A strange angel: William Norman Illingworth [1902–1980] and Sangreal School – towards a history of conservative alternative schools in 20th-century Britain

Purpose This work concerns William Norman Illingworth [1902–1980]. Disillusioned with teaching in conventional schools and inspired by Rudolf Steiner [1861–1925] he founded Sangreal School, in 1947, and operated this until the early 1970s. Sangreal was what I describe as a “conservative alternative school”, employing methods and pursuing goals not found in most British schools of the period but, unlike avowedly progressive establishments, guided by socially conservative principles. The purposes of the work are both to rescue his/Sangreal’s story from obscurity and to encourage research to establish if other such schools have existed and, if so, to describe and analyse them in an effort to give the category conservative alternative school the recognition it properly deserves. Design/methodology/approach The method is a combination of life history/biography and case study of a specific school. Findings The story is interesting in its own terms and points to the existence of a hitherto unnoticed category in history of education. Research limitations/implications This work may lead to the proper recognition of a neglected category. Originality/value This work deals with a school hitherto unknown to most people and may lead to the recognition of a new category.