C. B. Fry - Education

Education

C. B. Fry was born in Croydon; the son of a civil servant. Both sides of his family had once been wealthy, but by 1872 were not as prosperous. After winning a scholarship, Fry was educated at Repton School (where his academic career was erratic), and then at Wadham College, Oxford. At Repton he was second to last in his form, and with his scholarship in jeopardy, he worked hard to gain promotion every term until he was at the top. His greatest strength was in Classics, his poorest subject being Mathematics. Fry gained the headmaster's permission to study Thucydides instead of Maths, but dispensed with the subject for the rest of his academic career.

As Repton was unusual in having a stronger tradition in football than rugby union, Fry played for the under-16 Repton football side in his first term, aged thirteen. Being coached by Arthur Forman, Fry was made captain of the cricket and football XIs, and also won trophies for athletics. At the age of sixteen he played for the Casuals in the F.A. Cup.

Having won a further scholarship to study at Wadham College, Oxford, he won his university Blue in Association football, cricket and athletics, but narrowly failed to win a Blue in rugby union, because of an injury. Fry's status ensured that he came into contact with people whose fame was already spreading far beyong Oxford. For example, early in his university career he was invited to meet Max Beerbohm, the writer and caricaturist. Beerbohm arrived for their meeting, (in Fry's rooms) to catch him taking a bath.

When Fry was only twenty-one, the magazine Vanity Fair published a caricature of him in its issue of 19 April 1894, with the comment: "He is sometimes known as "C.B."; but it has lately been suggested that he should be called 'Charles III'."

In his final term at Oxford Fry suffered his first (but not last) bout of mental illness, suffering a mental breakdown.There were a number of contributing factors to this. During his time at Oxford Fry had accumulated disturbingly large debts. In an attempt to alleviate his financial difficulties, Fry capitalized on his reputation to make some much-needed money. As well a writing articles (including one for Wisden), he did some private tutoring but although such activities reduced his debts they did not clear them and, further increased the intense pressure on his time. Fry's continuing indebtedness providing the most obvious explanation for his acceptance of an offer to do some nude modelling. These financial problems combined with his mother being seriously ill, placed an unbearable strain on him. Although he was able to sit his final exams, he was hardly in any fit state to do so, having hardly read a line for weeks. The result was Fry scraping a Fourth, bringing one of Oxford's most spectacular and successful careers to an inglorious end. In the summer of 1895, therefore, only months after being the toast of Oxford, Fry found hinself saddled with mounting debts and no way with which to repay them. In the short term, cricket came to his rescue. He was offered and accepted - the chance to tour South Africa as a member of Lord Hawke's 1895–96 England touring party.