Toynbee attended public schools in Blackheath and Woolwich. In 1873 he began to study political economy at Oxford University, first at Pembroke College and from 1875 at Balliol College, where he went on to teach after his graduation in 1878. He was deeply influenced by John Ruskin while at Oxford. W.G. Collingwood states that he was one of Ruskin's warmest admirers and ablest pupils. He further notes that the philanthropic work of Toynbee truly illustrated the teaching of one of Ruskin's greatest books Unto This Last.