Michael William McCrum

Michael William McCrum CBE (23 May 1924 – 16 February 2005) was an English academic and ancient historian who served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Head Master of Tonbridge School and Eton College.

Life

McCrum was born at Alverstoke in Hampshire. The son of a naval Captain, he grew up at naval bases where his father was stationed. He was educated at Horris Hill School, Newbury and Sherborne School before 2nd World War service as an able seaman and then sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy. He then won a scholarship to read Classics at Corpus Christi College. He graduated in 1948 with a Double First.

After graduation in 1948, McCrum became a master at Rugby School. He married the daughter of the headmaster, Sir Arthur fforde, in 1952. He was appointed Fellow of Corpus Christi in 1950 and was (an innovative) Tutor there under the Master, Sir George Thompson, leaving in 1962 to become headmaster of Tonbridge School, where he made a good reputation and transformed the school, emphasising academic standards and abolishing the old traditions of fagging and caning (corporal punishment) of junior boys by praeposters (senior boys). However, he did not abolish caning by masters, and made considerable use of it himself. His impressive stature and ability or determination to memorize the name and face of every boy (and teacher) in the school during the first week of the autumn term helped him to command respect. In 1970 he became Head Master of Eton College, a post arguably more prestigious but curiously one that allowed less initiative or authority than at Tonbridge, though it did still allow him to cane boys. He raised standards at Eton too after the era of Anthony Chenevix-Trench, whose weaknesses differentiated him from the self-disciplined McCrum. In 1980, he returned to Corpus Christi as Master, introducing women to the college in 1982. In 1987 he became the last of the University of Cambridge's part-time Vice-Chancellors. He was president of the Cambridge Society from 1989 to 1996.

An Anglican, he was chairman of the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England (from 1991) and was a member of the BBC/IBA religious affairs committee (while headmaster of Tonbridge, where, despite his reforming zeal in other respects, formal daily chapel services remained part of the fabric of school life while he was there; he did make attendance voluntary at Eton).

McCrum was married to Christine and had four children. One, Robert McCrum, was Literary editor of The Observer. He was appointed CBE in 1998.

In addition to a classical text written while first a fellow at Cambridge, he wrote a biography of Thomas Arnold, the noted headmaster of Rugby. This was published in 1990.