Thomas Arnold (13 June 1795 – 12 June 1842) was an English educator and historian. He was an early supporter of the
Broad Church
Broad church is latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England in particular and Anglicanism in general, meaning that the church permits a broad range of opinion on various issues of Anglican doctrine.
In the American Episcopal Churc ...
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
movement. As headmaster of
Rugby School
Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...
from 1828 to 1841, he introduced several reforms that were widely copied by other noted
public schools. His reforms redefined standards of masculinity and achievement.
Early life and education
Arnold was born on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
, the son of William Arnold, a
Customs
Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...
officer, and his wife Martha Delafield (sister to
John Delafield). William Arnold was related to the Arnold family of
gentry
Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...
from
Lowestoft
Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...
. Thomas was educated at
Lord Weymouth's Grammar School,
Warminster
Warminster () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south-west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of 18,173 in 2021.
The name ''Warminster'' occurs first i ...
, at
Winchester
Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
, and at
Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517 by Richard Fo ...
. He excelled in Classics and was made a fellow of
Oriel in 1815. He became headmaster of a school in
Laleham
Laleham is a village on the River Thames, in the borough of Spelthorne, about west of central London, England. Historically part of the county of Middlesex, it was transferred to Surrey in 1965. Laleham is downriver from Staines-upon-Thames a ...
before moving to Rugby.
Career as an educator
Rugby School
Arnold's appointment to the headship of
Rugby School
Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...
in 1828, after some years as a private tutor, turned the school's fortunes around. His force of character and religious zeal enabled him to make it a model for other public schools and exercise a strong influence on the education system of England. Though he introduced history, mathematics and modern languages, he based his teaching on the
classical language
According to the definition by George L. Hart, a classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large body of ancient written literature.
Classical languages are usually extinct languages. Those that are still ...
s. "I assume it as the foundation of all my view of the case, that boys at a public school never will learn to speak or pronounce French well, under any circumstances," and so it would be enough if they could "learn it grammatically as a dead language." Physical science was not taught because, in Arnold's view, "it must either take the chief place in the school curriculum, or it must be left out altogether."
Arnold was also opposed to the materialistic tendency of physical science, a view deriving from his Christian idealism. He wrote that "rather than have
physical science
Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together is called the "physical sciences".
Definition
...
the principal thing in my son's mind, I would gladly have him think that the sun went round the earth, and that the stars were so many spangles set in the bright blue firmament. Surely the one thing needful for a Christian and an Englishman to study is Christian and moral and political philosophy."
Arnold developed the ''
praepostor'' (
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect' ...
) system, in which
sixth-form students were given powers over every part of the school (managed by himself) and kept order in the establishment. The 1857 novel by
Thomas Hughes
Thomas Hughes (20 October 1822 – 22 March 1896) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and author. He is most famous for his novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857), a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had atte ...
, ''
Tom Brown's School Days'', portrays a generation of boys "who feared the Doctor with all our hearts, and very little besides in heaven or earth; who thought more of our sets in the School than of the Church of Christ, and put the traditions of Rugby and the public opinion of boys in our daily life above the laws of God."
Arnold was no great enthusiast for sport, which was permitted only as an alternative to poaching or fighting with local boys and did not become part of Rugby's curriculum until 1850. He described his educational aims as being the cure of souls first, moral development second, and intellectual development third. However, this did not prevent
Baron de Coubertin from considering him the father of the organized sport he admired when he visited English public schools, including Rugby in 1886. When looking at Arnold's tomb in the school chapel he recalled that he felt suddenly as if he were looking on "the very cornerstone of the British empire". Coubertin is thought to have exaggerated the importance of sport to Thomas Arnold, whom he viewed as "one of the founders of athletic chivalry". The character-forming influence of sport, with which Coubertin was so impressed, is more likely to have originated in the novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' than exclusively in the ideas of Arnold himself. "Thomas Arnold, the leader and classic model of English educators," wrote Coubertin, "gave the precise formula for the role of athletics in education. The cause was quickly won. Playing fields sprang up all over England."
[''Physical exercises in the modern world''. Lecture given at the Sorbonne, November 1892.]
