Cyril Norwood

Sir Cyril M. Norwood (15 September 1875 – 13 March 1956) was an English educationalist who served as Headmaster of Bristol Grammar School and Harrow School, Master of Marlborough College, and President of St John's College, Oxford.

Sir Cyril Norwood in 1934, by Oswald Birley

Biography

The son of the Reverend Samuel Norwood, of Whalley, Lancashire, Norwood was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School and St John's, Oxford.^[1] After passing the Home Civil Service examination, he joined the Admiralty in 1899, but left in 1901 to pursue a career in education.^[2]

He was a classics schoolmaster at Leeds Grammar School (1901–1906), before serving as Headmaster of Bristol Grammar School (1906–1916), Master of Marlborough College (1917–1925), Headmaster of Harrow (1926–1934) and President of St John's, Oxford, from 1934-1946.^[3]

Norwood Report

After being appointed to chair a committee for R. A. Butler, the President of the Board of Education, Norwood and committee wrote a 151-page document entitled Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools: Report of the Committee of the Secondary School Examinations Council Appointed by the President of the Board of Education in 1941. In June 1943, they published the Norwood Report on secondary schooling: subsequently, some of its recommendations were adopted.^[4][5] In particular, the report led in time to the creation of three kinds of secondary schools: grammar schools; secondary technical schools; secondary moderns.^[6]

Other

During the Second World War, Norwood served on the Tribunal hearing the cases of men seeking to be accepted as conscientious objectors.^[7]

At this time, Norwood owned and lived at Trerose Manor in Cornwall.

His son-in-law was the Rev C. B. Canning, Headmaster of Canford.

After WW2, in 1946, Norwood was the President of the Geographical Association, following an earlier Marlborough colleague: Clement Cyril Carter (who had been President at the outbreak of the war) to the position.

As well as his role in education he also wrote an introduction for The British Encyclopaedia in 1933.

He retired to Iwerne Minster in Dorset where he died in 1956.^[8] He was married to Catherine Margaret Kilner in December 1901 and was knighted in 1938 for services to education.^[9]

A building is named after him as part of Bristol Grammar School's Elton Road Houses and is primarily used for the teaching of modern languages. The main dining hall at Marlborough College is named the Norwood Hall. Norwood wrote the lyrics, in Latin, for Bristol Grammar School's song, Carmen Bristoliense, which is still sung today.

References

1. McCullough, Gary (2007). Cyril Norwood and the Ideal of Secondary Education. Palgrave. doi:10.1057/9780230603523. ISBN 978-1403967930.
2. McCulloch, Gary (2004). "Norwood, Sir Cyril (1875–1956)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35262. Retrieved 14 November 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. "Notes on the text The Norwood Report (1943) Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools". Education in England. Archived from the original on 6 April 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
4. "Cyril Norwood and a national labour service". The Learning Professor. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
5. The July 1943 White Paper, in which Butler laid out his proposals for a bill (which eventually became the Education Act 1944), recommended selection of children into three types of education, but not necessarily in separate schools. See Political career of Rab Butler (1941–1951).
6. (Joel D. Heck Irrigating Deserts: C. S. Lewis on Education, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2005, p. 157)
7. "Conscientious objectors". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 9 May 1940. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
8. "Norwood Papers". University of Sheffield. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
9. Maclure, Stuart (2005). Educational Documents: 1816 to the present day. Taylor & Francis. p. 200. ISBN 9780415382892.

Academic offices
Preceded by Robert Leighton	Head Master of Bristol Grammar School 1906–1916	Succeeded by Joseph Edwin Barton
Preceded by St John Basil Wynne Willson	Master of Marlborough College 1917–1925	Succeeded by George Charlewood Turner
Preceded by Lionel Ford	Head Master of Harrow School 1926–1934	Succeeded by Paul Cairn Vellacott
Preceded by Frederick William Hall	President of St John's College, Oxford 1933–1946	Succeeded by Austin Lane Poole
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Walter Matthews	President of the Modern Churchmen's Union 1937–1958	Succeeded by Leonard Wilson