2002 - Exeter College - University of Oxford

Hakewill, died in 1649, Conant
was elected to be Exeter’s Head
of House. John Prideaux (Rector
1612-42) quipped of him
Conant nihil difficile: for Conant (literally,
‘the one
who is trying’),
nothing is impossible.
W h e n
Conant became
Rector, the wars
had ‘reduced the
number of students
miserably
short of what it
was before’.
Conant set about
‘peopling his college’,
in the words
of his biographer,
and seems to have
been remarkably
successful. The
number of students
at Exeter (excluding scholars
and fellows) grew from 45 in
1649 to 135 in 1653. In 1660
there were over 180 resident – a
... to ferret the young
students from public
and suspected houses
threefold increase in just over a
decade. When other colleges such
as Lincoln saw their numbers stagnate
well short of their pre-war
levels, Exeter was prosperous.
Conant also placed a
renewed emphasis on discipline.
His biographer notes, ‘He used
frequently to take his rounds at
late hours to ferret the young
students from public and
suspected houses’ – not a function
exercised by more recent Heads
of House! Academic discipline
was restored, too, and Exeter
flourished as a house of learning:
Conant took great interest in
disputations and lectures and
often attended himself. As Vice-
Chancellor he reformed the
chaotic public disputations and
encouraged sound scholarship
and argument. Anthony Wood,
Merton’s 17th century antiquary,
records Conant’s election to the
rectorship in 1649, adding, ‘where
keeping up a severe discipline it
flourished more than any other
house in the university’.
If Conant was a
disciplinarian and academic
reformer, he was also popular; his
biographer records: ‘The students
were many more than could be
lodged within the walls, they
crowded in here from all parts
of the nation and some from
beyond the sea…On his receiving
the insignia of the office of Vice-
Chancellor there was such a
universal shout of a very full
convocation as has hardly ever
been known.’
The array of alumni Exeter
produced during his tenure
is impressive. As Conant’s biographer
put it, ‘Exeter in his time
afforded a Vice-Chancellor, a
Proctor, a Doctor of the Church
of Divinity, a Reader of Moral
Philosophy, and of Rhetorick, a
President to St. John’s, a Principal
to Jesus, and a Divinity Professor
to Magdalen…’ Exeter’s
alumni indeed went on to wideranging
careers. Thomas Brancker
was a noted mathematician; Narcissus
Marsh became Archbishop
of Armagh; Francis Howell was
later Principal of Jesus and Reader
in moral philosophy. Thomas
Clifford was ennobled and appointed
principal Secretary of
State; Gideon
Harvey was a physician
to Charles II.
Two future Rectors
were also tutored
by Conant: William
Paynter (elected
1690) and Matthew
Hole (elected 1716).
Many Old Exonians
were moving on to
great things in
church, state, and
academia; the success
of later careers
Conant.
demonstrate, in
part, the quality of
tuition at, and reputation
of, Exeter
under Rector
John Conant’s career – like
that of his more famous
... a disciplinarian and
academic reformer, he
was also popular
predecessor, Rector Prideaux –
demonstrates an impressive
range of theological, academic,
and administrative skills. His
contribution to the College’s life
was immense, most particularly,
in preserving discipline and
academic standards while many
other colleges suffered from
numerical, behavioural, and
educational decline. The Rector
kept his (metaphorical) head and
College its (literal) one while all
about them were losing theirs; to
shift the metaphor, with Conant’s
hand on the tiller, Exeter
weathered the stormy waters of
the 1650s better than most of its
counterparts.
20 EXON - Autumn 2002