Marlborough and Harrow

Abstract

While Cyril Norwood was cultivating a national reputation in education policy, he was also engaged in promoting the fortunes of two leading public boarding schools. As the master of Marlborough College in Wiltshire from 1917 until 1926, he set about emphasizing the traditions of a prominent school that was still comparatively recent in its origin. A more difficult assignment awaited him as head of Harrow School from 1926 until 1934, a very well established and prestigious public school, but one that was beset with internal disputes and factions. In a sense, both schools provided a retreat from the national policy debates in which Norwood had become immersed. Yet there were also significant connections between Norwood s professional life as a headmaster, and his public role in education policy. In setting out to reform and modernize these major public schools he was attempting to find common ground between the independent sector and the newly established state system. The opportunity to appreciate at close hand the traditions with which Marlborough and Harrow were associated also allowed him to proselytize these ideals more broadly. At the same time, Norwood encountered difficulties at Marlborough and especially at Harrow that demonstrated in vivid fashion the contested character of these traditions, and the social divisions that continued to exist between public and grammar schools.