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Education, Literacy
and the Reading Public
Amy J. Lloyd
University of Cambridge

Various source media, British Library Newpapers

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In considering the development and growth of thecentury, it was estimated that as many as three-newspaper press in nineteenth-century Britain, it isquarters of working-class children had attended aimportant to keep in mind the question of audience. In

Sunday school at some point in their lives. The Church

1800 around 40 percent of males and 60 percent ofof England and the nonconformist churches alsofemales in England and Wales were illiterate; by 1900

operated day schools—often called "voluntary"

illiteracy for both sexes had dropped to around 3schools—with the non-denominational British andpercent. Thus, during the course of the century, there

Foreign School Society being established in 1808 and

was an enormous expansion in the size of the reading

the Church of England founding its National Society for

public in Britain, giving new markets and audiences toPromoting the Education of the Poor in 1811; voluntary

publishers of books, periodicals and newspapers. Thisschools were also established by nonconformist

increase in literacy is, therefore, an important adjunctdenominations and Roman Catholics. There was also ato the history of the nineteenth-century newspaper

growing number of private schools during this period.

press, and this essay will explore how this increase was

In these, there were great variations in quality ofachieved.

provision—from the "dame schools" which were often
educationally worthless (many operating as a childminding service) to very competent private schools for

Working-Class Education
Much of the rise in literacy was brought about throughincreases in the provision of schooling during theworking-class children. Finally, education was also
provided in a number of other settings, including somefactories and Poor Law institutions.

nineteenth century—especially for working-classchildren. At the beginning of the nineteenth century,
education for the working classes was available on ahaphazard basis in England and Wales. One of theprimary providers of education was the churches, which
ran Sunday schools and day schools. As all Sunday
schools taught reading (so that children could read theScriptures) and some also taught writing and evenarithmetic, they were an important source of education
for working-class children during this period. Growing
in great numbers during the late eighteenth andnineteenth centuries, Sunday schools were moreover
well attended. In 1800 there were 2,000, with enrolment
covering about 10 percent of children between the agesof five and eighteen; by 1851 there were 23,000 Sunday
schools, with enrolment covering around 55 percent(2.4 million children). Indeed, by the mid nineteenth

However, as late as the 1850s, approximately half of allchildren in England and Wales attended no school(other than Sunday school). Day schools were not as
popular as Sunday schools for working-class children,as they charged fees and operated during the week.
Indeed, many working-class parents—especiallyunskilled workers—were forced through economic
need to send their children to work, rather than toschool. Moreover, as the average length of attendance
was only around three years, even those children who
did attend day schools probably did not achieve a highlevel of educational attainment.

The State only gradually became more involved in theelementary schools from the ages of five to ten wasprovision of education during the nineteenth century.

made compulsory and, in 1891, all school fees in state

By the early nineteenth century, it was generally

elementary schools were abolished. By the end of thebelieved that education for the working classes wasnineteenth century, board schools were the mostnecessary, but there were arguments over how much

important provider of education to working-classshould be provided, what should be taught (especially inchildren, although the Church of England retained aterms of religion) and the role the government and themonopoly over schooling in many rural areas.

churches should play. Indeed, major divisions arose
due to religion, with the Church of England fighting toremain dominant in educational provision for the poor

The situation was somewhat different in Scotland.

and nonconformists arguing against the continued

There, the responsibility for the provision of education

subsidization of the schools run by the Church ofrested with individual parishes, which were required toEngland. Consequently, sectarian squabbling dogged

establish schools and pay a schoolmaster, with funds

every step taken by the government. The first provision

provided from a rate charged on landed property. Theseby the State for public education was an annual subsidy

schools served both the middle and working classes,

in 1833 of 20,000 pounds to aid the costs of the runningand generally led to higher educational attainments

and building of voluntary schools; by 1862 the grant had

than in England and Wales. However, as Scotland

risen to 775,000 pounds. During the late 1830s, anbecame increasingly urbanised during the nineteenthinspectorate was established to oversee these state-century, this system often could not cope and children

aided schools and a payment-by-results system wasstarted slipping through the educational net. As in

introduced during the early 1860s. In 1867 the Second

England and Wales, Scotland received money to aid its

Reform Act was passed, which gave the vote to most of

voluntary schools and gained an education inspectorate

the male, urban working class. This gave increasing

during this period; it also had a separate Education Act

impetus for reforming Britain's elementary educationin 1872 that brought in more sweeping reforms thansystem—something for which reformers had beenthat instituted two years earlier in England and Wales:

calling for many decades—as it was believed that theseschool was made compulsory for children aged five tonew voters needed a minimum level of education. In

thirteen, voluntary and parish schools were transferred

1870 the Education Act was passed in which the State,

to school boards, and many new schools were built.

for the first time, turned to the direct provision ofUnlike in England and Wales, religious disputes did notelementary schools. Satisfying neither the Church ofhinder debates over education.

