English Public Schools and the Moulding of the 'Englishman'

The paper looks at the English public school system before and during the days of the British Empire. It provides an overview of their history and how they became a feature of the collective imagination. For a long time exclusive and – despite their name – strictly private, public schools were the traditional training ground of the British élite. They were acknowledged as producing generations of English ‘gentlemen’ bound by a precise behavioural code – a code that, at the pinnacle of their fame during the second half of the 19th century was, however, learned, not inherited, and by that token, accessible to the emerging middle class. The young men issuing from England’s public schools were seen as embodying quintessential English traits: team spirit, acknowledgement of the responsibilities and duties that come with privilege, playing by the rules, good manners, ability to command but also readiness to serve and sacrifice their lives in distant lands – all fundamental qualities for a nation with an expanding empire. The reasons behind the enormous social and educational success enjoyed by public schools will be analysed, especially following the reforms introduced by illuminated headmasters like Thomas Arnold whose revamped curriculum was underpinned by a new educational philosophy. As well as tracing the history of these institutions as they changed down the years, the paper also examines the unique literary genre – the school story – that arose during the heyday of public schools. An exclusively British phenomenon, the school story was read in all strata of society, disseminating a romanticised version of public school traditions, ethos and outlandish behaviour that became a major feature of the collective imagination. Also, in the years straddling the 19th and 20th centuries – when public school pupils, the new heroes of a very widespread children’s literature, were groomed to become worthy officers of the Empire – the public school educational model was adopted by all other schools in England.