Former Eton Master: ‘Chivalry Is the West’s Answer to the Problem of Masculinity’

Will Knowland says that marriage is 'fundamental to an individual man finding fulfilment'

Will Knowland, a writer and social commentator who focuses on masculinity and morality, speaking to NTD's "British Thought Leaders" programme in London in January 2023. Screenshot via The Epoch Times

A writer and former Eton teacher who was fired from his job after he refused to take down a video of a lecture challenging the theory of “toxic masculinity,” says that men must embrace tradition and fatherhood.

Will Knowland told NTD’s “British Thought Leaders” programme that “this idea that the truly strong man can restrain himself is one of the big points of chivalry that I think we’re missing today.”

Knowland was one of Eton’s youngest masters and taught there for nine years before being sacked for refusing to take down an online lecture on the patriarchy.

He was cleared of professional misconduct and received considerable support from Eton pupils, staff, and even government ministers.

“Sadly, however, the lecture never made it to the boys at Eton, because the recorded version was watched by a member of staff who found it offensive,” he said.

Independent Thinking

His job as an Eton master was to uphold the aims and ethos of the college, which aims at “broad-based critical discussion and independent thinking.”

Eton is an establishment that has produced around 20 British prime ministers.

In this file image, a student walks in front of Eton College, in Eton, west of London, on Oct. 1, 2015. Jack Taylor/AFP via Getty Images

Knowland said it was not only the “soul of Eton” that was under threat from a reluctance to discuss ideas.

“I think there’s a sense in which these institutions right at the top of education, the elite ones, the ones that are most affected by an ideology that is hostile to what they have stood for traditionally, it’s very much a top-down phenomenon,” he said.

Fatherhood

Since leaving Eton, Knowland has worked on his website, focusing on masculinity and morality, giving advice on the pitfalls facing men in a society that is increasingly conflicted about manhood.

“I think one of the main roots of what’s troubling men in their sense of masculine identity today is that going back to the sexual revolution in the 1960s, what we’ve got is a severing of manhood from fatherhood,” he said.

Knowland said that it was sad to hear young men contacting him, raising fears about getting married, scared of no-fault divorce laws, and afraid it will ruin them financially.

“I think that marriage is really fundamental to an individual man finding fulfilment, but it’s also fundamental to social stability, and the future of culture generally,” he said.

Couples arrange for Valentine's Day courthouse wedding services at the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif., on Feb. 14, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

“One of the big problems in the fall of Rome was the breakdown of marriage. Augustus made laws, trying to bring marriage back to encourage more men to do it, but even that wasn’t enough,” said Knowland.

He said that men have been historically valued for acts of courage, putting themselves in danger, or for aspects of life to do with the father’s role in protecting a mother and child.

“So being a man is very much about having a calling in your very body to those particular virtues. But if you take it away, then it just becomes a kind of empty swagger,” he added.

He noted that one of the main ways in which young men go “astray” is in wanting to be sexually active.

He said that when men sleep with as many women as possible “they lose that sense of deeper fulfilment of family.”

“And that longing for sex is really a longing for connection with a woman that goes beyond just the physical,” he said.

A man prays in a church as shoppers make their last minute purchases on Christmas Eve in Birmingham, England, on Dec. 24, 2018. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

European Civilization and Christianity

Knowland often draws on Christian scripture to make the case for men to start families.

“So you see yourself as leading your wife and leading your children towards virtue traditionally, that’s the main role of the father. And certainly in Christianity, and up until recently, European civilization and Christianity were basically the same thing,” he said.

“The father’s role is to get his family to heaven, and in so doing, get himself to heaven. So it’s a model of service rather than selfishness,” he added.

“Chivalry is essentially the West’s answer to the problem of masculinity,” he said, distinguishing it from the “swaggering bravado of machismo,” which he says is “shown by the man who’s forgotten that his strength is to be put in the service of the weak and into the service of his community, specifically women and children.”

“Instead, it’s about being a man with great manners, who’s developed the virtues, and who is able and willing to resort to violence if necessary, in the defence of what is good, but is otherwise going to be meek,” said Knowland.