John Alcock, Bishop of Ely and a former Lord Chancellor of England, died at Wisbech Castle on 1 October 1500.

Born in Beverley, Yorkshire, around 1430, Alcock combined a career in the Church with service to the Crown. Under Edward IV, he joined the royal administration. He was appointed tutor to the king’s eldest son, Prince Edward, the future Edward V. He also served as president of the prince’s council at Ludlow.

Alcock remained involved in government through the political changes of the 1480s. After Henry VII defeated Richard III and took the throne in 1485, Alcock was appointed Lord Chancellor. He opened Henry’s first Parliament and became one of the new king’s trusted councillors.

He became Bishop of Ely in 1486. In his later years, he undertook substantial building and educational work. In 1496, Henry VII and Pope Alexander VI gave him permission to convert the former Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund at Cambridge into a college. The institution became Jesus College.

Alcock was buried at Ely Cathedral in the chantry chapel he had commissioned there.