ABSTRACT
Lord Lyttelton was extremely interested in education and had been ‘the centre of intellectual life and progress’ in Worcestershire. He was a keen advocate of night schools and working men’s institutes and was himself Principal of Queen’s College Birmingham in 1845. The Headmaster of Uppingham was cross-examined by the Schools Inquiry Commissioners on 14 November 1865. Edward Thring defence was based on the then held theory of the transfer of training, a theory held well into the twentieth century by classics-orientated schoolmasters. Thring’s cross-examination by the Schools Inquiry Commission Commissioners con-eluded on a very positive note. He was able to address his captive audience on the building-up of a large economically viable school when he was asked the question as to what necessity led to change in Uppingham School. In the wake of the Taunton Report Thring and other endowed schools headmasters conferred on joint action to combat any interference by the State in denominational foundations.
