Thomas Hughes and Tom Brown

Thomas Hughes was a Victorian author who was born in 1822 – and who is famous mostly for writing the famous novel of boys’ school life “Tom Brown’s Schooldays.”  His father was an author, and he was born in Berkshire…

He was sent to Rugby Public school, where the headmaster was the famous Thomas Arnold.

Like Tom Brown, he was fond of sports and enjoyed his school life.  After school, he qualified as a barrister….

Like many Victorians he was a reformer, and one of his interests was the Working Men’s College…This was founded in 1854 and Hughes was its principal from 1872-94.  He was eager to help working men to secure the education that had been denied most of them as children.   He was sympathetic to Christian Socialism and the Trade Union movement which was extremely controversial in the Victorian era.  Business owners and landowners did not wish for their workers to be able to combine together to fight for their own interests.  Hughes was elected as a Liberal MP in 1865, and tried to assist the cause of Trades Unions and Cooperatives.

 He was also involved in the founding of a settlement in Tennessee, called Rugby.  It was meant to be an idealistic project where the younger sons of British gentry families could take up and farm land... (Since they were often unable to find useful work in England and usually would not inherit their family’s estates) -and where American craftsmen could also work in a healthy and egalitarian environment. However for various reasons, the American “Rugby” was not a success… there were problems about hostility from local people, business problems… The land was poor and many of the settlers were not expecting the life of hard physical labour that was necessary to make a living…

Like his father Thomas Hughes was a writer, and in 1857, he wrote his most famous work….

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