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Browning, Oscar, 1837-1923 (historian and educational reformer)

 Person

Dates and places

1837-1923; Born Langley, Bucks. 1837; School Eton; admitted at King's College, 1856; matriculated 1856; B.A. 1859; M.A. 1863; Fellow of King's College from 1859; assistant master at Eton, 1860-75; University work in Cambridge, 1875-1909; Senior Proctor, 1881-2; Secretary of the Teachers' Training Syndicate, 1878-1909; cofounder of the Cambridge University Day Training College and first Principal, 1891-1909; founder of the Political Society, 1876 and the Eighty Club, 1878; settled in Bexhill 1909; lived latterly in Rome where died.

Geographical areas

Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Legal status / Nationality

British

Sphere of activity

History, teacher training

Other information

Known as 'The OB'

Biography

Charles Ryle Fay (1884-1961) entered King's College from Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby, in 1902 and took a First in both parts of the Historical Tripos. After two years (1906-08) as research student at the London School of Economics (where he gained a DSc), he became a fellow and lecturer in history at Christ's College. In 1921 he was appointed Professor of Economic History at the University of Toronto, returning to Cambridge in 1930 as Reader in Economic History. Oscar Browning was one of Fay's tutors at King's. He left Cambridge in 1909. Browning was in Italy when the First World War broke out, and settled at the Palazzo Simonetti in Rome until his death there in 1923.

Found in 41 Collections and/or Records:

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 File

Abraham, Charles John, 1898-05-21 - 1902-12-25

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/WCG/1/Abraham
Scope and Contents

3 ALS from Abraham to WCG.

Dates: 1898-05-21 - 1902-12-25
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Account of Oscar Browning's life in Cambridge

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/NW/1/19
Scope and Contents

An autograph manuscript account in the form of a draft letter to the 'Editor' to comment upon Browning's 'Memories of Later Years'. Contains a note in John Saltmarsh's hand, 'Wedd on O.B. (Not part of the Memoirs). JS'.

Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 Fonds

Archives of the Department of Education, its predecessor, successor and allied bodies, 1870 - 2003

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0265/UA/EDUC
Scope and Contents The archives document the full range of operations of i) the Day Training College, and its subsequent incarnations as Training College for School Masters, Department, Faculty and School of Education and ii) the Cambridge Institute of Education. They include records of the teaching and examining process in Cambridge and at establishments across the country; internal and external oversight and funding; student and staff records; buildings records, photographs and extensive bodies of...
Dates: 1870 - 2003
Conditions Governing Access: Within the archives of the Departtment of Education, predecessor, successor and allied bodies, personal records are closed to scholars for 80 years from the date of creation under data protection legislation. Restrictions are clearly indicated in catalogue entries.
 Sub-Series

Assorted letters received, in the main, by Oscar Browning, 1878 - 1898

 Sub-Series
Reference Code: GBR/0265/UA/EDUC 3/2-22
Scope and Contents

Cover, chiefly, enquiries about lectures and courses of study, syllabi, enrolment and certification.

Dates: 1878 - 1898
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Within the archives of the Departtment of Education, predecessor, successor and allied bodies, personal records are closed to scholars for 80 years from the date of creation under data protection legislation. Restrictions are clearly indicated in catalogue entries.
 File

Assorted papers relating, among other things, to examinations, Oscar Browning's resignation, 1909 and the vote on the admission of women to the University, 1919, 1909 - 1920

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0265/UA/EDUC 29/2/6
Scope and Contents

Folder numbered III.

Dates: 1909 - 1920
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Within the archives of the Departtment of Education, predecessor, successor and allied bodies, personal records are closed to scholars for 80 years from the date of creation under data protection legislation. Restrictions are clearly indicated in catalogue entries.
 Fonds

Browning: The Papers of Oscar Browning

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0272/OB
Scope and Contents Oscar Browning had extremely wide interests and concerns, a long life in which to indulge them, and a body of correspondents so numerous and varied as to form a cross-section of British society of his time. He seems methodically to have preserved virtually every communication that he received, including dinner invitations and replies, and correspondence with tradesmen. The largest section of the present correspondence concerns his work as a teacher and educational reformer. Because of the...
Dates: 1853 - 1983
Conditions Governing Access: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 Item

