John Richard Buckland

The Hutchins School when Buckland was headmaster (AOT, PH30/1/342)

John Richard Buckland (1819–74), clergyman and first headmaster of the Hutchins School (1846–74), was the outstanding educationist in mid-nineteenth century Tasmania. Educated at Rugby and Oxford, he was a remarkable example of the influence of nurture. Like his father, the Rev John Buckland, founder of England's first preparatory school, he opposed corporal punishment; like an uncle, Arnold of Rugby, he saw his main task as producing Christian gentlemen; like another uncle, Professor William Buckland, the first geologist to demonstrate that the earth had experienced ice ages, he believed Christianity was reconcilable with advancing scientific knowledge; and sharing the interests of his cousin, naturalist Frank Buckland, he took pupils on excursions to the foothills of Mount Wellington. He conducted Sunday services at St John the Baptist Church, Goulburn Street, was a fellow of the Royal Society of Tasmania and a founding member of the Tasmanian Club.

Further reading: ADB 3; G Stephens, The Hutchins School, Hobart, 1979.

PA Howell