Queer Places:
Eton College, Windsor SL4 6DW, United Kingdom
University of Cambridge, 4 Mill Ln, Cambridge CB2 1RZ
26 Addison Ave, London W11 4QR, UK
Robert "Robin" John Grote Mayor (August 20, 1869 – June 19, 1947) was a distinguished British civil servant, classicist, and philosopher whose life
intersected deeply with elite intellectual and academic circles of late Victorian and mid-20th-century Britain.
Born in Twickenham, Middlesex, he came from a formidable lineage of scholars, ecclesiastics, and intellectuals. His father was the noted classical scholar and clergyman Joseph Bickersteth Mayor, while his mother, Alexandrina Jessie Grote, was the niece of prominent figures including the historian George Grote and the philosopher John Grote. He was also the brother of writer Flora Macdonald Mayor and educator Henry Bickersteth Mayor.
Mayor's educational trajectory was marked by consistent academic brilliance. He attended Temple Grove School before entering Eton College, where he distinguished himself as a Newcastle Scholar. He then matriculated at King's College, Cambridge, in 1888, following in the rich classical traditions of his family. At Cambridge, his academic achievements accumulated rapidly: he was named a Bell Scholar in 1889, achieved the prestigious title of Senior Classic in 1890, won the Craven Scholar in 1891, and graduated with a First Class in Part II of the Classical Tripos in 1892. He was elected a Fellow of King's College in 1894 and obtained his Master of Arts in 1896. Beyond his intellectual pursuits, he was also athletically inclined, winning the Inter-Varsity Cross Country Championship in 1891.
A central node in his intellectual and social life was his membership in the Cambridge Apostles, the elite, clandestine secret intellectual society that heavily influenced British cultural and academic thought. This affiliation formed part of a rich familial tapestry within the society; his son, Annandale Grote Mayor (known as John Mayor), son-in-law Richard Braithwaite, and grandson-in-law Patrick Duff were also members of the Apostles. Continuing his professional formation outside of pure academia, Mayor was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in January 1899, though his primary professional energies gravitated toward public administration.
In 1896, Mayor entered the civil service as a Junior Examiner in the Education Department of the Privy Council. His career in educational administration flourished over three decades. He advanced to Assistant Secretary of the Board of Education in 1907 and subsequently served as Principal Assistant Secretary from 1919 until his retirement in 1926. In recognition of his extensive public service, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1919 Birthday Honours. Following the First World War, he chaired important administrative bodies, including the Committee on Co-operation between Universities and Training Colleges from 1926 to 1928 and the Central Advisory Committee for the Certification of Teachers from 1930 to 1935.
Outside of his civil service career, Mayor cultivated a passionate interest in mountaineering. Elected to the Alpine Club in 1902, he spent his leisure time ascending European peaks alongside notable climbers such as Geoffrey Winthrop Young, who warmly recalled Mayor's harmonious and adaptable approach to mountaineering expeditions.
In his personal life, Mayor married Katherine Beatrice Meinertzhagen on 14 December 1912 in Kensington, London. Beatrice was the daughter of banker Daniel Meinertzhagen, the sister of soldier and ornithologist Richard Meinertzhagen, and the niece of social reformer Beatrice Webb (née Potter). The couple had a daughter, Teresa Georgina Grote Mayor, who later became Baroness Rothschild through her marriage to Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild.
In his later years, following his retirement from government administration, Mayor dedicated himself intensely to the study of philosophy. He spent his final months preparing a manuscript on the subject, sending the last pages to his typist in June 1947. Shortly thereafter, following an operation, he died unexpectedly at the National Temperance Hospital in London on 19 June 1947 at the age of 77, residing at 26 Addison Avenue, London, at the time of his death. His philosophical work was posthumously published in 1952. Through his membership in the Cambridge Apostles—a society historically recognized for its deeply homosocial and, for many members, homoerotic bonds—alongside his kinship network of brilliant intellectuals, classicists, and civil servants, Mayor remains a fascinating figure sitting at the intersection of British institutional power and elite intellectual counter-culture.
References:
 The Cambridge Apostles, 1820-1914: Liberalism, Imagination, and Friendship in British Intellectual and Professional Life 1st Edition by W.C. Lubenow |
Other references:
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