Dictionary of British Educationists

Richard Aldrich, Peter Gordon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138990739
• eBook ISBN: 9781317949312
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This dictionary provides the reader with an easily accessible guide to the biographies of approximately 450 educationists. It covers the period from 1800 to the present day and includes a wide range of people who were active in promoting education at different levels.

Baden-Powell, Robert Stephenson Smyth, 1st Baron (1857–1941). Soldier and founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. Born in London, sixth son of Revd Baden-Powell, Savilian professor of Geometry, Oxford University. Educated at Charterhouse, 1870–6, and then enlisted in the Army. served in many parts of the world, but it was in India that he first developed scouting as a part of the training of soldiers. Badges were awarded for efficiency and the men were encouraged to develop initiative. Baden-Powell’s schemes were set out in his book Aids to Scouting (1899). He became a national hero for his part in withstanding the siege of Mafeking during the Boer War; after its relief in May 1900, Baden-Powell was promoted to major-general at the age of 43, and to lieutenant-general in 1907. He retired from the Army in 1910. Many teachers were using his Aids to Scouting and Baden-Powell held a trial camp, for boys from different social classes, at Brownsea Island, Poole in 1907. The success of the experiment, which encouraged boys to work in small units and to high standards of accomplishment and behaviour, led to the publication of Scouting for Boys (1908) and the setting up of Boy Scout troops throughout the country. Baden-Powell became Chief Scout. A parallel organization, the Girl Guides, also came into being. This was followed in 1916 by Wolf Cubs, for younger children, based on Kipling’s Mowgli stories in the Jungle Books; after the war, for older youths, the Rover Scouts. Although the Scout movement spread to many parts of the world it was open to the criticism that it prepared youths for military training. Created 1st Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell in 1929, on the occasion of the Scout Jamboree held at Gilwell, Essex, that year. See also his Quick Training for War (1914); My Adventures As A Spy (1915), and Carter, M.E., Life of Baden-Powell (1956); Rosenthal, M., The Character Factory (1986).

Badley, John Haden (1865–1967). Headmaster and scholar. Born Dudley, Worcestershire, educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge. Classical tripos, 1887. Taught for one term at Bedford Grammar School, and two and a half years at Abbotsholme, 1889–92. In January 1893 he founded Bedales School where he was headmaster (and known as ‘The Chief’), 1893–1935. After his wife’s death in 1956 returned to live his last years within the school grounds. At Bedales Badley’s ideals of coeducation, international understanding (there was a high proportion of children from overseas), co-operation for common ends, and a broad curriculum including the arts and manual training, received full expression. See his Bedales, a pioneer school (1923); A Schoolmaster’s Testament (1937), and Brandreth, G., and Henry, S., (eds.), John Haden Badley, 1865–1967 (1967); Henderson, J.L., Irregularly Bold: a story of Bedales School (1978).

Bain, Alexander (1818–1903). Psychologist and writer on education. Born Aberdeen, one of eight children of a farmer, who was a strict Calvinist. Left school at eleven, continued with evening classes. 1836, entered Marischal College, Aberdeen, and studied ‘mental science’, and became assistant to the professor of Moral Philosophy, 1841. Bain visited London the following year and became acquainted with J.S. Mill, Grote, Carlyle and Edwin Chadwick. Assistant secretary, Metropolitan Sanitary Commission, 1848–50. Lecturer, Bedford College for Women, 1850–5, professor of Logic and English Literature, St Andrews University, 1860–80, Lord Rector, Aberdeen University, 1881–7. Bain’s writings were extensive and display his range of interests. Besides his works on psychology, philosophy and English, Bain wrote on educational and public issues. The Senses and the Intellect was published in 1856, The Emotions and the Will three years later. The Study of Character (1861) contained an estimate of phrenology. Bain wrote a number of books on grammar and literature, including On Teaching English (1887). An important book, Mental and Moral Science, appeared in 1868 and Education As A Science in 1879. A biography of John Stuart Mill with personal reminiscences was published in 1882. See also Bain’s Autobiography (1904), ed. Davison, W.L.

