 He won a ₤90 a year scholarship to The Queen's College, Oxford, where he had a distinguished career, being Cobden prizeman in 1878 and gaining a first class in the honour school of law in 1880.He was president of the Oxford Union and president of the Oxford University athletic club.He was amateur mile champion of Great Britain, 1879–81, and his interest in athletics led to his co-founding the Amateur Athletic Association, alongside Clement Jackson, and Montague Shearman, of which he was elected the first president.