Education Learning Journey
"Strange notions, has he?" said the old man. "Ah, there's too much of that sending to school in these days! It only does harm. Every gatepost and barn's door you come to is sure to have some bad word or other chalked upon it by the young rascals: a woman can hardly pass for shame sometimes. If they'd never been taught how to write they wouldn't have been able to scribble such villainy. Their fathers couldn't do it, and the country was all the better for it."
Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, Book 2, Chapter 1.
Fortunately not everyone was of this opinion about education, which is why you can read this today.
Follow the steps to see how your great-grandparents fought for our education.
Click on the steps below to explore.
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Education Learning Journey. Step 2. Church Schools and Workers.
Many schools were originally founded by the Church or by rich benefactors, and maintained by public subscription, to educate orphans and destitute children of the parish. These charity schools taught the 3Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) and Bible studies, enough to equip the children for a useful life and prevent them becoming beggars.Sunday schools were founded, so that children who spent their weekdays working might learn to become law abiding citizens by Christian guidance, without inconvenience to their employer. As the people moved away from the countryside and into the cities to work in the mills education became less important than earning enough to stay alive. Children were more value to their families at work in the mills for a few pence a week than sitting in some room learning to read books they could never afford to buy. Mill owners did not want their workers reading the dangerous, new Radical ideas printed in the newspapers and periodicals published by the supporters of political reform, such as Richard Carlile and James Wroe. Very few mill owners could see that educating their workforce could improve their value, but some such as Edmund Potter, grandfather of Beatrix, who owned the largest printing works in the world, at Dinting Vale in Glossop, provided schools for the children and equipped libraries for the adult workers. The Greg family at Quarry Bank Mill provided a school for the mill children, and the attendance books may be seen on this website. Robert Greg organised sports and activities for the children on Saturday afternoons after work, and Mrs Greg arranged educational trips, such as to the Art Treasures Exhibition at the Manchester Art Gallery, you can read two of the "Thank you" letters sent to her by half-timers at the mill school, included on this website. The children in the cities however were not as fortunate as their cousins out in the more rurally placed mills. Search for "Greg school certificate" to see the attendance book for the school at Quarry Bank Mill in 1848. Search for the authors Mary Henshall and Hannah Venables to read the letters from the girls who went to the Exhibition. |
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