Born in Lavenham, Suffolk, in 1575. He matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge in 1589 before migrating to Trinity and then gaining his BA in 1593-4.
He was later a Fellow of Clare 1598-1620.
He was also a Taxor, 1604 and was incorporated at Oxford in 1605.
He vacated his Fellowship when he succeeded to some property but he died soon after in 1622.
He is remembered as the author of the famous Cambridge play, which so delighted James I called Ignoramus. It was written in Latin in 1614-1615 by Ruggle and was modelled on an Italian Comedy by Giovanni Battista della Porta to caricature the pedantry of the legal profession. It was played before King James on 8 March 1615 on the occasion of his visit to the University and he then made a special journey to Cambridge on 13 May to see the play again.
Afterwards Ruggle was tutor at Babraham, Cambridgeshire, to the two sons of Toby Palavicino. The latter was Executor to Ruggle and paid his bequest of £100 to the College on 3 March 1624-5. Ruggle bequeathed his valuable collection of French, Spanish and Italian books to the College. [Details from Harrison index and Book of Clare, pp. 76, 143-4].
Master of Clare College, 1560-1571.
Admitted sizar at Clare, 20 August 1635.
Matriculated 1636.
B.A. 1639-40; M.A. 1643; D.D. 1661 (Lit. Reg.).
Fellow, 1642-4 (ejected); restored, 1660. He was one of 4 Fellows restored at the Restoration.
On 27 August 1661 he was required to go with Sir Richard Fanshaw to Portugal in connection with King Charles II's marriage to Catherine of Braganza.
Incorporated at Oxford, 1664.
Fellow of Eton College, 1661-70.
Canon of Windsor, 1662-70.
Vicar of New Windsor, 1662.
Died 23 June 1670. Buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor M.I.
He was a man of great generosity and was devoted to his College. He gave half of the profits of his Fellowship for the last year to the building fund and in his will left £700 to the same fund..
Master of Clare College, 1781-1815
Born on 26 March 1743 at Little Stukeley, the third son of Revd James Torkington, Rector of King's Ripton and Little Stukeley, Huntingdonshire.
Admitted pensioner at Clare College on 11 July 1761
Matriculated Michaelmas 1761
B.A. 1766; M.A. 1769; B.D. 1778; D.D. (per Lit. Reg.) 1785.
Fellow, 1768; Master, 1781-1815.
Vice-Chancellor, 1783-4.
Ordained deacon (Lincoln) 25 May 1766; priest (Peterborough) 31 March 1771
Rector of Teigh, Rutland, 1787
Vicar of Stapleford, Leicestershire
Rector of Little Stukeley, Huntingdonshire until 1815
Died at Little Stukeley on 11 July 1815
Admitted pensioner at Clare College, 25 May, 1687
B.A. 1690/1
M.A. 1694
Exeter Fellow, 1693-1710.
Ordained priest (Lincoln) 3 June 1694
Vicar of Great Gransden, Huntingdonshire, 1708-43
Vicar of Gamlingay, 1710
Chaplain to the Bishop of Ely
Died on 19 February 1742/3, aged 72; buried at Gransden
Son of John, Rector of Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire. Born at Stoke Goldington, Buckinghamshire
Admitted as a pensioner at Clare on 6 July 1664
Exeter Scholar, 1667-1671
B.A. 1666/7
M.A. 1671
Incorporated at Oxford, 1673
Signed for deacon's orders (London) 22 September 1671; for priest's, 20 September 1673.
Rector of Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire, 1680-1719
Buried there 27 February 1718/9, aged 70.
Born c. 1678
Son of Robert Greene, a mercer of Tamworth, Staffs
Admitted as a sizar at Clare College on the 8 October 1694
BA 1700
MA 1703
Fellow 1703-1730
Ordained London 1705
DD 1728
Died 1730
"Dr Goddard's note says: 'He published a large folio of his own Philosophy'. This was i n1712. In it he combated the Newtonian views. He maintained that there was no such thing as vacuum and that the circle could be squared; held strange views of gravity, and regarded the new system as tending to undermine revelation. It appears that he was thought by his contemporaries (not without some reason) to be mad". [Wardale, J.R., College Histories Clare College pp.150-151]