sides of the old quadrangle followed by the Master's Lodging (now the Samuel Johnson Building) which he largely financed himself. He also bequeathed his books to the College Library. Hall died in the Master's Lodgings on 4 February 1710 and was buried at Bromsgrove church, where a monument was erected in his memory. 

1660 Henry Wightwick (restored)

1647 Henry Langley

The son of Thomas Langley, a shoemaker, of Abingdon, Henry was elected a chorister of Magdalen College in 1627, and on 6 November 1629 matriculated at Pembroke College, of which he subsequently became Fellow. He graduated B.A. in 1632, and obtained his M.A. in 1635, B.D. in 1648, and D.D. in 1649. By a parliamentary order of 10 September 1646 he was named one of the seven presbyterian ministers chosen to prepare the way for the reformation of the University of Oxford. He was nominated  to replace Henry Wightwick as Master of Pembroke on 26 August 1647, and his appointment was confirmed by the parliamentary visitors on 8 October following. He was nominated a canon of Christ Church by a parliamentary order of 2 March 1648, and held this post, along with the mastership of Pembroke, until the Restoration in 1660, when he was ejected and retired to Tubney, near Abingdon. He died c.10 September 1679, and was buried in St. Helen's Church, Abingdon.

1647 Henry Wightwick

When Thomas Clayton died on June 10th 1647, the Fellows elected one of their number, Henry Wightwick, as Master. On August 26th 1647, however, the Parliamentary Committee for the University elected its own choice, Henry Langley. Henry Wightwick was restored as the Master in 1660 but was again removed in 1664 by an order from the Earl of Clarendon, College Visitor. He subsequently became rector of Kingerby, Lincolnshire, and died in Jun 1671.

1624 Thomas Clayton

As the last Principal of Broadgates Hall, Clayton became the first Master of Pembroke College and oversaw the creation of a large part of what is now the Old Quad. He was born in London in 1575 and matriculated at Balliol College, Oxford, on 15 October 1591 at the age of 16. He obtained his BA on 17 October 1594 and his MA from Gloucester Hall on 31 March 1599. Clayton became a doctor and succeeded his father-in-law, Bartholomew Warner, as Regius Professor of Medicine in 1612, remaining in this position until his death. He was also the first Tomlins lecturer in anatomy and jointly founded the physic garden at Oxford in 1622. Clayton died on 10 July 1647 and was buried in St Aldate’s Church three days later. His son, also Thomas, succeeded him as Regius Professor of Medicine.