Thomas
Hughes,
the son of a landowner from Uffington
in Berkshire, was born in 1822. After being educated at Oriel College,
Oxford, Hughes trained as a lawyer. While
a student Hughes read
The Kingdom of Christ
(1838) by Frederick Denison Maurice. In
the book Maurice argued that politics and religion are inseparable
and that the church should be involved in addressing social questions.
Hughes
became a supporter of Chartism and after
the decision by the House of Commons to
reject the Chartist Petition in 1848,
he joined with Frederick
Denison Maurice and Charles
Kingsley
to form the Christian
Socialist movement. The men discussed how the Church could help
to prevent revolution by tackling what they considered were the reasonable
grievances of the working class.
The Christian Socialists
published two journals, Politics of the People
(1848-1849) and The Christian Socialist
(1850-51). The group also produced a series of pamphlets under the
title Tracts on Christian Socialism.
Other initiatives included a night school in Little Ormond Yard and
helping to form eight Working
Men's Associations. In 1854 the evening
classes that the Christian Socialists
had been involved in developed into the establishment of the Working
Men's College.
In 1856 Hughes wrote Tom
Brown's Schooldays (1856) based
on his school experiences at Rugby School.
His follow-up novel, Tom
Brown at Oxford was less successful.
Hughes became a Liberal MP between 1865
and 1874 and principal of the Working
Men's College from 1872 to 1883. Thomas Hughes died in 1896.
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