The Development of

Adult Education In Manchester

From c. 1830s To 1914

A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester

for the degree of Ph. D.

in the Faculty of Education

1994

by

Colin G Lees

Department of Education

. 1'. 0
CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The development of adult education in the Page 11

19th century: an overview.

Chapter 2 Adult education in Manchesterc. 1830s-1870. Page 106

Chapter 3 Adult education provision by the Christian churches and Page 174
related organisationsin Manchester.

a. ManchesterYMCA and adult education to Page 177

1914.
b. The Christian churches, other related Page 220
organisationsand adult education in
Manchesterto 1914.
c. The adult school movement in Manchester to Page 240
1914.

Chapter 4 Adult education in Ancoats. Page 285

Chapter 5 Local Authority Provision of Recreative Activities Page 359

and Adult Education in Manchester from 1830s-1914.

Chapter 6 Further initiatives in adult education in Page 392

Manchester, 1870-1914.

Chapter 7 Conclusions. Page 412

Appendices Page 421

Bibliography Page 446

I
APPENDICES

Appendix A Extensions to the Manchestercity boundary, Page 421

1838-1938..

Appendix B Bibliographical Notes. Page 422

Appendix C ManchesterNew College 1840-1853. Page 426

1. Members of staff. Page 426

2. Numbers of students 1840-1853. Page 427
3. Principals of the college 1840-1853. Page 428
4 Presidentsof the college 1840-1853. Page 428
5. Chairmen of Committee 1840-1853. Page 428

Appendix D Chart illustrating the History of Adult Schools Page 429

under the care of Friends', 1847-1901.

Appendix E Table showing distribution of Adult Schools in Page 430

Great Britain in 1914.

Appendix F Average weekly attendancesat the Manchester Page431

Adult Schools, August 1908-October 1910 and
May 1912.

3
APPENDICES contd.

Appendix G Membership and attendancefigures for the Page 434

Friends' Adult Schools in Manchesterin 1912 and
1914

Appendix H Development of public library provision in Page 435

Manchester from 1852-1914

Appendix I Number of times personshave used the News Page 436

Room of the Free Public Libraries in Manchester
during two weeks - one in February 1905 and one
in August 1905 - and the number of visitors on
Sunday throughout that year.

Appendix J Increasein the number of volumes in the Page 437

ManchesterPublic Free Libraries from 1852-1914

Appendix K Number of borrowers' cards in force at the Page 438

ManchesterPublic Free Libraries at
September5th, 1904, and September5th, 1905.

Appendix L Illustration of the graded system of coursesof Page 439

instruction adaptedto the requirements of the
different classesof studentsin the Manchester
Evening Schools

4
APPENDICES contd.

Appendix M 1. Total numbers of studentsregistered at Page 440

ManchesterEvening Schools from 1903-1904to
1912-1913.

2. Numbers of studentsregistered at the Municipal Page 441

Schools of Technology, Art and Commerce in
Manchester.

a. Municipal School of Technology Page 441

b. Municipal School of Art Page 442

c. Municipal School of Commerce Page 443

Appendix N Grants received from Central Government. Page 444

1. Grants received from Central Government by Page 444

ManchesterEvening Schools (excluding the
Municipal schools of Technology and Art)

2. Grants received from Central Government by Page 445

the Municipal Schools of Technology and Art.

5
 Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to draw together the researchthat has been done on adult

in
education nineteenth-centuryManchester and to fill gaps which have been left from

previous research. From a detailed review in the first chapter of the thesis of the

publications on adult education in Manchester from the 1830s to 1914, decisions were

to be
madeas which omissionsmight rectified.

By 1914 adult education in Manchesterwas provided by three main sources: voluntary

organisations,which had traditionally undertaken the task, and two nineteenth-century

additions: the State and the In

universities. a detailed analysisof the developmentof adult

education in Manchester from the 1830s to 1914 each of the three aspects has been

examined. Particular is
attention given to institutions about which little research had

previously been accomplished:the Manchester and Ancoats Working Man's Colleges,

ManchesterRuskin Hall, the adult school movementin the city and the educationalwork

of the Manchester Young Men's Christian Association. The contribution of the local

educationauthority from 1870 is

onwards examinedin depth, and the developmentof the

city's extensivenetwork of eveningclassesis featured.

Working-class initiatives in educationare surveyedat somelength through the activities of

the Manchester Hall of Science, the Working Men's Clubs and Institutes, the Workers'

Educational Association and the University Tutorial Classes,in addition to the ones

mentionedearlier. Rather more brief treatment is accordedto the ManchesterMechanics'

Institution, the New Mechanics' Institution, the Lyceums, the university extension

movement in Manchester,the Ancoats RecreationMovement, the Ancoats Art Museum,

the ManchesterUniversity Settlementand the seculareducation activities arrangedby the

Anglican, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist denominations and other related

organisations in Manchester.

In spite of the increasingresponsibilitiesassumedby the State and by the universities,the

efforts of the voluntary agencies

were still most by
necessary 1914 for the provision of

adult educationalfacilities in Manchester.

6
 Declaration

No portion of the work

referred to in this theslis
has been subtnitted in
support of an application
for another degree or
qualification of this or any
other university or other
institute of learning.

Notes on Copyright

Copyright in text of this thesis rests with the Author. Copies (by any process) either
in full, or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by
the Author and lodged in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester.
Details may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such
copies made. Further copies (by any process) of copies made in accordance with
such instructions may not be made without the permission (in writing) of the
Author.

2. The ownership of any intellectual property rights which may be described in this
thesis is vested in the University of Manchester,subject to any prior agreementto
the contrary, and may not be made available for use by third parties without the
written permission of the University, which will prescribethe terms and conditions
of any suchagreement.

Further information on the conditions under which disclosuresand exploitation may

take place is availablefrom the Head of Departmentof Education Department.

7
Acknowledgments

I should like to expresgrateful thanks to Dr. Alex Robertson for supervisingthis thesisand

for his continued assistanceand support. The help and co-operation in their various ways

of Mr Roy Griffiths; Mr. Norman Lees; Mrs. Carolyn Lees; Ms. Jane Greaves; Professor

Michael Rose of the University of Manchester; Mrs. Dora Laidlar and Ms. June Smith of

the John Rylands University Library, Manchester; Mrs. Pat Hurst and Ms. Jean Hatton,
Librarian and AssistantLibrarian of the Department of Adult Education Library, and Mrs.

Stephanie Jacman, Librarian of the Extramural Studies Library at the University of

Manchester; Mr. Derek Legge, formerly senior lecturer and deputy head of the Department

of Adult Education, University of Manchester; Fr. David Lannan, Salford DiocesanActivist

at the Sacred Heart Presbytery, Derker, Oldham; Mr. Geoffrey Palmer; Mr. Norman

Chatbarn; Mr. Christopher Charlton of the Department of Adult Education, University of

Nottingham; Mr. Lester Burney; Mrs. Ivy Ecroyd; the staff in the Archives and Local

History sections of Manchester Central Library; the staff in the John Rylands University

Library, Manchester.

8
List of abbreviations

F.F.D. S.A. Friends'First Day School Association

P. S.A. Pleasant Sunday Afternoon

W.E.A. Workers' EducationalAssociation

Y. M. C. A. Young Men's Christian Association

9
Statement of candidate's degrees

1970 *.
B. A. (C.N. A. )

1973 Diploma in ManagementStudies(Advanced)

(University of Salford)

1977 M. A. (University of Keele)

1983 P.G. C.E. (University of Manchester)

10
Chapter 1
The development of adult education in the 19th century:
an overview

In his pioneering work A History of Adult Education in Great Britain, Thomas Kelly

the
establishesand analyses beginningsand developmentof education for adults from the
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain to the second half of the twentieth century. The

preface to the first edition of this work in 1962 provides some indication of the

complexities involved in arriving at a satisfactory definition of what constitutes "adult

education", showing that the term "though variously defined nearly always implies a
....
measureof formal instruction" whilst at the same time the significant debt to agencies

which use more informal meansreceivesfundamental I

acknowledgement.

Examples of both approachesare examinedin detail in this thesis which comprisestwo

main functions: the making of an original contribution to knowledge through the

elimination of gaps, because of the somewhat unsystematic nature of existing research, in

the overall picture of the amenitiesavailablefor the education of adults in Manchester

between the 1830s and 1914, especiallyin areasin which so far little researchhas been

done; and the drawing together of research findings which have concentrated upon

identifying and tracing the origins, growth, progress and, where appropriate, decline of

initiatives in education for adults at national or local levels during this period. Three

instancesin particular - the efforts of the city's religious denominationsin the field of adult

education, the increasing contribution of the Manchester City Council from the 1840s

onwards through the provision of libraries, parks, evening classesand other enterprises,

and the significance of two comparatively unknown ventures in Ancoats (the Ancoats

Working Man's College and ManchesterRuskin Hall) - attempt to cover new ground. An

underlying objective of the thesisis to provide a detailed and full presentationof the range

of educationalopportunities availableto adults in Manchesterby 1914, to

and show how

I Thomas Kelly: A Histoiv ofAdult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press,
1970, SecondEdition). Preface to the First Edition.

II
available to adults in Manchester by 1914, and to show how and in what ways these

operations, whether on a formal or on an informal basis, were inter-related.

Certain recurrent themes are investigated, including the types of educational initiative

provided, by whom they were organisedand for whom they were intended to cater; the

motives of those arranging or using these various facilities and to what extent the aims

of the respective parties were achieved; the objectives of the agencies which were
instituted and the relative successor otherwise in fulfilling their stated intentions; and

someconsiderationswhich contributed to the prosperity or decline of theseenterprises.

The body of the thesis is divided into five main parts.

The first section seeks to establish the range of educational provision which existed in

Manchesterby the 1830sand assessescritically other voluntary undertakings, some of

extremely short duration, which had come into being in the city before 1870.

Section two is concerned with the contribution to education for adults in Manchester

from the 1830s to 1914 by the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist churches,

identifying numerous agencies of an informal nature and evaluating them in

conjunction with more formal developments. From this background, the educational

work for adults entered upon by two is in

organisations critically assessed some detail -
the development of the adult school movement in Manchester, and the educational

classes and societies of the city's Young Men's Christian Association.

The third section surveys the variety of educational facilities throughout the period

under review in Ancoats, a working-class district near the city centre. Research

relating to several initiatives in the Ancoats area has been comparatively well
documented, including the Art Museum and the Recreation Movement and

Brotherhood and, to a lesser extent, the university settlement. Particular attention is

devoted to the study of two institutions about which little information has presently

12
been elicited - Manchester Ruskin Hall, which existed from 1899 to 1903 and which

representedperhapsthe only other serious attempt in England at that time to establisha

residential college for working men which was modelled on, and was created a few

months after the founding of, Ruskin Hall (known from 1907 as Ruskin College) at

Oxford, and the Ancoats Working Man's College in the late 1850s, about which almost

nothing so far has been discovered.

Section four of the work concentrates on the provision of informal and of formal

education for adults by the Manchester City Council from the 1840s to 1914. The

creation of useful leisure facilities, to aid self-improvement, by the Council in the form

of public parks, art galleries and free public libraries, is described and assessed,and
the important contributions made to adult education in Manchester by the city's School

Board (1870-1889), the Technical Instruction Committee (1889-1902) and the Local

Education Authority (1902 onwards) are treated in depth.

The fifth section examines some different formal and informal approaches which

sought to involve a greater number of adults in education in Manchester in the late

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The endeavours of such disparate agencies in

the city as the university extension movement, the Workers' Educational Association

and, briefly, the Working Men's Club movement, are considered and evaluated

alongside some more unconventionalventures.

This introductory chapter aims at some clarification of the terminology used in the

thesis and addressessome methodological considerations: what comprises the city of

Manchester in the years from the 1830s to 1914; some interpretations of the

descriptions "adult" and "adult education" during the sameperiod; and some influences

which have assisted in determining where emphasis might usefully be placed in

considering the development of education for adults in Manchester in the eighty years

before the First World War. The review of literature which concludes this section is

designed to indicate the breadth of research already undertaken in the field of enquiry

13
to be covered by this thesis and to present and focus upon issuesarising therefrom, and
is divided into three main parts: the first surveys and examines critically books and

articles which relate primarily to studies of Manchester in the Victorian era and which

consider adult education as only one amongst many aspects of the city's rapid
development; the second looks at work which deals in some detail with the origins and

establishmentnationally of specific agencies of adult education during the nineteenth

century and the first decade of the twentieth; and the third evaluates material which

provides insight into the various facilities available during these years for the education

on a formal or an informal basis in

of adults Manchester.

From time to time in the text reference is made to prominent citizens in the Manchester

community who were generous philanthropists and who were interested, among their

other beneficences,in matters connectedwith adult education and in the provision of

and furthering of some of its many agencies;others, who were actively involved in the

organisation of such efforts for a wider clientele, made essential contributions to

various enterprises of adult education at a national level. Where appropriate, brief

details of such individuals will be found in a series of biographical notes at the end of

this thesis, their names being indicated by an asterisk at the point of their first

appearancein the text.

The sheer volume of material available has made it necessary to confine as far as

possible the discussion of adult education institutions and other initiatives during the

period covered by the thesis to those which developed and existed within the

boundariesof the city of Manchester as constituted in 1914,2 although not unnaturally

such a decision has in

resulted some regrettable 3
omissions. Following the passing of

2 The the boundanes the Manchester from the 1830s to 1914 are shown
extensions of signifying city of
in Appendix A at the end of of this thesis. This map appears on page 199 of Alan Kidd: Manchester
(The Town and City Histories Series, Historical Editor: Stephen Constantine. Keele, Staffordshire:
Ryburn Publishing, Keele University Press, 1993).

3 For the development Salford during the nineteenth century deservesin

example, of adult education in
particular a detailed study which is outside the scope of this thesis. Much useful matenal is to be found
in articles wntten over a period of several years for 7he Vocational Aspect of Education (formerly 7he
Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further Education) by 1. R. Cowan. See 7he Technical Instruction

14
the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835, the borough of Manchester (which included at
that time the townships of Manchester, Ardwick, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Hulme,

Cheetham and Beswick) had been incorporated in 1838.4 City status was granted in

1853, reflecting the rapid expansionin population which Manchester had undergonein

the first half of the nineteenth century, especially from the mid 1830s.5

Population of Manchester 1801 - 1851.

(Based on the Municipal boundaries of IM)

Year Population

1801 76,788

1811 917136

1821 129,035

1831 187,022

1841 242,983

1851 316,213

For the purposes of this thesis Manchester is defined as including whichever areas are

comprised within its city boundaries by 1914. During the thirty years before 1914,
Manchester extended territorially to incorporate numerous neighbouring townships: in

1885, Harpurhey, Bradford and Rusholme were added; in 1890, Crumpsall, Blackley,

Moston, Newton Heath, West Gorton, Clayton, Openshaw and Kirkmanshulme were

incorporated; during 1903-4, Heaton Park, Moss Side, Withington, Chorlton-cum-

Committee in Saford from 1889 - 1903 (Volume 17, Number 40, Summer 1966), pp. 121-132;
Mechanics' Institutes and Science and Art Classes in Satford in the Nineteenth Century (Volume 20,
Number 47, Autumn 1968), pp. 201-210; Elementary Evening Schools and the Evening Continuation
School Movement in Satford from 1862 to 1903 (Volume 22, Number 5 1, Spring 1970), pp. 41-47;
Higher Elementary Secondary and Pupil - Teachers' Education in Satford, 1870 - 1903 : Part I (Volume
23, Number 56, November 1971), pp. 163-172; and Higher Elementary, Secondary and Pupil-Teachers'
Education in Saford, 1870 - 1903 : Part II (Volume 24, Number 57, April 1972), pp. 37-42.

4 N. J. Frangopulo: Tradition in Action : 7he Historical Evolution of the Greater Manchester County
(Wakefield: EP Publishing Linuted, 1977), p. 21.

5 Kidd,
op. cit., p-63.

6 Kidd. 22.
ibid, p.

15
Hardy, Didsbury and Burnage were included; and in 1909 Levenshulme and Gorton

became part of Manchester.

Attempting an explanation of the term "adult" in the context of an examination of what

in the nineteenth century would be recognised by contemporary observers as falling

within the field of education for adults has traditionally causedproblems to historians.
It is interesting to note that although two leading mid-nineteenth century publications

concerning adult education identify its main agencies, they fail to provide any

explanation of what is meant by their use of the description "adult". 7 In certain

respects such omissions are understandable; it was difficult at this time to specify

exactly whom would be classedas an adult for educational purposes, especially in the

absence of parliamentary legislation (with the exception of the Factory Acts of 1833

and 1844) which might have helped to clarify the issue. In a series of lectures to

promote the Working Men's College, which was later published in 1855 under the title

of Learning and Working by Macmillan, F. D. Maurice* does address the matter when
he states for whom the College was intended: 8

of for Working-men, that is to say, for grown-up people spending their lives in
*'.
business, not for children or boys who are merely preparing themselves for
business."

For Maurice and his College, an adult was one who was employed and who could draw

upon experience gained from a working environment - the learning did not necessarily
have to be of an academic kind. Whilst such a definition might be appropfiate in this

particular instance, there remain difficulties in securing a generally acceptable

interpretation of what during this period was necessary for recognition as an adult.

7 Neither J. W. Hudson in 7he History of Adult Education (London: Longman, Brown, Green and
Longmans, 1851), nor James Hole in Art Essay on the History and Management of Literary, Scientific
and Mechanics' Institutions (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1853) attempt to define
their use of the term "adult".

8 See Fredenck Denison Maurice Learning and Working, edited with an introduction by W. E. Styler
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968), p. 36. For an interesting and scholarly account of the origins
and progress of the Working Men's College, see J. F. C. Harrison :A History of the Working Men's
College 1854 - 1954 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1954).

16
These problems are recognisedby Coolie Verner in his introduction to Thomas Pole's

History of Adult Schools. Verner is somewhat tentative in his observations to

determine classifications of adult students,reasoning that a current interpretation of the

term would include those for whom learning is a subsidiary activity, whereas in the

early nineteenth century, when child labour was common in England, those children

who had certain adult responsibilities at a young age would also regard learning as a

secondaTy
activity.9

Although attempts to provide a satisfactory exposition of the term "adult" with regard

to nineteenth century education tend to raise as many problems as they solve, one

possible approach lies in relating the matter to the educational legislation which came

into being in the nineteenthand early twentieth centuries. Before 1880 the situation is

unclear becauseof the lack of any provision which made education compulsory. The
1870 Act had established School Boards for each district and had empowered them to

build schools where the existing means of education were inadequate, but not all the

Boards were prepared to enforce attendance at school. Sandon's Act of 1876 placed

the responsibility for seeing that children should receive an adequate elementary

instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic upon the parents, but this did not

necessarily mean that such instruction had to take place at school. A Factory Act of

1874 decreedthat children could not be employed below the age of ten and could only

work half-time up to the age of fourteen. This implied that for children below these

ages some degree of education was compulsory, but there were too many ways in

which legislation might be evadedfor the situation to be satisfactory.

By the Education Act of 1880 schooling was made compulsory between the agesof five

and ten, although in many areas the upper limit was eleven or twelve. Between the

9 See Coolie Verner, Definition of Terms in Gale Jensen, A. A. Liveright and Wilbur Hallenbeck:
Adult Education : Outlines of an Emerging Field of University Study (Washington, 1964), p. 30, cited in
Verner's Pole's History of Adult Schools :A Facsimile of the 1816 Edition with An Introduction and
Bibliographical Notes (Washington : Adult Education Association of the United States of Amenca,
1967), p. 6.

17
ages of ten and fourteen it was possible to gain exemption on the grounds of either a

sufficient number of attendancesor through the attainment of a certain agreed standard

of achievement. The problem of "half-timers" was one which was to remain until the

Education Act of 1918. Since the early years of the nineteenth century there had been

tensions in the delicate balance between a more general requirement for education and

the specific need of children to work in order to contribute what was often essential
income to their homes. Pressure for improvements in working hours and conditions

tended to be linked with educational reforms, although evidence suggeststhat many

employers and textile workers wished to retain the half-time 10

system. This could lead

to a dilemma where an employer who was, in principle, in favour of extending the

existing opportunities available to his employeesfor to

education also wished make full

use of his factory to maintain or increaseprofits. II

The half-time system was widely used in the cotton mills and textile warehouses of

Manchester, but opposition to the system increased during the 1880S.12 One reason for

this was that the whole question of child labour was raised as a political issue by both

the Independent Labour Party and the Social Democratic Federation out of a genuine

concern for the welfare of those who had to combine the demands of employment with

those of education. A second consideration was that it was becoming far more

apparent, and reservations were being expressedmore frequently and insistently, that
from a humanitarian standpoint the system was undesirable. Brian Simon points out

that the findings of the Royal Commission of Labour (1892) showed that six thousand
half-timers in Lancashire were working in the mornings at factories in temperatures

between 800 and 1100 Fahrenheit; not surprisingly, at school in the afternoons they

10 Brian Simon : Education and the Labour Moventent 1870 -1920 (London: Lawrence and Wishart,
1965), p. 138.

II Letter to 7he Champion, December 1849, quoted in Mabel Tylecote : 7he Mechanics' Institutes of
Lancashire and Yorkshire before 1851 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1957), p. 59.

12 Night classes for adults had increased significantly following the passing of the Ten Hours Act in
LI
1847. For its effects in Manchester, see (ed. C. Aspin) Angus Reach : Manchester and the Textile
Districts in 1849 (Helmshore: Helmshore Local History Societ,v, 1972), pp. 34,36-37 and 45.

18
often fell asleep.13 The system was further opposed on economic grounds: children

who were having to work whilst in a state of fatigue were unlikely to give of their best

in terms either of work rate or of efficiency.

The pressure exerted from various quarters for the abolition of the half-time system

began to produce increasing results through administrative reforms in the 1890s. By

the Factory and Workshop (Consolidating) Act of 1891 the minimum age for the

employment of children was raised to eleven. This was followed by an Education Act

of 1893 which made attendance at school up to the age of eleven compulsory.

Significant progress was effected by the passing of the Factory Act in 1895 which

limited the working week of children to thirty hours. In 1899 the minimum age of

employment was increased to twelve, with an exception for agriculture where it

remained at eleven. This measure was assisted in 1901 by the passage of the Factory

and Workshops Act which reorganised and codified the existing legislation, and
included a provision by which children could not be employed in factories until

attaining the age of twelve.

Despite concerted resistance from many Lancashire factory owners, it was becoming

evident that the policy of half-time schooling was increasingly under threat of being

discontinued. In the first decade of the twentieth century support for stopping the

systemgrew and showeditself practically through a more active concern aboutjuvenile

employment. This had appearedin several official government reports, but was stated

most emphatically in the Report of the Departmental Committee on Juvenile Education

in Relation to Employment after the War (the Lewis Report). An interim report had

appeared in 1916, and the final version which was published in the following year

stressed the need for a widespread change in attitude towards the question of child
labour, arguing that considerations of general education for children should take
t:)

13 Simon, op. cit., p. 139.

19
 14
priority over economic concerns. Specifically the report recommendedthat full-time

education for all children without exemption should continue up to the age of fourteen,

and that young personsbetweenthe agesof fourteen and eighteen should be required to

attend day continuation classesfor not less than eight hours per week or 320 hours per

year. 15 Both suggestions were incorporated in the Education Act of 1918, but

compulsory day continuation classesdid not materialise. They were an early casualty

of the economic crisis which occurred in the immediate post-war years and, partly as a

consequenceof this, the Act did not provide the impetus necessary for a significant

educational advancein practical terms. The option of extending education for an extra

year which would raise the school leaving age to fifteen was not taken up at that time,

and the Act was passedin a somewhat diluted form, including the postponementfor

seven years of the provision of part-time education between the ages of sixteen and
16
eighteen.

The recommendation that the school leaving age be raised to fifteen was suggested in

the Hadow Report of 1926, but again no action was taken at that juncture. The

principle was embodied in the Education Act of 1944 - and implemented in 1947 -

together with the provision that the leaving age should be raised to sixteen when

circumstancesmade this possible. The idea of "day continuation" - present in the 1918
Act - was reaffirmed, and it was understood that the necessary administrative

machinery for its implementation would be organised when resourcesin personnel and
finance permitted.

14 The Comm-ission Spurley Hey, had become the Director Education for Manchester
included who of
in 1914, and C. E. B. Russell, who from the 1870s onwards played a pron-unentpart In the establishment
and promotion of Lads' Clubs in the city.

15 See the Report of the Departmental Committee on Juvenile Education in Relation to Employment
after the War - Final Report : 1917, pp. 5-29. Cited in J. Stuart Maclure : Educational Documents
England and Wales - 1816 to the present dtq (London: Methuen, 1986 edition), pp. 168-170.

16 Simon,
op. cit., p. 356.

20
Given the developmentsand changessince 1880 in the minimum age at which it was

permissible to cease formal education, it is not surprising that there is no clear

consensus of opinion on the interpretation of the term "adult" in the context of

education in the nineteenth century. Because of the complex nature of the issue, any

suggesteddefinition becomesrather tentative and inclines to caution becauseit does not

encompassentirely all aspectsthat one might wish during the period covered by this

research. Perhaps one interpretation which approaches acceptability is to classify

education for adults as that which continues beyond the minimum age at which up to
1914 one was able legally to be employed on a full-time basis. This criterion works

reasonablywell for the years after 1870; before this date the distinctions between what

mig t properly be regarded as "school" education or "adult" education are unclear and

perhaps can only be determined with any degree of accuracy when assessedin relation

to background and economic circumstances.

Arriving at a suitable definition of what would be understood in the 1830s by the term

"adult education" presents further problems. To contemporaries it would almost

certainly be pursued on a part-time basis outside working hours, and in theory at least

was often perceived in terms of the following of formal courses of instruction. In

practice, the term was widened in many instances to include almost anything in life
from which one might learn, incorporating both vocational and non-vocational studies

in addition to certain recreative activities. Mid-nineteenth century definitions,

however, tended to be more exclusive and precise. In a letter to The Spectator in 1851

Charles Kingsley wrote:

it... call things by their right names, recreations are not education. Don't say
people must be educated when you only mean amused, refreshed, soothed, put
into good spirits and good humour, or kept from vicious excesses.17

17 Cited in Derek Legge : 7he Education of Adults in Britain (Milton Keynes: The Open University
Press, 1982), pp. 5-6. Kingsley's observations applied to many of the activities of the Lyceums at that
time, but these did have an educative purpose underlying the recreative aspectsof their work.

?I
Three years later in The Studies in a Working College F. D. Maurice is equally clear

in his interpretation of what a Working Men's College might expect from its students,

requiring a systematic and disciplined approach to study outside working hours whilst

using the experience gained during time spent in employment. For Maurice, students
"never should be invited to devote more time to their studies than is compatible with

their ordinary occupations", and he looks forward to a time "when the Factory shall
become the College, when Working and Learning shall be regarded as inseparable".

He anticipated that at a Working Men's College studentswould pursue in the evenings

a formal course relating to particular subjects. Whilst his demands were couched in

terms of moderation, it was apparent that only serious and determined studentswould
be successful:

"The hard won evening hours are all I ask for. I do not wish the married man -I
do not expect the bachelor - to give up half or a third of these to the college.
What I think he may do, if there is a subject which has already some hold upon
him, or which he wishes for any reason to take hold of, is to come for the hour or
hour and a half, when that subject is taught, week after week. He can, if he likes
and if he lives spread his lessons over a much wider tract of years than the
ordinary student in a University; since he is not preparing for work, but in the
midst of work. " 18

This was the type of approach to study which had been envisaged in 1824 by the

founders of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution. In the preamble to the rules which

were formulated in that year, the overall aim of the Institution was stated:

"The Manchester Mechanics' Institution is formed for the purpose of enabling

Mechanics and Artisans, of whatever trade they might be, to become acquainted
with such branches of Science as are of practical application in the exercise of
their trade; that they may possess a more thorough knowledge of their business,
acquire a greater degree of skill in the practice of it, and be qualified to make
improvements and even new inventions in the Arts which they respectively
profess. 11

18 Maurice, cit., pp. 130-13 1.

op.

19 Annual Report of the Manchester MechanicS' Institution, 1828, p. 23, cited in Tylecote, op. cit.,
p. 13 1.

7-)
While the Institution never lost sight of its original purpose, its directors were quick to

realise that these lofty intentions were at this stage of its existence far too ambitious

and the impracticalities of omitting social and recreative activities from the curriculum

were recognised. In an address delivered at the Institution on II th October 1830,

Benjamin Heywood* illustrated that he had understood the nature of the problem.

Much of the tuition given and many of the lectures were far too advanced for the

majority of the students, and underlined a basic lack of provision of elementary

education. Heywood appreciated that the Institution would have to broaden its

curriculum if it was to continue to retain any appeal for the working class for whom it
had originally been intended, and although the Institution tried to adapt by providing

classes and activities of a more elementary and entertaining nature, the requirements
for social and recreative activities were met more immediately and more successfully
-
at least, in the short term - by the advent of the Lyceums in the Manchester area in the

1830s.

It is interesting to note that the Mechanics' Institution at Miles Platting, established in

1836 largely through the generosity and encouragement of Benjamin Heywood,

resembled more nearly in its programme of activities the Lyceums rather than the
Manchester Mechanics' Institution. 20 That education was seen by employers and

manufacturersas one meansby which the moral welfare of the working class might be
is
improved shown by the to
attempts made present the Lyceums and popular institutes

as serious rivals and alternatives to the public houses and casinos. The Institute at
Miles Platting provided a reading room, comfortable furniture and pleasant

surroundings, pictures, and recreations such as chess and singing, all of which were

aimed at giving workers a suitable place for relaxation outside their working hours.21

20 This point is commented upon in the thesis of W. Barton : Philanthropy and Institutions for adult
education in the Manchester areaftoin 1835 to the earlyfifties (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, Manchester
University, 1977), pp. 52-54.

21 Sir Benj.aI'min Heywood: Addresses delivered at the Manchester Mechanics' Institution (London:
Charles Knight, 1843), pp. 107-108.

23
It is necessary to remember that Miles Platting Mechanics' Institute and, more

particularly, the Lyceums emerged from a background of Chartist agitation which was

prevalent in Manchesteras one of its centres in the late 1830s. There was unrest in the

city in March and April 1838 amongst the working-class elements of the population

who were especially affected by a depression in trade and by the high cost of food. In

Septemberof the sameyear a large meeting of Chartists was organised at Kersal Moor

and, although estimates of an attendance approaching 250,000 were almost certainly

exaggerated, the demonstration was a powerful indication of the strong sense of

discontent which simmered below the surface amongst the poor. This erupted in

August of the following year when distress was at its most severe and interest in
Chartism had reachedone of its peaks, resulting in rioting in Manchesterand some of

its surrounding districts. 22

Whilst there was no doubt of the genuine desire of concerned individuals, including

Benjamin Heywood, Kay-Shuttleworth, * William Langton and the Gregs, to bring

about an improvement in conditions for the working-class poor of the city, taking the

view that better and more widespread education would be contributory factors in
bringing this about, there remains the feeling that given the circumstances of Chartist

agitation, such persons might have been motivated to some extent through self-interest.

If workers could see the advantages to be gained through self-improvement, there was

correspondingly less likelihood of political unrest, strikes and riots being allowed to
disrupt the business life of the city. It is a strong possibility that many of the

recreational and social activities organised by the Lyceurns and by the Manchester
Mechanics' Institution were intended, in addition to their broader and more general

educational purpose, as diversions for the working class away from what were

potentially more harmful pursuits.

22 777e Manchester Historical Recorder being an anall, sis of the Municipal, Ecclesiastical,
Biographical, Commercial and Structural History of Manchester ftom the earliest period,
chronologically arranged, revised and corrected to the year 1874 (Swinton: Neil Richardson, 1984),
p. 27.

24
Gradually there began to be developeda more commongif in some instancesreluctant,

acceptance that provision would have to be made for non-vocational and informal

activities in enterprises promoting education for adults if the higher ideals of such

agencies were to be realised to any significant degree. However worthy intentions

might be, there was little point in offering only serious courses of lectures and of

education at relatively advanced levels if as a result there was a failure to attract

support which would result finally in closure.

There has been an increasing tendency among the more recent historians of adult

education to include within its framework social and recreational activities of an

informal nature. Both Thomas KellY and J. F. C. Harrison, for example, draw clear

distinctions between adult education and education for adults. Kelly infers correctly

that besides the more traditional means of formal instruction other agencies, including

newspapers, the public libraries, the cinema, radio and television, have all played

significant parts in developing to

wider access more informal means of learning.23

Harrison reasons that adult education would include only those activities which are

intended quite specifically to educate, whereasalmost anything which has a bearing on

forming or influencing the views of the adult mind might be incorporated in the terms

of reference for the education of adults. He observes that it reflects a more sensible

approach for a definition of adult education to be evolved from its past rather than to

commence with an interpretation and then try to fit the history and development of

adult education within its framework. It should include "the many forms of social,

political, cultural, and religious activity of adults which had some educational intent,

and accept within the terms of reference all such activities as interested and
knowledgeable people at the time were accustomed to think of as adult education. "24

This suggestion to consider carefully what contemporary participants at any particular

period might regard as "adult education" is important, since ideas have varied over the

23 Kelly, op. cit., Preface to the First Edition.

24 J. F. C. Harrison: Learning and Living 1790-1960: A Studi, in the History of the English Adult
Education Movement (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1961), p. xi%,.

25
years, and offers a useful meansof approachfor the purposesof research.

Derek Legge has identified in the latter part of the nineteenth and earlier part of the

twentieth centuries a widening division between "vocational" and "non -vocational"

subjects and suggests that within the latter there occurred the development of a tradition

which placed "liberal studies" in a superior position to other disciplines because they

were deemed more suited to an education for the leisured classes rather than for

artisans and also becausesuch studies were regarded as necessaryto the development

of the faculties of interpretation, appreciation and judgement.25

From the foregoing there are three particular characteristicsconcerning adult education

which would be recognised and accepted generally by most knowledgeable observers in

the second half of the nineteenth century: that such education could be either of a

formal or of an informal nature and would include what were regarded as vocational as

well as non-vocational subjects; that it was not usually undertakenon a full-time basis;

and that, with the exception of some of the initiatives encouraged by religious
denominations, the instruction provided was almost entirely of a secular kind.

Before embarking upon a review of literature relevant to the topic of this thesis, certain

methodological considerations which have influenced the inclusion or omission of

detailed studies of various agencies require explanation. In accordance with the

prevailing character of much of the nineteenthcentury adult education as designatedin

the preceding paragraphs, institutions providing primarily education for adults through
full-time education have not, except in certain specified instances, been included within

the scope of this research. Colleges which trained students exclusively for the ministry

have also been omitted from the field of enquiry, as have teacher training colleges and

the whole subject of teacher training. Several institutions have already received

adequate documentation, and full particulars of these will be provided at appropriate

25 Legge, op. cit., P.

Z

26
stagesin the literature survey. In addition, other enterprises - including some of the
transient mechanics' institutes in the Manchester area which appeared brieflY in the
1850s and 1860s have been excluded or have been accorded only passing mention
-
because of the inadequacies of the extant material. Finally, reference to three
important and particular areasof education for adults women's education, the learned
-
societies, and education for special needs- are referred to only incidentally. These are

excluded with especial reluctance, but all are somewhat specialised themes and deserve

the particular and thorough treatment which the essentially broad area covered by this

thesis is unable to accommodatesatisfactorily.

In the review of literature critical analysis has generally been confined to the more

significant works referring to Manchester and to historical accounts which identify and

examine on a national or on a local basis the origins and developments of initiatives in

adult education from the 1830sto the First World War. Where the terrain covered by
is
such accounts supplemented by other writings which are related to but not central to

the subject of the thesis, appositereferenceswill be documentedin its footnotes.

There is a wealth of readily accessible material which deals with various aspects of

Manchester and its history, and useful introductions are provided by Manchester and

its Region (ed. C. F. Carter) and The Soul of Manchester (ed. W. H. Brindley). 26

Both works refer extensively to Mancunian education, the former containing

contributions concerning the development in

of education Manchester and, separately
in an essay by Ross Waller and Derek Legge, a brief account of the origins and

expansion of adult education in the city. The latter volume was intended to show some

of the particular features of Manchester and its institutions, and consequentlyhas been

selective in its coverage. A lucid survey by Sir Michael Sadler* traces the history of

education in Manchester up to 1929; art, music, drama and recreation in the city are

examined briefly, as are its newspapers, Literary and Philosophical Society and the

26 C. F. Carter (ed.): Manchester and its Region (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1962)-,
W. H. Brindley (ed.): 7he Soul of Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1929).

27
contribution made to the culture of Manchester by the John Rylands Library.

chapter on the origins and development of the University of Manchester is

supplemented by an essay from B. Mouat Jones (the then principal of the city's
Municipal College of Technology) which explores the relationship between the College

and Manchester's main industries - engineering, chemical, building, printing and

textile. Jones offers a revealing insight into the demands made upon students who

combined study with a full-time job, indicating that these requirements might include

attendance at classes for three evenings a week for periods of three, five or,

sometimes,sevenyeus. 27

Similar ground is traversed in the guides to Manchester written to coincide with the

annual meetings of the British Medical Association held in Manchester in 1902 and
1929.28
The 1902 volume contains brief accounts of elementary, secondary and

technical education in Manchester (including contributions from C. H. Wyatt* and

J. H. ReynoldS*29), and brief histories are provided of the city's amenities, including

the public parks and recreation grounds, libraries and art galleries. Rather curiously,

and somewhat confusingly, the chapters on Owens College (by P. J. Hartog) and on

the Victoria University (by H. L. Withers") replicate to someextent the same material

and might more sensibly have been incorporated into one account. The 1929

collaboration placed a far greater emphasis upon the contribution at that time of the

27 Ed. Brindley, ibid, p. 82.

28 Ed. John Howson Ray : Handbook and Guide to Manchester (Manchester : F. Ireland, 1902); 7he
Book of Manchester and Salford (Manchester: George Falkner and Sons Ltd., 1929).

29 Rather surprisingly, no biography has yet been written about Reynolds, but there is a brief and
informative account of his work by J. D. Marshall: John Henry Reynolds : Pioneer of Technical
Education in Manchester in 7he Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further Education, (Autumn 1964,
Volume 16, Number 35), pp. 176-196. Seebiographical notes, Appendix B at the end of this thesis.

30 H. L. Withers had been appointed as the first Sarah Fielden Professor of Education at the University
of Manchester in 1899, a position he retained until his untimely death in 1902. For brief details of
Withers's work at Manchester, see Alex Robertson :A Century of Change: the Study of Education in the
University of Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990), pp. 19,20,22 and 23,
together with an article by the same author, "Between the Devil and the Deep Sea": Ambiguities in the
development of Professorships of Education, 1899 to 1932 in the British Journal of Educational Studies,
(Volume 38, Number 2, May 1990), pp. 144-159.

28
university, and included a number of interesting accountsof prominent medical doctors

and of research of some of the leading scientists with regard to developments in these

respective fields of research.

A more thorough survey of Mancunian history from pre-Roman times to the mid-

nineteenth century is contained in W. H. Thomson's History of Manchester to 1852

(Altrincham: John Sherratt and Son Ltd. 1967). Becausethe writer has opted for a
1
strictly chronological rather than a thematic approach to his task, the final product

seems fragmented though none the less interesting. Inevitably in a book which covers

such a long span in rather less than four hundred pagesthere are numerous omissions,

although it was a pleasant surprise to find references to the short-lived Manchester

College of Arts and Sciences (1783-7) and to Manchester New College (opened in

1786). There is the additional bonus of an excellent bibliography.

The work edited by N. J. Frangopulo, Rich Inheritance: A Guide to the History of

Manchester (Manchester: Manchester Education Committee, 1962) contains two

chapters on the development of public education in Manchester from 1800 onwards. A

brief but useful survey (pp. 85-88) of the city's evening school work up to 1902 is

included, although it is necessaryto treat with caution such assertions as (on p. 85)

"Owing to the comparative failure of this [the Mechanics' Institutes] movement, the

Working Men's College was founded in its place". The latter, as will be discussed

later, was one amongst several initiatives which sought to cater for those who were not

reached by the Mechanics' Institutes for various reasons. The book has an interesting

section of short biographies of men and women who figured prominently in

Manchester's history, although there are some surprising omissions.

Gary S. Messinger's Manchester in the Victorian Age: 777e half-known Ciry3l is

disappointing because the idea which the book claims to explore is one which could

31 Gary S. Messinger: Manchester in the Victorian Age: 7he haf-known city (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1985).

29
have filled a void in the chronicling of Mancunian history. This was remedied more

than adequately some years later with the publication of Alan Kidd's Manchester, 32

which provides a penetrating analysis of the Mancunian economy, society and culture
in the second half of the nineteenth century. Messinger's contribution might well have

acted as a useful supplement to Asa Briggs's stimulating essay which is concerned with
1840s. 33
Manchester in the 1830sand That the author does not achieve this is due to

the superficial treatment which some of the main developments receive. Elementary

and secondaryeducation in Manchesterin the Victorian era is covered in one and a half

pages, which does scant justice to the educational initiatives for which Manchester was

responsible in the nineteenth century. With regard to adult education, there is a more

detailed treatment which merely serves to render other omissions all the more curious.

Only two educational agencies are dealt with in any depth - the public libraries in the

city and the evolution of the University of Manchester. Very brief reference (p. 138) is

made to the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, which is inappropriately included in

the brief section on elementary and secondaryeducation, and no attention is given to

any working-class educational enterprises. Rather more understandably, little mention

is made of initiatives for the education of adults undertaken by the various religious

bodies, nor of educational work carried out by non-denominational agenciessuch as the

Young Men's Christian Association. Such conspicuous absences do not serve to

inspire confidence in the author's treatment of other themes, and a complete absenceof

footnotes is unhelpful. Kidd, who is especially perceptive in his treatment of working-

classpolitics in 34
Manchester, includes a useful bibliography containing suggestionsfor

further reading related to each section of his work, and each chapter is well

documented with references.

32 Alan Kidd : Manchester (Town and City Histories Series: Historical editor, Stephen Constantine:
Keele: Rybum Publishing, Keele University Press, 1993).

33 See Asa Briggs : Victorian Cities (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Pelican Books, 1971,2nd, edition;
first published by Odhams Press, 1963), pp. 88-138.

34 Kidd, op. cit., pp. 81-101 and 166-179.

30
Manchester in the 1840s attracted much contemporary observation, arousing powerful

emotions which are summed up in Asa Briggs's description of it as "the shock city of
35
the age". An interesting example of this is found in Frederick Engels's* The
Condition of the Working Class in England in which he depicts a Manchester divided

by class, with a majority of its citizens from the working class living in conditions of

absolute squalor. 36 Whilst some of the conclusions he draws need to be treated with

circumspection, some of his eyewitnessobservationsare probably depressinglyaccurate

about the Manchester of that time. 37 Unlike another contemporary observer, Leon
Faucher, Engels was not merely an interested foreign spectator; he lived in Manchester

from November 1842 to August 1844 and would have a reasonable knowledge of the

City. 38

To put Engels's assertions into perspective, the population of the Municipal borough of
1851.39
Manchester was given as 235,162 in 1841 increasing to 303,382 in A large

percentage of this growth was due to the immigration of thousands of Irish families

there during the famine of 1845-6. The tendency of more recent writers has been to

criticise Engels's conclusions on the grounds that there is evidence of a degree of

polemic in his approach which lays undue stress on the divisions and conflicts which

existed between the several layers of society (even assuming that these could be

identified with reasonable accuracy) which consequently produces a jaundiced

A
assessment. significant exception is Steven Marcus's essay, Reading the Illegible, 40

3-5 Bnggs, op. cit., p. 96.

36 See also John Burnett: A Social History of Housing 1815 1970 (Newton Abbot : David and
-
Charles, 1978), pp. 57-61.

37 Frederick Engels: 7he Condition of the Working Class in England (St.Albans: Panther Books Ltd.,
1976 edition), pp. 85-91. The work was first published in Britain in 1892, having originally been
published in Leipzig in 1845.

38 See Roy Whitfield : Ae Double Life of Frederick Engels (Manchester Region History Review
Volume 2, Number 1, Spnng/Summer 1988), pp. 13-19. Engels returned to Manchester in 1850 and
lived there until 1870 when he removed to London.

39 A. Redford and 1. Russell: 7he History of Local Government in Manchester; volume 2: (London:
I
Longmans, 1940), p-68.

40. Steven Marcus : Reading the Illegible, in eds. H. J. Dyos and Michael Wolff : 7he Victorian Cit-N,

31
which provides a sympathetic interpretation of Engels's views, and, although he gives

to Engels's description a reasoned and coherent structure, his overall conclusion

concentratesonly upon one particular facet of the Manchesterof the 1840s:

"Engels has brought to a close his first examination of what lies behind and
between the network of the main streets. It is Manchesteritself in its negatedand
estranged existence. This chaos of alleys, courts, hovels, filth - and human
beings - is not a chaos at all. Every fragment of disarray, every inconvenience,
every scrap of human suffering has a meaning. Each of these is inversely and
ineradicably related to the life led by the middle classes,to the work performed in
the factories, and to the structure of the city as a whole. "41

A second outside observer, writing about the city at about the same time as Engels,

was Leon Faucher, whose comments are couched in far more moderate terms. 42

Faucher's observations are more general, although he laments the fact that literature

and other branches of the arts seem to receive little encouragement in Manchester. The

conclusion is disputed by the book's translator who argues at some length about its

inaccuracies. Faucher exempts the theatre, which is flourishing, from his criticism,

but to his regret he considers that its productions are intended merelY to entertain

instead of to elevate or to instruct the mind. 43

In certain respects Faucher's analysis of industrial Manchester was perspicacious. He

warned that the city should not become entirely dependentupon its industries because

the time might arrive when they would no longer be in such a profitable state. Faucher

was also concemed,about the excessivehours worked by operatives and labourers. To

him it seemedas though the mill and factory owners resentedthe time that their work

places had to be closed on Sundays, and he suggestedthat it would be in the interests

to
of employers give some incentives to their workers by allowing them to share in the

Images and Realities : Volume 2: Shapes on the Ground and A Change of Accent (London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1973), pp. 257-276.

41 Ibid., p. 272.

42 L. Faucher : Manchester in 1844 : its present condition and future prospects (London: Simpkin,
Marshall and Co.; Manchester: Abel Heywood, 1844).

43 Ibid., p. 21-

32
profits.

Ironically, in several instances the translator's observations, corrections and

explanations are more helpful to the reader than Faucher's own comments, and they
help to put his impressions into a more accurate perspective. The translator's

reflections on the Hall of Science, for example, though brief, are valuable. For
Faucher, however, while the general tenor of his remarks and his assessments of

Manchester are less damning than those of Engels, overall his verdict on the city is

noticeably unenthusiastic. His description of the wealthier middle classes, merchants

and manufacturers who have moved from the city centre to the more desirable and

salubrious residential areas in the suburbs, coincides with Engels's observations,

although characteristically Faucher's review is expressed in more cautious terms. 44

Whilst Faucher does not possessEngels's gift for producing the vivid phrase that

registers with the imagination, his messagehere emergeswith equal force and clarity.
At the time of their writing in the mid-1840s much property was being demolished to

accommodate the expansion of the railway network, making much more evident the

degradation, poverty and overcrowding which had previously to a large degree

remained hidden.45

A more sympathetic appraisal of Manchester was made by an equally impartial

spectator, Angus Bethune Reach, some five years later. In 1849 the Moming

Chronicle had commenced an investigation into the condition of the English working

class. Several writers had been commissioned, including Reach, a Scot, who had been

requested to report on the manufacturing districts. 46 He began his survey in

44 Ibid., pp. 46-47.

45 See the essay by Jack Simmons : 7he Power of the Railway in Volume 2 of eds. H. J. Dyos and
Michael Wolff, op. cit., pp. 277-310, with particular reference to pp. 279-280; and John A. Kellett: 7he
Impact of Railways on Victorian Cities (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969).

46 The investigation was prompted by an outbreak of cholera in several English and Scottish cities in
1849.

33
Manchester and, rather surprisingly, his report was generally more encouraging than

might have been anticipated. According to his findings, even the worst localities in

Manchester were to be compared favourably with their equivalents in cities such as

London and Glasgow.47

Several influences contributed to this improved state in Manchester. With the

development of the railway system, much old and insanitary property had been

demolished. The borough council strictly enforced the requirements of the recently

passed Local Building Act, as a result of which the new houses which were built were

conforming to higher standardsthan the properties they replaced. In addition, because

of the rapid expansion of population in Manchester in the 1840s, many more new

dwellings had to be erected, and more care in their planning and design meant less

cramped living conditions, more space between streets, and a higher percentage of
houses of an adequate quality. 48

The passageof the Ten Hours' Bill in June 1847 meant that more leisure time had been

made available to women and to young persons of both sexes. Women and young

persons between the ages of thirteen and eighteen were permitted now to work no more

than eleven hours a day and a maximum of sixty-three hours per week; by May 1848

this had been reduced to a ten hour working day and fifty-eight hours per week. The

benefits were twofold. Families now had more time to keep their housesclean so that

hazardsto health were reduced.49 The other main advantagelay in the increasedtime

available, at least in theory, for the pursuit of education. Reach felt that many young

47 Reach, op. cit., p. 3.

48 A local Act of 1844 required that each house should have a privy and an ash pit behind it. This
effectively stopped the building of houses back to back in Manchester. See Burnett, op. cit., p. 92. For
improvements in building and expansion away from the city centre in the later part of the nineteenth
century, see the article by H. B. Rodgers : 7he Suburban growth of Victorian Manchester in the Journal
of the Manchester Geographical Society, Volume 5 8,1962, pp. 1- 12.

49 Reach, op. cit., p. 23. He claimed at that time that Manchester's rate of infant mortality was
extremely high : out of every hundred deaths in the city, forty-eight were of children of five years of age
or under.

34
persons were employing their leisure time in the evening usefully in learning to read

and write, making use of libraries and going to night classes. Details are given of the
Lyceum Factory Schools which were used as venues for classes for adults in the

evenings.50 The fees charged were two shillings per quarter, which permitted use of
the library and reading room facilities as well as ensuring admission to classes.Since

the passing of the Act attendancesat classes had shown a marked improvement.

Concerning the Mechanics' Institution in Manchester, Reach substantiates other

contemporary findings - that skilled artisans rather than the ordinary mill operatives
formed a substantial element of the clientele. Interestingly, despite an increased

responseto the attractions and benefits of education, there seemsto be little evidence

either from the Lyceums or from the Mechanics' Institution libraries of any significant

changein the demand for the type of literature read by subscribers.

Perhaps the most perceptive study of Manchester in the 1830s and 1840s is Asa

Briggs's essay in his survey of Victofian Cities. A meticulous analysis of the middle

and working classes in Manchester society indicated that it was not possible to unite

their interests. In addition to the question of social relations between the classes,
Briggs distinguishes four other main characteristics noted by contemporary observers.

The rapid increasein population in the township of Manchesterduring the final decades

of the eighteenth century and the first ones of the nineteenth led to alterations in the
balance of power of local influence and leadership.51 A survey taken in 1773-4 by

Dr. John Whitaker revealed that in the town and parish of Manchester (including the

outlying districts and Salford) at this time the population numbered 41,132.52 At the

taking of the first Parliamentary censusin 1801 this figure had increasedto 83,953,53

50 Reach, ibid, p. 37.

51 Bnggs, op. cit., p. 88. For the situation in nearby towns Bolton, Rochdale and Salford see John
- -
Garrard: Leadership and Power in Victorian Industrial Towns, 1830-1880 (Mannchester: Manchester
University Press, 1983).

52 7he Manchester Historical Recorder (revised and corrected to the year 1874), p. 12.

53 Ibid., p. 16.

35
 54
and by the third census in 1821 it had reached 187,031. By October 1838, at the

time of the granting of the Charter of Incorporation for Manchester (comprising the

townships of Manchester, Cheetham, Ardwickq Hulme, Chorl ton- upon-Medlock and

Beswick) the total had increased again to 242,357.55 Ironically, the fact that

Manchester did not have a municipal corporation in the 1780-1800 period might

conceivably have worked in its favour in that expansion was not limited by sectional
interests. In part this is connected to another factor, that of newly acquired wealth

through the emergence of industry which determined to a significant degree the

transference of authority. Power began to shift to the principals among the wealthy

manufacturers and the new leaders in industry, commerce and banking. This change

implied a reassessmentof social values, the severanceof links from times past and the

existence of what Disraeli called "the two nations", and gives some indication as to the

development of Manchesterin the 1830sand 1840s. To many observers of the period

who were concerned with the "condition of England" question, Manchester was seen as

an England in microcosm. Disraeli, who was both fascinated and repelled by

Manchester, commented upon the social situation in an England consisting of "two

nations ... the rich and the poor"56who lived completely different types of existence.

The divisions between the social classeshave been discussedat some length by Engels,

and Asa Briggs, whilst giving due credit to some of Engels's is

arguments, rightly

critical of some of the conclusions drawn from them. Certainly Engels was quite

justified in publishing the plight of the Irish in Manchester, who in large numbers

inhabited what were often insanitary and overcrowded cellar dwellings in the poorest

quarters of the City.57 The seriousnessof this situation had been communicated in

some detail in a report of 1832, The Moral and Physical Condition of the Working

54 Ibid., p. 21.

55 Frangopulo, op. cit., p. 21.

56 Beqjarmn Disraeli : Sybil, or 7he Two Nations, Book 2, Chapter 5: (Harmondsworth, Middlesex:
Penguin Books Ltd., 1985 edition), p. 96. First published in 1845.

57 Bumett, op. cit., pp. 59-61.

36
Classesemployed in the Cotton Manufacture of Manchester, by a Manchester doctor,

J. P. Kay (later Kay-Shuttleworth). 58 In 1836 it has been estimated that one-fifth of

the Manchester population was Irish. Many of them were crammed into a small

community known as "Little Ireland", " which was an unhealthy area near the River

Medlock. In view of the intense poverty and appalling conditions in which so many of

the city population existed, it was perhaps not surprising that outsiders looked upon

Manchester as a potential source of social unrest. It has been argued that this possible

friction might produce a basis for different social values which in the longer term

would benefit Manchester and that the outcome would result in the creation of an urban

aristocracy - politically and economically powerful businesspersonswho would replace

the traditional aristocracy - who would be a force not merely in Manchester but in the

entire country. 60

Asa Briggs cites three main reasons for the awakened interest in Manchester in the

1830s and 1840s. The first he sees as the outcome of a delayed response to the

emergence of Manchester through the growth of its manufacturing industries in the

1830s and through changing social conditions. In addition to such contemporary

commentators as Cooke Taylor, de Tocqueville, Engels and Faucher, came equally

illuminating and more widely circulated responses through fiction - especially the

novels of Mrs Gaskell, Dickens and Disraeli. The other two factors were closely

linked. The economic depressionwhich followed the financial slump of 1836 caused

unemployment and distress on a large scale among the working class and the reduction

in profits and, in some instances,collapse of businessesamong the middle class. This

58 J. P Kay was appointed subsequently as an Assistant Poor Law Comn-ussionerin 1835, becoming in
1839 Secretary to the ComrMttee of the Privy Council on Education. In addition to his interest in social
reform, Kay was keenly aware of the importance of education as a meansof social control. For his ideas
on education see J. Kay-Shuttleworth : Four Periods of Public Education, as Reviewed in 1832,1839,
1846,1862 (London: Longmans, 1862), and for a bnef account and evaluation of his work and influence
see Brian Simon : 7he Two Nations and the Educational Structure 1780 - 1870 (London: Lawrence and
Wishart, 1981 edition), pp. 166-170,337-8 and 356-7.

59 Redford. op. cit., p. 104.

60 Bnggs, op-cit., P-90.

37
led to agitation from both these sectionsof the community. Manchester was intimately

concerned and any social changeswhich might occur would be more likely to do so in

the context of the development of a new system rather than from any fundamental

alteration in the structure of society. Certain political and economic grievances found

expression through the outlet of Chartism, and unsurprisingly Manchester was one of
its main areas of activity. The third influence, closely allied to the second, was the

emergenceof the Anti-Corn Law League which from its inception in

was rooted and

strongly influenced by Manchesterand its businessactivities.61

Whilst there were instances of co-operation between the Chartists and the Anti-Com

Law Leaguers, Manchester did not provide many. The objectives and motives of the

Chartists tended to be too divergent to be accommodated comfortably. In the cities of

northern England, although Chartism did attract recruits from the middle class, its base

consisted primarily of handloom weavers, factory operatives, miners, part-time

workers and unemployed, whose main concern was what they regarded as the adverse

effects mechanisation was having on various industries in terms of lack of employment

opportunities because labourers were being superseded by machinery. Also there were

connections with other movements which had rather more limited aims, including the

development and strengthening of trades unionism, attempts to have repealed the Poor

Law Amendment Act of 1834, and the endeavoursto securea working day of no more

than ten hours. The concentration on so many varied objectives weakened the

Chartists, and in Manchester their political agitation alienated them from one important

potential source of working-class support in the Owenites who sought economic means

of reform and had no wish to become involved with more violent methods of

persuasion.

Chartism flourished principally during times of economic depressionin the 1830sand

61. For an authontative account of the ongIns and development of the Anti-Corn Law League, see
Norman McCord : 7he Anti-Corn Law League 1838 - 1846 (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.,
1958).

38
1840s, with particular peaksin Manchesterin 1836-7,1839, and 1847- 8. In his thesis

which is concerned with the origins, development and decline of the Lyceums in
Manchester, W. Barton suggeststhat the Lyceum Movement in this district arose from,

at least in part, the Chartist aggressionof 1838- 9 and was a tangible expressionof the
desire of the upper and middle classesto devise a solution of an educational kind to

meet the difficulties of the immediate situation. There is no shortage of evidence to

support such a conclusion. 62 In 1837 a poor harvest and an ailing economy had

combined to make food both scarce and expensive, and this, coupled with a trade

recession, led to agitation among the working class in April of that year. In September
1838 continuing discontent led to a Chartist demonstration on Kersal Moor which

attracted a large attendance. The lengthy trade depression sparked further Chartist riots

and contributed significantly three years later to the industrial unrest, widespread

unemployment and lack of food experienced in Manchester and its environs. During

the following years Chartist agitation happened more sporadically until a further

collapse of trade in 1847-8 led to renewed outbreaks of discontent throughout the

country. In Lancashire this took the form of a large meeting addressed by one of the

Chartist leaders, Feargus O'Connor, at the Northern Common racecourse in August

1847, and within a few months the riots had assumed their previous force. In March

1848 there were violent incidents in New Cross, near Manchester city centre, where

mills in the area for two days came under attack from a substantial mob before peace

was restored. Mills in Ancoats also were attacked. A month later saw the organisation

of a demonstration in Stevenson Square, Manchester, at a meeting called for the release

of three Chartist leaders, Frost, Williams and Jones.63 Following the massive Chartist

demonstration in London on 10th April 1848, numerous special police in Manchester

were commissioned to deal with the possibility of further insurrection in the event of

62 W. Barton, pp. 21-23 and 86.

op. cit.,

63 These three had been among the leaders of an unsuccessful Chartist uprising in Newport In 1839.
They had been tned for high treason and sentencedto death, but this punishment had subsequently been
commuted to transportation for life to Botany Bay. Eventually they were set free in 1857. See Pauline
Gregg :A Social and Economic Histor, of Britain 1760 -1972 (London: George C. Harrap & Co. Ltd.,
1973), p. 216-

39
local repercussions from the protest. After this date, however, only one other major

incident occurred in Manchester, and by the end of the year it appearedthat Chartism

as an active force was spent.64

Asa Briggs defends Manchester against its critics of the 1840s, indicating that

Manchester's record during this decade with regard to public administration, education

and the arts compared favourably with that of most other English cities during the

same period. Manchester and Salford were the first provincial cities in the country to

have public parks and both were amongst the first to take advantage of the Free

Libraries Act of 1850. A contribution to higher education in Manchester was secured

in March 1851 through the formation of Owens College with money left for that

purpose in te will of John Owens who had died in 1846. The intention of the legator

was that an institution should be provided to to

enable students receive instruction in

sciences and other subjects taught in English universities. There was one important

provision - that nobody connected with the institution should be required to make a
declaration of their religious beliefs. A further strong educational impetus in

Manchester in the 1850s came as a logical consequence of the Great Exhibition of 1851

through a decision taken by the city council to hold an exhibition of art treasures

obtained from private collections. The exhibition was open for almost six months, the

Prince Consort officiating at the inaugural ceremony on 5th May 1857, and it attracted

a further royal visit at the end of June. By the time the exhibition closed it had

received more than 1,300,000 visitors, in addition to providing a significant cultural

65
stimulus to the City.

N. J. Frangopulo Tradition in Action : the Historical Evolution of the Greater

Manchester County, whilst covering much of the sameground as other accountsof the

64 On 3rd August 1848 fifteen persons were arrested following a Chartist demonstration in Oldham
Road and in the Ancoats area. See 7he Manchester Historical Recorder : History of Manchester, revised
and corrected to the year 18 74, p. 3 5.

6- N. F. Frangopulo, op. cit., p. 55.

40
development and growth of the city, offers some interesting insights into the changing

nature of mid-nineteenth century Manchester, noting that the situation "in which
industry and commerce were of equal importance" had shifted to one "in which

commerce and services rose to paramount importance to act as the heart of a region
1166
vibrant with industrial activity. Manchester's central location and rapidly

progressing system of communicationsduring the secondhalf of the nineteenth century

made it a natural focus for commercial activity. This helped to explain the increasingly

cosmopolitan nature of the city as Manchester, aided by its situation as a near

neighbour to the surrounding towns which manufactured cotton goods, attracted and

retained foreign nationalities whose members formed discrete settlements. Frangopulo

identifies in Manchester by 1876 that seven such communities had been established-

Armenians, French, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Jews and Moroccans - all of which

except the last have remained67in the city.

Frangopulo notes that foreign visitors often gained, rightly or wrongly, the impression

that the city and its inhabitants were solely concernedwith businessand the acquisition

of money and wonders whether the criticism can be defendedthat Mancunians "were so
bound up with industrial and commercial enterprises that they had neither the time nor

the inclination to enjoy the pursuit of culture". 68 Perhaps for most of the poorer

elements of the community who worked long hours for low pay and whose existence

was frequently a continual struggle for survival the is

observation correct. Exhausted

workers would seek at the public houses and casinos which abounded in the city

temporary relief from the miseries of insanitary and overcrowded homes and scarcely
better conditions in their jobs. However, for a much narrower section of the

population with the time and the to

wherewithal enjoy its leisure, the pursuit of wealth

66 Ibid., p. 44.

67 Ibid., p. 116. For an assessmentof the contribution of these communities in their Individual ways to
the life of Manchester during the nineteenth century, see pp. 116-124. See also an article by the same
writer, Foreign Communities in Victorian Manchester in the Manchester Review, volume 10, Spnng-
Summer 1965, pp. 189-206

68 Ibid., pp. 53-54.

41
and of culture were not mutually exclusive, and during the Victorian and Edwardian

eras Manchester broadenedand developed its cultural traditions. Frangopulo treats at

some length the development of some of Manchester's most prominent literary,

scientific and other educationalinstitutions - the Literary and Philosophical Society, the
Natural History Society, the Royal Manchester Institution, the Royal School of

Medicine, the Mechanics' Institution, the Statistical Society, the Athenaeum, the

College of Arts and Sciences,the ManchesterAcademy and the University - and gives

a brief outline of the history of each, describing their work and appraising their

respective contributions to the life of the City. 69 The Art Treasures Exhibition held in

Manchesterin 1857 attracted interest from all over the country and, partly by so doing,

helped to give a stimulus to the improvement of Manchester's cultural facilities. 70 The

Gentlemen's Concerts Orchestra, which had been assembled at the time of the

Exhibition, remained together to form the Halle Orchestra. 71 The POPulanty of choral

singing, brass bands and concerts helped to establish more firmly the city's musical

tradition, strengtheningits repertoire of classical and contemporary drama, culminating

notably in the success of Miss Horniman's company in Peter Street in the six years
before the First World War. 72

Of the books concernedwith aspectsof the history and development of adult education

in England, the standardwork of referenceis Thomas Kelly's comprehensivesurvey in

A History of Adult Education in Britain from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century.

