Evangelical Anglicans and their ambivalent involvement in middle-class education in nineteenth-century England

[Truncated] The rise of the middle class in Victorian England led to the development of schools which catered for a new clientele. As in the previous century and in other sectors of society (particularly the poor), the Church of England clergy took the initiative in founding new schools. The Rev Nathaniel Woodard instituted in 1848 a society for the organization of middle-class schools. The Rev J. L. Brereton, with the help of Lord Fortescue, began in 1850 what came to be called the County School movement. The Rev Francis Close made Cheltenham a great centre of education for the middle classes from the 1840s; and by the 1860s other Evangelical clergy and laity were founding middle-class schools which were in keeping with their party convictions. Later in the century, Evangelical societies became involved in establishing schools which led to the formation of the Evangelical Church Schools Company in 1890. This thesis surveys the development of these new public schools in nineteenth-century England; examines the motivation behind them, and considers the Evangelical response to the Woodard schools.