Edward Thring (29 November 1821 – 22 October 1887) was a celebrated British educator. He was headmaster of

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. The headma ...

(1853–1887) and founded the

Headmasters' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Uni ...

in 1869.

Life

Thring was born at

Alford, Somerset Alford is a village and parish on the River Alham, in Somerset, England, situated south of Shepton Mallet and two miles west of Castle Cary in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 63. History The parish was part of ...

, the son of the

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 ...

, the Rev John Gale Dalton Thring and Sarah ''née'' Jenkyns. He was brother of Theodore Thring (1816-1891), Henry, Lord Thring, a noted jurist and

Parliamentary Counsel to the Treasury The Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) is responsible for drafting all government Bills that are introduced to Parliament. Established in 1869, the OPC has been part of various departments and is currently part of the Cabinet Office. Led b ...

, hymn writer

Godfrey Thring Godfrey Thring (25 March 1823 – 13 September 1903), was an Anglican clergyman and hymn writer. Life Godfrey Thring was born at Alford, Somerset, the son of the rector, Rev. John Gale Dalton Thring and Sarah née Jenkyns. He was brother of The ...

, and

John Charles Thring John Charles Thring (11 June 1824 – 3 October 1909), known during his life as "Charles Thring" or "J. C. Thring", was an English clergyman and teacher, notable for his contributions to the early history of association football. Early life Thr ...

, a master at Uppingham School and deviser of the Simplest Game rules for football; he also had two sisters. The family is commemorated in the

Church of All Saints, Alford The Church of All Saints which is next to the River Brue in Alford, Somerset, England, dates from the 15th century, with minor 19th-century restoration. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. The church has a 2-bay chancel and 3- ...

by carved choir seats in the chancel and two memorial windows. Thring was educated at Eton and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

, where he obtained a Fellowship in 1844. He was ordained in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

in 1846 and served in various curacies until in 1853 he began his true life work by an appointment to the headmastership of

. Thring is Uppingham's best-known headmaster, remaining in the post until 1887. He raised the school to a high state of efficiency, and stamped it with the qualities of his own strong personality, as did

Thomas Arnold Thomas Arnold (13 June 1795 – 12 June 1842) was an English educator and historian. He was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement. As headmaster of Rugby School from 1828 to 1841, he introduced several reforms that were wide ...

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

. He made many innovative changes to the school's curriculum which were later adopted in other English schools. During his headship the school was forced to move temporarily to

Borth Borth ( cy, Y Borth) is a village and seaside resort in Ceredigion, Mid Wales, 7 miles (11 km) north of Aberystwyth on the Ceredigion Coast Path. The community includes the settlement of Ynyslas. The population was 1,399 in 2011. From be ...

in Wales after an outbreak of

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...

ravaged the student body. In 1869, Edward Thring formed the

after inviting thirty-seven of his fellow headmasters to meet at his house to consider establishing such an annual meeting. He was an original thinker and writer on education and various educational works.

Thring's methods

Thring was the headmaster of Uppingham between 1853 and 1887; here he turned a poor provincial grammar school of 25 boys into a top public school within ten years. Thring insisted on confining the school to around 300 boys to maintain a small, "tight-knit" Christian community. Thring believed that every boy was good for something. His early experience teaching

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...

National elementary schools had convinced him that "to teach the slow and ignorant with success is the only test of proficiency and intellectual power." In addition to being a believer in teaching the classics, Thring broadened the overall curriculum at Uppingham by ensuring that the moral, aesthetic, and physical aspects meet the needs of the students. Although Uppingham was a huge achievement in itself, Thring's achievements extended beyond Uppingham as he was co-founder of the Headmasters' Conference (HMC) and he produced his ''Theory and Practice of Teaching''.

Education for the lower classes

Thring had a negative attitude to the education for those unable to pay fees:

You cannot break the laws of nature which have made the work and powers of men vary in value. This is what I mean when I ask why should I maintain my neighbour's illegitimate child ? I mean by illegitimate, every child brought into the world who demands more than his parents can give him, or to whom the Government makes a present of money. The School Boards are promising to be an excellent example of public robbery.

Bibliography

* Flower, Peter, ''The Life and Times of a Victorian Country Doctor, a portrait of Reginald Grove Volume 2 Life at Boarding School'', Brown Dog Books 2021 (ISBN 978-1-83952-206-2). * *John Skrine, ''Edward Thring: Maker of Uppingham School, Headmaster 1853-1887'', London: Routledge, 2007. (). *Nigel Richardson, ''Typhoid in Uppingham: Analysis of a Victorian Town and School in Crisis, 1875-77'', London: Pickering and Chatto, 2009. (). *Nigel Richardson, ''Thring of Uppingham: Victorian Educator'', Buckingham: The University of Buckingham Press, 2014. (). *Malcolm Tozer, ''Physical Education at Thring's Uppingham'', Uppingham: Uppingham School, 1976. (ISBN B000XZ39VY). * *Malcolm Tozer, ''The Ideal of Manliness: The Legacy of Thring's Uppingham'', Truro: Sunnyrest Books, 2015. (, hardback; , paperback).

References

Bibliography

* * * * *Edward Thring, '' The Theory and Practice of Teaching'', 1883.

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thring, Edward 1821 births 1887 deaths Schoolteachers from Somerset Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Headmasters of Uppingham School 19th-century English Anglican priests People educated at Eton College Uppingham Burials in Rutland Heads of schools in England