John Edwin Nixon (1840-1916) came up to King's College in 1859 to study Classics. He was elected a Fellow in 1862 and was Dean of the College twice, 1873-83 and 1885-89. From 1874 he was College Lecturer in Classics; between 1881 and 1894 he was the Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London. Nixon had a keen interest in music, particularly in the establishment of the Choir School, and he organised informal part-singing associations within his rooms in College.