In the preface, Professor Kelly understatesthe value of his work. He attempts to

illustrate and provide a coherent narrative of the developmentof the numerousagencies

69 Ibid., pp. 87-108.

70 See Ulrich Finke: 7he Art-Treasures Exhibition in ed. John H. G. Archer: Art and Architecture in
Victorian Manchester: Ten illustrations of patronage and practice (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1985), pp102-106.

71 C. B. Rees: Otte HUndred Yearsof the Halle (London: MacGibbon and Kee, 1957), pp. 20-25.

72 See N. J. Frangopulo : Tradition in Action : 7he Historical Evolution of the Greater Manchester
County (Wakefield: EP PublishIng, 1977), pp. 55,67 and 74-77. See also Rex Pogson: Miss Horniman
and the Gaierv Theatre, Manchester (London: Rockcllff, 1952).

42
for the education of adults, whether theseoffer instruction on a formal basis or through

more informal means. No claim has been made that the work is definitive; the extent

of the area covered in identifying the variety of enterprises pursuing some form of

adult education provision would in any case render such a claim difficult to sustain.

Acknowledging the magnitude of the task confronting him, Kelly seeks to provide "an

outline narrative of what appears a significant and neglected aspect of English

....
social and educational history. '173 On this level, he succeeds admirably in his

objective: detailed analysis and interpretation of a variety of movements and individual

agencies of adult education are left to others for more particular treatment.

Given the nature and breadth of his subject, Kelly is justified in adopting a

chronological rather than a thematic approach. In this context, the use of either

method poses difficulties which perhaps can never be resolved fully. The volume of

material available and, in some instances, the rather arbitrary and fragmented
development of the differing agencies of adult education make a thematic analysis

almost impossible. In any event, there still remains much research to be done in

connection with local institutions before such a procedure assumes appropriate

74
significance. It is not coincidental that where such methodology has been most

successfully employed, such studies have usually restricted themselves to a limited

geographical region, a specific type of educational agency, or a combination of both

features.75 However, the chronological survey does present its own particular

73 Thomas Kelly :A History of Adult Education in Britain ftom the Middle Ages to the Twentieth
Century (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1992, Third Edition), p. xi.

74 Few detailed studies of the development of adult education in particular localities at present exist, but
notable examples include W. B. Stephens : Adult education and society in an industrial town :
Warrington 1800 - 1900 (Exeter: Exeter University, 1980); John Burrows : University Adult Education
in London: a century of achievernent(London: University of London, 1976) and William A. Devereux :
Adult Education in Inner London 1870 - 1980 (London: Shepheard- Walwyn in collaboration with Inner
London Education Authority, 1982). Burrows deals with the development in London of university
extension and tutorial classes; Devereux is concerned with the provision by the statutory bodies of the
time of non-vocational adult education in London. See also Thomas Kelly: Adult Education in
Liverpool: A narrative of two hundred years (Liverpool: Department of Extra-mural Studies of the
University of Liverpool, 1960); and J. P. Hemrrung: Adult Education in Huddersfield and District,
1851-1884 (unpublished M. Ed thesis, University of Manchester, 1966-

75 Examples include J. F. C. Harrison : Learning and Living 1790 1960 :A Study in the History
- of
the English Adult Education Movement (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 196 1); Mabel Tylecote : The

43
obstacles. Amongst the abundant material assembledby Kelly, there are inevitable

omissions, and the contribution of the religious bodies to the voluntary provision of

education for adults in the nineteenth century is understated. In fairness, however, it

should be noted that if Manchester is a representative example, corroborative evidence

of the contribution made to adult education by the different denominations is not easily

discovered and a certain amount of activity consequently has to be assumed from the

probabilities suggested by the extant data. Kelly in part provides a synthesis of

material which has been presentedby other writers, but here it is used to develop a

much broader narrative. He has been scrupulousin acknowledging his sources,and the

numerous footnotes reward careful perusal. Although on occasions a lack of available

maten hampersthe comparison of institutions in a regional or national context, Kelly

tends to avoid the use of generalities and leaves the reader to arrive at his or her own

conclusions from the factual evidence cited. Where general comments are made, they

are frequently supportedby referenceto specific institutions.

A principal strength of Kelly's work is that it provides a useful introduction for those

wishing to undertake research in one or more of the many aspectsof education for

adults referred to in his description of the origins and development of a wide spectrum

of agencies which arose, in the nineteenth century especially, to meet the desire for
knowledge among the artisan and middle classes. He has gone to great lengths to

ascertainthe identity and nature of many of the individual institutions which comprised
both formal and informal agenciesof adult education, and his research has been most

meticulous. The book is scattered with brief, illuminating and sometimes tantalising

referencesto named institutions, and such referencesoffer an invitation to the reader to

pursue what is sometimes a somewhat slender connection although, where possible,

Kelly has included indications in the footnotes both to encourage and facilitate further

study. In relation to Manchester, two brief referencesby Kelly to different but equally

Mechanics' Institutes of Lancashire and Yorkshire before 1851 (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1957); and N. A. Jepson : 7he Beginnings of English University Adult Education - Policy and
Problems. A Critical Studyof the earky Oxford and Cambridge University Extension Lecture Movements
between 1873 and 1907with special reference to Yorkshire (London: Michael Joseph, 1973), In addition
to the works cited in the previous footnote.

44
ephemeral institutions serve to illustrate this characteristic. Referring to Working
Men's Colleges, Manchester is one in a list of cities and towns quoted by Kelly as
76
examples of the spread of the idea of such colleges from London to the provinces.

Kelly provides the information that the Working Man's College in Manchester was

opened in 1858, four years after the London one, with considerableassistancefrom the

staff of the recently created Owens College. In 1861 the classeswere merged with the

evening classes of Owens College. Although the information given is limited,

sufficient detail is offered in the footnotes to encourage further study of unfamiliar

territory. 77 The second example is taken from the results of an increased demand at the

end of the nineteenth century for more suitable provision of adult education for the
.
wor ng class. One product of this was to be the formation of an Association to

Promote the Higher Education of Working Men (known from 1905 as the Workers'

Educational Association [W. E. A. ]78) founded in 1903 by Albert Mansbridge. A

secondventure was the establishmentin 1899 of a residential college for working men

at Oxford by three American admirers of John Ruskin. This was intended as the first

of a series of such institutions which were to be created throughout the country.

Although several appeared briefly, the only other such residential college was

establishedin 1899 at Manchester, a few months after the one at Oxford, and was one

of the educational initiatives connected with the Manchester University Settlement

(which had been started in 1895) at Ancoats. Manchester Ruskin Hall aimed to

76 See Kelly, op. cit., (Third Edition), pp. 187-8 and 218. For the development of individual colleges
for working men, seeJ. F. C. Harrison :A History of the Working Men's College 1854 - 1954 (London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1954); A. J. Allaway : Vaughan College Leicester 1862 - 1962 (Amsterdam:
Leicester University Press, 1962) ; and C. D. Legge : Manchester Working Man's College, in the
Manchester Guardian, II th January 1958.

77 Accounts of the Working Man's Colleges in Manchester (1857-6 1) and of Manchester Ruskin Hall
(1899 -1903) appear in subsequentchapters of this thesis.

78 See Bernard Jennings : Knowledge is Power :A Short History of The Workers' Educational
Association, 1903 - 1978 (Hull: Newland Papers, Number One, Department of Adult Education,
University of Hull, 1979) and Mary Stocks : 7he Workers' Educational Association - thefirstfifiy years
(London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1953). For accounts by early workers in the movement, see
Albert Mansbridge : An Adventure in Working-Class Education. Being the story of the Workers'
Educational Association 1903 -1915 (London: Longmans Green and Co., 1920); T. W. Price : The
Story of the Workers' Educational Association from 1903 - 1924 (London: The Labour Publishing
Company Ltd., 1924)-, 7he W.E. A. Education Year Book 1918 (London: The Workers' Educational
Association, 1918); and Albert Mansbridge: The Trodden Road; Experience, Inspiration and Belief
(London: J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1940).

45
provide evening courses and residential facilities for men who worked full-time. 79 In

some respects Ruskin Hall anticipated the W. E. A. tutorial class, but the venture had

failed in Manchester by 1903 owing to lack of support.80 Two factors contributed

significantly to the failure of the venture at this particular time: Ruskin Hall was one of

several agenciesin the Ancoats area which were providing adult education activities in

which there was frequent duplication of effort; and P. J. Hartog, who had been active

in his practical support of the venture since its inception in 1899 and who latterly had

taken the leading part in its work, moved in 1903 from Manchester to take up the post

of Academic Registrar at London University. 81 At Oxford, many of the residents at the

Ruskin Hall there (which in 1907 was renamed Ruskin College) seceded in 1909

because of the feeling that the College was being dominated to an unacceptable extent

by the university members of its executive committee. It had been anticipated

originally that the College would provide an appropriate education for students from
the working class who wished to serve the working-class movement. The seceders

formed the Central Labour College in Oxford, moving to London in 1911.82

Whilst Professor Kelly's principal aim has been to trace the origins and development of

the numerous agencies for the education of adults through a national perspective,
J. F. C. Harrison in Leaming and Living 1790 - 1960: A Study in the History of the

English Adult Education Movement has covered some of the same ground using a

different framework of reference. Confining his attention to a much shorter time span,

79 Kelly,
op. cit., p. 246.

80 In a letter dated 26th January 1903 to Philip Hartog (honorary secretary to the Manchester Ruskin
Hall Cornn-ttee),one of the joint wardens, T. R. Marr, expressesfears that the enterprise is in serious
difficulties becauseof the comm-ittee's lack of enthusiasm for providing the necessaryeffort and support
to make the venture work.

81 Mabel Hartog: P. J. Hartog: A Memoir (London: Constable and Co., 1949) pp. 43-44.

82 The Central Labour College closed in 1929. See T. Kelly :A History of Adult Education in Great
Britain, (Third Edition, 1992), pp. 244-246; and J. F. C Harrison : Learning and Living 1790 -1960 :A
Studvin the History of the English Adult Education Movement (1961), p. 294. For different analyses of
the causesof its closure, see W. W. Craik : The Central Labour College 1909 - 1929 :A Chapter in the
History of Adult Working-Class Education (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1964), pp. 145-167, and
G. D. H. Cole and Raymond Postgate : 7he Common People 1746 - 1946 (London: University
Paperbacks, Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1971 edition), pp. 559-560.

46
Harrison has looked in detail at the provision of education for adults in one particular

region, the West Riding of Yorkshire, which includes rural and agricultural areas in

addition to towns and the widespreadurban developmentsproduced largely through the

Industrial Revolution. Not unreasonably, he sees this region as being fairly

representative of and responsive to the changes and developments in the various

movements designed to promote adult education in the nineteenth and the first half of

the twentieth centuries. His method of approach is closely analytical, and the
development of adult education via formal organisations and informal movements is

seenas being tightly connectedto other pressureswhich influenced the extent of social

change, of which a more widespreaddemand for education was only one aspect. He

examines w at he terms the "dynamics" of the different phasesof the stirrings for a

more extensive provision of adult education and the factors which contributed to the

movement's impetus.

Harrison shows that what Victorians before 1850 considered to be "adult education"

was designed primarily for the benefit of the working class, and the relative merits of

the differing institutions were often assessedon the comparative successor failure in

recruiting from it. Many of the initiatives in the 1830s and 1840s came from the

middle class, especially from the professional classesand factory owners. One of the

reasonsfor the frequent failure of these usually well-intentioned endeavourswas that

working-class studentswere given what was considered to be appropriate for them as

opposed to what they might actually have chosen for themselves had they been

consulted. Benjamin Heywood and other similar philanthropists were genuinely

concerned for the moral as well as the educational and social welfare of the working

class, but sincerity in itself, even when allied to kindness and generosity, was not

sufficient to eradicate the alienation which many of the latter instinctively felt. One of

the recurring themes illustrated in Learning and Living is the almost complete failure of

theseeducational initiatives promoted by the wealthier middle classesto securesizeable

support from the working class. Clearly the motives underlying such provision were

not always necessarily compassionate. The severe economic conditions in the years

47
following 1815, together with the more recent revolution in France in 1830; the

agitation for the Reform Act of 1832 and, especially in Lancashire and Yorkshire, the
Ten Hours' Bill (which sought and eventually achieved in 1847 a basic working day of

a maximum of ten hours); and the insensitivity with which the Poor Laws were applied
in some of the industrial areasin the north of England during the mid and late 1830s:

all these influences had made the upper and middle classes in England fearful of the

prospect of a revolt from the working class. This anxiety was alleviated to some
degree by the use of what were regarded as various forms of social control, one of

which was seen to be exercised through education. While there were many
humanitarians who wished to help the poorest people in society improve their condition

and saw education as one means of achieving this, there were other motives which

were prompted by self-preservation. Those who dreaded the possibility of the

overthrowing of the existing structure of society tended to view the education of the

working class as a means of persuading its numbers to accept their particular rank in

society and concentrate on cultivating the virtues necessary for advance within the

capitalist system. Others saw education as one way of encouraging sounder moral

habits among the working class, together with the development of such qualities as

thrift, sobriety, punctuality, hard work, self-help, self-denial, and the ability to make
83
sensibleuse of leisure opportunities.

Harrison includes an excellent chapter which deals with the contributions made to adult

education in Victorian England by religious denominations. In the 1820sand 1830sthe

Mechanics' Institutes had in general been welcomed by Nonconformists, whereasmany

Anglicans were initially opposed to them. With the possible exception of Roman

Catholicism, the sect which had been most successfulin attracting the working class in

the first half of the nineteenth century was Methodism. If Methodists aimed at a

reformation of society in any way, they saw it as being brought about through the
improvement of individual adherents in the ways in which they lived their daily

83 Hamson, op. cit., pp. 203-210.

48
 84
existence rather than through suggestionsfor political, social or economic reform.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, Anglican hostility to the Mechanics' Institutes

either had evaporated altogether or was very much subdued and, since the country by

this time was moving into a more prosperous period and revolutionary activities had to

a large extent declined, the Church of England had become more supportive of what it

regarded as improving initiatives for adults which, even where such initiatives might

have a social basis, were fundamentally educational in their Intent. Harrison indicates

that by the 1850s the Anglican Church had become aware of the possible benefits both

to the church itself and to the individual from adult educational provision, and had

commenced to set up Church lnstitutcs which it was hoped would cater for the working

class rather more successfully than the Mechanics' Institutes were doing. These Church

Institutes were not intended to compete with Mechanics' Institutes, but were designed

to meet the needs of "those who wanted their adult education to include theological

questions, and to be conducted in an atmosphere congenial to religiously minded

persons.1185

Reinforcing the educational work of the Church Institutes were the Sunday Schools of

the numerous religious denominations, where teaching adults to achieve literacy and

numeracy was often undertaken as well as the more widely recognised, role of

ministering to the spiritual welfare of adherents. In addition to the more traditional

connections of Methodism with working-class education, there emerged a stimulus

which prompted most notably the Church of England and the Society of Friends to
become more actively involved in making available education to adults. 86 Harrison

sees a multiplicity of motives influencing what was in both instances a conscious

decision - in addition to religious reasonsthere were social and political considerations.

It becameincreasingly necessaryas the century progressedthat the churchesnot merely

performed a useful function for the less fortunate members of their community, but

84 Harrison, lbid, p. 166.

8-5 lbid, p. 183.

86 Ibid, pp. 201-2

49
were actively seen to be so doing, and those of their number who sought to improve
themselves morally through habits of temperance and chastity, spintually through

studying the Scriptures and attempting to apply their teachings in daily living, and

materially through thrift and associations with savings banks, insurance or friendly

societies, with the aim of providing a secure future for their families, received

encouragement. Education was seen as a means of encouraging the poorer classes to

appreciate the benefits of such habits, helping the individual while not threatening the

establishedstructure of societY.

Harrison makes perceptive observations about the decline of the University Extension

movement and the emergence of the Workers' Educational Association. Prefacing his

remarks on the Extension movement with the correctly cautious comment that the

causes of decline differed from region to region, he indicates two general areas of

weakness - the ever-present problem of obtaining financial support and the domination

of local Extension Committees (often with a significantly numerous contingent of

women) by members of the middle class who failed to understand either the needs or

nature of the working class, or at least the artisan element of it, whom the movement
hoped to attract. The promoters of University Extension lectures experienced the same

difficulties, and for almost identical reasons, that had been encountered by the

Mechanics' Institutes some fifty years earlier. Many of the educational enterprises

encouraged by the middle class for the presumed benefit of the working class
foundered because of poor communications which often resulted (almost always

in
unintentionally) a rather patronising attitude being adoptedtowards the working-class

students, which was occasionally tolerated but more usually resented by the artisans.
The outcome of this was sometimesa hurt bewilderment on the part of those providing

the educational facilities and a conscious decision by the recipients to reject what was
being offered. A more empathic approach might well have proved to be mutually more

productive. Harrison rightly attributes the failure of such initiatives to a lack of

realisation as to exactly how far such unwittingly insensitive treatment had alienated the

50
intended beneficiaries.87

Harrison estimates accurately that the emergence of the W. E. A. in 1903 signalled the

beginning of the demise of the University Extension movement as far as the working

class generally was concerned. 88 However, there do appear to be a few exceptions,

and Manchester, arguably and admittedly on a very modest scale, was one. In fact

there was a curtailment in 1903 of the amount of Extension work undertaken by the

Manchester committee, but this occurred primarily as a result of the federal university

at this time being replaced by three separate institutions: the Victoria University of

Manchester, The University of Liverpool and the University of Leeds. Partly because

of agreed demarcation lines between the areas served by each of these three

universities, the number of courses under the control of the Manchester area was

considerably reduced, although close links were established with the Manchester branch

of the W. E. A. (formed in 1907) in the years preceding the First World War through

the provision of jointly maintained tutorial classes. Perhaps not surprisingly, the

volume of Extension work undertaken by Manchester University reached a low ebb

during 1914 - 1918, but in the years following there was a slight increase. By

comparison, there was a much more rapid development of the W. E. A. work in

Manchester. 89 In some measure the W. E. A. nationally encountered the same type of

problem which had beset the University Extension and Mechanics' Institutes

movements -a failure to recruit significant numbers from the broad base of the

working class.

The first major work which attempted to identify in detail the then currently existing

agencies providing education for adults was J. W. Hudson's The History of Adult
Education, published in 1851. Although his account is not unnaturally more concerned

87 Ibid, p. 240.

88 Ibid, pp. 268-269 for the situation In Yorkshire.

89 Thomas Kelly : Outside the Walls : Sixty Yeam of' Univei-sit.v Extension at Manchester 1886
-1946
(Manchester: Manchester Universit, Press, 1950), p. 69.

51
with securing evidence as to the existence and establishing of the various educational

institutions as opposed to any sustainedanalysis as to why they came into being or of

the needs they were designed to meet and certain of his observations have been

contradicted by subsequentresearch, his work is invaluable as a source of reference,

providing much useful information and offering a contemporary viewpoint. There are

one or two curiosities - for example, having stated that Manchester had no adult

schools, he proceeds promptly to name two. 90 Hudson deals with the origins and

progress of the Manchester Athenaeum in some detail (pp. 110- 124), the Manchester

Mechanics' Institution (pp. 124-135), and provides a short note on the Ancoats,

Salford, and Chorlton-on-Medlock Lyceums (pp. 135-138). Brief reference is made

also to the Miles Platting Mechanics' Institution (which Sir Benjamin Heywood

organised similarly to the Lyceums9l), and Hudson observes that "Several Institutions

have from time to tirne been formed in Manchester under the titles 'Working-men's

Association', and 'People's Institute', but their operations have not extended over a
'192
greater period than some six months.

Hudson is far more controversial in his comments upon the origins of the Mechanics'

Institutes.93 He traces their development through mutual improvement societies and

credits the Sunday Society in Birmingham with being the first educational institution (in

1789) to provide a knowledge of the arts and sciencesfor the working class. More

commonly cited recipients of this distinction are John Anderson, Professor of Natural

Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, and George Birkbeck, who is often credited

90 The Roby Day Sunday Schools the Independent Chapel, Salford, the boundary between
and and near
Salford and Manchester. See J. W. Hudson : 7he Histmil of Adult Education (London: Longman,
Brown, Green and Longmans, 1851), p. 20. The Bennett Street Schools in Manchester also provided
evening classes for adults.

91 See Tylecote, op-cit., p. 143, and ed. Edith and Thomas Kelly :A Schoo lin
aster's Notebook : Being
an account of a Nineteenth Centuty ExIvriment in Social Wefare, kv David Winstanley of Manchester,
Schoolmaster (Manchester: Printed for the Chetham Society, 1957), pp. 15-16 and 35-42.

92 Hudson, op. cit., p. 138.

93 Hudson, ibid p. %,. On the first page of the preface to his book he assertsthat "[Dr. Birkbeck]
... is
not entitled to *,
enjoy the minor honour of being their originator".

52
with the founding of the London Mechanics' Institution in 1823.94 Even though

Hudson was of the opinion that by 1850 the Mechanics' Institutes were In decline,

either through having failed to attract the audience for which they were supposedly

intended or because they had been forced in an effort to gain popularity to compromise

their standards by drifting away from their original objectives - which Hudson defined

as "the instruction of the working men in the arts they practise, and more especially in

those branches of service which are applied in so many firms to the local manufactures

of the great provincial towns"95 - he indicates that the Manchester Mechanics'

Institution was one of the few which did not lose sight of its initial aims and

accomplished much good in the first twenty-five years of its existence.

Hudson's assessmentof the educational situation for adults in Manchester and district

in 1850 deservesto be quoted at some length becauseit provides a clear illustration as

to why many of the working class reactedadversely to those from the middle class who

to
wished educatethem. The tone of his judgement is decidedly didactic and embodies

many of the values which were often associatedwith the middle class in the mid-
Victorian era:

"The history of the Manchester Lyceums and suburban Mechanics' Institutions

present undoubted evidence of the degradation of the taste of the labouring
classes. Their moral influence has become in-operative against the numerous
singing rooms which have sprung up in the cotton metropolis. The weekly
visitants of the casinos and public-house-singing-rooms exceed fifty thousand,
amongst whom may be recognised the desultory pupils of the evening classes of
the Mechanics' Institution as well as the seceders from the Athenaeum.
Unprofitable miscellaneous lectures have encouraged inconstancy and unfixedness
of character, which has estranged many promising youths from virtuous and
nobler associations, and led to the sowing of pernicious principles which will
assuredly bear them sorrowing fruit. "91

What such observations fail to take into account is that many adolescentsand adults

worked extremely long hours and at the end of their daily work were physically tired
94 See Thomas Kelly : George Birkbeck : Pioneer of Adult Education (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1957), pp. 20-22,56, and pp. 74-92.

95 Hudson, op. cit., pp. 55-56.

96 Hudson, ibid, p. 140.

53
and were only too pleasedto seek relaxation. As M. J. Cruickshank relates, to spend
two or three evenings each week for up to five or six years after having completed a

twelve hour working day required anyone prepared to undertake such a gruelling

scheduleto be highly motivated in addition to possessingtremendousstamina." It was

not uncommon for students to leave for work at five o'clock in the morning and be

arriving home eventually at ten o'clock at night or later after having completed their

evening classes. When such considerations are taken into account it is hardly

surprising that educational initiatives provided by the middle class for working-class

consumers frequently met with an unenthusiastic response.

Turning to specific agencies of adult education, the Mechanics' Institute movement still

lacks a national study although there have been useful surveys of particular aspects of

its development and decline together with examinations of the work of individual

institutions.98 One of the most authoritative of these is The Mechanics' Institutes of

Lancashire and Yorkshire before 1851 by Mabel Tylecote. There is still a need for

researchto be carried out on particular examplesbefore undertaking a national review

97 SeeM. J. Cruickshank's essay : From Mechanics' Institution to Technical School, 1850 92,
- in ed.
D. S. L. Cardwell : Artisan to Graduate : Essays to Commemorate the Foundation of the Manchester
Mechanics' Institution, now in 1974 the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974), p. 136.

98 See for example chapter 5- Women and the Mechanics' Institute Movement (pp.99-127) in June
Purvis's: Hard Lessons : Yhe Lives and Education of Working-Class Women in Nineteenth-Century
England (Oxford: Polity Press, 1989); J.P. Hemming: The Mechanics' Institute Movement in the
Manufacturing Districts of the North of England after 1851 (unpublished Ph. D. thesis, University of
Leeds, 1968); Thomas Kelly : 7he Origin of Mechanics' Institutes (British Journal of Educational
Studies, Volume 1, Number 1, November 1952), pp. 17-27; J. P Hemming : Some attempts at
Commercial Education in the Mechanics' Institutes (7he Vocational Aspect of Education, Spring 1979,
Volume 30, Number 76), pp. 41-44; Edward Royle : Mechanics' Institutes and the Working Classes
(Historical Journal, Volume 14, Number 2,197 1), pp. 305-32 1; J. H. Williams : 7he Crewe Mechanics'
Institute 1843 - 1880 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, Manchester University, 1969); A Chadwick : Derby
Mechanics' Institute, 1825 - 1880 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, Manchester University, 1971); Alethea
Tynan : Lewes Mechanics' Institution (Rewley House Papers, Volume 3, Number 4,1955-6, Oxford
University Delegacy for Extra-mural Studies), pp. 12-23; E. C. Eagle : 7he Leicester Mechanics'
Institute 1834 - 1870. A Reassessment(Rewley House Papers, Volume 3, Number 7,1958-9, Oxford
University Delegacy for Extra-Mural Studies), pp. 48-73, and Rewley House Papers, Volume 3, Number
8,1959-60, pp. 26-42; and a senes of articles by L. John Dyer in Adult Education (published by the
National Institute for Adult Education) as follows : 7hornton [near Bradford] Mechanics' Institute,
Volume 21, Number 1, September 1948, pp. 15-22 and Volume 21, Number 2, December 1948,
pp 59-66; Newcastle [upon Tyne] Mechanics' Institute, Volume 22, Number 2, December 1949,
pp. 122-129, and Volume 22, Number 3, March 1950, pp. 205-212; and The Hitchin Mechanics'
Institute, Volume 23, Number 2, September 1950, pp. 113-122, and Volume 23, Number 3, December
1950, pp. 212-220.

54
of Mechanics' Institutions, and Tylecote has confined herself to a study of the

movement in the areas in which they were most numerous. The concluding date of

1851 is justified by the fact that many contemporary observers, including Hole,

Hudson and Samuel Smiles*, considered that by the middle of the nineteenth century

mechanics' institutions, with a few successful exceptions, were in decline, having

failed to attract the artisans and labouring classes for whom they were intended to any

significant degreeand having diluted their original ambitious objectives.

Dr Tylecote presents a detailed and reasoned analysis of the factors involved in the

emergence of the mechanics' institutes in the mid 1820s. By this time the political and

economic situation had become more stable and conditions generally more prosperous

following several years of hardship for a sizeable proportion of the population. The

developmentsmade by mechanisationin several major industries created a demand for

skilled and more educated workers, and the success gained in this respect by both

Sunday Schools and adult schools emphasisedthe need for some form of continuing

education. Social considerations were also taken into account. For their differing

reasons, many from the upper and middle classes wished that any change in the balance

of power within the strata of society should be both gradual and peaceful. A populous

and uneducated working class was seen as posing more of a threat to this prospect than

a more educatedone might. It was hoped that the leavening effects of education would

produce civilised, sober, punctual, respectableand, above all, subordinateworkers who

knew their position in life and were quite content to make a positive contribution to

society from that lowly status. It was feared that the absence of religious and moral

teaching - which helps to explain the early opposition from among the Anglican clergy

to the mechanics' institutes - might jeopardise the fulfilment of these aims, but in most
instancesthe control of the movement remained principally in the hands of the middle

class. The refusal to offer coursesin such potentially controversial subjectsas political

theory was also directed at preventing the propagation of ideas which might cause

disruption in a society dependentupon and operating a capitalist system.

55
Tylecote examines the development of several of the mechanics' institutions in

Yorkshire and Lancashire, including a lengthy chapter on the one at Manchester, and

treats two particular subjects in some depth - the failure of the ventures generally to

recruit members from the working class and the position of the mechanics' institute

movement in 1850.

In comparison with many other institutions, Manchester's was relatively successful.

Influenced in part to avoid a split of the kind which had occurred in 1829, when a

substantialsection of the membershiplost patience with the directors of the institute for
failing to make its government more democratic and withdrew to launch a rival

enterprise in consequence, Manchester developed one of the more progressive

academies of its kind. 99 It had rapidly become apparent that the advanced lectures and

classes were of limited appeal and that the institution would have to cater more

adequatelyfor the needsof its clientele if it were to survive on a sound economic basis.

Attempts were made early to establish good working relationships with the professions

and manufacturers in Manchester and its environs. This policy was moderately

successful, but disappointment was expressed that the institution attracted few from the

working class and efforts were made to broaden the base from which it derived its

support. Lectures on more general topics were introduced into the curriculum, classes
in reading and writing were started for those who had received little or no elementary

instruction, classes for women, concerts, soirees, exhibitions and excursions, all

provided proof that the Manchester Institution made a genuine endeavour to identify

more closely with the wishes of its 100

potential students.

The reasonsfor the relative failure of the ManchesterMechanics' Institution to recruit a

higher proportion of its members from the artisan and labouring classeswere several.

99 See R. G. Kirby : An earv experiment in Workers' Sefleducatiojj : The Manchester New Mechanics'
Institution, 1829 - 35 in ed. D. S. L. Cardwell, op. cit., pp. 87- 98.

100 See Tylecote, op. cit., pp. 174-184; and ed. Cardwell, ibid, pp. 68-73 and 99-118.

56
As mentioned earlier, the prospect of hours of study on a regular basis after a long

working day held attractions for only a hardy minority, and for many even modest

tuition fees were more than they could afford. In an effort to remedy both this and the
desire for a programme of instruction which included a higher content of social

pursuits, the Lyceums - which in England were to be found almost entirely in

Lancashire - were promoted. 101 To some extent the Lyceums at Ancoats, Chorlton-on-

Medlock and Salford drew membersaway from the Manchester Mechanics' Institution,

as at various times did the formation of the Manchester New Mechanics' Institution
(1829), the Athenaeum (1835) and the School of Design (1838). This latter academy

severely curtailed the numbers attending the hitherto popular classes of the
Institution, 102and the refusal to discuss political or religious subjects attracted much

criticism. The resistance of the directors before 1840 to providing a reading room

incited persistent disapproval, especially since the Institution's library was well stocked

and much used.

One other important factor, which R. G. Kirby in his essay on the Manchester New

Mechanics' Institution (1829-35) regards as especially telling, was the widening social

gap between the employers and the working class for whom the Manchester
Mechanics' Institution was being organised. 103 This proved to be a problem which

recurred during the rest of the century with other initiatives arrangedby the middle and

upper classesfor the education of workers, and the failure to overcome the difficulty in

that particular instance should be viewed from this perspective as this dilemma has

never been resolved satisfactorily. An example from a prize-giving ceremony at the

Institution in 1846 helps to illustrate the nature of the problem:

101 The work of the Lyceums in the Manchester area from the 1830s to the 1850s, by which time they
were in decline, is exanuned at length in W. Barton : Philanthropy and institutionsfor adult education
in the Manchester areafrom 1835 to the earlyfifties (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, Manchester University,
1977).

102 Tylecote, op. cit., pp. 142-3.

103 Seeed. Cardwell, op. cit., p-88.

57
 10... the sentiment of these gatherings is perhaps revealed by the incidents which
took place when J. A. Turner presided. In 1846 a youth named Mark Barlow
received the first prize for 'proficiency in writing', and the chairman remarked, '
"It gives me particular pleasure to see you here. This is a youth in my
employment. I was not aware, till yesterday, that he was likely to obtain such a
distinction. He came into my service in a very humble capacity, and he still
follows a laborious occupation in the warehouse. I have peculiar pleasure in
seeing him here. Shake hands, Mark. " [Much cheering. ]' The scene created an
impression and was quoted as an example of the kind of thing which should occur
more frequently 11.104
....

It is quite possible that observers from different backgrounds might have formed

contrasting impressions of that scene. Although the congratulations expressed in that

instance were undoubtedly sincere, they do smack of patronage, and the general tenor

of the remarks offers some insight into the distance which separated the outlook,

values, attitudes and expectationsof the respectivesocial classes.

It has been generally agreed by contemporary observers that the Mechanics' Institute

movementwas in decline by 1850. Dr Tylecote, however, draws rather more cautious

conclusions. Many of the institutes recruited in the main at this period from the lower

middle and artisan classes rather than from the labouring class. Continuing financial

problems were a common feature even in the larger and more successful institutions
like Manchester, and it was perverse that the government should be prepared to support

financially the Schools of Design whereas the mechanics' institutes had to rely on

voluntary effort and contributions. By the mid-nineteenth century there were several

organisations competing for funds from various sources of which the mechanics'
institutes, drawing their support from a comparatively narrow section of the population

which was not blessed with unlimited wealth, were only one. It is true that many of

the institutes were a spent force by 1850, but there were others which were in a healthy

state. In the second half of the nineteenth century, as Dr Tylecote points out, many
functions which had originally come within the purview of the mechanics' institutions

were being taken over by other agencies which had been created to meet specific

104 Tylecote, op. cit., pp. 167-8.

58
needs. 105

An important contribution to the literature about mechanics' institutions is James

Hole's An Essay on the History and Managementof Literary, Scientific and Mechanics'

Institutions Written in 1853, it provides a useful contemporaryappraisal. Hole

-
investigatesthe ways in which mechanics' institutions can be made economically viable

while remaining true to their original ideals. He criticises many institutes for failing to

offer programmes which are likely to attract large numbers from the working class to

their activities, and is especially concerned about the limited opportunities which are

provided by the institutes generally for the education of women. Hole makes several

pertinent recommendations about how mechanics' institutes could usefully be

improved, including the provision of adequately qualified and paid teachers, libraries

equipped with the necessary specialist reference books, the awarding of generally

recognised formal qualifications, the presentation of lectures in ways which are

intelligible to their audiences, and the provision of lectures for the domestic and social

improvement of the people. 106 Although advocating that, if necessary, social events

might appropriately be included within the activities of a mechanics' institution, and

cites the one at Miles Platting, Manchester, with approval in this connection, 107he adds

a cautionary note concerning the introduction of eventsof a social nature:

11 namely that they must ever be subordinate to the main purposes of the
...
Institute, which should never be permitted to degenerate into a mere news-room,
or a club for concerts and dramatic readings. We do not, as we have said,
consider such things generally incompatible with rigorous attention to the class
and lecture instruction, but in some circumstances they may become so, - and in
such circumstances, we had better omit amusement entirely, than peril the
efficacy of these important departments. " 108

10-5 Tylecote, ibid, p. 285.

106 James Hole : An essay on the History and Management of Literary, Scientific and Mechanics'
Institutions (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1853), pp. 59-67.

107 The Miles Platting Institute in its range of activities was nearer in spirit to the Lyceums which
operated successfully in the Manchester area in the late 1830s and early 1840s than to mechanics'
institutions like that at Manchester.

108 Hole, op. cit., p-84.

59
The relatively brief period of successof the Lyceums in Lancashire, which tended to

pursue the type of approach which Hole quite specifically rejected as a serious

alternative strategy for success,showed his warning to be apposite. At the time of his

writing, the impact made by the Lyceums had already begun to deteriorate quite

sharply. In some sensesby the late 1840s the Lyceums were experiencing the same
difficulties as were afflicting the mechanics' institutions: a lack of appeal to those

whom they were designed to serve. The organisers were confronted by a similar and
increasingly familiar dilemma as to whether standards should be retained, with a

consequent risk that numbers might continue to lessen with the result that the Lyceums

might be forced to close, or, alternatively, that the social content of programmes

should be increased in an endeavour to attract more support, even though the

educational value of such activities might be restricted. Usually the latter course was

adopted and such ventures experienced the same response as other such initiatives

which had been arranged for working class consumers by the middle class, on whose

part occurred "the increasingly familiar expression of regret that their efforts met with

such small support from those for whose benefit they laboured. " 109

On the ways in which mechanics' institutions might be made economically self-

supporting, Hole offers several suggestions which are both intelligent and practical. ' 10

He argues that the institutions could be funded from three principal sources:

contributions from the students themselves, donations from wealthy patrons, and state

aid. The first option is seen as providing only a small proportion of the required

revenue, although the idea that student fees where necessary should be collected by

instalmentshas certain merits which are to some extent offset by the inevitable pitfalls

underlying such a scheme. Hole also considers that institutions should do more to

attract and include in their activities and organisations wealthy patrons, who would

look upon their financial generosity as an investment in return for which their factories

would receive more skilful and more highly motivated employees trained at the

109 Tylecote, op. cit., p. 80.

110 Hole, op. cit., pp. 88-97.

60
institutions supported by the donations of their employers. His criticism of the lack of

support from the clergy might have been accurate some ten years earlier, but at the

time of writing ministers of varying religious persuasions had come to regard the

mechanics' institutions with increasing tolerance.

Hole provides a reasoned and persuasive argument for the need of some form of

government support for mechanics' institutions. He comments with somejustification

that they would offer a more substantialreturn on monies invested by the government

than would its sponsorship of the Schools of Design, which had attracted widespread

criticism from contemporary observers. III The hypothesis advanced that educating the

poorest elements of society was in the public interest was one which was widely held

and proved difficult to refute, as later events in the gradual increase of state

participation were to show, in spite of the genuine and deep apprehensions that were

voiced about the adverse effects which potential government interference might have

upon education generally. However, Hole saw such efforts by the state as a means of

supporting voluntary endeavours, not superseding them, and felt that such grants would

encourage and stimulate self-help rather than produce possible inertia on the part of

voluntary bodies and a subsequent desire to transfer the responsibilities for the

education of the people entirely to the state. Given the prevailing attitudes towards

state education in the early 1850s such a radical shift in emphasis remained no more
than a possibility.

An interesting contribution to the literature discussing mechanics' institutions is made

by StevenShapin and Barry Barnes.112Their article is concerned with an estimation of

the extent to which the curricula of the institutes - with particular reference to scientific

education - were used as a means to assist in the social control of the artisans who

"I For a lively account of the origins and development of the government- supported Schools of
Design, and especially of the problems which they encountered in their management, see Quentin Bell
7he Schools of Design (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963).

112 Steven Shapin and Barry Bames : Science, Nature and Control : Interpreting Mechanics' Institutes
(Social Studies of Science, Volume 7,1977), pp. 31-74.

61
comprised their intended clientele. The idea that education provided one means

amongst many as a form of social control of the massesis by no means new either to

educational or to social historians. Shapin and Barnes reason that scientific writings

were introduced as a safe alternative to counteract the political literature read by the

working class in the hope that such a replacement would prove more effective in
fostering a desire for instruction and self-help than any amount of moral persuasion.

The authors see natural science as being a subject which would not cause friction

between the artisans and the middle and upper classes who were providing the

educational opportunities. However, the selection of natural science to achieve this

proved unfortunate, especially since it appeared to many to strike at the foundations of

religious faith. There was considerableanxiety during the early Victorian period about

the possibility of revolution and the rising of an ill-educated and poorly disciplined

mass who might overturn the existing order and hierarchical structure of society. As

Walter E. Houghton points out, a collapse of faith was seen as a direct undermining of

and ultimate destruction of any moral code; once this was removed, society itself

would collapse. 113 This prospect was viewed with great alarm. In order to restrain

crime, immorality and drunkenness, the middle class encouraged the formation of

deterrents or alternatives to channel potentially destructive activities towards more

profitable directions - hence the emergence of friendly societies, temperance societies,

police forces, Sunday Schools and educational facilities for adults. According to the

authors, science was seen in what they have described as "value-neutral" terms, on the

assumption that a possibly hostile audience might be less inclined to resist a subject
its
which was experimental and required a studied objectivity in assessing results than it

might be to topics which could be regarded as preaching opinions. As the authors

state, the learning by

of science artisans was considered to be more acceptablethan the

113 W. E. Houghton: The Victorian Frame of Mind 1830 (New Haven and London: Yale
-1870
University Press, 1957), p. 58. For the impact of scientific study on religious thought in Victorian
England, see ed. Anthony Symondson: 7he Victorian Crisis of Faith (London: Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, 1974 edition), particularly the essaysby Robert M Young (7he Impact of Darwin
on Conventional 7hought, pp. 13-36) and Owen Chadwick (7he Established Church under Attack,
pp. 91-106).

61?
risk of their devoting energy to the planning of revolution. 114 However, this particular

observation needs to be set in its own rather limited context. It must be remembered

that the Mechanics' Institutions appealed generally to only a comparatively small

element of the working class - the more skilled sections who would include artisans,

115
operatives and mechanics. The authors feel that the failure of the mechanics'
institutions does not affect their argument, ignoring the fact that because the institutions

were unsuccessful alternative curricula, usually not including the sciences, were
developed. This meant that to a significant extent, if the mechanics' institutions were to

be even moderately successful as vehicles of social control, advanced scientific courses

had to be omitted and replaced by more general and probably less demanding subjects.

The failure of the Institutes may be inconvenient to the authors' argument, but it is not

irrelevant and requires consideration.

The Lyceurns, which had arisen partly out of the failure of the mechanics' institutions

to cater for the working class, prospered briefly "but achieved no permanent

success";"' the Working Men's Colleges were somewhat more successful. The

principal forerunner of these colleges was the Sheffield People's College, founded in

1842 by Rev. R. S. Bayley, minister of the Howard Street Independent Chapel in

Sheffield. For the first few years, in spite of poor accommodation, the College

flourished, classes being held for both men and women in the mornings and evenings

outside working hours. Following a quarrel with his church, Bayley was expelled in

1846 and subsequently left for London. The College barely survived, but numbers

gradually grew during the 1850s until its closure in the 1870s when the building was

required by the corporation. 117 The College was important for its own sake, but also
becauseit influenced the developmentof the London Working Men's College, founded

114 Shapin and Barnes, op. cit., p. 56.

115 Shapin and Barnes, ibid, p. 34.

116 Thomas Kelly :A History of Adult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1992 edition), p. 125.

117 Kelly, ibid, pp. 182-3.

63
in 1854.

The standard work by J. F. C. Harrison, A History of the Working Men's College,

1854 - 1954, while noting the importance of the College in the development of adult

education in the secondhalf of the nineteenthcentury, submits that it was quite distinct
from the earlier adult educational initiatives in that its leading influence,
F. D. Maurice, was motivated by a desire to express in tangible form the ideals of

Christian Socialism and also by what Harrison terms "the humanist tradition of the

older universities". ' 18 Harrison shows that the idea of a College was essential to the

entire concept - that teachersand studentswere both engagedin the process of learning
from each other; the teaching had to be adapted to cater for the requirements of the

working man; priority was given to liberal studies rather than the sciences; and a sense

of community was gained through the development of the social life of the College.

Maurice was fortunate in that he was able to call on talented colleagues from the

Christian Socialist movement, including Charles Kingsley and Thomas Hughes to assist

in promoting the College, and recruited John Ruskin* III to the teaching staff from the

opening day in October 1854.120

The question of the extent to which social activities should feature in the life of the

College surfaced early in its development. In 1859 a series of summer excursions for

men and women had it

proved popular, and was decided to continue the meetings

during the winter months by organising several dances. It was felt that there was a

strong possibility of these events becoming too frequent, and in January 1861 the

governing council resolved that they should not be encouraged. This type of problem,

which was to recur periodically, was similar to those which had proved difficult for

mechanics' institutions and the Lyceums to resolve satisfactorily - the extent to which

118 J. F. C. Harrison :A History of the Working Mens College, 1854 1954 (London: Routledge and
-
Kegan Paul, 1954), p. 2 1.

119 Ruskin taught for several years at the College and his classes were one of its main
attractions during
that time.

120 Harrison, op. cit., pp. 31-32.

64
social activities could and should be incorporated with more serious educational

objectives. Harrison argues cogently that "The majority of institutions for adult

education which have gone astray or collapsed altogether, have done so not because

they deliberately left their original path, but because they inadvertently wandered first

down one side road and then down another, until they became completely lost and

forgot all about their original highway. Their error was in the first instance lack of
11121
vigilance. It was a snare which the College, through close adherence to its
fundamentalaims, usually managedsuccessfullyto avoid.

The entry of the universities into adult education has been well documented and

requires only brief reference here.122 While there had been talk of sending lecturers
from Oxford and Cambridge to provide courses in other areas of the country, James

Stuart of Trinity College, Cambridge, had been the first to investigate seriously the

possibilities of this idea. In 1867-8 he delivered lectures to women's associations,

mechanics' institutes and co-operative associations in the Midlands and the north. The

responsewas enthusiasticand by 1873, following persistent pressure, a Local Lectures

syndicate was formed at Cambridge to organise the provision of University Extension

courses with Stuart as its secretary. Oxford and London Universities established their

own equivalents within the following few years, and the Victoria University,

comprising at that time Owens College (Manchester), Yorkshire College (Leeds) and

University College (Liverpool), began to arrange courses in local districts in 1886.123

121 Ibid., p. 81. Apart from the London institution, all the provincial Working Men's Colleges, with
the exception of what later becameVaughan College, did not survive into the twentieth century.

122 For accounts of the beginnings of the University Extension movement, see W. H. Draper:
University Extension: A Survey of Fifiy Years, 1873 - 1923 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1923), pp. 1-33; James Stuart : Reminiscences(London: Printed for private circulation at the Chiswick
Press, 1911), pp. 152- 177; N. A. Jepson : 7he beginnings of English University Adult Education -
Policv and Problems: A Critical Study of the Early Oxford and Cambridge University Extension Lecture
Movementsbetween 1873 and 1907 with special reference to Yorb-hire (London: Michael Joseph, 1973),
pp. 1-95; Edwin Welch : 7he Peripatetic University : Cambridge Local Lectures 1873 - 1973
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), pp. 25-66; N. A. Jepson : Staffing Problems during the
eary years of the Oxford University extension Movement (Rewley House Papers, Volume 3, Number 3,
1954-5, Oxford University Delagacy for Extra Mural Studies), pp. 20-33.

123 Thomas Kelly : Outside the Walls : SLxrv Years Of U"i'lersit-V Extension at Manchester 1886
-1946
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1950), pp. 11-16.

65
The University Extension movement attempted to meet two broad basic aims: the

provision of university coursesin their own localities for those working full-time who

were unable to attend university during the day and to share the knowledge and values

of the universities with communities which under normal circumstances would

experience neither. 124 That the movement failed in its effort to attract widespread

working-class support was not hard to understand. Two problems in particular of an

intractable nature rapidly became apparent. Although in some cases the courses of

lectures were aided by modest grants from town and city councils and subsidised by the

universities offering the facilities, the enterprises had to cover their costs, which meant

that often the fees charged were more than working-class men and women could

afford. A more serious difficulty was that in many instances a lack of education left

studentsunprepared for the sharp transition to the rigours of a university course, and

although there were talented exceptions the courses were too demanding initially for the

majority. The universities were faced with an awkward choice either of reducing the

standards expected from students in the hope of retaining them or of refusing to

compromise the status of their courses and run the consequent risk of losing many of

those whom they were endeavouring to attract. There were also fears that the ambitions

of many would outstrip their abilities with the result that they would be sadly
disappointed or might be attempting to qualify themselves for careers for which they

had no aptitude.125 From the administrative perspective, there was also occasional

friction between the universities responsiblefor organising the courses. Territory which

had traditionally been covered by one university rather than others was frequently

guarded possessively, and attempts to establish overlapping courses via different

126
universities causedresentment.

124 Thomas Kelly :A History of Adult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1992 edition), p. 252.

12 The question of the attempts of the universities to respond to demands being made upon them to
-5
provide alternative routes other than the traditional ones for those seeking entrance to higher education is
addressed by Stuart Mamott in A Backstairs to a Degree : Demands for all Open University in late
Victorian England (Leeds: Department of Adult Education and Extramural Studies, University of Leeds,
1981).

126 See Stuart Mamott : Extramural Empires : Sen,ice and Sefllnterest in English Universit-VAdult
Education 1873 - 1983 (Nottin-gham: Department of Adult Education, University of Nottingham, 1984),

66
A most useful and informative introduction to the history and development of the

University Extension movement is N. A. Jepson's The Beginnings of English University

Adult Education : Policy and Problems. The book traces the origins and progress of

the University Extension Lecture movement and assessesthe contributions made to it

by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Although the work deals mainly with

university extension provision in one particular region, West Yorkshire, the

administrative arrangementsand difficulties involved are not unrepresentativeof other

areasof the country. Jepsonsetsout the themesof the book clearly in a well-balanced

combination of narrative and analysis. He examines the kind of education which the

universities were hoping to provide in their schemesof extension lectures and offers a

careful appraisal of the extent to which they achieved success in reaching the audience
for whom the provision was intended. He evaluates the difficulties experienced by the

two universities in the development of liberal adult education; the recruitment and

retention of able staff; the provision of suitable accommodation for the lectures to

enable participants to derive maximum benefit from the teaching; and the organisation

and presentationof lengthy and planned coursesfor studentsfrom diverse backgrounds

and with differing levels of ability. In some respects similar topics are addressedin
Edwin Welch's The Peripatetic Universiry: Cambridge Local Lectures 1873 - 1973, but

the value of an interesting narrative is impaired by a tendency to concentrate, perhaps

understandably, on the work of the Lecture Extension syndicate in Cambridge rather

than in other areas of the country in which the university established and arranged

courses.

The failure of the University Extension movement to attract working-class students was

not remedied to any significant extent until the working class organised further
initiatives in adult education for itself with the emergence of Ruskin Hall at Oxford in

1899 -a residential college - and the founding in 1903 of an Association to Promote

the Higher Education of Working Men (which two years later became the Workers'

Educational Association).

especially pp. 46-57,65 and 72-74.

67
Two important studiesof the developmentof education for the working class surveying

the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are Brian Simon's The Two Nations and the

Educational Structure 1780 1870 and his Education and the Labour Movement
-
1870-1920. The use of Disraeli's reference to the two nations - the rich and the poor
-

gives some idea of the obstaclesencounteredin the by

attempts made the working class
to gain accessto education at elementary and higher levels. Simon cites in the earlier

work its aim of directing "attention to neglectedaspectsof educational history". 127The

book is especially good in its analysis of workers' efforts at self-education during the

early nineteenth century, and there are useful sections on the Owenite Halls of Science

and a lengthy assessment of Chartist initiatives in the provision of education for

128
children and adults.

Simon's secondwork examinesthe efforts of the Labour movement to secureentrance

for working men and women to all areas of education, and assesses critically the

contributions made by enterprises which were dominated by the middle class, including

the Young Men's Christian Association, adult schools, the University Extension

movement and various youth organisations, together with the state provisions for

education after 1870. He provides perspectiveson the university settlementsand the

W. E. A. 129and gives a lucid analysis of the 1908 Oxford and Working Class Education

by
report prepared a committee of representativesdrawn from the universities and from

127 Brian Simon : 7he Two Nations and the Educational Structure 1780 1870 (London: Lawrence and
-
Wishart, 1981 edition. First Published 1960), p. 15.

128 Ibid., pp. 235-276. Seealso A. E. Dobbs : Education and Social Movements 1700 1850 (London:
-
Longmans Green and Co., 1919), pp. 185-205 and an unpublished dissertation by A. Black : Owenite
Education 1839 - 1851, with particular reference to the Manchester "Hall of Science" (Department of
Education, University of Manchester, 1953). Helpful insights are obtained from the essay by Richard
Johnson in Really Useful Knowledge; radical education and working-class culture, 1790 - 1848 in eds.
John Clarke, Chas Cntcher and Richard Johnson : Working-Class Culture: Studies in history and theory
(London: Hutchinson in association with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of
Birmingham, 1980,2nd edition), pp. 75-102.

129 No national survey of the university settlement movement in Britain has yet been published, but a
volume by Professor Michael E. Rose of the University of Manchester is currently In preparation, For
brief appraisals of the university settlementsand the W. E. A., see Brian Simon : Education alul the
Labour Movement 1870 - 1920 (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1980, Fourth edition), pp. 78-85,
304-311 and 327-330.

68
the W. E. A. 130

The establishmentof a working-class body to promote adult education for working men

and women was by no means a new idea at the beginning of the twentieth century. By

the time of the advent of the W. E. A. in 1903, several other voluntary organisations-

the Working Men's College, Oxford Ruskin Hall, the Co- operative movement and the

Working Men's Club and Institute Union - were already actively involved in meeting

the educational needs of the working class.131 As Bernard Jennings correctly states,

Albert Mansbridge* developed the idea of the W. E. A. through his work and activities

with the co-operative movement. Joining the Co-operative Wholesale Society in 1896

as a clerk, he enrolled in the Union's evening classes as a student. He was invited to

speak at a conference of Co-operatives organised at Oxford in August 1899 during the

Extension Summer Meeting. His vigorous address seemed to have little impact on its

hearers, but it brought him to the notice of several influential persons in the university

extension movement there, including Michael Sadler and Hudson Shaw*. As a result

of three articles submitted by Mansbridge and published in the University Extension

Joumal in late 1902 and early 1903 the idea of the W. E. A. assumeda more definite

130 Ibid., pp. 311-318.

131 T. W. Pnce : 7he Story of the Workers' Educational Association from 1903 to 1924 (London: The
Labour Publishing Co. Ltd., 1924), p. 13. For the origins of the Working Men's Club and Institute
Union see the work by B. T. Hall (its general secretary from 1893 to 1929) Our Sixty Years - the story of
the Working Men's Club and Institute Union (London, 1922) and George Tremlett : 77zeFirst Century
(London: The Working Men's Club and Institute Union, 1962). The latter volume is disappointing in
that it treats far too briefly and unsystematically the work of individual clubs, choosing to devote
attention to the central organisation. The absenceof referencesand an index in a work of this nature is
unfortunate, and it is significant that Peter Bailey in the chapter concerning the Working Men's Club
movement in Leisure and Class in Victorian England : rational recreation and the contestfor control,
1830 - 1885 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978), pp. 106-123 and 208-213, refers to Trenilett's
work only briefly in the extensive references. For further background to the Working Men's Club
movement see John Levitt : Adult Education in Working Men's Clubs in Adult Education, Volume 28,
Number 4, Spring 1956 (National Institute of Adult Education), pp. 260-272, and Richard N. Price : 7he
Working Men's Club Movement and Victorian Social Reform Ideology in Victorian Studies, Volume 15,
Number 2, December 1971, pp. 117-147.

For the history and development of co-operative education see H. J. Twigg : An Outline History of
Co-operatiw Education (Manchester: Co-operative Union, 1924); Susan Rawlinson : 7he Women's
Co-operative Guild 1883 - 1983 (unpublished M. Ed. dissertation, Department of Education, University
of Manchester, 1984)-, and G. D. H. Cole :A Century of Co-operation (London: George Allen and
Unwin Ltd. for the Co-operative Union Ltd., 1944), pp-227-240.

69
form and was commenced officially in August 1903.132 The development of tutorial

classes, which originated in Rochdale from a group of W. E. A. students of an Oxford

Extension group there, was in many respects a logical consequenceand will be

considered in later chapter of this thesis.133

The four main histories of the W. E. A. differ in their approaches,but taken together

provide a coherent and lively narrative of the early years of the movement up to 1914.
Mansbridge and Price write with the vision and commitment of persons actively

involved in the organisation and promotion of the activity; Mary Stocks provides an

interesting and readable survey; and Bernard Jennings offers a brief but updated

account.134 All have their own distinctive characteristics but the different approaches

complement each other.

One notable feature of educational development during the nineteenth century was the

steadily increasing amount of aid received from the state, especially concerning

elementary education, to support voluntary initiatives. Between 1807 and 1820 three

particular items of Parliamentary legislation or enquiries establisheda growing demand

for some type of state support for education. In 1807 Whitbread's Parochial Schools

Act advocated the foundation of a national system of parish schools aided from the

rates, and in 1820 Brougham's Parish Schools Bill135 suggested a national system of

132 Bernard Jennings : Knowledge is Poit,er :A Short History of the Workers'Educational Association
Z:
'
1903 - 1978 (Hull: Newland Papers, Number One, Department of Adult Education, University Hull,
of
1979), pp. 1-7.

133 For a descnption of the evolution of tutorial classes see Albert Mansbridge : University Tutorial
Classes :A Study in the Development of Higher Education among wW*i119"Ien and women (London:
Longmans Green and Co., 1913); Mary Stocks : The Workers'Educational Association. The First Fifty
Years (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1953), pp. 37-47; T. W. Price, op. cit., pp. 29-39; and
T. L. Hodgkin : Adult Education and Social Change, in Adult Education, Volume 23, Number 1, June
1950, pp. 7-1 1.

134 For an account of the development of the W. E. A. to the First World War see Albert Mansbridge :
An Adventure in working-class Education. Being the storv of the Workel-s' Etlucational Association
1903-1915 (London: Longnians Green and Co., 1920); Price, ibid., pp. 1-54; Stocks, op. cit., pp. 9-63;
and Jennings, op-cit., pp. 1- 23.

135 Keith Evans : Ae Development and Structure of the English E(lucational SYstem (London:
University of London Press Ltd., 1975), p. 19.

70
,c%A
education funded partly through voluntary contributions with support from sums drawn

from the local rates. Both proposals were rejected, although the Parliamentary Select

Committee of 1816 which had been commissionedto enquire into the education "of the

Lower Orders of the metropolis and to report their observationsthereon" had indicated

that the existing voluntary provision was inadequateto meet the educational needs of

children from poor homes and had intimated that government action was desirable.136
The first Parliamentary grant in 1833, due largely to the efforts of John Roebuck, a

Radical M. P., and Henry Brougham, a Whig, marked the establishment of the

principle of state assistancefor elementary (and later other forms of) education, even
though the actual grant was a modest E20,000 in the first instance.

The development of scientific and technical education in Britain, which had been

stimulated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by an increasing realisation of

the practical benefits to be gained thereby, had unfortunately been separated from the

curriculum of liberal studiesand had acquired a lesser status. Partly as a consequence,

science was included among the subjects which it was deemed appropriate for study by

the working class in that a knowledge of scientific principles would improve the

standard of work of employees. However, because of the comparative failure of the

mechanics' institutions by 1850, the endeavour had failed, but the tradition of the

application of scientific principles to practical working conditions had been created.

Two books, Stephen Cotgrove's Technical Education an4dSocial Change and Michael

Argles's South Kensington to Robbins : An Account of English Technical and Scientific

Education since 1851, provide accounts of the progress achieved in scientific and

technical education in the secondhalf of the nineteenth century to the middle years of

the twentieth. Both are in broad agreement about the reasons for the somewhat

becalmed state of technical education in 1851: a widespread belief that technical

instruction was concerned with trade and was somehow inferior; a lack of vision

among industrialists regarding the potential of science and its application, with a

136 Mary Sturt : 7he education of the people -A history of primary education in England and Wales ill
the nineteenth centurv (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967), pp. 56-57.

71
consequent refusal to invest money in research and training -a principal factor in
limiting support from the artisan class; an unwillingness of owners and managementto

keep in touch with new scientific developments and techniques; and a lack of

elementary education among the work force. 137 Inevitably there is some duplication of

material between the two surveys, but both have their strengths. Cotgrove's work is

carefully structured, with each chapter having at the beginning a brief synopsis of the

questionsto be addressedand the nature of the material included; a summary at the end

of each section clarifies and emphasises the main conclusions. Argles provides a clear

and informative presentation of the developments in scientific and technical education,

and includes a brief but useful description of the Royal Commission on Technical
Instruction (1881-84). One other work, G. W. Roderick and M. D. Stephens

Scientific and technical education in nineteenth-century England -A symposium

examines in detail developments in these areas of instruction in Liverpool and

Cornwall, but the book does not provide the rather wider survey implied in the title.

Argles and Cotgrove are both well aware of the importance of the work of the Royal

Commission on Technical Instruction chaired by Bernhard Sammuelson which

produced its second report in 1884, two years after the first. The Commission, which

included H. E. Roscoe*, Philip Magnus138 and William Mather*, who owned a

mechanical engineering works in Salford, contributed reports on primary education in

Canadaand on the condition of general and technical education in the United States.139

137 See Stephen F. Cotgrove : Technical Eclucation and Social Change (London: George Allen and
Unwin Ltd., 1958), pp. 29-30 and Michael Argles : South Kensington to Robbins : An Account of English
Technical ami Scientific Education since 1851 (London: Longmans Green and Co. Ltd., 1964), p. 13.

138 For the influence of Roscoe on scientific and technical education in the second half of the nineteenth
century see the article by D. Thompson: Hemi, Enfield Roscoe :A Contribution to Nineteenth Century
Scientific and Technical Education in 77ie Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further Education
(Autumn 1965), Volume 17, Number 38, pp. 220-226. Seealso Ross D. Waller: Henry Roscoe and Adult
Education (Rewley House Papers, Volume 3, Number 10,1961-2, Oxford University University
Delegacy for Extra Mural Studies), pp. 11-37. For the career of Philip Magnus, see Frank Foden
In
Philip Magnus : Victorian Educational Pioneer (London: Vallentine, Mitchell and Co., 1970).

139 Seealso the essay by J. H. Reynolds on Education and Social Activities (pp. 89-135) in the memoir,
Yhe Right Honourable Sir William Mather (1838 - 1920), edited by his son Louis Emerson Mather
(London: Richard Cobden-Sanderson, 1926). See also 1. R. Cowan Sir William Mather and Education
in The Vocational A.yl)ect of Eilucation (Spring 1969), Volume 21, Number 48, pp. 38-46, and ed.
M. E. Sadler: Continuation Schools in England and Elseivhere : 77icir Place in the Educational Systein

72
The Commission, having visited institutions providing technical education in France,

Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium and Holland, in addition to those in

several cities and towns in the United Kingdom, made a series of extensive

recommendations which included the teaching in elementary schools of woodwork,

metalwork and drawing; the provision by local authorities, in association with the
Science and Art Department, of classesin practical science subjects for young persons

and adults; that instruction be given in primary schools to teachers to enable them to

teach the use of implements for woodwork and metalwork; and that provision from the

rates for public libraries should be increased.

140 Following the publication of the

secondreport in 1884, the opportunities for technical education expandedrapidly until

about 1905 141and the main facilities for instruction in science for adults in evening

classeswere establishedduring this period. 142

of an Industrial and Commercial State (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1908, Second
Edition), pp. 282-283.

140 See Second Report of the Royal Commissioners on Technical Instruction: Volume I (London:
Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1884), pp. 536-540.

141 Cotgrove, op. cit., p. 11.

142 There is abundant material on the development of various aspects of scientific and technical
education in England in the nineteenth century. For example, see the essay by P. W. Musgrave :
Constant Factors in the Demand for Technical Education, 1860 - 1960 in ed. P. W. Musgrave:
Sociology, History and Education: a reader (London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1972, Third Edition),
pp. 143- 157; J. Dawkins: 7he relationship between productive industry and technical education in
Manchesterftom about 1870 - 1939 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1959);
J. Managhan : Some views in education and industrial progress a hundred years ago in 7he Vocational
Aspect of Education (Autumn 1968), Volume 20, Number 47, pp. 187-194; ed. Ian Inkster : 7he Steam
Intellect Societies: Essayson Culture, Education and Industry, 1820 - 1914 (Nottingham: Department of
Adult Education, University of Nottingham, 1985); A. D. Garner : 7he Society of Arts and the
Mechanics' Institutes: 7he co-ordination of Endeavour towards scientific and technical education,
1841-1854 in History of Education, Volume 14, Number 4, December 1985, pp. 255-262;
P. W. Musgrave : 7he definition of technical education: 1860 - 1910 in 7he Vocational Aspect of
Education (Summer 1964), Volume 16, Number 34, pp. 105-111; George Haines IV : German Influence
upon Scientific Instruction in England, 1867 - 1887 in Victorian Studies, Volume 1, Number 3, March
1958, pp. 215 -244; Harry Butterworth : 7he Inauguration of the Whitworth Scholarships in 7he
Vocational Aspect of Education (Spring 1970), Volume 32, Number 51, pp. 35-39; G. W. Roderick and
M. D. Stephens : Education and Industry in the Nineteenth Century: 7he English Disease? (London:
Longmans, 1978); K. 0. Roberts : 7he Separation of Secondary education from Technical education
1899 - 1903 in 7he Vocational Aspect of Education (Summer 1969), Volume 21, Number 49,
pp. 101-105; Peter Acter (trans. Angela Davies) : 77zeReluctant Patron: Science and State in Britain
1&50 - 1950 (Oxford and New York: Berg, 1986); Michael D. Stephens : 7he Role of the Amateur in
Nineteenth Century American and English Scientific Education in 7he Vocational Aspect of Education
(April 1982), Volume 34, Number 87, pp. 1-5.

