George Darnell

Darnell was born on 1 December 1799 at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, the eldest son of John Darnell (Miller) and his wife Mary, formerly Mary Holloway.^[2][3]

After running a preparatory school at Market Harborough^{[citation needed]} he came to London and established, and conducted for many years, a large classical day school in Islington.^[4] Though physically weak he was a shrewd and caring man whose publications aimed to make preparatory schooling less daunting for pupils.^[1]

His series of Copybooks were widely used for many years in elementary schools, and Darnell's Copybooks became a household name from their introduction in the 1840s. The books were widely imitated, but he was the first to introduce the concept of giving a line of copy in pale ink, to be first written over by the pupil, then to be copied in the next blank line.^[1]

His educational writings included A Short and Certain Road to Reading (1845), Grammar Made Intelligible to Children (1846), and Arithmetic Made Intelligible to Children (1855),^[5] which for many years had an enormous sale. The prefaces to these short works contained innovative practical suggestions for teachers, which came to be widely adopted.^[1]

Darnell, who was unmarried, died at his home, 70 Gibson Square, Islington, on 26 February 1857, aged fifty-eight,^[1] and was buried on the west side of Highgate Cemetery. The epitaph on his grave reads:

In memory of George Darnell; For thirty years principal of the Theberton School, Islington; A most skilful and loving instructor of the young; A zealous friend to the cause of popular education; Author of several works designed to render easy the beginning of knowledge; His earthly life, marked by active goodwill towards men, by generosity and self-sacrifice ended serenely on the 26th day of February 1857 in the 59th year of his age. Reader, so live; that - by God's grace - so thou mayst die.^[6]