Early Life
Born in Hove, Carpenter was educated at nearby Brighton College where his father was a governor; his brothers Charles and Alfred also went to school there. When he was ten, he displayed a flair for the piano. During these formative years, he spent his free time horse-riding or walking.
His academic talent appeared relatively late in his youth, but was prolific enough to earn him a place at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Whilst there he began to explore his feelings for men. One of the most notable examples of this is his close friendship with Edward Anthony Beck (later Master of Trinity Hall), which, according to Carpenter, had "a touch of romance". Beck eventually ended their friendship, causing Carpenter great emotional heartache. Carpenter's sense of rejection mirrored his general unease with his sexuality, causing him to visit male prostitutes in Paris. Carpenter graduated as 10th Wrangler in 1868. After university he joined the Church of England as a curate, "as a convention rather than out of deep Conviction". He was heavily influenced by the minister at his church, Frederick Denison Maurice, who was the leader of the Christian Socialist movement.
In the following years he experienced an increasing sense of dissatisfaction with his life in the church and university, and became weary of what he saw as the hypocrisy of Victorian society. He found great solace in reading poetry, later remarking that his discovery of the work of the gay, unconventionally spiritual, politically-radical Walt Whitman caused "a profound change" in him. (My Days and Dreams p. 64) Reading Whitman caused Carpenter to reject a life spent in a comfortable clerical post and instead he wished to dedicate himself to life helping the working-class gain the right to education.
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