Laud was President of St. John's for some years; and he was brought from Tower Hill to be buried in its Chapel.
Two early dramatists studied philosophy and the arts at St. John's. James Shirley, according to Wood, was transplanted from the Merchant Tailors' School to this College, about 1612. But in what condition he lived there, whether in that of a Servitor, a Batteler, or Commoner, Wood could not learn. It is known, however, that Bishop Laud had a very great affection for the youth, "especially for the pregnant parts that were then visible in him"; but the worthy Doctor would often tell him that on account of a broad or large mole on his, Shirley's, left cheek, which some esteemed a deformity, he was an unfit person to take the sacred function upon him, and should never have the consent of the President of St. John's so to do. Whereupon the candidate left Oxford, without a degree, for Cambridge, where he was permitted, despite his facial deformity, to become for a time a priest of the Church.
Battelers ranked below Commoners, and they are defined now as "Students in Oxford indebted to the college books, for provisions and drink to the Buttery."
All that Wood says of William Killigrew is that he became a Gentleman Commoner of St. John's
