ABSTRACT
By the end of the nineteenth century, the ideal of manliness had imperial and militaristic overtones added to its athletic ones, and in the Golden Age of public schools the ideal reached a gaudy zenith. Henry Newbolt and Rudyard Kipling were but two who promoted school sport as preparation for war, and the notion that a young death in battle was noble and selfless was widely proclaimed. New youth groups, the novels of G. A. Henty and countless boys’ magazines spread the imperial message beyond the public schools and prepared the nation for eventual war. Thring was now dead and Uppingham under Edward Selwyn followed the fashion.
