Pedigree of Peter Small, Founder’s Kin Fellow (England, c. 1597)
When ancestry, not merit, determined admission to St John’s College
Peter Small matriculated at St John’s College aged seventeen and later pursued a clerical career. He entered the College in 1597, during the final years of Elizabeth I’s reign, a period of political stability but also of imminent cultural and intellectual transformation. Shakespeare was already an established playwright, though his greatest works still lay ahead, and the early foundations of the Scientific Revolution were only beginning to emerge.
This genealogical table was drawn to demonstrate Small’s ancestry and his eligibility as a Founder’s Kin Fellow. Under the College’s statutes, certain places were reserved for Founder’s Kin – applicants who could demonstrate descent from the founder, Sir Thomas White. Genealogies such as this served as formal proof, tracing family connections across multiple generations to establish the required link. Although such hereditary privileges were abolished in the later nineteenth century, access to Oxford continued to reflect broader social inequalities for many decades.
Today the College devotes considerable resources to our access and outreach programmes to encourage students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds with exceptional promise to aim high, to stretch themselves academically, and to be confident in making well-founded applications to top universities including Oxford. The College’s admissions statistics (aggregated for 2022–24) compare favourably with the overall figures for the University, particularly in relation to the proportion of students admitted from areas with low progress to higher education (SJC 16.6%; University 14.5%), of BME students (SJC 32.9%; University 29.2%), and of state school students (SJC 70.5%; University 67.3%).
The Conservation of MS 264
by Emma Skinner (Conservator, Oxford Conservation Consortium)
The large 16th-century genealogical table recording the pedigree of Peter Small had been incongruously bound with a 19th-century printed list of Founder’s Kin Fellows in a plain paper binding that concealed both its scale and its fragility.
Unfolded, the pedigree revealed three sheets of handmade laid paper joined together and written throughout in a single 16th-century secretary hand. The iron-gall ink had begun to corrode the paper, its chemical components oxidising the fibres and causing the writing literally to burn through the page. In the most heavily inscribed areas, the support had cracked and split, threatening the permanent loss of names and relationships. Earlier repairs had attempted to stabilise the damage with broad patches of brown glassine tape applied to the reverse. These had darkened and stiffened with age, distorting the sheet, obscuring text, and placing additional strain on the paper.
After detailed documentation, the later binding was removed so the document could be treated flat. Because moisture accelerates iron-gall corrosion, repairs relied on largely non-aqueous methods. Fragile areas were supported with fine splints of Japanese kozo paper, adhered with gelatine adhesive, allowing the old tape to be lifted safely. Once freed from these distortions, the pedigree could be stabilised and read clearly again. One small taped label was retained as evidence of the object’s later history, reflecting the balance conservation must strike between preservation and historical integrity.
Finally, a bespoke archival housing was created. The sheet now rests flat in an acid-free mount-board folder, while digitisation reduces handling and improves access. The result is both practical and protective: a once-fragile document stabilised for consultation and display, ensuring this remarkable record of kinship can be preserved for generations to come.