Arthur Burrell (1859-1946) was an educationist, lecturer, author and historian who served as Principal of Borough Road Training College during the period when the seeds of its later excellence in athletics were sown. Among his varied endeavours he promoted the art of storytelling, deciphered the code in Anne Lister’s diaries, and adapted the Authorised Version of the Bible to a shortened form for children.
Birth and education Born in Middlesex and brought up in Gloucestershire, he was a son of William Burrell, formerly a superintending surgeon in the East India Company’s service at Madras, by his second wife Adelaide Pierce.Census of England and Wales, Cheltenham, 1861 (TNA: RG9/1803/21/36); Register of Marriages at Chapel Stations within the Diocese and Archdeaconry of Madras, 1848-51, p. 330 (entry for 25 August 1851, St Mark’s, Bangalore). Educated at Dulwich College, he in 1878 obtained an open scholarship to Wadham College, Oxford,Sydenham Times, 6 August 1878, p. 5; Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses, Parker & Co., Oxford, 1885, Vol. 1, p. 196. and graduated in 1881, having been placed in the second class of both parts of the Literae humaniores examination.South London Observer, 24 January 1880, p. 6; London Evening Standard, 6 December 1881, p. 3. He proceeded to the Master of Arts degree in 1888: Leeds Mercury, 28 April 1888, p. 5.
Early teaching appointments In 1882 he obtained appointment as an assistant master at Bradford Grammar School, and in 1890 he became Senior Master of its Junior Department.Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, 18 March 1882, p. 5; Bradford Daily Telegraph, 4 October 1890, p. 2. The measure of his success in these roles was recognised in 1899 when, at the initiative of some of Bradford’s most prominent citizens, his departure from the school was marked by a dinner and substantial presentation to him. On this occasion the city’s mayor paid tribute to his having done “more for education in its very highest form - making boys love learning for learning’s own sake - than any of the other men who had ever been a leader in education in the city”.Leeds Times, 3 January 1900, p. 9. Among his pupils had been Sir William Rothenstein, who later recalled him as an “admirable master” who “won my whole-hearted devotion”.William Rothenstein, Men and Memories, Recollections of William Rothenstein, 1872-1900, Faber & Faber, London, 1931, pp. 8 and 16.
Principal at Borough Road He left Bradford on being appointed Principal of Borough Road Training College, a residential establishment preparing men for the teaching profession, in succession to H. L. Withers.Daily News (London), 29 November 1899, p. 4. Shortly after his appointment the college, which had recently relocated to Isleworth, was refused the status of a constituent school of the University of London notwithstanding that 80 of its 129 students were currently preparing for the university’s degree examinations. The refusal reflected official opinion that the college’s primary focus should be on preparation for elementary teaching,Iris Turner, "The History of Borough Road School/College from its Origins in 1798 until its merger with Maria Grey College to form West London Institute of Higher Education in 1976", October 2015, p. 265. but five years later one in seven of the names on the university’s BA and BSc lists was that of a Borough Road graduate and the Board of Education accepted that higher study at the college was providing much needed intellectual stimulus for students of ability."Borough Road College: From Southwark to Isleworth, A Story of Education", Southwark and Bermondsey Recorder and South London Gazette, 25 August 1906, p. 2.
Against this background Burrell deplored the Board’s position whereby students failing their degree examination did not qualify for a Teacher’s Certificate despite having passed the professional part of the examination. This was one of several disagreements he had with the Board during a period when scrutiny and regulation of public education made consistent direction of teacher training especially challenging. During Burrell’s twelve years at Borough Road there were three major Consultative Committee reports, three Royal Commissions, several education circulars and Codes of Regulation, as well as the Education Act 1902.Turner, p. 263.
Burrell himself had clear views on the proper content of elementary education, proposing at the British Association’s Annual Conference in 1906 that the curriculum of a primary school should omit a second language, all but elementary mathematics, all definite instruction in chemistry, and all higher grammar, and should make greater provision for physical work, tool work and geographical work.Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 7 August 1906, p. 7. In the last respect his judgement was supported in the following year when a Board of Education circular directed that instruction in physical land forms and the atlas should precede secondary schooling: Turner, pp. 274-275.
