John Randall

Who was John Randall?

John Randall, was an English puritan divine.

Randall was born in 1570 at Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, and sent when only eleven to St. Mary Hall, Oxford, where he matriculated on 27 Nov. 1581. He removed to Trinity College, and graduated B.A. on 9 February 1585; was elected a fellow of Lincoln College on 6 July 1587, and proceeded M.A. on 9 July 1589. Among his pupils at Lincoln was the puritan Robert Bolton.On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's visit to Oxford, in August 1592, Randall was appointed to ‘frame and oversee the stage for the academical performance given’ in her honour. Afterwards Randall studied divinity, and was admitted B.D. on 28 June 1598. On 31 Jan. 1599 he was presented to the rectory of St. Andrew Hubbard, Little Eastcheap, London. There he made a reputation as a staunch puritan and effective preacher; but his health failed, and he died at his house in the Minories during May 1622. He was buried in St. Andrew Hubbard. By his will, signed 13 April, proved 9 June 1622, he bequeathed property to the poor of Great Missenden, All Hallows, Oxford, and St. Andrew's parishes; a tenement called Ship Hall to Lincoln College, Oxford, and other houses and moneys to his brothers Edward and Joshua, to his nephews, and to eight married sisters or their representatives. His wife and a daughter predeceased him. His portrait, painted when fellow of Lincoln College, hangs in the common room there.