Thomas Hardy and Education Submitted by Jonathan Godshaw Memel to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in September 2015. This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Abstract Thomas Hardy wrote during a time of extraordinary growth in British education when the purposes of learning were being passionately questioned. This thesis situates Hardy’s writing both within and beyond these debates, showing how his writing avows a Victorian fascination with education while contesting its often rigid actualization in nineteenth-century society. This project places new emphasis on the range of educationalists that Hardy counted as friends. These included the dialect poet and early-Victorian schoolmaster, William Barnes; the influential architect of the 1870s board schools, Thomas Roger Smith; and the leader of late-century reforms to female teacher training colleges, Joshua Fitch. Caught between life in rural surroundings and systemized forms of education, Hardy's characters frequently endure dislocation from community and estrangement from natural environments as penalties of their intellectual development. Much previous scholarship has for this reason claimed education as a source of despair in Hardy’s writing. However, this thesis reveals the people and experiences which rigid institutions exclude, and foregrounds Hardy’s depiction of the natural environment as an alternative source of learning. Exploring Hardy's representations of education as both reflective of contemporary change and suggestive of new possibilities, chapters focus on aspects of education most resonant with Hardy's own life and central to his fiction, including the professionalization and training of schoolmistresses, the working-class movement for liberal education, educational architecture, and rural forms of education. By exploring connections between fiction and social and political concerns, the thesis demonstrates how the idea of education relates to some key characteristics of Hardy's writing, for example the observant onlooker and the native returned. Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Angelique Richardson, for her expertise, generosity, and encouragement throughout the last three years. I appreciate Tim Kendall’s comments on successive drafts of writing, as well as advice from Philip Mallett at various stages. Regular contact with Peter Faulkner, Jacqueline Dillion, and Sophia David has consolidated my ideas over the three years, while exchanges with Demelza Hookway, Patricia Zakreski, Jason Hall, Vike Plock, Ralph Pite, Stephen Mottram, Kyriaki Hadjiafxendi, Mary Rimmer, and Catherine Robson have also been very helpful. I am grateful to Annie Ramel, Keith Wilson, Rena Jackson, Betsy Lewis-Holmes, and Janet Carter—as well as many of the above—for commenting on various sections. The History of Education Society’s Annual Conference (2013) and Summer School (2014) enhanced the interdisciplinary scope of my research: I particularly appreciate feedback from Catherine Burke, Mark Freeman, and Ian Grosvenor at those events. Thank you to Edward Taylor, Philip Child, and others associated with Ex Historia for facilitating a lively forum in which to exchange ideas. Exeter’s Centre for Victorian Studies has provided a stimulating environment in which to develop research. I value the work of the Centre’s director, John Plunkett, as well as my fellow postgraduate representative, Georgina Hunter, and the numerous research students who have participated in our reading group sessions. Great Western Research, the National Trust, and Adrian Frost have funded this collaborative doctoral project: I thank them for their generous support. I appreciate the assistance of Helen Gibson at the Dorset County Museum and Phaedra Casey at the Brunel University Archive. My research has involved sustained periods of dialogue and engagement with other, non- academic partners. I would like to thank all members of the Hardy Country group for demonstrating how enriching such exchanges can be, especially Jon Murden, Lucy Johnston, and Nicola Berry from the Dorset County Museum; Helen Mann, Jennifer Davis, Harriet Still, Martin Stephen, and Marie McLeish from the National Trust; Sue Mitchell from Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; Mike Nixon, Helen Lange, Andrew Leah, Patricia Withers, and Dee Tolfree from the Hardy Society; and John Strachan and Timothy Middleton from Bath Spa University. Working alongside Helen Featherstone, Robin Durie, Grace Williams, and Sarah Foxen on the RCUK Catalyst project has been another inspiring experience. I would like to thank my friends in Edinburgh, Bristol, London, Exeter, and elsewhere for their encouragement. Sophie’s love and companionship has been valued throughout. Finally, I appreciate the support of all my family, including Simon, Rachel, Chris, Penelope, Freddy, Bobby, David, and Deborah. This thesis is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Deborah Godshaw. 1. Introduction Thomas Hardy wrote during a time of extraordinary growth in British education. Various institutions were created and the purposes of learning were passionately debated. Hardy drew on interests in literary aesthetics, philosophy, religion, and science to take an active part in these discussions. Among other subjects, he expressed opinions on the use of artwork in teaching, changes to spelling and grammar, the educational value of literature, the establishment of a university in southwest England, the effect of education on rural life, and the physical settings of schools.1 This thesis situates Hardy’s writing both within and beyond these debates, showing how his writing avows a Victorian fascination with education while contesting its often rigid actualization in nineteenth-century society. Hardy responded to the insights of key educational thinkers from John Stuart Mill to Matthew Arnold, and, as this thesis demonstrates, challenged their claims of social progress and national civilisation in his literary explorations of the issue. This project also places new emphasis on the influence of a range of figures involved in the practical work of education, including the dialect poet and early- Victorian schoolmaster, William Barnes; the influential architect of the 1870s board schools, Thomas Roger Smith; and the leader of late-century reforms to female teacher training colleges, Joshua Fitch. This thesis demonstrates that Hardy drew on the commitment of these educationalists while imaginatively expanding their critiques, whether of ill-designed schoolrooms or unfair discipline. Hardy’s formal education lasted for eight years. At the age of eight he attended the newly built National School in his home parish of Bockhampton. Hardy moved two years later to the nonconformist British School in Greyhound Yard, Dorchester, and after three years began studies at an independent commercial academy run by Isaac Last, also in Dorchester. His education came to an end at the age of sixteen following three further years of study here. Hardy quickly became acquainted with the three core tenets of a Victorian elementary 1 Hardy was not the intensely private figure he is sometimes considered to be. See Thomas Hardy’s Public Voice, ed. by Michael Millgate (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). education—reading, writing, and arithmetic—and gained competency in geography, Latin, drawing, geometry, algebra, applied mathematics, French, and German. He read a range of literary texts from a young age and also had a good knowledge of religious matters, memorizing church services and extensive sections of the Psalms by heart. Hardy came into contact with various institutions of higher education: he attended evening classes in French at King’s College as a young architectural apprentice in London, and he went on to receive honorary doctorates from the universities of Aberdeen, Cambridge, and Oxford. He was well acquainted with the pioneering forms of professional education and training of the nineteenth century and won prizes from the Royal Institute of British Architects.2 Several of his relations passed through the residential teacher training colleges that received government support in this period. Hardy’s fiction makes reference to grammar schools, theological colleges, medical schools, and mutual improvement societies, and includes two short stories for children, ‘The Thieves Who Couldn’t Help Sneezing’ (1877) and ‘Our Exploits at West Poley’ (1892).3 Notwithstanding this engagement, Hardy has generally been situated at odds with developments in nineteenth-century education. Biographers have tended to locate Hardy’s writing outside of the Victorian literary and educational establishment. Hardy opposed this placement and in his own lifetime challenged a description of himself as ‘ce Saxon autodidact’: ‘This is not literary criticism, but impertinent personality & untrue, as he was taught Latin & French at School [sic] and college’, he objected in the margins of F. A. Hedgcock’s Thomas Hardy, penseur et artiste (1911).4 Although the response is accurate, subsequent biographers have interpreted such comments as Hardy overstating his formal education and denying his social background. The