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Lincoln College, Oxford
College name	Lincoln College
Named after	Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln
Established	1427
Sister College	Downing College
Rector	Prof. Paul Langford
JCR President	Nic Long
Undergraduates	285
MCR President	David Elfant
Graduates	220
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Lincoln College (in full: The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated in the centre of Oxford, lying on Turl Street next to Exeter and backing onto Brasenose.

The College was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, then Bishop of Lincoln, (cadaver tomb in Lincoln Cathedral) to combat the Lollard teachings of John Wyclif. He intended it to be "a little college of true students of theology who would defend the mysteries of Scripture against those ignorant laymen who profaned with swinish snouts its most holy pearls".

Due to insufficient endowment, however, the College seems only to have survived thanks to the munificence of a second Bishop of Lincoln, Thomas Rotherham, who effectively re-founded it in the 1470s.

In the 18th century Lincoln became the cradle of Methodism when John Wesley, at that time a fellow there, held religious meetings with his brother Charles.

Later it was the first college to admit a Jewish Fellow, the philosopher Samuel Alexander (appointed 1882).

Years after the success of his Cold War spy novels, novelist and Lincoln graduate John Le Carré, himself a one-time spy, revealed that fictional spymaster George Smiley was modelled on former Lincoln rector Vivian H. H. Green. At least one other recent Lincoln Rector, Sir Maurice Shock, enjoyed a prior career in British intelligence, although there is little evidence to substantiate the college's reputation as a recruiting ground for spies.

The College was the first in Oxford or Cambridge to provide a Middle Common Room exclusively for the use of graduate students. Lincoln has admitted women since the 1970s.

According to Nikolaus Pevsner, Lincoln College preserves "more of the character of a 15th century college than any other in Oxford". This is mainly because both the facade to Turl Street and the front quad are still of only two storeys (although the parapets and battlements are of the 19th century).

There are three quads - front quad (15th century), chapel quad (1608-1631) and grove quad (19th century, more properly the Grove) - and a number of irregular spaces.

The college chapel was built in late perpendicular style between 1629 and 1631. The college's library is located in the converted 18th century church of All Saints, handed over to the college in 1971. The Rector's lodgings in Turl Street are neo-Georgian and were built in 1929-1930.

The college is one of relatively few in Oxford to guarantee all undergraduates three years of college-owned accommodation. Similarly, virtually all graduate students are provided housing for the duration of their studies.

The college's housing stock is extensive and centrally-located. About 80 students live on the three quads described above, with over 100 more living in rooms above the shops on the other side of Turl Street. Further accommodation is provided at Bear Lane (across High Street) and at Museum Road (by Keble College). A number of outlying houses make up the remainder of the housing stock.

Lincoln seen from Turl Street. The spire of All Saints Church, now the college library, is visible in the distance.

Due to Lincoln's small numbers and tightly-knit community, its Junior Common Room (JCR) plays a greater role in student life than do the JCRs of most other colleges. JCR elections, held annually in Trinity Term, attract one of the highest turnouts of any Oxford college.

The JCR is run by an Exec of seven officers, headed by the President. The JCR President for 2006-7 is Nicolas Long. His predecessors include Oliver Munn (2005-6), Alasdair Henderson (2004-5), Mairi Brewis (2003-4) and Phil Bownes (2002-3). JCR meetings are held three times a term.

• JCR website

See also Alumni of Lincoln College.

• Peter Ainsworth — MP for East Surrey
• Bill Cash — MP for Stone
• Steph Cook — modern pentathlete and Olympic gold medallist
• David Craig, Baron Craig of Radley — House of Lords crossbencher and former Chief of the Defence Staff
• Theodore "Dr Seuss" Geisel — writer and cartoonist
• J.A. Hobson (1858–1940) — Liberal thinker and political theorist
• Girish Karnad — Indian playwright, film actor and director
• John le Carré — author
• Emily Mortimer — actress
• Chukwuemeka Ojukwu — Biafran secessionist
• Tom Paulin — poet
• Jamie Shea — NATO spokesman
• William Sholto Douglas (1893–1969) — RAF pilot and WWII military commander
• Sir John Stanley — MP for Tonbridge and Malling
• Edward Thomas (1878–1917) — poet
• Colin Winter (1928-1981) — bishop and anti-apartheid activist
• Zoe Williams (1973- ), journalist on The Guardian

Lincoln's Front Quad in the snow.

See also Fellows of Lincoln College

• Edward Abraham (Sir Edward) (Fellow 1948–1999)
• Peter Atkins (Fellow 1965–present, Acting Rector 2007)
• Howard Florey(Lord Florey) (Fellow 1934–1962)
• Susan Greenfield (Fellow 1985–present)
• Norman Heatley (Fellow 1948-1978, Supernumerary Fellow 1978–2004)
• Nick A. Jelley (Fellow, Tutor in Physics and UK Co-spokesman for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory project)
• Keith Murray (Fellow 1937–1993, Rector 1944–1953)
• Mark Pattison (Fellow 1839–1884, Rector 1861–1884)
• John Potter (Fellow 1694–1747)
• John Radcliffe (Fellow 1670–1675)
• Nevil Sidgwick (Fellow 1901–1958)
• John Wesley — theologian and founder of methodism
• Vivian H. H. Green (Fellow 1951–2005, Rector 1983–1987)