Humphrey Gower
Who was Humphrey Gower?
English priest
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Humphrey Gower (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Humphrey Gower (1638–1711) was an English clergyman and academic who became prominent at the University of Cambridge in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Born in 1638, Gower started his education at St Paul's School in London, one of the top grammar schools of that time. There, he learned classical languages and humanist subjects, which helped him throughout his academic career. He then went on to St John's College, Cambridge, where he spent much of his career and eventually became its top leader.
Before Fame
Gower grew up during a very turbulent time in English history, experiencing the Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration of Charles II in his childhood and youth. He studied at St Paul's School in London, which had a history of producing distinguished figures in the church and academia. He then went on to St John's College, Cambridge, a key part of English intellectual life, at a time when universities were reestablishing their role as training centers for the clergy and professionals after the mid-century upheavals.
Key Achievements
- Served as Master of Jesus College, Cambridge
- Served as Master of St John's College, Cambridge
- Appointed Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge
- Educated at St Paul's School and St John's College, Cambridge, advancing through the full hierarchy of academic and ecclesiastical offices
- Contributed to the governance and intellectual life of Cambridge University through several decades of college leadership
Did You Know?
- 01.Gower held the office of Master of two separate Cambridge colleges during his career, first Jesus College and then St John's College, an unusual distinction.
- 02.He served as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, a chair endowed by Lady Margaret Beaufort in the early sixteenth century and one of the oldest professorial positions in England.
- 03.Gower was educated at St Paul's School in London, an institution founded by John Colet in 1509 that counted John Milton among its former pupils.
- 04.He died in Cambridge in 1711, having spent the majority of his adult life in the city and its university.
- 05.His tenure as Master of St John's College placed him in charge of one of Cambridge's largest and most academically influential colleges during the period spanning the Glorious Revolution and the early reign of Queen Anne.