Thomas Nevile

The Great Court as remodelled by Nevile

Thomas Nevile (died 1615) was an English clergyman and academic who was Dean of Peterborough (1591–1597) and Dean of Canterbury (1597–1615), Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge (1582–1593), and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge (1593–1615).^[1]

A member of the historic Nevile family, he originally came to Cambridge to study at Pembroke.^[1] During a long and distinguished career he held a succession of prestigious ecclesiastical posts including the Deanery of both Peterborough and Canterbury, that allowed him to build substantial personal wealth. Within Cambridge, his popularity in the Court of Queen Elizabeth meant he found similar success there, both as Master of Magdalene College and as Vice Chancellor of the University in 1588. Then, in February 1593 Elizabeth appointed him to succeed John Still to the Mastership of Trinity, and it is for his mastership of Trinity that he is now best remembered.

The college he inherited was little more than the architectural remains of the colleges that had united to form Trinity, and he set about using both his personal wealth and influence to create a setting unrivalled in academic England. To quote Trevelyan, "If Henry VIII founded Trinity, Nevile built it".

Over the next decade he razed a number of existing buildings to clear the space for the area now known as Great Court. This included moving Great Gate, the entrance gate to the college, 20 metres east brick by brick, and resulted in one of the largest enclosed courts in Europe.

In his final years he built an additional court, Nevile's Court, paid for entirely by himself.

References

1 2 "Nevill, Thomas (NVL564T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.

The Master of Trinity at Trinity College, Cambridge

Academic offices
Preceded by Degory Nicholls	Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge 1582–1593	Succeeded by Richard Clayton
Preceded by John Still	Master of Trinity College, Cambridge 1593–1615	Succeeded by John Richardson
Church of England titles
Preceded by Richard Rogers	Dean of Canterbury 1597–1615	Succeeded by Charles Fotherby

Deans of Peterborough

Early modern	Francis Alree/Abree/Leycester Gerard Carleton James Curthoppe John Boxall William Latymer Richard Fletcher Thomas Nevile John Palmer Richard Clayton George Meriton Henry Beaumont William Piers John Towers Thomas Jackson John Cosin Edward Rainbowe James Duport Simon Patrick Richard Kidder Samuel Freeman White Kennett Richard Reynolds Edward Gee John Mandeville Francis Lockier John Thomas Robert Lamb Charles Tarrant Charles Manners-Sutton Peter Peckard

Late modern	Thomas Kipling James Monk Thomas Turton George Butler Augustus Saunders John Perowne Marsham Argles William Ingram William Barlow Arnold Page James Simpson Noel Christopherson Dick Wingfield-Digby Randolph Wise Michael Bunker Charles Taylor Jonathan Baker (Acting)

Deans of Canterbury

Early modern	Nicholas Wotton Thomas Godwin Richard Rogers Thomas Nevile Charles Fotherby John Boys Isaac Bargrave George Aglionby Thomas Turner John Tillotson John Sharp George Hooper George Stanhope Elias Sydall John Lynch William Freind John Potter Brownlow North John Moore The Hon James Cornwallis George Horne William Buller Folliott Cornewall

Late modern	Thomas Powys Gerrard Andrewes Hugh Percy Richard Bagot William Lyall Henry Alford Robert Payne Smith Frederic Farrar Henry Wace George Bell Dick Sheppard Hewlett Johnson Ian White-Thomson Victor de Waal John Simpson Robert Willis

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