73
Gradually through the nineteenth century the administrative machinery evolved in a

rather piecemeal fashion to cope with the increasing concern of the state in education.

By the end of the century the central administration of education was channelled

through three main bodies: the Charity Commission, the Department of Science and

Art and the Education Department. The Charity Commission had been connected with

education from 1818 when it undertook a lengthy enquiry into the possible

misappropriation of income in endowed schools and continued to ensure the improved

provision of secondaryeducation through careful observanceover and redistribution of

143
endowments. The Department of Science and Art, established in 1853, had its

origins in the recommendationsfrom a Select Committee set up in 1835 to investigate

"the best means of extending a knowledge of Arts and of the Principles of Design

among the people (especially the manufacturing population) of the country. " In 1836

this committee suggested the establishment of several Schools of Design in an effort to

improve British manufacturing standards, and these schools attracted government grants

for the purchase of materials and for the training of teachers. The Great Exhibition of

1851 helped to reinforce the importance of good quality teaching of arts and science

subjects which were of direct to

relevance commerce and industry, and in 1853 the

Department of Science and Art was created and was placed initially within the

jurisdiction of the Board of Trade, 144transferring in 1856 to the Education Department

which had been establishedin that year. The Education Department was in itself the
direct descendantof the Committee of Council for Education which had been formed in

1839 some years after the introduction of the principle of annual grants from the state

for the purposes of education. The creation of this committee enabled "the State to

it
evolve a policy which could enforce by making grants available for particular objects
11145
and conditional upon the fulfilment of certain requirements.

143 Evans, op. cit., pp. 45 and 143.

144 For the background to the formatio1n of the Science and Art Department in 1853 see
P. H. J. H. Gosden : 7he Development of Educational Administration in England and Wales (Oxford:
Basil Blackwell, 1966), pp-43-44 and A. S. Bishop : 7he rise of a Central Authorilyfor English
Education (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971), pp. 150-157.

145 Gosden, ibid., p. 3.

74
The inception of local government administration had commenced with the creation of

School Boards in accordance with the requirements of the 1870 Education Act. These

Boards enjoyed and exercised extensive responsibility for provision of elementary and

latterly some aspects of secondary education. The formation of Technical Instruction

Committees to provide technical education through levying a penny from the rates in

accordancewith the Technical Instruction Act (1889) and the Local Taxation (Customs

and Excise) Act (1890), which permitted the monies gained through increased duties on

beer and spirits to be used by councils for the furtherance of technical education,

served to assist the development of adult and further education. However, the

overlapping on occasions of duties, especially in the provision of evening classes,

sometimescausedconfusion and resentment.

The Bryce Commission, which reported in 1895, had recommended a streamlining both

of central control and local educational administration. It suggested that the Education

Department, the Science and Art Department and the Charity Commission (to the

extent that it was concerned with educational endowments) should comprise one central

authority. This occurred in 1899 when the three were merged to form the Board of

Education. The Commission had intimated further that successful development of

secondary education would depend to a large extent upon a refined system of local

administration, and this was achieved, although not without difficulties, through the

replacementas a result of the 1902 Education Act of the various School Boards and
Technical Instruction Committees by local education authorities. These authorities

continued a process of developing, codifying and rationalising the numerous and

complicated plethora of examination qualifications which multiplied in the second half

146
of the nineteenthcentury.

146 For the development of public exanunations leading to formal qualifications in England see Derek
Hudson and Kenneth W. Luckhurst : 7he Royal Society of Arts 1754 - 1954 (London: John Murray,
1954); Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes, 1839 - 1939: a hundred years o educational service
(Manchester, 1939); John Roach : Public examinations in England 1850 - 1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1971); Ray Macleod : Days of Judgement: Science, &aininations and the organization
of Knowledge in Late Victorian England (Driffield: Nafferton Books, 1982); J. A. Petch : Fifty years of
F-xatnining: the Joint Matriculation Board, 1903 - 1953 (London: Harrap, 1953).

75
The two principal works of reference on educational administration are
P. H. J. H. Gosden's The Development of Educational Administration in England and

Wales and A. S. Bishop's The rise of a Central Authority for English Education.

Gosden's work is the more useful introduction in that it deals with the development of

both central and local government administration of education up to the passing of the

1902 Education Act and slightly beyond. By treating the two strands separately he

manages to disentangle what might easily have become a complex narrative and

explains lucidly but in detail how the various departmentsdevelopedand to what extent
they are inter-related. Bishop concentrates, apart from a short introductory chapter,

almost entirely on the development of a central organisation for education between

1833, from when the first state educationalgrant was made, to the establishmentof the

Board of Education in 1899. Like Gosden, he deals separately with the three agencies

of central administration, choosing to concentrate more on the individuals who were in

charge of the various departments. Whilst in certain respects 1899 marks an

appropriate point to conclude the narrative, it might have been more useful to continue

the survey to include the workings of the first Years of the rationalised system of

centralised organisation for the purposes of comparison with the situation prior to that

date.

A vital document in the history of British adult education is the Final Report of the

Adult Education Committee in 1919. The Committee had been appointed in July 1917

"to consider the provision for, and possibilities of, Adult Education (other than

technical or vocational) in Great Britain, and to make recommendations".147 Chaired

by Arthur L. Smith (the Master of Balliol), the committee undertook a thorough

investigation of the history and existing provision of adult education, drawing some

general conclusions and making several specific recommendations. It was felt that

there was a need for the state to give increasedfinancial support to agenciesinvolved in

the organising of adult education. It was suggested that university extra-mural

IM

147 Ministry of Reconstruction, Adult Education Committee : Final Report (London: H. M. S.O.,
1919), P. 1.

76
x%A
education should receive grants from national and local funding bodies to assist in

ensuring adequate teaching and ancillary support, and that each university should

establish a department of extra-mural adult education. It was further recommendedthat

local educational authorities should take a prominent part in the development of adult

educational activity by forming evening institutes for the teaching of liberal studies and
by co-operating fully with voluntary agencies. The committee indicated that the

programmes arranged by the institutes should include social and recreational activities,

music, drama, dance and handicrafts. The proposalsconcerning voluntary organisations

were of particular importance. In addition to broadening the scope of their "less

systematic educational activities to it was advocated that their existing contribution to

the work of educating adults should be maintained and developed. The committee

concluded that "the advance of adult education can proceed only as quickly as

voluntary agencies can stimulate, focus and organise the demand for it. In the last

resort the volume of educational activity is determined not by the capacity of the

universities and education authorities to provide facilities, but by the ability of

"148
organising bodies to give shapeand substanceto the demand.

The Adult Education Committee quite correctly assessed the significance of the

function of voluntary organisations in promoting a demand for and providing

appropriate facilities for the education of adults. The leading role in such provision

had traditionally been undertaken by the different religious denominations and their

associated agencies, and they continued to exercise considerable influence in this

operation. Estimating the extent and importance of the contribution made by the

to
churches adult education in Britain in the century before the First World War is

problematical, and it is interesting to note that Kelly in what is the standard work of

reference on the history of adult education in Britain makes comparatively brief

mention of their contribution. Much of the adult educational activity carried out under

the auspices of the churches was of an informal nature and corroborative

148
Ibid., p. 17 1. For the conclusions and recommendationscontained In the Filial Report of 1919 see
pp. 170-178.

77
documentation is frequently scarce and difficult to locate. The most extensive

examination of the adult educational work of the churches was provided by Basil
Yeaxlee* in a survey in two volumes: Spiritual Valuesin Adult Education: A Study of a

Neglected Aspect (1925). In some respects Yeaxlee's lengthy investigation of the

numerous agencies of adult education organised by the the churches can be seen as a
1919.149
commentary on the Final Report of The first volume offers a detailed survey

of the main movements in adult education in the nineteenth century; the second

enquires thoroughly into the nature of the provision of educational opportunities for

adults by the churches and related organisations. What emerges is a fragmented

mosaic, with agencies pursuing similar kinds of activity and frequently duplicating

effort and provision. The impression gained from Yeaxlee's analysis serves to confirm

the rather arbitrary and often ephemeral nature of the initiatives established by the

churches for members of their congregations.

The most complete documentation amongst the church organisations of educational

activities for adults relates to the Nonconformist denominations, notably the Unitarians

and the Quakers. Raymond Holt's The Unitarian contribution to social progress in
V-
England is entirely factual and surveys, not always accurately, the practical assistance

afforded by prominent Unitarians to various philanthropic activities. Although Holt

treats Unitarian connections with educational enterprises at some length, the section

relating to adult education is regrettably brief and uninformative. In contrast, abundant

material from is
secondarysources readily available regarding the importance of adult

education to the Society of Friends. Although it was not automatic that adult schools
had strong connections with the Quakers, they did frequently so in the early years of

the adult school movement. In Adult School.y.- A Study in Pioneering (1941) by Emest

Champness, the writer indentifies three main phases in the fortunes of adult schools.

The first covered the years 1798 - when the first adult school was started in

Nottingham by William Singleton (a Methodist) and Samuel Fox (a Quaker) - to 1816.

141) Yeaxlee had served on the Adult Education Committee which produced the Final Rel)ort
of 1919.

78
The work begun at Nottingham did not spread quickly, but firmer foundations were

establishedat Bristol where by 1816 there were 24 schools for men and 31 for women
in the district. 150 During the following thirty years the movement declined, but

revived, especially in the Birmingham area through the efforts of Joseph Sturge* and
William White. * The movement developed so rapidly that by 1847 the Society of
Friends had formed the Friends' First Day School Association to co-ordinate its

increasing educational work, although its primary responsibility initially was to assist

Quaker Sunday Schools.151 The deceleration in growth of Quaker adult schools - or,

more accurately, the increasing proportion of adult schools which were not organised
by the Society of Friends - occurred again during the 1880s, reaching its most critical

point about 1890, before regaining momentum in the final years of the century. The

vicissitudes of the adult school movement will be referred to in more detail in a later

chapter of this thesis.

In many respects the second major work, published in 1903, on the history of adult

schools, by J. W. Rowntree and H. B. Binns, who both had strong connections with

the adult school movement, is still the most useful work of reference. 152

chronological record of the establishment of classes and other supporting activities

appears at the beginning of the book, and the writers are especially informative about

the development of the movement in Leicestershire, one of its centres where the work

was pursued most effectively. The other main area of growth was Yorkshire, and

J. F. C. Harrison in Learning and Living 1790 - 1960 offers a careful and objective

analysis of the development, strengths and weaknessesof the movement there up to

1914.153What is widely regardedas the standardwork on the adult school movement,

150 Ernest Champness : Adult Schools: A Study in Pioneering (Wallingford: The Religious Education
Press, 194 1), pp. 10- 12.

151 Ibid., p. 15.

152 The first important study of the origin and progress of adult schools, by Thomas Pole, had been
published in 1816 and covers the earliest years when the movement was still in its infancy and without
any clear organisational identity.

153 J. F. C. Hamson -Learning and Living 1790 - 1960: A Study in the History of the English Adult
.
Education Movement (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1961), pp. 301-311.

79
The Adult School Movement: its origin and development by G. Currie Martin, who

lectured for the movement over many years, adds little to the earlier work of Rowntree

and Binns and provides on too many occasions a confused and somewhat discursive

narrative of the movement's progress to 1923. The work by Rowntree and Binns was

republished in 1985 with a substantial introductory section and subsequentdetailed

explanatory notes by Christopher Charlton, 154 including a clear analysis of the

differences between the adult school and Pleasant Sunday Afternoon movements. The

relationship between the two varied significantly from locality to locality, although in

several ways the adult schools and the P. S. A. movement (founded in 1875) had much

in common and did on occasion work together harmoniouslY. More often, however,

the P. S. A. movement tended to be a counter attraction to the adult schools. 15-5 The

story of the adult school movement has been brought up to date in W. Arnold Hall's

The Adult School Movement in the Twentieth. Century (Nottingham: Department of

Adult Education, University of Nottingham, 1986).

Elizabeth Isichei's Victorian Quakers helps to put the history of adult schools in the

context of the development of the Quaker sect in the nineteenth century more

generally. She identifies three particular ways in which Quaker Sunday Schools, or

First Day Schools as they were usually known, differed from those of other religious

denominations: they were formed rather later, many of the early adult schools not

having any direct connection with the Society of Friends; they were intended for the

uneducatedpoor and not for children of Quakers; and they included many schools

which provided basic education for adults.IS6 The Sunday School movement had

commenced in the 1780s, but the Quaker movement was slow to form its own First

154 See A history of the Adult School Movement by J. Wilhelm Rowntree and Henry Bryan Binns
(originally published in London in 1903 by Headley Brothers) with an introduction and additional notes
by Christopher Charlton (Nottingham: Department of Adult Education, University of Nottingham,
1985).

15-5 Ibid., p. liv-lxii.

1-56 Elizabeth Isichei : Victorian Quakers (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), p. 298.

80
Day Schools, there being only five by 1830.157 The provision of schools for adults

evolved slowly, although by the 1870s there was an increasing inclination to categorise

adult schools as First Day Schools. Although during the last thirty years of the century

the adult schools became much more closely identified with the Society of Friends,

evidence suggests that many of the schools had no formal links with the denomination.

The Final Report of the Adult Education Committee in 1919 for the Ministry of
Reconstruction indicated that there were 1,873 adult schools in 1914 with a total

membership slightly in excess of 81 00,0;158 Isichei claims that the number of adult
,
scholars from schools connected with the Quakers was never more than 29,000. She

notes that the adult school movement had declined by the end of the nineteenth century

and experienced a somewhat unexpected revival in the years before 1914, attributing

this circumstance to a policy of co-operation with similar schools organised by non-

Quakers together with a combination of good leadership and a desire for expansion. 159

There is little to suggest that the schism in the Quaker movement which occurred in

Manchester in the 1860s and 1870s seriously affected the development of the adult

school in the city at that time, although the leader of the seceders, David Duncan,

taught at the recently opened school which by the late 1860s had a library, rooms for

discussions, lectures and social activities. 160 However, for Isichei, the importance of

the Quaker adult schools lies primarily in the context of the movement's history rather

than in any particular contribution to education, although she notes that many Quakers

had their social awareness developed in that "regular and intimate contact with the

relatively poor opened new horizons, sensitizing their consciences, as nothing else

157 Ibid., p. 259- For in the development Sunday Schools in England

an excellent study and work of
seeT. W. Laqueur : Religion and Respectability: Sunday schools and working-class culture 1780 - 1850
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976).

158 Ministry of Reconstruction, op. cit., p. 212.

159 Isichei, op. cit., p. 274.

160 Ibid., p. 61. For details of the schism in Manchester, see Isichei, pp. 61- 65 and 134-143; for
a
more lengthy analysis see Thomas C. Kennedy: Heresy Hunting among Victorian Quakers: 7he
Manchester Difficulty, 1861 -1873 in Victorian Studies, Volume 34, Number 2, Winter 1991, pp. 227-
253.

81
 lives. 11161
could have done, to the restrictions and hardshipsof their

The contribution of Methodism to education is assessedby H. F. Mathews in

Methodism and the Education of the People. Although much of the education via the

Methodist Sunday Schools was directed at children some schools were formed for

adults.162 Many of the Sunday Schools had libraries of various size and character and

tried to provide literature of good quality for the working class. In Manchester the

church on London Road had a library from 1808.163More commonly, instruction for

adults took the form of teaching them to read and write. The teaching of writing on

Sundays caused controversy, and the Church of England was strongly opposed to it.

Methodists tended to adopt a more moderate stance, especially among the newer sects,

although the Wesleyan Conferencein 1814 would not authorise the teaching of writing

on Sundaysand the 1827 Conferenceconfirmed this decision and extendedit to include

"any other merely secular branch of knowledge". 164 In Blackley, for example the

teaching of writing on Sundays was discontinued in 1835, although both writing and
165
reading were taught on weekday evenings.

The way in which the Methodist churches were organised encouragedtheir role as an

educative agency. Classesmet in small groups on Sunday mornings "for Bible study

and mutual consideration of personal religious problems". 166 Each class had a lay

person as its leader, and many from the working class attended. The discussions

proved a valuable aid in teaching them to articulate their ideas, and the classeswould

161 Isichei, ibid., p. 274.

162 H. F. Mathews : Methodism and the Education of the People (London: The Epworth Press, 1949),
p. 68.

163 Ibid., p. 57.

164 Ibid, pp. 41-42. Seealso A. P. Wadsworth : 7he First Manchester Sunday Schools In the Bulletin of
the John JvlandsLibrary, Volume 33, Number 2, March 1951, pp. 313-314.

165 Mathews, ibid., p. 67.

166 Ibid., p. 78.

82
sometimes be supplementedby meetings away from the chapel to talk about religious

matters and other topics of general interest, with a course of reading being agreed upon

occasionally. Because the church is essentially democratic in its organisation,

opportunities for lay persons to serve the church in various capacities occurred
frequently, which meant that individuals learned to take responsibility and to exercise

discernment.167 This training was often valuable for the workplace, where employees

might put into practice the skills they were learning at their place of worship,

sometimesthrough the channel of trades union activity.

Surprisingly little has been written about the history of the Young Men's Christian

Association or of its contribution to adult education. No official history of the

Y. M. C. A. has yet been written, although Clyde Binfield's biography on George

Williams, the movement's founder, contains much useful detail. 168 There are few

published histories of any length dealing with individual Associations, although Bristol

is an exception and volumes on those at Manchester and Central London (the largest

Association in the country) are in preparation.169 The contribution of the Y. M. C. A.

and the Manchester Association in particular to adult education is examined in a

subsequent chapter of this thesis, but a brief general summary is provided by

F. WilliS. 170
Z. Most of the published literature conceming the Y. M. C. A. and adult

education deals with the work of the movement during and immediately following the

167 Ibid., pp. 78-80.

168 Clyde Binfield : George Williams and the Y.M. CA.: A Study in Victorian Social Attitudes (London:
Heinemann, 1973).

169 See Oscar Fisher and Eric Buston : 77iosebehind Cry "On ": 7he Story of the centenary of the
Bristol Young Men's Christian Association (Inc) (Bristol: 1953). Colin Lees has completed a history of
the Manchester Y. M. C. A. and arrangements are proceeding for its publication, and Geoffrey Palmer,
who was for many years the Director of Christian Purposes of the Central London Y. M. C. A., is
currently finishing a study of that Association. A record of the early years of the Y. M. C. A. movement
is provided by George John Stevenson : Historical Records of the Young Men's Christian Association
from 1844 to 1884 (London: S. W Partridge, 1884).

170 Z. F. Willis : The Y.M. CA. and Adult Education in 7he Journal of Adult Education, Volume 3,
Number 1, October 1928, pp. 36-46. Willis at that time was the Educational Secretary of the Y. M. C. A.,
and in the previous year had declined the general secretaryship of the Manchester Y. M. C. A. following
the resignation of R. H. Swainson.

83
First World War. 171 Educational work for adults had quickly became an important part

of the work of the Y. M. C. A. following the founding of the movement in 1844, and a

survey taken in 1893 in preparation for the jubilee of the movement in the following

year gave a clearer indication of the extent to which the programme had developed.
Out of the 405 Associations in existence at that time in England, Wales and Ireland,

288 provided reading rooms, 264 had library facilities and 137 organised educational
172
classes.

The Y. M. C. A. movement was one agency amongst many which sought in the second

half of the nineteenth century to provide activities which would help to ensure that

constructive use was made of leisure time. Defining "leisure" in the context of the

nineteenth century poses problems in two main areas: the question of how the term

should be interpreted in relation to the working class and more generally, and secondly,

the role of leisure in nineteenth century society.

The definition of "leisure" has been treated with caution by social historians,

understandably so as the term can be associated with a number of different

interpretations. The idea of what might be included in leisure activities changed as the

173
nineteenthcentury progressed. At that time, "leisure" was not an expressionused by
those pursuing specific activities such as drinking, visiting the music hall or playing

it
sport; was an abstract term used by those who sought to make some assessmentof
the interests of workers outside the hours of employment. Reformers in the nineteenth

century tended to use descriptions such as "amusements", "sports", "recreations" and

171 See A Short Record of the Educational Work of the Y.M. CA. with the British Armies in France
(Letchworth: National Journal of the Y. M. C. A., 1919), Y M. C.A. Universities Committee: Report to the
Standing Committee of the National Council of the YM. C.As., July 17th 1919 (London, 1919); and a
report (undated, but probably 1920) by Basil A Yeaxlee on Yhe Work of the Y.M. C.A. Universities
Committee and its Permanent Issues.

172 Z. F. Willis, op. cit., p. 39.

173 For an appreciation of the problems concerning the definition of the term "leisure", see Hugh
Cunningham : Leisure in the Industrial Re"OlutiOll c. 1780 - 1880 (London: Croom Heim, 1980),
pp. I 1- 13.

84
"diversions" to indicate the activities followed out of working hours by large numbers

of people.

Another major difficulty concerns the identification of the function of leisure in

nineteenth century society in Britain. Historians generally have favoured three

principal and not necessarily conflicting theories: that the concern of leisure was to

provide opportunities for self-improvement through study or through the pursuit of

recreational activities which exerted an influence for good; to keep social relations
between the classes at a level which was relatively harmonious; and to reduce the

distinctions between the social classes.

Robert Malcolmson, Peter Bailey, Hugh Cunningham, John Walton and James Walvin

have all made important contributions to the narrative and analysis of the history of

leisure in the nineteenth century. 174 Malcolmson concentrates on organised leisure in

the form of festivals and Wakes holidays. Bailey deals in depth with the development

of popular recreations and the efforts to promote their reform in ways which were
intended to go towards the bringing about of some degree of general social
improvement. The main theme of the book - the quest for improved recreation - is

linked in detail to the provision of such facilities for leisure in Bolton, a developing

industrial town. The movement for the promotion of popular or rational recreations

experienced similar difficulties there as in nearby Manchester. Bailey examines the

role of the middle class in arranging programmes of recreation "which recommended

themselves to respectable tastes" and which contained "some manifest moral or

improving content" to ensure that the working class was kept occupied usefully during

leisure hours. 17-5 The middle classes benefited primarily from the increased

174 See Robert Malcolmson : Popular Recreations in English Society, 1700 1850 (London: Cambndge
-
University Press, 1973); Peter Bailey : Leisure and Class in Victorian England: Rational recreation and
the contestfi)r control, 1830 -1885 (London: Routledge and Ke-,-,an Paul, 1978); Hugh Cunningham,
ibid.; eds. John K. Walton and James Walvin : Leisure in Britain 1780 - 1939 (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1983)

175 Bailey, p. 71.

ibid.,

85
opportunities for leisure in the 1860s and 1870s, and many took advantage of the
improving amenities parks, libraries, theatres, and communications which facilitated
-
travel. The working class also enjoyed similar provision, even if to a lesser extent,

although those concerned with working class reform were more concerned in the first
instance to secure the necessaryaccompanimentsto leisure time and money rather
- -
than arrange how such resourcesmight be used to best advantage."' There was often

an underlying fear, which increasedfrom the 1870s as the scope for leisure broadened

through reforms in working hours, that the working class would not use the increased

time away from work responsibly, merely spending more of their time and earnings on

gambling, at the public houses or at the music halls. 177 The facilities available for the
leisure of both middle and working classes were usually comparable; the difference lay

in how such amenities were regarded. Bailey concludes that while the precepts

presented to middle-class and working-class audiences differed little because "the

Victorian rationale of recreation was not in itself specifically discriminating", the

"stronger tone employed in addressing the working classes betrays fundamentally

different assumptions regarding the capacity of the particular classes for recognising

and acting upon moral imperatives in recreation."178 This moral perspective was seen
as an essential requirement, and provides one reason why the churches in the latter half

of the nineteenth century became more amenable to offering social and recreational

activities in addition to the more familiar fare of religious and moral instruction in an
179
to
endeavour combat attractions of drink and vice.

176 Ibid., p. 92. See also Peter Bailey : "A Mingled Mass of Peijectv Legitimate Pleasures": 7he
Victorian Middle Class and the Problem of Leisure in Victorian Studies, Volume 2 1, Number 1, Autumn
1977, pp. 7-28.

177 Specific recreational developments of the music hall and the public house are exanuined in John
Laverson and John Myerscough : Tine to Spare in Victorian England (London: Harvester Press, 1978).

178 Peter Bailey : Leisure and Class in Victorian England: Rational recreation and the contest for
control, 1830 1885 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978), p. 95.
-

179 The temperance question is considered in Brian Harrison : Drink and the Victorians: the
Temperance Question in England, 1815 - 1872 (London: Faber and Faber, 1971). The licensed trade
was not slow in defending itself, and its campaigns are described in David W. Gutzke : Protecting the
Pub: Brewers atul Publicans Against Temperance(Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1989).

86
Hugh Cunningham's Leisure in the Industrial Revolution c. 1780-1880 approachesthe

history of leisure from a different standpoint to many historians as a result of his

researches. He argues that traditionally the history of leisure had been written largely
"on the assumption that what is new starts high up on the social scale and is diffused

downwards", but that in fact such influence operates in both directions. He cites the

in
examples the first half of the nineteenth century of what were essentially popular

entertainments such as drama affecting what he terms "high culture". 180 Whilst his

comment might have some validity, the unstated implication that the influence is

approximately equal in both directions is misleading. Although there are quite distinct

elements of working-class culture, the overall tendency in the nineteenth century was
for trends gradually either to work their way down through the classes of society or to

be imposed with varying degrees of success from above.

Cunningham's second hypothesis, that leisure tended to reinforce class distinctions, is

decidedly contentious, although there is some truth in the observation and it should not

be dismissed. The more usual approach favoured by historians has been to suggestthat

the divisions within classes were often greater than those between classes, that the

working class elite (the skilled artisans) would espouse the values of the middle class

rather than those of the labouring poor. To a certain extent this is correct - the

ambitious artisan who wished to rise in the social scale would aim at so doing through

thrift, sobriety, moderation and hard work in order successfully to achieve a degree of

self-improvement. However, this did not mean an uncritical acceptanceof middle-

class values and aspirations. As will be seen in several of the adult education

enterprises,articulate artisans frequently resistedand resentedattempts at guidance and

social control from the middle class. Brian Simon remarks on "a deeply felt dread of

social disintegration and rebellion, as a consequenceof intolerable 181

pressures" noted
by contemporary observers. In part this helps to explain the origins of rational

180 Cunningham, op-cit., pp-10-11.

181 Bnan Simon : The TvvoNations and the &-lucational Structure 1780 1870 (London: Lawrence and
-
Wishart, 1981 edition), pp. 166-167.

87
recreation, which was not a movement as such, but rather, a growing consciousness

among individuals - primarily from among the middle class - that there needed to be

new forms of leisure which would allow the different classes to mix more frequently in

a "controlled and public environment". 182 More emphasis was being placed on

activities which would improve the mind and body. The middle class in the first half

of the nineteenth century was aware that the exclusivity of some of its leisure activities

effectively debarred the working class, and from the 1820s to the 1850s attempts were

made to promote rational recreation for it, not merely in an attempt to counter idleness

or aimless activity but to wean the working class away from a popular culture which

seemedin the main not to rise above drink, gambling and promiscuity. It was hoped
that efforts to provide activities which were morally and educationally uplifting and

aimed at encouraging self-discipline and restraint would be successfuland that threats

to overturn the existing structure of society would thus be diminished.

Leisure in Britain 1780-1939, edited by John Walton and James Walvin, comprises a

series of essays on various aspects of leisure. The contributions cover a selection of

English towns and cities during the period - London from 1800 - 1860, Birmingham in

the 1930s, Newcastle 1840 - 1870, Yorkshire 1880 - 1914, the Oldham Wakes, Crewe,

Bournemouth, Blackpool from 1876 - 1914 and Ilfracombe 1902 - 1914. In addition to

this useful series of case studies, David Vincent examines the relationship between

working-class culture and politics in rural Kent in the years following the Labourers'

Revolt of 1838. Direct comparison between the situation of the working class in

Kentish villages and urban Manchester should not be overstated, but there are certain

similarities. Following the rising in Kent of 1838, the Central Society for Education

sent a London barrister, Frederick Liardet, to survey the physical and moral conditions

of the village from which the insurrectionists had come. Rejecting the traditional

economic and legal explanations- although certainly the affair could have been handled

more sympathetically by the authorities - in favour of a cultural one, Liardet concluded

182 Cunningham, op. cit., p. 89.

88
that something had gone wrong with the agenciesresponsible for instilling sound moral

values and judgements in the minds of the labouring poor. In his report of the

following year, he opined that the fundamental cause of the problem essentially was

one of recreation - in what the poor read or failed to read in their homesafter work. 183

Two lessons were learned from Liardet's analysis which would find ready recognition

in working-class districts of Manchester in the 1830s -a need to have more secular

literature available for the working class to read and the somewhatambiguous nature of

the working-class home. Liardet felt that evidence suggestedthat there should be a

leavening of religious reading matter with works on politics and law, possibly via the

mechanics' institutes and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. The

domestic circumstancesof the labouring poor found Liardet advocating some form of

rational recreation. Given that membersfrom the middle class would not wish to open
their own homes to the working class or relax the rules of their clubs and societies to

enable less wealthy elements to join, that working-class homes would be too cramped

to afford a suitable meeting place, and that the public house was an undesirable

location for rational recreation, aspiring reformers regarded it as an essentialfeature of

such activities that they be "open to public observation or knowledge" where "Public

assembly under proper restraints and of the right social mix" might effect "a collective
184
moral vigilance".

This idea was developed later in the century by the churches and other voluntary

organisations which sought to supervise and control the leisure of working-class

183 David Vincent : Reading in the working-class home in eds. John Walton and James Walvin :
Leisure in Britain 1780 - 1939 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1983), pp. 208-209. See also
F. Liardet : State of the peasantry in the county of Kent in the 7hird Publication of the Central Society of
Education (London, 1839), pp. 87-139 referred to by Dr. Vincent. For working- class reading, readers
and writers in the Victorian era, see Louis James : Fictionfor the Working Man, 1830 -1850: A Study of
the Literature Producedfor the Working Classes in Early Victorian Urban England (London: Oxford
University Press, 1963); R. D. Altick : 7he English Common Reader: Social History of the Mass
Reading Public (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957); Martha Vicinus : 7he Industrial Muse:
A Study of the Nineteenth Century British Working-Class Literature (London: Croom Heim, 1978); and
R. K. Webb: 7he British Working Class Reader (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1955).

184 Bailey, op-cit., p. 97. See also Walton and Walvin, ibid., pp. 212-214.

89
adolescents through persuading them to channel their energies more usefully through

pursuing wholesome and healthy activity under disciplined influences instead of

spending their leisure hours "largely in standing at particular street comers, making

themselves more or less of a nuisance to the householders in their immediate

neighbourhood" or roaming in gangs the main streets of the city. 18-5Boys' and Girls'

Brigades, Lads' and Girls' Clubs, the Guides, the Scouts, the Cadets Corps and other

youth organisations attempted to combat juvenile delinquency through providing

controlled recreation, and certainly such movements to some extent fostered

nationalism and militarism through a training which encouragedpride in the Empire

and in being British. One of the effects of such propaganda,as John Springhall points

out, was to ensure that changes in society were resisted through the retention of

conservative and conformist attitudes, especially concerning the British Empire, and

that some of the leading figures in the youth movements "clearly saw their role as that

of training the rising generation to take up the reins of Empire from their faltering

predecessors"186as well as in terms of muscular Christianity and a necessity to ensure

that Britain was adequatelypreparedfor war.

This detailed survey of literature indicates the range of adult educational facilities

provided during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Certain themes and issues

emerge wbich will be considered at the end of this introductory chapter following an

185 Russell, op. cit., p. 29.

186 John Springhall : Youth, EmI)ire and Society: British Youth Movements, 1883 1940 (London:
-
Croom Helm, 1977), p. 18. For further reading, in addition to this work see John Springhall, Bnan
Fraser and Michael Hoare : Sure and Stedfast: A History of the BoyS'Brigade (London: Collins, 1983);
Patrick A. Dunbar ; Boys' Literature and the idea of EmI)ire, 1870 - 1914 in Victorian Studies, Volume
24, Number 1, Autumn 1980, pp. 105-121; E. E. Reynolds : Baden Povvell (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1957); Michael Blanch : Inywrialism, Nationalism and Organised Youth in eds. John
Clarke, Chas Critcher and Richard Johnson : Working Class Culture: Studies in History and 7heory
(London: Hutchinson and Co. Publishers Ltd. in association with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural
Studies, University of Birri-i-ingham,1979), pp. 103-120; Stephen Humphries : Hooligans or Rebels? An
Oral History of Working- Class Childhood and Youth, 1899 - 1939 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1981);
Marion Lockhead :A Lany) way lit. - Girls' Guildry through fify years (Edinburgh: 1949); (ed. Alix
Liddell) Rose Kerr Stoi-y of the Girl Guides, 1908 - 1938 (London: The Girl Guides Association,
1976); Alix Liddell Story of the Girl Guides, 1938 - 1975 (London: The Girl Guides Association,
1976); Robin Bolton: Bovs of the Brigade: A Portrait in Old Photograj-)hic and Picture Postcards:
-
Volumes I and 2 (Market Drayton: S. B. Publications, 1991); and W. M. Eagar; Making Men; 7he
History tY'Boys' Clubs and Related Movements in Great Britain (London: University of London Press
Ltd, 1953).

90
examination of material which concerns the provision of formal education for
Manchester during this period.

The details of one prominent initiative, the developmentof the Manchester mechanics'

institution, are recorded in Artisan to Graduate, edited by D. S. L. Cardwell, which

comprises a collection of essays published on the sesquicentenary of its founding. The

various contributions trace the progress of the Institution through its successivephases,

culminating in its recognition as an establishment of university status in 1966. As is

not uncommon when using a number of contributors, the quality of the offerings is

somewhat uneven, but taken in its entirety the work is a useful study of the evolution

and vicissitudes of an individual institute. While some attempt is made to place the

college within the context of a technical and scientific background and, indeed,

reference is made to other ventures which derived from the Manchester Mechanics'

Institution, there is little to suggest that its emergence was in fact only one of a series

of contemporary initiatives which were to result in the establishment of a much wider

framework, admittedly on a rather piecemeal basis, of adult education in Manchester.

There are three essays which cover the main work of the Institution in its development

from 1824 to 1914. Of these, Mabel Tylecote's contribution (pp. 55-86) is based

extensively upon her chapter on the Manchester Mechanics' Institution in her earlier

work which has already been referred to in this review of literature. 187 The second

essay, by M. J. Cruickshank (pp. 134-156) includes many perceptive observations and

contains a lucid account of the transformation of the Mechanics' Institution into a

technical school and of the part played in this change by its secretary,

J. H. Reynolds-"' The senseof continuity, in that by the 1850sand 1860s several of

187 Mabel Tylecote : Ae Mechanics' Institutions of Lancashire and Yorkshire before 1851
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1957).

188 See J. D. Marshall : John Hemy Re vnolds: pioneei- of technical education in Manchester in 7he
also
,
Vocational Asl)ect of Sewndaiy and Fut-thet- Education, Volume 16, Number 35, Autumn 1964,
pp. 176-196. See also pp. 143-146 of M. J. Cruickshank's essay Fi-oin Mechanics' ItIstitution to
Technical School, 18-50 - 1892 in ed. D. S. L. Cardwell : Artisan to GI-aduate: Esscqs to commemorate
the foundation in 1824 qf the Manchevei- Mechanics' Institution, now in 1974 the University of
Manchestet- Institute of Science and Technology (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974).

91
the families originally connectedwith the Institution at its inception in the 1820s still

remained active associates,is clearly indicated through the references to Oliver* and
John Heywood, William Fairbairn*, Robert Rumney and Benjamin Fothergill among

others. 189 Cruickshank also makes two valuable points which are significant when

considering the relative success or lack of it concerning both middle and working-class

educational initiatives in Manchester in the mid-Victorian period. In certain respects,

the gap which existed between the artisan and middle classeswas much smaller than

that which separatedthe artisan and labouring classes, even though both of the latter

would be accommodatedunder the general designation of "working-class". To some

degree the artisans regarded themselves as the elite of the working class because they

represented some of the most highly skilled and educated sections among their peers,

and on occasions a clear distinction was drawn between them and the unskilled
labourers. This caused resentment, and it was not only the mental discipline in

addition to long working hours which proved an obstacle to the successfulprogress of

the artisan. Cruickshank observes that "Moral courage was needed by ordinary

workmen who by reasonof their attendanceat evening classeswere subject to ridicule,

taunts, and even ill-treatment from their workmates In fact, the working boy who
...
succeededoften had to contend with opposition from both his family and his peers. " 190

Although a clear exposition of the stages involved in the change from mechanics'

institute to a technical college in 1883 is given, little attention appears to have been

paid to the causeswhich brought this about. Two very general and, probably, correct

reasonsare cited - financial indebtednessand the fact that a number of other emerging

agencieswere increasingly taking over functions which had previously come under the

auspices of the mechanics' institution. However, this particular area needs a rather

more detailed treatment than is afforded by Cruickshank.

189 Cardwell, ibid., p. 137.

190 Ibid., pp. 136-137.

92
Unfortunately neither this contribution nor the one dealing with the college during the

years 1890 to 1914 show any real inclination to provide insight as to how the revenue

raised via the Technical Instruction Act of 1889 and the consequent financial support
received from the city of Manchester, together with the decision taken in 1892 that the

city should take total responsibility for the monetary provision of the college, affected

the institution on both an immediate and long-term basis. 191 While the acquisition of

funding on a regular basis offered continued security for the future, voluntary

contributions were still both It

necessaryand appreciated. was a cause for concern that

an institution which had been establishedwith a view to providing a training suited to

the requirements of the industries in the surrounding districts should have received so

little support in terms of cash grants or equipment from firms which would gain the

benefit from the instruction given by the college.

The early years of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution are also surveyed in Robert

H. Kargon's Science in Victorian Manchester: Enterprise and Expertise. In what is an

ambitious undertaking, Kargon has attempted to achieve a description of the evolution

of science in Victorian Manchester through its educational institutions and learned

societies in response to the demands of industry and the scientific discipline itself. In

in
some respects, what is essentially a work of synthesis, it is difficult to avoid the

recapitulation of ideas or studies which have been more thoroughly developed

elsewhere, and any considered assessmentof the book needs to make necessary

allowances for the inevitable difficulties created by such an approach. Examined in

such terms, scientific developments and the teaching of science at Owens College

receive adequate treatment. However, the contributions of some of the other

institutions are understated, and although Kargon comments in the preface to his work

that the reader should not expect to find full histories either of institutions or of

eminent figures such as Roscoe, Joule and Schuster, the assessmentof some of the

scientific organisations would have benefited from a more detailed consideration in an

191 Ibid. See essay by P. I. Short : 77?

e Municilml School of Technology and the University, 1890-1914,
pp. 157-164.

93
opening chapter which depicts the scientific community in Manchester in 1840. Despite
these reservations, Kargon's work is one of considerablemerit, with detailed references

and a thorough survey of literature to develop and elaborate on much of the ground

covered by him.

Of the histories of Owens College, Thompson deals with the early years in detail, but

for the purposesof the consideration of the work of the evening classesthe volume by

Hartog is the most useful, supplying a description of the coursesoffered by the college

in the 1899 - 1900 session. Charlton's work was written to celebrate the centenary of

the establishmentof Owens College. The most useful recent report is David R. Jones's
The Origin of Civic Universities: Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, which sets the

emergenceof Owens College in 1851 in the context of the Manchesterof the 1830sand
1840s. These decades saw the strengthening of the middle-class community in the city,

and its cultural life had been improved through the establishment and programmes of

the Literary and Philosophical Society, the Royal Institution, the Manchester Society

for the Promotion of Natural History, and the Manchester Athenaeum amongst other

institutions. Manchester also was at the forefront of movements to provide public

parks and public libraries for its citizens, with the result that by the middle of the

century there had been an accumulation of pressure from "middle class interests and

numbers sufficient for the creation of a civic college" in the City. 192 The wherewithal

for so doing was provided through a legacy bequeathedby John Owens, a Manchester

merchant. By 1854 the college had added evening classesto its day ones, and the staff

of the college provided considerableassistancein the establishmentof the Manchester

Working Man's College in 1858 which in 1861 merged its evening classeswith those at

192 David R. Jones : 7he Origins of Civic Universities: Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool (London:
Routledge, 1988), p. 49. For the history of Owens College and its development to a university see
JosephThompson 7he Owens College, Its Foundation and Growth (Manchester: J. E. Cornish, 1886);
P. J. Hartog (ed.) 7he Owens College (Manchester: J. E. Cornish, 1900); Edward Fiddes : Chapters
in the History of Owens College (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1937); H. B. Charlton :
Portrait of a University, 1851 - 1951 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1951);
W. H. Chaloner: Ae Movement for the Extension of Owens College Manchester, 1863-1873
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1973).

94
Owens College. 193

The origins of the Schools of Design, which came into being as the result of a

realisation that art and design needed to be more practically allied to industry if
England were not to lose trade in the face of strong foriign competition, are
interestingly described by Quentin Bell in The Schools of Design. Formed after the

pattern of the Normal School of Design which had been established by the Board of

Trade in London in 1837,194the school in Manchester, formed a few months later,

prospered in the 1850safter some unpromising years. However, in spite of assistance

from the Royal Manchester Institution, the school was invariably in difficult financial

circumstances over the next thirty years. A change of emphasis in the courses taught

resulted in the Manchester School of Design being renamed the Manchester School of

Art in 1853, but in spite of being eligible for government grants the school struggled

until the passing of the Technical Instruction Act in 1889, which meant that financial

assistance could be obtained from city rates. Manchester Corporation took over the

responsibility for the School of Art in 1892, at which tirne it became the Manchester

Municipal School of Art. 195

The contribution of the learned societies to adult education in Manchester during the

nineteenth century, although not within the scope of this thesis, is well documented.
The most useful introduction is Michael Rose's essay, Culture, Philanthropy and the

Manchester Middle Classes, which deals with the work of these societies in furthering

educational and philanthropic work in the city. "I His conclusion is that many of the

193 Jones, 51. For of the life of John Owens, see B. W. Clapp : John Owens,
ibid, p. an account
Manchestet- Met-chant (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1965).

194 See Stuart Macdonald : The R(yal Manchester Institution in ed. John H. G. Archer : Art and
Architecture in Victorian Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), p. 40.

195 For the history of the Manchester Municipal School of Art, froin its inception in 1837 as the
Manchester School of Design, see Quentin Bell : 7he Schools of Design (London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul, 1963); Cecil Stewart : Art in Adversity: A Short Histmy oj'the Regional College of Art, Manchester
(Manchester: Council of the Royal Manchester Institution, 1954); and D. Jererru'ah :A Hundred Years
and More (Manchester: FaCUltV of Art and Design, Manchester Polytechnic, 1980).

196 See M. E. Rose : Culture, Philanthr'IM7 (III(/ the M(I"cheSte" Mitl(Ile Classes in eds. A. J. Kidd and

95
societies formed in the nineteenth century flourished in Manchester to 1914 but
declined after the First World War. "'

The development of working-class consciousness in the 1820s and 1830s meant that

working people were not necessarily prepared merely to accept their position in life.
One way of improving it was seen to be through education. One of the earliest

manifestations of this in Manchester was the New Mechanics' Institution which was

started by a group of enthusiastic artisans who left the Manchester Mechanics'

Institution because there seemed little prospect of its customers ever being placed in

positions of responsibility. Little is known about the New Mechanics' Institution,

which will be referred to in more detail in the next chapter of this thesis, but a helpful

brief introduction is contained in R. G. Kirby's essay in Artisan to Graduate. 198 The

K. W. Roberts : City, Class and Culture: Studit-wof cultural production and social policy in Victorian
Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), pp. 103-117.

197 For the development of the Royal Manchester Institution see Stuart Macdonald : 7he Royal
Manchester Institution in Archer, op. cit., pp. 28-45; C. R. Darcy : 7he Encouragement of the Fine Arts
in Lancashire (Manchester: The Chetharn Society, 1976); and R. F. Bud : The Royal Manchester
Institution in ed. Cardwell, op. cit., pp. 119-133; S. D. Cleveland : 7he Origin of the Royal Manchester
Institution: its historyfi-oin its origin until 1882, when the building and contents of the Institution were
presented to the Manchester Corporation and becalne the City Art Gallerv (Manchester, 1931); W. G.
Sutherland : 7he Royal Manchester Institution: its origins, its character and its aims (Manchester,
1945). Hal Yates : Manchester Academy of Fine Arts: a short history of the Academy: centenary
1859-1959 (No place of publication given, 1959, pamphlet) outlines briefly the development of the
Academy. For the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, see C. L. Barnes : 7he Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Sociery in ed. W. H. Brindley : 77ie Soul of Manchester (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1929); D. S. L. Cardwell : 'Two centuries of the Manchester Lit. and
Phil. ' in Manchester Memoirs, Volume 1,1980 - 1981, p. 122-137.; C. Makepeace : Science and
technology in Manchester: two hundred Years of the Lit. and Phil. (Manchester: Manchester Literary and
Philosophical Publications Ltd., 1984); and W. H. Brindley : 7he Manchester Literary and
Philosophical Society in Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemisny, Volume 79, February 1955,
pp. 62-69. For the Manchester Athenaeum, see The Manchester Athenaeum. Commemorative Notice of
the Origin, progress, and present purposcs of the Institution (Manchester, 1903); J. W. Hudson : 7he
History of Adult Education (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 185 1) gives an outline of
the history of the institution from its founding in 1836 to 1849, see pp. 110-124; two articles in
Manchester Faces and Places : Mr Salnuel Ogden, J. P. (1819 - 1903), Volume 4, March and April
1893, pp. 81-84 and 99-101. For general background to the Statistical Movement in Britain in the 1830s
and 1840s, see M. J. Cullen : 77ie Statistical Moi, ement in Earli, Victorian Britain (New York: Barnes
and Noble, 1975). For the Manchester Statistical Society, see T. S. Ashton : Economic and Social
Investigations in Manchever 1833 - 1933 (London: King and Son, 1934), and articles by David Elesh
which have reservations about the methods and findinLs of some of the research by the society : 7he
Manchester Statistical Society in Journal oj'the Histoi-To f the Behav,ioural Sciences, Volume 8 (1972),
Part 1, pp. 280-301 and Part 2, pp. 407-417. Books on other societies are included in the bibliography.

198 R. G. Kirby An Earl N,Erperiment in Workers' Sef E(lucation. - Ae Manchester New Mechanics'
'
Institution, 1829 1835 in ed. D. S. L. Cardwell : Artisan to Gradutite (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1974), pp. 87-98.

96
new institution closed in 1835, although the venture was weakened in 1831 when one

Of its most active leaders, Rowland Detrosier, moved to London to become secretary to

the National Political Union which was actively lobbying for the passing of a Reform

Act. 199 The easing on some of the restrictions by the Manchester Mechanics'

Institution and its superior facilities meant that the need for the New Manchester

Mechanics' Institution was correspondingly reduced, and some of its membersreturned

to the parent institution while others supportedthe LyceumS.200

The Lyceums had been formed initially in the late 1830s in the Manchester area partly

as a vehicle of social control in response to Chartist agitation and also because of the
failure of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution to attract significant numbers from the

working class. As mentioned earlier the most thorough treatment of the rise and

decline of the Lyceums in Manchester is the thesis by W. Barton, although Mary

Hanley also refers in some detail in her thesis to the work of the Ancoats Lyceum.

There is in addition a short pamphlet by John Hood outlining briefly the history of the

Lyceums in Lancashire. 201 The Miles Platting Mechanics' Institution, formed in

December 1836 mainly through the influence of Benjamin Heywood, was more akin to

the Lyceums in its range of activities than to a mechanics' institution. Heywood had

been mindful of the criticism which the directors of the Manchester Mechanics'

Institution had received in view of a perceived failure to meet the needsof the working

class and was anxious not to repeat the inistake. 202

199 For an assessment of the life and work of Rowland Detrosier, see Gwyn A. Williams : 'Rowland
Detrosier, working class infidel' (York: Borthwick papers, Number 28, University of York, 1965) and
W. E. Styler : Rowland Detrosier in Adult Education, Volume 2 1, Number 3, March 1949, pp. 133-
138.

200 Ed. D. S. L. Cardwell, op. cit., pp. 96-97.

201 W. Barton : Philanthroj)y and institutionsjbi- adult education in the Manchester area ftom 1835 to
the earyfifties (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1977); Mary Hanley : Educational
Provision in Ancoats, Manchester, during the nineteenth centui-N,(unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University
of Manchester, 1981), pp. 384-418; John B. Hood : Vie Lyceums (Pamphlet: Publisher and date of
publication not 21ven).

202 Edith and Thomas Kelly (eds.) :A Schoolmastei's Notebook, being an Account of a Nineteenth
Centur-yExpei-iment in Social Wefin-e,by David Will-vt(1111('N'
(f Wnchesfei-, Schoolmaster (Manchester:
The Chethain Society, 1957), pp. 35-41.

97
The entry of the Victoria University into the field of adult education is chronicled

relatively briefly in Thomas Kelly's Outside the Walls: SLxty Years of University
Extension at Manchester 1886 1946. The work provides a useful introduction to the
-
university extension movement in Manchester and also gives a short account of the

development of the Workers' Educational Association and the University Tutorial

Classes in Manchester and district. The work of the university settlement and

Manchester Ruskin Hall is surveyed also, but the narrative could and perhaps should

have been more detailed. One aspect of Kelly's work - concerning the university

settlement - has been developed more fully 203

elsewhere. Mary Stocks provides an

interesting account of the work of the settlementat Ancoats, but there is surprisingly no

reference to the Manchester Ruskin Hall in the index of the book and only the

following dismissivereferenceto it in the text:

"In the following year [1899] the Settlementwas able to share with Ruskin Hall,
a short-lived attempt at a residential working men's college established at
20 Every Street, the servicesof Mr Sidney McDougall. "204

As Mary Stocks worked actively in the university settlement at Ancoats in the 1920s

and 1930s, the omission of a more detailed description of the work at Ruskin Hall,

which was situated from 1899 to 1903 next to the settlement and had strong

connectionswith it, is unexpected.

The Ancoats Recreation Movement and the Ancoats Art Museum have been adequately

described. The Recreational Movement was founded in 1876 and was established

primarily through the efforts of Charles Rowley. The committee organised series of

Sunday afternoon lectures during the winter months on historical, literary, religious,

geographical, musical and scientific topics; parties for the reading and discussion of

literature were arranged on alternate Sunday mornings; extension lectures in connection

203 See M. E. Rose : Settlement of university men in great towns: university settlements in Manchester
and Liverpool in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, Volume 139 (1989),
pp. 137-160; and M. D. Stocks : Fifty Years in Every Street: the story of the Manchester University
Settlement (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1945).

204 Stocks, ibid., p. 14.

98
with Oxford and latterly the Victoria University were organised; and a book stall where

members could purchaseclassical works of literature at wholesale prices was operated

by the committee. During the summer months the Ancoats Brotherhood organised

excursions; the Cycle Club met on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and on
Sundays, and tours were arranged at holiday weekends. The movement survived into

the 1930s. The development and decline of the Ancoats Recreational Movement is

dealt with in the thesis by J. 1. Rushton; the early years are described by Charles

Rowley and in the thesis by Mary Hanley. 20-1 The inception and development of the

Ancoats Art Museum are described in an article by Michael Harrison based upon a

chapter from his Ph. D. thesis, and he provides a clear explanation of the philanthropic

and recreational activities of the museum.206

Working-class initiatives in adult education in the 1830s and early 1840s did not enjoy

any lasting success. Following the closure of the New Mechanics' Institution in 1835,

two further ventures were undertaken at the end of the 1830s by the Owenites and by

the Chartists. The history of the Manchester Hall of Science is covered in detail in

Aubrey Black's unpublished dissertation and is referred to more briefly by Brian Simon

and Richard Murphy. The Manchester Hall of Science opened in January 1840 and

essentially aimed to educate through concentration on rational recreation in the form of

"Temperate social meetings, festivals, tea-parties, combined with social instruction". 207

The Hall of Science closed some time in 1849 and in 1851 the building became the

205 See J. 1. Rushton : Chark-,s Rowley and the Ancoats Recreation Movement (unpublished M. Ed.
thesis, University of Manchester, 1959); Charles Rowley : Fifi), years of Work without Wages (London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1911); and Mary Hanley : E(lucational provision in Ancoats, Manchester, during
the nineteenth century (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1981).

206 See Michael Harrison : Social i-cform in late Victorian and Eclvvar(lian Manchester, with special
reference to TC Horsfall (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester,1987); and his article :
Art and Philanthrojy: TC Horsfall and the Manchester Art Museum in Kidd and Roberts, op. cit.,
pp. 120-147.

207 Brian Simon Vie Two Nations an(I the E(lucational Structure 1780 1870 (London: Lawrence and
: -
Wishart, 1981 edition: First published 1960), p. 238. For accounts of the Owenite Manchester Hall of
Science, see Simon, ibid., pp. 235- 243: A. Black : Owenite Etlucation 1839 - 1851 with particular
reference to the Manchester "Hall of Science" (Department of Education, University of Manchester,
1953); Richard Murphy : Two working-class institutions in initi-nineteenth centurv Manchester: 7he Hall
of Science and the Caq)enters' Hall in the History of E(lucation Socierv Bulletin, Number 35, Spnng
1985, pp. 8-13.

99
Manchester Free Library. The Chartist institution, the Carpenters' Hall, opened in

1838. Very little is known about it or the date of its closure, although 1844 or 1845
208
seemthe most likely alternatives.

Little also has been published about two other initiatives provided for the working

class. In January 1958 an article by Derek Legge about the short-lived Manchester
Working Man's College (1858 - 1861) was published in The Manchester Guardian.

The Working Men's Club Association was formed in Manchester 1877 on the pattern

of the London one due primarily to the instigation of Hodgson Pratt, chairman of the

London Union. Outside the central union, Manchester was the only district union to

survive.209 The only account of the work of the Working Men's Clubs in Manchester
is a short jubilee souvenir by K. T. S. Dockray, who was actively involved in the

movement for many years. Both these ventures will be covered in some detail in

subsequentchaptersof this thesis.

The extent of the contribution by the churches to adult education in Manchester is not

easy to assess, as only the Nonconformist initiatives are recorded at any length. For

the purposes of this thesis which is dealing with the secular adult educational work of

the churches in the city, a most useful reference is Charles Connelly's thesis which

examines the educational work (including adult education) of the Congregational

churchesin the Manchester district in the nineteenth century. The thesis is especially
helpful on the adult educational work of the Cavendish Street Chapel and on one of its

ventures, the Cavendish Theological College (1860 - 1863) which prepared for the

ministry those who becauseof circumstanceswere not able to devote their full time to a

course of training. Connelly also provides brief details of a second university

208 Simon, ibid., p. 244-245. The Carpenters' Hall was still used by Chartists in 1844 as this was
commented on by Leon Faucher, op. cit., p. 25. Simon observes (p. 244) that "Later Carpenters' Hall
slipped from Chartist control", but a new hall was built subsequently in Heyrod Street, Ancoats, and was
opened in July 1846. For Carpenters' Hall, Manchester, see Murphy, ibid., pp. 8-13 and Simon, ibid.,
pp. 244-245. For an account of the Chartist Halls and Schools in England, see Simon, ibid., pp. 243-253.

209 K. T. S. Dockray : 7he Manchester and District Branch of the Working Men's Club
and Institute
Union Limited, 1877 - 1927 (London: The Working Men's Club and Institute Union Ltd., 1927), p. 27.

100
settlement which was established at the Lancashire College in Hulme in 1899.210

The Unitarian contribution to adult education in Manchester is adequatelydocumented.

The Manchester College was established in 1786 to replace the defunct Warrington

Academy. It was intended primarily though not exclusively to train pupils through a

"full and systematic course of education" for the ministry and "preparatory instruction

for the learned professions as well as for civil and commercial life". 211 The College

moved to York in 1803 before returning to Manchesterin 1840 where it remained until
1853, at which time it transferred to London. The best general history of the College

is by V. D. Davis and covers the years 1786 to 1889 when the College is finally

relocated in Oxford. However, the most detailed account of the first years at

Manchester (1786 - 1803) is 0. M. Ditchfield's The Early History of Manchester

College. The volumes of letters by John James Tayler (edited by John Thom),

Principal of Manchester College at the time of its removal in 1853, offer helpful

insights as to why the decision was taken to re-establishthe College in London.212

The contribution of the ministers of the Unitarian Chapel in Cross Street, Manchester,

together with that of some of the more prominent worshippers there to higher education

and the culture of the city through its libraries and learned societies is assessed by

McLachlan.213 Two ministers in particular, William Gaskell* and S. A. Steinthal*,

made notable efforts to extend the work of adult education, and membersof the chapel

included Benjamin Heywood (first president of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution

210 See Charles Connelly : Congregationalism and the Education of the People in the Manchester
district, 1806 - 1900 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1973), pp. 84-86.

211 Sermons ky Barnes and Harrison, App. 1, p. I (London: 1786) cited in Rev. H. McLachlan
English Education under the TestActs (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1931), p. 255.

212 See V. D. Davis :A History of Manchester College firom its foundation in Manchester to its
establishment at Oxford (London: Geor-geAllen and Unwin Ltd., 1932); 0. M. Ditchfield : 7he earky
histmy of Manchester College in Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire,
Volume 123, (1972), pp. 81-104; and ed. John Hanulton Thom : Letters Embracing the Life of John
James Tayler, B. A.; first of two volumes (London: Williams and Norgate, 1872).

213 See H. McLachlan : Cross Street Chapel in the life of Manchester in Essays and Addresses
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1950), pp. 94-108.

101
and of the Manchester Statistical Society), Sir John Potter (thrice Lord Mayor of

Manchester who promoted the establishment in 1852 of the Manchester Free Library)

and J. A. Nicholls who was actively involved in the furthering of popular education. 214

Lester Burney examines the adult educational work of the Lower Mosley Street Schools

(Unitarian) which commenced an evening school for adolescents and adults in the

1840s and organised in 1899, under the leadership of Rev. S. A. Steinthal, an

extensive systemof evening classes.215

Much other fragmentary information on individual church and chapel contributions to

adult education in Manchester is found in church histories, pamphlets and jubilee

souvenirs. The only other account of any substance is a brief surnmary of the work of
Catholic Evening Schools in Manchester which is included in Sadler's review of

Continuation Schools. 216

The State provision for adult education in Manchester came initially through the City

Council who responded promptly to the Public Libraries Act of 1850 with the result

that Manchester was the first major city to open a library in accordance with the terms

of the legislation. 211 The standard works on public libraries in Britain are both written

by Thornas Kelly and contain numerous references to Manchester, and an earlier work

by Munford, published to coincide with the centenary of the legislation providing for

free libraries to the public also has some useful information although it is not as

comprehensive as those by Kelly. A rnLIch earlier cornpilation by Credland on the

development of free libraries in Manchester combines a lengthy narrative with

214 Ibid.,
p. 102.

215 See Lester Burney : Ci-oss Sti-eet Chapel Schools, Manchestei-, 1734 - 1942 (Manchester, 1977),
pp-43,55-58 and 61-75.

216 Ed. M. E. Sadler : Continuation SchooLy in England and Elesewhere: Yheir Place in the
Educational S'ystem of an Industi-ial and Commet-cial State (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1908, Second Edition), pp. 198-202.

217 Thomas Kelly :A Htwoi, of Public Libraries in Great Britain 184-5 1965 (London: The Library
-
Association, 1973), p. 41.

102
abundant statistical detail, though it lacks Kelly's wider perspective. 218 This material is

supported by a survey of the contribution made to education in Manchesterbefore 1850

by the various private and subscription libraries, and this study helps to provide a

context for the developments in the second half of the century. 219

The other major contribution by the City Council to adult education in Manchester

came through its funding of the Municipal Schools of Art and Technology from 1892

and thorugh its development, especially after 1902, of a comprehensive arrangement of

evening classes appropriately graded according to the difficulty of the course which

was being undertaken. The adult education work of the evening schools in Manchester

will be examined in detail in a later chapter of this thesis, but a brief outline of the

work of the evening continuation schools in Manchester from 1870 to 1906-7 is

220
provided by M. E Sadler.

Included in Sadler's Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere is a short survey

(by J. M. Helm) of the evening classes offered by the Lads' Clubs in Manchester.

Lads' Clubs were formed in the city from the 1880s, and their initial objective was not

so much educational but "to provide a Counter attraction to the streets". "' At first,

classes were taught usually by volunteer Club members and the subjects were

recreational in content. As clubs recruited more members, the educational and

recreational programmes expanded to in

include academic subjects and classes arts and

crafts. The fullest analysis of the Lads' Club movement in Manchester is a dissertation

by R. Joneswhich examinesthe factors which influenced its development and appraises

218 See Kelly, Thomas Kelly Earl Public- Libraries: A History of Public Libraries in
ibid., and also :
-v
Great Britain before 1850 (London: The Library Association, 1966); W. A. Munford : Penny Rate
(London: The Library Association, 195 1); and W. R. Credland ; Ae Manchester Public Free Libraries:
A histoyy and description, and Guide to their contents and Use (Manchester: The Public Free Libraries
Conuruttee, 1899).

219 James Meakin : Mancht-wer Libraries and their role in education priot- to 1850 (unpublished
dissertation for the Diploma in Advanced Studies in education, UniversIty of Manchester, 1973).

220 Ed. Sadler, op. cit., pp. 146-157.

221 Ibid., p. 203.

103
the two institutions for which there is extant data: the Hugh Oldham Lads' Club

(1888-1958) and the Procter Gymnasium and Lads' Club (1893).222

This lengthy review of literature has served to achieve two main aims. The thesis has

set out to draw together research which has already been done on adult education in
Manchester in the nineteenth century. It can be seen that areas including the

mechanics' institutes (at least up to 1890), the Ancoats Recreation Movement, the
Lyceums and the Ancoats Art Museum have been well researched, as have some

learned societies - the Literary and Philosophical Society, the Royal Manchester

Institution and the Manchester Statistical Society afford examples. Michael Rose is

engaged on research about the university settlement movement. There are, however,

several quite distinct gaps which need to be addressed. One concerns the contribution

of the Christian denominationsto adult education - the Unitarian and Congregationalist

efforts to provide education for adults have been adequately documented, but the

remainder have not. Very little research has been done on the evening continuation

schools and the work of the various committees responsible for the organisation of
Manchester's education for adults. Concerning Manchester, there has also been little

researchpublished or, in some instances, in

undertaken connection with several adult
educational initiatives by or on behalf of the working class - the Working Man's

Colleges, Manchester Ruskin Hall, the Workers' Educational Association and the

University Tutorial Classes. As has been apparent on occasions in the literature

review, certain initiatives overlap; these need to be identified and connections

established.

The literature review has also indicated certain issues which underlie the provision of

222 R. Jones : 7he Lads' Club Movement in Manchester to 1914 (unpublished M. Ed. dissertation,
University of Manchester, 1986). Seealso F. P.Gibbon :A History of the Heyrod Street Lads' Club and
of the 5th Manchester Cony)aiq of the Bo)s' Brigade, 1889 - 1910 (Manchester, 1911); P. H Schill :A
history of Ardwick Lads' and Men's Club together with some notes and inemoirs (Manchester: J. Ellis
Benson Ltd., 1935); Richard Flint: A Brief History of the 01-wnshawLads' Club (Manchester, 1948); and
W. A Richardson : 7he Hugh 01dhain Lads' Club, 1888 - 1958 In Manchester Review, Volume 8,
Autumn 1959, pp-339-352.

