Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/202

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Haig Brown
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Haig Brown

On retiring from his London practice in 1887 Haden lived in the neighbourhood of Alresford, Hampshire. From 1888 he resided at Woodcote Manor, an old Elizabethan house, where he died on 1 June 1910. Lady Haden died in 1908. By her he had one daughter and three sons, his eldest son, Francis Seymour, C.M.G., being distinguished in the colonial service in South Africa.

There are two painted portraits of Haden, both done by Jacomb Hood in 1892, one being in the possession of his son, Mr. F. Seymour Haden, the other belonging to the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers. There is a portrait drawing by Alphonse Legros (done about 1883, and once in the possession of Messrs. Keppel of New York). His portrait was etched by himself (3 plates), L. Flameng (1875), L. Lacretelle (1878), W. Strang (1883), H. von Herkomer (2 plates, 1892), and Percy Thomas (1900); it was engraved by C. W. Sherborn (1880), and was mezzotinted by A. Legros (1881), G. Robinson (1887), and Sir Frank Short (1911, after the Painter-Etchers' portrait by Jacomb Hood).

[H. N. Harrington, Descriptive Catalogue, 1910 (including a complete series of reproductions of the etchings); The Times, 2 June 1910; information supplied by his son, Mr. Francis Seymour Haden.]

A. M. H.


HAIG BROWN, WILLIAM (1823–1907), master of Charterhouse, born at Bromley by Bow, Middlesex, on 3 Dec. 1823, was third son of Thomas Brown of Edinburgh by his wife Amelia, daughter of John Haig, of the family of 'Haig of Bemersyde.' In his tenth year he received a presentation to Christ's Hospital, where he remained, first in the junior school at Hertford, and later on in London, until 1842. Throughout life he maintained a close connection with the Hospital, of which he became a 'donation governor' in 1864, and from that time took an active part in the work of the governing body, his experience being of especial service in connection with the removal of the school to Horsham in 1902. He was author, in 1899, both of 'The Christ's Hospital Carmen' in Latin, and of 'The School Song' in English, with an added version in Greek, French, and German. In 1842 he entered Pembroke College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1846 as eighth junior optime in the mathematical and second in the first class in the classical tripos. Elected a fellow in October 1848 (M.A. 1849), and taking holy orders (deacon 1852 and priest 1853), he engaged in college work until 1857, when he was appointed headmaster of Kensington proprietary school.

In 1863, on the resignation of Dr. Richard Elwyn of the headmastership of Charterhouse, Haig Brown was appointed his successor on 12 Nov., in spite of the long established tradition that 'the Schoolmaster,' such was then his title, should have been educated at the school. On his first public appearance in Charterhouse at the Founder's Day dinner (12 Dec), Haig Brown sat next to Thackeray, who died twelve days later. Next year Haig Brown proceeded LL.D. at Cambridge.

The position of Charterhouse was at this time critical. Placed in the heart of London, and with the new Smithfield Market at its doors, its existence as a boarding-school was rapidly becoming impossible, and the report of the Public Schools' Commission, issued early in 1864, definitely recommended its removal. Apart from the objections of politicians like A. S. Ayrton [q. v. Suppl. I], who denounced the removal as an injury 'to twenty, thirty, or even 50,000 families in the metropolis,' who had a claim to benefit by its endowments, a stubborn resistance was offered by the governors and their chairman, Archdeacon Hale, the master of the hospital, whose authority was then superior to that of 'the Schoolmaster.' Haig Brown thereupon issued a circular to old Carthusians, laying the whole case before them, the result being that they voted in the proportion of ten to one for removal, while he also won over Lord Derby, an influential governor, who became prime minister in June 1866, and he secured the support of Gladstone, who had recently been made a governor. In May 1866 the governors decided on the removal, and a private bill, giving the necessary powers, was introduced in the House of Lords, passed the House of Commons on 16 August, and became law four days later.

The new and admirable site at Godalming was accidentally discovered by Haig Brown, who, when on a visit to his wife's father at his rectory of Hambledon in the neighbourhood, heard that the 'Deanery Farm estate' was for sale, walked over the same day, and made up his mind. The governors, who had sold a large portion of their London estate to Merchant Taylors' school for a price far below its real value, refused, by what proved to be a very costly error, to purchase more than fifty-