White, Thomas (1550 -1624)

Thomas White, the founder of Sion College, was the son of John White, a clothier of Bristol. He entered Magdalen Hall in Oxford in 1566, took holy orders and `became a noted and frequent preacher of God's Word' according to Wood's Athenæ. He removed to London, where he was Rector of St Gregory by St Paul's, and afterwards Vicar of St Dunstan in the West. In 1588 he became a Prebend at St Paul's, was appointed Treasurer of Salisbury in 1590, Canon of Christ Church, Oxford in 1591 and of St George's Windsor in 1593. In his will he left £100 for the foundation of a Readership in Moral Philosophy at Oxford, £44 to his old college, Magdalen Hall, and £6 to the Library of Christ Church, Oxford. A list of his bequests to Oxford institutions is given on the back of the titlepage of Schola moralis philosophiae Oxon. In funere Whiti pullata (Oxford, 1624). This stamp was cut to mark the books bought with the money he left to the Library of Christ Church, Oxford.