Baines, Sir Edward (1800–90). Politician and newspaper owner. Born Leeds, educated at the Protestant Dissenters’ Grammar School, Manchester. In 1815 began work on the Leeds Mercury which he subsequently inherited from his father. His interest in education was aroused by hearing Joseph Lancaster speaking in Leeds. Visited infant schools in New Lanark and Westminster. One of the founders of the Leeds Literary and Philosophical Society, 1818, of the Leeds Mechanics’ Institute 1824, and of the Yorkshire Village Circulating Library, 1853. A Sunday school teacher for more than 40 years; a lifelong supporter of the temperance movement; a leader of the Voluntaryist movement in education, 1843–67; president of the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics’ Institutes, 1837–81; chairman of the Council of the Yorkshire College of Science, 1881–6; a member of the Taunton Commission; Liberal MP for Leeds, 1859–74. Knighted on his 80th birthday, when the £3,000 subscribed to him was devoted to the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1843 Baines led the opposition to the education clauses of Graham’s Factory Bill, and subsequently championed voluntary education promoted without any assistance or interference from government. Appointed, however, to the Taunton Commission in 1864 as a representative of voluntaryism, in 1868 he signed its report as an advocate of state aid. See his Strictures on the New Government Measure of Education (1853); Education best promoted by Perfect Freedom, not by State Endowments (1854); National Education (1856); Memorial to Edward Baines (1880).

Balfour, Arthur James, first Earl of Balfour (1848–1930). Statesman and philosopher. Born at Whittingehame, East Lothian, Scotland, brother of Eleanor (see Sidgwick), later principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, and nephew of Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minister. Educated at Eton, and Trinity College, Cambridge. Second class in moral science tripos. Conservative MP for Hertford, 1874–85, East Manchester, 1885–1906, City of London, 1906–22. President of the Local Government Board, 1885–6; Secretary for Scotland, 1886; Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education for Scotland, 1886–7; Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1887–91; First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Commons, 1891–2, 1895–1906; Prime Minister, 1902–5; Foreign Secretary, 1916–19, responsible for the Balfour Declaration which promised a national home for the Jews in Palestine; Lord President of the Council, 1919–21, 1925–9. In 1922 received KG and an earldom. The Education Act of 1902, usually referred to as the Balfour Act, ended the School Boards, transferred local authority for education to county and borough councils, and provided rate aid for voluntary schools. President of the British Association, 1904, and of the British Academy, 1921–8. OM, 1916. Rector of the Universities of St Andrews, 1886, and Glasgow, 1890; and Chancellor of Edinburgh, 1891 and Cambridge, 1919. Honorary degrees from 16 universities in England, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Scotland, Wales and the USA. See his A Defence of Philosophic Doubt (1879); Foundations of Belief (1895); Essays Speculative and Political (1920), and Dugdale, B.E.C., A.J. Balfour (2 vols., 1936); Egremont, M., Balfour (1980).

Balfour, Sir Graham (1858–1929). Educational administrator. Son of Surgeon-General T. Graham Balfour, President, Royal Statistical Society. Educated at Marlborough and Worcester College, Oxford, first class honours classical moderations and literae humaniores, 1882. Barrister, Inner Temple, 1885. Travelled widely for over a decade, residing for a time in Samoa. Assistant Secretary, Delegacy, Oxford Local Examinations, 1897–1902. He was Director of Education, Staffordshire, 1902–26, and introduced a number of innovations. Balfour was the first Director to organize school gardens on a large scale (1904), and also rural libraries (1916). Member, Committee on the Position of Science in Education, 1916–17, the Reconstruction Committee on Adult Education, 1917–19, and the Consultative Committee, Board of Education, 1926–9. Knight, 1917. He wrote two authoritative works, The Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland (1903) and Educational Administration (1921).

Ball, Sidney (1857–1918). Academic and social reformer. Born at Pershore, Worcestershire, son of a solicitor. Educated at Wellington and Oriel College, Oxford, 1875–9, gaining a first in classical moderations and a second in literae humaniores. Spent three years in Germany and attended lectures by Lotze at Göttingen University. In 1882, Ball was appointed lecturer in philosophy at St John’s College, Oxford and became a fellow of the College. A Liberal influenced by the teachings of T.H. Green and Arnold Toynbee, Ball developed his ideas of reconciling an organic state with individualist economics. He was active in the 1880s in the Oxford Economic Society, which studied the economics of welfare and whose membership included Michael Sadler, D.G. Ritchie, W.J. Ashley and W.A.S. Hewins. It was in his rooms at St John’s that his friend Samuel Barnett delivered a Toynbee lecture on 17 November 1883 entitled ‘Settlements of University Men in Great Towns’: this led to the establishment of Toynbee Hall in the East End of London two years later. He was also active in encouraging Albert Mansbridge to promote the Workers’ Educational Association. At a conference at an Extension meeting at Oxford in August 1907, Ball introduced a paper for discussion entitled ‘What Oxford Can Do for Working People’. This provided the inspiration for a report in the following year, Oxford and Working-Class Education, which recommended a broadening of educational opportunities to all classes at the university. Ball joined the Fabian Society in 1886 and was attracted to Socialism, becoming President of Oxford University Fabian Society in 1895. His views are expressed in Fabian Tract No. 72 Moral Aspects of Socialism (1896). See Ball, D.H. (ed.), Sidney Ball. Memories and Impressions of An Ideal Don (1923).

