Willingham Franklin Rawnsley (1845?–1927) was a British author and the proprietor of a private school.

Biography

Willingham Franklin Rawnsley was the oldest of ten children of the Rev. Drummond Rawnsley, rector of Halton Holgate in Lincolnshire, England, and Catherine Ann (Franklin) Rawnsley. The Arctic explorer

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through ...

was his great-uncle, and as a child he served as a page at

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

's wedding. His younger brother Hardwicke became a Church of England clergyman and a founder of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. Rawnsley was educated at Christ Church and Corpus Christi Colleges at Oxford University, where he took honours in Classics. In 1880, he married Alice Argles of Peterborough. Rawnsley went on to become the proprietor of Winton House, a private school in Winchester. After retiring, he moved to Guildford in Surrey, where he worked on helping the National Trust acquire properties. Rawnsley wrote several books, including ''Early Days at Uppingham under

Edward Thring Edward Thring (29 November 1821 – 22 October 1887) was a celebrated British educator. He was headmaster of Uppingham School (1853–1887) and founded the Headmasters' Conference in 1869. Life Thring was born at Alford, Somerset, the son of th ...

'' (1904), ''Introductions to the Poets'' (1912), ''Highways and Byways of Lincolnshire'', (1914), and ''The Life, Diaries, and Correspondence of Jane Lady Franklin'' (1926). He also edited

Mary Louisa Armitt Mary Louisa Armitt (31 July 1851 – 24 September 1911) was an English polymath. She was a teacher, writer, ornithologist and philanthropist. She was the funder and founder of the Armitt Library, Ambleside. Life Armitt was born in Salford, Lanc ...

's posthumously published books of local history '' The Church of Grasmere: A History'' (1912) and ''Rydal'' (1916). Rawnsley donated some of the documents in the Franklin archive at the Royal Society of Tasmania. Rawnsley died on 18 February 1927.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rawnsley, Willingham Franklin 1845 births 1927 deaths 20th-century British writers Schoolteachers from Lincolnshire