‘Safer to Trust Much than to Trust Little’: Moral Education at Thring's Uppingham

Abstract

In 1987 Uppingham School celebrates the centenary of the death of its best known headmaster, Edward Thring. When Thring arrived at the Rutland market town in 1853 he inherited a small country grammar school of purely local renown, but by the time of his death in 1887 Uppingham was a thriving public school of national reputation. As the school flourished, so too did the headmaster's standing, and in the decade before his death he was a much consulted authority on educational matters. Thring's contributions to educational theory and practice are numerous, but it is in the field of moral education that his influence has lasted longest. This paper examines that contribution.