CHAPTEE I 



1825-1842 



IN the year 1825 Baling was as quiet a country 

 village as could be found within a dozen miles of 

 Hyde Park Corner. Here stood a large semi-public 

 school, which had risen to the front rank in numbers 

 and reputation under Dr. Nicholas, of Wadham 

 College, Oxford, who in 1791 became the son-in-law 

 and successor of the previous master. 



The senior assistant -master in this school was 

 George Huxley, a tall, dark, rather full-faced man, 

 quick tempered, and distinguished, in his son's words, 

 by "that glorious firmness which one's enemies 

 called obstinacy." In the year 1810 he had married 

 Rachel Withers ; she bore five sons and three 

 daughters, of whom one son and one daughter died 

 in infancy ; the seventh and youngest surviving child 

 was Thomas Henry. 



George Huxley, the master at Ealing, was the 

 second son of Thomas Huxley and Margaret James, 



VOL. I & B 



