Robert Birley

Sir Robert Birley KCMG (14 July 1903 – 22 July 1982) was an English educationalist who was head master of Charterhouse School, then Eton College, and an anti-apartheid campaigner.

Biography

Birley was educated at Rugby and Balliol. He began his career as a history master at Eton in 1926 and in 1935 was appointed as headmaster of Charterhouse. During this time, he was the principal author of the Fleming Report of 1944 on the relationship between the public schools and mainstream education.

In 1947, after the Second World War, he became Educational Advisor to the Control Commission in the British Zone in Germany, responsible for educational reconstruction, and played an important role in the rewriting of Nazi history textbooks, removing their racist bent. From 1947 to 1949 he gave important support to Lilo Milchsack who formed the Anglo-German Association to improve post-war relations. Birley returned to support these efforts after he left Germany in 1949.^[1]

In 1949 he was appointed Head Master of Eton, where he remained until 1963. Also in 1949, he was invited by the BBC to deliver the annual Reith Lectures.^[2] The radio broadcasts were titled Britain in Europe: Reflections on the Development of a European Society.^[3]

Birley considered the history and future impact of Britain's increasing involvement with Europe. He subsequently became a visiting Professor at Witwatersrand University, South Africa from 1964 to 1967, and was Professor and Head of Department of Social Science and Humanities at City University from 1967 to 1971.^[4] He wrote and lectured extensively on education, apartheid and human rights issues and the Robert Birley memorial lectures are a tribute to his contributions.

From 1968 to 1982 Birley was professor of rhetoric at Gresham College, London. He was President of the Bibliographical Society from 1979 to 1980.^[5]

His biography, Red Robert: a life of Robert Birley, by Arthur Hearnden, appeared in 1984. A collection of his writings, History and Idealism: Essays, Lectures, Sermons and Letters of Robert Birley, appeared in 1990, edited by his son-in-law, Brian Rees.

Birley family

His grandfather, Arthur Birley (1834–1912), was the brother of Hugh Birley, who served as Member of Parliament for Manchester from 1868 to 1883.^[6]

See also

• Gresham Professor of Rhetoric

References

External links

• Page on Birley family genealogy
• Robert Birleys papers regarding anti-apartheid campaign can be found at Borthwick Institute, University of York

Head Masters of Eton College since 1711
Andrew Snape Henry Bland William George William Cooke John Sumner Edward Barnard John Foster Jonathan Davies George Heath Joseph Goodall John Keate Edward Craven Hawtrey Charles Old Goodford Edward Balston James John Hornby Edmond Warre Edward Lyttelton Cyril Alington Claude Aurelius Elliott Robert Birley Anthony Chenevix-Trench Michael McCrum Eric Anderson John Lewis Tony Little Simon Henderson
For Head Masters prior to 1711, see List of Head Masters of Eton College