# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hornby, James John

​HORNBY, JAMES JOHN (1826–1909), provost of Eton, born at Winwick, Lancashire, on 18 Dee. 1826, was younger son of Admiral Sir Phipps Hornby [q. v.] by his wife Sophia Maria, daughter of Lieutenant-general John Burgoyne (1722-1792) [q. v.]. Hornby was entered as an oppidan at Eton in 1838, and after a successful career as a scholar and as a cricketer went to Balliol College, Oxford, in 1845, where he enjoyed similar success in the schools and as an athlete. He gained a first class in the final classical school in 1849, and rowed in the Oxford Eight in 1849 and 1851. Graduating B.A. in 1849, in which year he was elected a founder's fellow of Brasenose College, and proceeding M.A. in 1851, he was principal of Bishop Cosin's Hall at Durham University from 1853 to 1864, when he returned to Oxford and took up work at Brasenose as junior bursar. In 1867 he was appointed second master at Winchester, but shortly after was selected for the important post of headmaster of Eton on the resignation of Archdeacon Balston. For several generations the head-master had been an Eton colleger and scholar of King's College, Cambridge, and at Eton was the subordinate officer of the provost. Since 1861 a royal commission had been engaged in an inquiry into the administration of the great public schools of England with special reference to Eton College. As a result of this commission the whole administration of Eton College was changed, and placed in the hands of a new governing body under new statutes. The old connection between Eton and King's College, Cambridge, was made less binding, and the powers of the provost of Eton were very considerably curtailed. The headmaster's position became one of increased independent authority. In these altered circumstances Hornby entered on his duties as headmaster of Eton early in 1868. The appointment of an oppidan, an Oxonian, and a gentleman of high breeding and aristocratic birth, who had not served his apprenticeship as an Eton master, marked the new era in the history of the school. In accordance with the spirit of the age and the new statutes many reforms were introduced by Hornby into the school curriculum. He was, however, a progressive rather than a radical ​reformer, with a tendency to become more conservative as years went on. In matters of strict discipline, both with assistant-masters and boys, he did not escape criticism, occasionally hostile in tone, but his innate good-breeding and tact, his courtesy and sympathetic manner, together with a strong sense of genuine humour, enabled him to maintain a personal popularity. In July 1884 Hornby ceased to be headmaster on being appointed provost in succession to Charles Old Goodford [q. v.]. He held the dignified and less arduous post of provost until his death at Eton on 2 Nov. 1909. He was buried in the Eton cemetery. He married in 1869 Augusta Eliza, daughter of the Rev. J. C. Evans of Stoke Poges. She died in 1891, leaving three sons and two daughters.
Hornby was of handsome appearance, and retained his bodily vigour throughout life. From 1854 to 1867 he distinguished himself as one of the pioneers of Alpine climbing, and was a member of the Alpine Club from December 1864 until his death. He made many new ascents, which called for the highest physical and mental qualities in a mountaineer. After his appointment to Eton, his athletic feats were chiefly confined to skating, in which he was an accomplished proficient up to the date of his death. Although he did not pretend to any literary gifts, he was an accomplished scholar and an admirable public speaker. Hornby, who proceeded D.D. at Oxford in 1869 and was made hon. D.C.L. of Durham in 1882, was appointed honorary chaplain to Queen Victoria in 1882, and in 1901 to King Edward VII, who made him C.V.O. in 1904. A portrait by the Hon. John Collier is in the provost's lodge at Eton College. A monumental brass to his memory is in the ante-chapel.
[The Times, 3 Nov. 1909; Lyte's History of Eton College; Brasenose College Register, Oxford Hist. Soc, 1909; Eton under Hornby, by O.E. [i.e. H. S. Salt]; Alpine Journal, XXV., No. 187; personal knowledge.]
L. C.