Ballard, Philip Boswood (1865–1950). Educationist. Born Maesteg, Glamorgan, educated there and at Borough Road College, London. Taught in London schools, 1886–98, but returned to Glamorgan as headmaster of the Pupil Teachers’ School at Tondu, 1898–1903. Inspector of Schools in Glamorgan, 1903–5, and subsequently in London, 1906–30. Ballard was not merely a leading teacher and inspector, who twice presided over the Association of Inspectors and Educational Organizers, he also achieved MA and D.Litt. degrees from the University of London, winning a gold medal and the Carpenter medal. His interests in mathematics, English, handiwork, intelligence and testing were reflected in his many publications. See for example Group Tests of Intelligence (1920); Teaching the Essentials of Arithmetic (1928); Teaching and Testing English (1939), and Things I Cannot Forget (1937).

Barker, Sir Ernest (1874–1960). Political philosopher. Attended Manchester Grammar and Balliol, Oxford, 1893–8, first class in classical moderations and modern history. Fellow, Merton College; lecturer, modern history, Wadham College; fellow and lecturer, St John’s College; and fellow and tutor, New College, Oxford, between 1898 and 1920. Principal, King’s College, London, 1920–8, first professor of Political Science at Cambridge, fellow of Peter-house, 1928–39. A Liberal in politics and advocate of the welfare state, he was active both in the co-operative movement and the Workers’ Educational Association. Member, Consultative Committee, Board of Education and chairman of the drafting committee of the Hadow Report on The Education of the Adolescent (1926). Knight, 1944. See his Political Thought in England from Herbert Spencer to Today (1915, revised edn., 1947); Age and Youth (1953), an autobiography, and Catlin, G.E.G., ‘Sir Ernest Barker’, Proceedings of the British Academy, 46, 1960.

Barlow, Sir (James) Alan (Noel), 2nd Bt. (1881–1968). Public servant. Born London, eldest child of Sir Thomas Barlow, physician to three monarchs and president of the Royal College of Physicians. Educated at Marlborough College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1907 chosen by Sir Robert Morant to be a junior examiner in the Board of Education. Private secretary to the Parliamentary Secretary, 1914. At the Ministry of Munitions, 1915–18, and then transferred to the Ministry of Labour as principal assistant secretary in charge of the Training Department. Principal private secretary to Ramsay MacDonald, 1933–4, Under-Secretary and Second Secretary at the Treasury, 1934–48. Chairman of the Barlow Committee on Scientific Manpower which reported in 1946, and recommended that the universities should double their output of scientists. The university population of 50,000 in 1938–9 doubled to 100,000 in 1958–9. Served for several years on the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy, as a trustee of the National Gallery, and on the court of the University of London. Barlow’s important oriental ceramics collection was bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert and British Museums, and to the University of Sussex for teaching purposes. See the Report of 1946, and Sharp, E.A., Sir Alan Barlow 1881–1968. An Address (1968).

Barnardo, Dr Thomas John (1845–1905). Philanthropist. Born Dublin, son of furrier formerly from Germany. Barnardo’s strong religious convictions were due to his mother’s influence. Educated Dublin private schools, leaving at 14 to work as a wine merchant’s clerk. After his ‘conversion’ at a revivalist meeting in May 1862, Barnardo determined to become a missionary. Qualified in medicine at London Hospital, LRCS, 1876, FRCS, 1879. During this time, he taught and became superintendent of an East End ragged school, visited the slums and began preaching there. Abandoning his plans to go to China, Barnardo decided to devote his time to helping destit...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Introduction
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• V
• W
• Y
• Z
• Further Reading