William Tuckwell


William Tuckwell, who liked to be known as the "radical parson", was an English Victorian clergyman well-known on political platforms for his experiments in allotments, his advocacy of land nationalisation, and his enthusiasm for Christian socialism. He was an advocate of teaching science in the schools.
He was born on 27 November 1829. From 1857 to 1864 he was headmaster of New College School. In 1864 the Warden of New College, Oxford, nominated him as headmaster of Taunton Grammar School, later known as Taunton College School. It was recorded that his "energy and vitality" increased the size and quality of the school. He died on 1 February 1919.

The ''Reminiscences''

He is best remembered as the author of Reminiscences of Oxford, which records the Oxford of the 1830s, but is somewhat misleading. Owen Chadwick records that he liked to "pretend to be much older than he was. ... What Tuckwell knew about were the fifties and sixties, and his portrait of Tractarian leaders is drawn from experiences in that later time; though quite often he likes to give the impression that it is much earlier."
His daughter was Gertrude Tuckwell, to whom his Reminiscences of a Radical Parson was dedicated.

Christian socialism

Tuckwell became active in politics in February 1884, at the time of the great reform bill. His work among the poor had led him to enquire much about their conditions and lives.
Over the next ten years he delivered more than a thousand speeches in support of Christian socialism and in favour of a redistribution of wealth and land.