It began, remembers Rachel Knowland, with a Viking raid. Her husband, the sacked Eton English master Will Knowland, had recommended the classic Norse saga The Long Ships to students at the school s Huxley Book Club. He thought its buccaneering young hero Orm Tostesson might fire their teenage imaginations and they d learn some history, geography and anthropology along the way.
But Knowland was rapped over the knuckles when a colleague complained, not about the book itself, but about the The New Statesman magazine review he d added to pique their interest. A banquet of adventure by sea and land, with man-size helpings of battle and murder, robbery and rape, it enthused.
As we approach Christmas after this most challenging of years, families are looking forward to a precious bit of downtime; some welcome if short-lived respite from the horrors of the pandemic.
But for one family, the festive cheer will be somewhat muted. Will and Rachel Knowland, together with their five children ranging in ages from 14 to a still breastfeeding ten-month-old, are about to be evicted from their home in the grounds of Britain s most famous public school. And all, they claim, for daring to stand up for free speech.
Will Knowland is the Eton English teacher fired for refusing to remove a lecture entitled The Patriarchy Paradox from his YouTube channel, in which he questions current radical feminist orthodoxy and rails against erosion of male identity and traditional gender roles.
Eton Head Master s row with beaks led to intervention of bishop under 600-year-old rule
An Eton housemaster wrote to the Bishop of Lincoln, Eton’s “Visitor” under rules dating back to its foundation in 1440
18 December 2020 • 9:00pm
Bishop Christopher Lowson descended on the famous school in 2018
A dispute between Eton’s Head Master and the “beaks” led to one of the country’s most senior bishops intervening under a 600-year-old rule, The Telegraph has learned.
A housemaster at the famous school wrote to the Bishop of Lincoln, Eton’s “Visitor” under rules dating back to its foundation in 1440, in a plea for help.
BBC News
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image captionOne complainant said Mowbray groped his bottom with a forceful squeeze
A former Eton College teacher has been jailed for five years for a string of sexual offences against pupils during nocturnal visits to their bedrooms.
Matthew Mowbray, 49, went into boys rooms under the guise of discussing school work, Reading Court Court heard.
He was found guilty of eight counts of sexual activity with a child and not guilty of one against a girl.
Judge Heather Norton QC said Mowbray had committed the grossest breach of trust to children and their families.
Mowbray previously admitted to six counts of making indecent images of children and one of voyeurism.
An Eton College paedophile teacher was told he had committed the most gross breach of trust as he was jailed for five years today for late-night abuse of pupils.
Matthew Mowbray, 49, was found guilty of eight counts of sexual activity with a child after admitting downloading hundreds of indecent images of children.
He had run a photography club and took pictures of pupils before combining them with child abuse images to create his own indecent creations.
Mowbray - who taught geography at the £42,000-a-year college - had been branded a skilful and deceitful manipulator during the harrowing trial at Reading Crown Court.