104
education for adults whether on a formal or an informal basis and whether provided by
the State or by voluntary organisations. The objectives of formal or informal agencies

are important and need to be identified, as do the motives of those providing or

organising the activity. The achievements of these agencies should be assessed; there

are occasions when a venture has proved useful even if it has not met the particular

need for which it had been established. The motives of those attending and

participating in educational and instructional activities require appraisal. Any study

is in
which pursued addition to long hours of work usuallY demandsa high degree of

motivation on the part of the student or participant, although such motives may differ.

These considerations will be addressed in each of the five ensuing chapters and should

provide a framework for, rather than be obscured by, the necessary gathering of detail.

105
Chapter 2
Adult Education in Manchester cl830s-1870

The second half of the eighteenth century saw the beginnings of the development of

Manchester as an industrial town. From the 1770s the prosperity experienced by the

cotton trade and the inventions in spinning and weaving machinery allied to it saw a

startling increase in the number of spinning mills and weaving sheds in Manchester

(there were 52 spinning mills in Manchester in 1802 and 99 by 1830) together with a

corresponding growth in related trades which included the manufacture of textile

machinery and the wholesaling and retailing of cotton fabrics and garments for

domestic and foreign markets. The demand for textile machinery brought about a

correspondingexpansion in Manchesterand district of the engineering industry, and the

improving prospects of employment there attracted settlers from Scotland and Ireland

as well as from the surrounding areas of Manchester itself. By 1758 the township of

Manchesterhad a population of about 17,000 which by 1773-4 had increasedto 24,386

and by 1788 to approximately 43,000.1 By 1801 this figure had escalatedrapidly to

187, OW. 2
76,788 and by 1831 the number stood at over

Until the 1820s the educational facilities for the rapidly increasing population in

Manchester developed at a slower rate. Before 1800 elementary education in the city

was provided mainly by dame and private venture schools, and not until 1810 were

to
organisedefforts made erect buildings for schools, these initiatives being undertaken
by religious denominations. There was also little provision for secondaryeducation by

this time, with the exception of the Manchester Grammar School for boys and

Chetham's Hospital School which had been establishedin 1653 through the terms of

the will of Humphrey Chetham for "the maintenance and education of '40 boys of

W. H. Chaloner : 7he birth of modern Manchester in ed. C. F. Carter : Manchester and its region
(Manchester: published for the British Association for the Advancement of Science Manchester Meeting,
1962, by the Manchester University Press, 1962), pp. 133-134.

2 Alan Kidd : Manchester (Keele, Staffordshire: Rybum Publishing, Keele University Press, 1993),
p. 22.

106
honest, industrious and painful parents, not of wandering or idle beggars or rogues' 11.3

Adult education in the city before the 1820s came via the learned societies or, for the

poorer classes, the two adult schools.

This chapter provides a brief survey of the existing provision of adult education in

Manchester by the mid-1830s and treats in more detail some of the lesser known

institutions which came into being from the 1830s through to 1870. As has been stated

in the opening chapter, the work of the learned societies has not been included within

the scope of this thesis. It is also not the intention to go into detail concerning
institutions which have already been adequately researched by others, 4 although

direction to such sources will appear either in footnotes to the main text of the thesis or

in the bibliography. The main emphasis of the chapter will be placed on the

development of the institutions of Manchester for the education of the working class -

the ManchesterNew Mechanics' Institution (1829 - 1835), Carpenters' Hall (a Chartist

venture which survived only briefly in Manchester from the late 1830s to the early

1840s), the Manchester Hall of Science (1834 - c. 1850, an Owenite enterprise) and the

Manchester Working Man's College (1858 - 1861). Particular attention will be given

to the causes underlying the rise and decline of the institutions; the motivations behind

3 N. J. Frangopulo in Action: 7he Historical Evolution Greater Manchester County

: Tradition of the
(Wakefield: EP Publishing Ltd., 1977), p. 203. For brief accounts of the development of elementary,
secondary and adult education in Manchester, see the articles by Norman Morris : Manchester and the
supply of schools, pp. 215-225, and R. D. Waller and C. D. Legge : Adult Education in the Manchester
Area, pp. 226-233 in ed. C. F. Carter, op. cit.

4 For example, the early history of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society (established in
1781), the short-lived College of Arts and Sciences (1783 - 1787), the Society for the Promotion of
Natural History (1821 - 1868), the Royal Manchester Institution (founded 1823), the Manchester
Mechanics' Institution (formed in 1824), the Manchester Athenaeum (established in 1835), the
Manchester School of Design (set up in 1837), the Manchester Statistical Society (formed in 1833), the
Royal Victoria Gallery for the Encouragement of Practical Science (mid 19th century), and Owens
College (established in 185 1) are covered in adequate detail in either R. B. Hope : Education and Social
Change in Manchester 1780 - 1851 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1955);
Patricia A Stem : The eary development of industrial education in Manchester (unpublished M. Sc.
thesis, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, 41-
1966); or Robert H. Kargon :
Science in Victorian Manchester: Enterprise and Expertise (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University
Press, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977). For a thorough treatment of the Lyceums in
Manchester and Salford see W. Barton : Philanthropy and Institutions for adult education in the
Manchester area ftoin 1835 to the earlY fifties (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester,
1977).

107
their emergence; the initiators of those enterprises and the students for whom they were

intended to cater; and connections with other organisations, where applicable. Much

of the relevant source material has already been referred to in the first chapter of this

thesis, but any necessarydocumentationwill be provided at all pertinent stagesof it.

During the second half of the eighteenth century the teaching of scientific subjects

became increasingly popular, partly through the development of industry and the

requirement for improvements in technology and partly through the growing number of

cultural institutions for the educated professional s

classes. In the 1780s Manchester

was still a comparatively small town, and the eminent members of its society were
drawn from the professions, law and science in particular, the clergy and wealthier

elementsof trade.6 The cultural institutions at that time and during the first half of the
nineteenth century reflected the cultural aspirations of their adherents, and, as the elite

of Mancunian society developed from a comparatively small number from the leisured

class in the main to incorporate an increasing number of the middle class made wealthy

through industry and commerce in the city, clubs and associations emerged to meet the

interests of these various levels of society. The most notable of these associations was

the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society which had been formed in 1781, and

had its origins in weekly meetings in informal surroundings at the house of Thomas

Percival, a medical practitioner and fellow of the Royal Society of London, who had

come to live and work in Manchester in 1767.7 Other societies dealing with various
branchesof scientific study were formed during the last thirty years of the eighteenth

century in other British towns and cities, including Norwich, Birmingham, Edinburgh,

Liverpool, Bristol, Dublin, and at the universities, but in most instances such initiatives

had a short existence. 8 The early years of what was later to become the Manchester

Thomas Kelly :A Histon, of Adult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1992 edition), pp. 98-99. For a brief introductory survey of the development of scientific
instruction in the eighteenth century, see Kelly, ibid., pp. 98-1 11.
t

Kargon, op. cit., p-2.

7 Kelly, 107: Kargon, ibid., pp. 5-6.

op. cit., p.

8 See C. L Bames : Ae Manchester Literai-v and Philosophical Sociery in W. H. Brindley (ed. )

108
Literary and Philosophical Society, one of the few of its type to survive for any length

of time, is described in the first volume (1785) of the memoirs of the Literary and

Philosophical Society (p. vii):

"Many years since, a few gentlemen inhabitants of this town, who were inspired
with a taste for Literature and Philosophy, formed themselves into a kind of
weekly club for the purpose of conversing on subjects of that nature. These
meetings continued, with some interruption, for several years, and many
respectable persons being desirous of becoming members, the numbers were
increased so far as to induce the members of the society to think of extending
their original design."

The eventual outcome was the establishment of the Manchester Literary and

Philosophical Society on 28th February 1781 with twenty-five members, whose

number doubled by the end of that year. A significant number of the founders were

honorary physicians or surgeons to the Manchester Infirmary, and the first of several

clergymen to join the society was the Reverend Dr Thomas Barnes, a Unitarian

minister at Cross Street Chapel, Manchester. 9 The most famous of the members in the

early years of the society was John Dalton, who joined in 1794, and was its secretary

from 1800 - 1808, vice-president from 1808 - 1819 and president from then until his

death in 1844.10 At first, the society held its meetings in the Assembly Coffee House,

before renting from the end of 1781 a room at the rear of Cross Street Chapel. In

1799 a removal to a permanent home was made through the purchase of premises in

GeorgeStreet.II

7he Soul of Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1929), p. 142.

9 Brindley, ibid., p. 143; Kelly, op. cit, p. 107. Several of the leading members of the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society in its formative years were Unitarians. For the contribution made by
Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, to the educational and cultural life of the city, see Rev. H. McLachlan
: Cross Street Chal)el in the Life of Manchester in his Esstqs and addresses (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1950), pp. 98-103.

10 See Bnndley, ibid., pp. 145-146. For the career of John Dalton and his work in Manchester, see
McLachlan, ibid., in his essay John Dalton and Manchester 1793 - 1844, especially pp. 62-64 which
give a brief account of Dalton's years as a tutor of science at Manchester College from 1793 to 1800.
(This essay appeared originally in the Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literarv and
Philosophical Societv, Volume 86 (1943 - 1945), pp. 165-177.) See also ed. D. S. L. Cardwell John
-
Dalton and the progress of Science: papers presented to a conference of historians of science held in
Manchester, 1966, to inark the bicentenary of John Dalton's birth (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1968).

For the origins and development of the Manchester Literarv and Philosophical Society, see Brindley,

109
The society played a leading part in the founding in 1783 in Manchesterof a College of

Arts and Sciences. It was intended to provide in "a rational and instructive manner"

for "the evening leisure of young men"12who were employed in the city's commercial

business houses. A meeting was held on 6th June to establish the institution, which

intended "to provide a course of LIBERAL INSTRUCTION compatible with the

engagementsof Commercial Life, favourable to all its higher interests, and at the same
time, preparatory to the systematic studies of the University" and "to unite Philosophy

with Art, the Moral and Intellectual culture of the mind" with the more practical

aspectsof a businesscareer. Courseswere offered in practical mathematics,chemistry

(in which the tutor was Thomas Henry, who was a member and subsequentlypresident

of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society), history of fine arts, and the

origin and history and progress of the arts, manufacturesand commerce (taught by
Thomas Barnes, the minister at Cross Street Chapel, Manchester). Lectures took place

on the evenings of Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday between 5.00 p. m. and

9.00 p. m. No more than three lectures were to be given on the same evening; an

interval of at least thirty minutes was to be provided between lectures; and individual

lectures were not to last for longer than an hour. 13 Neither religion nor politics were

factors in determining the suitability of applicants. The venture had experienced

difficulties within two years, 14and by 1787 had closed "From causes, which it is not

easy to trace, but among which, I believe, may be reckoned, a superstitious dread of
the tendency of science to unfit young men for the ordinary details of business" or,

ibid., p. 141-151; Kargon, op. cit., pp. 5-14; F. Nicholson : 7he Literary and Philosophical Society
1781-1851 in the Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society,
Volume 68,1923 - 1924, pp. 97-148; W. H. Brindley : 7he Manchester Literary and Philosophical
Society in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, Volume 79 (1955), pp. 62-69; D. S. L.
Cardwell : Two Centuries of the Manchester Lit. and Phil. in Manchester in Manchester Memoirs,
Volume 1 (1980-1981), pp. 122- 137; and C. Makepeace : Science and technology in Manchester: two
hundred vears of the Lit. andPhil. (Manchester, 1984).

12 William Henry :A Tribute to the memory of the late President of the Literary and Philosophical
Society of Manchester [Thomas Henry], read before the society on II th April 1817 (Manchester, 1819),
p. 20.

13 Prospectus of the College of Arts and Sciences, Instituted at Manchester, June 6th 1783
(Manchester, 9th July, 1783).

14 Kargon, op. cit., p. II-

110
expressedmore simply, lack of support. Thomas Henry, however, continued to lecture
for some years following the closure of the college. "

Towards the end of the brief existence of the College of Arts and Sciences,16Thomas

Barnes was approached by the trustees of an enterprise to establish an academy in

Manchester for the training of divinity and lay students, in successionto the one at

Warrington (founded in 1757) which had recently closed.17 The academy, which was

to be known as Manchester New College, was to be governed by a group of trustees

for life, consisting of benefactors who had subscribed twenty guineas or more in one

payment. 18 The management of the daily organisation of the academy was delegated to

an executive committee of twenty- one persons, including a chairman, a treasurer and a

secretary. 19 On 7th February 1786 the two ministers at Cross Street Chapel,

Manchester, Thomas Barnes and Ralph Harrison, were asked if they would be willing

to organise this undertaldng, and having received their acceptance a meeting was

convened on 22nd February at which it was agreed that an "Academy should be

established in Manchester, on a plan affording a full and systematic course of education

for Divines, and preparatory instruction for the other learned professions, as well as for

Civil and Commercial Life. This Institution will be open to young men of every

religious denomination, from whom no test, or confession of faith will be required. "20

15 William Henry, op. cit., p. 20.

16 For a brief history of the College of Arts and Sciences, see pp. 224-227 of the article by
A. E. Musson and E. Robinson : Science and Industry in the late eighteenth century Mi the Economic
Historv Review, Volume 13,1960 - 1961, pp. 222-244.

17 An academy of a similar nature had existed previously in Manchester from 1699 to 1713. See
Rev. H. McLachlan : English Education under the Test Acts (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1931), pp. 115-117. For accounts of the origins, history and closure of of the Warrington Academy, see
P. O'Brien: Warrington Academy 1757-1786: its predecessors and successors (Wigan: Owl Books,
1989): and Rev Win. Turner: 7he Warrington Academy [Reprinted from articles originally published in
the Monthly Repository, Vols 8,9 and 10,1813-1815] with introduction by G. A. Carter (Warrington:
Library and Museum Cornrruttee, 1957).

18 Annual Report of Manchester New College, March 1842.

19 V. D. Davis :A History of Manchester College ftoin its Foundation in Manchester to its

Establishment in Oxford (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1932), p. 59. Twelve of the new committee
had previously been Trustees at the recently defunct Warnngton Academy. See Davis, ibid., p. 54.

20 Notice convening a meeting for the establishment of Manchester New College, 22nd February 1786.
Barnes was appointed as Principal of the College, a post he retained until his

resignation in 1798. Premisesfor the college were acquired near the city centre on the

west side of Mosley Street between Bond Street and St. Peter's Square, where the

academy remained until its removal to York in 1803.21 During the first two Years,the

entire teaching of the studentswas conducted by Barnes and Harrison. Barnes taught
Hebrew, metaphysics, ethics and theology and Harrison was tutor in Greek, Latin and

Itpolite literature". A tutor for mathematics, Thomas Davies, was appointed in 1787,

and he was succeededby T. Nicholls who remained until 1793, at which time John
Dalton was employed to teach mathematics, geography, natural philosophy, and

theoretical and experimental chemistry. 22 In 1789 Harrison resigned because of ill-

health, and for a short time Barnes assumed responsibility for the teaching of

Harrison's subjects in addition to his own. During the next six years assistant tutors

were employed to teach classics. In 1796, following the resignation of the second of

these tutors, Barnes for a time agreed to be responsible for the teaching of all the

syllabuses except for the subjects in which Dalton gave instruction. However, that

situation could not be maintained indefinitely, and in 1797 Barnes notified the Trustees

that although he was prepared to continue this arrangement temporarily he wished to

1798.23
in
resign June

During Barnes's time as Principal of the College between 1786 and 1798, out of 135

students who enrolled there only twenty intended to proceed to the Ministry as a

24
career. At least two-thirds of the remaindertrained for in
employment commerce,
while a further twelve studied law and eleven prepared for the medical profession.

With such a small number of students, the finances of the college during the 1790s

were invariably in a precarious state, and the circumstances improved only after the

21 0. M. Ditchfield : Ae early history of Manchester College in Transactions of the Historic Society of

Lancashire and Cheshire, Volume 123,197 1, p. 82.

22 Prior to his appointment at Manchester, Dalton had taught for some years at a school in Kendal.
The employment at Manchester allowed him the opportunity to pursue work at a more advancedlevel.

23 Davis, op-cit., p. 66.

24 Davis, ibid. p. 63.

I I?
relocation in York in 1803. Although a majority of the studentscame from relatively

affluent families, the revenues from fees alone were insufficient to meet the running

costs of the college and had to be supplemented through donations and voluntary

subscriptions. Manchester New College had no strong or traditional link to any one of

the dissenting denominations, and consequently there was no denominational fund to

assist with the subsidy of the Institution. Ditchfield points out that although it might be

a temptation to describe the college as Unitarian, this was not necessarily accurate. It

was, however, sufficiently Unitarian in spirit to attract its main support from that

denomination.25

In 1798 George Walker became tutor in divinity and in effect, the principal of the
,
college in succession to Barnes. Walker had been trained for the ministry and had

studied mathematics at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, becoming a fellow

of the Royal Society in 1772. Before his appointment at Manchester, Walker had been

a minister for almost forty years, the last twenty- four of them at the High Pavement
Chapel, Nottingham, with the exception of two years between 1772 and 1774 when he

taught mathematics at Warrington Academy. At the time of Walker's appointment,

Charles Saunders had been employed as classical tutor, followed for a short time from

1799 to 1800 by William Johns. Within twelve months Johns had left the college

because of ill-health and difficult financial circumstances. From 1800, following the

resignation of Dalton, Walker was responsible for teaching all the courses, although he

made use of lecturers, especially in scientific subjects, who visited the Manchester
Literary and Philosophical Society. The College had strong connections with the

Society, as both had been founded in the same decade by many of the same people.

One of the Society's founders, Thomas Percival, was president of the College from
1800,26
1793 - and other prominent members, including Barnes, Dalton, Johns and
Thomas and William Henry had either taught or studied at the College. Meetings of

25 DitchfielJ, op. cit., pp. 93-94.

26 George Walker became president of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1804, an
office he retained until his death in 1807. See Ditchfield, ibid., p. 99.

113
the Society were open to studentsof the College, who were also allowed accessto and
facilities for reading at Chetham's Library. The College did have its own library also,

with the majority of its books being transferred in 1786 from the one at Warrington
Academy following the closure of that institution. 27

Walker did most of the lecturing at the College between 1800 and 1803, resigning at

the end of June in that year. He had given the Trustees ample notice of his departure,

it
and was agreed in October 1802 and confirmed at the annual meeting of Trustees in
March 1803 that the funds of the College should continue to be used "for the education

of young men for the sacred ministry among Protestant Dissenters. "28 Following
Walker's departure there was considerable discussion over whether the College should

be relocated and, if so, where would be the most suitable place for it to resume its

work. The matter was settled by the appointment of Rev. Charles Wellbeloved as tutor
in divinity. Wellbeloved had been one of the early choices of the trustees when the

post had become vacant in 1798, but he had rejected the appointment because he had

not wished to leave York for Manchester. Consequently in order to secure his

acceptance on this occasion, the College removed to York in 1803 where it remained

until Wellbeloved's retirement in 1840.

On the return of the College to Manchester in September 1840, the general committee

appointed the Rev. Robert Wallace as Principal of the College, which had two

departments - the Theological one and the Literary and Scientific one. A complete list

of staff appointmentsbetween 1840 and 1853 (while the College was at Manchester)is

given in Appendix C of this thesis.

The rate of turnover of staff was comparatively low over the thirteen years. Robert

Finlay, Rev. James Martineau and Rev. J. J. Tayler taught at the College throughout

27 McLachlan, op. cit., pp. 258-261-, Ditchfield, ibid., pp. 95-96.

28 Davis, p. 70.
op. cit.,

114
the period; the Rev. J. G. Robberdstaught for twelve years to 1852; and Rev. William

Gaskell was one of the College's two secretariesfrom 1840 to 1846 before becoming a

member of the academic staff from 1846 to 1853. The College prepared its students

for the equivalent of a university education. Divinity students pursued a full-time

course over five years; lay students did a full-time course of three years. The first year

classesprepared studentsfor matriculation at the University of London; the secondand

third years prepared them for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Further classes were

available for those who sought to graduatewith Honours.

The three year course had a number of taught elements common to all three years:

Classics, mathematics, history, physical sciences,and French language and literature.

Mental philosophy was on the curriculum for the first two years; moral and political

philosophy was included in the third year. English language was taught during the first

year and elocution during the final two years. Divinity students followed the same

courses as lay students for the first three years; in the final two years they studied the

Hebrew, Chaldee and Syriac languages, pastoral theology, ecclesiastical history and

critical and exegetical theology. For entry to the College, students were examined in

Classics, mathematics, geography and English history, and had to be at least fifteen

yearsold at the time of the start of the 29

course.

As will be seen from a perusal of the figures in Appendix C giving the number of

studentsregistered between 1840 and 1853, the College struggled in the years after its

return to Manchester. The most successful year for recruitment was 1841 - 1842 when

31 studentsattendedcourses. This figure had reduced to twenty by 1844 - 1845, and

during the next eight years gradually declined further until in the final year at

Manchester only eleven students had enrolled. 30

2'4 Annual Manchester New College, 184 1.

report of

30 The statistics are taken from the annual reports of Manchester New Colle, for 1842,1845 and
-e
1853.

115
Various efforts were made to adapt existing courses or possible additional ones in an

attempt to recruit students. In 1842 a lecturer in civil engineering was appointed to

teach mathematics, physics and engineering, but the course was discontinued after a

few months. In the same year what in effect amounted to a programme for part-time

students was proposed. It was felt that there might be "many parents that would be

glad to give their sons the advantageof a Collegiate Education, but who would not

wish them to devote to it the time requisite for taking the full Undergraduatecourse, an

abridged Course of Instruction has been drawn out, which will occupy only two years,

or a distinct portion of which may be comprehended within a single year. "

FIRST YEAR SECOND YEAR31

Ancient History Modern History

English Composition English Composition

French or German, or both French or German, or both

Mechanics Mechanics

Chemistry Chemistry

Moral Philosophy Botany

Political Economy

The experiment was unsuccessful and was discontinued after the second year, although

the practice of admitting "occasional" or part-time students was revived for the

1849-1850sessionafter an especially poor year for recruitment.32 However, the idea

was again unsuccessful and was abandoned after one year. The declining recruitment

figures prompted the committee to consider the question of relocation in an endeavour

to strengthen the precarious situation of the College. The question of establishing a

31 Annual report of Manchester New College, 1842

32 Annual report of Manchester New College, 1850.

116
connection with the newly established Owens College was raised and, at a special

meeting of the trustees of Manchester New College on 17th December 1851, a

committee was appointed to investigate the matter and make appropriate

recommendations. The committee felt after deliberation that any decision concerning a

connection with Owens College should be postponedfor the time being.33 The general

committee, meeting in October 1852, failed to agree on any definite course of action

and the matter was referred to the trustees who met on 8th December 1852. After

much debate, a motion which it was felt would obtain the general agreement of

supporters of the College throughout the country was put to the meeting and advocated
"the establishment of Manchester New College in London, as a Theological Institution

in connection, for Literary and Scientific purposes, with University College. " An

amendment to this proposal was put forward which would have modified the scope of

the College whilst keeping it in Manchester: "that it is expedient that the Literary and
Scientific Department as recently conducted be for the present discontinued, that the

Committee be instructed to carry this resolution into effect, as speedily as shall be

compatible with the fulfilment of all existing engagements; and that Owen's College in

this town presents means of supplying the deficiency thus created, by affording the

opportunities of Literary and Scientific instruction. " The amendmentwas defeatedby

33 votes to 17, and the original proposal was put to the meeting and was carried by a

decisive majority of 36 - 4.34 As a result of this decision, the ManchesterNew College

ceasedoperations in Manchesterat the end of June 1853 and moved to London in time
for the start of the 1853 -4 session.

The experiment of operating a Nonconformist academy in Manchester between 1786

and 1803 and subsequently from 1840 to 1853 was not a success. Although the

educationprovided was of a good standard, the College was usually beset by financial

problems. It had to attract from the wealthy professional classes and, because of

33 Annual report of Manchester New College, 1852.

34 Annual report of Manchester New College, January 1853.

117
difficulties experienced in recruitment, what was intended as a religious seminary

found itself having to take a substantial minority of lay studentswho wished to pursue

secular courses. The College did this to survive, but as numbers declined to an

unacceptably low level urgent action was required. Had Owens College not been

experiencing a similarly difficult period with no guaranteeof long-term survival, it is

possible that the College might have connected itself to Owens and thus remained at
Manchester. However, it was felt that a move to London would secure the future of

Manchester New College, although it continued to need substantial support from

individuals and from Nonconformist congregations from chapels all over England in

order to remain open. Such philanthropy ensured the sustained existence of an

institution which provided for a narrow section of the population, but the patrons of the

College were reasonablywealthy and could afford a level of financial assistancewhich

was not available to working-class initiatives.

Before 1824 the only recorded instances of schools catering for adult working men

were in Grosvenor Street at the Congregational Chapel and at Greengate, Salford, near

the Manchester - Salford boundary. 35 No date is given for the formation of the classes

taught by the Rev. William Roby except that in 1824 they had been established "for

some time". 36 The school met before the Sunday morning and afternoon services, and

offered also classes in the evening at which writing, arithmetic, grammar, drawing and

geography were taught. According to Hudson, about one hundred and fifty pupils over

thirteen years of age attended the classes approximately two-thirds of whom were

working men employed in the mills or in outdoor occupations. The class at Greengate

was held at the Rev. D. L. Poore's Independent Chapel and was taught in a voluntary

35 See J. W. Hudson : 7he History of Adult Education (London: Longman, Brown, Green and
Longmans, 1851), p.20; G. Currie Martin : The Adult School Movement:Its Origin and Development
(London: National Adult SchoolUnion, 1924),pp.54- 55.

36 Currie Martin, 54. Roby had over an academy from 1803 to 1808 which was in
ibid., p. presided
effect a small pnvate school, meeting in the vestry of the Mosley Street Chapel. See
Rev. B. Nightingale: Lancashire Nonconformii,. - Sketches, Historical and Descriptiie, of the
Congregational and Old Presbyterian Churches in the County (Manchester, London and Bristol: John
Heywood, 1893), p-202-

118
capacity by a Mr Morris. The class consisted of some thirty young men and met on
Monday and Friday evenings. In addition to reading, studentswere taught elementary

chemistry and mathematics in the hope that they would be able to benefit ultimately
from the classesat a mechanics' institution. 37

One other early enterprise, founded in 1810, was the Leaf Square Academy,

Manchester, which aimed primarily though not exclusively at the training of men for

the ministry, supplying Independentchurches in Lancashire, Derbyshire and Cheshire.

The academy struggled financially, and in later years became a private venture school,
1850.38
finally closing in about

The history of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution from its inception in 1824 to its

transformation into a technical school at the end of 1882 is well documented and needs

no recapitulation here.39 Hudson noted that by 1830 the mai ority of the membership

consisted of clerks and warehousemen, and the few mechanics who had joined the

institution were "almost wholly composed of those workmen who had distinguished

themselves for their skill and ingenuity. 1140The strong implication that the institution

was intended to provide for the education of skilled artisans and operatives, rather than

the large unskilled labouring element of the working class, is confirmed by

observations made by John Davies, one of the vice-presidents of the Manchester

Mechanics' Institution, in his appeal to the public for financial and other support. The

aims of the founders were clearly stated:

37 For brief details of both schools, see Hudson, op. cit., p. 20; CuMe Martin, ibid., p. 55; and Charles
Connelly : Congregationalism and the Education of the People in the Manchester District, 1806 - 1900
(unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1973), pp. 87-90.

38 Connelly, ibid., pp. 90-91; Nightingale, op. cit., p. 202-

39 See Mabel Tylecote : The Mechanics' Institutes of Lancashire and Yorkshire before 1851
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1957), pp. 129-189; her essay, The Manchester Mechanics'
Institution, 1824 - 1850 (pp-55-86) and that of M. J. Cruickshank : From Mechanics' Institution to
Technical School, 1850 - 1892 (pp. 134-156) in ed. D. S. L. Cardwell: Artisan to Graduate (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1974); and Hudson, op-cit., pp. 124-135.

40 Hudson, ibid., p. 130.

119
 "The original intention was to impart to the operative classes, upon easy
....
terms and in a popular manner, a knowledge of the general principles which are
illustrated in their daily occupations; as well as to enlighten other activities in
...
their several pursuits, to expand their minds and direct their views, so as to
enable them to become happier in themselves and more valuable members of
society. 1141

The position was affected to some extent by the emergence of the New Mechanics'

Institute (in 1829) to which many of the artisans had defected following dissatisfaction

with the running of the parent enterprise. R. G. Kirby offers several reasonsfor the
failure of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution to attract working men: long hours of

it
work made inconvenient for many to attend evening classes;the annual subscription

of f, 1 was out of the reach of most of the labouring class; the ban on newspapers in the
library and on discussions about religion and politics; the widening social gulf between

employers and employed; the suspicion among many operatives that the encouragement

by employers of the Mechanics' Institution was part of a scheme to operate a policy of

restraint of wages; and the conservatism of the directors of the institution, who saw its

function as being the education of workmen in order to make them satisfied with their

status.42 Eventually these grievances surfaced in the issue of the government of the
Mechanics' Institution. In 1828 the Institution was in difficult financial circumstances,

and the (i.

subscribers e. the students who used the institution and others who made an

annual donation to its funds) suggested at a public meeting that the directors should

increase efforts to secure further subscriptions and donations to ensure its survival.

Several proposals were presented to the directors: that additional classesbe formed;

that honorary members be admitted to the library and to lectures; and that nine

subscribersannually should be chosenfrom among their number to serve on the board

of directors. 43 At that time control of the Institution remained entirely in the hands of

the honorary members who paid an annual donation of f 10, and the directors consisted

41 John Davies : An Appeal to the Public in behaf of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, Cooper
Street (Manchester, 1831)

42 R. G. Kirby : An Earl Experiment in Workers' Sef-education: 7he Manchester New Mechanics'

,v
Institution, 1829 - 35 in ed. Cardwell, op. cit., pp. 90-91. For the history of the development and decline
of the New Mechanics' Institution in Manchester, see pp. 87-98.

43 Hudson, op. cit., p. 127.

120
of twenty-one individuals drawn from this group. it was difficult to effect

constitutional changes as any alterations to the rules required the consent of at least
three-quarters of the honorary members. The request from the subscribers that the
honorary members call a special meeting to discuss the various reforms was declined

and the matters were referred to the annual meeting in May 1829. At this meeting it

was agreed that five subscribers should be appointed to assist the directors with the

managementof the institution, 44and in the following year it was decided that the five

chosenrepresentativesshould form part of the directorate of twenty-one.45

However, by this time some of the more discontented elements had left the Institution.

In February 1829 a meeting was held, at which a number of prominent local radicals,

including Rowland Detrosier,* were present, for the purpose of forming a New

Mechanics' Institution. Whilst it was stated that the intention was not to rival the

establishedMechanics' Institution in Manchester and that the new agency was being
formed as the existing one "was unsuitable for furthering knowledge becauseof the

exclusiveness of its laws and management and the purposes and uses of the lecture
to 46
room
9 the effect was that for a time support was deflected from the main Institution.
From 1828 to 1830 John Doherty, firstly as secretary of the Manchester Spinners

Union and latterly as the leader of the newly created National Association for the

Protection of Labour, and other Owenite sympathisers, encouraged sentiments of

democracy and a communitarian spirit. He turned to Detrosier for advice concerning

education for the trades unions and reciprocatedby promoting in his union's journal the

merits of the New Mechanics' Institution. The Owenites had a second main complaint

about the existing Mechanics' Institution in addition to the one of lack of democracy

exercised in its government: there was a feeling that it was not sufficient that the

44 However, none of the five appointed were drawn from the thirty-seven subscnbers who had
addressedthe request to the directors that a special meeting be called to discuss suggestedreforms. See
ed. Cardwell, op. cit., p. 90.

45 Hudson, op. cit., p. 127; ed. Cardwell, ibid., pp. 89-90.

46 Ed. Cardwell. ibid, p. 90-

121
Institution should equip its students through the provision of courses which related

directly to their employment and so would help them progress. This aim, to enable the

individual to function competitively in a capitalist society, was seenas being somewhat

misdirected: attention should be "focused on the crucial social and moral questions

affecting the whole community. "47 The result of the meeting was that premises were

acquired in Poole Street, near the city centre. Chargeswere more moderate (an annual

subscription of 16 shillings which could be paid in instalments), and shares in the

Institution could be purchased in units of five shillings. It was run democratically,

with all shareholderselecting the committee of management,half of whom were to be

48
mechanicsor artisans. In addition to lectures on science, Detrosier felt that there was

a need for greater moral and political education among workpeople. Known radical

sympathisersin Manchester were invited to lecture at the New Mechanics' Institution,

and by 1833 the lecture coursesincluded English history and political economy as well

as the more traditional subjects of elementary science, reading, grammar and

arithmetic.49 Detrosier's success was to be one of the factors which was, rather
ironically, to contribute to the decline of the New Mechanics' Institution. By 1833 two

sets of events had occurred which were to affect considerably its future prospects.
Firstly, the parent Mechanics' Institution, which had somewhat democratised its

proceedings, made a consciouseffort to attract more widespreadworking-class support

through the introduction of some more informal activities. With the railway between

Manchesterand Liverpool having been recently established,an excursion to Liverpool

to
was arranged visit the Docks and the Zoological Gardens. A mutual improvement

society was formed in which the members themselvesprepared papers on literary or

47 Eileen Yeo : Robert Owen and Radical Culture in eds. Sidney Pollard and John Salt : Robert Owen:
Prophet of the Poor: Esstqs in honour of the two hundredth anniversary of his birth (London:
Macmillan, 1971), p. 90. See also Gwyn A. Williams : Rowland Detrosier: A Working-Class Infidel,
1800 - 1834 (York: University of York, Borthwick Papers, Number 28,1965), pp. 16-17; Alan Kidd :
Manchester (Keele, Staffordshire: Rybum Publishing, Keele University Press, 1993), pp. 84-85; and
R. G. Kirby and A. E. Musson : The voice of the people: John Doheriy, 1798 - 1854, trade unionist,
radical andfactory reformer (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1975) for more general political
background.

48 Ed. Cardwell, op. cit., p-90-

49 Ibid., pp. 92-93.

I')?
scientific topics, and the reading of such contributions would be followed by
discussion. A third feature was the establishment of a Christmas social, which was so

successful that it became an annual event. 50 At a meeting in 1837 the issue of the

provision by the Institution of education for women was brought forward. 51 The

matter was followed up comparatively quickly, 52and gradually women were admitted

as members of the Institution, although it was another twenty years before they were to

be accorded any voting rights in the conduct of its business.53 During the late 1830s

and 1840sthere were attemptsto provide more popular programmesof lectures. Up to

about 1840 they were usually dealing with scientific subjects; after that date more

general lectures on literature, economics, education and the fine arts occupied an
increasing proportion of the schedule. The effort to broaden the base of the

Manchester Mechanics' Institution's appeal was unsuccessful; the number of students

from the labouring class attending lectures there at that period declined shaxply.54

In addition to the relaxation of certain restrictions by the parent Institution, a second

and possibly more decisive factor was to expedite the closure of the New Mechanics'
Institution. Rowland Detrosier in the late 1820s had been acquiring a growing

reputation as a lecturer. Some of his more important lectures were published, which

resulted in his becoming known in London. Francis Place persuaded him to move there

to take up the post of secretary to the National Political Union, and although his

appointment ceasedwith the passing of the 1832 Reform Act and he returned to his

So For an account of the by the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, see Kathleen

social events organised
R. Farrar : 7he Mechanics'Saturnalia in ed. Cardwell, ibid., pp. 99-119.

51 Ed. Cardwell, ibid., p. 101.

52 Tylecote notes that in 1839 women constituted one-fifth of the audience at the lectures at the
Manchester Mechanics' Institution. Most dealt with scientific subjects, and a few with music, art and
literature, and three lectures were delivered on female education in the following year. By 1850 it was
estimated that over 200 women were attending lectures at the Institution. See Mabel Tylecote : The
Mechanics' Institutes of Lancashire and Yorkshire before 1851 (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1957), pp. 149-150 and 264.

53 June Purvis : Hard Lessons: The Lives and Education of Working -Class Women in Nineteenth-
Century England (Oxford: Polity Press, 1989), p. 124.

54 Tylecote, op. cit., p. 149.

123
educational work, he was now based in London rather than Manchester. His

enthusiasm and energy were sorely missed by the New Mechanics' InstitutIon. An

autodidact who was a voracious reader, he studied English grammar, French, Latin,

music, mathematics and the sciences. He taught at a Swedenborglan Chapel in Hulme,

and lectured on whatever his scholars wanted to learn. 55 In Detrosier's obituary which

appeared in the Manchester Times of 13th December 1834, his close friend and

colleague, John Shuttleworth, claimed that he acquired new knowledge and lectured in

natural history, philosophy, electricity, chemistry, and mechanics,and credits him with

a leading role in the formation of two of the first Mechanics' Institutes in England at

Hulme and Salford. In the same article Shuttleworth observes that some years later 56

Detrosier was one of a group who "founded a society amongst the labouring classes for

the promotion of natural history Its purpose was "to cultivate knowledge of
......
mineralogy, geology, botany and entomology", and Detrosier was elected as the

society's first president.

The loss of Detrosier and the reforms made by the Manchester Mechanics' Institution,

together with recurrent financial problems, expedited the closure of the New

Mechanics' Institution. In the summer of 1835 the directors of the new institution

conveneda meeting to terminate the enterprise becausetheir objectives had now been

achieved. In addition, the Manchester Mechanics' institution had much more suitable

premises and a better library. 57

Detrosier, although not an Owenite, was instrumental in providing early support for the
58
building of a Hall of Science in Manchester. The Halls of Science were essentially

55 W. E. Styler
: Rowlaitd Detrosier in Adult Education, Volume 2 1, Number 3, March 1949, p. 135.

56 Both Gwyn Williams and R. G. Kirby fix this date as January 1829. See Williams, op. cit., p. 16;
ed. Cardwell, op. cit., p. 90.

57 Ed. Cardwell. ibid., p. 96. The financial circumstancesof the New Mechanics' Institution were not
helped by the prosecution of John Gilgrass, the Institution's secretary and librarian, for the withholding
of monies paid as fees by students. He had also pawned several of the library's more valuable volumes.

-58 The most detailed treatment of the work of the Manchester Hall of Science (1839 1851) is an
-
unpublished dissertation by Aubrey Black : OvveniteE(lucation 1839 - 1851: with particular reference to

124
for the working class, and were supported partly becauseof the discontent with the

mechanics' institutions. There was frequent complaint that these agencieswere willing

only to provide for working people instruction which had been approved by the clergy

and by wealthier classes, whereas the Owenites were seeking to produce thinking
individuals who wished to build a new society.59 Robert Owen6Oin 1813 published his

New View of Society in which he reasonedthat the character of individuals is shapedby

their education and environment, that people should be treated humanely and not be

exploited by employers, and educatedto reasonand appreciatetheir surroundings. He

was especially interested in the principles underlying co-operation and the creation of

co-operative communities.61 The Owenites were establishedstrongly in Manchesterin

the 1830s, and continually tried to indicate the necessityfor and value of education to

the working class:

"Educate! Educate! Educate!!! Let every institution have forthwith its Sunday
and Day School, distribute tracts and works explanatory of the Social System
with unsparing liberality. Let the lecture rooms be made as attractive as possible,
and be as seldom empty or unused. Commence, where practicable, private
classes, lyceums, reading rooms, and other means of instruction and innocent
recreation. 1162

The halls of scienceoffered a place for radicals to hold their various activities, but they

did have rather broader aims. The prospectus varied little between one town or city

and another, and statedas the general objectives of the agencies:

the Manchester "Hall of Science" (Department of Education, University of Manchester, May 1953). See
also Brian Simon : Yhe Two Nations and the Educational Structure 1780 - 1870 (London: Lawrence and
Wishart, 1981 edition), pp. 245-253. The followingZI account is drawn largely from these sources.

59
Simon, ibid., pp. 258-259.

60 Robert Owen (1771 1858) was born in Montgomeryshire and moved to Manchester in the 1780s
-
where he worked as a draper's assistant. In 1794 he went into business as owner of a spinning mill.
Whilst resident in Manchester he became a member of the Literary and Philosophical Society there. In
1800 he moved to Scotland to become a partner in some cotton rnills at New Lanark, where he
to
endeavoured put into practice his educational ideas.

61 For an account and discussion of Owen's life and ideas, see G. D. H. Cole : 777eLife of Robert
Owen (London: Cass, 1965).

62 New Moral World (3rd Series), Volume 1, Number 17,24th October 1840, p. 265, cited in Black,
op.cit., p. 15.

125
 to
that the working classes in this city cannot be accommodated with any
...
commodious place of meeting without it is for such purposesas the classesabove
them approve of; we propose to raise an Institution that shall be open to all
parties. The want of large public rooms wherein the working class might
assemble with their wives and children, to acquire and communicate useful
knowledge, and wherein they might have innocent recreation and rational
amusement at so trifling an expense as to be within the means of the poorest
when employed, has been long felt and is generally admitted."63

Detrosier saw the vision of the Halls of Science and agreed with the Owenites at least

in their advocation of educational opportunities for working-class men and women.

His addressat the New Mechanics' Institution in 1831 about the proposed Manchester

Hall of Science seemed at first to echo the sentiments of employers and clergy towards

the use of leisure time by the working class, but he envisaged the agency as an

important forum for debate where working men and women could discuss their role in

society along with other questions of particular importance to them:

"The working men of this country have not yet been educated to spend their
leisure time with profit and advantage to themselves and the community, nor
understand its value and know how to secure it. And where shall they learn
this?"

Having answered his rhetorical question, Detrosier proceeded to present the uses of a

Hall of Science to the working class of Manchester:

"A theatre will be at your command, in which you may discuss the great
questions with which your best interests are so intimately connected, - capital,
population, supply and demand; and last, not least, the subjects which occupy so
much of the working man's attention at the present time, the wages of labour and
co-operative unions. You may secure rational relaxation that shall leave the
limbs unpalsied, the head free from pain, and the circumstances better, not only
by the difference of expence, but the improvement in comfort. Your political
power would increase with the increase of your personal power, your government
itself be influenced to good by the operations of an intelligent public opinion,
were similar institutions established throughout the country.

"As things are at present constituted the welfare of the millions must mainly
....
depend on themselves;and their elevation in the scale of moral improvement and
of physical comfort must arise from their own exertions; and the plan of
instruction which is contemplated at the Hall of Science will be one of the best

63 From the Worcester Prospectus, New Moral World, 20th July 1839; cited in ed. S. Pollard and J.
Salt, op. cIt., p. 90.

126
 meanstowards effecting thesedesirable objects." 64

The Hall of Scienceat Manchester, which was erectedand equipped at a cost of f 6,000

was the most grandiose of a series of such institutions which came into existence,
1830s. 65
especially in the north of England, in the late Most of the money for the

building was contributed by mechanics and artisans. The premises accommodateda

day and Sunday school, lectures on scientific, political and economic subjects were

delivered, concerts, parties, excursions and other recreations were provided cheaply,

and evening classes offered instruction in the basics of reading, writing and

arithmetic. 66 The building was situated in Campfield, Deansgate, not far from the city

centre, and Robert Owen opened the new Hall in January 1840 in response to a request
1839.67
from the local organisers in July Rather surprisingly, Eileen Yeo claims that

the Hall of Science supported by Detrosier, Doherty and some of the prominent

Owenites was never actually built and that the Owenites in 1838 leased the recently

erected Carpenters' Hall until it was taken over by the Chartists in 1842. The

contemporaryevidenceprovided by Faucher contradicts this 68

assumption.

Within a year of the Hall being fully operative, a Sunday School providing instruction

in sciencesubjectswas added and by May 1842 was attracting regularly more than 250

scholars. A day school was started in 1841 and soon had about a hundred pupils

attending. Rather like the Lyceums, the Halls of Scienceaimed to combine amusement

64 Rowland Detrosier : An Address on the Advantages of the Intended Mechanics' Hall of Science.
Delivered at the New Mechanics' Institution on Saturday 31st December 1831 (Manchester, 1832).

65 Simon, op. cit., pp. 235-236.

66 Ibid., p. 237; Leon Faucher : Manchester in 1844: its present condition and future prospects
(London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; Manchester: Abel Heywood, 1844), p. 25.

67 Richard Murphy : Two working-class institutions in nfid-nineteenth century Manchester: the Hall of
Scienceand the Carpenters' Hall in the History of Education Society Bulletin, Number 35, Spnng 1985,
P.9.

68 The Owenites did lease Carpenters' Hall from its opening in 1838 but only until their prerrUsesfor
the Hall of Science in Campfield were ready. Seeeds. S. Pollard and John Salt , op. cit., p. 90.; Faucher,
op.cit., p. 25. For confirmation that the Hall of Science and Carpenters' Hall were two distinct buildings,
see The Manchester Historical Recorder, revised and corrected to the year 1874 (Swinton: Nell
Richardson, 1984), pp. 27-28. Carpenters' Hall in Garratt Road was opened on 12th November 1838,
and the foundation stone for the Hall of Science at Campfield was laid on 16th August 1839.

127
and recreation with instruction, but becauseof their socialist tendenciesthey attracted
hostility from many churchmen and employers. " There were fears expressed that,

rather like the Chartists, the teachings at the Hall of Science threatened the established

structure of society, including the church which was part of that pattem. 70 In certain

respects the course of socialism in the 1840s ran parallel to that of Chartism: both
faded as Britain began to emerge from the poor trade and depressions which culminated

in the demonstrations in London in 1848. It is difficult to state exactly when the Hall

of Science in Manchester ceased to be used by the Owenites'71 but by September 1852

the building had been acquired by the Manchester Corporation, principally through

donations, and opened as a public library. 72

There is very little information available concerning the educational activities of

Carpenters' Hall. 73 Built and paid for by the operative carpenters and joiners Union,

the Hall opened in 1838. There is evidence to suggest that the Hall, which could

accommodate between five and six thousand persons, provided education for children

via a day school and Sunday school. The venue was used by adults primarily for the
holding of political meetings, but as there was a library on the premises it is reasonable

to deduce that there was some adult educational activity. It is difficult to know exactly

when the Carpenters' Hall closed, but a reasonable estimation would be 1845 or the

early part of 1846. Murphy refers to a report of a meeting held there which appearedin
the Northern Star on 14th December 1844. Brian Simon merely observes that "Later

Carpenters' Hall slipped from Chartist control", but notes that a new hall, the People's

69 For details of the campaigns in Manchester by the clergy against the Hall of Sciencethere, Black,
see
op-cit., p. 21-23.

Simon, op. cit., p. 237.

71 Aubrey Black
in his dissertation (p. 54) estimates that the Owenites in Manchester had ceasedto use
the Hall of Science there by 1850.

72 Thomas Kelly Histoi-v of Public Libraries in Great Britain 1845 - 1965 (London: The Library
:A
Association, 1973), p. 41.

73 For brief details about the existence and activities of Carpenters' Hall, Manchester, see Richard
Murphy, op. cit., pp. 11-13 and Brian Simon, op. cit., P-10, who describes it as a "second centre of
working-class political and educational activity".

128
Institute, was built in Heyrod Street, Ancoats, and was opened by Fergus O'Connor,
1846.74
one of the most prominent influencesin the Chartist movement, in July There
is little to suggest that initiatives in adult education organised.by the working class for

itself were any more successfulthan those arranged for it by the middle class during

the 1830s and 1840s, although a contributory reason for this would certainly be
difficulties in providing for and promoting such enterprises becauseof a lack of finance

and influential connections.

In the late 1830s, partly as a responseto the Chartist agitation in the area, an agency

somewhat different in type from the mechanics' institutions was formed in Manchester

and Salford. The first of theseLyceums, as they were known, by

was established Sir
Benjamin Heywood at Miles Platting in December 1836. Heywood had been well

aware of the criticism that the Manchester Mechanics' Institution did not cater

adequately for the working man, and in addition to encouraging the directors of the
Manchester Institution to provide more popular lectures and social events in its

programme of activities aimed at offering at Miles Platting a place of relaxation and

instruction for workers that would rival the public house.75 The Lyceums, which

flourished during the 1840s, differed from the mechanics' institutions in several ways

according to the 1840 Report of the Manchester District Association of Literary and
Scientific Institutions. The subscriptions were much cheaper at two shillings per

74 Murphy, ibid., p. 11; Simon, ibid., pp.244-245.

75 Eds. Edith and Thomas Kelly :A Schoolmaster's Notebook: Being an account of a Nineteenth-
Century Experiment in Social We?fare, by David Winstanley of Manchester, Schoolmaster (Manchester:
for the Chetham Society, 1957), pp.38-39. The origins, development and decline of the Lyceums at
Salford, Ancoats and Chorl ton-on-Medlock, together with a similar type of agency, the Miles Platting
Mechanics' Institution, are well documented by W. Barton : Philanthropy and Institutions for adult
education in the Manchester areaftoin 1835 to the earlyfifties (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, Manchester
University, 1977). For details of the mutual improvement society at Miles Platting which later became
the Mechanics' Institution there, see also eds. E. and T. Kelly, ibid., pp. 3142 and 64. For an account
of the Ancoats Lyceum, see also Mar), Hanley : Educational Provision in Ancoats, Manchester, during
the nineteenth centut), (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1981), pp. 384418. For
brief observations on the Lyceums in Manchester and Salford see Hudson, op. cit., pp. 136-139; for an
outline of the Lyceum movement in Lancashire see the pamphlet by John B. Hood : 7he Lyceuins (no
date nor place of publication given). Although the institutions in America were rather different from
those in England, the ori., ins and developi-nentof Lyceums in the U. S. A. are described in Malcolm S.
Z11 --
Kno-,vles : 7he, -13u1tEducation Mov.-inent in the United States (New York: Holt, Rinehart and 'Winston,
Inc., 1962).

129
quarter as opposedto the five chargedby the ManchesterMechanics' Institution; 76 the
lyceums were democratically governed ; and they offered an "admixture of amusement

and elementary instruction, as, whilst the more aspiring seeker after knowledge is aided

and advanced, is especially calculated to interest and benefit the humbler and more
1177
ignorant. The report adds that the lyceums differed from many mechanics'

institutions in two other important respects: they provided newspapers "supplying a

variety of valuable information for the operative which he cannot otherwise meet with,
but absolutely essential as providing a substitute for the tavern, where alone he could

before read them" ;78 and instruction for women was provided, "for which distinct

formed '179
classes are under female superintendence.

The decline of the Lyceums was comparatively swift. In 1850 Hudson notes that the

Ancoats Lyceum had 125 members (although he states that in the same year the

numbers attending its classesin reading, writing and arithmetic were 117 males and 22
females) compared with 644 ten years earlier, and the Miles Platting Mechanics'

Institute had 154 members.80 There is no mention, however, of the Chorlton-on-

Medlock Lyceum, although a mechanics' institution there appeared briefly for a short

time in the early 1860sand must have been rather similar in nature to its predecessor.81
The Ancoats Lyceum was evidently in decline by the 1850s, but it is difficult to

ascertainaccurately its date of demise. Mary Hanley comments that it is mentioned in

the Manchester Guardian of 30th August 1854 and thereafter is referred to only in the

ManchesterTown Directories. The agency appearsin the 1861 edition of the Slater's

Trade and Street Directory but not in the following one for 1863, so it presumably

76 Eds. E. and T. Kelly, ibid., p. 39 (note).

77 Report of the Manchester District Association of Literar-y and Scientific Institutions (1840), cited in
Hood, op. cit., p. 1.

78 Ibid., p. I

7w Ibid. See also June Purvis, op. cit., p. 152.

80 Hudson, op. cit., pp. 136-137 and 227.

81 Slater's Trade and Street Directories for 1861 and 1863.

130
ceased at some time between the issuing of these two publications. A similar
institution to those of the Lyceurns at Ancoats, Salford and Chorlton-on-Medlock was

The Parthenon, which was also formed in the late 1830s. It originated with a number

of members of the Temperance Society, although it was not wholly comprised of those

members. The institution had rooms in Smithfield, near Shudehill, where a varied

programme of lectures was provided for the members. The subscription fee of eight

shillings per annum was equivalent to that charged by the Lyceums. The objectives of
the institution were stated to be "the promotion of literature, and the diffusion of
knowledge among the working classes."82 The institution must have survived only

briefly: no reference is made to it by Hudson in 1850.

During the 1850s and 1860s in the Manchester area there emerged several mechanics'

and other institutions which were organised along similar lines to the lyceums. In

addition to the ones already mentioned, Hudson lists in 1850 those at Harpurhey,

Levenshulme and Rusholme. "

Title of Institute Subscription Members Volumes People in News Lectures

in Library Classes room
Levenshulme Is 6d 50 546 34 No 12
M. I. per qtr
Harpurhey 1. Is Id 72 200 - No -
per tr
Rusholme 1. Not stated 50 350 Yes

1860S84
The institution at Levenshulme survived into the mid and the Harpurhey one
1860s. 85
until the early The Institute at Rusholme, which had been establishedin 1850

as a library, underwent changesof name but not of function during the 1850sand early
1860s.86 Other similar enterprises were establishedat Crumpsall. (c. 1851 to c. 1863),

82 B. Love - Manchester as it is (Manchester: Love and Barton, 1839), p. 109.

83 Hudson, op. cit., p. 227.

84 The Slater's Directories for Manchester and Salford list the institutions in their editions from 1855
to 1865 but not in the ones from 1867 onwards.

8-5 The final reference to the Harpurhey Institute appearsin the Slater's Directory for 1863.

86 See Slater's Directory for 1855 and for 186 1. In 1891 the library at Rusholme was transferred to the

131
Blackley (c. 1858 c. 1863), Longsight (I 860s), Cheetharn (I 860s), Clayton (c. 1863),
-
Chorlton-on-Medlock (1860s), Bradford, Manchester (1858), Gorton Brook (1860s)
87
and an Athenaeum at Hulme (c. 1863).

The lyceums and enterprisesof a similar nature were organised for the working class

by the middle class and offered elementary instruction in reading, writing, mathematics

and science, popular lectures, recreations and entertainmentsto their membershipsfor

a modest outlay. They were intended as competition for the attractions of the public

houses, music halls and casinos, and flourished briefly. However, as with other
initiatives which provided what it was felt the working class should want rather than

what it actually did want, the lyceum movement, which was concentrated almost

entirely in Lancashire, faded during the 1860s, and most of its institutions had closed

by the end of that decade.

The development of Manchester as a centre of commerce and industry from the 1780s

to the 1840s saw the founding of several scientific and literary institutions catering

primarily for the professional and leisured classes. The contribution of the learned

societies to adult education in Manchester has not fallen within the remit of this thesis,
but the leading institutions included the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society

1781), 88
(established the Royal Institution (1823),89the Manchester Statistical Society

ManchesterPublic Free Libraries Comnuttee, and was reopenedas a branch library and reading room on
30th ApnI 1892. See Public Free Libraries Committee Reportfor the year ending 5th September 1904
in AppendLx to Council Minutes (1903-4) containing Reports, etc., brought before the Council,
Volume 3, p. 303.

87 See Slater's Directories for the years 1858,1861,1863,1865 and 1867. The library at the
Longsight Mechanics' Institute had been established in 1855. The trustees of the Institute transferred it
to the Manchester Public Free Libraries Conirruttee in 1891, and a branch library was opened in
Longsight on 23rd July 1892. See Public Free Libraries Committee Reportfor the year ending 5th
September1-904,ibid., p-303-

88 See C. L. Barnes : Yhe Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in ed. W. H. Brindley : 7he
Soul of Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1929), pp. 139-151; D. S. L. Cardwell :
Two Centuries of the Manchester Lit. and Phil. in Manchester Memoirs, Volume 1,1980 - 1981,
pp. 122-137; C. Makepeace : Science and Technology in Manchester: tivo hundred years of the Lit and
Phil. (Manchester: Manchester Literary and Philosophical Publications, 1984), W. H. Brindley : 7he
Manchester Literarv and Philosophical Sociery in Journal of the Roval Institute of Chernistrv, Volume
79, February 1955, pp. 62-69; Robert H. Kargon : Science in Victorian Manchester: Enterprise and
Expertise (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press; Manchester: Manchester University Press,

132
(1833), 10 the Phrenological Society (1829), 91 the Architectural Society (1837), 92 the

Manchester Institution for the Illustration and Encouragement of Practical Science

(c. 1839), the Botanical and Horticultural Society 0 827), the Agricultural Society, the

Manchester Society for the Promotion of Natural History (1821 - 1868), the

Athenaeum (1835),93 the Geological Society (1838)94 and the Manchester Medical

Society (1836). 95

1977), pp. 5-16; and F. Nicholson : 7he Literary and Philosophical Society 1781 - 1851 in the Memoirs
and Proceedings of Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, Volume 68 (1923 - 1924),
pp. 97-148.

89 See Stuart Macdonald : Yhe Royal Manchester Institution in ed. John H. G. Archer : Art and
Architecture in Victorian Manchester: Ten illustrations of patronage and practice (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1985), pp. 28- 45; C. R. Darcy : 7he Encouragement of the Fine Arts in
Lancashire (Manchester: The Chetham Society, 1976); R. F. Bud : 7he Royal Manchester Institution in
ed. D. S. L. Cardwell : Artisan to Graduate: Essays to Commemorate the Foundation of the Manchester
Mechanics' Institution, now the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974), pp. 119-133; S. D. Cleveland : 7he Origin of the
Royal Manchester Institution: its historyfrom its origin until 1882, when the building and contents of the
Institution were presented to the Manchester Corporation and became the City Art Gallery (Manchester
1931); and W. G. Sutherland : 7he Royal Manchester Institution: its origins, its character and its aints
(Manchester, 1945).

90 See Michael J. Cullen : 7he Statistical Movement in Early Victorian Britain: the Foundations of
Empirical Social Research (New York: Barnes and Noble; Hassocks, Sussex: The Harvester Press Ltd.,
1975), pp. 105-119 especially; T. S. Ashton : Economic and Social Investigations in Manchester
1833-1933 (London: King and Son, 1934); and David Elesh : 7he Manchester Statistical Society in
Journal of the History of the Behavioural Sciences, Volume 8, (1972), Part 1, pp. 280-301 and Part 2,
pp. 407-417.

91 For the Britain, see David De Guistino : Conquest of Mind:

an account of phrenology movement in
Phrenology and Victorian Social 7hought (London: Croom Helm, 1975).

92 A useful introduction to architecture in Manchester in the Victorian era is contained in John

H. G. Archer : Art and Architecture in Victorian Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1985), in which see particularly pp. 6- 8 in the introduction, and the essaysby Marcus Whiffen : 7he
architecture of Sir Charles Bany in Manchester and neighbourhood (pp. 46-64); Anthony J. Pass :
Yhomas Worthington (pp. 81-101); John H. G. Archer :A Classic of its age (pp. 127-161) and John
Maddison : Basil Champneys and the John Rylands Library (pp. 230-249). The book also provides an
extensive bibliography (pp. 269-279) on art and architecture in Manchester.

93 See the Report of the Provisional Directors of the Athenaeuin and Proceedings of the First Annual
Meeting, 25th Januaty 1837 (Manchester, 1837); Manchester Athenaeuin: centenarv celebrations 1835 -
1935 (Manchester, 1935: centenary brochure); The Manchester Athenaeuin, Coinmemorative Notice of its
Origin, Progress, and present purposes of the Institution (Manchester, 1903); J. W. Hudson : 7he
History of Adult Education (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1851), pp. 110-124; and
two articles in Manchester Faces and Places : Mr Samuel Ogden, J. P. (1819 - 1903), Volume 4,
Numbers 6 and 7, March and April 1893, pp. 81-84 and 99-101.

94 SeeKargon, op. cit., pp. 24-27.

9-5 See William Brockbank ; The Early Histon, of the Manchester Medical School (Manchester, 1968
pamphlet); E. M. Brockbank : 77ie Manchester Medical Society and the Literary and Philosophical
Society (Manchester, 1924 pamphlet); and E. M. Brockbank :A centenan, historv of the Manchester

133
Although a detailed treatment of the developmentof Manchester's learned societieshas

not been included within the purview of this thesis, several of them did make a

significant contribution to the educational and cultural life of the city. During the

1820sand 1830s Manchester's population almost doubled, increasing from 129,035 in

1821 to 242,983 in 1841.96 The influence of the city increasedduring this time to the

point where it was at the centre of the national stage. The development of trade,

industry, commerce and banking and cultural facilities evolved over the sameperiod to

meet the requirementsof its increasingly numerous and wealthy middle class.97 Stuart
Macdonald observes that membership of some of the newly created learned societies

was used by some as a meansof acquiring social status to accompany new wealth and

provided venues for "the more serious-minded" who "became patrons of restricted
literary, philosophical, musical, artistic and scientific institutions where they could

meet socially. "98 Whilst the societies undoubtedly did fulfil such a function, they also

made important contributions to knowledge through their researches and played a

necessarypart in the expansion in the cultural and intellectual life of the city. 99

However, Macdonald's comment does have a certain validity in connection with the

Royal Manchester Institution. 100 Essentially the society catered for the upper

Medical Society, with biographical notes of itsfirst president, secretary and hon. librarian (Manchester:
Sherratt and Hughes, 1934).

96 Alan Kidd : Manchester (Keele, Staffordshire: Rybum Publishing, Keele University Press, 1993),
p. 22.

97 For the development of Manchester in the first half of the nineteenth century to a city of
world-wide
importance, see Kidd, ibid., pp. 21-37 and Asa Briggs : Victorian Cities (Harmondsworth, Middlesex:
Pelican Books, 1971 edition), pp. 88-138.

98 Stuart Macdonald 7he Royal Manchester Institution in

: ed. Archer, op. cit., p. 30.

99 Michael Rose offers a sympathetic interpretation of the contribution of the rmddle classes
via vanous
learned societies to the cultural life of Manchester in his Culture, Philanthropy and the Manchester
Midi-Ile Classes in eds. A. J. Kidd and K. W. Roberts : City, class and culture: Studies of cultural
production and social policy in Victorian Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985),
pp. 103-117.

100 As mentioned previously, accounts of the ongins and activities of the Royal Manchester Institution
are to be found in Stuart Macdonald's essay on 7he Royal Manchester Institution in ed. Archer, op. cit.,
pp. 28-45 and R. F. Bud : 7he Royal Manchester Institution in ed. D. S. L. Cardwell : Artisan to
Graduate (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974), pp. 119-133. Macdonald's article is useful
on the foundation and development of the Institution and on its relationship to the School of Design.

134
middle-class element of Manchester society and had a "threefold origin - in the desire
for knowledge, for art exhibitions and for a civic centre. " 101 Bud indicates that these

quite distinct objectives were pursued independently of each other in the holding of

lectures, the presentation of exhibitions and the availability of its buildings for the use

of many of Manchester's societies.102 Governors of the Institution had to be wealthy,

although the position brought with it certain compensations in that it confirmed one's

in
social status the community and developedbusinessconnections.103 The importance

of the Nonconformist contribution to the Institution can be seen in the fact that on the

first committee in 1823 there were three Unitarians from the Cross Street Chapel and

two from the one in Mosley Street, two Quakers and an Anglican. Twelve years later

the combination had altered slightly but the number remained the same, - four

Unitarians, one Congregationalist, two Methodists and one Anglican. 104

The courses of lectures offered by the Institution were of a reasonable standard and

were not aimed at providing elementary instruction. An analysis of the first hundred

names on the membership list of 1824 indicates a wealthy and comparatively well-

educated section of the community - twelve owners of spinning mills, twelve dyers and

calico printers, twenty merchants, six lawyers, five gentry, four surgeons, four

bleachers and sulphuric acid manufacturers, three bankers, two soldiers, one

manufacturer, fifteen others and sixteen unidentified. 105In their most prolific years the

courses were open only to members of the Institution, their families and others

permitted by the committee. The courses were usually of four to six lectures and

is
covereda range of subjectsas shown in the following table categorising one hundred

Bud's essay offers a more analytical study of the composition of the membership within the Institution
and the lectures provided by it, especially dunng its most successfulyears from 1835 to 1859.

101 Ed. Cardwell, 140.

ibid., p.

