Herbert Armitage James - Teaching Career

Teaching Career

He was Assistant Master at Marlborough College from 1872 to 1875 before being appointed Headmaster of Rossall School in 1875. On the last day of his first year as headmaster, the whole school (with the exception of a couple of students) gathered outside the school to hiss and boo at James. Despite this, he held this position until 1886 and was regarded as having been "brilliantly successful, raising the school in the 11 years of his reign to a pitch of all-round excellence which it had not known before". His students at Rossall included Henry Stuart-Jones, who became a distinguished classical scholar. One of Stuart-Jones's contemporaries later gave James the credit for making Stuart-Jones an "accurate and industrious scholar".

The strain of his position at Rossall School having affected his health, he was appointed Dean of St Asaph in 1886. In 1889, his health restored, he left St Asaph to become Principal of Cheltenham College (1889–95). He was again successful in this post, and was offered the position of Headmaster of Clifton College, but was prevailed upon to stay. He made participation in games a compulsory part of the boys' education in 1889. He also started the building of a new chapel to mark the college's centenary in 1891. When Dr Percival was appointed Bishop of Hereford, James succeeded him in 1895 as Headmaster of Rugby School. He was headmaster for 14 years and was very well regarded: it was said that the school had "seldom stood higher since Arnold's day" than under his leadership (in reference to Thomas Arnold, who was headmaster from 1828 to 1841). He was also described in his obituary in The Times as having "once more showed himself a complete master of his profession, equally effective and esteemed in the class-room and the pulpit, in the School House of Dr. Arnold, and on the playing fields." He was nicknamed "The Bodger", and this term is still part of Rugby School slang. King Edward VII visited Rugby School towards the end of James's time as headmaster on 3 July 1909, the first royal visit to the School.