Worcester College, Oxford, is founded. Its predecessor, Gloucester College, was founded in 1283 by the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter at Gloucester as a place of study for 13 monks.

In 1714 the Hall was re-founded as Worcester College after a Worcestershire baronet, Sir Thomas Cookes, left a benefaction for the foundation of a new college. In accordance with Cookes’ will dated 19 February 9 William III (1696) the Cookes Scholarship and Fellows were reserved by the College Statutes for the boys of Bromsgrove and Feckenham Schools; but in default of suitable boys from them the College could elect boys ‘educated in the free schools of Worcester, Hartlebury and Kidderminster’.

The first Cookes Scholars matriculated from Worcester College on 9 July 1715 and included two boys from The King’s School: William Chetle (King’s Scholar 1707-1711) and William Gower (King’s Scholar 1710-1715). Of the five eligible schools, The King’s School was in 1715 academically the best; The King’s School’s early connections with Worcester College were therefore distinguished, and they were to remain so for another hundred years.