Henry Hinde, M.B.E., Rugby's Honoured Educator

Written to fulfill a promise to his daughter, this biography of Henry Hinde, M.B.E., Pupil-Teacher, Student-Teacher, Soldier, Teacher, Headmaster and Advisor, will, I hope, reveal a man whose life was dedicated to Education in its widest sense, and to the education of children in Rugby, and Warwickshire in general. From aged 13 years, Henry Hinde was focused on joining the teaching profession, but that did not stop him enlisting in the Army during WW1 as soon as he was old enough (1915), where he was wounded (twice!) and served until the end of the war. Promoted from Assistant teacher to Headmaster after 11 years in his first school, New Bilton Council School, his abilities were already so appreciated by the Education Authority that he was invited to be Head of a brand-new school, Hillmorton Paddox Junior & Infants, when that was opened in 1938. The story of his career is, in consequence, the early history of both New Bilton and the Paddox school (1938-1958) including, for the latter, a unique amount of detail of school life during WW2, and provides more than sufficient evidence as to why, today, two schools in Rugby (separate Junior and Infants) are named after him.