Edward Thring

Edward Thring (29 November 1821 – 27 October 1887) was a celebrated British educator. He was headmaster of Uppingham School and founder of the Headmasters' Conference in 1869.

Contents

Life

Edward Thring was born at Alford, Somerset, the son of the rector, 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, hymn writer Godfrey Thring, and John Charles Thring, a master at Uppingham School and deviser of the Uppingham Rules; he also had two sisters.[1] The family is commemorated in Alford Church by carved choir seats in the chancel and two memorial windows.

Thring was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he obtained a Fellowship in 1844.[2] He was ordained in the Anglican Church in 1846 and served in various curacies until in 1853 he began his true life work by an appointment to the headmastership of Uppingham School.

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 at Rugby. 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 in Wales after an outbreak of typhoid ravaged the student body.

In 1869, Edward Thring formed the Headmasters' Conference 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.

Bibliography

Notes

Edward Thring's words: "Honour the work and the work will honour you" inspired the adoption of the Melbourne High School (Victoria)'s school motto Honour the work. The school song is entitled Honour the Work.

References

Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Thring, Edward.
  1. ^ Family tree in Wells Cathedral: Its Monumental Inscriptions and Heraldry by Jewers Arthur John
  2. ^ Thring, Edward in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.