by Janet Pennington
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In November 1869 Woodard published a letter to the Marquis of Salisbury entitled 'The Scheme of Education of St.(sic) Nicolas College', proposing five centres of education for the nation, in the east, west, north, south and the midlands, each to support a provost, 12 senior fellows (eight of these in Holy Orders) and 12 non-resident fellows (including some clergymen) elected from local gentlemen. In due course this became the Woodard Corporation, [ED, have had to fudge this as date is unknown, I regret. The Society is frequently referred to, and at some point the Corporation appears, certainly by 1886, but whether it was really incorporated legally is unknown CONTINUE] which exists today as the largest educational body in England apart from the State. In his lifetime Woodard founded nine schools and acquired CHECK others. The Southern Division comprised Lancing, Hurst and Ardingly, (Bloxham and St. Michaels were acquired.....) The Midlands Division Denstone, Ellesmere and Worksop Colleges, St. Anne's and St. Mary's Schools at Abbots Bromley. The Western Division had Kings College Taunton. The Northern and Eastern Divisions were started with acquired schools.
Gladstone, then Prime Minister, was responsible for putting Woodard's name forward for appointment as canon residentiary of Manchester in March 1870 and in June the same year Oxford awarded him an honorary DCL. He became subdean of Manchester Cathedral in 1881 and subsequently took on a parochial charge at Salford. On several occasions he had refused to have his portrait painted, saying that it was his work that should be remembered. He was tricked into having a photograph taken at the Oxford ceremony and the only known portrait was painted from this likeness after his death and shows a calm, thoughtful man with a hint of humour about the mouth.
Woodard was father of seven sons and one daughter; his wife Elizabeth died in 1873 and his mental powers declined in his last few years. In 1890 he married his Henfield housekeeper, Miss Dorothy Porritt. He died at Martyn Lodge on 25 April 1891 and was buried at Lancing Chapel five days later. The Founder's Chantry, designed by Temple Lushington Moore and modified by his son Richard Temple Moore, contains a recumbent bronze effigy by P. Bryant Baker (1916), which has 1810 incorrectly inscribed as Woodard's birth year, instead of 1811.
In his lifetime, Woodard was responsible for the founding of nine schools, and had acquired two more. Others were in various states of preparation. In 1853 the Revd. J. L. Brereton of Devon was addressing the educational needs of the rural middle class in that county and in 1858 the Devon County School opened at West Buckstead - it can be paralleled with Hurst. Like Woodard, Brereton had a broad plan for a national scheme of middle class education and outlined his ideas in 1861 and 1864. He must have been unaware of Woodard's work, though no written communication apparently took place between then, but there was a striking similarity between their ideas. Brereton abandoned the Church framework and Church teaching, admitting Dissenters and favouring a secular basis for his schools. His County School movement was not a unified one and he never included the lower middle classes. Woodard's broader approach succeeded spectacularly, as he darted about the country organising meetings, fund raising, land purchases and the c.15,000 letters that comprise the Woodard Correspondence bear testimonty to his dogged administrative powers.
Gladstone, then Prime Minister, was responsible for putting Woodard's name forward for appointment as canon residentiary of Manchester in March 1870 and in June the same year Oxford awarded him an honorary DCL. He became subdean of Manchester Cathedral in 1881 and subsequently took on a parochial charge at Salford. On several occasions he had refused to have his portrait painted, saying that it was his work that should be remembered. He was tricked into having a photograph taken at the Oxford ceremony and the only known portrait was painted from this likeness after his death and shows a calm, thoughtful man with a hint of humour about the mouth.
Woodard was father of seven sons and one daughter; his wife Elizabeth died in 1873 and his mental powers declined in his last few years. In 1890 he married his Henfield housekeeper, Miss Dorothy Porritt. He died at Martyn Lodge on 25 April 1891 and was buried at Lancing Chapel five days later. The Founder's Chantry, designed by Temple Lushington Moore and modified by his son Richard Temple Moore, contains a recumbent bronze effigy by P. Bryant Baker (1916), which has 1810 incorrectly inscribed as Woodard's birth year, instead of 1811.
In his lifetime, Woodard was responsible for the founding of nine schools, and had acquired two more. Others were in various states of preparation. In 1853 the Revd. J. L. Brereton of Devon was addressing the educational needs of the rural middle class in that county and in 1858 the Devon County School opened at West Buckstead - it can be paralleled with Hurst. Like Woodard, Brereton had a broad plan for a national scheme of middle class education and outlined his ideas in 1861 and 1864. He must have been unaware of Woodard's work, though no written communication apparently took place between then, but there was a striking similarity between their ideas. Brereton abandoned the Church framework and Church teaching, admitting Dissenters and favouring a secular basis for his schools. His County School movement was not a unified one and he never included the lower middle classes. Woodard's broader approach succeeded spectacularly, as he darted about the country organising meetings, fund raising, land purchases and the c.15,000 letters that comprise the Woodard Correspondence bear testimonty to his dogged administrative powers.