A list of alumni of Magdalen College ( ), 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.
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 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 Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat politician Sir Jeremy Hunt, Conservative politician and former 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 Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston, British diplomat and colonial official, served as commissioner of Weihaiwei and as tutor to China's last Emperor, Puyi 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 John Turner, lawyer and former politician; 17th Prime Minister of Canada
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
Law
Richard Atkin, Baron 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 Tali Farhadian (born 1975 or 1976), Iranian-born American former federal prosecutor 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 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 Terence Irwin, philosopher Benedikt Isserlin, former Reader and Head of the Department of Semitic Studies at the University of Leeds Larry Siedentop, political 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