Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason was born in Bangor, England in 1842.  Orphaned in her late teens, she studied at the Home and Colonial Society for the training of teachers and earned a First Class Certificate.   During the next decade Charlotte began to develop her vision for "a liberal education for all." 

English children in the 1800s were educated according to social class; the poorer were taught a trade, and the fine arts and literature were reserved for the richer classes.  By "liberal," Charlotte envisioned a generous and broad curriculum for all children, regardless of social class.  She was soon invited to teach and lecture at Bishop Otter Teacher Training College in Chichester, England, where she stayed for more than five years.  Convinced that parents would be greatly helped if they understood some basic principles about bringing up children, Charlotte gave a series of lectures in which she expounded on her educational philosophy.  These lectures were subsequently published as her first book, Home Education.

Inspired by Charlotte's vision, the Parents' Educational Union (later the Parents' National Education Union) was formed, and quickly expanded.  In 1891 Charlotte established a House of Education in Ambleside, England, for the training of governesses and others working with young children.  It is here that Charlotte Mason Education took shape, thus inspiring the use of the name Ambleside by Ambleside Schools International and its member schools.

By 1892 a Parents' Review School had been formed (later to be known as the Parents' Union School), at which the children followed Charlotte's educational philosophy and methods.  The following years brought more collections of writings by Charlotte, which were eventually published under the titles of Parents and Children, School Education, Ourselves, Formation of Character, and A Philosophy of Education.  Many more schools adopted her philosophy and methods, and the House of Education became a teacher training college to supply all the Parents' Union Schools that were springing up.  Charlotte spent her final years overseeing this network of schools devoted to "a liberal education for all."

After Charlotte's death in 1923, the House of Education was renamed Charlotte Mason College in her honour.  In the 1990s it merged with St Martin's College to become the Ambleside campus of St Martin's College (now the University of Cumbria).