He was born at Beverley in Yorkshire and educated at Cambridge. In 1461 he was made dean of Westminster, and his subsequent promotion was rapid in both church and state. In the following year he was made Master of the Rolls, and in 1470 was sent as ambassador to the court of Castile. He was consecrated Bishop of Rochester in 1472 and was successively translated to the sees of Worcester (1476) and Ely (1486). He twice held the office of Lord Chancellor, and showed great ability in the negotiations with James III of Scotland. He died at Wisbech Castle.
Alcock was one of the leading pre-Reformation divines; he was a man of deep learning and also of great proficiency as an architect. Besides founding a charity at Beverley and a grammar school at Kingston-upon-Hull, he restored many churches and colleges; but his greatest achievement was the building of Jesus College, Cambridge, which he established on the site of the former convent of St Radigund.
Alcock's published writings, most of which are extremely rare, are: Mons Perfectionis, or the Hill of Perfection (London, 1497); Gallicontus Johannis Alcock episcopi Eliensis ad frates suos curatas in sinodo apud Barnwell (1498), a good specimen of early English printing and quaint illustrations; The Castle of Labour, translated from the French (1536), and various other tracts and homilies. See J Bass Mullinger's Hist. of the University of Cambridge, vol. i.
March 21 - Marriage of Princess Louise to John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, whose father, the 8th Duke of Argyll, is the serving Secretary of State for India.
Alcock proposes that 'a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association', giving birth to the FA Cup.
September 20 - John Coleridge Patteson, Anglican bishop and missionary (martyred) (b.
Tatfrith, a monk of Whitby, was nominated for bishop, but he died before consecration, and Bosel, one of his fellow monks, was consecrated in his stead.
In 1216 King John was buried there, between the shrines of the two Worcester saints, Oswald and Wulstan; and two years later the cathedral, once more restored, was consecrated at a great gathering at which the king and many prelates and nobles were present.
It was the special prerogative of the bishop to act as chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus to celebrate Mass at all assemblies of the clergy at which the primate was present.
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