List of alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford

• Geoffrey Adams, British Diplomatic Service
• Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Indian economist and civil servant
• Francis Ashley, lawyer and MP between 1614 and 1625
• Sir Walter Bagot, 5th Baronet, 18th-century MP
• Lord Baker, politician, former MP
• Thomas Berkeley, MP
• Sir John Biggs-Davison, former Conservative MP
• Sir Trevor Bigham, barrister and Assistant Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, 1914–1931
• Nicholas Boles, Conservative MP for Grantham and Stamford
• Sir Ian Bowater, Lord Mayor of London (1967–1970)
• Sir Ashley Bramall, Labour Party politician, MP for Bexley, 1946–1950
• George Brandis, Australian diplomat and former Attorney-General (2013–2017)
• Jock, Lord Bruce-Gardyne, Conservative politician
• Sir Julian Bullard, diplomat, Foreign Office Minister and Pro-chancellor of Birmingham University
• Alex Chalk, Conservative MP for Cheltenham and Secretary of State for Justice
• Tankerville Chamberlayne, landowner in Hampshire and a Member of Parliament for Southampton
• Sir Cecil Clementi, British colonial administrator who served as Governor of Hong Kong, 1925–1930; Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements, 1930–1934
• Robert Douglas Coe, diplomat and U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, 1953–1957
• Sir Douglas Dodds-Parker, member of the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War, and later a UK Conservative MP
• Francis Patrick Donovan, Australian diplomat and jurist
• Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament for Banbury (1624)
• Gareth Evans, Australian international policymaker, former politician and current Chancellor of the Australian National University
• Jim Forbes, Australian politician
• Malcolm Fraser, former Australian Liberal Party politician; 22nd Prime Minister of Australia
• Sir Marrack Goulding, diplomat, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Warden of St Antony's College (1997–2006)
• Dominic Grieve, Conservative politician and former Attorney General
• William Hague, Conservative politician and former Foreign Secretary
• John Hemming, Liberal Democrat politician and businessman^[3]
• Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat politician
• Sir Jeremy Hunt, Conservative politician and former Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Lord Hutton, formerly John Hutton MP
• Harford Montgomery Hyde, barrister, politician (Ulster Unionist MP for Belfast North), author and biographer
• Christopher Jackson, politician, businessman, author (Conservative MEP for Kent East 1979–1994, Deputy Leader Conservative MEPs)
• Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme, former diplomat and Chairman of the House of Lords Appointments Commission
• Gladwyn Jebb, civil servant, diplomat and politician
• Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston, British diplomat and colonial official, served as commissioner of Weihaiwei and as tutor to China's last Emperor, Puyi
• Keith Joseph, barrister and politician
• Francis Oswald Lindley, British diplomat
• Stephen Milligan, Conservative politician and journalist
• Randy Minchew, American politician and lawyer
• Audri Mukhopadhyay, Canadian diplomat
• George Osborne, Conservative MP for Tatton (2001–2017), former Chancellor of the Exchequer and newspaper editor
• John Redwood, Conservative MP for Wokingham
• Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, Conservative politician: Chief Whip, Minister of State and Arts Minister, 1984–1992
• William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, one of the "Gang of Four" of senior British Labour Party politicians who defected to form the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
• Henry Sacheverell, clergyman and politician
• Duncan Sandys, politician
• Sir John Scarlett, Director General of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), 2004–2009
• Arthur Snell, former British High Commissioner to The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
• Siôn Simon, Labour politician and MP (2001–2010)
• Zev Sufott, British-born Israeli diplomat, Ambassador to the Netherlands, first Israeli Ambassador to China^[4]
• John Turner, lawyer and former politician; 17th Prime Minister of Canada

A number of Magdalen alumni have been associated with royal families around the world, or the peerage:

• King Edward VIII (attended when Prince of Wales; did not graduate)
• Wriothesley Russell, 2nd Duke of Bedford
• Wilfrid Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple, soldier and Conservative politician
• King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan
• Robert Boothby, Baron Boothby, Conservative politician
• Al-Muhtadee Billah, Crown Prince of Brunei Darussalam
• Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne, Liberal politician in William Gladstone's government
• Edward Bridges, 1st Baron Bridges, civil servant and Chancellor of Reading University (1959–1969)
• George Cambridge, 2nd Marquess of Cambridge, great-great-grandson of King George III
• Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, Governor of Queensland (1905–1909), Governor of New South Wales (1909–1913); Viceroy of India (1916–1921)
• John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore, politician, peer and soldier
• Arthur Hill, 2nd Marquess of Downshire, peer and MP
• Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, 17th-century politician
• Patrick Neill, Baron Neill of Bladen, member of the House of Lords, Warden of All Souls College (1977–1995), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1985–1989)
• Henry Pelham-Clinton-Hope, 9th Duke of Newcastle, peer and aviator
• Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, cousin of Emperor Akihito
• Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu, second son of Emperor Taishō
• Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein, member of the British royal family
• Nicolas Browne-Wilkinson, Baron Browne-Wilkinson, former Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in the United Kingdom; former Head of the Privy Council and Vice-Chancellor of the High Court
• Lord Frederick Windsor, great-grandson of King George V

• Richard Atkin, Baron Atkin, lawyer and judge
• Charles Arnold-Baker, barrister, author and historian
• Michael Beloff, barrister and former President of Trinity College
• Jocelyn Benson, lawyer, Dean and author
• Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• Michael Briggs, Lord Briggs of Westbourne, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton, Irish lawyer and politician
• Sir Charles Caesar, Judge and Master of the Rolls
• Guido Calabresi, legal scholar and senior Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit
• Simon Chesterman, Dean and Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore
• Alfred Denning, Baron Denning, lawyer and senior Law Lord
• Reginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne, lawyer, politician, Lord Chancellor (1962–1964)
• John Doyle, jurist, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia (1995–2012)
• James Edelman, Justice of the High Court of Australia
• Russ Feingold, US lawyer and politician
• Michael Fox, barrister and High Court judge
• Sir James Gobbo, jurist and 25th Governor of Victoria
• Edward Anthony Hawke, Common Serjeant of London and Recorder of London
• Patrick Keane, Justice of the High Court of Australia
• Henry Keith, Baron Keith of Kinkel GBE, PC, Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, United Kingdom
• John Neely Kennedy Bachelor of Civil Law in 1979, United States Senator from Louisiana
• Harold Hongju Koh, Korean-American lawyer and legal scholar
• Neal Macrossan, lawyer, judge and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland
• Dinah Rose, human rights barrister and current President of the college
• David Souter, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
• Gerald Thesiger, High Court Judge

• 

  Edward Barber, (Archdeacon of Chester) (1886–1914)
• Hugh Boulter, Archbishop of Armagh in the Church of Ireland
• John Colet, churchman and educational pioneer
• Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, theologian, and writer
• John Davenport, puritan clergyman and co-founder of the American colony of New Haven
• Alan Don, Chaplain & Secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury (1931–1941), Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, 1936–1946; Dean of Westminster, 1946–1959
• David Edwards, Dean of Norwich, Provost of Southwark and a prolific author
• Accepted Frewen, priest and Archbishop of York, 1660–1664
• Bede Griffiths, monk and theologian
• Henry Hammond, 17th-century churchman
• Robert Hawker, Anglican vicar and scholar
• Charles Bousfield Huleatt, Anglican priest
• Basil Jellicoe, missioner to Canning Town
• Owen Oglethorpe, academic and Catholic Bishop, President of Magdalen College, Oxford (1536–1552 and 1553–1555), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1551–1552)
• Robert Parker, clergyman and scholar
• Henry Phillpotts, Anglican Bishop of Exeter, 1830–1869
• Reginald Pole, Cardinal in the Church of Rome
• Jeremy Sheehy, Anglican priest and academic
• William Tyndale, English reformer, linguistic genius, theologian
• Timothy Ware, monk and Bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church (alias Kallistos Ware)
• Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal in the Church of Rome