102 Ibid.,
p. 140.

103 Ibid.,
p. 130.

104 Ibid., pp. 122-123.

105 Ibid., p. 121.

135
and thirty coursesover twenty-four years:

06
Subjectsof Lectures, 1835 - 18591

Subject Number of Courses

Chemistry 24

Physiology 19

Natural History 15

Music 14

Art History 14

Geology

Literature

Astronomy

Ethnology

History

Electricity 5

Others

From the 1850sattendancesat the lectures dropped to the point where by the late 1860s

were supporting them. In 1871, motivated by a senseof

only sixty or seventy people
desperation rather than from any desire to make the lectures available to a wider

audience,a decision was taken by the committee that lectures should be opened to the

public who would be charged an admission of one shilling. Numbers increased

rapidly, although the character of the lectures changed. Literary subjects now

dominated, and lecture courses usually comprised no more than two lectures. When

the Manchester Corporation took over the building in 1881, the lectures continued

1889, at which time it was recommended by the lecturing sub-

intermittently until

that the type of lecture offered should be changed to the equivalent of a

committee

106 Ibid., p. 125.

136
university course in art. This was put into effect, but the lectures were not held at the
107
Institution.

The other two aspects of the Institution's work were also catered for in its buildings in

Mosley Street. From the time the shell of the building was completed in August 1829,

the Institution showed annually autumn exhibitions until 1882. However, profits from

these exhibitions were usually modest, and the Institution had to derive a large part of

its income from renting out part of its premises, and over the years rooms were used

by the Choral, Madrigal, Geological and Medical Societies.108The ManchesterSchool

of Design also used the premises from its inception in 1837.109

The Manchester School of Design had its origins in the establishment, partly through

the efforts of Benjamin Haydon, a painter and popular teacher of classes of art and

architecture, of the Normal School of Design in Somerset House in June 1837. The

importance of art to industrial design was acknowledged and the poor quality of

English work in this field in the 1830s meant that the country was losing the battle with

foreign competition for trade. ' 10 The school in London was established by the Board

of Trade "to afford the manufacturers [i. e. industrial workers] an opportunity of

acquiring a competent knowledge of the Fine Arts, as far as the same are connected

"III
with manufactures. The School offered a syllabus which included outline drawing,

107 Ibid., pp. 125-127.

108 Ed. Archer, op. cit., pp. 38-40.

109 The history of the Schools of Design in Britain is ably related by Quentin Bell in 7he Schools of
Design (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963), and the initiative at Manchester is referred to on
pp. I 11-119. Bell's account covers only the early years to about 1855, and the later history of the school
in Manchester is dealt with in Cecil Stewart : Art in Adversiry: A Shon History of the Regional College
of Art, Manchester (Manchester: Royal Manchester Institution, 1954) and David Jerenuah :A Hundred
Years and More (Manchester: Faculty of Art and Design, Manchester Polytechnic, 1980). The
following brief account is drawn largely from these sources. A short survey of the early years of the
Manchester School of Design appears in C. P. Darcy : 7he Encouragement of the Fine Ans in
Lancashire 1760 - 1860 (Manchester: Chetham Society, 1976), pp. 112-117.

110 Ed. Archer, op. cit., p. 40.

111 Bell, op. cit., pp. 72-73.

13_7
modelling and colouring, and instruction for design in particular branches of industry
together with a more general appraisal of the history of taste and theoretical knowledge

of style. At first classeswere organised during the day, but within a few months an

evening class had been commenced.112 it was intended that the London School should

serve as a prototype for a series of provincial ones, and during the next fifteen years
twenty-one schools were created in England, Scotland and Ireland. 113 The first of

thesewas at Manchesterin 1838, and again Haydon was to play an important role in its

formation.

Two previous attempts had been made to cater for the teaching of art in Manchester.

The first of these was in 1803, the Manchester Academy for Drawing and Designing,

which had as its object "the gratuitous instruction of a hundred young men in various
branches of drawing and painting, either as connected with plans of elegant

amusement, or with improvement in mechanics and manufactures. '1114The experiment

survived for only two years. A second effort was made by the Manchester Mechanics'

Institution in 1831 through the provision of classesfor art which included landscapes,
figure, flower and general ornamental drawing. 115 However, in an address given at the

annual meeting of members of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution on 28th February

1838, the prophecy of its president, Sir Benjamin Heywood, that "The establishment of

a School of Design in the town (which I rejoice to see and will cordially join) will, I

suspect,apply the screw to our drawing classes"'116proved accurateand obstructed the

Institution's developmentin that direction. 117

112 Bell, ibid., p. 73.

113 Bell, ibid., pp. 102-103.

114 Stewart,
op. cit., p. 3.

11-5 Stewart, p. 3.
ibid.,

116 Sir Benjan-iin Heywood : Addressesdelivered at the Manchester Mechanics' Institution (London:
Charles Knight and Co.; Manchester: John Harrison, 1843), p. 108.

117 Mabel Tylecote : The Mechanics' Institutes of Lancashire and Yorb-hire before 1851 (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1957), p. 142

138
By the summer of 1837 Haydon had begun to organise support for the creation of a

School of Design in Manchester, the first of the provincial schools. A meeting with

James Heywood and William Fairbairn furthered the idea, but two problems were

outstanding: to decide how design should be taught and the obtaining of support from

manufacturers in general and the calico printing industry in particular. 118 It was
decided from the outset that the School of Design in Manchester should concentrateon

meeting requirements of local manufacturers, but partly through the influence of its

first teacher, Zephaniah Bell (1794 - 1883), the priority was given to painting and

drawing rather than to design. Through the negotiations of James Thomson, a calico

printer and supporter of the School of Design, an initial grant of f: 150 was secured
from the government in 1842, and this was increasedin the following year to an annual

grant of ;E250for three years.III

On opening in October 1838 the School had rented the basement rooms of the Royal

Manchester Institution in Mosley Street. By the following February 36 pupils had

registered, and classes were held in the evening from 7.00 p. m. to 9.00 p. m.
Although the declared aim of the School was "to impart systematically a knowledge of

the principles and practice of art with a view to its application by manufacturers",120
drawing and portraiture were given preference. Life drawing also featured in the

curriculum until one evening when a nude female model was unfortunate enough to
have a fit in a corridor. The consequentfurore resulted in the banning of life drawing

in the School for the following fourteen years.121

From the start the funding of the School proved a major problem. Income was derived

primarily from students' fees, donations and subscriptions. Some relief was provided

118 Stewart, op. cit., p. 4. See also Kenneth Dixon ; 7he Manchester School of Design and the Calico
Printing Industry (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, 1967).
1
119 Jererruah, op. cit., p-4.

120 Stewart, op. cit., p. 5

121 Stewart, ibid., pp. 5-6; Jerenuah, op. cit., p. 4.

139
on the understanding that the local committee would raise an equivalent amount and

that the School would follow closely the system of instruction used by the government

Central School of Design in London. Bell did not attempt to comply with the required

regulations and resigned. His successor, George Wallis (1811-1891) brought the

School more firmly into line with government recommendations, although two years

later a disagreement with the government inspector on the emphasis to be placed on the

drawing of ornament caused difficulties. Because the School depended on the

government grant, the local committee felt that it had to operate the officially

recommended system. Wallis refused, and the committee was forced to accept his

resignation with some reluctance. Late in 1845 Wallis had been discouraged by the
failure of an ambitious venture hosted and funded jointly by the Royal Institution and

the School of Design. An Exhibition of Industrial Art was arranged which included

work from the School of Design and from the local textile industry. In some ways this

was a precursor to the Great Exhibition of 1851, but the enterprise was a failure and
the School of Design lost money on it. Wallis was especially critical of the lack of
122
support received from local industry.

During the following two years after Wallis's resignation in April 1846, the School of

Design experienced one of the most difficult periods in its history. A succession of

temporary appointmentsbegan with Mr Sintzenich, who had actually acceptedan offer

to run the school at Paisley but who stayed until the committee had been able to

arrange for a replacement. His successor,Henry Johnston resigned in March 1847,

and Mr Cooper, who took over his duties, was dismissedin 1849 for idleness. Rather

surprisingly, the School requestedand successfully obtained an increase in its annual

grant to 050 in 1846, f400 in 1848 and f600 in 1849. On the strength of this, the
School felt sufficiently confident to vacate its rooms at the Royal Manchester

Institution in 1848 and move to new premisesin Brown Street. In 1849 the committee

succeeded in obtaining the services of a most able candidate, Astbury Hammersley

122 Jeremiah, ibid., pp. 6-8: Stewart, ibid., p. 6.

140
(1815-1869), who had worked for thirteen years as a designer at Wedgwood's and had

taught latterly at the Central School of Design, London, followed by four years as
Head Teacher at he Nottingham School of Design. 123

The move to cheaper premises in Brown Street had occurred because the School could

not afford the quarterly rent charged by the Royal Manchester Institution, 124and the
fact that the committee sanctionedthe expenditure of MO for furnishings for the new

rooms showed confidence in Hammersley. This trust was not misplaced, and by the

end of the first year the deficit had become a modest balanceof E200.125Hammersley

was the main reason the School survived at this time, 126and the school prospered

temporarily. However, under his direction the School resembled increasingly an

advanced drawing academy and moved away from the teaching of design.
Hammersley suggested that the teaching of elementary drawing might more usefully be

undertaken by the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, thus leaving the School to cater
for the more promising students. In particular, the School was seen as having failed

the calico printing industry. In 1850 a petition was presented by representatives from

the trade requesting that if the School was going to function solely as an academy for

training in art the government grant, which had been awarded on the understanding that

the School was supposed to improve design for calico printing, should be

withdrawn. 127 The committee of the School faced a difficult choice of whether to

to
continue request that the School fulfilled its traditional function of training students

in design to cater for the requirements of local industry, which might possibly result in

increased financial subsidies from manufacturers, or to attract more students by

providing for training in art. The committee opted for the latter course, the

123 Jerenuah, ibid., p. 8.

124 Ed. Archer, op. cit., p. 42.

125 Jeremiah, op-cit., p-8.

126 Bell, op. cit., p. 120.

127 Bell. 121-122; Stewart, op. cit., pp. 9-10.

ibid., pp.

141
govemment grant remained, and by 1853 the number of students had reached 606,128
including " fee-paying young ladies with nothing to do" who " flocked to the school.11129

The rooms at Brown Street proved inadequate to accommodate the demands made upon

them, and in 1854 the School moved back to the Royal Manchester Institution.

Manchester reflected a national trend in that students enrolling at Schools of Design

were doing so primarily to study art, and in 1852 the Board of Trade discontinued the
Normal School of Design in London and establishedthe Department of Practical Art.

Henry Cole, who was appointed as its General Superintendent, responded to market
forces with the result that many of the Schools of Design became Schools of Art,

including Manchester's, which was renamed The Manchester School of Art in

February 1853.130 In March 1854 the School became in effect a department of the

Royal Manchester Institution. The move back to the Institution affected student

numbers adversely in the short term (from 606 in 1853-1854to 231 in 1855-1856),131

and caused financial hardship, even though the School was now in receipt of

government grants for training school teachers and pupil teachers and for teaching

elementary drawing to schoolchildren. 132 The School resented the amount it was

having to pay in rent to the Institution, although the latter claimed that the sum

received in no sense represented the true cost and was only a contribution towards the

expensesof the maintenanceof the building. In fact in some ways the Institution was

comparatively generous, on occasion making available lecture rooms and providing

133
money for medalsand prizes for students.

Hammersley's most lasting achievementwas the creation of the Manchester Academy

128 Jererruah,op. cit., p. 12; Stewart, ibid., p. 11.

129 Ed. Archer, p. 42.

op. cit.,

130 Ed. Archer, p. 42; Stewart, op. cit., pp. 10-11.

ibid.,

131 JerenUah,op. cit., p. 12.

132 Stewart, p. 12.

op. cit.,

133 Stewart, ibid., pp. I 1- 12.

1422
of Fine Arts. To coincide with the ManchesterArt TreasuresExhibition in May 1857,

which was to be opened by the Prince Consort, David Chadwick, the borough treasurer

of Salford, organised, an exhibition of the work of local artists at Peel Park and

arranged that a deputation of them, led by Hammersley, should meet the Prince.

Hammersley accompanied Prince Albert round the exhibition and asked him to become

a patron of a Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. Although this request was eventually

refused, a committee of ten was appointed to work out a draft constitution and rules

and to approach the Royal Manchester Institution for a home in the building. As a

result of the subsequent negotiations, the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts became a

sectional department of the Institution; was permitted the free use of a small room on a

regular basis and of the exhibition room when required; and undertook the function of

obtaining artists' work for the Institution's annual exhibition. In return, the Institution

kept all receipts from its exhibitions and, on election to the Academy, the successful

candidate had to present a picture to the Institution. 134 The Academy formally came
into existence on 15th November 1859. In accordance with the constitution only

professional painters could be admitted to membership, and at first eight members and

four associateswere elected. In 1865, at the time the Academy's first exhibition took

place, the matter of admitting amateur painters was considered and rejected, and

continued to be raised periodically and unsuccessfully until 1917 when the policy was

finally altered.135In 1874 nine female painters applied for membership, and eventually

in 1884 were admitted on limited terms and without any voting rights. 136

In 1882 the Royal Manchester Institution gave its building and contents to Manchester

Corporation, and the premises became the Manchester City Art Gallery. At that time

the Academy was given notice to quit, and successfully found alternative

134 Hal Yates : Manchester Acadeinvof Fine Arts: a shon history of the Academy. Centenary
1859 - 1959 (Manchester, 1959), p. 5; ed. Archer, op. cIt., p. 42.

135 Yates, Ibid., p. 6; ed. Archer, ibid., pp. 4243.

136 Yates, ibid., p. 6. Stuart Macdonald (ed. Archer, ibid., p. 43) states that nine female painters were
adn-ttedto membership in 1874. In view of the innate conservatism and exclusivity of the Academy,
Yates's version that the nine applied for membership in 1874 and were adrynittedon limited terms ten
years later is more likely to be correct.

143
accommodation in four rooms on the top floor of buildings in Brazennose Street in the

city centre. In 1902 the Academy to

moved rooms in nearby John Dalton Street and

remained there until 1921.137

By the time Hammersley retired in 1861, the School was attracting more students than

at any time in its history. There were efforts made to promote art education outside

the School: children were taught and provision was madeby the School for the training

of school teachers and pupil teachers. Hammersley's successor, William Jabez

Muckley (1837 - 1905), was similar to him in outlook, and was a noted painter. He

had taught at Burslem. for four years whilst completing his training as an art teacher,

and had been appointed in 1858 as Principal of the Wolverhampton School of Art.

Initially he continued the pattern and emphasisof tuition established by Harnmersley,

but was soon forced to revert to a former policy of reflecting the training to the needs

of local industry in an endeavour to secure necessary funding to improve the School's

difficult financial position. This change had been prompted in part by the

government's decision in 1862 to operate a system of payment by results. 138 This

provision, which had been suggestedoriginally in 1853,139was intended mainly to

to
apply elementary education through the of
assessment the performance of children in

reading, writing and arithmetic, 140

but it affected Manchesterand other Schools of Art

receiving government funding in that the capitation grant was removed and was

replaced by one which was calculated on attendance,on the number of successful

examination students produced by the institution and on the number of teachers trained
there. This meant in effect that the monies received from the central authority would

dependlargely upon examination results and would require the training in the School to

137 Yates, ibid., pp. 6-7.

138 - 12-13; Jeremiah, 14-16.

Stewart, op. cit., pp. op. cit., pp.

139 Mary Sturt : 77ie Education of the People :A history of primary education in England and Wales in
the nineteenth centim, (London: Routledge and Kt-gan Pau!, 1967), p. 217.

140 For an account of the background

Z) to the Revised Code ol:aI 1862 with its system of payment by
results and its el-fects, see Sturt, ibid., pp. 238-295.

144
be directed primarily to them. The immediate result was a substantial cut in the

amount received by the Manchester School of Art from government sources, and this

shortfall was aggravated by the failure of the School's attempts to tailor its training to

the requirements of local firms. The committee was surprised and dismayed by this

combination of factors which had brought about a serious deterioration in the School's

financial position, although previous experience suggested that the institution

functioned most profitably when it catered for consumer demand which sought

instruction in painting and drawing rather than in design. Consequently numbers

dwindled and by 1870 the School was again in a financially precarious situation. The

position remained critical during the 1870s and 1880s, and it was only when the
Manchester School of Art was transferred in 1892 to the Manchester Corporationl4l

that it experienced financial security and its future in the long term was assured.

During the first thirty years of its history the School experienced uneven progress and

spent much of its time in straitened circumstances. To qualify for government grants,

it had intended in the first instance to cater for skilled and semi-skilled artisans from

industry. The lack of support received from local firms in the form of students from

among their employees, subscriptions, or donations of money or equipment had

persuaded the School to provide for an increasing demand from young men and women
from the middle class for instruction in art. The School had made this transition

effectively, surprisingly being successful during the 1850s also in its applications for

government funding, but the introduction of a system of payment by results with grants
being linked to examination successespersuadedthe committee to abandon its policy

with unfortunate consequences.

The activities of the Manchester Athenaeum, founded in October 1835, made a

significant contribution to adult education in the city, especially in the early years of its

existence when there was a growing but still comparatively small number of agencies

141 The institution was renamed the Manchester Municipal School of Art in 1892, an appellation it
retained until 1951.

145
available to meet the intellectual requirements of its developing middle classes.
Following a preliminary meeting on 13th October, a gathering was convened on

28th October 1835 which included some of Manchester's most prominent citizens,

including Richard Cobden, James Heywood and Mark Philips, Members of Parliament,

H. H. Birley (who was later to chair the Manchester School Board), and Sir Thomas

Potter (first Lord Mayor of Manchester in 1838 and subsequentlya Liberal M. P. for

the city), for the purpose of establishing an "Institution adaptedto the wants of the
....
intelligent middle classes, and accessible to them at a reasonable charge" to cater

primarily for "Professional men of all grades, quiet men of business, as well as the

multitudes of young men employed as clerks in warehouses, and in retail

establishments" in premises "to which they could resort, for the perusal of the
"142
newspapersand other periodicals, or for intercourse or mutual instruction. The

subscription of thirty shillings a year was well out of the reach of most of the working-

class community and the Athenaeum drew its support almost exclusively from the

wealthier classes. For the first three years it met in rooms of the Royal Manchester

Institution, 143before moving into its own premises (nearby in Mosley Street),
designed by Mr (later Sir) Charles Barry, in October 1839. The cost (about E16,000)

of the building was to prove a source of continuing difficulty to the members of the

Athenaeumduring its early years to such a degreethat the institution came very near to

closure in 1842.144In an effort to balance expenditure and income and to meet heavy

mortgage repayments, the annual subscription was raised in October 1841 from thirty

shillings to E2 per year, with the proviso that the new fee could be paid on a quarterly

142 J. W. Hudson : 7he History of Adult Education (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans,
1851), p. I 10. Hudson was the first honorary secretary of the Manchester Athenaeum, and provides
(pp. 110-124) a bnef history of it from its inception in 1835 to 1850.

143 There seems evidence of rivalry between the Royal Manchester Institution and the Manchester
Athenaeum, and the premises of the latter were built near to the R. M. I. To some extent the two agencies
duplicated activities. What is rather more revealing is that Hudson (see previous footnote), whilst
referring extensively in his volume on adult education to the Manchester Athenaeum and the Manchester
Mechanics' Institution and to a lesser extent to the lyceums, makes no mention whatever of the Royal
Manchester Institution.

144 See Hudson, op-cit., pp. I 11-113; and 7he Manchester Athenaeum: Its history and purpose
(Manchester, 1903), p. 10.

146
basis if desired. The immediate results were disastrous and within two years the

membership had reduced by more than half.

Ordinary Life
Totall45
Members Members

1841 First Quarter 1094 89 1183

Second Quarter 911 90 1001

Third Quarter 686 96 782

Fourth Quarter 709 100 809

1842 First Quarter 466 106 572

Second Quarter 374 108 482

Third Quarter 372 108 480

Fourth Quarter 418 108 526

The move to a new site had been prompted largely because of the successful

recruitment of 1,150 subscribersduring the Athenaeum's first year, and the premises

on a piece of land adjoining the Royal Manchester Institution on Mosley Street and

fronting into Bond Street and George Street included a library, a reading room, dining

room, classrooms, lecture theatre and rooms for billiards, smoking, coffee and chess.
A room in which ladies could meet was also provided. The library contained volumes

on "science, history, polite literature and the useful arts", and a tradition of educational
lectures, which by the end of the first year numbered on average about seven per

month, was quickly establishedand included topics on chemistry, geology, the French
language, astronomy, elocution, poetry and education. 146

From 1843 to 1848 annual soirees were held, presided over by people prominent in

14 Hudson, ibid., p. 112.

-

146 Report of the Provisional Directors of the Athenaeum and proceedings of the First Annual Meeting,
25th January 1837.

147
public life (for example, in 1843 and 1844 the presidents were Charles Dickens and
Benjamin Disraeli)147to try to raise additional revenue to pay off some of the debt on

the buildings. Samuel Ogden (1818 - 1903),148the Athenaeum's honorary secretary

from 1849 to 1853, felt that the soireesdid little to improve the financial situation and

he was influential in securing their discontinuance. During his term of office he

insisted that, irrespective of the membership numbers, the institution curb its

expenditure to a point which did not exceed its income. The annual report presented

on 30th January 1850 statedthe situation directly:

"To permit a continuous accumulation of debt, is a course which embarrasses

succeeding directorates; brings discredit on the Institution, and inflicts an
injustice on future members, by imposing obligations upon them for benefits
already received by others. It is a course which inevitably leads to one of two
results equally to be deprecated, viz., either to burden the Institution with a debt
under which it will with difficulty sustain itself, or to compel an appeal to
eleemosynary aid for the defrayment of current expenses. The Directors,
therefore, venture to express their earnest conviction that every board would do
well to regard it as a primary obligation to leave office without contracting
liabilities beyond the income they have received... "

The injunction was heededto such effect that by 1868 the mortgage had been paid off

(which in 1853 had stood at f6,000) and a fire in 1873, which resulted in the almost

complete destruction of the library and in extensive damage to the upper floors of the

premises, which could have been quite disastrous, merely spurred the members to

greater effort. The opportunity was taken to modernise the building and an extra

storey was added. The cost exceededthe insurance award by E2,862, but friends of

the institution subscribedthe amount necessaryto cover the balance without having to

resort to fund raising activities.

The membership figures during the first fifteen years of the Athenaeum's existence

147 7heManchesterAthenaeum: Its HistoryandPurpose, p. 10.

148 Ibid., p. 18; Manchester Facts and Places, Volume 4, Numbers 6 and 7, March and April 1893,
pp-81-84 and 99-101. Samuel Ogden was appointed as honorary secretary of the Athenaeum in 1849.
He was subsequently elected to its Board of Directors which he chaired from 1859 to 1870. In that year
he becamepresident of the institution, an office he held until his death in December 1903.

148
fluctuated considerably, although increases in membership carried no guarantee of

financial prosperity. At a time when the membership figure peaked in 1846 to 2,458,

expenditure for that year exceeded income by f50 149 After 1850, a concentrated effort
.
to keep expenditure within the limits of income reduced the importance of such

vicissitudes.

Average Number of
Year Paying Members Life Members Total i 5o

1836 1095 55 1150

1837 952 57 1009

1838 995 60 1055

1839 900 60 960

1840 1168 70 1238

1841 850 100 950

1842 408 108 516

1843 1018 117 1135

1844 1607 128 1735

1845 2071 130 2200

1846 2328 130 2458

1847 1650 130 1780

1848 1343 130 1473

1849 1014 130 1144

At the end of 1849 several new features in the activities and the operation of the

Athenaeum were introduced to offer a better and wider service to its members and thus

secure the future of the institution. Journals from America and from parts of the

149 Hudson, op. cit., p. 117.

1-50 Ibid., p. 116.

149
British Empire were purchased for the library; members were allowed access to the

books of the general library for study and to take notes on one evening each week; a

separate commercial and statistical reference library was established; a room for

correspondencewas made available; admissions to membership were made on twelve

occasionsduring each year; memberswere allowed to join the association for a period

of three or twelve months. In addition, the annual subscription was reduced from
25 shillings to 24 shillings (or 6s 6d per quarter) and was to remain at that figure for

the next fifty years, and a new class of subscribers under twenty years of age Ounior

members) was admitted at a rate of five shillings per quarter. 151

The main attraction to memberswas the news and reading room which supplied a wide

range of London, provincial, Scottish, Irish and foreign newspapers,periodicals and

magazines. The library had a substantial section of works of fiction amongst its fifteen

thousand volumes in 1850, and several members of the Athenaeum strongly supported

the Free Library Movement. 152 The reference library contained encyclopaedias,
.
dictionaries, directories, and commercial, geographical, statistical, historical and legal

works.

The clubs and societies of the Athenaeum, which were self-governing in that they

arranged their own programmes and elected their own officers whilst observing the

rules of the institution agreed by its directors, provided for the social, recreational and

intellectual needsof the membership. A room was allocated to one of the first of the

Athenaeum's societies, the Gymnastic Club, on the premises. During the summer

months, the group met on fields about a mile away for athletics, cricket, archery and

other outdoor recreations. 153 Before 1850 an Essay and Discussion Society had been

commenced to cater for more serious tastes. Meetings were held fortnightly and

151 Ibid.,
p. 116.

152 Ibid.,
p. 116.

153 7he Manchester Athenaeum: Its History and Purpose, p. 29; Hudson, ibid., p. 117.

150
consisted of a paper presented by one of the members followed by discussion. In 1847

a Dramatic Society was established, initially intended as a literary and play-reading

group, and prospered. Hudson observed rather acidly that the association's only fault

was "a proneness to amateur stage representation; but if this tendency is judiciously

repressed,the society may become a valuable aid in the occasional displays which the
IIIS4
coffee party and the social soiree afford. By the end of the century the Society
155
included operasby Gilbert and Sullivan in its repertoire.

Classesorganised by the institution were not conspicuously successful, partly because

they tended to duplicate facilities offered elsewhere. By 1850 classes in drawing,

bookkeeping, mathematics and instrumental music had been tried and abandoned. The

language classes in French and German, persevered with beyond 1850, attracted

numbers from twenty to fifty, and in 1850 classes in Italian and Spanish were formed.

Most classes attracted a nominal charge, but it was noted that in some subjects, even

where tuition was provided free, there was little demand for instruction. 156 By the end

of the century the Athenaeum had, on a rather smaller scale, followed the lead of the

Manchester Y. M. C. A., and established evening commercial classes at elementary,

intermediate and advanced levels in bookkeeping, shorthand, French, German,

Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and elocution in association with the Society of Arts and

the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes. Under certain conditions, successful

studentsreceived free membershipof the Athenaeum for one year. In addition to the

classes, for advanced commercial students the institution offered Societies for

conversation in foreign languages in French, Spanish, Italian, German and

Portuguese.157

154 Hudson, ibid., p. 119.

155 Hudson, ibid., p. 120.

156 7he Manchester Athenaeum: Its Historv and Purpose, p. 35

157 Hudson, op-cit., P. 119.

151
The most prominent aspect of the Athenaeum's educational work was its series of

winter lectures established in 1835. Although the number reduced later, during the

early years of the institution lectures were held twice a week during eight months of the

year, and covered such diverse topics as the physical sciences, literature, history,

education, the fine arts and mental and moral philosophy. The most popular lectures

were on history or music and dramatic readings, and a not uncommon problem was

noted, that "the lecturer has, in too many instances,been rather the object of attraction
than the lecture. " 158

The lectures were often similar in character to those of the Royal Manchester

Institution and experienced the same difficulties for the organisers. Between October

1835 and November 1849 the Athenaeum arranged 746 lectures, categorised as
folloWS: 159

Physical Science:-
Astronomy 45
Electricity 14
Chemistry 61
Geology 29
Anatomy and Physiology 29
Botany 16
Other branches 22
Mechanical Sciences 8
Manufacturers 6
230

Mental and Moral Philosophy: - 24

Literature and Education:-

General and Polite Literature 44
Education 32
History 35
Biography 20
Voyages and Travels 11
Natural History 20
162
Fine Arts: -
Painting, Design, etc. 54
Poetry and the Drama 172
Music 104
330
746

158 7he Manchester Athenaeum: Its Histmy and Purpose, pp. 34-35.

1-59 Hudson, op. cit., p. 117.

152
On subjecting these categories to further analysis, covering consecutive periods of

sevenyears, the results were:

First Seven Years Last Seven Years

(1835 -1842) (1842 -1849)

Lectures - Science, Physical 173 57

- Science, Mental - 24
- Literature and Education 54 108
- Fine Arts 125 205
352 394

Hudson observedthat
"the tendency of the Athenaeum, like other popular Literary Institutions has,
during the last seven years, been towards light and meretricious subjects; this is
apparent in the selection of books for the library, as well as in the lectures
themselves."160

The assessment which Hudson provides of the Manchester Athenaeum and its

contribution towards the cultural life of the city accords with what one might expect

from someonewho was closely involved in the activities of the institution and who

formerly had been its honorary secretary. The claim that to "the Athenaeum of
161 is
Manchester may be traced almost all the novel features in Institutional history"

if
arguableeven applied only to educative and recreative agenciesin Manchester. It is

possible that the directors of the Manchester Athenaeum did at a comparatively early

date appreciate the potential of soirees, cheap concerts and classical music, as Hudson

observes, but to assert that such provision was "imitated by other societies throughout

the country" 162 is not a position which can be defended. The Athenaeum in

Manchesterwas by no meansalone in arranging such events in the 1840s, nor was it

the first to do so. The Manchester Mechanics' Institution and the lyceums had their

own equivalents of such activities; the main difference lay in the rather more

prosperous and on the whole more educated clientele catered for by the Athenaeum.

The development of Manchester during the first half of the nineteenth century into
160 Ibid.,
p. 118.

161 Hudson, ibid., p. 124.

162 Ibid. p. 124.

153
arguably the most important provincial city in England by the 1840s had seen the

emergence of numerous educational and cultural institutionsq amongst which the

Athenaeum was prominent, in the city to provide for the intellectual requirementsof its

citizens. Accompanying this activity was a concern that there should be available some

form of higher education for the middle and skilled artisan classesof Manchester. In

1836 Henry Langueville Jones had drawn up a plan to meet such requirements

primarily for students who were Manchester residents, and increasing pressure from

the wealthier elementsfrom the middle class meant that in the not too distant future the

establishmentof and establishmentto fulfil that demand was a strong probability. The

outcome was the founding in 1851 of Owens College under the terms of the will of
John Owens,*a Manchester merchant who had died in 1846 and left f96,954 for the
foundation of a college, entry to which was not dependent upon religious tests."' The

origins and development of Owens College into what was to become the University of

Manchesterhas been extensively documentedelsewhere,164and only brief reference is

madehere to the evening classesof the College in its early years.

The College opened in March 1851 with an academic staff of five professors and two

lecturers,165and offered a traditional curriculum of classics,mathematics,mentaland

163 H. B Charlton : Portrait of a University 1851 1951 (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
-
1951), Appendix 3, p. 143.

164 See Joseph Thompson : Yhe Owens College, its Foundation and Growth (Manchester:
J. E. Comish, 1886); ed. P. J. Hartog : 7he Owens College, 1851 - 1900 (Manchester: J. E. Cornish,
1900); Edward Fiddes : Chapters in the History of Owens College (Manchester: Manchester Ufflversity
Press, 1937); H. B. Chariton : Portrait of a University, 1851 - 1951 (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1951); David R. Jones : 7he Origins of Civic Universities: Manchester, Leeds and
Liverpool (London: Routledge, 1988), especially pp. 47-54; Professor F. E. Weiss : 7he University of
Manchester in ed. W. H. Brindley : 7he Soul of Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1929), pp. 62-76; P. J. Hartog : 7he Owens College (pp. 155-168) and H. L. Withers : 7he Victoria
University (pp. 106-112) in ed. John Howson Ray : Handbook and Guide to Manchester, written on the
occasion of the meeting of the British Medical association in Manchester in 1902 (Manchester: F.
Ireland, 1902); Edward Fiddes : 7he Victoria University of Manchester (pp. 63-75) in 7he Book of
Manchester and Sa?ford, wntten for the 97th annual meeting of the British medical Association in 1929
in Manchester, chairman of the Printing and Publishing Committee : E. M. Brockbank (Manchester:
George Faulkner and Sons Ltd., 1929); W. H. Chalmer : 7he Movementfor the extension of Owens
College, Manchester 1863 - 1873 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1973).

165 The professonal staff consisted of A. J. Scott, pnncipal of the College from 1851 1857 (professor
-
of comparative grammar, English Language and Literature (1851 - 1866), of Logic and Mental and
Moral Philosophy (1851 - 1866) and Hebrew (1851 1860); J. G. Greenwood, pru*ncipalof the College
from 1857 - 1889 (professor of Greek (1851 - 1885), of Latin (1851 - 1869) and of History

154
moral philosophy, natural philosophy, and English language and literature in the first

term 166Its premises in Quay Street consistedof a large houseand land attachedwhich
.
had some years earlier been owned by the M. P., Richard Cobden. A good standardof

education was offered to students drawn primarily from the professional middle and

skilled artisan classes, and the College by 1853 provided classesfor school teachers

and, in the following year, evening classes for students. It afforded advanced

education for males of fourteen years of age and over during its early years. With the

evening students in particular at this time the lack of adequate preparatory education

was often apparent and problematic.167 However, the College accepted such students
initially largely out of economic necessity, especially during the first decadewhen the

number of full-time studentshad declined to a worrying extent. The situation reached

its lowest point in the academic session of 1857 -1858, and the subject of the College's

failure and its future prospects attracted critical leading articles and acrimonious

correspondencein the Manchester Guardian during July 1858. On 9th July the leader

commented that the institution "which eight years ago it was hoped would form the

nucleus of a Manchester University, is a mortifying failure. " The in

change fortune

occurred through a combination of factors: Scott, a brilliant scholar who was not a

good administrator, was succeeded as principal by the more practical Greenwood;

Williamson and Frankland had in May 1856 suggested several courses of action to

rescuethe College from its plight; the talented and energetic Roscoe in the autumn of
1857 was appointed to replace Frankland as Professor of Chemistry; the evening

(1851 - 1854); Archibald Sandeman, Mathematics (1851 - 1865) and Natural Philosophy or Physics
(1851 - 1860); W. C. Williamson, Botany (1851 - 1891), who, up to 1872, was designated as Professor
of Natural History, which comprised Animal and Vegetable Physiology, Geology, Zoology and Botany;
Edward Frankland, Cherrustry (1851 - 1857). A brief survey of the contribution of H. E. Roscoe,
Frankland's successor as Professor of Chemistry at Owens College, to adult education in Manchester
appearslater in this chapter.

The lectunng staff compnsed M. A. Poidevin (French Language and Literature) and Mr T. Theodores
(German Language and Literature). Theodores was subsequently appointed Professor of Hebrew
(1860-1884), of Onental Languages (1860 - 1866) and of Oriental and Modem Languages (1866-1879).
SeeThompson, ibid., Appendix 2, pp. 626-629; and Charlton, ibid, Appendix 7, pp. 172-178.

166 Jones, op. cit., p-50.

167 Charlton, op. cit., pp. 56-57.

155
classes of Owens College received a substantial influx through the absorption of the
Manchester Working Man's College in 1861; and from 1859 London University

Matriculation examinations were held in Manchester, which benefited the College

which had affiliations with the university. 168

Scott was a visionary who recognised the need for the newly established institution to

provide education for adults. Greenwood's more cautious temperament was of more
immediate use in supervising the College through a very difficult period to one of

relative prosperity and the securing of university status. Although not himself

imaginative, he recognised.and appreciated that quality in others and through his

169
influence excellent staff were recruited for the College.

When in May 1856 the trustees of the College had sought the advice of its staff in

resolving the problems affecting the institution, Frankland's reply had been especially

helpful. He had advocated that a junior school be created; that a chair in experimental

physics be established; that more emphasis should be placed on the applied sciences;

and that the medical school should be incorporated within the College. In April 1857 it

to
was agreed establish a preparatory school which had connection with the College, 170

and the medical school was incorporated into Owens College the year before the move

to the buildings in Oxford Road in 1873.171

Roscoe's appointment in 1857 was important both for the College and for adult

education in Manchester more generally. An excellent lecturer who had a gift of

communicating his enthusiasm for his to

subject others, Roscoe's laboratory classes and

seminars attracted students, and he conducted evening classes as did other professors in

168 Kargon, pp. 165-169.

op. cit.,

169 For of the contributions to Owens College of Scott and Greenwood, see Charlton,
an assessment
op-cit., pp. 55-63.

170 Kargon, op. cit., p. 166.

171 ChalOner, op. cit., p. 20.

156
the early years at Owens College.172 Roscoe, who had securedthe post from among a

very strong field of candidates,had trained under Robert Bunsenat Heidelberg, and he

saw very clearly that if Owens College were to it

survive would need to provide the

commercial and industrial elementsof Manchester society with a practical application

of researchwhich would indicate that "their values were consistentwith and reinforced
by science at Owens". 173 Roscoe's evening students were drawn from the teaching

in
profession, young men employed warehousesand factories, a few artisans and others

seeking actively to improve their 174

employment prospects. The appointment of
R. B. Clifton in 1860 as Professor of Natural Philosophy to teach physics and

mathematics was also important, and he organised a successful evening course in

natural philosophy. The College owed a great deal to Greenwood, Roscoe and Clifton

for their efforts during the critical period for its evening classes, and the situation was

eased considerably when the Manchester Working Man's College was absorbed into

Owens. Having survived the crisis, the College was strengthened considerably over

the next decadeso that by the late 1860sthe accommodationat Quay Street was totally
inadequate to cope with the large numbers of students whom it was having to

accommodate. Eventually the College moved to new and more spaciouspremises in

Oxford Road in 1872-3.175

(Tablefollows)

172 Chariton, op. clt., p. 68.

173 Kargon, p. 168.

op. cit.,

174 Ibid.,
p. 177.

175 W. H. Chaloner : 7he movementfor the extension of Ovv, ens College, Manchester, 1863-1873
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1973) provides an account of the development of the College
during what was for it a decadeof considerable expansion.

157
 Numbers of Students at Owens College from its inception in 1851
to the move from Quay Street in 1873176

Year Day School Eveninp- Medical Total

Students Teachers Students Students

1851 25 25
1851-52 62 62
1852-53 71 28 99
1853-54 71 18 55 144
1854-55 58 23 46 127
1855-56 52 36 29 117
1856-57 33 33 88 154
1857-58 34 24 35 93
1858-59 40 107 147
1859-60 57 77 134
1860-61 69 92 161
1861-62 88 235 323
1862-63 108 287 395
1863-64 110 312 422
1864-65 128 313 441
1865-66 113 282 395
1866-67 113 280 393
1867-68 173 324 497
1868-69 210 473 683
1869-70 204 434 643
1870-71 264 527 791
1871-72 327 513 840
1872-73 337 533 134 1004

The incorporation of the Manchester Working Man's College in July 1861 with Owens

College gave a significant stimulus to the provision of evening classesby the institution

in Quay Street. The success of the Sheffield People's College and the London

Working Men's College, founded respectively in 1842 and 1854, had alerted

Mancunianswho observedthe lack of educational opportunities in the city for working

men. The idea of opening one or more Working Men's colleges in Manchester was

discussedfor over a year,177and seemsto have originated with a group of prominent

176 Statistics taken from Chariton, op. cit., Appendix 5, pp. 164-165 and Thompson, op. cit., p. 472.
The reduction in the number of evening students in 1859-60 is attributed to the fact that it was no longer
requisite for school teachers to attend such classes because of "a change in the regulations of the
university [of London] by which membership of an affiliated college is no longer a necessarypassport to
a degreein arts" (Thompson, ibid., p. 223).

177 The first Working Man's College in Manchester was established in January 1857 at Ancoats,
about
a nule from the city centre. Further reference will be made to this College in a later chapter of this
thesis.

158
citizens brought together by A. J. Scott, the principal at that time of Owens College.178
The Manchester Working Man's College was to receive strong support from the

academic staff of Owens College and from the Manchester Mechanics' Institution,

which provided two rooms on its premises for the new venture. At the annual meeting

of the Institution in February 1857, its president, Oliver Heywood, had spoken of the
intention "to form a seriesof classesfor working men, offering a systematic, and as far

as possible, a complete course of study, so as to place within their reach, not so much
the means of acquiring sundry branches of useful knowledge, as that intellectual

training which formed the essence of what was called a liberal education - to train the
"179
faculties rather than to store the brain. This theme was pursued in an undated

addresscirculated at the end of 1857 announcing a plan for opening the Manchester
Working Man's College. It was observed that the Manchester Mechanics' Institution

provided for the most part elementary instruction, whereas the classesat the Working

Man's College would be "aiming at what is thorough and systematic rather than at

what is extensive but superficial" and would meet a need "for the more advanced

pupils and adults, and for the large numbers of working men who, from whatever

causes, have not been generally reached by Mechanics' Institutes. We think, therefore,

that a necessity still exists for institutions which shall aim at performing for the

working classes what our higher schools, our colleges, and our universities, perform

for the middle and upper classes. 11180

The College opened in rooms in the ManchesterMechanics' InstItution on the evening

of llth January 1858. Scott had in the early 1840s met on several occasions

F. D. Maurice, the primary force behind the founding of the London Working Men's

College three years earlier, and supportedideas expressedthrough Christian Socialism

-

178 The account which follows is heavily dependentupon an unpublished article about the Manchester
Working Man's College by C. D. Legge, formerly a senior lecturer in and deputy head of the University
I
Z
of Manchester Department of Adult Education.

179 Annual the Manchester Mechanics' Institution of 26th February 1857, reported
general meeting of
in the Manchester Guardian of 27th February 1857.

180 First the Manchester Working Man's Colleve.

circular of

159
In his inaugural address at the Manchester Working Man's College, Scott referred to

Maurice, Kingsley and Ruskin (all actively connected with the London institution) as

"the working and laborious teachers of working men, mingling with them not on a

footing of condescensionon the one hand and of an expectedservilitY on the other, but

on both sides as brother man with brother man." The fundamental philosophy

underlying the raison d'etre of the academy reflected this perception, and the
designationof "College" was deliberately selectedbecauseit "implies that its members

are associated by an interest in some common aim; that not the advantage of the
individual alone is dear to each, but that of the whole society; and that this common

good is furthered by a hearty fellow-feeling among the "181

members.

The prospectus for the first year indicated that the College was going to offer

instruction of a relatively advanced standard in that students had to be at least sixteen

years of age, and had to be able to read, write and to cope competently with

arithmetical addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. In addition, each

student was admitted only after having passed an entrance examination, although

applicants could be acceptedat any time of the year as such examinations were held

before the beginning of each term. Tuition fees were modest, two shillings per term

being charged for instruction of one hour per week in each subject, 182and an annual

subscription (or registration or entrance fee) had to be paid by each student. In

addition to advertisements placed in the leading local newspapers, publicity for the

College was through the issue of its prospectuseswhich were available from the

College itself, the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, the main free libraries in

Manchester and Salford and from branch free libraries in Hulme and Ancoats. 183

The range of subjects taught at the College was shown in the scheme of studies issued

181 Ibid.

182 The one exception was Greenwood's Bible Class on Sunday afternoons for which no charge was
made.

183 From the scrapbook of J. H. Nodal, secretary of the Manchester Working Man's College.

160
for the first term from Monday 11th January to Wednesday31st March 1858:

Day Time Subject Teacher

Mon 7.30 - 8.30 p. m. Arithmetic & Algebra Mr Sandeman

8.30 - 9.30 p. m. Principles of Mechanics Mr Newth

Tue 7.30 - 8.30 p. m. English Language& Literature Mr Gaskell

8.30 - 9.30 p. m. Geometry Dr Guthrie

Wed 7.30 - 8.30 p. m. English History Mr Christie

8.30 - 9.30 p. m. Chemistry Dr Smith

8.30 - 9.30 p. m. Common Law Mr Cottingham

Thu 7.30 - 8.30 p. m. Political Economy Mr Neild

8.30 - 9.30 p. m. Latin Mr Greenwood

Fri 7.30 - 8.30 p. m. Human Physiology Mr A Ransome

7.30 - 8.30 p. m. Political Philosophy Mr Scott

8.30 - 9.30 p. m. Physical Geography Dr Roscoe

Sun 3.00 - 4.00 p. m. Bible Class Mr Greenwood

Out of the 245 students who successfully negotiated the entrance requirements, 231

registered for one or more courses at the College. In return for the provision by the
Mechanics' Institution of rooms with lighting and heating, its members were admitted

without payment for the first two terms to the classesof the College. The two agencies

worked in co-operation with each other and the relationship between the two was

amicable. However, once the free concessionwas withdrawn the numbers attending
from the Mechanics' Institution declined noticeably, as did student numbers at the

College more generally.

161
 Numbers and occupationsof studentsattending the College
1860184
in the eight terms from its incotion in January 1858 to July

1858 Session 1858-1859Session 1859-1860Session

First Second First Second Third First Second Third
term term term term term term term term
Total number of
231 195 163 137 128 133 89 94
students
Members of
Mechanics' 151 126 71 43 33 27 15 15
Institution
Other students 80 69 92 94 95 106 74 79

Occupations of
students
Operatives 70 57 54 40 40 36 23 26

Warehousemen,
121 107 89 78 60 81 59 54
clerks, etc
Shopkeepersand
20 20 15 15 17 12 6 8
assistants
Teachersand
8 8 5 4 5 4 3 4
librarians

Miscellaneous 24 3 2
- - - - -

Candidates were eligible for the Associateship of the Manchester Working Man's

College, provided that they had attendedclassesthere for no less than nine terms and

had satisfied the requirements of the examiners in all of the following: English history;

English language and literature; and either pure mathematics or Classics (Latin or

Greek).185

The active involvement of Owens College in the Manchester Working Man's College

was evident from lecturers drawn from its academicstaff and others having connections

with it - Scott, Greenwood, Sandeman, Christie, Ransome, Guthrie and Gaskell.

Smith lectured at the Manchester Mechanics' Institution and had taught previously at

ManchesterNew College; Newth was a member of staff at the Manchester Mechanics'

184 Figures taken from the first and second annual reports of the Manchester Working Man's College,
January 1859 and July 1860.

18-5 Second annual report of the Manchester Working Man's College, July 1860.

162
Institution and at the Lancashire IndependentCollege in Whalley Range. All gave of

their services gratis to the Working Man's College.

The College made what use it could of its rather limited resources. There was evident

need of a library and more particularly of reference books for students which the
College was in no position to afford, and appealswere made for donations of books or

money to try to establish one.186 Grateful acknowledgement was made to the

Manchester Mechanics' Institution for the permanent use of two rooms and "for the

many facilities they have given us for carrying on our classes,and also for the use of
"187
other rooms than those occupied by the College.

The students made attempts, even though meeting only in the evenings, to develop a

collegiate atmosphere. At the beginning of the 1859-60 sessiona Students' Committee

was formed, comprising representatives elected from each of the classes, to constitute a

liaison between the studentsand the governing council of the College. The committee

in
was active arranging social activities for the students,and formed a Students' Essay

and Discussion Class which met fortnightly on Saturday evenings from 7.00 p. m. to
9.30 p. M., 188and a cricket club was being formed in June 1860. On a more serious

note, occasionallectures as diverse as health, poetry, self-culture, electricity and Greek

drama were given during term time; these were free to membersof the College and a

chargeof threepencewas made to non-members.

By the end of the first complete session in 1858 - 1859, classes were provided in

arithmetic, algebra, elementary and advancedgeometry, mechanics, English language

and literature, English grammar, elementary and advancedLatin, Greek, company law,

logic, English history, chemistry, physical and historical geography, and physiology.

186 First the Manchester Working Man's College, January 1859.

annual report of

187 Second annual report of the Manchester Working Man's College, July 1860.

188 Prospectus of the Manchester Working Man's College for the third term, 1860.

163
The attendancesat the three sessionsaveragedan encouraging 65 % in 1858 - 1859 and

improved by a further ten per cent in the following year. The English, Greek, Latin,

logic and chemistry lectures were well supported, but the mathematicsclasseshad been

poorly attended and the ones in geometry, mechanicsand natural philosophy had been
discontinued becauseof lack of numbers. The annual report of 1860 observed that "It

is a matter of regret that these subjects, so well-approved as instruments of mental

culture, should be so little estimatedby the working men of Manchester."

The government of the College was undertaken by a council of 24, with Oliver

Heywood as its Chairman (who was also at that time president of the Manchester

Mechanics' Institution), Alfred Neild as treasurer and Greenwood and Arthur Ransome

as honorary secretaries, with J. H. Nodal as assistant secretary. Other members of the

council included William Gaskell, A. J. Scott and H. E. Roscoe, and the students'

committee was encouraged to communicate suggestions regarding the activities and

189
policies of the College to the Council.

In certain respects the College appeared to be on the defensive to an unnecessary

extent. The annual report of 1860 to

attempted clarify the purpose of the College and

the somewhatidealistic expectationsconcerning the conduct of its students:

"We fear that some misapprehensionas to the objects of the College still exists in
the minds of many.

"The College was not intended to inform working men upon the special subjects
of their trades, nor to assist them to be better workmen except so far as this
followed from their being better men. These objects are provided for, and
....
would be better carried out, in the Trades' Schools and Mechanics' Institutions.
"We do not propose to take the working men from their own proper sphere of
duty, nor to give them a distaste for their employments by more ornamental
acquirements, but, on the contrary, we expect that as they advance along the
pleasant but difficult paths that lead to knowledge, they will learn the true worth
and dignity of their calling, and will fear to debase it by any act unworthy of
their guild. " 190

189 Second the Manchester Working Man's College, July 1860.

annual report of

190 Ibid.

164
The first annual meeting of the Working Men's Colleges in Manchester, Ancoats and

Salford in January 1859 had been attendedby F. D. Maurice and Vernon Lushington

of the London Working Men's College, and with student numbers from the three

institutions at approximately five hundred with about fifty staff there were ample

grounds for optimism. There were reservations expressed in that the College was

failing to attract in appreciablenumbers the labouring elementsfrom the working class,

but despite a declining enrolment there was sufficient enthusiasm for the Council of

Management seriously to direct efforts towards the acquisition of suitable premises for

the College to obtain a permanent home of its own. There were several advantages to

be gained from such a move, if it could be successfully accomplished, not least of

which was that it would strengthen the connections with the Ancoats Working Man's

College. 191

However, the difficulty of finding a suitable location for the College together with a

problem of finding the necessary funding to support such a move resulted in 1861 in an

approach to the trustees of Owens College. The council of the Working Man's College

to to
wished continue provide some sort of thorough and systematic instruction for its

working-class students, and discussedthe possibility of the evening classesof Owens

College being modified somewhat so that they could incorporate students from the

Manchester Working Man's College. The request was approved and the classeswere

arranged accordingly to cater for the new and existing students, and to cope with the

resulting increase in numbers the regular staff from Owens College were assisted by

institutions. 192
teachersfrom other

The results of the amalgamation of the evening classes of the Manchester Working
t
Man's College with those of Owens College rapidly became apparent. The union had

been effected following the end of the summer term in 1861. In the ensuing twelve

191 Ibid.

192 Joseph Thompson : 7he Owens College: its foundation and growth; and its connection with the
Victoria Univershy, Manchester (Manchester: J. E. Cornish, 1886), p. 228.

165
months the number of evening studentsincreasedto 235 as compared with 92 from the

previous year, and by 1870 had more than doubled to 527.193 The aims of the classes
follows: 194
following the union were set out in the Calendar for the 1862-3 sessionas

"We do not, any more than we ever did, offer merely elementary instruction, or
profess to impart to listeners merely a superficial, or .... a popular sketch of the
several branches of literature or science. We address ourselves to none but
workers: to men who value the mastery, or the attempt to win a mastery, over
some portions of a few subjects, more than a showing acquaintance with the
outside of many subjects. Our classesare adaptedtherefore

(1) to those who have from the first formed so imPortant a section of the
students, schoolmasterswho desire to carry their studies to a more advanced
stage;

(2) to large classes of young men who, possessedalready of the elements of a

liberal education, are anxious to build upon that foundation, but are prevented
by business occupations from doing this during the day;
and

(3) to a select body among artisans, who covet the opportunity of obtaining a
higher training than is generally to be found in institutions expressly designed
for them."

The Manchester Working Man's College had failed in its attempts to attract the mass of

the working class it had initially sought as its students, and had recruited far more

successfully, as had so many other efforts at popular education, from among "a select

body" of artisans. The curriculum was ambitious for those who had relatively little

learning, and doubtless many potential students were deterred by the entrance

examinations. However, the College did provide opportunities for a wider educationto

a small percentageamong the working class, even if, like other similar initiatives, it

was not the audience it had originally intended to attract. Its other achievement

occurred tbrough the merger with the evening classesof Owens College which perhaps

savedwhat was to become a university institution from collapse. At the very least the

amalgamationhelped to secureits future, and by the end of the decadethe College had
193 Ibid.,
p. 472.

194 Owens' College Calendar for Session 1862-3, p. 57.

166
prospered to such an extent that the accommodation at Quay Street had become

overcrowded and new premises were being sought. 195

The academic staff of Owens College gave active assistance to the provision of

educational activities for the poor and unemployed during a period of distress in the

Manchester district at about this time (especially in 1862 - 1863) due to the cotton

famine when supplies of raw materials from the U. S.A. were severely curtailed during

the American Civil War. 196 Arrangements were made to try to relieve the considerable

hardship, and funds were established to dispense monies to those most affected.

Donations were sent from committees and individuals from all over the United

Kingdom, and in Manchester the funds were distributed by the District Provident
197
Society and two or three affiliated associations.

It was permitted that some of this money was devoted to education for adults. A recent

change to the Poor Law Amendment Act had allowed payment for the establishment of

schools for the teaching of children of those eligible for outdoor relief; sometimes this

was a mandatory requirement in order that financial assistancecould be claimed by

parents. At the peak of the distress in 1862 it was found that there was insufficient

outdoor work to occupy the increasingnumbers who wished to receive subsidy, and the
Board of Guardians felt that the provision of education for mental improvement would

offer a valid and perhaps more beneficial alternative to hard physical labour. 198 In

1862 sewing classeswere started for women and girls and elementary day and evening

schools were opened for youths and men. The Board of Guardians arranged for

suitable teachers, and assistantsselectedfrom the most intelligent pupils (one assistant

19-5 See W. H. Chaloner : 7he movementfor the extension of Owens College, Manchester, 1863 1873
-
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1973), pp. 3-5 and 20.

196 Kargon, op. cit., p. 176.

197 John Watts : The Facts of the Cotton Famine (London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.; Manchester:
A. Ireland and Co., 1866), pp. 197-198.

198 Ibid., 201.

p.

167
supervised fifteen scholars), to provide tuition. Teachers were paid at rates between
fifteen and thirty shillings per week; assistants were paid a small amount in addition to

their relief allowance. In addition to the day time attendancewhich was necessaryfor

adults to securerelief payments, the schools were often open in the evenings for social

and recreative activities. The Guardianstook over rooms in disused mills or in welfare
institutes in the city to provide accommodationfor these programmes, and the schools

in particular received much use until conditions improved from the middle of 1864.

NUMBER EMPLOYED UNDER THE COMMITTEES.

EITHER IN WORK OR EDUCATIONAL CLASSES199

Children
Men Boys under 18
Women at school
School Outdoor School Outdoor and Girls for whom Total
Labour Labour Committee
pay
1863

Jan 17,638 2,670 22,111 22,756 19,360 84,535

Feb 19,752 2,916 28,395 22,207 24,480 95,750

Mar 20,348 3,800 16,740 41,034 53,703 135,625

Apr 16,251 5,483 6,203 33,836 52,392 114,165

May 9,850 6,621 3,578 23,958 43,921 87,928

Aug 2,219 6,968 1,968 9,190 26,925 46,719

Nov 1,526 4,239 790 573 6,790 18,772 32,650

1864

Feb 2,593 2,628 1,319 31 7,804 17,740 33,315

Apr 1,545 2,360 1,210 4 5,672 16,813 27,604

May 669 1,646 733 20 4,337 16,012 23,417

Aug 142 299 372 1,766 6,732 9,311

Nov 219 1,215 404 3 2,179 9,284 13,304

1865

Feb 297 1,103 217 6 1,556 9,326 12,505

May 39 160 101 547 4,402 5,24

199 Ibid., 21 L
p.

168
The large numbers using the schoolsin the first months of 1863 brought about a closer

attention to administration. Able-bodied recipients of poor law relief welcomed a

change from disagreeable occupations such as breaking stones and the picking of

to
oakum attending school, especially since it involved no loss of income and provided

opportunities on occasion to obtain a supplement to their poor relief or to boost

earnings through casual employment. The revision of the school lists in 1863 restricted

the possibilities for the abuseof the system: those attempting to claim assistancefrom

the relief committee whilst in regular employment were imprisoned, domestic servants

were removed from the sewing schools and hand-loom weavers were returned to their
traditional dependenceupon the poor-rates.200

Primarily through the efforts of Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth, who was the deputy

chairman of the central executive committee of the Fund for Relief of Distress in the

Manufacturing Districts, a grant from Australia of some f 15,000, which the trustees

wished to be devoted to some special purpose, was used to fund educational provision
during the cotton famine "for the mental occupation and improvement of the

operatives, so as to fit them for the more complete performance of their social duties

be for '1201
wheneverphysical labour could again provided them.

The day and evening classesoffered a chancefor men who had been employed but who

to
were uneducated acquire some elementary knowledge or to fill in gaps in their

education. Children "of drunken or vicious parents", who normally would have been

out all day on the streets, were given an opportunity, for a while at least, to receive

tuition. Girls who had been sent to work in factories as soon as they attained the

minimum age requirement of thirteen were taught to read, write, sew and cook. There

in
was also these arrangementsa strong element of moral and social control in that it

was anticipated that men and women under the supervision of those higher in the social

200 Ibid., p. 211-212.

201 Ibid., p. 203.

169
scale would acquire social skills as well as knowledge.202

Such formal initiatives had their more informal counterparts. Buildings were made

available for recreation activities and several institutes for the unemployed, similar to

community centres, were openedin the poorer districts of Manchester. These premises

would often include a class room, a reading room, a canteen, good lighting and
heating, and they were supplied usually with books, newspapers,quiet games such as

draughts and dominoes and materials for elementary education.203 The centres were

maintained and cleaned by those who used them. 204 Free meals were provided for the

needy and morally improving tracts were sometimeshung on walls as guidance for the

unfortunates. Committees drawn from the wealthier classeshad overall responsibility

for the management and maintenance of the buildings, which were open from the early

to 9
moming about p. m.

Staff at Owens College were prominent in a venture designed to provide instructive

recreative evening lectures in 1862-63. A committee was formed, of which Roscoe

was the secretary, to arrange an appropriate programme, 205 and series of lectures

given, primarily on scientific subjects but also including literary and historical topics,
in Hulme, Ancoats, Gaythom and in the Carpenters' Hall in Chorlton-on-Medlock

during the winter months by Roscoe, Arthur Ransome, William Gaskell, Frederick

Crace-Calvert,RobertClifton, andJ. G. Greenwood,as well as by othersfrom outside

the College. In addition, the Mechanics' Institution allowed the unemployed free

accessand concerts were arranged for them in the Hulme Working Men's Institute.
On other occasions, Charles Halle and other conductors, choirs and orchestras arranged

202 Ibid.,
pp. 204-205.

203 In these facilities resembled those provided by the Lyceums.

many respects

204 Ross D. Waller : Henry Roscoe and adult education in Rewley House Papers Volume 3,
Number 10,1961-62, p. 17.

205 Kanzon, op. cit., p. 176.

170
instrumental and vocal concerts.206 During the winter of 1862 - 1863 about one

hundred recreational evenings each week were being attended by a total of more than

four thousand persons.207 Admission was free to those attending the day schools,

evening classesand centres for the unemployed; for others there was a nominal charge.

Partly as a result of the popularity of theselectures in 1862-63 and partly to promote a

more widespread interest in science, Roscoe in 1866 instituted a series of penny

lectures under the general title of "Science Lectures for the People" in Carpenters'

Hall, Booth Street, a venue which had been used successfully for lectures during the

cotton famine.208 Admission to the lectures cost one penny and to purchasethe printed

it
version of cost one penny also. These charges were used to contribute towards the

expenses for advertising, materials and equipment, hire of rooms, and so on. The

lectures were intended primarily for instruction and not merely entertainment.

Afterwards classes were held for discussion and the answering of questions, a format

which was used extensively in the university extension classes of the following

decades.209 Their successprompted a winter seriesof thirteen lectures in 1866 - 1867,

four each by Roscoe, Dr. T. Alcock and John Morgan on elementary chemistry,

zoology and physiology respectively, and one by Professor W. S Jevons on coal.

Arthur Ransome and John Morgan, who were both members of the Manchester and

Salford Sanitary Association, were enthusiastic about the possibilities of such lectures

to working-class audiences, and both had featured in the list of lecturers who assisted

Roscoein 1862-3 in the provision of evening recreations for unemployed operatives.

Surprisingly the lectures were abandoned for three years before their successful

206 Waller,
op. cit., pp. 18-21.

207 Kargon,
op. clt., p. 176.

208 A detailed survey of the work in the contribution to adult education by Henry Roscoe is provided
by Ross D. Waller in Henty Roscoe and Adult Education in Rewley House Papers, Volume 3,
Number 10,1961 1962, pp. 11-37. This brief account is drawn largely from this source.

209 Unfortunately, Roscoe left the Victoria University in 1886 in the year when it began to
provide
University extension courses intended for the working-class community in Manchester and the localities
of other constituent colleges of the federal institution.
I

171
resumption in 1870 - 1871 after which they continued annually during the following
,
nine winters, and similar initiatives were established in other towns and cities. The

enterprise in Manchester had faded by the end of 1879 for reasons which are unclear
but might simply be the result of what Ross Waller terms "just one more example of

the cyclical phenomenonso often observedin adult educationalaffairs. "210

The motives of Roscoeand his colleaguesfor making available education to the public

via the programmes of lectures during the 1860sand 1870s were clear. The academic
staff of Owens College felt that the university had responsibilities to its community and

should be a useful part of it. Roscoe felt also that an interest in science should be

encouraged in as wide an audience as possible, and he enjoyed and was interested in

communicating his expertise to others. He felt also that everyone should be given

opportunities to develop their abilities as far as they could and so improve their

position in society whilst at the same time contributing to the common good. 211

The attempts at providing education for the working class and others in Manchester

who sought to benefit from such instruction or recreation, whether at a formal or an

informal level, from the 1820s and 1830s onwards, were the precursors of a more

systematic approach to the making available of such facilities in the forty-five years

following the passing of the Education Act in 1870. The widening and improving

availability of elementary instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic through the

legislation relating to schooling relieved the burden of offering such teaching to a

significant extent by voluntary organisations which after this date began to address

themselvesmore consistently to purveying more specific edification. At the sametime,

local education authorities, including Manchester's, began to investigate the

possibilities of offering a carefully co-ordinated system of educational opportunities,

especially through the evening continuation schools, which was to bring about a

210 Waller,
op. cit., p-29.

211 Ibid., 32-35; D. Thompson : Henr,Enfieki Roscoe: A Contribution to Nineteenth Centun,

pp.
Scientific and Technical Education in 7he Vocational Asj)ect of Secondary and Further Education
(Autumn 1965), Volume 17, Number 38, pp. 224- 225.

172
gradual but perceptible improvement in the quality and extent of the intellectual

attainments of the adult population in the period leading up to the First World War.

173
Chapter 3
Adult education provision by the Christian churches
and related orLyanisationsin Manchester,

The nineteenth century saw the emergence of a variety of agencies, all up to 1870 and

many after that date up to 1914 organised by voluntary bodies, designed to meet differing

for for
needs adult education the middle and working classes. In Manchester,the meeting

of such requirements assumed various forms - the learned societies, mechanics'

institutions, lyceurns,day and eveningclassesfor adults, lectures,the public free libraries,

university extension courses - all of which had their periods of usefulness and relative

success. Traditionally, however, the responsibility for education had lain with the church,I

a
and perusal of the first three and fifth chapters of what is widely regarded as the

standard work of reference on the history of adult education in Britain confirms thiS.2 In

the first half of the nineteenth century, many amongst the poorer classeswere indifferent

to churches which seemed remote to them and which taught doctrines which were

considered by them as having little relevance to their daily existence. In some respectsthis
is
attitude understandable: the pew rents charged by churches tended to exclude the poor,

and many felt conspicuous when attending services because of the shabbiness of their

clothing and concluded that they 3

were not welcome. Prompted by the findings about

churchgoing by the working class following the 1851 census, the Christian churches,

motivated partly perhaps by guilt as well as social concem, reassessedtheir responsibilities

to
and endeavoured more consistently meet the needs of the in
poorer classes ways which

would be of direct use to them - through missionary work, through ministering in differing

ways as appropriate to their requirements, and through the provision of educational and

recreativeactivities for adults.

