Tom Brown’s School Days

novel by Hughes

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Britannica Editors

History

Tom Brown’s School Days, novel by Thomas Hughes, published in 1857. Tom Brown is an early, well-drawn character in what was to become a familiar genre in English fiction: a chronicle of life at an English boys’ boarding school. In the novel, Tom, a student at Rugby School in the time of Thomas Arnold’s headmastership, is harassed by the school bully, Flashman, but overcomes his trials. During his school career, Tom does very well academically...