ABSTRACT
Almost invariably the cleric who turned to school mastering taught the classics. Some clerics became private tutors preparing the boys for entry to university and the great schools alike. On the other hand many clergymen ran the private classical schools throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Many clergymen were moved to open schools because of the desire to educate their own sons at home, while some like Normanby probably did so in order to continue to the exercise their intellect in backwaters of the rural England. For almost three-quarters of a century the Anglican clergymen in their private classical and rectory schools had been, in an amateur fashion, securing life lines through the early education of the nation’s middle and upper classes. For the last quarter, their commitment to the education was to be of a more professional nature.
