Richard Sutton (lawyer)

Sir Richard Sutton (died c. 1524) was an English lawyer. He was founder, with William Smyth, bishop of Lincoln, of Brasenose College, Oxford,^[1] and the first lay founder of any college.

He is said to have come of a north-country family, the Suttons near Macclesfield, Cheshire. Little is known of his life, but he was a barrister, and in 1499 a member of the privy council. In 1513 he became steward of the monastery of Sion, a house of Brigittine nuns at Isleworth.

How Smyth and Sutton came to plan a college is not known, but in 1508 we find Edmund Croston, or Crofton, bequeathing £6, 13s. 4d. towards the building of "a college of Brasynnose" if the projects of "the bishop of Lincoln and master Sotton" were carried into effect within a stipulated period. In the same year Sutton obtained a ninety-two year lease of Brasenose Hall and Little University Hall for £3 per annum, and from that time until the end of his life was occupied in purchasing estates with which he might endow the new college.

He is thought to have contributed to the funds of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, as well. He was knighted some years before his death, which occurred about 1524.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.