[3] Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to provide a source of educated Roman Catholic clerics to support the Counter-Reformation under Queen Mary.

[7][8] On 1 May 1555, Sir Thomas White, lately Lord Mayor of London, obtained a Royal Patent of Foundation to create a charitable institution for the education of students within the University of Oxford.

[10] White acquired buildings on the east side of St Giles', north of Balliol and Trinity Colleges, which had belonged to the former College of St Bernard, a monastery and house of study of the Cistercian order that had been founded in 1437 and closed in 1540 during the dissolution of the monasteries.

[16] Although primarily a producer of Anglican clergymen in the earlier periods of its history, St John's also gained a reputation for degrees in law, medicine and PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics).

[citation needed] The endowments which St John's was given at its foundation, and during the twenty or so years afterward, served it very well and in the second half of the nineteenth century it benefited, as ground landlord, from the suburban development of the city of Oxford and was unusual among colleges for the size and extent of its property within the city.

[19] In January 2020, students carried out a five-day occupation on the college's front quad to protest against the endowment fund's continued investments in fossil fuels.

[citation needed] The Front Quadrangle mainly consists of buildings built for the Cistercian St Bernard's College.

Construction started in 1437, though when the site passed to the crown in 1540, due to the dissolution of the monasteries, much of the exterior was as it is now, but the Eastern range was incomplete.

He made major alterations to create the current college hall, and designated the Northern part of the Eastern range as the lodging of the president, for which it is still used today.

[22] Front Quad was gravelled until the college's 400th anniversary when the current circular lawn and paving were laid out.

[24] The main tower above the Porters' Lodge features a statue of John the Baptist by Eric Gill.

[26] In 1840 the interior of the chapel's underwent major changes which created the gothic revival pews, roof, wall arcading and west screen.

[citation needed] Orlando Gibbons's famous anthem "This Is the Record of John" was written at the college's request, and presumably received its first performance here.

[22] The North Quadrangle was not designed as a whole, but is the irregular product of a series of buildings constructed since the college's foundation.

Its ceiling, completed in 1742, features the craftsmanship of Thomas Roberts, who also worked on the Radcliffe Camera and the Codrington Library.

[citation needed] Built in 1972–1975, this is not actually a quadrangle, but an L-shaped building partially enclosing an area of garden.

The Garden Quadrangle is a modern (1993) neo-Italianate design from MJP Architects that includes the college auditorium, student rooms and kitchens.

The construction has been dubbed "the last great quad in the city centre" and is notable for its attempt to provide energy from sustainable sources: much of the energy required to heat the building is provided by a combination of solar panels on the roof, geothermal pipes extending deep below the basement and woodchips from the college wood used to fire the boilers.

[citation needed] As the first phase of The Kendrew Quadrangle project Dunthorne Parker Architects were appointed by the college to refurbish three Grade II Listed buildings fronting on to St Giles.

[citation needed] The college now owns almost all the buildings on the Eastern stretch of St Giles'.

[citation needed] The Lamb & Flag pub is owned by the college which up to 2021 operated it, using the profits to fund graduate scholarships.

[53] In 2006 St John's launched SJCtv, becoming the first Oxford college to start its own television station.

[citation needed] Prominent male Fellows and alumni of St John's have included 17th-century Archbishops of Canterbury William Laud and William Juxon, the early Fabian intellectual Sidney Ball, Chief Commissioner of Burma Sir Charles Crosthwaite, former Prime Minister of Canada Lester B. Pearson, former Sudanese prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, the poets A. E. Housman, Philip Larkin and Robert Graves and the latter's brother, journalist Charles Graves, the novelist Kingsley Amis, the historian Peter Burke, the biochemist Sir John Kendrew, and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair.

More recent prominent female alumni include Labour MPs Angela Eagle and Rushanara Ali, Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, and CEO of Chatham House Bronwen Maddox.