Tom Brown's Schooldays

Tom Brown's Schooldays, first published in 1857, is a novel by Thomas Hughes, set at a public school, Rugby School for Boys, in the 1830s when Hughes himself had been a student there.

Setting

The geography described in the book is very different from the present day: see Rugby, Warwickshire#History. For example, most of the pools along the River Avon that the boys used for swimming, were obliterated when the BTH factory was built.

Related Topics:
Rugby, Warwickshire#History - River Avon - BTH

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In the book, Tom's first year at the school mentions no transport to Rugby except stagecoach, but the end part of Tom's last year mentions "the train". Therefore the Midland Railway was built along the Avon valley past Rugby while he was at the school. But none of his adventures around the river Avon mention the railway or its working, or the large rowdy noisy navvy-camp which would have been in the area while the railway was being built.

Related Topics:
Stagecoach - Midland Railway - Avon - Navvy

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County boundaries have been changed so that most of the Vale of the White Horse is now in Oxfordshire, not Berkshire as the author mentions several times.

Related Topics:
Oxfordshire - Berkshire

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