William Delafield Arnold
Novelist, Author
1828 – 1859
Who was William Delafield Arnold?
William Delafield Arnold was a British author and colonial administrator.
He was the fourth son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School. His older brothers included the poet and critic Matthew Arnold and the literary scholar Tom Arnold. Not long after his father's death in 1842, William, a student at Rugby School, was involved in the writing of the official rules of rugby that are still in effect today: "Rugby Rules were written on August 28, 1845 by three students, William Delafield Arnold, WW Shirley and Frederick Hutchins". Later, William served as an educational administrator in Punjab, in British India, where one of his biggest achievements was to enact a law separating church and state in public schools. As a result, Hindus who attended these schools were no longer required to study the Bible. This policy would later go on to influence public schools in England as well. While working in India, William wrote several articles for "Fraser's Magazine," mainly on "the India question". In 1853, William published a novel of Anglo-Indian life, Oakfield; or, Fellowship in the East, which explores the inherent "common ground" between spiritual traditions East and West, while also predicting the "mutiny" that would occur shortly after. The character in "Oakfield" is dying of disease contracted in India, while its author is afflicted with the same disease. William died aged thirty-one, at Gibraltar, on his way home from India. Matthew Arnold's poem "A Southern Night" mourns his early death. William's orphaned children were adopted by his sister Jane Martha and her husband William Edward Forster.
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- Born
- Apr 7, 1828
- Parents
- Siblings
- Nationality
- England
- Profession
- Education
- Rugby School
- Died
- 1859
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
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