• Caroline Hoxby, American economist

• Ronald Dworkin, legal philosopher
• James Frederick Ferrier, metaphysical writer
• Edward Goldsmith, writer, environmentalist and philosopher
• A. C. Grayling, philosopher
• Peter Heylin, ecclesiastic and author of theological works
• Terence Irwin, philosopher
• Benedikt Isserlin, former Reader and Head of the Department of Semitic Studies at the University of Leeds
• Larry Siedentop, political philosopher

• Donald Adamson, author and historian
• Richard J. C. Atkinson, historian and archaeologist
• Robert Blake, Baron Blake, historian and life peer
• John Rouse Bloxam, historian and Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford
• Thomas Sherrer Ross Boase, art historian, President of Magdalen College (1947–1968) and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1958–1960)
• Derek Brewer, author and scholar, Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge (1977–1990)
• Lionel Harry Butler, academic and Principal of Royal Holloway College, University of London (1973–1981)
• William Camden, antiquarian and historian
• Sir Neil Chalmers, former Director of the Natural History Museum London and Warden of Wadham College, Oxford
• Richard Chandler, antiquary
• William Cleaver, churchman and academic, Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford (1785–1809)
• Prof Edward Byles Cowell, translator of Persian poetry and the first Professor of Sanskrit at Cambridge University
• Norman Davies, historian
• Arthur Geoffrey Dickens, academic and author, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull (1959–1962)
• George Edmundson, clergyman and academic historian
• James Fenton, poet, journalist and literary critic
• Niall Ferguson, historian
• Felipe Fernández-Armesto, historian and author
• Theophilus Gale, educationalist, nonconformist and theologian of dissent
• Bernard Gardiner, Warden of All Souls College, Oxford and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1712–1715)
• N. H. Gibbs, Chichele Professor of the History of War of Oxford University (1953–1977)
• Edward Gibbon, historian and Member of Parliament
• Martin Gilbert, historian
• Richard Gombrich, scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli, and Buddhist Studies, currently Founder-President of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
• Giles Henderson, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford
• R. L. Holdsworth, educationalist, cricketer and Himalayan mountaineer
• Albert Hourani, historian
• Reginald Johnston, academic, diplomat and tutor to Puyi
• Professor Anthony King, psephologist and political commentator
• Robin Lane Fox, classicist and gardener
• Francis Leighton, academic and Warden of All Souls College, Oxford (1858–1881)
• David Marquand, academic and former Labour Party MP
• David Thomas Powell, genealogist and antiquarian
• Hormuzd Rassam, native Assyriologist, British diplomat and traveller
• Adam Roberts, professor of international relations
• Charles Singer, historian of science, technology, and medicine
• John Steane, former headmaster, archaeologist, and author

