Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/203

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Haig Brown
183
Haigh

five acres, a large part of which was useless either for buildings or for playing-fields, and made provision for the accommodation of only about 180 boys. But the main point was carried; the first sod was turned on Founder's Day 1869, and on 18 June 1872 the new school was occupied by 117 old and 33 new boys. From that moment its progress was marvellous. 'The Schoolmaster' no longer occupied a position subordinate to the 'Master' of the hospital, but by the appointment of a 'now governing body of Charterhouse school' (distinct henceforth from the 'governors of Charterhouse'), in accordance with the Public Schools Act of 1868, he became a headmaster, with the very ample statutory powers which that act bestowed. Once Haig Brown held power he knew how to use it. Fearless himself, he inspired all around him with his own courage and confidence. Within a few years, in addition to the three houses originally built by the governors, eight others were erected by various masters entirely at their own risk, until by September 1876 the number of boys had grown to 500, the number to which it was then wisely limited, though it afterwards crept up to 560. In 1874 the school chapel was consecrated, and from then for more than thirty years frequent additions were made to the school in the shape of class-rooms, a hall, a museum, and new playing-fields. When Haig Brown retired in 1897 he had earned the title which he everywhere bore of 'our second Founder.'

In 1872 the future of Charterhouse was precarious; in 1897 it was secure; and the result was mainly due to the powerful, single-minded personality of the headmaster. He was not a great teacher, certainly no theorist about education, no lover of exact rules, and rather one who allowed both boys and masters the largest measure of independence. Like the other three great schoolmasters of the century, Arnold, Thring, and Kennedy, he neither sought nor received ecclesiastical preferment. Though bold to make changes, he was loyal to the past, so that he became the living embodiment of 'the spirit of the school,' both in its old and its new 'home.' A man 'of infinite jest,' though he could be very stern, he was always very human, so that 'Old Bill,' as he was called, was an object equally of awe and of affection.

On his retirement from the school in 1897 he was appointed master of Charterhouse (in London). He took an active part in the government of the hospital, and remained an energetic member of the governing body of the school. Among other distinctions bestowed on him were those of honorary canon of Winchester in 1891, and honorary fellow of Pembroke, his old college at Cambridge, in 1898. He was also made officier de l'Académie in 1882, and officier de l'Instruction publique in 1900. He died at the Master's lodge at the hospital on 11 Jan. 1907, and was buried in the chapel at Charterhouse School.

Haig Brown married, in 1857, Annie Marion, eldest daughter of the Rev. E. E. Rowsell. During the forty years of his school work she rendered him untiring assistance. By her he was father of five sons and seven daughters.

As a memorial of his work at the school a seated statue in bronze by Harry Bates, A.R.A. (who died before the work was wholly finished), was set up in front of the school chapel in 1899. His portrait by Frank Holl (etched by Hubert von Herkomer) was placed in the great hall in 1886.

Haig Brown's published works are the 'Sertum Carthusianum' (1870); 'Charterhouse Past and Present' (Godalming, 1879); and 'Carthusian Memories and other Verses of Leisure' (with portrait, 1905), a collection of various prologues, epilogues, epigrams, and other fugitive pieces. Three of his hymns, 'O God, whose Wisdom made the Sky,' 'God, Thy Mercy's Fountains,' and 'Auctor omnium bonorum,' have a permanent place in the service for Founder's Day, and are worthy of any collection.

[William Haig Brown of Charterhouse, written by some of his pupils, edited by his son, H. E. Haig Brown, 1908; personal knowledge.]

T. E. P.


HAIGH, ARTHUR ELAM (1855–1905), classical scholar, born at Leeds on 27 Feb. 1855, was third son, in a family of three sons and two daughters, of Joseph Haigh, chemist, by his wife Lydia, daughter of Charles James Duncan. He was educated at Leeds grammar school, where he gained nearly every school distinction. On 22 Oct. 1874 he matriculated from Corpus Christ College, Oxford, with a scholarship, and began his lifelong career of study and teaching at the university. As an undergraduate he was versatile and successful. He took a first class in classical moderations in 1875 and in literæ humaniores in 1878; he won the two Gaisford prizes for Greek verse (1876) and Greek prose (1877), the Craven scholarship (1879), and the Stanhope prize for an essay on the 'Political Theories of