Thomas Kelly - Historv of Education in Great Britain ftom the Middle Ages to the Twentieth
.4
Centurv (Liverpool: Liverpool Umversit
1711Press, 1992. third edition). p. 1.

2 Kelly. ibid., pp. 1-46 and 64-80.

3 K. S. Inglis : Churches and the Working Classes in lictorian England (Lonclon- Routledge and Kep-an
Patil. 1961). p. 59.

1 /4
The secondchapter of this thesisexaminedthe nature and extent of the provision of adult

education in Manchester by voluntary agencies in the forty years before 1870; this chapter

assessesthe other major part of this supply for the city via the various Christian religious

denon-nationsand other related agencies. The chapter is divided into three main sections.

the developments of the provision of education for adults in Manchester by the Young

Men's Christian Association for the commercial classes, partly through the failure of the

established churches to cater adequately for this element of society; the range of formal

and informal initiatives for adult education offered by the Christian religious
denominations in Manchester from the 1830s to 1924, including efforts which were made

to provide an equivalent to the coursesand classesarrangedby the Manchester School

Board and the Technical Instruction Committee following the legislation, in particular, of

the Education Act of 1870 and the measures of 1889 and 1891 relating to technical

instruction; and the rapid but brief expansionin Manchester in the first decade of the

twentieth century of the adult schools, which had strong connections with the Society of

Friends.

Whilst the churches undertook responsibility before the nineteenth century for a large

majority of the educational provision for adults, the enthusiasm with which this task was

by
carriedout was no meanswholehearted. The SundaySchool movement,establishedin
the 1780s, saw an increasing recognition of the role of the church to oversee the spiritual

and moral welfare of its adherents,and one way of achieving this was by means of

education. The in
rapid expansion population in Manchester during the first thirty years of

the nineteenth century was accompanied by a similar growth in the proportion of Sunday

Schools,eight of which were connectedto the Church of England and six to the Wesleyan

Methodists. By 1830, this figure had increased by forty - 10 Church of England, 3 Roman

Catholic, 12 Wesleyan Methodist, II other Nonconforn-ust denominatIons and four

others.4 At this time, the attitude of the churches towards the provision of education for

4 SeeH. F. Mathews - Afethodism and the Education of the People, 1791 - 1851 (London: The Epworth
Press, 1949), p. 39-, S. E. Maltby : Alanchester and the Alovement for National Elementarv Education
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1918), p.37.

175
adults was somewhatambiguous5 someregardedit as a secularactivity which should not
be pern-kted to distract from the nussionof spiritual and moral welfare of the churches.

whereas others felt that this purpose n-ght be achieved through teaching adults and

children to learn to read the Scriptures. In Manchester,for example,there was up to the

schism of 1800 co- operation between Anglican and Nonconformist churches following

the formal inauguration of the Sunday School movement there in 1784.6 In 1788 it had

beenagreedthat in eachdistrict a school would be openedfor the educationof adults,but

thesewere discontinuedfor six monthsin 1790 as an economymeasurebecauseof lack of

funds. Two schools for men and two for women were opened in 1792, and one for both

sexes was commenced in Ancoats in 1795. However, this interdenominational co-

in
operation ceased 1800 when the Church of England in Manchester and in other cities

took the decision to develop its own initiatives. The short term effects of this act was to

curtail the provision by churches of amenities for education for adults, although Hudson

refers to the Roby Day and Sunday Schools which opened libraries to offer 'good'

literature for their congregations; others continued to teach adults in reading, writing and

7
arithmetic. There was considerabledebate on whether Sunday Schools should teach

writing on the sabbath; most Anglican churches were strongly opposed although
Nonconformist denominations took a more moderate view. 8

This type of controversy tended to restrict the scope and usefulness of the participation of

5 Basil A. Yeaxlee : Spiritual values in adult education: a study of a neglected aspect: Volume 2
(London: Oxford University Press, 1925), p.54.

6 A. R. Wadsworth : Thefirst Manchester Sundqv Schools in the Bulletin of the John R*vlands Librarv
(Publishers: The John Rylands Library and the Manchester University Press), Volume 333,Number 2,
March 1951, pp.306-307.

7 J. W. Hudson : The Histov of Adult Education (London: Longman. Brown, Green and Longmans,
1851), p.20. The work of the Roby Schools in Manchester with adults during the second and third
decades of the nineteenth century is referred to in Charles Connelly - Congregationalisin and the
education of the people in the Manchester district, 1806 - 1900 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis. Umversitv of
Manchester, 1973), pp.30-32. By 1849, the school operated evening classesfor adults. SeeKelly, op.cit.,
P.153).

8 However, there were exceptions. In 1835 at a Methodist Chapel in Blackley the teaching of writing on
Sundav afternoons was discontinued. although instruction was still provided on weekdays evenings. See
H. F. Mathews, op.cit., p.67.

176
the various denominationsin the provision of education for adults in the first half of the

nineteenth century. Exactly what proportion of the population required instruction in

reading, writing and arithmetic is difficult to ascertain with any degree of certainty. Kelly
has estimated that by 1840 most adults in England and Wales had experienced some type

of schooling, although the rate of literacy varied anmongstthe social classesand differed
from one area of the country to another. He concludes that about 75% of the adult

population had some knowledge of reading and some 60% of writing, although a much

smaller percentage could claim to be competent in either. He observes that from the

working class, those in

with abilities reading and writing were confined mainly to the
9
skilled artisanclasses,.although there was still an extensivedemandat this time evenfrom
this element of the population for classesin elementary reading, writing and mathematics.

The churches in Manchester before 1850 did not cater adequately even for this group, and

this deficiency had to be remedied by other agencies, one of which was the Young Men's

Christian Association.

MANCHESTER Y. M. C. A. AND ADULT EDUCATION TO 1914

In some measure the Y. M. C. A. came into being because of the comparative failure of the

established churches to communicate effectively with young people from the artisan and

lower middle classes,who were to provide the basis of the clientele from which the

movement was to draw its principal support. During the first half of the nineteenth

century there is evidence to suggest that the churches had endeavoured to attract the

working class in towns and cities to attend places of worship without any significant

success. K. S. Inglis indicates that by the middle of the century many working-class
C
people born in towns and cities had grown up in the habit of not attending any place of

worship, and the answers given to questions concerning religious worship asked in the

censusof 1851 tended to confirm this fact. 10 This alerted various religious denominations

Kelly, op. cit., pp-47-148.

10 K. S. Inglis : Churches and the Working Classes in Tictorian England (London- Routledge and
Kegan Paul. 1963). p. 9.

177
to the realisation that in the new and expanding cities, especially in the north, there were

large numbers of the population who attended no place of religious worship. In his

report, published in 1854, on the religious census of 1851, Horace Mann outlined several

reasons for the indifference of the working class to religion- little sympathy among

churches for their problems, the remoteness and self-centredness of ministers, poverty,

and social divisions which discouraged attendance at church by poorer persons. There

were someencouragingindicationsthat where "ragged churches"and specialservicesfor

the poor were held, response was forthcoming, especially where the clergy were prepared

to support and identify with projects of social reform such as the Ten Hours movement,

the Early Closing campaign, education for working- class students, and the pressure on

councils to provide public parks for the leisure and enjoyment of the whole population. II

Inglis draws a reasonableconclusion from the observations contalned In Mann's report.

"It showed that well-tried approaches to the working classes were having little
success. It helped church leaders to realise just how solid was resistance to their
ministry, especially in large towns; and it helped them to decide that if old methods
were fading, new ones should be sought. "12

Both Inglis and J. F. C. Harrison are in broad agreement that by the early 1850s the

Anglican church, aided by an influx of ministers who recognised that need for social

to
reform and were prepared support it in practical ways, had begun to make overtures to

the working class which it had traditionally ignored. 13 However, there is a marked

variance in their considerations of the impact upon the working class of Methodism.

There is need for the exercise of considerable caution in arriving at any estimate of the

influences of Methodism upon the urban masses by the mid-nineteenth century, partly

becauseof the schismaticnature of the denominationitself by this time. It needsto be

remembered,also, that Harrison's observationsare drawn from one area of the country,
Yorkshire, where traditionally Methodism was a popular movementamong working men

II SeeJ. F. C. Harrison : Learning and Living, 1790 - 1960.- A stutv qf the histov of the English adult
education moventent (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 196 1), p. 160.

12 Inglis, op.cit., p-20.

13 Inglis, ibid. p. 9. Harrison. op.cit.. pp. 160-162.

178
and women and its teaching and ideas permeatedtheir daily lives and influenced their

attitudes towards questions of social reform. Inglis, writing from a rather wider

perspective,concluded that in the first half of the nineteenth century Methodism made

very limited headway among working classesof no religious persuasion, and where there

were exceptions, these were due mainly to 14

revivals. Methodism, which from its

inception had enj oyed significant numbers of working-class worshippers, was by the

middle years of the nineteenth century recruiting an increasing percentage of Its adherents

from the n-fiddleclass.Generalobservationssuggestedthat even artisansfelt conspicuous

and out of place at many Methodist or Anglican centres of worship.

In some of the other sections of Nonconformity, little attempt was made even after 1850

to identify with the working class. The Congregationalists (or Independents) discussed

in
ways which the poor might be reached but admitted their lack of successin so doing.

The Unitarians were not particularly interested in attracting the working class, and the

Baptists were generally unsuccessful in reaching this element of the population except in

very specific areas in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. 15 Inglis opines that

the Quakers were "noted for the scarcity of poor people among them [and] were possibly

the only religious body whose numbers actually declined during the century". Elizabeth

Isichei, however, indicates that from about 1870 and for the next thirty years most

applicantswishing to join the Society were working-class and came through the adult

schools, mainly in the large towns in the north of England. 16

The one significant exception among the religious denominations which avoided

experiencing a decline in recruitment from the working class was Roman Catholicism,

which attracted the poor in increasing numbers. To a large extent this was due to the

14 Inglis, ibid. p. 16

15 Inglis. ibid. pp.9-16, Harrison, op.cit., pp. 167-169.

16 See Inglis, ibid, p. 19-,and Elizabeth Isichei : Victorian Quakers (London- Oxford University Press.
1970), p. 129. The question of working-class recruitment to the adult schools and the relationship of the
schools to the Quaker movement is discussed in this thesis in the section concerning the work of the adult
schools in Manchester from 1860 - 1914.

179
arrival of many hundredsof thousandsof Irish immigrantsafter 1800, especiallyduring the
famines of 1822 and 1845-6, in expanding cities such as Liverpool and Manchester. The

work of the priests in the Manchester area during the difficult years of the 1840s was

supplemented by travelling Italian missionaries, and the Irish, usually quartered in the

poorest areas of the cities, afforded Catholicism an opportunity to reach the working class

in ways which were not so readily availableto other denominations.

Much evangelicaleffort was basedon a rather incorrect assumptionthat churchgoinghad

declinedamongthe working classbecausethe churcheshad gradually becomeincreasingly

inaccessibleand that when this problem was eliminated the numbers attending would
increase. However, the more realistic observers conceded that by 1850 "non-worshippers

among the working classes were not just physically inaccessible to the Christian ministry
but were declining to accept it. The old approaches were continued, but they were

accompanied, from the middle years of the century, by a growing number of enterprises

whose authors saw that evangelism involved an encounter between ways of life. "17

One of these enterprises was the Young Men's Christian Association, which had been

established on 6th June 1844 in London as a result of a meeting of friends. George

Williams is generally credited with having originated the movement, when some thirteen

young men met on the premises of Williams's employer, George Htchcock. 18 In his diary,

one of the participants, Edward Valantine, noted on Thursday 6th June:

"Met in G. Williams' room for the purpose of forming a society the object of which
is to influence young men (Religious) to spread the Redeemer's kingdom amongst
those by whom they are surrounded." 19

From these small beginnings, the movement spread rapidly and eventually gained approval

from a wide spectrum of denominations. Clyde Binfield indicates that in its early years the

17 Inglis, ibid, p. 19.

18 For a discussion of this point. see Clyde Binfield's Geotge Williams and the Y.Af CA A studv, in
Victorian social attitudes (London: Heinemann. 1973), pp. 116-12-33.

19 Ibid.. p. 119.

180
Y. M. C. A. was largely a Nonconformist body which drew its strongest support from

Dissenting preachers, although Anglicans generally were well-disposed towards it. 20

During the following year several Associations were started, initially in London and

in
subsequently provincial cities and towns. From the outset the Y. M. C. A. movement

concerned itself primarily with moving towards bringing about an improvement in the

spiritual and moral condition of young men engaged in commerce in

and the retail trades,

and within a year of its inception the London Associationhad identified someof the means

whereby this objective might be attained: "devotional meetings, classes for Biblical
instruction and for literary improvement, the delivery of lectures, the diff-usion of Christian

literature, a library for reference and circulation, and any other means in accordance with

the Holy Scriptures. "21 Thus from a very early date the Y. M. C. A. recognised the need to

incorporate a programme of educational activities amongst the other aspectsof its work.

Over the following decade the movement spread rapidly to other countries, and at the first

general conference of Associations in Paris in August 1855 the Corresponding Secretary

C
of the London Association, W. E. Shipton, in a report outlining the history, objectives and

development of the Y. M. C.A. in London, made specific and lengthy reference to the

educational initiatives being pursued by the Association there. The report commented on

the support given by the Y. M. C. A. movement to the efforts of the Metropolitan Early

Closing Association, founded in October 1843. Many Associations gave strong support

to this and other similar campaigns for a reduction in working hours as a means of

providing increased leisure time which might be used constructively for the self-

improvementand all-round developmentof the individual. Referencewas made also by

Shipton to what he considered to be the lack of success of the Mechanics' literary and

scientific institutions in achieving their direct objectives, but he concededthat they had

20 Ibid., p. 130.

21 G. J. Stevenson : Historical Records, )'.Af C.A., 1844 - 1884 (S. W. Partridge and Co.. 1884), p. 33
cited in an article by Z. F. Willis: The Af
Y. C.A. and. dult Education in The Journal of dult Education,
-I .4
Volume 3. Number 1, October 1928 (London: Sidpvick and Jackson). p. 36.

181
been useful in that they "did much to awaken a desire for information on the part of the

working and trading classes-,they furnished the platform of observation and experiment
for others; they brought together men of different grades and sections of society, and of

different views and feelings;and they revealedthose conditions of social life which, as the

result of vicious commercial arrangements, stood in the way of any effort either for the

moral or the intellectual advancement of the people." It was also concluded that the

failure of these institutions indicated the necessity of and paved the way for an agency

such as the Association to make a valuable contribution to educationalactivity.22 The

successin this area by the Y. M. C. A. over the following fifty years would seem to confirm
Shipton's optimism. In some respects such an assumption would not be misleading, since

the Y. M. C.A., as will be seen with reference to the Association at Manchester, did target

and cater successfully for a particular audience and in so doing created for itself a niche

which had not been filled by other agencies. However, the Y. M. C. A. was no more

successful in meeting the educational requirements of the working class than the

Mechanics' and literary institutions had been, but this was hardly surprising as it was not

to
attempting especially recruit from that element of the population.

The London Association arranged what was to become until 1866 an annual programme

of popular lectures which included a wide range of religious, literary, sociological and
historical topics. The notable success of these lectures encouraged other Associations,

includingManchester's,to organiselecturesof a similar nature.

The Manchester Association had been formed in 1846 as a result of visits to various

business houses in the city by George Williams and T. H. Tarlton, the secretary of the

London Society. Young men were invited to attend a public meeting held at the old Corn

Exchange on 12th June, at which a committee was appointed to further the development

of the enterprise. The rules of the London Association were adopted, with a few local

modifications, by the newly constituted Manchester Young Men's Christian Association.

-1-)
Willis, ibid.. pp-37-38.

182
As with the Y. M. C. A. movement more generally, the Manchester Association

endeavouredto reach a specific, if somewhatnarrow, section of the community and had

definite aims in mind. The objectives and the underlying motivations were expressed

clearly in the first annual report of the Manchester Y. M. C.A., delivered at the meeting
held on 21 st January 1848 in the Town Hall, King Street:

"[The Y. M. C.A. 's] department in which it seeks to labour is, to a great extent,
secluded and unobserved. It is in the quiet and unobtrusive discharge of individual
effort that it to
seeks accomplish its important object, viz., the spiritual welfare of
young men, more especially those in
engaged warehouses and retail establishments.
No class of the community presents greater claims to benevolent and self-denying
effort, and yet perhaps none are more unheeded, neglected, and forgotten
...
Exposed to temptations great and peculiar, and to influences which are increasingly
sapping the foundations of integrity and virtue, how can we wonder if these evil
in
communications corrupt and, too many cases,ruin our youth. "

Tarlton, who had been invited as a guest speaker to the meeting, assessedthe role of the

Y. M. C.A. movement, identifying three main characteristics- that it was religious in its

character and aim; that an Association was envisaged as an important social influence,

which might be furthered through the holding of regular meetings for the presentation of

papers by members on important and useful topics-, and that churchmen of differing
denominations met and worked together in harmony.23

The report at the secondannual meeting of the ManchesterY. M. C.A. in February 1849

statedthe Association'sobjectives succinctly: "the promotion of the moral and spiritual

welfare of young men engaged in the commercial establishments of our city. " The

Association was to adhere to these aims for the remainder of the nineteenth century and

for well into the twentieth, and activities which were organised under its auspices, whether

educational, social or recreational, had to contribute in some way to the successful

realisationof thesegoals.
23 One striking feature was an almost complete non-involvement with and support for the Y. M. C.A.
movenient by the Roman Catholic clergy. In Manchester during the early vears of the Association clerical
encouragement for its progress tended to come mainly, though not exclusively, from Nonconformist
ministers, although relations with Anglican churches in the cit strengthenedconsiderabIN,from the 1870s
and early 1880s whilst the Right Rev. James Fraser, who became a staunch friend to the Manchester
Y. M. C.A.. was Lord Bishop of Manchester. He. like his successorsin that office. becamea vice-president
of the Association.

183
The scope and nature of the educational work undertaken by individual Associations

varied considerably, and at Manchester a strong tradition was quickly established. In his

address to the first annual meeting of the Manchester Association in 1848, Tarlton had

opined that the Y. M. C. A. movement sought "an object far above that which is

contemplated by Mechanics' and Literary Institutions". 24 The distancing from the

Mechanics' Institutions and other similar bodies was deliberate. The Association's

activities had frequently been in

regarded their early stageswith suspicion and occasionally

outright hostility by some Anglican and Nonconformist ministers. The Y. M. C.A.

movement went to great lengths to stress that it was not in in

any sense competition with

established churches, whatever the denomination, but sought rather through

encouragement to persuade young men to attend the churches of their choice. Although

the Y. M. C. A. was generally welcomed by the Protestant churches, there were still

individual instanceswhere its receptionwas lessthan enthusiastic.

The educational work of the Y. M. C.A. movement was early recognised as being an

important but subsidiary aim. While at Manchester it was regarded as having a somewhat

more prominent status, the fact that the Association there struggled to survive for the first

twenty years of its existence, before ceasing to function temporarily in 1867, meant that

initiatives were somewhat restricted and often of short duration. To some extent during

this period the educational activities arranged by the Association duplicated the efforts

being made by other voluntary agencies,but differed from other organisationsin two

ways: the Manchester Y. M. C. A. catered for a narrow but specific section of the

community, many of whom would not be regular attenders at any particular church and

would not be membersof the various societiesor mutual improvementclassesmaintained

by individual churches, and, after the successful resuscitation of the Manchester Y. M. C.A.

at the beginning of 1872, the Association directed its efforts increasingly to providing

educational courses in commercial subjects which would not usually come within the

24 It should be noted. however, that relations between the Manchester Mechanics' Institution and the
Manchester Y. M. C.A. were most amicable. and in the early years of its formation. when the Association
had no regular meeting place. the Mechanics' Institution provided a venue for the programmes of lectures
by
orgamsed the Manchester Y. M. C. A..

184
purview of other voluntary self-help agencies.

For several years from 1847 the Association offered a programme of lectures during the

winter months. Thesetalks were usually given by local ministers,and the subjectstended

to be religious, historical or moral, and were aimed evidently at being educational,

informative and sometimes pietistic. For the first two years the meetings were held in the

Lecture Room of the Mechanics' Institution in Cooper Street; subsequently they took

place in the Town Hall or in the Com Exchange building. By 1849 these lectures had

become a popular and well-establishedfeature of the AssociatIon'sactivities and were

attracting regular attendancesof three or four hundred 25

persons. The range of topics

covered was quite ambitious, and the subjects dealt with in the first two programmes

provide a reasonably representative sample of the types of programme arranged-

Year Date Lecturer SubieCt26

1847 Tue 23 Feb Rev JamesCurrie, M. A Ancient Ireland

WedlOMar Rev Robt. Halley, D. D The early heresies of the Christian

Church

Wed 17 Mar Rev W McCaw The necessity for a union between

Religious and Secular knowledge

Wed 24 Mar Rev G Maunder Self-Culture

Thu 25 Nov Rev FA West Counsels and cautions to young

men in large Towns

Thu 2 Dec Rev W McCaw Province of Reason in Matters of

Revelation

1848 Thu 6 Jan Rev Rhys Stephen Relative Duties of Principals and
Assistants

Thu 13 Jan Rev R Halley, D. D. The Reformation

Thu 27 Jan Professor Mason The Study of History

-)S The Second Annual Report of the Manchester Y. M. C.A. (1849).

26 The First Annual Report of the MancliesterY. M. C.A. (1848).

185
 Thu 3 Feb Rev R Crowe The Progress of Society, and our
duty in regard to the elements which
contribute most powerfully to its
stability and advancement.

Thu 10 Feb Rev F Tucker On India

Tue 29 Feb Rev F Tucker On India

To support the lecturing work, a library was opened "to provide for young men books of

a decidedlyChristian characterand tendency,and to diff-useliterature that will elevateand

improve, not lower and debase."27 The lack of suchbooks in the libraries of scientific and

literary institutions in Manchester was lamented, and their tendency to admit in abundance

"novels and romances of more questionable character", with attendant deleterious

consequences upon the unwary reader, was deplored.28 It was envisaged, perhaps

somewhat optimistically, that a library of Christian literature might act as an antidote to

much of the fiction that was readily available but which was usually not deemed to be of

an elevating nature.

The use of education to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of young persons raises

some complex issues and implies the use in part of moral standards as a means of

determining physical and social well-being. Crucial to a study of this aspect of Y. M. C.A.

work is an objective assessmentof leisure and of the constraints which were brought to

bear on young persons to make what employers and others in positions of authority

considered to be acceptable use of their hours spent away from their employment. There

was no lack of leisure to

activities cater for the needsof those who worked - the public
houses, singing saloons, music halls, fairs, sports pastimes and gambling being especially

prominent. Long hours of work and the widespread insanitary living conditi
i ions

experienced in many of the dwellings round the central area of Manchester made it hardly

surprising that there should be a preference for relaxation and entertainment away from

the home environment. However, with the passing of the Ten Hours Act in 1847 and the

27 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report (1849).

28 Ibid.

186
substantial pressure exerted by the Early Closing movement, particularly for shop

assistants and office workers, from about that time, there were several initiatives

advanced, including those of the Y. M, C.A. movement, to encourage a rational recreation

which would use the more abundant opportunities for leisure in constructive and

improving ways. Educational and recreational agencies had been developed in

Manchester during the 1820s and 1830s to meet demands from the middle and working

for
classes instruction and useful enjoyment. The ManchesterMechanics'Institution had

beenformed in 1824 and, although intendedto meet the need for educatingthe working

class, had tended to provide for the n-iddleand artisan classes. In the late 1830s Lyceums

had been established at Ancoats, Chorlton-on-Med lock and Salford, and helped to meet a

requirement for elementary instruction in reading, writing and mathematics together with a

selection of educational and recreational pastimes which gave an impetus to the self-

improvement of the individual. Employers supported such initiatives, often for

humanitarian reasons, although there was also a realisation that a workforce which was

to
encouraged practise sobriety, thrift and morality during leisure hours was more likely to

be amenable to the benevolent social control which was designed to produce employees

who were reliable, punctual, abstemious and industrious. In this context it can be

appreciated why the Manchester Association, and the Y. M. C. A. movement generally,

received widespread support from employers who provided generous financial and

practical backing, and their requirementsand aims consequentlyplayed some part in the

endeavour of the Y. M. C.A. to offer facilities for what would be approved of as an

intelligent use of time spent outside working hours. This form of social control was likely

to be resented comparatively little by the clientele of the Y. M. C.A. who aimed at progress

through self-improvement and who would tend rather to share and seek to perpetuate the

values of its employers, although the presence of intelligent and articulate artisans in the

membershipmeant that could

such assumptions never be taken for granted.

Until the resuscitation of the Manchester Association in 1872 the compass of secular

educationalwork arrangedby the Y. M. C.A. in the city was necessarilylimited by various

forms of lack. finance, a permanent home, and members. By 1856 classes had been

187
commencedin French and Germanand were sufficiently well- attendedfor the institution

29and by 1863 it was reported that other classes,in

to consider providing other courseS,

addition to the groups for students of the Bible, were in operation for the study of

grammar, English and Greek Testament.30

These initiatives were terminated unfortunately when the Association ceasedto function in

1867,but the committee never disbandedformally and continuedto meet regularly with a

to
view paying off the accumulateddebt which had been incurred at the time of closure.
Since its inception in 1846, the fortunes of the Manchester Y. M. C.A. had been subject to

considerable fluctuation, and there had been several attempts to establish a thriving
Association. The committee of the London Association, through its secretary

W. E. Shipton, maintained contact with the Manchester committee and provided support

for
and encouragement the latter to recommencework in Manchesteronce the debt owed
by the Association was cleared. Having acquired premises in Piccadilly, the Manchester

Y. M. C.A. was relaunched on 30th May 1872, with William Hind Smith being appointed
31
as secretary and superintendent. The extent to which the central rooms were used

provided a significant indication that within a short time it would be necessary for the

Association once again to acquire pren-seswhich would cope with the increasing needs it

ouring to meet.
was endea,,.,,

The appointment of the energetic and industrious Hind Smith had a significant effect in

that the institution made rapid progress towards the achievement of its objectives which

had remainedbasicallyunchangedfrom its formation in 1846 and would alter little before

the First World War - "to promote the Religious, Moral, Social and Physical welfare of

young men, and to offer facilities for Intellectual improvement and Intercourse, where

every effort is made to exclude evil influences."32 There was a great deal of goodwill in

29 The Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report (1856).

30 The QuarterIv, Messenger of The YoungHenS Christian Associations, Number 3. October 1863. p.82.

" Manchester Y. M. C. A. Annual Report (1873).

32 Annual Report of the Manchester Y. M. C.A. for the year ending, 331st March 1890.

188
the City for the Association, and a number of influential patrons lent their active support.

Among these were ministers of various denominations(including the Lord Bishop of

Manchester) and several prominent citizens, of whom perhaps the most notable were John

Rylands and Oliver Heywood. Two other respected philanthropists to social and

in
educational causes Manchester, Herbert Philips and William Henry Houldsworth, were

appointed as president and secretary respectively of the Association, and both were to

servewith distinction over manyyears.

The rooms acquired proved rapidly to be inadequate for the increasing requirements of the

Association and more suitable accommodationwas obtained in December 1872. To

ensure that the Association would be financially stable while it sought to establish itself, a

guarantee fund was opened. Eleven eminent Mancunians agreed to subscribe I 100 each

over a period of three years, and a further twenty-six individuals or firms contributed

smaller amounts during this time. 33 The immediate objective of survival was achieved and

the Associationbeganto extendits religious and educationalwork.

During the first year after its resuscitation, over five hundred members and associates

enrolled in the Association, most of whom were recent comers to Manchester. The

Manchester Y. M. C.A. provided mainly for those whom it had traditionally attracted,

recruiting its membership from among clerks, assistants in the manufacturing and retail

trades,and skilled artisans. The general secretariesof the ManchesterAssociation from

Hind Smith'stime onwards realisedthat whilst the basisof its activities lay in the religious

aspectsof its work, these alone were unlikely to encourage large to

numbers attend and it

would consequently be necessary to develop other inducements of a secular kind, A

library and reading room was openedat the central offices and was soon being used by at

least one hundred people each day. One advantage of the new premises was that they

were able to remain open until a later hour for the Association's members who worked in

the city or for membersof other Young Men's Christian Associationsof other districts and

33
Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report. April 187'.1

189
countries who were visiting Manchester. The library was provided with London and

provincial newspapersand religious periodicals. Books could be borrowed and the library

containeda referencesection.34

At the beginning of 1874, I-End Smith had initiated an extremely ambitious undertaking,

the publication of a monthly magazine by the Association. 15 The periodical contained

articles of a spiritually and morally improving nature together with details of the activities

and progress of the Manchester Association and other Y. M. C.As. throughout the country.

An article, Our Great Cities, written by Gilbert Beith, chairmanof the generalcommittee

of the Association, appearedin the April edition of the magazineand commentedon the

problems which the Y. M. C. A. movement was confronting. In addition, it addressed the

in
specific situation which prevailed Manchester and drew attention to the marked lack of

resources which the Association there had at its disposal to pursue its work. Beith

indicated that to carry out its operations effectively, the Association required two lecture

halls, committee rooms, a reading room, a library, a gymnasium and a swimming and other

baths.

The annual report of 1874 of the Manchester Y. M. C. A. commented at length on the

influences which the Association was trying unsuccessfully to counter, suggesting that

until more adequatepremiseswere availablethe situation would show no improvement.

Helen Meller has observed that numerous voluntary organisations tried to eliminate

influenceswhich would deter or prevent the poorer classesfrom leading Christian lives.

The Y. M. C. A. movement attempted to perform the same function for the clientele for

it
which provided and the situation in Manchesterwas representativeof other large British

cities-

"In conclusion, we beg to state that we have vividly before us the

exceedingdangersto which the youth of this city are exposedevery evening,when,

34
Ibid.

35 This was discontinued in favour of a similar magazine started in Januan, 1875 by the committee of
the Y. M. C. A. in Central London.

190
 after business hours, they are at liberty to do as they choose. We believe the
Christian public are ignorant, to a great extent, of the wide-spread ruin to young
men, causedby the low concert-halls,singing and dancing saloons,etc., etc., - all of
which are connectedwith, and form part of the traffic in intoxicants In looking
...
practically at this question,we are much impressedwith the almost entire absenceof
to
any suitableprotection young men in the form of wholesomecounteractivitiesto
the evils we deplore. Thousands of young men have no place to resort after
business hours, when weary and depressedwith the day's toil, but their quiet
lodgings and in such circumstances can it be wondered at that the seducements
...
of the concert-room, the dancing and singing saloon, with the indispensable
intoxicant, and the frequent preserve of the harlot, prove too much for the
multitudes? We feel that it is especiallythe work of the Y. M. C.A. to combat this
evil, so far as possible, by presenting counter-attractions to young men of a
wholesomeand elevating character ... but the meansat our disposal are utterly
...
inadequate- so much so that we have all but decided, that, until this defect is
...
remedied,nothing further in the way of progressneedbe attempted."36

Although the severity of the problems associated with the lack of more acceptable leisure

amenities provided for young persons in the city was somewhat exaggerated by both this

report and Beith's article, the sentiments expressedwere nevertheless sincere and tapped a

reservoir of support which had been activated by the visit to Britain of the American

Dwight Moody Ira Sankey from 1873 to 1875.37 Both were sympathetic
evangelists and

to the aims of the Y. M. C. A., and while, in some respects, the effects of their campaigns in

Scotland, Ireland and the north of England were ephemeral, more permanent reminders

were established in the impetus the evangelistic activity gave to others engaged in

philanthropic work. Several active supporters of the Manchester Association, including

Philips and Houldsworth, purchased the Museum Building in Peter Street for the

Association.38 The Y. M. C.A. was given free use of the premisesfor five yearsto enable

36 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, April 1874.

37 SeeBinfield, op.cit., pp.212-214. For an account of the work of Sankey and Moody in Manchester in
1874 see Rufus D. Clark : The Work of God in Great Britain under Messrs Moody and Sankey 1873 to
1875 (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1875), pp.236-272, and Narrative of Messrs MooqV and Sankey's
Labors in Scotland and Ireland. - also in Manchester, Sheffield, and Birtninghain, England (New York:
Anson D. F. Randolph and Co., 1875), pp.96-1 10.1 am grateful to James Stanhope for directing me to
thesetwo latter sources.

38 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report. 1875. The building had been owned by the Manchester
Society for the Promotion of Natural History. The Society had closed in 1868 and had given over the
contentsof the museum to the governors of ONvensCollege. In 1873 the Manchester Museum moved with
the College to new premises in Oxford Road, and its former building was purchased by the Manchester
Y. M. C.A.. See N. J. Frangopulo : Tradition in .4ction.- The Historical Evolution of the Greater
k1anchesterCountv (Wakefield: EP Publishing Ltd.. 1977), pp.92- 93.
,

191
the Association to build up financialresourcesso that it would have a permanenthome.

The requirements for the religious and educational work, in particular, of the Association

were many: a large lecture hall to seat about 1,200 and a small one to accommodate some

400 persons;a spaciousreading room together with circulating and referencelibraries, a

large well-equipped gymnasium; and various rooms for the religious work, educational

classes,committeesand generalmeetings.

The Association took possession of its new premises on 20th December 1875 and the

inaugural meeting was held on 10th January 1876. The opening of the new

accommodation attracted a great deal of local intereSt'39 and many prominent citizens and

mministers of religion were present. The move to the new building proved beneficial to

the Association. Following its resurrection in 1872, the number joining had risen from

504 in 1872-3 to 614 in 1873-4 to 634 in 1874-5 to 1,018 in 1876.40 Of this latter figure,

over sevenhundred nameshad been added to the membershiproll from the time of the

move to the new building in December 1875 to the end of March 1876.

During the first year in the new premises, the regular activities of the Manchester

Y. M. C. A. which were to form a substantial part of its programme in subsequent decades

were initiated or expanded. The Association continued to retain as its aim the promotion

of the religious, intellectual and social welfare of young men in Manchester, and although

there were on occasionsareasof overlap, activities generallytended to fall quite distinctly

into one of thesethree categories. The Association demandedgood standardsof conduct

from its members and associates,who had to be of good moral character and, in the case

of full members, of "acknowledged Christian character" and expected them to bring

'41

39 See The Alanchester Guardian, I Ith Januarv 1876 and The Alanchester Examiner and Times, 17th
Januarv 1876.

40 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1876.

41 Manchestcr Y. M. C.A. Annual Repori. 187-5. Scc Rules passed at theAnnual Heeting QI-membersoj'
theHanchester young.,Wen's Christiaii. Association,. -Ipril l9th, 1875.

192
these qualities into use in their daily living.

His work with the Leeds Y. M. C. A. had confirmed Hind Smith's view of the importance to

an Association of its religious activities. 42 Consequently, on the acquisition of the new

central premises,endeavoursto strengthenthis missionarywork were reinforced. Where

possible,the Association arrangedmeetingsso that they did not coincide with the various

church servicesheld in the city. One of the objectivesof the ManchesterY. M. C.A. was to

to
encouragemembers worship at their it
own churchesand was stressedrepeatedlythat
the Association was not in competition with any religious denominations but rather strove

to work along with them.

Although the main emphasis was placed on religious work, the Association provided

adequately for the intellectual requirements of its members. Following the move to the

new premises, the use of the reading room had increased significantly and by 1878 was
being used by five hundred readers each day. 43

Like several other Y. M. C. As. based in cities, Manchester's developed a strong tradition of

education for adults. As with the Sunday School movement, such enterprises were not

universally welcomed within the Y. M. C. A. organisation itself and there were fears that

the spiritual work of the Y. M. C. As. would be hindered by any tendency to concentrate on

what was essentially a secular activity. 44 Hind Smith helped to ensure that this did not
happen at Manchester, although the educational work of the Association was certainly not

discouraged. From the provision of educationalclasseson a regular basis on the central

premises in 1876, this aspect of the Association's outreach expanded rapidly. In that first

year classes were offered in mathematics, animal physiology, physical geography, Greek,

Latin, Spanish, German, English grammar, shorthand, and science classes in connection

42 SeeBinfield. op.cit., pp.285-286.

43 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report. 1878.

44 Binfield. op.cit., pp.277-28-1.

1911
with the government's Science and Art Department at South Kensington, attracting an

aggregate number of entries in all classes of 2 10.45By 1880 this total had Increased to

1,965 and, in addition to the ones mentioned earlier, classeswere provided in history,

geography, reading, writing, arithmetic, singing (five classes), bookkeeping, drawing,

elocution, Hebrew, French (three German,

classes), Italian, shorthand(four classes),and a

band had been formed. As more opportunities were becoming availableat this time for

clerks, the Association was one of the first agencies to be aware of the increasing
importanceof and make provision for commercialeducation. It was noted that the classes

had "profitably occupied some of the spare time of our young men, and so offered counter

attractions to the many temptations which assail them in this large city, besides giving
1146
them increasedmental ability, and helping them to successin commerciallife.

The first year in the new building saw the addition of 1,220 new memberS47and,while the

Association was enjoying appreciable success in attracting young men from the

commercial warehouses and offices in the city, the question of how the Y. M. C. A. in

Manchester could provide successfully a beneficial social and moral influence remained a

problem for the general secretary and his co-workers. During 1876 two important

facilities in the building becameavailablefor use: the lecture hall and the gymnasium. On

20th October 1876 the new lecture hall was opened in the presence of a large audience of

clergy and laity. The list of speakers who addressed the meeting gives some idea of the
breadth of support upon which the Manchester Y. M. C. A. was able to draw: the Bishop of

Manchester; the Revs. Alex McClaren, Prebendary MacDonald, T. Howard Gill,

K. W. Starr, and W. McCaw; Professors Greenwood and Herbert, and Messrs. Oliver

Heywood and W. H. Houldsworth, amongstothers.48

45 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report. 1876.

46 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report. 1880.

47 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1877.

48 Ibid.

194
The lectura hall was quickly put to use. During the winter it acted as the venue for a

series of public lectures, and Professor H. E. Roscoe gave a course of "Science Lectures
for the People", to which members of the Association were invited. 49 This proved to be

the first of what was to become a regular feature of the Association's educational

programme - series of popular lectures during the winter months (from Septemberto

March). By 1890 these lectures occurred on a weekly basis, with topics on religious and

social matters being included amongst others of a more general nature on science,
literature, travel and health. Well-known lecturersto Mancunjanaudienceswere obtalned

and included Henry Pitman (the deviser of a system of shorthand), Leo Grindon, Marianne
Farningham and J. E. Phythian, and such meetings were often chaired by members of the

Manchester Y. M. C.A. who contributed generously in terms of money and effort to several

in
educational and other philanthropic agencies the city, and included L. K. Shaw, the

Bishop of Manchester, EJ Broadfield and Herbert Phillps.10

The gymnasium, which was open only to members and associates, possesseda full range

of modern equipment and bore comparison with the best gymnasia in Manchester, At the

opening ceremony on 10th October, 1876, Herbert Philips referred to the rasion d'etre of

the Manchester Y. M. C. A. and introduced a cautionary note in trusting that "that part of

49 For details of Roscoe's "penny lectures" and contribution to adult education during the 1860s and
1870s, see Ross D Waller : Henrv Roscoe and Adult Education in Rewlev House Papers, Oxford
University Delagacy for Extra-mural Studies (Volume 3, Number 10,1961-2), pp. 11-38. For Roscoe's
work in science and technical education, see Robert H. Kargon : Science in Victorian Manchester:
Enterprise and Expertise (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977), pp. 167-168,174-182
and 212-22 1, and D. Thompson : Henv Enfield Roscoe: A Contribution to Nineteenth CentulvScientific
and Technical Education in The Vocational Aspect of Secondavand Further Education (Autumn 1965,
Volume 17, Number 38), pp.219-226.

50 J. E. Phyfluan was a member of the Social Questions Union and of the Manchester Library Club and
servedon the Committees of the Ancoats Art Museum, the Ancoats Recreation movement, the University
settlement, the Manchester and Salford Sanitarv Association and the Manchester and Salford Children's
Holiday Fund. Herbert Philips. in addition to sening for many years as the president of the Manchester
Y. M. C.A., was a member of the Manchester Statistical Society, was a Nrice-presidentof the District
Provident and Charity Organization Society, the Manchester OverseasBranch of the Church of England
Temperance Society. and the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association-,served on the committees of
the Ancoats Art Museum and the university settlement. and chaired the Open Spaces Committee. See
Michael Hamson : ,ocial Reform in late I "ictorian and Edwardian Alanchester, with special reference to
T. C. Horsfiall (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Universit), of Manchester. 1987). Appendix 5a, pp.409-410.
E. J. Broadfield was elected to the Manchester School Board In 1878 and served on It for many years.
L. K. Sha-,v accomplished much uscftil work with the Manchester and Salford Street Children's Refitig,es.

195
the Association's premises would not become too popular, to the exclusion of other parts.

The great object of their institution was to promote Christianity among young men; but

there was no objection to a little muscular Christianity."" This latter referencewas to

socially oriented Christianity associated nationally with Charles Kingsley and the Christian
Socialists, and in Manchester with JamesFraser, Bishop from 1870 to 1885.

The successesachievedby the early closing movementin the 1870shad led to a reduction

in working hours for many trades, including clerks and office and shop workers. This had

engendered amongst some clergy and employers a fear that increased leisure would serve

merely to provide young men and women with more opportunity for idleness and
drunkenness. There was concern that time spent outside working hours should be used

profitably for self-improvement. It was felt that recreation should have some value other

than the pursuit of pleasureand self-indulgence,it should stimulatea desirefor the seeking

of beneficial influences, and encourage the development of activities which would help to

ensure that leisure time was spent usefully, enabling the individual to become an asset to

society both in the workplace and outside it. Churches and employers, motivated to some
degree by self-interest, welcomed and encouraged the pursuit of rational recreations,

preferably when they were combined with moral or educational instruction. "

CharlesKingsley and others had indicatedthat organisedsporting pastimeswere valuable

becauseof the moral guidanceand disciplinewhich the individual could derive from them.

While the theological connection between Christian Socialism and the encouragement of

sport is questionable, a growing number of clergy saw this as one means of increasing and

influencing their congregations .53 Certainly the physical benefits f or those engaged in

sedentary occupations were undeniable. Initially the impetus for organised team games

51 Manchester Y. M. C. A. Annual Report, 1877.

52 Pcter Bailcy : Leisure and Class in Fictorian England: Rational recreation and the contest Im,
control, 1830 188-5 (London. - Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978), pp. 68-72.
-

53 Bailey. ibid., pp. 92-101 and 136-146. The point is also made and developed by Helen Meller in
Leisure ancl thc Changing Ciij,,, 1870 - 1914 (London- Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1976). p. 146.

196
came via the public schools during the 1860s and 1870s and gradually influenced other

the
classes; lessonsto be learned concerning moral and social behaviour were gradually
by 54
absorbed a growing numberof participants.

Helen Meller has suggested that the Bristol Y. M. C. A. after 1879 reversed its fortunes and

progressed significantly during the following decades largely because of its encouragement

of sporting activities. 55 To some extent the same was true at Manchester. The acquisition

of new premisesin Peter Street in 1876 had enabledthe Associationto provide a modern,

well-equipped gymnasium for the use of members and associates. This latter initiative had

been strongly supported by Sir W. H. Houldsworth, and a director of the gymnasium,

Thomas Renshaw, was appointed in 1877.56 During the first few months gymnastic

instruction had been given on four nights each week by Sergeant-Major Mellor of the

local garrison staff 57 Renshaw's appointment was a sound one; he was an excellent

in
communicator and a respected and popular instructor who remained the service of the
Association for thirty years. The gymnasium was there primarily to improve the physical

fitness of the clerks who used it, and was open each weekday from noon until 2.00 p.m.

and for evening classes from 6.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. Renshaw and his assistants

supervised the classes, and instruction in the use of horizontal and parallel bars, rings,

trapeze, vaulting horse, dumb-bells and Indian clubs was given.58 Classes were provided
59
for juniors (members below the age of seventeen) and ladies by 1891. Many of the

54 See the essay by John Springhall : Building character in the British hov: the attempt to extend
'
Christian manliness to working-class adolescents, 1880 - 1914, pp.52-74 in eds. J. A. Mangan and James
Walvin : Manliness and Alforalitv: middle-class masculinitv in Britain and America, 1800 - 1940
(Manchester: Manchester Universitv Press, 1987), and James Walvin: Victorian Values (London: Andre
DeutschLtd., 1987), pp.88-93.

55 Meller. op.cit., pp. 145-146.

56 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1878.

57 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1877.

58 The Y.Af C.A. Bee-Hive, January 1884. The production of this monthly magazine for the Manchester
Association had been initiated by William Newett, who had succeededHind Smith as general secretan, in
1879. This penodical provided news about the clubs and societies of the Association, details Of
forthcoming activities, reports on recent meetings, articles on some improving topics, advice on vanous
matters, fiction of a morally beneficial nature. and news of other Associations.

59 Ibid., April 1891.

197
pupils went on to conduct gymnastic classesat Lads' Clubs and ragged schools, and
Renshaw helped to form gymnasia at other Y. M. C. As. and ragged schools in the district.

During the 1870s and 1880s the Y. M. C.A. was one of a number of agencies which

provided facilities for sport in an effort to attract more working-class support.60

Employers tended to support such enterprises, perhaps prompted by a feeling that leisure

time should be spent usefully. Sport was regarded as being a healthy pursuit which

instilled vaiuessuchas teamwork, co-operation,self-disciplineand the willingnessto work

at self-improvement,and these attributes could be used for the benefit of the workplace

and ultimately for society as a whole. The development of organised sport had begun in

the Association in 1874 within three years of its resuscitation.61 A Rambling Club had

beenestablished

"for the purpose of affording, on Saturday afternoons and holidays, the means of
healthy recreation. Many of the members of the Y. M. C. A. are entire strangers to
...
each other. They come from every part of our own and other countries; and but for
such opportunities as are given by the Rambling Club might lack one of the greatest
safeguards, viz.: friendship with those of high and noble character. In these pleasant
country walks, when business restraints are for the time thrown off, much has been
done to promote and consolidate such friendships, which will doubtless be of lasting
devotion... 1162

The Club proved very successful. As demand increased, the walks which had initially

been scheduled for the summer months to places of interest within easy access of

Manchester - Alderley Edge, Knutsford, Marple Bridge, Heaton Park, Worsley, Tabley,

LyMM63- extendedboth in distanceand scope. Visits were made to Liverpool, Buxton

and Nantwich, and during the winter months the club organised walks round and
to
excursions places of interest in Manchester.64 For example, visits were arranged to the

60 For a discussion of the place of sport in the promotion of rational recreation, see Bailev, op.cit.,
pp. 136-146.

61 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, April 1875.

62 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1877.

63 fbid., and Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1878.

64 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report. 1880.

198
Lancashire Independent College in Whalley Range the Assize Courts, the Guardian
'65
printing workS,66 Ancoats Hall and the workhouse at Withington, 67 Henshaw's Blind

Asylum, the Deaf and Dumb Schools,the PendletonCo-operativeIndustrial Society68and

the Moravian Settlement at Fairfield. 69 These types of excursion met a requirement that

healthy relaxation should be combined with instruction, and usually were organised and

led by those who were well acquainted with the places visited. In the winter of 1889 the

Club, under the leadershipof ProfessorBoyd Dawkins, had visited OwensCollege and the

Museum, and the day had been both interesting and informative, confirming the

importance of what was becoming an increasingly popular type of activity in the Club's

70
programme of events.

Manchester Y. M. C. A. encouraged its members to participate in what Alan Kidd terms

11
organised amateur recreations"71rather than be spectators. By the 1880s, in the public

schools games and athletics were regarded as a necessary part of manliness and were

promoted because they were regarded as character building. Some agencies, including the

Y. M. C.A., which attempted to endorse this quality appealed to the lower-middle class or

the upwardly-mobile artisan rather than to the working class. The sports encouraged by

the Y. M. C. A. tended to be out of the financial range of most of the working class in the

1870s and 1880s, and John Springhall is quite correct in his conclusion that although

Christian manliness had progressed beyond the "narrow social base of the English public

schools", amongst young people from a working-class background its message was

sympathetically received only by those "who were already well predisposed - through

65 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1885.

66 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1886.

67 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1887.

68 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report. 1888.

69 Manchester Y. M. C. A. Annual Report. 1889.

70 Manclicster Y. M. C. A. Annual Report 1890.

71 Alan Kidd Alanchester (Keele. StwTordshire- Rybum Publishing. Keele University Press, 1993).
.
p. 133,

199
parental encouragement,church attendanceor the ethos of 'respectability' in which they
1172
were raised...

The Association was the first agency in the area to form sporting clubs. The invention of

safetybicycles in the mid- I 880s meant that they be

could produced more cheaply,and the

pastime was thus brought within the reach of many of the working class. In 1880 the
ManchesterY. M. C.A. Cycle Club was formed, and within a few years, after commencing

with fides into the nearby Cheshire and Derbyshire countryside, Easter tours were being

to
organised venues which included Ingleton and the Lake District. The Club continued
Club. 73
to progress, and occasionally competed against the famous Manchester Wheelers

In 1874 a swimming club had been formed which some ten years later had sixty-one

74
members. In the sameyear one of the recently commencedbranchesof the Association

near Alexandra Park had establisheda cricket club which was popular and successful,so

much so that a secondclub was formed at other branch houses.Within two years these
had become the official Association clubs with a membership of around seventy, and by

1878 a suitable field for their use had been obtained in Upper Lloyd Street, Greenheys.

By the following year suitable changing rooms on site had been secured, and in 1880

arrangements for acquiring a recreation ground of about five acres in Old Trafford for

various sports including football, tennis and bowls, as well as cricket, were under way

thanksto patrons who included the Lord Bishop of Manchester,W. H. Houldsworth and
Herbert PhilipS. 75

During the late 1870s the new pren-sesenabled the Association to extend its range of

social and educational activities. The social occasions of the Manchester Y. M. C. A. had a

somewhatdifferent role from the other aspectsof its programme, combirung recreation

72 Mangan and Wahlin, op.cit., p.70.

73 The Manchester Wheelers Club had been founded in 1883 as the Manchester Athletic Bic-N, cle Club.
starting as a result of a ineeting of a few cyclists in the Manchester Y. M. C.A. gymnasium.

74 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report, 1885.

75 Manchester Y. M. C.A. Annual Report. 1880.

200
with cultural instruction in an informal atmosphere, but they were equally necessaryto its

work. In January 1877 the Association had the first of what were to become annual

events, a New Year's soiree and conversazione in the Assocat, on hall. Music, singing, a

short address, a collection of works of art, and a display of skill and expertise given by the

members of the gymnasium constituted the entertainment, and refreshments were

76
provided. In addition, at intervals during the year, social meetingsfor the reception of

new members were held. These gatherings, usually presided over by the secretary, with

committeemembersacting as hosts, enablednewcomersto meet each other and someof

the more establishedmembers. Usually some form of musical programme would be

provided, and the committee would give a brief outline of the various aspects of the work

and activities of the 77

Association.

For several years from 1876 the Association organised a series of Saturday evening

entertainments, comprising illustrated lectures and readings. These meetings were

intended, as the annual report of 1878 states, "to counteract the pernicious and sensational

in
attractionswhich abound our neighbourhood,and tend to ruin so many of the Senior
Sunday School Scholars."

These lectures were supersededin 1882 by the arranging in the Association's lecture hall

of a series of Saturday evening popular concerts by J. A Cross, the conductor of the

singing classesheld in the building.78 Usually the large hall was used as the venue for

theseevents,and the concertswere invariablywell attended.

William Newett succeeded Hind Smith as general secretary of the Manchester Y. M. C.A.

in 1879 and during his years of office (1879-1902) the Association began to cater more

for indoor activities and skilled recreational pastimes. In 1879 a chess and draughts club

76 17. f

Hanchester '1
C.A. Annual Report, 1877.

77 Manchester Y.M. C.A. Annual Report, 1883.

78 Alanchester Y.Al. C.A. nnual Report, 1882.

.4

201
 79
was established, and in 1886 a sketching club came into existence." An angling club

formed at about the sametime survived for only two or three years," but the sketching

club under the guidance of T. M. Crowhurst, who taught the Association's classesin
drawing, quickly prospered. It met during the summer months, and would visit places

within easy reach of Manchester such as Worsley, Marple and Dunham Park to sketch

various scenesand landmarks.

82 In 1890 a photographic club commencedand soon

becamea strongly establishedsociety.83

However, the main thrust of the Association's educational work was conducted through

its libraries, lectures and an increasing range of evening classes accommodated primarily

to the needs of commercial clerks. The educational work of the Manchester Y. M. C.A.

was furthered in the 1870s through its branch houses and in the later 1870s and 1880s via

the much improved facilities in new central premises in Peter Street.

During Hind Smith's term of office as general secretary to the Y. M. C. A. at Manchester

(1872-9), the Association, in response to a demand from employers and parents of young

men who took up appointments with Manchester firms and moved into the district,

its
extended mission out from the city centre to the by
suburbs the setting up of a series of
branch houses. These houses provided lodgings for members of the Association and

its
continued activities in their own localities, opening their doors to young men living in

their neighbourhoods.Each branch house was managedby two local secretaries,who,

with one of the members of the branch association, were ex-officio members of the

general committee of the main institution.84 The first, and longest surviving, of these

79 Manchester Y.M. C.A. Annual Report, 1880.

80 Manchester Y.M. C.A. Annual Report, 1887.

81 The final reference to this club appearedin the annual report of the Association for 1889.

82 Manchester IM C. 4. Annual Report, 1890.

83 See The (Manchester) Y.Alf.C.A. Bee-Hive, February 1891 for the abstract of a report for 1890 which
was presentedat the Annual Social Meeting on 28th January 1891.

84 TheAfanchester Examiner and Times, 17th January 1876, in an article about the Manchester
Y. M. C.A..

202
branches was the Bury New Road one (1872 1887), which opened on 25th April 1872 in
-

premisesat 10 Mount Pleasant. Theserooms soon becomeinadequateand a larger house

was obtained in Norfolk Street. The branch was especially active in the distribution of
tracts round the areas of Ancoats and Salford, and provided severalteachersto ragged

schools. Occasional lectures on historical, religious and philosophical subjects were given
by local ministers, 85 and there were more informal programmes of music, recitations and

lectureson travel.86Within a few yearsof its inception,the branchhad a well stockedand

muchused readingroom and library which was open on weekdayeveningsfrom 6.00 p.m.

to 10.00 p.m. and was "a pleasant resort for young men after the business of the day is
1187
over. In the winter months of 1877 and 1878 classeswere organisedfor the study of

English history,88and in 1879 a Greek language class was arranged which was sufficiently

popular to justify its transfer in the following year to the premises at Peter Street. 89

Dunng the 1880s attendancesgradually declined, and the branch finally closed in 1887.

The Oxford Road branch house was opened on 16th May 1872 and organised the same

types of activity as the Bury New Road one. The house offered permanent

accommodation for nine persons, together with a spare room for transient guests. Within

the first few months the branch arranged a series of religious and morally improving

lectures, and a library, reading room and mutual improvement classes were quickly

established.90 The reading room opened in the evenings, and Bible classesand devotional

meetings were held in the branch house. However, by 1876 the remainder of the

programme, including lectures and educational classes,had been transferred to the central

institution in Peter Street9l and the branch did not survive for more than eighteen months

85 Manchester YAI CA. Annual Report, April 1873.

86 Afanchester)'. AfC. A., Report, 1881.

-'Innual

87 Manchester Y.Af C.A. Annual Report, 1878.

88 Manchester Y. If CA. Annual Report, 1879.

89 Manchester Y.Al. C.A. Annual Reports, 1880 and 188 1.

90 Manchester Y.Af C.A. A nnual Report, 1873.

91 TheManchester Examiner and Dines, 17th January 1876.

2031
afterwards.

A branch at Mexandra Park was started on 13th October 1872 and soon, aided by Hind

Smith (the ManchesterAssociation'sgeneralsecretary)and Gilbert Beith (a memberof the

Manchester Y. M. C.A. general committee), made significant progress. By 1873 the agency

had the most varied programme of secular improvement activities of any of the

Association's branches. A mutual improvement society met on Monday evenings to hear

papers on various topics read by members, and a class for the learning of shorthand (with

twenty pupils) met on Tuesdays.92 One of the most successful activities was a vocal and

instrumentalmusic classwhich by the end of its first year had sixteenmembersand which

by 1878 had forty-eight members and an average attendance of twenty-four at its

"
meetings. The reading room, which opened in the evenings on weekdays, was supplied

with daily papers, magazines and games of chess and draughts for the relaxation of

94
members. By 1881 the branch numbered 192 members,and an active literary society
had been established a year earlier. It met fortnightly during the winter months in its first

year and had a membership of twenty-three. 95 During the following year the society met

weekly and enjoyed a successful year. Although the number of members dropped to

96
nineteen, averageattendanceat meetingswas eighteen. However, as more activities
the

were transferred to the central premises in Peter Street, the membership of the branch

declined rapidly, and at the meeting of the branch committee on 26th January 1883 it was

resolved unanimously "that in view of the small attendances at the meetings, and the
impossibility of getting workers to replace those who have left us, we feel compelled to

recommend the Central Committee to close the Alexandra Branch at June quarter next. 1197

92 Manchester Y.M. C.A. Annual Report, Apfil 1873.

93 Manchester Y.Af C.A. Annual Report, 1878.

94 Manchester F.Af C.A. Annual Report, 1879.

95 Manchester YAI C-A. Annual Report, 188 1.

96 Manchester Y.H. C.A. Annual Report, 1882.

97 Afanchester YALC. A. Annual Report, 188-33.

204
The resolution was confirmed by the general committee, and similar decisionshad been

in
made connection with the branchesat Queen'sPark and Longsight in 1882. It was

resolved also by the Peel Park branch (Salford) committee on 23rd March 1882 that the

house should be closed forthwith "owing to the few lodgers for a long time using this

Branch, the non-use of the ReadingRoom, and the very small averageattendanceat the
1198
Bible classes.

During the winter months of 1872-3 a short-lived branch of the Association was

established at Pendleton, where for a few months Bible classes were held on Friday

evenings in the vestry of premises loaned by the Working People's Institute. 91 Rather

more successful in the Salford area was the Peel Park branch house in The Crescent,

formed in 1876. In addition to its reading room which was open on weekday evenings,100

lectures of general interest and singing classeswere arranged during the winter months.101

In 1875 other branch houseshad been commencedat Queen'sPark (Queen'sRoad) and

Longsight (Stockport Road). Both branches had reading rooms and Bible classes. In

addition, the Queen'sPark branch arranged a sefies of lectures in its own district and
introduced special evangelistic services for young men who would not otherwise have

attendedany place of worship, and the Longsight branch had a speciallecture programme

and the house contained a gymnasium.102 However, the branch declined to hold what

were termed "Secular Classes"on the grounds that, as stated in the Association'sannual

report of 1878, "The Facilities offered at the Central Association lead us to think we are
justified in abstainingfrom suchwork and devoting our attention to religious work. There

are also many first-class Lectures given at the Schoolsin connectionwith the Churchesin
the neighbourhood,renderingit needlessfor us to provide such."

98 Manchester IM C.A. Annual Report, 1882.

99 Manchester KAf C. A. Annual Report, April 1873.

100 Manchester Y.AICA. Annual Report, 1878.

101 Manchester 1.CA nnual Report, 1881.

-A
102 The Manchester Examiner and Times, 17th Januan, 1876.

20-5
In addition to the valuableeducationalwork done there, the branchhouseswere important

from a practical viewpoint in that they provided lodgings at a reasonable rent for young

men, many of whom were strangers to Manchester, and afforded accommodation to them

at a critical time when they in

were settling and acclimatising themselves to city life. The

Association provided a further useful facility in the form of lists of lodgings which had

been recommendedand approved, and in the late 1870s, when commercialjobs were

scarce,an employmentbureau was instituted to help deservingcases. So that the scheme

was not abused,the general secretarywas careful whom he recommendedto employers.

To qualify for consideration, men had to possess a good character reference and

satisfactory credentials; the Association was prepared to help those who showed a

willingness to help 101

themselves.

Although some of the Association's branch houses had continued in the late 1870s to

provide lectures, debates and classes, on the purchase of the new premises in 1875 the

vast majority of educational work undertaken at the branches was transferred to the

central location in Peter Street. The new buildings incorporated on the first floor a large

and comfortably equipped reading room together with circulating and reference libraries

for the use of Association members and others. 104 Because of the improved facilities,

central site and increased numbers joining the Association and using its premises, demands

madeon the reading room and libraries increased. The referenceand circulating libraries,
in addition to theological works, containedbooks of a suitably elevating character,and

were greatly helped by generous donations of books and money to purchase volumes
(including a gift of 1150 from George Williams, generally acknowledged as the founder of

the Y. M. C.A. movement, for the reference library). 105 The central premiseswere open

day, including libraries from 9.00 10.00 p. M. 106 The

each the and reading room, a.m. to

103 Manchester Y.Af CA. Annual Reports of 1879 and 1880.

104 TheAlanchester Examiner and Times, 17th Januarv 1876.

105 1fanchester KH CA. Annual Report. 1876.

106 Ibid., 1876.

206
latter acquired gradually over the years a wide range of newspapers,both home and

foreign, together with all the standard religious and general literary periodicals and

magazines.

Before exarniningin detail the work of the educational classeswhich were housed at Peter

Street, it rt-ightbe helpful to put the Association's contribution in context with

contemporary provision of education for adults in Manchester undertaken by other

services. From the 1830s and 1840s educational agencies, including adult schools and

institutions,
mechanics' had arisento meet the needsof workers who had experiencedlittle

or no formal education. In Manchester,instruction in the rudiments of reading, writing

and arithmetic for those employed had been catered for, before the Parliamentary

legislation of the 1870s dealing with the increase in educational opportunity at an

elementary level, by the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, the Lyceums, the adult school

started in 1860, and various mutual improvement societies and evening classesconnected

with the churches. The passing of the Education Act of 1870 had lessened to some

degree the demand for evening classesof an elementary nature, although the requirement

to
still continued exist for many years, and new and existing agencies directed resources to

meeting the changing circumstances. To compensate for the decreasing request for

instruction in elementary mathematics and English, there emerged during the 1870s and

1880san increasingdemandfor technical and commercialeducation. In part, this had its

origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, which stimulated a demandthat subjectswhich

had a direct relevanceto industry and commerceshould be taught.107The Departmentof

Science and Art (1853 - 1900) was formed, initially with responsibility to the Board of

Trade and latterly to the Education Department, to oversee this development, and

gradually a number of voluntary and more formal agencies evolved to provide for this area

of growth. 108 In addition to existing facilities, after 1870 some newly established School

107 See Keith Evans : The Development and Structure of the English Educational vstem (London
Universit-vof London Press, 1975). p. 148.

108 P. H. I H. Gosden : The Development ofEducationalAdministration in England and Wales (Oxford:

Basil Blackwell and Mott Ltd.. 1966), p. 8.

207
Boards, including Manchester's,provided technical and commercial education through

evening classeswhich were held in some of the day schools which were under their
jurisdiction. The university extension movement was initiated during the 1870s and 1880s,

where lecturers from the universities of Cambridge,London, Oxford and, later, Victoria
University'09 visited towns and cities throughout the country to provide lectures and

courses of instruction for the public. 110 In 1880, the scope of the work of the Manchester

Mechanics' Institution was widened and its name was changed to the Manchester

Technical School in 1882.111 In 1875 the Lower Mosley Street schools provided evening

in in
classes commercial subjects, other classes Manchester were opened by Lads' and
112

Girls' Clubs and the Manchester and Salford Recreative Evening Classes Committee

organised instruction in practical subjects such as laundry work, sewing, drawing and
design.113 The ragged schools continued to teach reading, writing and arithmetic and

provided other elementary instruction.