Nobel laureates are identified

• Paul Attfield, chemist and materials scientist
• John D. Barrow, cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician
• James Bateman, horticulturist
• H. A. Berlin, neuroscientist
• Humphry Bowen, chemist and botanist
• Henry Clerke, academic and physician, President of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1672–1687
• Frank Close, particle physicist, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford
• William Henry Corfield
• Charles Daubeny, chemist, botanist and geologist
• Sir Gavin de Beer, evolutionary embryologist, Director of the British Museum of Natural History and President of the Linnean Society of London
• Robin Dunbar, anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist, currently Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at Oxford
• John Eccles, Nobel laureate (1963, Medicine)
• Sir John Bretland Farmer, botanist; Professor of Botany at Imperial College London
• James Fisher, author, editor, broadcaster, naturalist
• Howard Walter Florey, Nobel laureate (1945, Medicine)
• Ben Goldacre, physician, academic and science writer
• Jeffrey Alan Gray, psychologist
• John M. Goldman, haematologist, oncologist and medical researcher; pioneer in bone-marrow transplantation for chronic myeloid leukaemia; founding chairman of the charity Leuka^[5]
• Brian Greene, theoretical physicist and string theorist
• Frank Robinson Hartley, chemist, Vice Chancellor Cranfield University
• Geoffrey Herford, entomologist and civil servant
• Julian Jack, physiologist
• Francis Charles Robert Jourdain, amateur ornithologist and oologist
• Anthony James Leggett, physicist Nobel Laureate (2003, physics)
• Alfred Lodge, mathematician and President of the Mathematical Association
• Amory Lovins, American physicist, environmental scientist and writer
• Peter Medawar, Nobel laureate (1960, Medicine)
• Desmond Morris, zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter
• Gareth A. Morris, chemist
• Sheffield Airey Neave, naturalist and entomologist
• Matt Ridley, scientist, journalist, popular author, member of the House of Lords
• Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders, biologist and sociologist and later Director of the London School of Economics (1937–1957)
• A. Michael Spence, Nobel laureate (2001, Economics)
• Jon Stallworthy, professor emeritus of English at the University of Oxford
• Thomas William Webb, astronomer

• Mark Andrews, rower in the 1981 World Rowing Championships
• Harold Arkwright, cricketer
• Francis Barmby, cricketer
• Edgar Burgess, rower
• Charles Burnell, rower in the 1908 Summer Olympics
• John Carr, first-class cricketer
• Sir Christopher Chataway, former middle and long-distance runner, television news broadcaster, and Conservative politician
• Sir Collier Cudmore, lawyer, politician and Olympic rower who won the gold medal in the 1908 Summer Olympics
• Michael England, cricketer
• Philip Fleming, banker, rower, competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics
• Stanley Garton, rower, competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics
• Sir James Angus Gillan, Scottish rower and colonial service official; competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the 1912 Summer Olympics
• Ewart Horsfall, rower (1912 Summer Olympics and 1920 Summer Olympics)
• Alister Kirby, rower at the 1912 Summer Olympics
• Sir Clement Courtenay Knollys, rower and Colonial Administrator and Governor
• David Laitt, cricketer
• Sir Henry Leveson Gower, England cricketer and Test Captain
• Alister Kirby, rower who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics
• Duncan Mackinnon, rower in the 1908 Summer Olympics
• Gilchrist Maclagan, rower in the 1908 Summer Olympics
• Evelyn Montague, athlete and journalist; ran in the 1924 Paris Olympics, and is immortalized in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire
• Guy Nickalls, rower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics
• Guy Oliver Nickalls, son of Guy Nickalls, rower who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics and in the 1928 Summer Olympics
• Malcolm Nokes, schoolteacher, soldier, research scientist and Olympic athlete (hammer throw and discus throw)
• Tuppy Owen-Smith, sportsman who played Test cricket for South Africa and captained England at Rugby Union
• Henry Wells, judge and coxswain at the 1912 Summer Olympics
• Leslie Wormald, rower in the Leander-eight in the 1912 Summer Olympics

• Donald Adamson, author and historian
• Julian Barnes, writer
• Neil Bartlett, author, theatre director
• Sir John Betjeman, poet, writer and broadcaster
• John Bensusan-Butt, landscape painter^[6]
• James Cahill, author and critic
• Christopher Derrick, author, reviewer, publisher's reader and lecturer
• Lord Alfred Douglas, author, poet and translator
• Fernanda Eberstadt, writer
• Duncan Fallowell, novelist, travel writer, memoirist
• John Florio, linguist and lexicographer
• Alan Garner, novelist
• John Gerrard, Legacy Fellow at Magdalen and artist
• Alan Hollinghurst, novelist and poet
• Pico Iyer, essayist and writer
• Girish Karnad, Indian writer and actor
• Gavin Lambert, screenwriter, novelist and biographer
• Andrew Lloyd Webber, Peer of the realm and music composer (did not graduate)
• John Lyly, writer, poet, dramatist, playwright and politician
• Robert Macfarlane, travel writer
• Compton Mackenzie, writer of fiction, biography, histories, and memoir
• Andrew McNeillie, currently Literature Editor at Oxford University Press
• Dave Morris, author of gamebooks, novels and comics
• Douglas Murray, author, writer and commentator
• Stephen Potts, author
• Benjamin Schwarz, writer
• Andrew Sullivan, author, editor, political commentator and blogger
• Wilfred Thesiger, explorer and travel writer
• Lucy Wadham, writer
• Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet
• George Wither, poet, pamphleteer and satirist

