Charles Henry Pearson was an Australian historian, educator, politician, and writer who was born in Britain on September 7, 1830, and died on May 29, 1894. John Tregenza said, "Pearson was the most brilliant intellectual in the Australian colonies." He was a strong Democrat, but he worked for reforms with a Puritan-like determination while also being kind and following all the rules and manners of public discussion. Pearson was born in Islington, London. He was the fourth son and tenth child of the Rev. John Norman Pearson, M.A., who was leader of the Church Missionary College, Islington at the time, and Harriet, née Puller. Sir John Pearson, QC was his younger brother. His early years were spent in Islington and Tunbridge Wells. He was home-schooled until he was 13 years old, when he started going to Rugby School and did well at first. After a while, he got into a fight with one of the masters, so his father took him away and sent him to a private teacher first, then to King's College London, where John Sherren Brewer and Frederick Denison Maurice helped him. He began going to Oriel College, Oxford, in 1849. He didn't like teaching, so he spent most of his time working for the Oxford Union. He was chosen president of the group in 1852 and 1853 and was friends with some of the most famous people of the time.