England nor the nonconformists, the Act maintained
the existing system of voluntary schools (most of whichwere run by the Church of England) and authorised thebuilding of locally-controlled and funded "board"schools in areas where there was an inadequate
number of existing schools. In 1880 attendance at

So far, only working-class elementary education hasbeen addressed. In England and Wales during thenineteenth century, there was also a secondary school
system that was largely private in organisation andstratified by class. In the late 1870s, however, somecurriculum (although a more modern curriculum, suchlarger urban school boards started to supply higher-as mathematics, was also gradually introduced), andgrade schools for those wanting to receive further

many boys who attended the public schools later

education, although they did not provide a route to theentered the home or imperial civil service, politics, theuniversities. It was only in 1902 that the government

professions, or joined the ranks of commissioned

created a secondary education system in England andofficers in the army.

Wales. In Scotland, there were facilities for secondary
education in burgh schools and academies, whichreached much further down the social scale than in

Throughout the nineteenth century, most middle- andEngland and Wales; during the 1890s, moreover,upper-class girls were educated at home byincreased money was provided to expand post-

governesses or in private schools. While many schools

elementary provision in elementary schools.

for girls tended to concentrate on the teaching of
decorative "accomplishments", an increasing number
taught a broad, academic curriculum. In the 1850s,Middle- and Upper-Class Education
During the first half of the nineteenth century, formal
schooling for middle- and upper-class boys started
becoming the norm. Education was often deemed
important for middle-class boys due to their work inindustry, commerce and, increasingly, the professions.
Some were educated at home by tutors, others atendowed grammar schools. A growing number of
middle-class parents were attracted by the new private

serious schooling for middle- and upper-class girls
started to develop, with the founding of the North
London Collegiate School and Cheltenham Ladies'
College. Grammar schools for girls were also foundedfrom the 1870s onwards by the Endowed Schools
Commissioners and the Charity Commissioners. By theturn of the century, some of the more ambitious girls'
schools were teaching curriculum geared at university
entrance.

schools which were springing up to meet demand;these could range from one-room schools for lowermiddle-class boys to proprietary boarding schools.

The Rise in Literacy

Finally, many middle-class parents who wanted their

Rising educational provision—especially for working-sons to become gentlemen also started turning to theclass children—was one of the primary factors thatexpensive public schools—formerly the preserve of theaccounted for the steep and steady decline in illiteracy

landed classes - which reformed during the midin Britain during the nineteenth century. However, it

nineteenth century from being 'nurseries of vice' tomust be borne in mind that people also picked up andinstitutions stressing gentlemanly conduct, religious

honed the ability to read and write through otherand moral principles, self-discipline, independence,means, including learning and practising at home andorganised athletics and intellectual ability. Classicalthrough extended education. Moreover, education waslanguages, philosophy and literature dominated thenot made compulsory and free until the end of thenineteenth century, so the initiative for schooling

Developments in the newspaper press during thislargely lay with the parents. Thus, the simple provisionperiod thus went hand-in-hand with these changes inof education does not explain the whole story behind

education and literacy, which created new markets andrising literacy rates during the nineteenth century; thenew audiences.

initiative of parents and children is important as well.

The sum total of these efforts was a steady drop in
illiteracy rates throughout the period—even before theintroduction of the state system of elementaryNOTES
1Historians have been able to estimate literacy rates in nineteenth-century Britain by analyzing marriage registers. Under Lord

education in 1870. In 1800 around 40 percent of males

Hardwick's Marriage Act of 1754, only marriages that were recorded

and 60 percent of females in England and Wales werein Church of England registers were legal; this required the signature

1illiterate. By 1840 this had decreased to 33 percent ofmen and 50 percent of women, and, by 1870, theseof the bride, bridegroom and two witnesses. In 1836, a system ofsecular state registration was introduced. Using these registers,
historians have been able to measure literacy rates by calculating

rates had dropped further still to 20 percent of men andhow many people were able to sign their names. While a somewhat

25 percent of women. By the turn of the century,

imperfect measure, it does provide a general indication regarding

illiteracy rates for both sexes had dropped to around 3

changes in literacy rates throughout the period.

percent. Throughout most of the nineteenth century,
Scotland, with its different education system, had lower
illiteracy rates; in 1855, for example, only 11 percent ofmen and 23 percent of women were illiterate. However,by the late nineteenth century, the gap between
England, Wales and Scotland had narrowed and closed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Daunton, M.J. Wealth and Welfare: An Economic and Social History ofBritain, 1851-1951. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Mitch, D.F. The Rise of Popular Literacy in Victorian England: TheInfluence of Private Choice and Public Policy. Philadelphia: University ofPennsylvania Press, 1992.
Rose, Jonathan. The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes.

The Reading Public

New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.

The rise in literacy in nineteenth-century Britain led toStephens, William Brewer. Education in Britain 1750-

an increase in the size of the reading public. Most of therise was confined to the working classes and, as such,impacted them the most, enabling more and more

1914. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998.
Sutherland, Gillian. 'Education'. In The Cambridge Social History ofBritain, 1750-1950. Volume 3. Edited by F.M.L. Thompson (1990):
pp.119-70.

people to write letters (allowing them to maintainrelationships outside their immediate localities), fill
their leisure hours with the reading of imaginative
fiction and newspapers, expand their employment
opportunities, and follow and participate in politics.

Vincent, David. Literacy and Popular Culture: England, 17501914.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

CITATION
Lloyd, Amy J.: “Education, Literacy and the Reading Public.” British Library
Newspapers. Detroit: Gale, 2007.
© Cengage Learning 2007

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