• Aravind Adiga, writer and journalist
• Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar, journalist and columnist
• Clive Crook, columnist for the Financial Times
• Matthew D'Ancona, journalist
• Geoffrey Dawson, editor of The Times (1912–1919 and 1923–1941)
• Bill Emmott, editor of The Economist (1993–2006)
• Ronan Farrow, investigative journalist
• Sagarika Ghose, journalist, news anchor and author
• Julia Hartley-Brewer, presenter of the weekday morning radio show on Talkradio
• Bevis Hillier, art historian, author and journalist
• Ian Hislop, editor Private Eye magazine and TV series Have I Got News for You team captain
• Paul Johnson, journalist, historian, speechwriter and author
• Robert Kee, broadcaster, journalist and writer
• Nicholas D. Kristof, journalist, author, op-ed columnist
• Donald McLachlan, Scottish journalist and author, founding editor of The Sunday Telegraph
• John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of The Economist
• Peter Millar, journalist
• John Sergeant, journalist and TV personality
• Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, UK Peer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, journalist and broadcaster
• George Will, columnist, journalist and author

• Paul Agnew, operatic tenor
• John Mark Ainsley, lyric tenor
• Robin Blaze, countertenor
• Paul Brough, conductor and teacher
• Harry Christophers, conductor
• Vinicius de Moraes, poet, essayist, playwright and lyricist
• Anna Lapwood, organist, conductor and broadcaster
• David Lloyd-Jones, conductor
• Dudley Moore, actor, comedian, composer and musician
• Nicholas O'Neill, composer, arranger, organist and choral director
• Paul Sartin, oboist, violinist and singer with Bellowhead, and others
• James Whitbourn, composer and conductor

• Peter Brook, film and stage director
• Michael Denison, actor
• Freddie Grisewood, radio broadcaster
• Robert Hardy, actor
• Brian Inglis, journalist, historian and television presenter
• Terrence Malick, film director, screenwriter and producer
• Katie Mitchell, theatre director
• Wallace Shawn, actor
• Louis Theroux, broadcaster
• Simon Woods, actor

• David Abraham, Channel Four CEO
• Sir Eric Berthoud, oil man and diplomat
• Raymond Bonham Carter, banker; father of Helena Bonham Carter
• Sir Rupert Clarke, 3rd Baronet, soldier, businessman and horse rider
• Sir Vernon Ellis, Chair of the British Council
• Darius Guppy, British-Iranian businessman
• Dido Harding, CEO of TalkTalk
• Luke Johnson, businessman and Financial Times columnist
• J. Paul Getty, Anglo-American industrialist
• Charles D. Harman, banker and businessman
• Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, co-founder of Lastminute.com and Peeress
• Prince Rupert Loewenstein, manager of the Rolling Stones^[7]
• Sir Humphrey Mackworth, industrialist and politician
• Clare Melford, former CEO of the International Business Leaders Forum
• Michael Montague, Baron Montague of Oxford, businessman and politician
• Pete Flint, founder of Trulia, Internet entrepreneur
• Sir Simon Robey, investment banker, co-founder of Robey Warshaw
• Laura Wade-Gery, Director of multi-channel e-commerce at Tesco and member of the British Government's Digital Advisory Board