📖 The fry, the dogs, the little ones. The descendants of Dr Arnold of Rugby School.

Dr Thomas Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School, is well known, mainly through the fictional book Tom Brown’s Schooldays. What is less well known is the contribution of his children (whom Arnold referred to in his letters as the fry, the dogs or the little ones) and grandchildren. This book provides an introduction to those descendants, and provides an insight into this family’s significant, and in many cases fundamental, contribution to: the education of women at Oxford University; the establishment of special schools; the introduction of subsidised school meals: the introduction of universal free education for children through the Education Act 1870: adult education classes for women; the debate about “payment by results”; higher education for Catholics in Ireland; the first written rules for Rugby Union. The descendants referred to in this book include: the President of the Anti-Suffrage Movement; two internationally famous best-selling authors; one of the three greatest poets of the Victorian era; a Secretary of War in the UK Parliament; two Members of Parliament; an Oscar winning film director; the first Director-General of UNESCO.