Michael Ernest Sadler was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Oxford. In 1885 he became Secretary of the extension lectures sub-committee of the Oxford University examinations delegacy. This was the start of a career in the study and promotion of education. From 1895 to 1903 he was the director of the office of special inquiries and reports in the Department of Education and was responsible for researching and reporting on educational policy and practice in Britain and abroad. He made a special study of the German education system. For further details of his career see the Dictionary of National Biography.