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John Haden Badley, at the age of 56, from the painting by Fred Yates
John Haden Badley, at the age of 56, from the painting by Fred Yates

John Haden Badley (February 21, 1865 – March 6, 1967), author, educator, and founder of Bedales School, which claims to have become the first coeducational public boarding school in England in 1893. Events 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria. 1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland Year 1865 ( MDCCCLXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. Bedales School is an independent school with a progressive ethos located in the village of Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England Mixed-sex education, (or just Mixed education) also known as Coeducation, is the integrated education to males and females at the same school facilities England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

Born in Dudley, Worcestershire, West Midlands, England, son of Dr. Dudley ( is a large town in the West Midlands, England, with a population of 194919. Worcestershire (ˈwʊstəʃə abbreviated Worcs) is a county located in the West Midlands region of central England. The West Midlands is an official Region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. James Payton Badley and Laura Elizabeth Best his wife. He was the grandson of John Badley, one of the original 300 fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons. John Badley FRCS ( July 23, 1783 - April 16, 1870) student of John Abernethy at St The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent Professional body committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care Early in life he saw the poverty and squalor of many working class in the Midlands. This article is mainly about the English Midlands For other uses see Midlands (disambiguation. When fifteen he entered the Upper School at Rugby. Rugby School, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, is a Co-educational Boarding school and one of the oldest public schools

These early experiences were very influential in shaping his ideas of what education should not be. While a student at Trinity College Cambridge he gained the appreciation of a standard of music and theater and he described King's Chapel as providing "a standard of loveliness of trained voices in that architectural setting of something near perfection. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the King's College Cambridge is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. " His autobiography describes a tea with Oscar Wilde at which they discussed the English Poets. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900 was an Irish Playwright, Novelist, poet and Author of Here too his friendship with Edmund Garrett encouraged him to join the small minority of men who supported the women's movement for socio-political equality. In 1892 he married Garrett's sister Amy who would be a strong partner until her death in 1956, and the drive behind one of Bedales's most important innovations - successful co-education. A school, he felt, should be organized like a family, with willing cooperation for common ends as the main motive rather than on the basis of mere competition. He felt that the training for social usefulness held equal importance with the fullest possible development of the individual.

At Cambridge Badley became a lifelong socialist, influenced by the ideals of William Morris about art and community life. William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896 was an English Architect, Furniture and Textile designer artist writer and socialist associated But the decisive influence on the direction these ideas should take was Cecil Reddie founder of Abbotsholme School and arguably the originator of the 'modern' British Progressive School. Abbotsholme School is a private boarding and Day school founded in 1889 by Dr Cecil Reddie (1858–1932 at Rocester in He heard about the plans for the school through his university friend Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson when he came down in 1888, went there and was instantly fascinated by both. Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson ( August 6, 1862 - August 3, 1932) was an English historian and political activist He was, at the age of twenty-four, one of the first masters appointed, but it is probable that from the start he had secret plans to found a school of his own. In 1893, after two and a half years Reddie's increasingly autocratic temperament; - and the fact that Badley wanted to marry and Reddie said he couldn't gave him the impetus to leave and start Bedales.

All Badley's initial ideas ― though their later development was quite different ― were taken from Reddie. For instance the curriculum was English based, not classical, and wide ― with science, art, music, French, German, and opportunities for plays and hobbies. Religion was non-dogmatic and non-sectarian. Boys were not crammed for exams, there were no prizes and lessons were only in the mornings. The games madness of Rugby and the conventional Public School was condemned; instead much time was spent on manual labour in fields and gardens, and the boys were also taught tailoring, boot making and cookery. Badley also copied many of the early organisational details too, right down to the earth closets which enabled him to return to the soil that which had been taken from it.

He claimed, in his own modesty, to owe much to Montessori, Pestalozzi, Froebel and Dewey. Maria Montessori ( August 31 1870 &ndash May 6 1952) was an Italian physician educator philosopher humanitarian and devout Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi' ( January 12, 1746 &ndash February 17, 1827) was a Swiss Pedagogue and educational reformer Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (also written Fröbel ( April 21, 1782 &ndash June 21, 1852) laid the foundation for modern Education John Dewey (October 20 1859 &ndash June 1 1952 was an American Philosopher, Psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have Helen Parkhurst of the Dalton Plan would draw on his experience years later in New York City. Helen Parkhurst ( January 3, 1887 - June 1, 1973) was an American Educator, author lecturer the originator of the The Dalton Plan is an educational concept created by Helen Parkhurst. The City of New York He founded Bedales in January of 1893 in an old Elizabethan manor at Haywards Heath, then in 1898 at the insistence of his wife Amy, an ardent suffragette, he took further risk of engaging in a 'preposterous experiment' which led to Bedales becoming a fully coeducational boarding school. In May of 1899 this pioneering headmaster started building a new complex which still serves the school today at Steep, Petersfield, Hampshire.

Badley was a great educationalist, an able Classicist; tall handsome charismatic, leading through example and great personal authority. Integral to that persona though was the personal reserve and sexual repression characteristic of the English Public School system, coupled with the quaint and even kranky - to modern sensibilities at least - obsessions of 1890 Sandal Socialism and German Naturkultur: the emphasis on cold baths, earth closets, homespun fabrics, and "unsilly" (i. e. non-sexual) friendship between adolescent boys and girls. He was strict and he was obeyed; he neither smoked nor drank: "When he came stalking with his quick, silent tread, into the classroom there was immediate silence; if there happened to be a piece of paper on the floor, he would point to it without deigning to say a word, and the boy nearest would hurriedly pick it up. "

He created a marvelous example of the evolving school. His educational outline, which he knew would fill out and develop as the years passed, became a framework to which he would continue to contribute and set outer limits, but then allowed the school to evolve. While he would be called "Chief" for the rest of his life by students and staff alike, he did not dominate as most great headmasters have. At the age of seventy he retired to Cholesbury, near Tring, after being headmaster of his school for forty-two years.

He wrote a number of books in his lifetime which include After the War (1917), Bedales: A Pioneer School (1923), Form and Spirit (1951), and his autobiography, Memories and Reflections, published in 1955, written ten years earlier and given to a friend and colleague for posthumous publication. After the friend died he consented to have it released. Yet it was his last work that can be looked at as his magnum opus: A Bible for Modern Readers (the New Testament) in 1961 and The Bible As Seen Today (the Old Testament) in 1965 together comprise over 1000 pages.

After his wife's death he returned to live his last years in the School grounds where he died.

A favorite quotation was "Labor, Art, Worship, Love, these make men's lives. "

Bibliography

External links

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Find A Grave is a Website allowing its users to access maintain and expand an online Database of Burial records The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

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