CHAPTER I 



1825-1842 



In the year 1825 Ealing 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. Nich- 

 olas, 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, who were mar- 

 ried at St. Michael's, Coventry, on September 8, 1773. 

 This Thomas Huxley continued to live at Coventry until 

 his death in January 1796, when he left behind him a large 

 family and no very great wealth. The most notable item 

 in the latter is the " capital Messuage, by me lately pur- 

 chased of Mrs. Ann Thomas," which he directs to be sold 

 to pay his debts — an inn, apparently, for the testator is 

 described as a victualler. Family tradition tells that he came 

 to Coventry from Lichfield, and if so, he and his sons after 

 him exemplify the tendency to move south, which is to be 

 observed in those of the same name who migrated from 



