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Literacy in mid-nineteenth century Devon and Suffolk

University of British Columbia

In mid-nineteenth century, Devon and Suffolk were both agricultural counties and yet the level of literacy differed considerably between them. This thesis undertakes an investigation of literacy both between and within the two counties and in the process attempts to resolve why Devon was so much more literate than Suffolk. The concept of literacy is still shrouded by a degree of vagueness and it has only been possible to provide some tentative explanations for many of the problems involved. Nevertheless, this thesis has succeeded in locating some of the factors influencing the growth of basic literacy in the two counties. These factors were the extent of poverty, higher concentration of professional and commercial people, lower involvement in agricultural work, greater degree of urbanization and better communication facilities. Also, some of the common assumptions of literacy, e.g., schooling, demand for child labour and religious allegiance of the people, has been challenged, and the doors for the most fruitful areas to pursue revealed for future scholars. Most of the work for this thesis has stemmed from primary source material. The Parliamentary Papers is a mine of information and has been extremely helpful for this study. Even then, it should be pointed out that the Parliamentary Papers, despite its usefulness, have certain limitations which restricts the scope of this thesis.

Text

2010-03-09

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21667

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University of British Columbia

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