He was deeply interested in the role of athletic exercise in the development of childrenMiddlesex Chronicle, 25 July 1908, p. 5. and made engaging in physical training intrinsic to the culture of Borough Road. In 1905 he reported “We shall not do our duty by students (who, for the most part, come up physically untrained) until we see every single member of the College taking daily exercise. We are on the high road to this”."Borough Road College", Southwark and Bermondsey Recorder and South London Gazette, 25 August 1908, p. 2. He was assisted in establishing this regime by Herbert Milnes, a tutor at the college and sportsman of some note who carried the cult of athleticism to Auckland Teachers' Training College, of which he became head in 1906.Barry Blades, Teachers at the Front, 1914-1919, Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2020. Milnes was killed in action at Passchendaele in 1917 while serving with the Auckland Regiment. Burrell subsequently published a tribute to him: Bert Milnes, A Brief Memoir, The Temple Press, Letchworth, 1922. Milnes was one of five principals supplied by Borough Road to training colleges in different parts of the world during Burrell’s term there.Long Eaton Advertiser, 19 November 1909, p. 3.
Burrell resigned from Borough Road in 1912Evening Mail (London), 22 November 1912, p. 8. in order, it was said, “to do missionary work to revive the art of story-telling”.Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 14 March 1914, p. 6. He afterwards continued to speak on educational matters and was a lecturer on the teaching of English at vacation courses organised by the University of St Andrews and the London and West Riding County Councils: Dundee Courier, 24 November 1919, p. 4; Liverpool Daily Post, 1 August 1923, p. 9; Derbyshire Times, 8 May 1926, p. 1. In 1930 the Kent Education Committee engaged him to give a series of six lectures on modern writers and literature: Sheerness Guardian, 8 February 1930, p. 11.
Storytelling and the human voice Early work He believed the decline of oral storytelling following invention of the printing press substantially deprived society of an art-form that had, for thousands of years, engaged and developed both the intellect and the voice of mankind.Norfolk Chronicle, 23 October 1909, p. 6. In parallel with this belief he considered that reading aloud was the best way to understand, appreciate and interpret the meaning of the written word, and that accordingly the human voice should receive the fullest education.Richmond and Twickenham Times, 19 December 1903, p. 2. His pupil William Rothenstein remembered him as “an excellent reader who encouraged us to read Shakespeare and other poets aloud to ourselves”: Rothenstein, p. 8.
In the 1880s he gave public readings of poems and stories by authors who were currently popularLeeds Times, 5 May 1888, p. 3. and he began making a personal collection of stories, particularly of those that had circulated in different parts of the world from before the era of the written word.Cheltenham Chronicle, 7 February 1931, p. 8. In the following decade he lectured widely on nursery rhymes, fairy tales and folkloreNewcastle Chronicle, 14 January 1890, p. 2; Yorkshire Herald, 23 January 1891, p. 3; Beckenham Journal, Penge and Sydenham Advertiser, 9 January 1892, p. 5. and, in the course of these lectures, performed recitations which were regarded as “of the highest order”.Newcastle Chronicle, 13 December 1890, p. 16.
In 1890 he contributed an article on “Recitation” to the first issue of Charlotte Mason’s monthly The Parent’s ReviewThe Parent’s Review, Vol. I (1890-1), pp. 92-103. The piece’s subtitle, “The Children’s Art”, reflected Burrell’s opinion that the most naturally expressive voice was that of the unselfconscious child and was stifled by instruction in elocution. and his essay “Voices from My Books: Studies in Recitation” appeared in the Atalanta magazine.The Queen, 11 October 1890, p. 24. He had sufficiently developed the topic to produce a teaching handbook on recitation in the following yearRecitation: A Handbook for Teachers in Public Elementary Schools, Griffith Farran & Co., London, 1891. His article “Reading and Speaking” later appeared in P. A. Barnett’s Teaching and Organisation with Special Reference to Secondary Schools: A Manual of Practice, Longmans, Green & Company, London, 1897. and in 1898 he published Clear Speaking and Good ReadingLongmans, Green and Co., London, 1898. Soon after publication, Burrell gave a series of ten lectures on reading at Durham College of Science (the forerunner of Newcastle University): Newcastle Daily Chronicle, 27 December 1898, p. 4. which ran to several editions over the next two decades.Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1901, 1904, 1906, 1909 and 1913. This last treatise proceeded on the same premise as his 1890 article, namely that a child’s voice is naturally beautiful and should be sympathetically guided to become “distinct, quiet and restrained” rather than forced into shape by elocutionary pressure. To such end he advocated breathing exercises, practice in accurate sounding, and encouragement of children to recount familiar stories in their own words rather than by slavishly repeating established texts.Westminster Gazette, 27 August 1898, p. 3; Pall Mall Gazette, 2 September 1898, p. 9. Describing himself as a “learner”, Burrell dedicated the book to “the Unconscious Teachers of the Beautiful in Speech - Little Children”.
Later work