Oxford University
Arnold was involved in not a few controversies, educational and religious. As a churchman he was a decided
Erastian and strongly opposed to the
High Church
A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...
party. His 1833 ''Principles of Church Reform'' is linked with the beginnings of the
Broad Church
Broad church is latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England in particular and Anglicanism in general, meaning that the church permits a broad range of opinion on various issues of Anglican doctrine.
In the American Episcopal Churc ...
movement. In 1841, he was appointed
Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford.
The Catholic University
In Ireland, Arnold's one-time Oxford University colleague,
John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...
, appointed Arnold to Professor of English at the Catholic University, now known as
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
.
Works
Arnold's chief literary works are his unfinished ''History of Rome'' (three volumes, 1838–1842) and his ''Lectures on Modern History''. Far more often read were his five books of sermons, which were admired by a wide circle of pious readers, including
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 ...
.
Family
Arnold married Mary Penrose, daughter of the Rev. John Penrose of
Penryn,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
. They had five daughters and five sons:
* Jane Martha Arnold (1821–1899), married
William Edward Forster
*
Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold (academic), Tom Arnold, literary professor, and Willi ...
(1822–1888), poet and schools inspector
*
Thomas Arnold (1823–1900), literary scholar and Catholic convert
* Mary Arnold (1825–1888), married (1) Alfred Twining, (2) Rev. John Simeon Hiley, (3) Rev. Robert Hayes
* Rev. Edward Penrose Arnold (1826–1878), clergyman and schools inspector
*
William Delafield Arnold (1828–1859), author and colonial administrator
* Susanna Elizabeth Lydia Arnold (1830–1911), married John Wakefield Cropper
* Frances Trevenen Arnold (1832), died in infancy
* Frances Bunsen Trevenen Whateley Arnold (1833–1923)
* Walter Thomas Arnold (1835–1893)
W. E. Forster and Jane both enjoyed mountaineering; they climbed Mont Blanc in 1859 and in 1860 Jane was one of the first women to stand on the summit of Monte Rosa, which had not been climbed by a woman until 1857. When William Delafield Arnold died in 1859 leaving four orphans, the Forsters adopted them as their own, adding their name to the children's surname. One of them was
Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster, a
Liberal Unionist MP, who eventually became a member of
Balfour's cabinet. Another was
Florence Vere O'Brien, a diarist, philanthropist and craftswoman who lived in
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. Frances Bunsen Trevenen Whateley Arnold, the youngest daughter, never married and died at Fox How in 1923.
Arnold had bought the small estate of Fox How near
Ambleside
Ambleside is a town in the civil parish of Lakes and the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Westmorland and located in the Lake District National Park, the town sits at the ...
in the
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
in 1832, and spent many holidays there. On Sunday, 12 June 1842, he died there suddenly of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
"at the height of his powers", a day before his 47th birthday.
He is buried in Rugby School chapel. Thomas the Younger's daughter
Mary Augusta Arnold, became a well-known novelist under her married name, Mrs. Humphry Ward. His other daughter, Julia, married
Leonard Huxley, the son of
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
The stor ...
. Their sons were
Julian and
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the ...
.
Julia Arnold founded in 1902
Prior's Field School for girls in
Godalming, Surrey.
[''Prior's Field School – A Century Remembered 1902–2002'' by Margaret Elliott, published by Prior's Field School Trust Ltd, .]
Reputation
''The Life of Doctor Arnold'', published two years after his death by one of Arnold's former pupils,
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, is seen as one of the best works of its class in the language and added to his growing reputation. A popular life of Arnold by the novelist
Emma Jane Guyton also appeared. In 1896 his bust was unveiled in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
alongside that of his son,
Matthew. ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' asserted, "As much as any who could be named, Arnold helped to form the standard of manly worth by which Englishmen judge and submit to be judged." However, his reputation suffered as one of the ''
Eminent Victorians
''Eminent Victorians'' is a book by Lytton Strachey (one of the older members of the Bloomsbury Group), first published in 1918, and consisting of biography, biographies of four leading figures from the Victorian era. Its fame rests on the irreve ...
'' in
Lytton Strachey
Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of ''Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychology, psychologic ...
's book of that title published in 1918.
