William Parker Brooke was a very educated man. He had just graduated from King's College, in Cambridge. His major was in the Classics. After his graduation at Cambridge he was offered a position as a teacher at Fettes, near Edinburgh. While he was teaching in Edinburgh he met and fell in love with one of his friend sisters, Mary Ruth. On December 18, 1879 on a very chilly December afternoon they were married. "She was a strong-willed, puritanical character, who had no qualms about voicing her disapproval of any of Rupert's friends,"(Hassall 22). Eight years and two children latter, on a warm August 3rd day, after nine months of pregnancy Rupert Chawner Brooke was born. Unknown to the parents at that time how a tremendous effect their son would have on millions of people because of his poetry. With the ninety five poems that he wrote and countless letters he would touch many with his poems of love, death, and life.
Rupert and his two older brothers had attended a prep school in the near by town of Hillbrow. There they learned all the rudimentary things that a young boy should learn at his age. Like history, mathematics, sports and so on. While at Hillbrow Rupert was not a very happy young man. Although he did not like it much there in 1898 he befriended a boy named James Strachey who would be one of his life long friends. These two bonded mainly because of their particular haircut which instead of looking more masculine actually made them look more feminine. "They were pounced on by a furious master, who bellowed(at Rupert and James) "Back to the changing room , both of you, and part your hair properly! You look like a couple of girls!, ""(Harris 26). That was the kind of treatment that they received at Hillbrow on a regular basis. .
In 1901 he had transferred out of Hillbrow to another school in Rugby called School Field, where his father was the taskmaster. Here he flourished, he was a very good football and cricket player and he co-edited the school magazine, The Phoenix.
