St John's College, Morpeth,^[1] known colloquially as the "Poor Man's College, Armidale", was opened in Armidale in 1898 as a theological college^[2] to train clergy to serve in the Church of England in Australia. It moved to Morpeth in 1926 and closed in 2006.^[3]

St John's College was founded in 1898 by the then Bishop of Grafton and Armidale, Arthur Green. It was part-funded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.^[4] At the time the college was established, the only other theological colleges were Moore College in Sydney, which was evangelical, and Trinity College, Melbourne, which only admitted university graduates.^[5] Green deliberately intended it to be a 'poor man's college'. ^[6]

The college building was designed by the Australian ecclesiastical architect John Horbury Hunt.^[7] (Hunt had designed the cathedrals in Grafton, Newcastle and Armidale.) The bishop was the first warden and did all the lecturing; there were just five students.^{[8] [9]} The college was dedicated in 1899 by Saumarez Smith, Archbishop of Sydney.^[10] Three further wardens followed in short succession, adding new buildings.^[11] The visionary churchman^[12] Ernest Burgmann was appointed Warden in 1918, which was to be transformative for the college.^[13] On the invitation of Reginald Stephen, Bishop of Newcastle, in 1925 Burgmann moved the college to Morpeth.^[14] The Armidale college buildings now form part of the New England Girls' School.^[15] A stained glass window that had gone with the college to Morpeth was returned to NEGS in 2012.^[16]

In 1821, Lt Edward Close was granted 2,600 acres of land at Morpeth by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Close built a house, Closebourne House. In 1849 he sold Closebourne House to the Bishop of Newcastle, who renamed it Bishopscourt and built a replacement house next to it which he called Morpeth House. After 1869, Morpeth House went through various occupations and ownerships, before being acquired in 1925 as the site for the relocated college. Additional buildings were designed by the ecclesiastical architect Louis Williams.^[17]

The college bell came from Raymond Terrace, and was the ship's bell on the Paddle Steamer Ceres, which had been wrecked on her maiden voyage in 1836.^{[18] [19]} In 1942 and 1943 the college exchanged premises with the Newcastle Church of England Girls' Grammar School in order to put the girls beyond the possible reach of Japanese bombardment of Newcastle.^[20]

The chapel was originally within Morpeth House; in 1941 a simple chapel was built, with colonial stone from a derelict building in Morpeth.^[21]

At first, the chapel had a French harmonium.^[22] In 1965 a Norman and Beard pipe organ was installed. It was acquired from the Congregational Church in Maitland. In 1981 it was removed and in 1984 installed in a private residence in Singleton.^[23] Its replacement was a 1982 organ by Fr John Hamer-Howarth.^[24] Much of the organ is assembled from older instruments: the Open Diapason is by Palmer; the Bourdon from Croydon; the Stopped Diapason by Robson; and the Block Flute, the principal and the Fifteenth from the Methodist Chapel in Sutton-on-Soar, Northamptonshire. The main chest is from the Methodist Church in Homebush. The casework is Fr Hamer-Howarth's own work.^[25]

The college closed in 2006. During the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the college was the subject of adverse comment in respect of clerical sexual abuse.^{[26] [27][28]}

Theological education for the Diocese of Newcastle is now provided by Trinity College, Melbourne.^[29]

The college and its grounds are now a retirement village, managed by Lendlease.^[30] The former Morpeth House is now the social centre, and the former chapel is a multi-use hall.

At the time of the college's jubilee in 1948 the collect was in the following form:

By the time the college closed there was a new form of collect.

The college was initially led by a warden; the title was changed to 'principal' in the 1980s.^[33]