Henry Shaw (philanthropist) - Early Life

Early Life

Shaw was born on July 24, 1800 in Sheffield, England, which had been a center of iron and steel manufacturing for centuries. Henry’s father, Joseph Shaw, had moved to Sheffield as a young man to open his own iron factory, along with a partner. The firm manufactured grates, fire irons and so forth. Henry was the oldest of four children in the family. He had two sisters, Sarah and Caroline, and a brother who died in infancy. Shaw received his primary school education in the village of Thone near his home in Sheffield. When he was about ten or eleven, however, he was transferred to the Mill Hill School near London. He remained at this boarding school for about six years, before returning home to Sheffield in 1816 or 1817.

Shaw was forced to return to Sheffield, it seems, because of his father’s financial difficulties. While he had been away at school, his father’s business had come upon hard times. The family could no longer afford the luxury of sending young Henry to the expensive school with other children of the upper classes. Nevertheless, Shaw had gained in his time at Mill Hill School the basic education of an English gentleman. He had studied the classics, learned some Latin and Greek, and studied French. He also studied mathematics and was introduced to the sciences. More importantly, however, he acquired the attitudes and outlook of an English gentleman, traits that he would continue to have even after decades of life in the United States.