In many respects these different facilities duplicated each other, and between them catered

mainly for middle-class, artisan and commercial sections of the community with lessening

degrees of success,114but the educational classes of the Manchester Y. M. C. A. were a

notable exception to this trend. The reasons for this are both interesting and complex.

109 In the 1880s the Victoria University was a federal institution comprising Owens College,
Manchester, which received its Charter in 1880: the University College, Liverpool (admitted in 1884)1
and the Yorkshire College, Leeds (admitted in 1887). See David R. Jones: The Origins of Civic
Universities: Alanchester, Leeds and Liverpool (London: Routledge, 1988).

110 The work of the evening schools and the university extension movement in Manchester is referred to
in detail in the fifth and sixth chapters of this thesis.

III This institution, together with the Manchester School of Art, was taken over by the Manchester
Corporation in 1892. They became respectively the Manchester Municipal School of Technology and the
Manchester Municipal School of Art.

112 M. E. Sadler: Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1908, Second Edition), p. 148.

113 For an account of evening continuation school work in Manchester during this period see Sadler,
ibid., pp. 146-157 and 198-208. For a brief account of the evening classes at the Lower Moslev Street
Schools, see Lester Burney : Cross Street Chapel Schools, Hanchester, 1734 -1942 (Manchester. 1977),
pp.60- 6 1.

114 Sadler, ibid.. p. 145.

208
The move to larger premises in 1876 gave more scope to many of the Association's

activities, including the educational classes. Membership numbers increased steadily

during the late 1870s and 1880s, which meant that potential users of the courses of

instruction accrued also. In addition, the Association concentrated its resources on

meeting the requirements of its comparatively narrow range of clientele - primarily

commercialclerks - and this helped to cover what was at that time still a largely unfilled

gap in the market for education. The annual report of the Association for 1879 provided

reasonswhy the classeswere facing an increaseddemand

-

"Through force of circumstances many youths come to business in Manchester,

whose education has been comparatively neglected, and by exercising self-denial in
spending their evenings attending some of these classes,they are better prepared for
more important situations and higher salaries."

Although during the later 1870s the Association provided some techrucal instruction in

in
science connection with the Science and Ail Department at South Kensington, ' 15the

emergence of other agencies during the 1880s which met more specifically and perhaps

also more effectively the needs of such students encouraged a concentration by the

Manchester Y. M. C.A. upon courses of commercial instruction.

Initially these endeavoursmet with considerablesuccess. The commercial depressionof

the early 1880s helped to place a more significant emphasis upon the desirability of

obtaining appropriate qualifications. Equally important, from the Association's standpoint,

was the lack of time and opportunities provided for activities which might encourage

idlenessor unsocial behaviour. Classeswere taught by well-qualified members of the

Association who, according to the annual report of 1882, "have profitably employed some

of the spare time of our young men, and so offered counter attractions to the many

temptations which assail them in this large city, besides giving them increased mental

ability, and helping them to in

success commerciallife. "

115 Manchester Y..I f C-4. Annual Report, April 1877.

209
From small beginnings in 1875 the aggregate number of entries in classeswas 210 new
- -
courses were offered each year and registrations increased to 2,214 entries in 1880 rising

to a peak of 3,099 in 1884.116 At this high point classes were being offered in

bookkeeping, model and freehand drawing, painting (oil and water colours), singing (four

classes), writing, reading, arithmetic, history, geography, grammar, elocution, Greek

(elementary and Greek testament), Hebrew, Latin, Spanish (three classes),French (eleven

classes), German (three classes), shorthand (seven classes), English literature and

composition, civil service,mathematicsand viola. The figures make impressivereading,

especiallywhen it is consideredthat only those who were membersof the Association

17
to
were eligible attend these '
classes.

The concentration on commercial instruction proved to be a sensible decision. Although,

as has been observed, in the first half of the 1880s attendances at evening classes were

declining, this was due in part to a diminishing requirement for classes in basic reading,

writing and arithmetic. Where institutions were providing instruction of a more

specialised nature the to

need remained steady or was reduced a lesser degree. Increasing

competition amongst different agencies, often duplicating courses, meant that the supply

grew at a much faster rate than the demand. In Manchester, the School Board provided

evening classes at several centres for those who had experienced little schooling.
Technical instruction was improving continually, and by the 1880s evening classesin

scientific and technological subjects were being offered by Owens College, the -
Manchester Technical School, the Manchester and Salford Building Trades' Institution for

Technical Education and Messrs. Mather and Platt's workshop school, established by the

firm for the education of its apprentices.' 18 The Association soon reallsed that there was

little point in continuing to try to develop its activities in this particular direction and

concentratedupon areaswhich were not so plentifully supplied. Hence it avoided the

116 Seethe Manchester Y-Af C.A. Annual Reports for 1876,1881 and 1885.

117 Alanchcster Y.Af CA. Annual Report, 1885.

118 See thc. Second Report of the Royal Commissioners on Technical Instruction: 1"olume I (London-
Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1884), pp. 424-444.

210
severeslump in by
numbersexperienced someother institutions in the early 1880s.

In an address entitled The Intellectual Needs of Young Men and how the YM. CAs. may

meet them, given at the Southport Y. M. C. A. Conference in 1884 and reprinted in the

Manchester YMCA. Bee-Hive of December of that year, the Rev. I T. Camm, of

Blackpool, assessedthe contribution made by the educational work of the Y. M. C.A.

movement:

"Beyond the ordinary annual member's subscription it is the exception when an

is
additional charge made for a specific subject. Our committees try in every respect
to make the educational department attractive by judicious choice of teachers, and
making the place of meeting inviting. In the absence of our institutions, where
would many of our young men have been who now hold positions of competency
and confidence? And where can the young men of today, who are in business,
acquire intellectual ability so cheaply, and profitably, and at the same time be
surrounded by so many good influences as at the Young Men's Christian
Association. "

However, despite the numerous advantages offered by the classes,demand for them in the

mid-1880s declined quite sharply as far as the Manchester Association was concerned.
Fortunately, during the same period, the numbers joining the Association slackened off

in
only slightly comparison. In certain respects this disparity is somewhat surprising. The

quality of the courses offered by the Association remained high, and they were geared

variously to the examinations set by the civil service, the Department of Science and Art,

the Union of Lancashireand CheshireInstitutes, the Society of Arts and other nationally

recognisedassociations.

Numbers joining Entries for Number of

Year The Association Educational Classes Courses offered

1881 1,230 Not available Not available

1884 1,026 3,099 48
1886 933 2,050 46
1889 933 1,848 44
12
89 741 1,434 45
1894 837 1,094 45
1897 692 823 40 (See'19)

119 The figures for 1881.1884,1886 and 1889 are taken from the Y. U C.A. Annual Reports
klanchester
211
It is probable that the decline in attendancesat the Association's classeswhich had

commenced in the mid-1880s accelerated through the 1890s because of legislation

brought about through pressures placed on the government during the late 1870s and

1880sto provide adequateinstruction in technical subjectsand to put into effect someof

the recommendations made by the Royal Commission on Technical Education in 1884.

As is discussedmore fully in the fifth chapter to this thesis, an early result of the work of

the Commissionwas the passingin 1889 of the Technical Instruction Act, which enabled

county, borough and urban district to in

councils raise a rate not exceedingone penny the

pound to supply or support the existing provision of education. This legislation was

permissive and not compulsory, as was the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of

the following year from which increased duties on beer and spirits could be made available

to councils with a recommendation that the money so acquired should be spent on

technical education. The 1891 Technical Instruction Act removed several difficulties

which had remained from the previous legislation, and many councils appointed Technical

Instruction Committees. Generally the tendency in the early years was for those bodies to

place strict interpretations on what constituted technical education, but eventually less

limiting definitions began to emerge. Although the powers of the Manchester Technical

Instruction Committee were somewhat qualified, the cumulative legislation provided

sufficient impetus for local authorities to become more involved in the organisation of

adult education, which meant that, little by little, the work in this field which had

traditionally been undertaken voluntarily by agencies such as the Y. M. C.A. came

increasinglywithin the jurisdiction of the local authorities.120

To supplement the formal courses of instruction, the Association developed some more

relaxed but still carefully structured activities. In 1878 members of the Association

for the years 1882,1885,1887 and 1890 respectively. The figures for 1892,1894 and 1897 are taken
from the abstracts of reports for these years (Ist January to 31st December 1892,1894 and 1897
respectively) and appear in The (Manchester) KAICA. Bee-Hive of February 1893, February 1895 and
February 1898 respectively

120 Gosden. op-cit., pp. 153-159.

212
formed a debating society, followed some three years later by a literary society. That the

latter survived was due in large measureto its energetic chairman between 1885 and 1890,

CharlesTall ent-Bateman,who had joined the Association on returning to Manchesterin

1882. He becamean active memberof the Y. M. C.A. there and served for severalyears

on its committee of management and finance sub-committee. A cultured individual, he

had beentrained as a solicitor, and outside his professionhe was especiallyinterestedin

the study of literature, local history, art, archaeology and music. He was a member of the

ManchesterLiterary Club and presentedpapers there and at the Manchester Y. M. C.A.

Literary Society. 121 He ensured that during its formative years the society was a "well-

regulated, impartially governed, and competently and carefully guided mutual

improvement Society, for the discussion of literary taste and style, literary biography and

literary history. "122 The society sought to achieve its aims through the presentation by

members of essays on literary topics, in criticism of style and composition, and by an

evaluation of current periodical literature and consideration of classical literary

productions. In about 1891 the literary and debating societies of the Association

amalgamatedand, meetingon averageabout once a fortnight, had an important role in the

work of the intellectual improvement of its members which was one of the aims of the
Association.

The desire expressedby the Y. M. C.A. movement that its young people should make good

use of their leisure time developed in other directions during this period and found a
in
response other organisationswhich came into being during the late nineteenthcentury.
In a lecture entitled Contextsfor YMCA. Historians given at the Y. M. C.A. I-Estory

Weekend in June 1988 at Dunford, Sussex, Allen Warren (a lecturer at the University of

York and an historian of the Scout movement) outlined several influences which

contributed. to the emergence of some voluntary youth movements between 1880 and

1930. He discussed the roles played by the systems of educational instruction and the lack

121 Ifanchester Faces and Places, Volume 9, Number 7, April 1898 (Bin-ningham and Manchester:
J. G Harnmend and Co. Ltd., 1898), pp. 127-131.

122 The l,'..kf.C..4. Bee-Hivc. November 1885.

133
of suitable long-term employment opportunities in effecting the evolution of youth

associations. The public schools placed emphasis on team spirit, discipline and character,

and these were imitated by other educationalinstitutions which attempted to instil these

qualities into the middle and working classes. C. E. B. Russell commented on the lack of

espirit de corps among working-class lads, and noted that generally industrial schools
than
seemedmore successful the ordinary day in
schools promoting this regard for unity

and honour.123 Organisationswhich emergedin the 1880s up to 1914 - including Boys'

Clubs, Lads' and Girls' Clubs, Scouts and Guides - encouragedthis philosophy, together

with a requirementthat leisure time be put to constructive use rather than be wasted on
trivial amusements.Warren attributed a twofold motivation to this approach, John
Springhall expressesstrongly the first of these motives - the desire of the middle class to

exercise some form of social control over the leisure time of young people from the

working class. 124 His conclusion reiterates this, and while it is generally correct to argue

that "... Youth movements were a form of recreation enjoyed by the upper-working-class

and lower-middle-class taking place largely under the supervision of the middle-class, who

used them as a means for accustoming the to

membership accept and to find a place within
11125
an evolving urban-industrialsociety, such an explanationdoes not take full account of
another consideration, the humanitarian or rescue perception. Other themes - the

emphasis on health and physical fitness, the aim to encourage and develop character, the

social and political changesbrought about through the increaseof democracyin Britain

from the 1870s onwards, the threat of war or of foreign competition to trade, the

inculcation of a sense of loyalty to country and Empire, and the general reaction to and

effects of war - found an echo in the Y. M. C. A. in

as well as many other youth movements

of the time.

123 C. E. B Russell : Manchester Bovs: Sketchesof Manchester Lads at Work and Play (Swinton: Nell
'
Richardson, 1984 - first published in 1905), pp.22-23.
I
114 John Springliall: Youth, En'Pire and Sociev- British Youlh Ifoveinents, 1883 1940 (London:
-
Croom Heim, 1977), p. 15.

125 fbid., p. 126.

214
Charles Heald, who succeededto the secretaryshipof the Manchester Y. M. C.A. at the

beginning of 1903 following the retirement of William Newett, had been actively

connected for twelve years with the Lads' Club movement in Manchester, and his

experienceshowed him that there was a need for the ManchesterAssociation to provide
for an age range below sixteen or seventeen. In the early 1900s it became customary for

severalof the Lads' Clubs of the city to spenda week at Whitsun in camp near the seaside
in order to provide a holiday and complete change of environment and "to mould and

strengthenthe character of the boys".126 The ManchesterAssociation adopted this idea

and organised its own camps. In addition, during his time as general secretaryto the
Association,Heald was responsiblefor the formation and oversight of a successfuljunior

section of the Manchester Y. M. C. A. for boys of twelve to sixteen years of age and

encouraged the members of the Association to participate in volunteer camp work. The
junior section of the Association was started in September 1904. It had its own rooms in

the Peter Street building and enjoyed the same kinds of facility -a library, use of the

gymnasium, Bible classes,games and sports - as the 127

seniors.

The work of the Manchester Y. M. C.A. in the volunteer camps does not fall within the

scopeof this thesis,but the reasonsfor the Association'sparticipation reflect an increasing

emphasison nationalism which occurred during the decadebefore the First World War

and affected all areas of the Association's activities, including the educational one. The

fear of a dn.ft into war encouraged preparations for such an eventuality. Nfilitary training
-
for troops and volunteers becamemore widespread,and, on the initiative of A. K. Yapp,

the Y. M. C.A. movement'sTravelling Secretaryfor Lancashire,from 1902 the Y.M. C.A.

movement supplied workers for the 128

camps. In 1904 the Manchester Y. M. C.A.

126 Russell, op.cit., p.22.

127 The Y.Af C..4. Bee-Hive. September 1904. The idea of an Association catering for junior members
was by no means new. Bristol Y. M. C. A. had been the first Association in the countrV to organise
activities for boys and provide them with their own suite of rooms on its premises in 1865. See Those
behind crv "On": the storv of the Centenarv of the Bristol Young Afens Christian 4ssociation (Jnc) by
.
Oscar Fisher and Eric Buston (Bristol, 1953).

128 On Charles Heald's appointment as National Organising Secretary of Y. M. C.A. Junior Sections in
October 1907, Yapp succeededhim as general secretaryof the Manchester Association.

1
-5
responded when the general secretary, Charles Heald, and a group of workers opened the
first branch of the Association in the volunteer camp at Ramsey, and in the following year

the Manchester Y. M. C.A. representativesworked in camps in centres throughout the

country. The object of the exercisewas to offer in the camps a Y. M. C.A. which was

accessibleat all hours. Heald and Yapp encouragedthis in

participation the campsof the

n-fflitia and the territorial army, especially where the voluntary group contained a

substantial number of trainees from the Manchester area. The volunteer workers from

Manchesterand other Associationsworked extremely long hours in the campsand in the

tents attachedto the various brigadesof infantry. The Association provided facilities for

reading, writing and recreation throughout the day, in

and concerts and meetings the
129
evening.

The volunteer movement ceased to exist in 1908, but the principle of voluntary service

continued. The Y. M. C. A. in general and individual Associations, including Manchester,

provided marquees in the territorial army camps, especially at Whitsuntide. Yapp was

especiallyinterested in this form of activity for the Association, and in in

an article the
June 1908 edition of The Bee-Hive, some months after he had become the general

secretary of the Manchester Y. M. C. A., he outlined his reasons for the Assoclation's work
in the camps.

1. Because we are working for Manchester men.

2. Because it is a patriotic movement. The highest form of patriotism is that which

aims at purifying and ennobling the national character.

3. Becauseit is a Christian movement in the best and widest sense. It seeksin a

common senseand practical way to lead the soldiers of the King into the serviceof
the King of Kings.

4. Because the Y. M. C. A. tents are carrying on a most effective temperance and

moral work.

5. Large numbers of very young men will go to camp summer after summer,
....
they will be free from the restraint of home influences, and subject to temptations.
it is the duty and privilege of the Y. M. C. A. to do everything in its power to
safeguard these young lives.

129 KH C.A. Bee-Hive. January 190-5.

216
This patriotic fervour carried over into the educationalwork of the Association. The late

1890s and early 1900s had seen a steady decline in the numbers enrolling in its classes,

and by 1906 the courseshad reducedin number and scopein the face of competition from

other voluntary agencies and from the increasing provision by the Manchester Education

Committee of evening classes. The Association's courses, which were geared to the

examinationsof the Union of Lancashireand CheshireInstitutes, were primarily for those

involved in commercial careers,and the subjects offered included arithmetic, grammar,

literature, commercial geography, shorthand, typewriting, French, Spanish, German,

Greek, Latin and elocution.130 Although the educationalclassescontinued at the Roby

School in Aytoun Street between 1908 and 1911 whilst new premises were being erected

on the Association's Peter Street site, and resumed in the Headquarters of the Manchester

Y. M. C.A. in 1912, the numbers enrolling had dropped below 200 from a peak of over

3,000 almost thirty years earlier, and the organisation of the classes(which were still held

in the Association'sbuildings) was taken over by the ManchesterEducation Comn-tteein

the autumnof 1911.131The numbersregistering for classesremainedlow, 176 students

enrolling for the 1914-15 sessionwhich was advertised to reflect the entry of the country

into war in September 1914:

Evening Classes- The Commercial Army

It takes all sorts to make a great nation, and those who are compelled to stay at
home are adding their share to the nation's greatness if they are preparing to uphold
our Commerce. It is education that counts in the long run. The men with the
biggest brains, and the best trained mental machinery are bound to come out on top.
Isn't even horrid brutal war, the very incarnation of physical force, rapidly becoming
a matter of brain rather than courage, big guns rather than muscle and valour? Our
commerce is our life's blood, and sometimes we think this is being over looked
slightly. 132

Two further aspects of the Association's work in the decade prior to 1914 should be

130 Ibid., September 1906.

131 City of Manchester, Appendix to Council minutes 1911 containing reports etc. brought before
-1912
the Council: Volume 3, Annual Report of the Education Committee of the Civ Council ofManchesterfor
theyear ending October 1911. p.708.

132 AlanchevterMonth1v (formerly the Y.H. C.A. Bee-Hive), October 1914.

217
mentioned. In March 1904 a Miss Rowcliffe, who had organised for several years a men's

Bible class in the Collyhurst district of Manchester, tried to establish rooms in the area

which would attract men away from the public houses. The work was based upon the
three-word motto of the Y. M. C. A. - body, mind, spirit - and these aspects were provided

for at "The Welcome" in Worth Street. Newspapers, magazines, games, physical

exercises, football, Bible classes and men's services were offered for the recreation,

instruction and spiritual and moral welfare of the men. After two years the work became

too much for Miss Rowcliffe to organise alone, and the Manchester Y. M. C.A. responded

to her request for help. Six or seven members from the Association took up the work,

and the endeavour made rapid progress. The rooms became too small to house the

increasing numbers which were using them, and new premises were needed urgently if the

venture were to continue to develop. Miss Rowcliffe's father to

agreed provide buildings

if a suitable site could be found. This was quickly achieved, and the new rooms on

Collyhurst Road were opened on Saturday 5th October 1907.133

On Friday evenings the large room was converted into a gymnasium, and the Association's

director of physical training had fitted a horizontal bar, parallel bars and various items of

equipment. A reading room was provided and a games room - which included amenities

for table tennis, chess, draughts, and other pastimes - was in frequent use "The
.
Welcome" opened each night between 7.00 p. m. and 11.00 p.m., and the workers

ensured,through the provision of classesfor Bible study and a service on Sundays,that -

the whole enterprise catered for the spiritual needs of those attending, in addition to their
134
recreativerequirements.

A further initiative, pioneered by one of the Association's comrnittee members,

T. R. Ackroyd, saw the establishmentof a Young Men's Institute in the Strangeways

district of Manchester. This was organised along very similar lines to the Association, and

133 The Y.M. C.A. Bee-Hive, November 1907.

134 Ibid., December 1907.

218
provided residential accommodationwith full board for young men for ten shillings per

week. The houseprovided a reading room, gamesroom and gymnasium,and classesfor

education and recreation were held on the premises. Ackroyd, who was the honorary

secretary to the Institute, played a leading part for many years in the work of the

Strangeways Boys' and Girls' Refuges and in the movement for ragged schools in

Manchester and Salford, and with assistancefrom the Association the Young Men's

Institute was establishedin 1904.135

The scope of the Association's work increased following the return to Peter Street and a

new, fully equipped and furnished building which was opened on 22nd May 1911. The

Association, with a new general secretary, C. E. Derham, who succeeded A. K. Yapp in

September 1912, made rapid strides forward in terms both of membership and of activities

offered. In particular, there was a flourishing junior section and two Scout troops -

amongst the first formed in Manchester - had their headquarters at the Manchester

Y. M. C.A. 136 By 1914 the Association possessed the largest junior department of any

Y. M. C.A. in the country, and the membership figures generally since the move to the new

premises had increased substantially.

1914137
1912 1913

Seniors 1,267 1,309 1,725

Juniors 196 235 324

Subscribers 180 216 233

1,643 1,760 2,282

By the time war broke out in September1914 the Association was thriving. Membership

figures were healthier than they had ever been, and the tremendousinvestmentwhich had

beenmade in the new premiseswas beginning to pay for itself However, the advent of
135
Ibid.. July 1904.

136 The Scout movement had started in 1908.

137 Afanchester.Afonthv (the magazine of the Manchester Y. M. C.A. ), June 1914.

219
the war curtailed activities considerablyas Association members enlisted in the armed

services,and the Manchester Y. M. C.A. had new situations and challengesto meet and

overcome, with energiesnow being channelledin different directions in circumstances

to
which were stretch resourcesto their linft

The educationaland recreative activities organisedby the Manchester Y. M. C.A. during

the half century before 1914 indicated the aim of the Association to develop as far as

possibleall aspectsof the characterof the individuals who participated in its work. The
educational classes,especially during the 1880s, made an early and important contribution

to the provision and development of commercial education in the city, and although its

work in this area was superseded to a large extent by the classes organised by the
Manchester School Board and, latterly, the Manchester Education Cornn-ittee,and by the

similar efforts of other voluntary organisations, including the adult schools and the
W. E. A., the Association had made an important contribution to the provision of education

facilities for adults in the decadesbefore 1914.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES, OTHER RELATED ORGANISATIONS AND

ADULT EDUCATION IN MANCHESTER TO 1914.

The developmentof the Y. M. C.A. programmesof adult educationduring the latter half of

the nineteenth century131had its parallel with many of the initiatives - both educative and

recreative- which were being by

evolved churchesand missions.139 Yeaxlee has divided
the adult educational work of the churches into three main categories: that which is

centrally organised by various denominations and, in some instances,

interdenominationally;particular enterprisesinitiated by individual denonnations;and the

138 SeeZ. F. Willis : The Y-Af CA. andAdult Education in The Journal qfAdult Education (later Adult
Education), Volume 3, Number 1, October 1928, pp.3646.

139 The most thorough account and analysis of the adult educational work camed out by the Christian
churches in England during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is Basil A. Yeax-lee: Spiritual
values in adult education: a stuy of a neglected aspect (London: Oxford University Press. 1925.
2 volumes). See in particular Volume 2, pp.62-123 and 225-300.

220
more general types of class, lecture, and recreational and educational society which is

to
common most denon-fi
nations, but which dependsalmost entirely upon local voluntary
140
for its occurrence.
effort and organ=isation

One example of such an initiative which comes within the first of these categories has been

in
examined some detail - the adult educational work of the Manchester Y. M. C.A.,

although the promotion and successof the work dependedheavily upon local effort and

arrangement.Other exampleswould include Fircroft and Woodbrooke, residentialcollege

which had strong connectionswith the Quaker movement,and the Catholic Social Guild,
1909.141
foundedin

140 Yeaxlee, Volume 2, ibid., p.64.

141 It is somewhat difficult in certain instances to differentiate between Yeaxlee's first two categories to
establish which adult educational initiatives are organised centrally by the churches and which are
experiments undertaken by individual denominations. For example Yeaxlee, a religious historian,
distinguishes between two Quaker enterprises in adult education - Woodbrooke, a residential college
founded by the church, and Fircroft, a residential college which has strong Quaker connections, which is
not. SeeYeaxlee, Volume 2, ibid., p.70. Thomas Kelly, who is an historian of adult education, does not
make such a distinction. See Thomas Kelly :A History ofAdult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool:
Liverpool University Press, 1992, third edition), pp.280-281. In many instances the distinction is
somewhatacademic, and this thesis, which deals with local initiatives, is concerned primarily with adult
educational work which would come within Yeaxlee's third category. For a general background to adult
educational work undertaken by the churches, see Yeaxlee, Volume 2, ibid., pp.64-92 and 225-300; and
for an introduction to similar work carried out by related organisations, see Yeaxlee, Volume 2, ibid.,
pp.93-123. As noted in the first chapter of this thesis, the contribution of the Quaker and Unitarian
movements to adult education has been well documented. For the Unitarians, see H. McLachlan : The
Unitarian Movement in the Religious Life of England: Its contribution to thought and learning,
1700-1900 (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1934) and R. V. Holt : The Unitarian contribution to
social progress in England (London: The Lindsey Press, 1937). For the Quaker adult school initiatives,
seeJ. W. Rowntree and H. B. Binns :A history of the Adult School Movement, with an introduction and
notes by Christopher Charlton (Nottingham: Department of Adult Education, University of Nottingham,
1985. First published by Headley Brothers, London, in 1903); G. Currie Martin : The Adult School
Movement: Its Origin and Development (London: National Adult School Union, 1924); W. Arnold Hall :
The Adult School Movement in the Twentieth Century (Nottingham: Department of Adult Education,
University of Nottingham, 1986); E. Isichei : Victorian Quakers (London: Oxford University Press, 1970),
pp.258-279-,and 1. McKenzie : Social Activities of the English Friends in the first half of the nineteenth
century (New York: Privately published for the author, 1935). For a Quaker-connected residential college
seeW. H. Leighton : Fircroft 1909 - 1959: A Jubilee History (Birmingham: The Fircroft College Trust,
1959). For the Catholic Social Guild seeJ. M. Cleary: Catholic Social Action in Britain 1909-1959.4
History of the Catholic Social Guild (Oxford: Catholic Social Guild, 1961). Adult education is also
referred to in more general histories to religious denominations. See T. W. Laqueur : Religion and
Responsibilitv: Sundav Schools and working-class culture 1780 - 1850 (New Haven: Yale University
Press, 1970). For the adult education work of the Methodists, see H. F. Mathews : Methodism and the
Education of the People 1791 - 1851 (London: Epworth Press, 1949) and R. Davies, A. R. George and
G. Rupp (eds.):, 4 History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain (London: Epworth Press, 1983). For
that of the Roman Catholics, see W. L. Gillespie : The Christian Brothers in England, 1825 - 1880
(Bristol: The Burleigh Press. 1975). The adult educational work of the Labour Churches was essentially
political and economic and was a practical part of its doctrine. One of the centres of this church was at
Manchester, and the group there under the leadership of JamesTrevor did much useful social work among

221
As Yeaxlee indicates, many churches, especially Protestant denominations, had similar

parochial organisations,amongstwhich were often included agenciesof adult education

and recreation. Such lectures, classesand societieswere "dependentwholly upon local

energy and enterprise for their actual form and content".142 Much dependedupon the
individual enthusiasm and support of the ministers of the churches and chapels. The Rev.

Robert Halley, for example, who preached in Manchester at the chapels in Mosley Street

(183 - 1848) and Cavendish Street (1848 - 1857) during the winter months for eighteen

years gave a series of fortnightly lectures to adults and young people on various topics of

interest. The response in the first year (1839 - 1840) was sufficiently good for these

Sunday evening lectures to be continued, and the church was often crowded, groups

coming from as far away as Bolton and Ashton-under-Lyne to attend. 141 An interesting

comparatively early initiative in the 1860s was undertaken at the Rusholme Road
(Ardwick) Congregational Chapel in the form of a mutual improvement society promoted

by John Mortimer (its honorary secretary for many years) and strongly supported by the

minister, the Rev. Alexander Thomson, who officiated at the church there for forty

years.144The society was associatedwith the Chapel and met weekly in a room at the rear

of the building. The group had a library which included works by Carlyle, Tennyson, and
Ruskin and subscribed to literary magazines which included the British Quarterly, the

Edinburgh Review, the Westminster Quarterly and the Eclectic Review. Meeting

the poor, including the provision of entertainments and holidays for children from such families. See
K. S. Inglis : Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian England (London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul, 1963), pp.239-240, and from the same source for an account of the origins and development of the
Labour Church movement see pp.215-249. For further information, see E. J. Hobsbawrn : Primitive
Rebels : Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th centuries (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1959) and L. Thompson : Robert Blatchfor& Portrait of an Englishman
(London: Victor Gollancz, 1951). In addition, the two volume work by Basil Yeaxlee : Spiritual values in
adult education.- a study of a neglected aspect (London: Oxford University Press, 1925) is an essential
work of reference, especially becauseit contains one of the very few accounts of the enterprises in this
connection of the Church of England.

142 Yeaxlee, Volume 2, ibid., p.64.

143 R. Halley Short Biograpkv of the Rev. Robert Halley, D. D., together with a selection of his
.A
sermonspreached in Afanchester and elsewhere (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1879).

144 SeeRev. B. Nightingale : LancashireNonconformity,or SketchesHistorical and Descriptive of the

Congregationaland Old Presb-vterianChurchesin the Countv (Manchesterand London: John Heywood.
1893),pp.168-169.

222
consisted variously of lectures, the reading of prepared papers, discussionson literature

and philosophy, and debates.Thomson, who was the president of the society, would

lecture occasionallyon Dickens and Cowper, and its memberspublishedfrom time to time

a periodical containing articles and reports of the 145

programme.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century several of the Manchester churches offered

for in
eveningclasses adults addition to the more usual educationalwork undertakenby
the Sundayand day schools in connectionwith the churches.The Lower Mosley Street
Schools, erected in 1836, were strongly supported by the Unitarian chapels in Cross Street

and Mosley Street, and by the 1840s had established a system of evening classesthrough

the efforts of the head teacher at the schools from 1836 to 1857, John Ogle Curtis.

Subjects taught included writing, arithmetic, reading (from the scriptures), music, drawing

and natural history. 146 The work was developed and expanded by his successor, George

Smith, and thanks largely to Rev. S. A. Steinthal (who was one of the ministers at the

Cross Street Chapel from 1871 to 1893) the Schools' committee gained recognition as a

centre catering for technical instruction in 1899, securing a grant of t200 from the cItY

council. At this time the church had numerous supporting secular activities in addition to

the Schools and evening classes, and included mutual improvement and natural history

societies, a library, swimming, soccer, cricket and chess clubs and a group for young

147
women. Through Steinthal'sinfluencea social club which aimed at countering "some of
the evils by providing a place which may furnish somethingof home life for those who are

it
without -a place where natural companionshipwill be possibleand healthy and refining

145 See Manchester Faces and Places, Volume 10, Number 2, September 1899, pp.234-235. The
honorary secretary, John Mortimer, attended classesat the Manchester Mechanics' Institute and coursesof
lecturesat Owens College in Quay Street, where he obtained a certificate of merit. He contributed articles
frequently to the Manchester Civ News, and wrote occasionally for the Manchester Examiner and Times
and the Manchester Herald. In 1872 he becamea member of the Manchester Literary Club and was later
one of its vice-presidents.

146 Lester Bumey : Cross Street Chapel Schools Manchester 1734 1942 (Manchester, 1977), p.43.
Studentsfrom Manchester New College assistedwith the teaching at the evening school during the years
that the College -*vasbased in Manchester (1840 - 1853).

147 Bumev. ibid., pp.60-63.

223)
associationsand tastes may be formed"148wasestablishedin 1892, with William Mather
its
as president and Sir H. E. Roscoe as one of its vice-presi dents. Steinthal was one of the

members of its committee of management. In some respects the club resembledthe

Y.M. C.A. and cateredfor the sametype of clientele,which was rather a disappointmentto

the Schools' committee who had envisaged something more akin to a university

settlement. The club rented premises from the Lower Mosley Street Schools, and
facilities included a reading room supplied with books, newspapersand periodicals, a

gymnasium, a smoking room, a billiard table and a restaurant for the members. The club

was open both to men and women, and by the autumn of 1892 had 403 149
members.

The Strangeways Unitarian Free Church enjoyed a tradition of adult education which had

strengthened during 1862, the most severe year of the cotton famine. The church

establisheda class during the day for the teaching of sewing to young women and during

the eveningsheld classesin reading and writing for males. The class for girls was both

useful and successful. Within a few months the numbers attending increased from twenty

to one hundred and the work was supported from the funds of the Guardians of the Poor

and the District Provident Society. 150

By the time of its golden jubilee in 1888, the church

had additional social and recreational activities in the form of a mutual improvement

societyand cricket club.

One of the more interesting experiments undertaken initially with strong support from the

Cavendish Street Chapel was the Cavendish Theological College, Manchester. During the

period of Joseph Parker's ministry the Sunday School developed several associations

which provided religious, moral and educationaladjuncts to its work, including a literary

and scientific society and a mutual improvement society. Parker and others had

for
considered some time that there was a need in Manchesterfor a college which offered

148 Bumey. ibid., p-70-

149 Bumey. ibid., pp.72-73.

'-O C. S. Grun4v- Reminiscences of Strangeways t Initarian Free Church, June 1838 to June 1888
(Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son. 1888).

224
opportunities for those who had little formal to
education study for the by
ministry means

a
of more general and practical training which was somewhatless advancedacademically

than the courses offered by other theological acadenies- Unlike the ManchesterNew

College,151it was not intended that the Cavendish Theological College should take

students who were looking to train for careers other than the ministry. However, where it

did differ from other theological institutions was that it offered studentsthe opportunity to

continue their regular secular employment if necessarywhilst attending the course lectures

in the evening.152The aim was to provide a flexible arrangement for study. The course

was intendedto last for three years, although this n-ightvary according to the abilities of

the student. For those studying part-time, efforts were made to ensure that the course

was pursued on a full-time basis during the final year. The College was essentially a

private venture, meeting in the chapel vestry, and was open to students from any country.
Those following the course on a full-time basis were resident and lived in lodgings near

the College; the part-time studentswere local and classedas non-resident,and lived at
home or in lodgings. 153 Concern was expressed that the College might be viewed as a

rival to other Nonconformist institutions in the area which were already providing training

for students who wished to enter the ministry - most particularly the Lancashire

Independent College, formerly the Blackburn Academy, which had been re-established in

Manchester at Whalley Range in 1843 - and which were more equipped to undertake this

task.154 This criticism evidently registered, as also did the observation that such an

151 Manchester New College has been referred to already in the second chapter of this thesis. For a
detailed account of the history of the college to 1889 see V. D. Davis :A History of Manchester College
from itsfoundation in Manchester to its establishment at Oxford (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.,
1932); for the college's early years in Manchester (1786 - 1803) see0. M. Ditchfield : The early history of
Manchester College in Transactions of the Historic Sociev of Lancashire and Cheshire, Volume 123
(1972), pp.81-104.

152 Joseph Parker : The Operative College (Questions of the Day : No. 3) (London: Judd and Glass,
1860), p.33. Initially the institution was named the Cavendish Operative College, but this was amended
becauseof the ambiguity of the term "operative" to the Cavendish Theological College.

153 Parker, ibid., pp-32 and 42-1T. T. James: Cavendish Street Chapel, Manchester: Centenav
Coinmemoration 1848-1948 (Manchester: Cavendish Street Chpael. 1948), p. 14. For an account of the
adult educational work undertaken by Cavendish Street Chapel, Manchester. see Charles Connelly
Congregationalism and the education of the people in the Manchester district, 1806-1900 (unpublished
M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1973), pp.60-62-, for the origins and development of the
Cavendish Theological College in Manchester between 1860 and 1863, seethe same source,pp. 106-112.

154 For accounts of the Lancashire Independent College, Manchester, see Connelly, ibid., pp.94-105 and
A. J. Grieve : Lancashire Independent College 1843 - 1943: a centenarv booklet (Manchester, 1943).

225
approach as that advocatedby Parker would lower standardsof ministerial learning. The
College was certainly defensiveon this latter point. Academic attairumentsof prospective

in
students were not necessarilyconsidered ascertainingthe suitability of students for

entry to the college, and the practical nature of the course was stressedby Parker, who
its
saw aim as being to teach "the dignity of labour" to studentsand to develop in them "a

manly, aggressive, and enterprising spirit in regard to the moral conquest of British
heathendom and the civilization of the colonies and Pagan countries".155 The first

prospectus of the College stressed the practical nature of much of the preparation in

equipping its students for such missionary work. They were required "to work

perserveringly in the acquisition of practical skill in the various departments of ministerial

labour", which included preachingto congregations,conductingBible classes,visiting the

sick, organising rotas for visits to the poor in the district, and attending church meetings,

in addition to the theoretical aspect of the work which included the study of theology,

philosophy, Biblical literature, logic, ecclesiastical history, Greek and Latin. Whilst the

College was basically Congregationalist, Baptists, Wesleyan Methodists, Presbyteriansand

others could be admitted to study theology, scriptural criticism, homiletics, philosophy,

156
logic and elocution.

In addition to Parker, who effectively had the oversight of the College (which had a

committee of management), the bulk of the academic training was undertaken by two

tutors: J. R. Thomson who taught preaching, elocution, English Language, ecclesiastical

history and the Greek Language and Testament; and J. B. Paton, who lectured in theology

and philosophy. 157 In Manchester the College, which had been commenced in 1860, was

It
only moderately successful. openedwith eight students,which by the end of the first

year had increasedto twenty and at the conclusion of the secondyear to twenty-five.158

155 Parker, op. cit., p. 39.

156 Prospectusof Cavendish Theological College, Manchester (n.d.).

157 Second annual report of the Cavendish Theological College, Manchester, fior the Education of Home
and Foreign Missionaries, Pastors and Evangelists, 1862.

158 Ibid.

226
Because of the fewness of the numbers, the College, which relied on tuition fees,

subscriptions and donations for its income, was forced to curtail many of the more

practical aspects of its course. College through the decision to cover as far as possible the
159
accommodation costs of resident students, which comprised a majority, only six coming
160
from Manchesterand its environs.

Cavendish Theological College, Manchester, had been established in 1860 on an

experimental basis for three years. In a letter from the management committee dated 26th

May 1863 it was stated that the results justified the forming of a permanent institution

with a broader basis of support. A meeting was convened and held at the Victoria Chapel,

Derby, on 10th and I Ith June 1863 at which it was agreed that the College should be

located at a city other than Manchester.161 Nottingham was decided upon as a suitable

venue for resuming operations, and on 10th September 1863 J. B. Paton was appointed as

principal of the newly designated Nottingham Congregationalist Institute for Theological

and Seminary Training. 162 The course curriculum was similar to the one used at the

Collegewhen it had been situated in Manchester.163Whilst there, the College had aimed

at recruiting at least some of its students from the working class, making allowances for

an initial lack of education and subsidising their accommodation and fees. However, the

difficult financial circumstances of the College in its experimental period allowed only a

few tentative stepsin this direction.

159 Prospectus of the Cavendish Theological College, Manchester.

160 Second annual report of the Cavendish Theological College, Manchester, 1862.

161 With the Lancashire Independent College nearby, the promoting of the Cavendish Theological
College had caused,and evidently continued to cause,a deal of resentment. Even after the latter had been
in existence for eighteen months, it was still defensive about its situation. In a letter of 17th February
1862,as part of a general advertisement of the College and signed by the committee chairman and the two
principal tutors, J. B. Paton and J. R. Thomson, the relationship to other unnamed colleges was couched
in conciliatory terms: "We desire to hold towards existing Colleges the relation, not of a rival, but of an
auxiliary. "

162 John Lewis Paton : John Brown Paton: a Biograpkv (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1914),
pp.74-76.

163 R. R. Turner : 1863 Nottingham Congregational Institute Paton Congregational College 1963:
- - -
a brief surveY of origins and the men who developed it in The Congregational AlonthIv, Volume 11,
Number 480. December 1963 (London: Independent PressLtd.. 1963). p.8.

227
CavendishStreet Chapel contributed significantlyto the adult educationaland recreational

activity of its locality. In 1848 a literary society was established,164which after some

initial struggles was reorganised in 1854. In the early 1860s it secured central prenses by

renting rooms for its meetings at the Manchester Y. M. C.A. The group gathered

fortnightly on Monday evenings throughout the year with the exception of three months

during the summer. Members prepared papers for reading and discussion on various

subjects, including science, history, education, religion, penal refonn and econon-ks.
They paid an initial entrance fee of 2s 6d and a subscription thereafter of one sUling per

quarter. During the summer recess, the society organised an excursion at the time of the
165
August Bank Holiday.

In November 1895 the activities of the Cavendish Street Chapel were supplementedby the

forming of a Pleasant Sunday Afternoon meeting. The purpose of the association was

religious and the meetings were informal and designed for persons who would not usually

attend a church. The initiative was successful in that it provided a means of bringing those

who attended into contact with the church and its various organisations. The Chapel

made many other attempts to reach its immediate community. It organised a Sunday

School, a day school and a ragged school which met on Sunday evenings. It had strong

connections with the Lancashire Independent College and gave strong support to the

work of the college settlement at River Street, Hulme, with the pastors from the chapel,

Charles Leach and James Cregan, being frequent visitors. In 1908 the chapel formed an

institute for social purposes, and rooms in the school were set aside for its use. The

institute was open in the evenings and functioned as a community centre for the working-

classneighbourhood, and provided facilities for reading, games and other recreations.166

Other churches in the district promoted recreational activities during the 1890s. The

164 This Society was still in existence a centurv later.

165 Programme of the Cavendish Literary Society. 1864.

166 T. T. James : Cm,endish Street Chapel, Ifanchester: Centenav Commemoration 1848 1948
-
(Manchester: Cavendish Street Chapel, 1948).

228
Moss Side Baptist Chapel in 1894 formed a band of the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon

movementfor its
men which at peak attracted audiencesapproachingeight hundred. The

chapel by 1899 was holding some fifty meetings per week for the numerous agencies

organisedby it, many of them which were directly or indirectly educational,and included

Bible classes,lectures, a Penny Savings' Bank and a thrift society. 167

The library of the Dob Lane Chapel in Failsworth168 was until near the end of the

nineteenth century the only lending library in the district, although the number of

subscribers, following its founding in 1796, in any given year was comparatively small. A
Sunday School had been established in 1812, and day schools for boys and girls were

opened in 1861. New buildings were erected in 1887, and evening classeswhich offered

tuition in science, art, commercial and domestic economy subjects were started in 1888.

The chapel had several educational and recreational groups connected with it. A mutual

improvement society had been formed in 1866 and a Ladies' Sewing Society in 1882. For

recreation purposes, a cricket club had been founded in 1874 and a lawn tennis club in

1886.169

During the nineteenth century several missions, which usually had connections with

Nonconformist chapels in the district, were started in Manchester. Their work was

primarily religious and redemptive, although some included educational and recreative

activities for adults amongst their programmes. The Manchester Domestic Mission

Society, established in 1833, included Unitarian ministers from Cross street (J. G.

Robberds and William Gaskell), Mosley Street (John JamesTayler, who was also the

principal at Manchester New College) and Strangeways (J. R. Beard) on its committee,

and was helped in its work by students from the Unitarian Home Missionary College in

167 D. D. Pringle : The Stoy of Aloss Side Baptist Church, Manchester: 1808 1958 (Manchester,
-
1958).

168 The Chapel had a strong connection with Manchester New College when it was situated iii
Manchester between 1786 and 1803 and 1840 to 1853.

169 Alexander Gordon : Historical account of Dob Lane Chapel, Failsworth, and its schools
(Manchester: Rawson and Co.. 1904), pp.49 and 64-6-5.

229
Victoria Park, Manchester, which had been founded in 1854 Although funding was
.
provided almost entirely by Unitarians, the mission from the outset was
170
undenominational.

In 1836 the Mission moved to Miles Platting to rooms offered free of charge, probably by

the Mechanics'Institute there. Co-operationbetweenthe directors of the Institute and the

Mission was close, and visits and excursions for the two groups were arranged

occasionally.171 Towards the end of the 1850s further n-fissions were established at
Rochdale Road and in Hulme, the latter staffed primarily by students from the Unitarian

Home Missionary College. By 1860 the mission in Hulme organised educational even-ing

classes for adults; the Boys' Evening School there had thirty-four pupils on its register,

and the school for girls had fifty-five. During the years of the cotton famine, the Mission

conducted a sewing school for factory girls, a mutual improvement society and, some

years later, a ragged school which met on Sunday 172

evenings.

In 1877 the Rochdale Road Nfission transferred its activities to Willert Street, Collyhurst,

and was able substantially to broaden the educational and recreational scope of its work.
By 1881 a Window Gardening Society had been formed, 173and cookery classes were

establishedfor women. By 1884 a considerable amount of educational activity was being

carried out, for which the committee of the Mission granted free use of the but
premises,
by 1889 it had become evident that the rooms were inadequateto house the Boys' and

Girls' Clubs and the other varied enterprises associatedwith the Mission. In 1890

170 Rev. Herbert Perry :A Century of Liberal Religion and Philanthropy in Manchester, being a History
of the Manchester Domestic Mission Society, 1833 - 1933 (Manchester: H. Rawson and Co. Ltd., 1933),
pp.7-9. For the origins and progress of the (Manchester) Unitarian Home Missionary College, see
H. McLachlan : The Unitarian Home Missionmoy College 1854 - 1914: Its Foundation and Development
u4th some account of the Missionary activities of its members (London: Sherratt and Hughes, 1915).

171 Perry, ibid., p. 14.

172 Perry, ibid., PP.28-29.31 and 34.

173 Gardening was a popular pastime amongst many from the working class, and it was an activit%
encouraged by their employers. For an examination of this type of recreation as a benevolent form of
social control, see S. Martin Gaskell : Gardensfor the Working Class P`ictorian Practical Pleasure in
.-
I'ictorian Studies, Volume 23, Number 4, Summer 1980, pp.479-501,

230
additional buildings were erectedin Willert Street to accommodatethe recreativeactivities

of the Mission. In April 1891 the premises were formally opened, and the Trustees (which

some ten years later included T. R. Marr) allowed the use of the rooms for "such

philanthropic, educationalrecreativeand other similar purposesas they may from time to

time determine,with a proviso that the Willert Street Domestic Mission, which had given
free quarters to the Clubs hitherto should have free use of the prerriseson Sundaysfor
"
174
any purposesthey may thinkfit. The Boys' Club met on Monday eveningsand the

Girls' Club on Wednesday,and by 1894, in co-operation with the Manchesterand Salford

Recreative Evening Classes Committee, courses were being offered in dressmaking,

millinery, knitting, crochet, painting, drawing, and ambulance classes for girls, and in

drawing, fretwork and gymnastics for boys.175 These classes, which by 1896-7 were

attracting an aggregate attendance of about 340 each week, 176continued each year up to

1914. However, classes which taught academic subjects were discontinued in 1906

through the decision taken by the committee (which at this time included J. H. Reynolds,

one of Manchester'sjoint Directors of Education) that the Clubs should continue their

social and recreative activities, with an emphasis upon voluntaryism, and encourage

to
members attend educationalclassesat other existing facilities.177

By 1900 the Collyhurst Recreation Rooms had established firm contact with the university

settlementat Ancoats. Helen Fisher, one of the settlementworkers, acted as honorary

secretaryat the Recreation Rooms for two and a half years between 1900 and 1903,
dividing her time equally between the institutions at Collyhurst and Ancoats. Wednesday

evenings were now directed to lectures, and visitors from the in

settlement that capacity
included the wardens, AJice Crompton and T. R. Marr, and H. Pilkington Turner. Helen

174 A nnual report of the Col4vhurst Recreation Room, Willert Street, 189-1.

175 Annual report of the Col4vhurst Recreation Room, If"illert Street, 1894.

176 Annual report of the Col4vhurst Recreation Room, WillertStreet, 1897.

"' Annual report of the Col4vhurst Recreation Room, Willert Street, 1905-1906.

231
Fisher's fiance, the historian R. C. K. Ensor, lectured at the Collyhurst Girls' Club in

1904-1905.178

In the fifty years to 1914, the Missions at Hulme and Collyhurst did essential philanthropic

work in these working-class districts. Although the provision of educational and

recreative activities for adults was only a subsidiaryobjective, the Missions, which were
heavily dependenton support from the middle class, offered the opportunity to hundreds

of working-class men and women to improve existing skills and to learn new ones. Such
initiatives were supported by other entertainments offered by similar organisations, notable

among which was the Saturday night concerts, inaugurated by S. F. Collier (1855 1921)
-

of the Manchester and Salford Methodist Mission, to act as a counter attraction to the

public houses and the music halls.

179 One rather curious disservicehe appearsto have

done the cause of adult education in Manchesterwas an afternoon service for working

people (to commemorate the opening of the new Central Hall premises in Oldham Street

in 1886) which aimed "to combat ignorance about the faith and to combat scientific,

historic lectures largely attended."180 In this instance, the explanation probably lies in

Collier's reluctance to see secular adult education activities conflicting with the more

central religious purpose of the Mission.

Unlike the Nonconforn-fistrecord in adult education,the contribution in Manchesterby the

Anglican church during the nineteenth and early twentieth centufies was far more

181
intermittent. Like many of the Nonconformist chapelsin the city, Anglican churches

178 Annual report of the Col4vhurstRecreation Room, Willert Street,for 1901,1903 and 1905.

179 George Jackson : Collier of Manchester: a ftiend's tribute (London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd.,
1923), p. 133.

180 John Banks : The Stuv so far: the first 100 vears of the Manchester and Saford Methodist Mission
'
(Manchester: Manchester and Salford Methodist Mission. 1986),p.30. For the earlier historv of the
Manchester and Salford Methodist Mission, see also W. Russell Shearer : These sixty vears
-
(commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of the Manchester and 561ford Methodist Mission) (Manchester:
The Manchester and Salford Methodist Mission. 1946).

181 Finding evidence of adult education activity in Manchester during the nineteenth century connected
NNiththe Church of England has been extremely difficult. Enquires at the Manchester Diocesan Board of
Education and at the Church of England Record Centre in Bcrmondsey proved entirely unproductiN,e, and
investigations at the Greater Manchester County Record Office at New Cross. Manchester and in the

232
had similar parochial organisations, including those which were concerned with the

provision of educational and recreative facilities. This informal network supplemented a

rather more formal structure which evolved under the jurisdiction of the Church of
England Provincial Councils for Religious Education which before 1948 were centrally

by
adrninistered the National Society.182Following the passageof the Education Act of
1870, at a meeting convened by the Bishop of Manchester on October 1870 and held in

the Manchester Town Hall, the Manchester Diocesan Board of Education was formed. Its

main objects were to ensure the provision of elementary education in accordance with the

doctfines of the Church of England; to secure adequateschool accommodation;and to

recruit sufficient suitableteachingstaff. Where eveningschoolswere held, classesusually

met between 7.00 p. m. and 9.00 p. m. and followed a similar curriculum to the morning
183
andafternoon schools.

Churches had a variety of recreational and social activities for their congregations. At St.

Benedict's Church, Ardwick, for example, a flourishing Men's Club operated in the 1890s,

arranging social gatherings. Objections were raised to this club meeting on Sundays, but

the rector felt that it achieved a useful purpose and that Sunday was a day of rest which

might take various forms - "a good walk or a ride on a bicycle to get some fresh air, or a

quiet game of draughts [which] will do ... good and not harm, and [they] will go back to

[their] work restedand refreshed."184By 1895the rangeof social activities had increased.

Archives Department at the Manchester Central l1brary which is the Diocesan Record Office for
Manchesterunearthed little of significance, despite the helpfulness of staff. Consequently the account has
had to rely heavily on the rather fragmentary secondarysourcesavailable.

182 From 1948 the work of the National Council was taken over by the Church of England Council for
Education, the work of which was carried out by five departmental councils concerned with children,
schools,youth, the Church Training Colleges and adult education. Usually each diocese has a Diocesan
Education Council with these various sub-committees. SeeJ. W. M. Vyse : The Church of England and
Adult Education in Adult Education, Volume 27, Number 1, Summer 1954, p.57. In 1958 the Church of
England Council for Education was replaced by the Church Assembly Board of Education. which became
in 1970 the General Synod Board of Education.

183 First annual report of the Manchester Diocesan Board of Education, 1871.

184 T. W. Freeman : Seven(v-flve.vears at St. Benedict's, Ardwick. The Stoty of the Parish and Church
of St. Benedict's, Ardwick, Manchester, since the consecration of the Church on March 20th, 1880
(Manchester, 1955), p.9.

233
Billiards and whist games were played against other local churches; cricket and football

teams were formed, and a swimming club was established. Through the organisationof

sports pastimes, concerts, excursions, sales and suppers the church gradually becamemore

of a presence in its community. For young men a Scout troop was formed, and in April

1913 a Boys' Club was founded in rooms paid for by Worksop College. The premises

were the venue for social events, concerts and arts and crafts classeswhich included

joinery, leatherwork, wood carving, tailoring and basketry.185

The range of facilities available varied from church to church, but generally parochial

organisations strengthened between 1880 and 1900. In 1895 at St. Gabriel's Church,

Hulme, a Company of the Church Lads'Brigade was formed, and in the following year the

church founded an Orchestral Society which commenced with thirty members. A Girls'
Friendly Society was established in 1905, and in 1913 a Men's Club was started. Its

members furnished and equipped the club room with games and a billiard table. The club

was directly connected with the church, and only those who attended St. Gabriel's were
186
elegibleto join.

In the 1890s the Young Men's Association, similar to the Y. M. C. A., was formed at

Manchester Cathedral. Its main objective was to encourage young men to continue their

connectionwith the Sunday school as teachers,and the enterpriseprovided recreational

187
andeducationalactivities for its members.

The provision of adult education in Manchester by the Roman Catholic Church for

congregations which had a significant proportion of attenders from the working class was

far more organised and systematic than that provided by the Anglicans.188 Formal

185 Ibid., pp. II and 18.

186 William R. Cannell : Histmy qf, t. Gabriel's Church, Huhne, 1869 1929 (Manchester: George
-
Falkner and Sons, 1919), pp.73,75,84 and 92.

187 Rev. John EIvy : Recollections of the Cathedral and Parish Church of Manchester (Manchester,
1913),p.622.

188 1 acknowledge Nvith gratitude the assistance and co-operation received from Fr. David Lannon, the

234
initiatives included the establishment by Herbert Vaughan in January 1876 of St. Bede's

College. Initially situated in Grosvenor Square, it transferred soon to Mexandra Park

and

moved to its present location in 1880. The College was one of the first commercial

schools to be established, and was divided into two departments - elementary and
technological. Adolescentswere preparedfor careersin commerce,law, the army and the
civil service. 119

Adult education for Roman Catholics was given considerable impetus by Herbert

Vaughan, Bishop of Salford from 1872 - 1892,190 and he was the prime mover behind

several formal initiatives. Following the response of the Manchester School Board to the

Technical Instruction Act of 1889, Vaughan moved quickly and on 21st September 1889

circulated a letter to all Catholic clergy in the Salford diocese announcing that Catholic

Continuation Schools for the teaching of scienceand literature would be openedin four

in
centres Manchester and Salford on 30th September 1889. Clergy were asked to make

this known at services on Sunday 22nd September and a meeting of clergy to discuss the

necessary arrangements was convened for the following day. 191 In the event, evening

continuationschoolswere conductedat five centresin Manchesterand Salford- at Salford

Cathedral Boys' School; St. Anne's, Ancoats; St. Austin's, Granby Row; St. Patrick's,

Livesey Street; and St. Wilfrid's, Hulme. Instruction was given in reading, writing,

arithmetic, English, geography,drawing, wood carving, French, German and Latin. The

numberregisteredat the eveningcentreswas 489, and there was an averageattendanceof

3 10. In view of the success of this expefiment, the classes at all five centres were

Salford Diocesan Archivist at the SacredHeart Presbytery,Derker, Oldham.

189 Almanacfor the Diocese of Salford, 1877; The Harvest (a monthly magazine), Volume 4, Number
48. September 1891. In 1891 St. Bede's College amalgamatedwith the Salford Catholic Grammar School
which had been founded in 1862 and was originally a preparatory school for candidates for the
priesthood.

190 In March 1892 Vaughan Nvaselected as Archbishop of Westminster.

19, A brief and rather general account of the work of the Catholic evening continuation schools in
Manchester is given by Caroline Coignou in M. E. Sadler (ed.): Continuation Schools in England and
Elsewhere: their Place in the Educational vstein of an Industrial and Commercial State (Manchester:
Manchester Universio, Press. 1908. secondedition), pp. 198-202.

235
 in
continued the following year, and a sixth centre was establishedat St. Edmund's,Nfiles
Platting. 192Threecentres Salford Cathedral Boys' School, St. Patrick's and St. Wilfrid's
- -
were used on Wednesday evenings for the South Kensington science classes, and the

course comprised magnetism and electricity; physics; elementary chemistry; physiography

and physiology; mathematics;and hygiene. In addition, classeswere held in cookery,

domesticeconomy,dressmaking,embroideryand laundry work for women and girls over

fourteen years of age at three venues- Adelphi Convent, Salford; PresentationConvent,

Livesey Street; and St. Mary's Convent, Byrom Street. Nursing classeswere also held at

the Sisters of Charity Convent in Goulden Street. Classesfor teachers were arranged on

Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. until noon at St. Austin's, Granby Row (cookery and

domestic economy); St. Michael's, Ancoats (drawing); and St. Bede's College (languages,

sciences and joinery). 191

Vaughan followed up this initiative shortly afterwards by proposing on 24th March 1890

the formation of a Christian Art and Crafts Guild "to raise and improve the condition and

influence those who possesstalent and character among the Catholic working population,

in Manchesterand Salford." Vaughan characteristically wasted no time, and his letter of

29th August 1890 to all clergy in the Salford diocese informed them of the opening of a

Christian Art and Crafts School in Dover Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock. Subjects taught

included drawing, wood carving, joinery and modelling in clay. Entrance requirements

included the desirability that the boys should have attained Standard 4 and should be

attending a Roman Catholic School; that they attend manual instruction school for at least

two hours a week for 22 weeks during the year; and that each student should pay a
194
weekly fee of twopence.

These formal initiatives were supported by several more informal ventures. One of the

192 Prospectus of the Salford and Manchester Continuation Ychools issued from St. Bede's College,
Manchester, on 26th September 1889. The Harvest. Volume 3, Number 35. August 1890.

193 Prospectus of the Salford andA fanchester Continuation Schools,ibid.

194 Letter from Herbert Vaughan. Bishop of Salford, to all clergy in the diocese. 29th August 1890.

236
earliest of these was begun in the late 1850s by Rev. Thomas Unsworth at the Mission of

the Church of St. Mary of the Angels and St. Clare, Alma Park, Levenshulme,who

in
openeda night school a room adjoining his home in
and quickly succeeded attracting a
large class of young persons, both Catholic and Protestant. 195 Several branches of the

Catholic Girls' Mutual Aid Society (established 1886) were formed in Manchester and

offered evening classesin sewing, knitting, reading and wfiting. 196 In the 1890s, in

connectionwith the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the St. Chad's Working Lads' Free

Club was formed - concerts and singing competitions were organisedduring the winter

months, and by 1893 the club had a membership of 255. In Angel Meadow, one of the

poorer districts of Manchester, a club "for the better class of lads" was begun in 1891,

with a subscription of twopence per week, and within two years had 74 197
members.

In January 1908 an important venture, the Catholic Women's League, was launched in the

presence of the president of the London Catholic Women's League, Margaret Fletcher.

Although the primary objective of this group was to pursue various forms of social work

among girls and women, some of its activities were directed towards education. During

the first year, lectures were given on several social questions and a debating society was

formed. By the end of the year, the membership numbered 212.191 In the following year

series of lectures from October to May were given in several districts of Manchester, 199

and by 1913 classesto help and instruct Catholic in

mothers practical matters in the

upbringing of their children had been established at Ancoats, Eccles, Salford and
Oldham.200 Girls' Clubs, meeting weekly, were formed in 1910 at Eccles, Ancoats and

Hulme, and a further one was commencedat Openshawin 1912. In that year a Catholic

195 AImanacfor the Diocese ofSafbrd, 1884.

196 The Han, est, Volume 1, Number 1, October 1887.

197 The Han, est, Volume 6. Number 71, August 1893.

198 Almanacfor the Diocese ofSalford, 1909.

199 A Imanacfor the Diocese of Salford, 1910.

200 Imanac for the Diocese qf Salford, 19 13.

.-1

237
Girls' Club Union, comprising those four clubs together with one at Tottington, was

formed, and in 1914 new branches of the Catholic Women's League were started at

Levenshulmeand AJtrincham.201

In 1909 a course of evening lectures for Catholics on current social questions was given at

St. Bede'sCollege under the title of Ae Catholic School of Social Science. The lectures

were so successful that in the following year the venue was changed to a more central
location at the Holy Family Hall in Grosvenor Square (Oxford Road) and meetings were

held on Wednesday evenings. For the 1909 - 1910 sessionthe fee for the entire series of

lectureswas five shillings, although membersof the Catholic Federationand the Catholic

Women's League were allowed a substantial concessionary rate,

1909 - 1910 Session202

No. of Lectures Lecturer Title of Course

6 Rev J. Lomax The Social Teaching of Leo XIII

4 Rev. F. Nugent Liberty and Law

4 Fr. J. J. Welch Catholic Principles of Social Economy

4 Very Rev. Dr. Poock Work and Wages

Unspecified Rev. Osmund Woods Interest and Usury

Unspecified Mr. M. J. O'Loughlin History of the Poor Law

Series of lectures of this type were continued for several years, and from 1912 onwards

admissionwas free.203

In 1907 the Salford Diocesan Catholic Federation was established under the presidency of

201 A Imanacsfor the Diocese of Salford, 1910,1912.1913 and 1914.

202 A hnanacfor the Diocesc of Salford, 1910.

203 Almanac fior the Diocesc of, afiord, 1910.

238
the Bishop of Salford, the Rt. Rev. Louis Casartelli. It was concerned with matters

religious, political and educational,and the Manchester and Salford District Comffttee

had various sub-committees,including onesfor Education, TradesUnions, and a Literary

and Debating committee. In its first year the literary and Debating sub-comn-kteemet

thirteen times, with an average attendance of fourteen, had lectures and debates on

socialism and its relation to Catholicism) trades unionism, the secular policy of the Labour

Party, and various moral and social issues. Debating competitions were held with the

Young Men's Society's Central Council and the Bolton Catholic Literary Society during
204
the first year.

In the years leading up to the First World War, two associations came into being which

to
endeavoured give greater prominence to Catholic art, music and drama. In 1908 the

Catholic Philharmonic Society was establishedto perform two concerts each year of high-

class choral works by Catholic composers or which were of a Catholic nature. Three

years later the Lancashire Catholic Players Society was founded to encourage interest in

the work of Catholic artists and dramatists. Both groups gave an impetus to the writing

and performance of Catholic works before 1914.205

During the latter half of the nineteenth century the Nonconformist, Anglican and Roman

Catholic denominationshad become far more alert to the usefulnessof recreationaland

educationalactivities for adults - whether on a formal or an informal basis - as a support

to the primary spiritual and moral purpose of the churches in ministering to the welfare of

their congregations.For one denomination - the Quakers - the link between religious

teachingand adult education was even stronger, and education assumeda central rather

than a subsidiaryrole in the activities of the Society of Friends.

