| Honorific Prefix: | The Reverend |
| John Harvard | |
| Baptised: | [1] |
| Birth Place: | Southwark, Surrey, England |
| Death Date: | (aged 30) |
| Death Cause: | Tuberculosis |
| Death Place: | Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British America |
| Occupation: | Pastor |
| Known For: | A founder of Harvard College |
| Spouse: | Ann Sadler |
| Children: | None |
| Alma Mater: | Emmanuel College, Cambridge (BA, MA) |
| Signature: | JohnHarvard Signature.jpg |
John Harvard (16071638) was an English Puritan minister in Colonial New England whosedeathbedbequest to thefounded two years earlier by the Massachusetts Bay Colony was so gratefully received that the colony consequently ordered "that theagreed upon formerly tobuilt atcalled Harvard".
Harvard was born in Southwark, England, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Emmanuel College, Cambridge.In 1637 he emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in British America, where he became a teaching elder and assistant preacher of the First Church in Charlestown.
Harvard died of tuberculosis in 1638, leaving a large sum of money and his 400-volume scholar's library to the Colony's new school, which the Colony then voted to name in his honor.Harvard University considers him the most honored of its founders—those whose efforts and contributions in its early days "ensure[d] its permanence"—and a statue in his honor is a prominent feature of Harvard Yard.
Harvard was born and raised in Southwark, Surrey, England, (now part of London), the fourth of nine children of Robert Harvard (1562–1625), a butcher and tavern owner, and his wife Katherine Rogers (1584–1635), a native of Stratford-upon-Avon. Her father, Thomas Rogers (1540–1611), served on the borough corporation's council with John Shakespeare. Harvard was baptised in St Saviour's Church (now Southwark Cathedral) and attended St Saviour's Grammar School, where his father was a member of the governing body and a warden of the parish church. His grandparents' house in Stratford-upon-Avon, largely rebuilt after a fire of 1595, survives as 'Harvard House'.
In 1625, bubonic plague reduced the immediate family to only John, his brother Thomas, and Katherine. Katherine was soon remarriedfirstly in 1626 to John Elletson (1580–1626), who died within a few months, then (1627) to Richard Yearwood (1580–1632). She died in 1635, Thomas in 1637.
Left with some property,Harvard's mother was able to send him to the University of Cambridge, He was admitted as a pensioner to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, on 19 December 1627; he was awarded his B.A. in 1632 and M.A. in 1635.
On 19 April of either 1636 or 1637, Harvard married Ann Sadler (1614–55) of Patcham in East Sussex, sister of his college contemporary John Sadler, at St Michael the Archangel Church, in the parish of South Malling, Lewes.[2] [3]
In the spring or summer of 1637, the couple emigrated to the New England Colonies, where Harvard became a freeman of Massachusetts and, settling in Charlestown, a teaching elder of the First Church there and an assistant preacher, though it is not known whether he was episcopally ordained. In 1638, a tract of land was deeded to him there, and he was appointed that same year to a committee "to consider of some things tending toward a body of laws."
He built his house on Country Road (later Market Street and now Main Street), next to Gravel Lane, a site that is now John Harvard Mall. His orchard extended up the hill behind his house.
On 14 September 1638, Harvard died of tuberculosis and was buried at Charlestown's Phipps Street Burying Ground. In 1828, Harvard University alumni erected a granite monument to his memory there, his original stone having disappeared during the American Revolution.
Harvard's widow, Ann, is believed to have married again, this time to Thomas Allen, Harvard's successor as teacher of the Charlestown church and administrator of Harvard's estate.[4]
Perhaps more importantly he also gave his scholar's library comprising some 329 titles (totaling 400 volumes, some titles being multivolume works).In gratitude, it was subsequently ordered "that theagreed upon formerly tobuilt atcalled Harvard."(Even before Harvard's death, Newtowne had been renamed Cambridge, after the English university attended by many early colonists, including Harvard himself.)
The Harvard College undergraduate newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, as well as what Harvard Magazine calls "smartass" tour guides,commonly assert that John Harvard does not merit the honorific founder, because the Colony's vote creating the institution occurred two years prior to Harvard's bequest.But as detailed in a 1934 letter by Jerome Davis Greene, Secretary of the Harvard Corporation, the founding of Harvard College was not the act of one but the work of many; John Harvard is therefore considered not the founder, but rather afounder, of the schoolthough the timeliness and generosity of his contribution have made him the most honored of these:
A statue in Harvard's honor—not, however, a 'likeness' of him, there being nothing to indicate what he had looked like—is a prominent feature of Harvard Yard (see John Harvard statue) and was featured on a 1986 stamp, part of the United States Postal Service's Great Americans series. A figure representing him also appears in a stained-glass window in the chapel of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
The John Harvard Library in Southwark, London, is named in Harvard's honor, as is the Harvard Bridge linking Boston and Cambridge.
In Southwark Cathedral, the Harvard Chapel in the north transept was rebuilt with donations from Harvard graduates and dedicated in 1907. The stained-glass window was designed by the American artist, John La Farge and given by the American ambassador to the United Kingdom, Joseph Choate.[5]