John Strong CBE

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FEIS LLD (15 January 1868 – 7 October 1945) was a 20th-century British educationalist. He was one of the creators of the Education Act (Scotland) 1918. This brought the many poorly-funded private Catholic schools in Scotland (mainly in the Glasgow area) into state control.

Early life and education

Strong was born in Barrow-in-Furness on 15 January 1868. He trained as a teacher at

Westminster Training College Westminster College was a teacher training college and college of higher education in England. The college was founded in London in 1851 as a training institute for teachers for Wesleyan Methodist schools, but moved to Oxford in 1959. Before t ...

and then studied at the Yorkshire College (which became the University of Leeds in 1904) where he graduated with the degree of MA in around 1888.

Academic career

In 1900 Strong became

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

Montrose Academy Montrose Academy is a coeducational secondary school in Montrose Angus. The School now teaches people from ages 11–18. It became a comprehensive school in the mid-fifties and was one of a pair of Scottish schools which formed a country-wide t ...

. In 1914 he became Rector of the Royal High School, Edinburgh and saw it through the losses of the First World War. In 1918 Strong returned to his alma mater, the University of Leeds, as Professor of Education where he remained until 1934.

Honours

In 1907 Strong was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

(FRSE). His proposers were Sir James Donaldson, John Horne,

Frank W. Young Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

and Cargill Gilston Knott.

Marriage and children

In 1899 Strong married Ethel May Dobson. Their son was Major General Kenneth Strong, famed for his role in British military intelligence. His daughter Mildred Bond Strong married

George C. McVittie George Cunliffe McVittie (1904–1988) was a British mathematician and cosmologist. He is best known for his contributions towards radio astronomy. Life McVittie was born on 5 June 1904 in Smyrna in Turkey, where his father, Frank S. McVitt ...

Death

Strong died on 7 October 1945 in Eastbourne, aged 77.

Artistic Recognition

Strong's portrait by Howard Somerville is held by the University of Leeds.

Publications

*''A History of Secondary Education in Scotland'' (1909) *''The Education Act (Scotland) 1918''

References

1868 births 1945 deaths 19th-century English educators People from Barrow-in-Furness Alumni of the University of Leeds Academics of the University of Leeds Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Education activists {{UK-academic-bio-stub