Worship at the Abbey

Service to celebrate the birth of the Revd Nathaniel Woodard

24 November 2011 at 12:00 pm

This service celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of educational visionary, The Reverend Nathaniel Woodard (21 March 1811 – 25 April 1891). The Church of England priest founded eleven schools for the middle classes in England during his lifetime. His aim was to provide an education with a fundamental foundation based on “sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith”.

He was surrounded by and shocked by social conflict, poverty, deprivation and lack of aspiration in a chaotic society and he set out to try and transform this situation. He firmly believed that education was the only way to aid this transformation and began his life long work of founding schools. In 1870, he was made Canon of Manchester Cathedral in recognition of his efforts and received a generous stipend with this position. He used the majority of this towards funding the building of his schools.

Today, Woodard Schools form the largest group of independent Church of England schools in England and Wales with 46 schools in the group, and as part of the Woodard Corporation, strive to promote Nathaniel Woodard’s educational principles.

His first school, Lancing College, was founded in 1848 and his tomb is in the college chapel.