Cartoon of Oscar Browning, King's College, aged 51, 1888-11-24

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0265/UA/CAS Album 3/36
Scope and Contents From the Fonds: The collection comprises chiefly photographic portraits of members of the University or other individuals prominent in the mid to late nineteenth century, particularly clergymen. They were not necessarily members of the Society. A smaller quantity of portraits is in the form of engravings from paintings, drawings cut from books, magazine sketches/cartoons and photographs of paintings. Most items are inscribed with biographical information on the back, not all of which is accurate. Many are...
Dates: 1888-11-24
Conditions Governing Access: From the Management Group: The University Archives are generally freely available to the holder of a reader's ticket for the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR. Restrictions on access are imposed on certain categories of sensitive record: financial, governmental and personal, by order of the originating body or under data protection legislation. Access information, including opening hours and how to obtain a reader's ticket, appears as part of the Library's web site (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

Correspondence and papers on the education and early career of Charles Ryle Fay (1884-1961), economic historian.

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.7746
Scope and Contents

The letters and papers catalogued below were preserved by C. R. Fay's father, who pasted them into an unused copy of Smith's commercial scribbling diary for 1902; Mr Fay adopted a generally chronological arrangement, but does not seem to have felt himself to be bound strictly by this. Many of the documents are addressed to the elder Fay, and the collection can be regarded as being as much the papers of the father as of the son.

Dates: 1894-1910
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 File

Correspondence between J.M. Keynes and Oscar Browning

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/JMK/PP/45/53
Scope and Contents

13 autograph letters, signed, 1 typed letter, signed, and 1 autograph postcard, signed to J.M. Keynes. 1910-20.
1 carbon typed letter, signed, from J.M. Keynes. 16 Dec. 1920.
This file also contains: printed verses celebrating Oscar Browning's 70th birthday, by 'A.C.B.', 1907, and his 80th, by Claude Greening, 1917; and a typescript copy of a letter from Walter Durnford to Oscar Browning, 10 June 1920.

Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Extracts from letters from JHC to Oscar Browning, 1897 - 1913

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/JHC/1/Browning
Scope and Contents

The file comprises photocopies of typescript extracts from letters.

Dates: 1897 - 1913
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 Series

From Oscar Browning [Historian and Educationalist], Jan. 1917-9 Oct. 1919

 Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.7973/B/155-B/162
Scope and Contents From the Fonds: The collection consists almost exclusively of letters received by Dent between 1914 and 1918, and probably sorted and weeded by him subsequently. Several letters have been endorsed by Dent with identifications and comments, and he has also supplied biographical notes on most of the correspondents, although these are not always reliable. The letters reflect Dent's heavy involvement in the teaching of music in Cambridge during the First World War, and his work on the translation of hitherto...
Dates: Jan. 1917-9 Oct. 1919
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Series

Journals, 1884 - 1941

 Series
Reference Code: GBR/0272/CRA/1
Scope and Contents

This series comprises diary entries by Charles Ashbee and his wife Janet, letters to both, photographs, picture postcards, cartoons, poems, newspaper cuttings and other printed ephemera.

Dates: 1884 - 1941
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 Sub-Series

Journals, 1906 - 1938

 Sub-Series
Reference Code: GBR/0272/RSM/1/1
Scope and Contents The journals record day to day events and reflections on family, friends and relationships during chiefly the period of RSM's education at Bedales School and King's College, service in the Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry, including on the Western Front in 1918 and in co. Cork in 1919 and life in London after the First World War. Certain passages are annotated by RSM or [Arthur] Elliott Felkin in the course of subsequent reading. Assorted letters, photographs, school, university and West...
Dates: 1906 - 1938
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Letter and list relating to certified teachers, 1908

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0265/UA/EDUC 21/23
Scope and Contents From the Fonds: The archives document the full range of operations of i) the Day Training College, and its subsequent incarnations as Training College for School Masters, Department, Faculty and School of Education and ii) the Cambridge Institute of Education. They include records of the teaching and examining process in Cambridge and at establishments across the country; internal and external oversight and funding; student and staff records; buildings records, photographs and extensive bodies of...
Dates: 1908
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Within the archives of the Departtment of Education, predecessor, successor and allied bodies, personal records are closed to scholars for 80 years from the date of creation under data protection legislation. Restrictions are clearly indicated in catalogue entries.
 Item

Letter from Oscar Browning, as Secretary to the Teachers' Training Syndicate, to Vice-Chancellor notifying him of appointment of lecturers, etc., 1879-05-09

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0265/UA/VCCorr.V.5/4
Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series:

The correspondence includes items inherited by Power from his predecessors and added by Vice-Chancellors Cookson (1848, 1863-4, 1872-3), Porter (1881-4) and, perhaps, others.

