John Keate (30 March 1773 – 5 March 1852) was an English schoolmaster, and Head Master of

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. He was born at Wells,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, the son of Prebendary William Keate, rector of Laverton, Somerset, and brother of Robert Keate (1777–1857), Serjeant-Surgeon to

King William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...

and

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. He was educated at Eton, and was admitted to

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

in 1792, winning the Browne Medal in 1793, 1794 and 1795, and the Craven scholarship in 1794, graduating B.A. 1796, M.A. 1799, D.D. ('' per literas regias'') 1810. Taking holy orders, he became, about 1797, an assistant master at Eton College. In 1809 he was elected headmaster, having been "Under Master". Although his predecessor had been somewhat relaxed, and the teacher-pupil ratio was extremely low, the discipline of the school was not improved by the harsh measures that he took as headmaster, including large-scale floggings with the

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

, resulting in mass rebellions by the boys. Following an attempted rebellion, Keate flogged more than 80 boys on a single day, 30 June 1832, an event known as the ''great flogging''. He retired in 1834. Keate was made a canon of the eighth stall of Windsor in 1820. He died at

Hartley Wespall Hartley Wespall is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. It is near the larger village of Hook, which lies approximately 2.5 miles (4.1 km) south-west from the hamlet. St.Mary Church is fl ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, of which parish he had been rector since 1824.

References

* *Maxwell Lyte, ''History of Eton College'' (3rd edition, 1899) *Collins, ''Etoniana'' *Harwood, ''Alumni Etonienses'' *''

Annual Register ''The Annual Register'' (originally subtitled "A View of the History, Politicks and Literature of the Year ...") is a long-established reference work, written and published each year, which records and analyses the year's major events, developmen ...

'' (1852) *''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term '' ...

'' (1852) {{DEFAULTSORT:Keate, John 1773 births 1852 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge People from Wells, Somerset Schoolteachers from Somerset Head Masters of Eton College People educated at Eton College Canons of Windsor