A more recent public-school headmaster,
Michael McCrum of
Tonbridge School
Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...
and
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 ...
in the 1960s to 1980s, also a churchman and Oxbridge academic (Master of
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...
and Vice-Chancellor), wrote a biography and reappraisal of Arnold in 1991. He had briefly been a master at Rugby and was married to the daughter of another former headmaster. More recently, a biography entitled ''Black Tom'' was written by
Terence Copley. Both McCrum and Copley seek to restore some lustre to the Arnold legacy, which had been under attack since Strachey's sardonic appraisal.
A. C. Benson once observed of Arnold, "A man who could burst into tears at his own dinner-table on hearing a comparison made between
St. Paul and
St. John to the detriment of the latter, and beg that the subject might never be mentioned again in his presence, could never have been an ''easy'' companion."
[J. A. Gere and John Sparrow, eds, ''Geoffrey Madan's Notebooks'', Oxford University Press, 1981.]
Depictions on screen
Arnold has been played several times in adaptations of ''
Tom Brown's School Days'', including by
Sir Cedric Hardwicke in the 1940 film version,
Robert Newton in the 1951 film version,
Iain Cuthbertson in the 1971 television version, and
Stephen Fry
Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...
in the 2005 television version.
Works
*
The Christian Duty of Granting the Claims of the Roman Catholics' (pamphlet) Rugby, 1828
''Sermons Preached in the Chapel of Rugby School''.London: Fellowes, 1850 (first edition, 1832)
*
Principles of Church Reform', Oxford: Fellowes,1833
*''History of Rome'', London: Fellowes, 1838,
Volume IVolume II.*
Introductory Lectures on Modern History', London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1842
*
Sermons: Christian Life, its Hopes, Fears and Close', London: Fellowes, 1842
*
Sermons: Christian Life, its Course, its Hindrances, and its Helps', London: Fellowes, 1844
*As translator: ''The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides'', (3 vols.) London: Fellowes, 1845
Volume IVolume II.Volume III
*
The Interpretation of Scripture', London: Fellowes, 1845
Notes
Further reading
**
*Terrence Copley, ''Black Tom: Arnold of Rugby: The Myth and the Man'', New York: Continuum, 2002
*Heather Ellis, "Thomas Arnold, Christian Manliness and the Problem of Boyhood' ''Journal of Victorian Culture'', 2014, 19#3, pp. 425–44
online*Giorgia Grilli, "English public schools and the moulding of the'Englishman'." ''History of Education & Children's Literature'' 2015, 10.1
*Simon Heffer, ''High minds: the Victorians and the birth of modern Britain'', 2013, pp. 1–30
*Rosemary Jann, ''The Art and Science of Victorian History'', 1985, pp. 1–3
online free*Michael McCrum, ''Thomas Arnold, Headmaster'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989
*Fabrice Neddam, "Constructing Masculinities under Thomas Arnold of Rugby (1828–1842): Gender, Educational Policy and School Life in an Early-Victorian Public School" ''Gender and Education'', 2004, 16#3, pp. 303–326
*Paul M. Puccio, "At the Heart of ''Tom Brown's Schooldays'': Thomas Arnold and Christian Friendship", ''Modern Language Studies'', 1995, pp. 57–74
*Lytton Strachey, ''Eminent Victorians'', (London, 1918)
*Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, ''The life and correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D. D., late head-master of Rugby school and regius professor of modern history in the University of Oxford'' (2 vol. 1877) famous biography by a former student
online*Norman Wymer, ''Dr. Arnold of Rugby'' (1953)
*William E. Winn, "Tom Brown's Schooldays and the Development of 'Muscular Christianity'" ''Church History'' (1960) 29#1 pp. 64–73
* Derek Winterbottom, ''Thomas Hughes, Thomas Arnold, Tom Brown and the English Public Schools'' (Alondra Books, Isle of Man, 2022), 216 pp., ISBN No. 978-0-9567540-9-7
online on The Internet Archive.
Primary sources
Thomas Arnold, ''Arnold of Rugby: His school life and contributions to education'' (1897
online
External links
*
*
*
*Archival material at
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arnold, Thomas
Huxley family
Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Fellows of Oriel College, Oxford
19th-century English Anglican priests
Head Masters of Rugby School
People from Cowes
People educated at Winchester College
People educated at Lord Weymouth's Grammar School
1795 births
1842 deaths
Regius Professors of History (University of Oxford)
18th-century Anglican theologians
19th-century Anglican theologians