English Public Schools and the Imperial Networks of the City of London, c.1880-1945: The Case of Rugby School

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This project proposes to use Rugby School, roughly during the period 1880 to 1945, as a case studyto explore the relationship between public schools and the formation of Britain's financial elites,especially the City of London as a centre of imperial commerce, banking and insurance. Thesignificant presence of public school alumni in the City during this period (and beyond) has oftenbeen acknowledged and quantified (including specifically Rugby alumni), but few studies haveexamined these connections and their associated networks in any particular detail. It is this absencein the scholarship that the project seeks to address, taking Rugby School - though not precludingcomparative work on other schools - as the principal site of investigation for excavating thesenetworks and reconstructing their formation, functioning and legacy, both in Britain and across theempire. The focus throughout would be the imperial dimensions of these networks as these flowedthrough, or were derived from, the wealth generated by the City and the many enterprises which itfinanced and serviced.