Background
Hird was born in Ashby, Lincolnshire (now part of Scunthorpe) to Robert and Fanny Dennis Hird née Kendall.
Hird was born in Ashby, Lincolnshire (now part of Scunthorpe) to Robert and Fanny Dennis Hird née Kendall.
Hird was a member of the Socialist al Association, and in 1896 resigned his church. In 1899 he was chosen to be the first principal of Ruskin College, Oxford. The college"s governing charter required the institution to show "neutrality in religion and politics", however, Hird, who was described as "a man of a forcible and attractive personality..known also to hold Nationalist and Socialist views of an advanced type" was found to be using the college for propagandist purposes and was dismissed from his post in 1909.
His sacking from Ruskin led to a students" strike, and he became warden of the Central Labour College established by trade unions to provide independent working class education.
He was the second of five sons, though only three survived to adulthood. The Hird family were also Methodists and well known in the hamlet. Robert Hird was a grocer and Hird Terrace (no longer standing) was once named after the family.
Then a year later he was ordained as a priest and appointed curate of Christchurch, Battersea.
He was removed from London to become rector of Eastnor, Herefordshire.
Hird was a member of the Socialist al Association, and in 1896 resigned his church. The college"s governing charter required the institution to show "neutrality in religion and politics", however, Hird, who was described as "a man of a forcible and attractive personality..known also to hold Nationalist and Socialist views of an advanced type" was found to be using the college for propagandist purposes and was dismissed from his post in 1909.
When it was discovered that Hird was a member of the Social Democratic Federation in 1894, he was forced to resign from the Temperance Society.