SCHOOLS carpentry, gymnastics, swimming, book-keeping, and gardening, any worthy pursuit in fact, must be made to serve, in addition to the universally accepted subjects of classics, mathematics, and English, and the well-established games of cricket, football, and fives. ' Every boy is good for something. If he cannot write Iambics, or excel in Latin prose, he has at least eyes, and a hand, and ears. Turn him into a carpenter's shop, make him a botanist or a chemist, encour- age him to express himself in music ; and if he fails all round here, at least he shall learn to read in public clearly his mother-tongue, and write thoughtfully an English essay.' A school offer- ing a wide curriculum was also most likely to turn out the well-educated man, ' the Jack of all trades, and master of one.' In spite of this negative and opportunist estimate of the value of the subjects of education, Thring believed that there was an ideal course of study. ' A literary education, as it contains the best thoughts of the best thinkers in the best shape, is the most perfect training for man, the thinker, whatever he may be obliged to do later in life.' The truest unity of a school must be secured by promoting the richest individuality among its constituent elements — the single boy, or the single house. But this is not enough ; the unity must be seen and felt, and it must express itself in common action. Suitable buildings and suit- able occasions, secular and religious, must be provided for these purposes. The school must have its assembly-room and its chapel. Thring no doubt thought that a school was never so completely conscious of its unity as in the mo- ments when the religious emotions of its mem- bers flowed together to form a single stream in acts of common worship. At such times the schoolmaster must be the high priest and lead the way. A good school will take a lively interest in its dependants and neighbours, and will be ready to share with them, so far as possible, its own ad- vantages. It will do something to provide for their recreation and enlightenment. A Christian school will extend a helping hand to more distant parts ; it will support with money and men some missionary enterprise in a dark spot of the home country, and perhaps also in some distant land among heathen peoples." With such a scheme in his mind almost from the very first, Thring commenced work at Up- pingham on lo September 1853. If it is true that in the matter of buildings he had the advan- tage of a clean slate, the existing schoolroom and schoolhouse being negligible quantities in com- parison with his design, yet it is also true that he " This summary of Thring's educational theory is based on Thring's Education and School, The Theory and Practice of Teaching, and Addresses ; Parkin, Life of Thring; J. H. Shrine, A Memory of E. Thring; and H. D. Rawnsley, E. Thring, Teacher and Poet. 2 had no wealthy foundation to draw upon. ' The endowment, about ^1,000 per annum, furnished a small stipend {£1^0) to the head master, and another (;^i3o) to his principal assistant, and kept the schoolroom in repair, but it was chiefly devoted to the payment of scholars' exhibitions to the universities.' " Even boys were very scarce, Holden having left behind only 25 boarders (out of 36), and the discipline of these had sadly deteriorated under an inexperienced stop-gap. The first need was a sufficient number of good boarding-houses. Thring's method of ob- taining them was to appoint assistants, otherwise suitable, who could afford to build for them- selves, on the prospect of being recouped by subsequent profits from boarders' fees, which he allowed them to receive, surrendering the mono- poly which he had enjoyed as head master. In 1854 the Lodge was taken by the Rev. J. R. Blakiston, who two years later transferred to Lome House, previously a girls' school. The Rev. R. J. Hodgkinson, who came in 1855, succeeded him at the Lodge, and added a hall and dormitories. The Rev. J. Baverstock, an old Eton friend, in 1858 opened Red House (closed since 1894). The usher, the Rev. VV. J. Earle, who had hitherto stood aloof, took Bank House in 1858 (closed since 1872), and, no longer incredulous, soon set to work to build a house of his own, Brooklands, opened in 1 86 1. The Rev. T. H. Stokoe came in 1859, and established himself in the Horse and Trumpet Yard. Against i860 Baverstock had erected West Deyne. Yet another Eton friend, the Rev. W. F. Witts, joined the staff in 186 1 and added another boarding-house, Highfield, opened in 1863. The Rev. Walter Earle took a house at the corner of School Lane in 1865 (closed since 1897), and Mr. H. Candler, West Bank in 1866. On 29 August 1865 the numbers reached 300, and the event was celebrated by a holiday. In 1867 Springfields was erected by Hodgkinson, and opened next year as the Lower School for boys between eight and twelve, with a curriculum of which English grammar and analysis formed the backbone. In 1870 there were eight boarding-houses for 30 and two for 16, all the freehold property of the various tenants ; there were 310 boys in the Upper and 45 in the Lower School, of which number 340 were boarders. The Rev. E. Christian opened Fircroft in 1 87 1, and against 1872 the Rev. Walter Earle had built a house for himself. Red- gate, the last erected in Thring's time. Any further extension of the school" he strenuously " Parkin, Life of Thring, i, 61. ^ In January 1 87 1 there were 305 on the school roll. The numbers must have gone up after Borth. During Thring's last ten years the average of the annual admissions was ninety-five, very appreciably higher than in the decade preceding Berth. 9»
