ENGLAND: Public schools and Oxbridge

Philip Terzian defends the attire of Eton and Harrow students: "Harrow boys wear flat straw hats, not top hats, which you see at Eton. And in a country where students flaunt their polyester baseball caps, worn backwards, to dine indoors, who is to say such elegant headwear is silly?" I agree. Some years ago the Stanford administration sent out a request for faculty members to invite groups of students for a meal. There were sign-up lists, My wife prepared an excellent, elegant dinner. Half of those who had signed up did not show, and those who came looked like unmade beds. Never again. Not that I defend top hats. Mrs. Stanford was a very proper woman, and photographs of Stanford in her days show well-dressed men and women. Progress.

There is a more serious matter. Most of these posh schools, like Oxford colleges, were ecclesiastical foundations. Winchester was, and, as I recall, the dress was simple and sombre. Eton was founded by King Henry VI in 1440. It followed the model of Winchester, founded by Bishop William of Wykeham. The king's chief adviser was another Bishop of Winchester, William of Wayneflete, who was also master of Winchester College. He became Provost of Eton. William of Wykeham also founded New College, Oxford, so Winchester has a tie with Oxford. Henry VI also founded King's College, Cambridge, with which Eton has a tie. King's College Chapel is a unique masterpiece of Gothic architecture. "Tax not the architect with vain expense". Although Winchester is older, Eton owes its social prestige to its royal foundation and to the fact that it is on the Thames opposite Windsor Castle. However, it was not intended for wealthy students. Top hats came with social prestige in the nineteenth century.

Harrow, located at Harrow-on-the Hill, is also near London, was founded by a yeoman, John Lyon in 1571 for the education of the poor children of Harrow. It never had the social prestige of Eton, but it came to be compared with it in the nineteenth century, when the straw hat became its characteristic garment. Because of its Renaissance origin, it always stressed the classics, to the displeasure of its most famous pupil, Winston Churchill. When the classics teacher was discussing the vocative of "mensa" (a table), Churchill said he never spoke to a table. This was deemed insolent, and Churchill was given a ritual flogging. No wonder the great orator later preferred Anglo-Saxon words.

The point of all this is that the old public schools of England and the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge were not snobbish in their origins. They has strong ecclesiastical ties. The snobbery developed in the nineteenth century, and was attacked by Thomas Hardy in Jude the Obscure (1895), the target being Christ Church (under a fictitious name). Later Oxford gave an honorary degree to Hardy, whose formal education ended when he was sixteen. The current mantra is "meritocracy", and there is a general attempt to return these educational establishments to their original principle of meritocracy. With Christ Church, the Oxford College with the most snob prestige was Magdalen. I remember when a Labour MP was ridiculed in parliament because he mispronounced "Magdalen". The issue came to a head last year when it was charged that a woman had been refused admission for social reasons. Good WAISer Magdalen President Anthony Smith vigorously denied this and proved that, although her academic record was excellent, it was not as good as those of the students admitted. President Smith stressed that merit was the sole criterion for admission to Magdalen. As an old Magdalen Senior Demy, I feel gratified by this statement. No, I will not tell you what a Senior Demy is. That would confuse WAISers already puzzled by the organization of Oxford.

Ronald Hilton - 6/30/02