The head of Christ's College is termed the "Master". Christ's grew from God's House, an institution founded in 1437 on land now occupied by King's College Chapel. It received its first royal licence in 1446. It moved to its present site in 1448 when it received its second royal licence. It was renamed Christ's College and received its present charter in 1505 when it was endowed and expanded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII. The last Proctor of God's House, John Sickling, became the first Master of the new college.
List of masters
1505–1507 John Sickling 1507–1510 Richard Wyot 1510–1517 Thomas Thompson 1517–1530 John Watson 1530–1548 Henry Lockwood 1548–1553 Richard Wilkes 1553–1556 Cuthbert Scott 1556–1559 William Taylor 1559–1582 Edward Hawford 1582–1609 Edmund Barwell 1609–1622 Valentine Cary 1622–1646 Thomas Bainbridge 1646–1654 Samuel Bolton 1654–1688 Ralph Cudworth 1688–1722 John Covel 1723–1745 William Towers 1745–1754 George Henry Rooke 1754–1780 Hugh Thomas 1780–1808 John Barker 1808–1814 Thomas Browne 1814–1830 John Kaye 1830–1848 John Graham 1849–1849 Joseph Shaw 1849–1881 James Cartmell 1881–1887 Charles Anthony Swainson 1887–1910 John Peile 1910–1927 Sir Arthur Shipley 1927–1936 Norman McLean 1936–1939 Charles Galton Darwin 1939–1950 Charles Raven 1950–1963 Brian Downs 1963–1978 The Lord Todd 1978–1982 Sir John H. Plumb 1982–1995 Sir Hans Kornberg 1995–2002 Alan Munro 2002–2006 Malcolm Bowie 2006–2016 Frank Kelly 2016–2022 Jane Stapleton 2022 (incumbent) Simon McDonald, Baron McDonald of Salford
References