Oscar Browning

Oscar Browning (January 17, 1837-October 6, 1923), English writer, historian and educational reformer, was born in London, the son of a merchant, William Shipton Browning. He was educated at Eton College and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he became fellow and tutor, graduating fourth in the classical tripos of 1860. He was for fifteen years a master at Eton College, until he was dismissed in the Autumn of 1875 following a dispute over his relationship with a pupil, George Curzon.

He resumed residence in 1876 at Cambridge, where he became university lecturer in history. He soon became a prominent figure in college and university life, encouraging especially the study of political science and modern political history, the extension of university teaching and the movement for the training of teachers.

He was principal of Cambridge University Day Training College for Teachers between 1891 and 1909, treasurer of the Cambridge Union Society between 1881 and 1902 and president of the Cambridge Footlights between 1890 and 1895.

He stood for Parliament three times as a Liberal.

His works include:

• England and Napoleon in 1803 (1887)
• History of England (4 vols. 1890)
• Dante; Life and Works (1891)
• Wars of the Nineteenth Century (1899)
• History of Europe 1814-1843 (1901)
• Guelphs and Ghibellines (1903)
• Napoleon, the first Phase (1905)
• Memories of Sixty Years at Eton, Cambridge and Elsewhere (1910), ISBN 1402184336

He left Cambridge in 1908 and retired to Bexhill-on-Sea. In 1914 he was visiting Italy when World War I broke out. He decided to stay there and spent his later years in Rome where he died in 1923 at the age of eighty-six.

Further Sources of Information

• Pam Hirsch, Mark McBeth (2004). Teacher Training at Cambridge: The Initiatives of Oscar Browning and Elizabeth Hughes. RoutledgeFalmer. ISBN 0713040548
• Ian Anstruther (1983). Oscar Browning: A Biography. John Murray. ISBN 071954078X
• A list of The Papers of Oscar Browning, held by King's College Archive Centre, Cambridge