Dates: 1879-05-09
Conditions Governing Access: From the Management Group: The University Archives are generally freely available to the holder of a reader's ticket for the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR. Restrictions on access are imposed on certain categories of sensitive record: financial, governmental and personal, by order of the originating body or under data protection legislation. Access information, including opening hours and how to obtain a reader's ticket, appears as part of the Library's web site (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 File

Letter from Oscar Browning to Cambridge University Musical Club, 1893-09-14

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/OB/Add/17/CUMS
Scope and Contents

1 typed letter signed, resigning as treasurer of the club. The file also contains a letter relating to the donation of the letter.

Dates: 1893-09-14
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Letter from Oscar Browning to MRJ, 1920-02-09

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/MRJ/D/Browning
Scope and Contents

1 autograph letter signed, concerning books by MRJ, Browning's world history and life in Rome; with a long postscript on the Cambridge Reform Committee, education and literature.

Dates: 1920-02-09
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 Series

Letter to Porter from Oscar Browning, King's College, Cambridge, 1 May 1883

 Series
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.8576/18
Scope and Contents From the Fonds:

Most of the letters are replies to appeals by Porter for contributions to a memorial to Henry Fawcett and the cost of portraits of the seventh Duke of Devonshire, J.B. Lightfoot and B.F. Westcott; or replies to his invitations to a dinner in honour of recipients of honorary degrees (1883), and the celebration of the six hundredth anniversary of the foundation of Peterhouse (1884); or concern an address of support from members of Senate to the Liberal Unionist leadership (1887).

Dates: 1 May 1883
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 Fonds

Letters from Oscar Browning to Charles Ryle Fay

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0012/MS Add.7461
Scope and Contents

The letters comment on Fay's career, Browning's health and historical writing, other historians and their works, and Cambridge affairs (including adverse remarks on M.R. James). All but the first were written after Browning's departure from Cambridge in 1909, The place named in the each letter's description is the place of dispatch of the letter.

Dates: 1907-1922
Conditions Governing Access: Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).
 File

Letters from Oscar Browning to Edward Dent, 1919-04-22 - 1919-09-10

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/EJD/4/62
Scope and Contents

1 autograph letter signed and 1 autograph postcard signed.

Dates: 1919-04-22 - 1919-09-10
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Letters from Oscar Browning to E.M. Forster, 1923

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/EMF/18/74
Scope and Contents

2 typed letters to E.M. Forster.
To request these documents, please use the following call mark: vol. 8/24

Dates: 1923
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Letters from Oscar Browning to GLD, 1916 - 1920

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/GLD/5/4
Scope and Contents

Four autograph letters signed.

Dates: 1916 - 1920
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Letters from Oscar Browning to HB, 1861 - 1881

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/BRA/2/21
Scope and Contents

4 autograph letters signed, with 1 autograph letter signed from H. Sidgwick to Oscar Browning, [1876], enclosed.

Dates: 1861 - 1881
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Letters from Oscar Browning to JTS, 1901 - 1922

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/JTS/2/29
Scope and Contents

8 autograph letters signed and 3 typed letters signed. The file also contains a menu card for a dinner given at King's College to celebrate Browning's 70th birthday, 19 Jan. 1907, and a typescript Latin verse 'Ara' by Browning, 1916.

Dates: 1901 - 1922
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
 File

Letters from Oscar Browning to Nathaniel Wedd, 1887-12-01 - 1923-01-15

 File
Reference Code: GBR/0272/NW/2/6
Scope and Contents

25 autograph letters, signed, and 1 typed letter.

Dates: 1887-12-01 - 1923-01-15
Conditions Governing Access: From the Fonds: For access conditions see the Archive Centre pages of the King's College Cambridge website.
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