ALCOCK, John, doctor of laws, and bishop of Ely in the reign of Henry VII., was born at Beverley in Yorkshire before 1440, and educated at Cambridge. He was made dean of Westminster and master of the rolls in 1462. In 1470 he was appointed ambassador to the court of Castile, and in 1471 was consecrated bishop of Rochester. In 1477 he was translated to the see of Worcester; and in 1486 to that of Ely. He was a prelate of great learning and piety, and so highly esteemed by King Henry that he appointed him lord president of Wales, and afterwards lord keeper of the Great Seal. Alcock founded schools at Kingston-upon-Hull and Beverley, and built the spacious hall belonging to the episcopal palace at Ely. He was also the founder of Jesus College in Cambridge, for a master, six fellows, and as many scholars. This house was formerly a nunnery, dedicated to St Radi-gund; and Godwin says that the building being greatly decayed, and the revenues reduced almost to nothing, the nuns had all forsaken it, except two; whereupon Bishop Alcock procured a grant from the crown, and converted it into a college. But Camden and others tell us that the nuns of that house were so notorious for their incontinence, that King Henry VII. and Pope Julius II. consented to its dissolution. Bishop Alcock wrote several pieces, among which are the following:—1. Mons Perfectionis; 2. In Psalmos Poenitentiales ; 3. Homiliae Vulgares; 4. Meditationes Piae. He died at Wisbeach, October 1, 1500, and was buried in the chapel built by himself in Ely cathedral.