Charlotte Maria Shaw Mason.

Charlotte Maria Shaw Mason was a prominent pioneering British educator. Her ideas led to the Charlotte Mason Method of education. The principle feature of the method is the use of living books, books written by a passionate author that are written in a narrative style.

Charlotte Mason was born in Bangor in 1842. Mason enrolled in the Home and Colonial Society for the training of teachers and later taught for more than ten years at Davison School in Worthing. During her time at the Davison School she began to form her ideas on liberal education for all social classes.

Following her time in Worthing, Charlotte Mason lectured at the Bishop Otter Teacher Training College in Chichester. Here she gave lectures on education to parents which were later published and formed the basis for the foundation of the Parents’ National Educational Union.

By 1891 Charlotte Mason had moved to Ambleside and established a training school for governesses. Whilst at Ambleside she wrote many tracts on education including Parents and Children, School Education, Formation of Character and A Philosophy of Education.

Her influence spread and many schools adopted her methods. The training school that she founded broadened and became the Charlotte Mason Teacher Training College. The College supplied teachers to the emerging Parents Educational Union Schools and Mason herself took an active role overseeing the progress of the schools.