204 First annual report of the Salford Diocesan Catholic Federation, 31st March 1909.

205 Imanacsfor the Dioccsc of Saford 1911 and 1913.

-1

239
THE ADULT SCHOOL MOVEMENT IN MANCHESTER TO 1914

Whilst what is often regarded as the first adult school in England was started in

Nottingham in 1798,206the provision of education for adults was by no means a new

dating
phenomenon, back to the 16th and 17th 207
centuries. The first sytematicattempts

at formal organisation for adults in England and Wales in

occurred the early part of the
18th century, and were supplementedsubsequentlyby the work of the Charity Schools,

Circulating Schools (in Wales) and Sunday Schools as the century progressed. The work

of the first adult schoolswas narrow in its scopeand basedto someextent on a desirethat

the poorer classesshould both hear and learn to read Scriptures through using the Bible as

their textbook. Although many of those responsible for the organisation of these schools

were doubtless genuinely philanthropic in their endeavours, it is difficult to escape the

conclusion that at least in part the wish to use education as a means of social control

provided a strong motivation for their efforts. In the opening decadesof the nineteenth

century the French Revolution was still vivid in the memories of many who feared a

similar occurrence in England, and there was concern that the volatile nature of the

societieswhich were emerging in the new and rapidly growing industrial cities would

result in riots and disturbanceswith the potential to overthrow the establishedorder of

government either nationally or locally. 208

During the following twenty years the movement for adult schools spread gradually in

Wales, the Midlands and Bristol, and to a lesser extent in the north of England. These

Bible
earliestschools were primarily undenominational their
classes, main aims being to

206 Its founders were Samuel Fox, a member of the Society of Ffiends, and William Singleton, a
Methodist, who wished to teach reading from the Bible, writing and afithmetic to adults.

207 See Ministry of Reconstruction : Adult Education Committee: Final Report (London: H. M. S.O.,
1919), pp. 11-13, G. Currie Martin : TheAdult SchoolMovement (London, National Adult School Union,
1924), p. 19, Thomas Kell, : Histo,v of Adult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool: Liverpool
.4
Universitv Press, 1992, Third Edition), Pp.21.34-36.

208 Similar fears were responsible in some measure for the provision of the Lvceums in the Manchester
area in the late 1830s as a relatively informal agenc,
of adult education intended to cater for those drawn
from the working class.

240
teach reading and to instil in the working class some moral and spiritual values.209 By

1824 in Manchestera school for adults had beenestablishedin connectionwith Mr Roby's

Congregational Chapel in Aytoun Street for the teaching of reading, and classes met

before the morning and afternoon services.210 In the sameyear a school was formed at

Greengate, Salford, which met on Monday and Friday evenings, offering classes in

in
elementarychemistryand mathematics addition to the usual subjects 211
taught.

The desirability or wisdom of providing education for a working class which possibly

might be hostile to the values of the upper and middle classesof society was an issue

which engendered considerable speculation. In the 1820s and 1830s it was felt by some

that education might be used by discontented elements among the working class as a

means of undermining social order and of creating a demand for widespread and radical

change. The balance to this rather alarmist view was a more moderate reasoning which

that
suggested the despondent
prognosticationswhich were so much feared would indeed

happen unless the working class was educated to appreciate the nature of its role in

society and to accept the values adopted by that society. Shapin and Barnes show that

from the end of the eighteenthcentury remedieswhich would assist in the alleviation of

social problems including crime, drunkenness, declining standards of morality and unruly

behaviour,were sought through institutions which varied in tone from the repressiveto

the more liberally educational. In their article, the writers cite the developmentof law

enforcement agencies, Sunday Schools and, later, mechanics' institutes as practical

212
responsesto the problems of controlling an increasingly industrialised population.

Estimates as to which years constitute the first phase of the adult school movement differ,

209 Kelly. op-cit., pp. 152-153.

210 Currie Martin, op.cit., p. 55. By 1849 evening classeshad been established at this chapel for wrIfing,
arithmetic, grammar, geography and drawing. See Kelly, ibid., p. 153.

211 Currie Martin. ibid., p. 55.

212 Steven Shapin and BaMr Barnes : Science, Nature and Control : Interpreting Mechanics' Institutes
(Social Studies of Science. Volume 7,1977), pp. 31-74.

241
but it seemsclear that the progressduring the early years, which had been comparatively
1830S. 213
modest, had stopped, and the movementwas in decline by the late 1820s and
The reasonsfor this setbackwere diverse, but included the lack of sufficient competent

teachers, the failure of classes which taught adults and children together, and the

somewhat patronising attitude of certain organisers of the schools towards their

214
scholars. Two rather more pressing difficulties, which proved most awkward to

resolve, were the economic depressionswhich occurred in the late 1820s and the late
1830s, where survival assumed a higher priority than education as far as those most

seriously affected among the working class were concerned, and the determined

opposition in some quarters to the teaching of writing in addition to reading in adult

215
schools.

The second phase of the adult school movement dated from about 1845 through to the

1880s, its initial impetus being received through the work in Birmingham of Joseph Sturge

and William White.216 The conditions under which the revitalisation took place were

213 Emest Champness in Adult Schools :a study in pioneering (Wallingford, Surrey: The Religious
Education Press, 1941), p. 13., suggeststhe period 1798 to 1816 constituted the first epoch of the adult
school movement-,J.F. C. Harrison : Learning and Living, 1790 - 1960 :A Stuqv in the History of the
English Adult Education Movement (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1961), p. 195, offers alternative
datesof 1812 to 1824, the years following the founding of the first adult school at Bristol.

214 During the nineteenth century this third factor recurs with depressing frequency in ventures which
were provided by the wealthier middle class for the education of the working class.

215 J.W. Hudson : The History of Adult Education (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans,
1851), p.22; Currie Martin, op.cit., p.69.

216 JosephSturge (1793-1859) had moved to Birmingham in 1822. He was a noted philanthropist, and
was actively involved in the Peaceand Anti-Slavery movements. He founded the Friends' Adult School in
SevernStreet, Birmingham, in 1845, and following a meeting held at his home in February 1847 a school
for women and girls was established in the city. For the rest of his life, Sturge contributed useftilly to the
developmentof adult school work in Birmingham.

William White (1820-1900), an active campaigner for the temperance movement, was, like Sturge, a
member of the Society of Friends. He became a partner in a printing works and resided in Birmingham
from 1848. He was elected to the Town Council in 1873, and was appointed in 1875 as chairman of the
Town Improvement Committee. The centre of Birmingham was redeveloped as a result of the
committee's report, His prominence in public life (he was chosen as Mavor of Birmingham in 1882-3)
aided the promotion of the adult school movement in the city. He travelled nationally on behalf of the
movement and for ten years acted as editor of the Afonth4v Record, a magazine chronicling the activities
of the Society of Friends. On the formation in 1899 of the National Council of Adult Schools, White
presided at its first three meetings before his death in the autumn of 1900. For a fuller account of the
contributions of Sturge and White to the development of the adult school movement, see Currie Martin,
ibid, pp.72-89 and 1-53.and J.W. Rowntree and H. B. Binns : .4 Histov of the 4dult School k1ovement
.
242
rather different from those of the 1790s. From the late 1840s the country experienced a

period of comparative prosperity, and the scope of adult school work began to alter. It

was becoming increasingly appreciated that the continued safety of democracy lay in the

education of the working class. The experiences gained through the mechanics' institutes

had indicated a need to give some measure of control to those for whom the institutions

were intendedto cater, and accordinglythe patronising elementwhich had beenpresentto

some degree in the earlier years of the movement diminished. In addition to a more
democratic approach expressedin the schools, there was an extension of their original

purpose. Perhapsthe emergenceof other agenciesof educationhad made it possiblefor

less attention to be given by the adult schools to instruction in the basics of reading,

writing and arithmetic, for there was now a much more marked concentration on the

moral and religious aspectsof the work. The adult schoolswere by this time linked much

more strongly with the Society of Friendsthan they had beenduring their formative years,

and this was evidencedby a greater sensethat studentsshould be taught and encouraged
to practise the teachings of the Scriptures in their daily lives and to be an asset to their

communities.

Important to the future of the adult school movement was the formation at Birmingham in

1847 of the Friends' First Day School Association (F.F.D. S.A. ) which connected the

numerousadult and Sundayschoolsconductedby the membersof the Society of Friends.

At that time the objectivesof the Associationwere describedas-

"I st, to diffuse information generally on the subject of First-day Schools; 2nd, to
establish regular intercourse amongst them, whether by correspondence, mutual
conference, or other means; 3rd, to increase the efficiency of Schools already in
existence; and, 4th, to encourage, and assist in, the formation of new Schools."217

Initially the Association was concernedprimarily with SundaySchool work, but over the

with a new introduction and additional notes b'v Christopher Charlton (Nottingham: University of
Nottingham, Department of Adult Education, 1985, originally published in London by Headley Brothers.
1903), pp, 14-20 and Ixxxiii- xc.

217 Quoted in Rowntree and Binns. ibid., p.20.

243
years it became increasingly involved in the work of adult schools. By 1874 this had

become numerically the larger section of its activity. 218 The Association assisted and

guided adult schools which were connected with the Society of Friends. To be affiliated

with the Society schools had to meet on premisesbelonging to or under the control of

Friends, and teachers had to be membersof the Society of Friends. The Association

publishedreports, organisedconferencesand arrangedvisits between schools,and for five

years from 1895 it was responsiblefor the publication of One and All, the organ of the

adult school movement.219 The country was divided into areas controlled by District
Committees which met regularly, usually monthly or quarterly, and reported to a General

Committee.220

Largely through the energy and organisation of William White, deputations in the 1850s

visited Quaker centres in Durham, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Lancashire and London,

and by 1862 some thirty adult schools had been established. The more prominent included

those at Huddersfield (1856), Bristol (1857), York (1857), Leeds (1859), Dewsbury

(1859), Hitchin (1860), Plymouth (1861), Leicester (1861) and Luton (1862). 221 In an

attempt to translatetheir moral standpointsinto practical terms, new and establishedadult

schools encouraged the formation of savings' banks to promote thrift and so improve the

welfare of pupils, benefit funds to cater for the needsof memberswho were ill, libraries to

reinforce the tastes for reading which had been developed in the schools, temperance

societieswhich became in
an establishedactivity many adult schools,and pursuits on week

nights when secular subjects could be taught in addition to reading, writing and

arithmetic.222

218 Currie Martin, op.cit., p. 81.

219 One and, 11had been establishedas the national journal of the adult school movement in 1891. The
-]
monthly magazine had originally been the organ of the Nfidland Association, had been taken over by the
F.F.D. S.A. in 1895, and from 1900 was administered and distributed by the recently formed National
Council of Adult Schools. SeeRowntree and Binns, op.cit., note on p.39.

220 Currie Martin, op.cit., p. 138.

221 Rowntree and Binns, op.cit., pp.21-22.

222 Currie Martin. op.cit., pp.94-95.

244
F
4he contribution be by adult schools towards the general improvement
which could made
Pole. 223
of society was commentedupon at somelength by Thomas He saw the education

of the poorest sections of society as being of general benefit to the entire community,

partly through in
a reduction crime by the moral improvement in parents who would be

ableto study the teachingsof the Bible becauseof their ability to read and so receivethe
benefits of such instruction, and also through the discovery of unused talents. Education

was also seen as influencing the state of peace and prosperity within society since

membersof the population who were devoting effort to work and to self-improvement,

and who by so doing improved their material situation in life, would have neither the time

nor the inclination to causeviolence or disturbance, it

especiallywhen would not be in
their interests so to do. Linked with this was the religious improvement which Pole

in if
argued would occur society education were disseminated more widely. 224

One major step forward at this time was that from the outset adult schools were prepared

to cater equally for malesand females,the view being taken that the educationof women

was important because they were the ones who exercised the more influence upon their

children. Whilst this was not the most egalitarian of motives for the encouraging of

developments in education for women, it did reflect quite accurately the belief amongst

the wealthier middle class that the family provided the basis for stability within society.

Writing about educationin Manchesterin 1850, J. W. Hudson points out that there were
225
in
no adult schools the city at that time. Certainly there were schools at which adults

receivedinstruction, including the eveningclassesat the Roby Day and Sundayschoolsin

Aytoun Street and a class held by the Rev. J. L. Poore at the Independent Chapel, Salford.

There is also evidence to suggest that the Manchester Mechanics' Institution provided

223 Thomas Pole :A Histov of the Origins and Progress of Adult Schools :A Facsimile of the 1816
edition with an Introduction and Biographical Notes b'v Coolie Verner (Washington D. C., Adult
Education Association of the United Statesof America, 1967), pp.60-70.

224 One would not necessarily follow as a consequenceof the other, however.

225 Rather curiously he then goes on to provide evidence of the existence of t,%N,
o schools catering for the
education of adults. See Hudson. op.cit.. p. 20.

245
classesin elementary reading and writing for adults.226 Hudson's general conclusions

concerningthe decline of adult schoolsby 1850 becauseof their work being superseded
by other educationalagenciesare only partly correct. Other organisations,someon a far

more informal basis, were indeed emerging and did take over some of the work done
by
previously adult schools,but the late 1840sand 1850ssaw the beginningsof a change
in the fortunes of the schoolsbecauseof the wider appeal.

The first adult school in Manchestei-227wasstarted in 1860 in Piccadilly by John Hodgson,

a draper, who was a member of the Society of Friends.228 During the next few years the
if
school made steady unspectacular progress and provided classesin reading and writing,

a library, a savings' bank and lectures.229 The venture was aided by professors from
Owens College, and the school played an active part in relief work for the victims of the

Cotton Famine of 1861-65.230 The school began also to teach secular subjects to classes

at night during the week, initially instructing men and women on alternate weeks. At first,

writing lessons were confined to Sunday afternoons, but as the school numbers grew

226 Ed. D. S.L. Cardwell : Artisan to Graduate : Essqys to commemorate the foundation in 1824 the
of
Manchester Mechanics' Institution, now in 1974 the University of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974), p.63.

227 This was also the last surviving adult school in Manchester, closing in 1986. G. Currie Martin in his
detailed but discursive historv of the adult education movement gives two different dates, 1860 and 1861,
for the founding of the Manchester Central Adult School. Wilfrid T. Ecroyd, an early historian of the
development of the adult school movement in north- west England, gives 1860 as the school's date of
inception.

228 1 am indebted to Mrs Ivy Ecroyd for providing me with three articles written by Wilfrid T. Ecroyd,
who was a lifelong worker for adult schools in Manchester, which deal with the history of the Manchester
Central Adult School and the origins and development of adult schools in Lancashire and Cheshire. At
this point it would also be appropriate for me to record my gratcftil thanks for the kind assistance I
received from Mr Christopher Charlton and the Department of Adult Education at the University of
Nottingham who so generously provided me with material from the Manchester and District Supplement
of One and Afl, the journal of the National Adult School Union. The account of the work of the adult
school movement in Manchester is drawn largely from these sources.

229 The provision of instruction in writing still causeda certain amount of controversy at this time. See
Currie Martin, op.cit., p. 99.

230 During the years of the American Civil War many people in Lancashire, and at Manchester
in
particular, suffered extreme hardship becauseof the shortage of raw cotton from the United States. See
Gary S. Messinger : Hanchester in the Victorian Age : The half known civ (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1985), p. 115. For details of the provision of education for cotton operatives in
Manchester and other towns affected during this period, seeJohn Watts: The Facts of the Cotton Famine,
(London: Simpkin. Marshall and Co.. Manchester: A Ireland and Co., 1866), pp.201-212.

246
larger the resistance lessened. By 1864 the membership had increased to about one

hundred,and a women'sschool was openedin 1865.

In the late 1860sthe work of the adult school movementas a whole gatheredmomentum

from the publication from 1869 onwards of the Monthly Record, a journal which provided

detailsof the various activities of the Society of Friends,including the adult schools. This

impetus was strengthenedby the Education Act of 1870, the provisions of which during
the following years left adult schools increasingly free from teaching reading and writing

andgave them more time to devote to moral and religious instruction.231Asocial element

was introduced in 1875 when John Blackham, an Independent Deacon in West Bromwich,

formed The Pleasant Sunday Afternoon (P. S.A. ) movement. This activity was quickly

establishedon a national basis, its aim being to attract those who would not ordinarily
have attended church services or adult school classes, and links were formed with other

religious denominations for its programme of events. Most P.S.A. societies were

associated with Nonconformist groups, and each society was self-supporting. By 1890

the movement had made significant headway, most societies admitting men only, although

a few cateredfor women only and somewelcomed both 232

sexes. The movementgained

ground rapidly in Manchester, and by 1895 societies had been formed at Chorlton-on-

Medlock, Longsight and Moss Side.

By 1871 the membershipof the adult school movementnumberedabout eight thousand.

During the following twenty years this figure increased to over twenty thousand, although

the progress was arrested during the years 1871-74,1878 and 1884-89.233 By 1890 a

crisis point had been reached, with the possibility of attendances falling significantly as the

231 Currie Martin, op.cit., pp. 101-103.

232 For a brief historv of the Pleasant Sundav Afternoon movement. see K. S. Inglis : Churches and the
Working Classes in Victorian England (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963), pp.79-85. In his
introduction and notes to Rowntree and Binns: A history of the Adult School Movement, Christopher
Charlton provides a careftil analysis of the changing nature of the relationship between the P.S.A.
movement and the adult schools. (see pp. 11v- Nil and pp.xc to xciii).

233 Rowntree and Binns. ibid, pp.25 and 33. and Appendix D of this thesis.

247
number of illiterates was reduced continually through the compulsory legislation for

in
elementaryeducation embodied the Act of 1870. The movementhad to be preparedto

adapt in order to prosper, and this challenge was appreciated and met. In 1891 the journal

One and All was founded, which helpedto give an overall structure and coherenceto the

work of the adult schools through the sharing and disseminationof news and ideas for

successful activities. At about the same time, what were termed "First Half-hour Talks"

were introduced at the meetings on Sunday mornings. Classeswould usually begin at

about 8.30 a.m. or 9.00 a.m. in order not to encroach upon the religious services of other

denominations,and these opening talks were usually non-religious in character. Some

schoolsprovided a more generalform of instruction during this time, including lessonsin

history, geography and science. This provision encouraged those who were not interested

in Scriptural study to attend the meetings. The adult schools had altered their approach

considerablyin that now scholarswho had attendedclasseswere encouragedto remain

with the movement rather than leave once their immediate learning objectives had been

In
achieved. addition, the distinction which previously had existed between teachersand

scholars became less apparent; all were regarded as being able to learn f rom each other. 234

The nature of the schools also was undergoing modification. Where they had been

formerly predominantly Quaker in outlook, by 1890 other organisations outside the

Friends'had set up their own versions of adult schoolswhich had no connectionwith the
235
Quakers and so did not come within the F.F.D. S.A. This was perhaps the most

significant factor in heralding what was to be the third and most decisive phase of

expansionin the adult school movement in England between 1890 and 1914. During the

1870sand the first half of the 1880s the number of schools establishedwhich were not

affiliated to the F.F.D. S.A. increasedrapidly, especiallyin Yorkshire, Leicestershireand

the Midlands. In 1884 William White, John Blackham and other interested parties formed

234 Champness, op.cit., pp. 18-19, ed. M. E. Sadler : Continuation 5chools in England and Elsewhere
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1908), pp.20-2 1.

235 Champness, lbid, p. 20-,A Handbook of Information for those who are in an wqv interested to
5chool Union (London: The National Adult *v
School Union,
promote the interests of the 4dult . vear of
.
publication not stated). pp-23-24.

248
the Midland Adult SundaySchool Associationto join together all the adult schoolsin the

area. The aims of the Association were stated to be "to promote mutual intercourse

amongstthe Adult Schools of the Midlands, to foster and improve existing schools,and to
in
assist establishingnew Schoolsin the Midlands and other parts of the country".236Five

years later the Leicester and County Working Men's Educational Union (later known as

the Leicestershire Adult School Union) was established, which by 1902 incorporated 88

men'sand women's schoolswith a membershipof about 7,000. Unions were established

of schools in London in 1889, in Somerset in 1890, and in Norfolk, Cambridge and

Huntingdon at about that time. However, the unions themselveshad not linked into a
it
confederation, although was clear that some structure of this nature would be required
in the near future. The most practical solution appeared to lie in an amalgamation

between these various unions and the F.F.D. S.A.

To a great extent a combination of events shaped the way in which the adult school

movement progressed. The decline in the rate of growth of membershipin the adult

schoolsorganisedby the Friends causedconcern,especiallysincea number of non-Quaker

adult schools had been formed during the 1880s and was increasing. One difficulty was

that despite the fact that during the last thirty years of the century applicants who wished

to join the Quakers were drawn in larger numbersfrom the working class and camevia

the adult schools,the Society of Friends retaineda strongly middle-classimage. Elizabeth

Isichei suggestsseveralexplanationsfor this paradox-possiblythe numbersadmittedwere

too few to affect the social composition of the membership;perhapsthe successof the

Quakersin providing adequateeducationalfacilities for adults enabledfamiliesto improve

their position in life and became absorbed into the middle class; or working-class

applicantswere drawn primarily from the skilled and wealthier artisan section. Whilst it is

likely that the answer lies in a combination of these factors, it is probable that the adult

schools and the Society of Friends itself recruited mainly from the artisan class which

espousedmany of the values of the middle class. In this respect the adult schools were

236 Rowntree and Binns, op.cit.. p-39.

249
similar to other voluntary agencies of adult education and appealed to the same

comparatively narrow segment of society. The gradual introduction of social and

recreational activities into the programme of the adult schools widened their appeal, but

the many schools which failed to adapt sufficiently to the changingrequirementsof those

attendinglost audiencesto the P.S.A. movementand were discontinued.

237

The reasons for the need to change and halt a possible decline were not difficult to

identify. The growth of adult schoolsorganisedfrom outside the Quaker movement;the

fact that many of the facilities provided by the adult schools were amply available

elsewhere;the unacceptablecondescensionand the wish for greater democracy; the

competition from other voluntary agencies, especially the P. S.A. movement; the

difficulties in obtaining enough suitable teachers from among the membershipof the

Friends - all these elements combined to influence the way forward. The problem was not

to decide how the adult schools should develop in the 1890s, but the best means for

accomplishing this progress required careful co-operation. 238

Whilst the F.F.D. S.A. and the various adult school county unions existed quite

harmoniously alongside each other in the 1880s and 1890s, the situation did lead to

duplication of effort in some districts. However, the Unions did not wish to be seenas a

potential or actual rival to the F. F. D. S.A. or to be encroaching on its territory. There

were fears too that the adult school movementwithout Quaker guidancewould lose much
its
of original vision. The retirement of JosephStorrs Fry (who had been the secretaryof

the F.F.D. S.A. since its formation in 1847) in 1893 perhaps made the eventual change

somewhat easier, and his successors John Dorland (1893-6) and Frederic Taylor (from

1897) co-operated to ensure a smooth transition. 239

237 Elizabeth Isichei : Victorian Quakers (London: O:dord University Press, 1970), pp. 129-130,
270-271.

238 Isichei, ibid.. pp. 272-3, Currie Martin, op.cit., p. 147.

"I JosephStorrs Fry (1826-1913)was the first secretaryof the Friends' First Day School Association
from its inception in 1847until his retirementin 1893. One of a numberof active adult schoolworkers in
Bristol, he was a highly competentadministrator who servedthe movementfaithfully over many years.
His immediate successor.John Dorland (1860-96) was an energetic i and charismatic I figure whose
250
Following both formal and informal meetings between representatives from the Quakers

and from the undenorninationalschools, a meeting was convenedin May 1898 at which

the question of the formation of a federation of existing adult school associationsand

unions was the central topic of discussion. Further meetingsin June and October of the

same year produced a draft constitution for the proposed National Council, and the

council held its first meting at Leicester in December 1899 with delegates from the

F.F.D. S.A. and from the Unions from the Midlands, London, Leicester, Norfolk and

Somersetattending. The two federations - the F.F.D. S.A. and the National Council
-
continued to coexist amicably for some years. Eventually in 1905 the F.F.D. S.A.

recommended that non-denominational county unions of adult schools should be formed

throughout the country. These county unions would send representatives to meetings of

the National Council. In 1907 the F.F.D. S.A. reverted solely to the consideration for

which it had originally been formed - the Friends' Sunday Schools - and the adult schools

now came solely under the auspices of the National Council. By the particular request of

the council, the F.F.D. S.A. continued to nominate two delegates to attend its meetings

and to be representedon the council.240

What was perhapsmost surprisingwas the resurgenceand expansionof the adult school

movement in the late 1890s and early 1900s at a time when many other agencies engaged
in the provision of education for adults were either in decline or were making little

progress. The formation of the National Council and the streamlining of the

administrative structure improved the flow of communications and ideas and was of

especial help to individual adult schools. Each adult school is democratic and self-

untimely death in April 1896 was a serious blow to the adult school movement. Frederic Taylor
(1861-1944)was electedas secretaryto the F.F.D.S.A. at its annual meeting in 1897 and remainedin
officewhilst the Associationwasconnectedwith the adult schools. He was a pleasantindividual who had
the advantageof a strong backgroundin home mission and adult schoolwork. For brief assessments of
the contribution of the three secretariesto the adult school movement.seeRowntreeand Binns, op.cit.,
the notessectionby ChristopherCharlton, pp.c-cv.

240 For a detailed account of the origins and formation of the National Council see Currie Martin,
op.cit., pp. 139-157. George Ne,,
%rman
was the first secretan, of the National Council and remained in that
post in an honorary capacity until 1905. The first full-time and paid secretary was Edwin Gilbert
(1859-1933), who was appointed in October 1902.

25 1
goveming. Where in
several adult schools exist a city or in a specified area, they are able

to form a sub-union. The sub-unions are included along with other individual adult
in
schools a County Union or a Union which covers a particular area - not necessarily a

county. The County Unions comprise the main part of the National Council and appoint
toit. 241
representatives

Whilst the adult school movementhastendedto resist formal statementsof objectives,the

National Council soon after 1907 agreed a number of aims concerning the work of adult

schools. These aims were not written into the constitution of the National Council, nor
have they ever had any official status in the movement itself, but they have been widely

acceptedas defining the ideals of the adult school movement. The aims were-
1. To make and develop men and women and to teach them the art of life.

2. To study the Bible frankly, freely, reverently, and without prejudice.

3. To establish an unsectarian basis for Christian effort and unity.

To bring together in helpful comradeship and active service the different

classesof society.
5. To stimulate and educate public spirit and public morality.

6. To teach the responsibility of citizenship.

7. To encourage whatever makes for International Brotherhood.

8. To advance as far as may be the equality of opportunity.

to help men and women to understandand to live the life of Jesus

Christ, and to encouragethem in their personalallegianceto Him.242

The adult schools had traditionally practised the provision of equality of opportunity for

men and women. From their early years they had 243
attracted women studentS, and this

trend continued during a period of unusual growth for the movement in the years before

241 Champness,op.cit., pp.36-37.

242 Currie Martin, op.cit., p.276.

243 June Purvis : Hard Lessons : The Lives and Education of Working Class Women in Nineteenth
Centuv England (Oxford: Polity Press, 1989), p. 42.

252
the First World War. In 1899 at the time of the formation of the National Council of

Adult School Associations (which in 1914 became the National Adult School Union),

there were 350 schools with some 45,000 members. By 1910 the figure had increased to

over 1,900 schools with about 100,000 students. The numbers of students had declined

by 1914 to about 80,000, of which women constituted 42 per cent.244 The growth was

decidedlyunevenand the main areasof progresswere in the Midlands and in Yorkshire.

The adult schools continued to adapt to meet demandsand broadenedthe scopeof their

educationalsyllabusesto incorporate lectures, clubs, discussion groups, and social and

recreational activities. It is difficult to explain why in this period the adult schools

prospered so abundantly while other voluntary agencies, often providing similar

programmes, did not. Brian Simon correctly observes that the success of the movement

"took even those engaged in it by surprise".245 J. F. C. Harrison reasons cogently that the

adult schools and the Workers' Educational Association, unlike other voluntary agencies

or the university extension movement, made significant headway in the first decade of the

20th century because between them they catered for all elements of the population. He

quotes from the undated manuscript notes of an address given by George Thompson at a

W.E.A. district council meetingduring the SecondWorld Wav

"Every set of ideas or plan of action, whether in the political or any other sphere, is
conditioned by its relation to four categories of people, which whilst they shade into
each other are nevertheless clearly marked. These categories are the creators and
initiators, the trained and well-informed, the interested, and the oblivious. The first
is in almost every sphere a tiny minority; the second, a larger group but still a
minority. The third and fourth categories are the really large groups. 01246

Harrison correctly asserts that the W. E. A. encouraged students via the system of tutorial

classesto develop their in

abilities ways which reflected the teaching and training they

received, so that individuals who were "the interested" became "the creators" and

244 Kelly, op.cit., p.260.

245 Brian Simon : Education and the Labour Movement, 1870 - 1920 (London: Lawrence and Wishart.
1965).p. 303.

246 Quoted in Harnson. op.cit.. p.300.

253
"the well-informed". However, he indicates clearly that if the fourth grouping were to
...
be attracted, then a different approach was required, "less intellectual and literary, less

closely associated with the universities, and free from left-wing political overtones". 247

This need apparently was met through the adult school movement. Harrison argues that

the spirit of the W. E. A. and the adult schools was similar in several ways, and it is true

that in many areasthere were closeconnectionsbetweenthe two agenciesand someof the

personnelwere common to both. He goes on to identify three differencesbetween the

two movements: the adult schools were primarily religious in purpose and approach; they

for
catered a less intellectual type of studentand offered rather more basic instruction; and
they placed emphasis on the spirit of community whereas the W. E. A. was geared more to

the requirements of the individual whose main aim was self-improvement through a more

based
academically education.

Whilst in most regards Harrison's analysis of the reasonsfor the adult schools' expansion is

two
accurate, difficulties remainunexplained:the rapid growth of the movementbetween
1899 and 1910, when numbers reached their peak, and the assumption that an agency

which was "free from left-wing political overtones" would attract working-class support.
Generally indications suggest that throughout the nineteenth century agencies which were

initiated by the middle class for the purpose of providing education for the working class

failed to recruit their support from that quarter, tending to attract the autodidact and the

skilled artisan. Indeed, Harrison proceedsto submit that one of the reasonsthe adult

schoolsfailed to to
expand a greater extent was due in part to the somewhatpaternalistic,

although sincere, appearance presented by the adult schools - that a clear gap existed
248
betweenthe teachersand the taught.

In some sensesthe strengthsof the adult school movementwere also its weaknessesand

perhaps help to explain the rather unexpected rate of growth in the first decade of the

247
Ibid., p. 301.

248 Ibid., p. 309.

254
twentieth century followed by a declinein membershipapproachingtwenty per cent by the
beginning of the First World War. In 1910 it was estimated that the schools had about

one hundred thousand 249

studentS; the returns for 1914 calculate the figure at 81,385
(47,526 men and 33,859 women). 110 Interestingly the number of schools in 1910 and
1914.251
1914 varied only slightly - over 1,900 in 1910 and 1,873 in The structure of the

organisation of the adult schools proved a support in times of prosperity; administration

tended to be thorough and meticulous attention was given to matters of detail. As

numbers declined, as they did by 1910 in the Manchester area, for example, what was a

matter of important routine when workers were plentiful or at least in adequate supply

becamea chore. The adult schoolsfaced a problem common to many voluntary agencies

-a loss of original vision, to a greater or lesser extent, for which a concentration on

organisation did not provide a satisfactory substitute. Another problem, which had been
identified by the Friends and had been remedied in part through the extension of the adult

school movement to include non-Friends adult schools, was a lack of suitable teachers. In

essence,these schools as voluntary organisations relied heavily on willing amateurs. In

times of expansion, the enthusiasm, sincerity and spontaneity of such dedicated individuals

proved to be in
major assets; more difficult periods in
such qualities themselveswere

unfortunatelyinsufficient to stem a decline - good intentions alone were not enough,and

did not compensatefor a lack of expertise.252

The experienceof the adult school movement in Manchester provided a fairly accurate

211
representationof its vicissitudes nationally. During the 1860s and 1870s numbers

249 Kelly, op.cit., p.260.

250 Ministry of Reconstruction : Adult Education Committee : Final Report (London: H.M. S.O., 1919),
p.212.

251 Ibid., p.212, Kelly. op.cit., p.260.

252 Harrison, op.cit.. p. 3 10.

253 One rather unusual feature noted by K. S. Inglis in Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian
England (London- Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963), is that the number of Quakers declined dunng the
nineteenth century and were "noted for the scarcity of poor people among them" (p. 13). This was a cause
of concern to the Friends who. whilst the), succeeded in attracting increasing numbers to the adult
schools. failed to persuade them to join the sect which was mainly responsible for providing these
educational facilities. Inglis notes more generally (p. 118) that by 1900 none of the Protestant

255
 it
remained small and was only in 1886, with attendancesgradually increasing,that the
Friendsmoved to purposebuilt accommodationin Byrom Street to housethe adult school

and other activities, including the Junior School, the Band of Hope, and the missionfrom
Gartside Street and Jackson'sRow. By now the averageattendanceat the morning class

of the adult school was about forty men. At afternoon classesthere were often between

sixty and seventy men and about thirty women. In 1900 the senior girls' class of the

Junior School became part of the adult school, which in 1901 started a branch at

Pendleton.254 In 1899 a men's class which had been organised by the mission and met on

Sunday mornings changed to the afternoons and became part of the adult school.

The ManchesterCentral Adult School included severalsocial and recreationalactivities in

its programme. A men's social club was started in 1901, a Whit Week Camp was

organised for men and women, and there were several rambles arranged during the
summer months. In 1902 the first weekend Co-operative Holiday for adult schools in

Lancashireand Cheshirewas plannedby the north- westernbranchof the F.F.D. S.A.

In the Lancashire area, the organisation of camping holidays for members of adult schools

stemmed from an initiative taken by the Manchester Central Adult School. As mentioned

earlier, in 1887 there had commenced at Byrom Street, on the school premises, a menis

denominations had made significant headway in persuading the working class to attend their churches
than had been the casefifty years earlier.

Elizabeth Isichei presentsthis apparent failure to recruit successfullyfrom the working class In a different
light. She indicates that admission to membership in the Friends during the nineteenth century was
difficult to obtain, although from the 1860sonwards the proportion of applicants drawn from the working
class improved slowly. Many came via adult schools, although J. W. Rowntree observed in 1899 that
adult scholars tended to be drawn from the artisan class rather than from amongst the poor. Even though
recruitment from the working class increased, the Society retained an essentially middle-class image. For
a ftiller discussion of this point, see Elizabeth Isichei: Victorian Quakers (London: Oxford Universm,
Press, 1970), pp. 129-143, together with an analysis of factors contributing to low recruitment and
expulsion or resignation of members in Norwich and Manchester. It appearsthat only a small proportion
of scholars from the adult schools became Friends; in Manchester, Isichei indicates that the men's adult
school in 1865 had 150 members and the women's branch forty. However, between 1861 and 1880 there
were only 77 successful applicants for membership, excluding children admitted on their parents'
application, at the of
monthly meetings. many whom had not come via the adult school (p. 133).

254 See Wilfrid T. Ecroyd : Notes on the Origin and Development ofAdult Schools in Lancashire and
Cheshire in One and. 411 : Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire Supplement. Volume 4. August 1948.
(New Series), Number 31 (published by The National Adult School Union).

256
morning class under the auspicesof the missions at Gartside Street and Jackson'sRow,
becoming part of the adult school in 1899. The group's recreational programme included

the arranging of various social activities. In 1898 a camping holiday for men was held at

Bleasdaleat Whitsun, and these camps becamean annual event, with both sexesbeing

invited to attend. For the purpose of extending this activity, the school approachedthe

committee of the F.F.D. S.A., and with its together

assistance, with guidance from the
Yorkshire District Conunittee which had arranged Co-operative Holidays since 1897, a

camp was organised over the August Bank Holiday at Sawley. The numbers attending the

camps grew gradually over the years, and from 1910 these holidays were co-ordinated by

a committee of representatives drawn from the sub-unions comprising the Lancashire and
1909.255
CheshireAdult School Union which had beenformed in

THE ADULT SCHOOL MOVEMENT IN MANCHESTER, 1903 - 1914

From about 1903 and through the years up to the First World War, the adult school

movement in Manchester experienced a period of relative prosperity. The success and

progress of the Manchester Central Adult School encouraged the formation of another

school at West Gorton. These two were by far the most active and well-attended of the

Manchester schools during these years. Others which came into being after 1903 tended

to struggle for survival or faded entirely once the initial impetus and enthusiasm had

evaporated. The founding and early successof the school at West Gorton, however, was

important becauseit encouragedthe expansionat a comparativelyrapid rate of the adult

school movement in the city. On 9th December 1904 a meeting was convened at the

Friends' Institute in Mount Street for the purpose of developing adult school work in

Manchester. Recent conferencesheld in York, Leeds and Bristol had resulted in the

255 See articles by W. T. Ecroyd on the origin and development of adult schools in Lancashire and
Cheshire in the journal published by the National Adult School Union, One and All : Yorkshire,
Lancashire and Cheshire Supplement, Volume 4 (New Series). August 1948, numbers 31 and 32. See
also another article by the same The
%%Titer, stov of Afanchester CentralA dult 5chool, which appears in
the Yorkwhire, Lancashire and Cheshire Supplement to One and Volume
-111, 5 (New Series), December
1951, Number 66. For the development of the Co-operative Holidays Association, see Robert Speake:A
Hundred Years of Holida.vs. 1893 to 1993: A pictorial histori, of the C.H.A. (Manchester: Countnivide
Holidays. 1993).

257
 in
starting of several schools those districts, it
and was felt that Manchester had sin-fflar

potential. The letter giving notice of the meeting, signed by E. R. Brayshaw, who was a

member of the school at West Gorton and who was later to edit the Manchester and
district supplementof One andAll, provided a brief introduction to and descriptionof the

nature of the work of adult schools:

"Adult Schools, though comparatively unknown in Manchester, are a powerful

in
agency the Midlands, Yorkshire, Leicestershire,and elsewhere,for reachingthe
vast massof working people,who are out of touch with existing placesof worship.

"Schools for men are usually held in the morning, and close in time to permit the
membersto attend other placesof worship. Women's schoolsgenerallymeet in the
afternoon.

"The basis of the School is absolutely democratic. The members not only elect their
officers, but organise and carry on the various agencies, such as Social Club, Bank,
Library, Sick Club, etc., which seek to touch men's lives at every point.

"At the Sunday Class, the first part is generally devoted to Educational Subjects,
Lecturettes on Social Problems, etc., and the second part to the Bible Lesson."

Those attending the meeting included Edwin Gilbert,256secretaryof the National Adult

SchoolCouncil, and a numberof interestedpersonsinvolved in various capacitiesin adult

education in Manchester, drawn from clergy and laity, amongst whom the most prominent

were J. W. Graham, C. E. B. Russell, Professor A. S. Peake, T. R. Marr, and Professor

Weiss.

During the following months the movement developed in Manchester. In June 1905 a

social event in connection with what now numbered seven Manchester adult schools,

including those at West Gorton, Newton Heath and Pendleton, was held in the grounds

attached to the Lancashire Independent College at Whalley Range. More than five

hundred people attended, and in the afternoon various sports were organised. In the
256 Edwin Gilbert (1859-1933) made a considerable contribution to the work of extension in the adult
school movement. In 1898 he had been elected as honoran, secretary to the Leicestershire Adult School
Union. In the following year he attended the first meeting of the National Council of Adult School
Associations held in Leicester. and three years later was appointed as paid secretary of the Council and as
editor of One and. -Ill. For the following decade he was at the centre of the national organisation, giving
Iien
up office *N, his health deteriorated in 1912. He continued to take an interest in adult school work up
to his death in December 1933. and was president of the National Adult School Union in 1922-3. See
Row-ntreeand Binns. with introduction and additional notes by Chnstopher Chariton, op.cit., pp.cvi-cvni.

258
evening a meeting was held in the Assembly Room of the college at which several

resolutionswere discussed(proposedby the Extension Committee) which were ultimately

to be placed before the membersof the various schools for their consideration. One
in
proposal particular indicatedthe potential usefulnessof the schools-

"That each school should form a Social Service Committee, the work of which
might be outlined as follows: each School to take a definite area and investigate
amongstother things the conditions of housing, overcrowding, open spaces,trades,
wages, unemployment,cost of living, laws, bye-laws, etc., also to co-operate with
in
other organisations seeing that existing laws and bye-laws, relating to the public
health and well-being of the community generallyare properly carried out."

T. R. Marr, in his capacity as honorary secretary of the Citizens' Committee for the

Improvement of the Unwholesome Dwellings and Surroundings of the People, spoke

strongly in support of this initiative, pointing out that during the previous two years

Manchesterhad been struggling through a period of great distress. Unemploymenthad

been high and many hundreds of persons had been starving.257 In common with other

voluntary organisations, including the Y. M. C. A., some adult schools formed Social

Servicescommittees.

The growing importance of Manchester as an adult school centre was reflected in the fact

that one of the meetings of the National Council was held there on the premises of the

Friends' Institute over the weekend of 14th and 15th October 1905. By this time eleven

schools meeting on Sunday mornings had been establishedin the Manchester district,

three of which, at Pendleton, Mill Street (Ancoats) and Altrincham, were opened on the

Sunday of the weekend meeting of the National Council. At the business meeting on the

Saturdayafternoon, 32 of the 50 delegates,drawn from the F.F.D. S.A. and from National

Adult School Unions from all over England, were present.258

257 One andAII, July 1905.

258 At this time the National Council consisted of fifty representatives, comprised as follows: a
chairman, three vice-chairmen, a treasurer, an honorary secretarv. a secretary, and nine members from
the Friends' First Day School Association, including the secretary. Frederic Taylor, and E. Russell
Bravshaw, a Manchester delegate. The remainder were drawn from the adult school unions of Bristol,
Somerset and Western Counties. Devon and Cornwall, Kent. Leeds. Leicestershire. London, the
Midlands. Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire. Nottinghamshire, Tyne and
Wearside. and York. Three of the fifty representativeswere women.

259
In the evening a meeting consisting of representativesfrom all the Manchester schools

was held, W. C. Braithwaite (Chairman of the National Council of Adult Schools)

259
presiding. After several delegateshad spoken of the benefits of co-ordinating their

efforts, E. Russell Brayshaw moved that a Manchester and District Adult School Union be

formed to unite the local schoolsand to undertake active extensionwork. R. M. Hall of

the Newton Heath adult school seconded the resolution, which received unanimous
260
approval. At the annualmeeting of the National Council in January 1906 at Finsbury,

the Manchesterand District Union becameaffiliated with the Council.261

On the following day many of the delegates visited schools in Manchester, Stockport,

Liverpool, Birkenhead and Radcliffe. The three new schools in the Manchester district

were opened, and W. C. Braithwaite attended the recently established school at Cheetham

Hill. In the afternoon, under the presidency of the Lord Mayor of Manchester, a further

meeting was held. In spite of the wet weather and the amount of travelling involved, the

gathering was large and addresseswere given by W. C. Braithwaite, Mrs Mackenzie (a

London delegate) and Arnold S. Rowntree (honorary secretary of the National Council).

By October 1907 the number of schools comprising the Manchester District Adult School

Union was fifteen, and by the following year this total had increased to twenty-seven. In

Manchester itself, although the school at CheethamHill had been discontinued, new

schools for men had been established between I st October 1907 and 30th September 1908

at Clayton and Holt Town (Beswick) and a school for women opened at Ardwick.

259 William Charles Braithwaite
He began his adult school work in
the London Adult School Union.
Adult Schools, an office he held
op.cit., pp.cv-cvi.
(1862-1922) trained for a career in law, although he becamea banker.
London, and in 1889 becamehonorary secretary, and later president, of
He succeededWilliam White as chairman of the National Council of
until his death. See Rowntree and Binns, ed. Christopher Charlton.

260 One November 1905.

and .-III,

261 Ibid., March 1906. The constitution of the Manchester District Adult School Un-ion stated its
objectivesas bcIng the promotion of "Christian Fellowship amongst the schools forming the Union. and to
increasetheir effectiveness in Social Service, to foster existing schools and to extend their number".

260
 At 1.10.07 At 1.10.08262

Total membershipfrom all

in
schools the Manchester
District Adult School Union 756 (1,088 men, 412 women)
11,500

Averageattendanceat all

schoolsin the Manchester

District Adult School Union 411 689

Partly as a result of this tangible evidence of increased activity, in October 1908 the

Manchester District Union published on a monthly basis its own supplement to the Otie

and All national journal. What was an ambitious undertaking failed to pay its way and

ceasedtemporarily in December 1910 before being in

relaunched July 1912. However, by

this time the potential readershiphad declined with the closure of schools at Ardwick,
Altrincham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Failsworth, Heaton Norris, Melbourne Street (Hulme),

and four schools in Oldham between I st October 1908 and 30th September 1911. During

the same period new schools had been establishedin Sale, Moss Side, Chorlton-on-
Medlock, Seedley (Salford) and two in Warrington, and classesfor women had been
263
in
commencedat existing schools 1 Beswick and Warrington. The Manchester and

district supplementto the nationaljournal closedagainin November 1912.

INDIVIDUAL ADULT SCHOOLS IN MANCHESTER FROM 1903 TO 1914

By far the most flourishing of the adult schools in the city in the decade before the First

World War were the ones at Byrom Street (Manchester Central) and West Gorton. The

ManchesterCentral School had been started in 1860, and had from the 1880s survived

relativeiv comfortably in premises in Byrom Street, about a half mile from the Friends'

262 Report of the Alanchester District. 4dult School Union for the year ended 30th September 1908.

263 Ibid., for the vear ended 30th September 1911.

261
place of worship in Mount Street. The establishmentof an adult school at West Gorton in
1903 gave impetus to the work of the Central School, and a spirit of co-operation and, on

occasions,ffiendly rivalry existed between the two schools. The main work of all the

schools focused upon the study of the Bible. In addition, schools provided to a varying
degreeprogrammesof educational,social and recreativeactivities.

During 1902 the numbers attending the afternoon school at Byrom Street had grown

sufficiently for serious considerationto be given to the forming of a Sunday morning

school for men. The May 1903 edition of One and All noted with understatement that
"the neighbourhood is by no means an easy one to work, but as others are got in from the

courts and alleyswhich abound,it is hoped that the membershipwill increase.

" There was

no lack of enthusiasm or energy among the volunteers, and at the end of the first six

months of its in
existenceattendanceswere regularly the mid-twenties. As part of its

work in this district the school endeavoured without significant success to provide a

counter attraction to the public houses. By September 1907 the school realised that it

would need to act promptly and decisively if any headway on this problem was to be

achieved. Shortly afterwards a social club was formed, and further progress was made

when the school was given a dilapidated six-room cottage on the land adjoining its Byrom

Street premises. The members renovated the cottage throughout and supplied furniture

and equipment. The formal opening of the Byrom Street Adult School Institute took

place on 3rd October 1908 and within a few months had a membershipof about one
hundred.264 The acquisition of theserooms enabledthe school to offer a wider range of

activities than before, and two sessionsof the adult school - the afternoon and evening

ones- were held there. The social club openedduring the autumn and winter months and

provided a venue for many of the school'ssocial and intellectual 265

activities.

Whilst the educational programme of the Manchester Central Adult School was not so

264 One and. Manchester and district Supplement. December 1908.

-Ill.
265 Ibid.. March 1909.

262
extensiveas that of the ManchesterY. M. C.A., it by
was no meansnegligible. In October

1907 a Library Society had been formed and in 1908 the Manchester District Adult

School Parliament was established. The objectives of the society, as set out in its

constitution, were "to encourage the members in Reading, Thinking, and in Public

Speaking,and to discussPolitical and Social Topics, as far as may be practical, according

to Parliamentary usage." By its rules, the society was lin-lited to 250 members, with an

annual subscription of one shilling. Within four months of its formation the society had 98

members and to in
some extent was successful achieving its aim of developing the

articulation and thinking abilities of its 266

membership. By the following year attendances
had fallen, although the parliament met for three winter sessionsfrom 1908 to 1910.267

The social club acted as a venue for concerts and recitals, and over several years there was

a varied programme of lecturettes during the winter months. Topics covered ranged from

readings from the works of Dickens and Tennyson to talks on "Bird Life", temperance,

the scout movement, the production of magazine illustrations, art, "The Historical Aspect

of Manchester Public Libraries" (a paper written and presented by L. Barrow, the

chairman of the Manchester Y. M. C. A. Libraries' Committee), and a somewhat

contentious lecture on "Socialism and Christianity" by A. J. Irlam, arguing that socialism

hannedthe Christian cause.268 In the autumn of 1912 a Study Circle was formed which

met weekly on Thursday evenings to discuss "The Industrial Revolution, commencing

from the 17th century". The group leader, from Ruskin College, Oxford, was obtained
W. E. A. 269
through the

The ManchesterCentral Adult School ran an active social and recreational programme.

266 One and. Octobcr 1908

-Ill.
267 One and All, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire Supplement, September 1948, Volume 4 (New
Scrics), Number 32.

269 A. I Irlam was the secretary of the Young England Patriotic League and was a persistent and
voluble opponent of socialism. lecturing on the topic and appearing frequently in debateson the subject.
He servedon the Manchester Y. M. C.A. Board of Management for many years.

269 One and. /1,Alanchester and district Supplement, Novcmbcr 1912.

-I

263
From 1898 the school organised annual camps at Whit Week, and from 1903 onwards

other adult schools in the area participated. The success of these camps encouraged the

arranging of an annual summer camp over the August Bank Holiday weekend. In

addition, the school held an annual garden party in June at Dalton Hall, which usually

included sports such as cricket and tug of war in the afternoon, followed by tea and

concludingwith an eveningconcert in the dining hall. This event was a popular feature of
the school programme,and was usuallywell attended.

A rambling club met regularly during the summermonths up to the middle of September,

and from 1903 occasional short walks on Saturday mornings were organised in addition to

the longer rambles which took place on Saturday afternoons. The club gradually

increasedits numbers and by 1912 had a membership of forty. In the same year the club

arranged a special continental tour, which proved to be very successful, during Whit

Week. The scope of the group's activities extended, and during the winter months several

excursions were made to places of interest, including the Whitworth Museum and the

cactushousein AlexandraPark.

By 1908 the school, in conjunction with the adult school at Pendleton, had formed a

cycling club which met regularly in summer at weekends, with an occasional, and
270
noticeablyless successful,evening run. At the beginningof 1909 the school organised

a soccer team which quickly made an impression in the Sunday School League. In the

summerof the same year arrangementswere made for in

classes swimming and cricket.

By 1914 the Manchester Central Adult School had established several other activities to

support the main religious emphasis of its work. The school organised a Junior School

in
which met the afternoon. The adult school operateda library, a savings'bank, a social

club for men which was open each night during the week from 7.00 p.m. to 10.30 p.m., a
Sick Club, and a district visitor committee, which drew its membershipfrom the women

270 Ibid.. December 1908.

264
of the adult schools in the area. The objective of this committee was to help families in

difficulties through financial assistanceand through the distribution of food and clothing.

As well as its practical work, the committee arranged meetings to discuss topics of

interest,including temperance,purity, the care of children and female suffrage. A Band of

Hope was organisedfor children, and its activities includedthe teachingof sewingto girls.

The Byrom Street Mission held meetingson Sunday,Monday and Tuesdayeveningseach

week. The Sunday evening meetings had an average attendance of about fifty; the

meetings on the following night, arranged specially for young people, attracted an average

of between twenty and two dozen; and thirty to forty people, mainly women, attended on

Tuesday evenings.271

West Gorton Adult School

The other successful adult school in the Manchester area was established in January 1903

at West Gorton. On Thursday 22nd January a public meeting in the Labour Hall, West

Gorton, was addressedby Arnold S. Rowntree of York on the aims and methodsof Adult

Schools".272 The event had been widely advertised and personal invitations had been

issued; the response was encouraging, with an attendance of about eighty. Each person

on leaving the meeting was invited to a smoking concert on the following Saturday at the

coffee tavern to meet other studentsbefore the for

school assembled the first time on the
following morning. On Sunday 25th January the school opened at premises in Clowes

Street with attendance of 2 1, consisting mainly of men living and working in West

Gorton.273Somemonths later a classfor women was established,and within the first few

weeks the school had to

progressed such an extent that the average weekly attendance for
274
March 1903 was 31 men and 28 women.

271 Reports of the work at the Friends' Schools in the Manchester district for the year ending 30th
September1912.

272 Arnold S Rowntree taught at an adult school in York and had considerable experience of working in
the organisation of the adult school movement, initially as a delegate to the National Adult School
Council, and subsequently as its honorary secretary from 1905-1919 and as its chairman from 1922
following the death of W. C. Braithwaite.

273 One and. March 1903.

-Ill.
274 Ibid., May 1903.

265
The school proceededenthusiastically,and at a monthly meeting held at the beginnIngof

March 1903 it was agreed that a Saturday Night Club should be started immediately.275 A

committee was appointed to arrange for rooms with facilities for games and newspapers.

The new school was visited by Edwin Gilbert, the secretaryof the National Council, on

30th March. In spite of the heavy rain, over fifty came to the meeting, several of whom

registeredas membersof the school. Gilbert's visit was worthwhile, and on the following
Sunday44 men and 40 women attendedtheir respectiveclassesat the school.276

The school soon left its first premisesbecauseof the inadequacyof the accommodation,

and the new rooms held about two hundred persons. Because of the continued expansion,
it becamenecessaryto search for new headquarters, and in March 1904 the school moved

to its third home in fourteen months when it acquired permanent accommodation at 64

Ainsworth Street. The premises had been previously the headquarters of the Independent

Labour Party in the district. The buildings had been left in a dilapidated and dirty

condition, but membersfrom both the men'sand the women'sschoolsthoroughly cleaned

and redecoratedthe place. The premiseswere well designedfor adult school purposes,

containing a meeting room to seat some three hundred persons, a club room and canteen,

a committee room, a basement recreation room and lavatories. An inaugural tea and

meeting was held in the new rooms on Saturday 19th March, and talks from visiting

speakersurged the hearers to still greater efforts in helping to further the work and
in
influence the city of the adult school movement. The immediate effects were gratifying,

for on the following day sixteennew scholarswere introducedto the school and there was
120.277
a record attendanceof The attendancesduring the next few years fluctuated,
1910.278 Late in
averaging 96 (44 men, 52 women) between August 1908 and October

1906 an afternoon Sunday School was opened for children and exceeded expectations.

275 fbid., April 1903.

276 Ibid., Mav 1903.

277 Ibid., April 1904.

278 SeeOne A
411, fanchester and district Supplementsfor this period.
and,

266
The ages of the children ranged from three to twelve. By 1914 the school had become a

permanent part of the work of the institution (there was also a Sunday School for children

at Manchester Central Adult School) and the attendance for the year ended
56.279
28th December 1913 was

In addition to the emphasison religious education,the school had a thriving programme

of social and recreational activities. Tea parties, concerts, picnics, social excursions, and

social evenings were a regular feature, and annual parties were held on Boxing Day and at

New Year. Finances, however, were invariably tight, and it was not until 1910 that the

school was entirely clear of debt. Over the years various events had been held for the

purpose of raising funds, and a highly successful Sale of Work on 28th and 29th April

1910 raised 148, representing the result of months of preparation by the committee and

members, and meant that for the first time in its history the adult school at West Gorton

had money in the bank.280

The school organised a variety of recreational pursuits, including a rambling club, a

cricket club which in 1910 was admitted to the South Manchester Amateur League, and

the Social Club operated two soccer teams which played in the Manchester Union
League.

The seculareducationalwork of the West Gorton adult school expandedgradually after

an unpromising start. A debating society, formed in 1904, survived some discouragingly

low attendances during the first few months of its existence to make an important

contribution to the work of the school. In 1909 a special by

committee appointed the
National Council examinedhow the educationalwork of the schoolsshould be developed,

and considered the questions of lecture schools, the training of teachers and the

possibilitiesof a wider use of correspondencecourses. One section of the report dealt

279 Friends'Schools in the Afanchester District: Reportsfor theYear ending 301hSeptember 1914.

280 One Manchester and District Supplement. June 1910.

and. -Ill,

267
with possible activities for meetingson week-nights, and included courses in connection

with the Home Reading Union, university extension lectures and W. E. A. 281
classes.

Respondingto this initiative, West Gorton begana week-night Lecture School,which held
its first meeting on 8th October 1909 and met regularly at 8.00 p.m. on Wednesday

evenings. Classes to
were arranged study history, science,art and social questions,and
for
eacheveningwas concludedwith a social gathering refreshmentsand music. Members
from other men'sand women'sadult schoolsin the areawere invited to thesemeetings.282

In 1912 five members of the West Gorton junior men's class attended Saturday afternoon

lectures on "Industrial Problems" arranged at the Woodbrooke Educational Settlement,

Birmingham.283

In the sameyear the West Gorton adult school received visits from Tom Bryan, warden at

Fircroft, Birmingham, and Richard Westrope, warden of the St. Mary's Settlement at

York. 284 The educational settlement movement came into being in the first years of the

twentieth century as a distinct developmentin adult educationansing from the initiatives

of the adult schools and the Society of Friends.. Kelly comments that the educational

settlements founded between 1903 and 1918 were of two main types - the earliest two,

Woodbrooke and Fircroft, were residential colleges,the remainderwere non-residential.

The first of these non-residential settlements was Swarthmore, at Leeds, followed a few

monthslater by the founding of the St. Mary's Settlement,York, by Arnold S. Rowntree.

Woodbrooke and Fircroft, both in Birmingham, had beenfounded as a result of a visit by

a group, including Tom Bryan'285 to the Danish Folk High Schools in 1905. They

281 Currie Martin, op.cit., pp.262-263.

282 One and, Manchester and District Supplement, October 1909.

-III,
283 Ibid., Jul), 1912.

294 Reports of the work- of the Friends' Schools in the Manchester district for the year ending
30t1iSeptember 1912.

285 Toni Bryan trained originally as a Congregational minister before working for eight years at the
Browning Settlement in Walworth. He joined the staff at the Woodbrooke Settlement, Birmingham, on
its opcning in 1903. before moving to Fircroft as its first warden in 1909. His comparatively earlv death
in 1917was a loss to the adult school movement.

268
returned to England with the thought of establishingan enterprise of a similar nature in
England. Fircroft came into being in January 1909 and was able to accommodate up to

twenty residential students for a short (termly) or longer time. Its aim was to encourage

individual and systematicstudy whilst living in a community. The college was directedby

a committee of eight members, and included representativesfrom the adult school

movement and from the W. E. A. Influenced by Bryan, the college offered a wide variety of

subjects- English Literature, econon&s, social and political history, natural science,local

government, social problems and physical training. 286 Westrope was the warden at St.

Mary's Settlement York, which was non-residential and governed by a committee

,
comprisingthe officers of the York and District Adult School union and the warden and
deputy warden (Wilfred Crosland) of the settlement. The settlement's income was derived

primarily from private donations, fees from students, Board of Education grants for some

of its classes,and from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. The settlement sought to

meet the needs of "seekers after knowledge of truth", 287and Arnold Rowntree in an
introductory address at the settlement indicated that it was now requisite that adult

schools progressed from teaching reading, writing and arithmetic to the study of literature,

history and economics.288 Before 1914, St. Mary's was used as a venue for weekend

lectureschoolsorganisedby adult schools,and tutorial classesthere were arrangedby the

W.E. A. The programme of the settlement gradually expanded, and by 1913-14 the

averageweekly attendance was 230. The settlement also embarked on extension work at

211
other centres. The importanceof these settlementsand others of a similar nature was

the facility they offered to adult school students from different parts of the country to

meet,discussand study with others of kindred aims and outlook. The Manchesteradult

schoolsusedthe settlementat Woodbrooke in 1912, studentsfrom West Gorton attending

286 Kelly, op.cit., pp.261-263. Nfinistrv of Reconstruction : Adult Education Committee (1919), op.cit.,
pp.224-225.

287 Ministry of Reconstruction. Adult Education Committee. ibid. p.234.

288 Harrison, 31 1.
op. cit., p.

289 Kelly, op.cit.. p. 264-, Ministr), of Reconstruction. Adult Education Committee (1919), op.cit.,
pp.233-234.

269
weekend lectures and two membersfrom Manchester Central adult school spending a

week at the SummerSchool.290

Links between the adult schools and the W. E. A. were strengthened in Manchester in 1912

when the Council of the ManchesterAdult School Union affiliated with the Manchester

branch of the W. E. A. The Byrom Street School had previously taken this step on its own

behalf,and supported a proposal for the establishmentof a joint committee of the Union

and the W. E. A. for the purpose of promoting study 291

circles. This initiative had

originated at the meeting of the Manchester Adult School Union on 7th November 1908

at which time the future of the educationalwork of the adult schools in the Manchester
district was discussed. Edgar Gates, the local secretary of the W. E. A., attended this

It
meeting and offered assistance. was eventually left to a small committee to convene a

meetingof school secretariesto decide how the be

work should extendedand to suggest
in it be 292
suitableways which might co-ordinated. It was unusual for Byrom Street

(ManchesterCentral) adult school to take the lead in such a matter, as generallythe West

Gorton school tended to be the more outgoing of the two. For example, joint meetings

were arranged periodically by the men's and women's schools, usually for social or

recreativepurposes,and occasionallymeetingswere held for the discussionof subjectsof

political and social importance.

The extensionof adult school work in Manchesterafter 1903 could be attributed primarily

to the school at West Gorton, although Byrom Street did assist to a lesser degree. Both

schoolsassistedat the formation of the LancashireCollege Settlement(Embden Street),

Hulme. West Gorton school was instrumentalin establishingschoolsat Ardwick in 1907

and at Top Gorton, which was in fact a branch of the adult school at West Gorton, in

1908.

290 Reports of the work- of the Friends' Schools in the Manchester district for the year ending
30th September 1912.

291 One and A//, Manchester and District Supplement, July 1912.

292 Ibid.. December 1908.

270
Although by 1914 the numbers attending at the West Gorton school had declined, the

membershipwas still very active. A Soup Kitchen was instituted once the First World
War had begun, and was open each night to serve the many families in the district who

were out of work and the wives of those who enlistedin the forces.
293

Other Adult Schools In Manchester

Men's schools

LancashireCollege Settlement,EmbdenStreet,Hulme The adult school in EmbdenStreet

was established at the beginning of 1905, supported by the West Gorton school, with

about twenty 294

members. Thereafterit struggledto survive on attendances
of rather less,

althoughthe school did keep going in difficult circumstances.For its size,the school was

active and enthusiastic, concentrating its efforts principally upon educational work of a

secular nature. This commenced on Monday I Ith November 1907 with a class in

arithmetic, and classes in history, English literature, elocution and singing also were

formed. The school made an idealistic but impractical effort to provide tuition for any

subject for which there was a demand, but the enterprise started steadily with 34 members

enrolling during the first fortnight. 295 Towards the end of 1908 attendances reduced

drastically,and with support from other adult schools in the area the situation improved

somewhat. In 1912, the college settlement affiliated to the W. E. A., and in October of that

year a Study Circle was formed to discussthe work of English 296

poets.

Newton Heath Men's Adult School The school, supported by members from the West

Gorton and Manchester Central adult schools, held its first meeting at 8.30 a.m. on 29th

January 1905. The school was situated in a working-class district of the city, and had

managedto acquire suitable premises. Thirty-six membersenrolled at the first meeting,

293 Reports of the work- of the Friends' Schools in the Manchester district for the year ending
30th September 1914.

294 One and. February 1905.

-III,
295 Ibid., December 1907.

296 One and. 414Manchester and District Supplement, November 1912.

271
and this number increasedto fifty-four within a few 297
weeks. The school did not survive
long and had closed by October 1907.

CheethamHill Adult School The school was probably establishedearly in 1905,receiving

a visit from W. C. Braithwaite (Chairmanof the National Council of Adult Schools)at the
time of the Council meeting held in Manchester over the weekend of 14th and
1908.298
15th October 1905. The school closed during the year ending 30th September

Ardwick Adult School A meeting was convened at the Men's Club, Ogden Street, to

consider the possibilities of organising an adult school on 20th August 1907. This public

meeting was supported by members from the adult school at West Gorton, and on the
following Sunday fifteen members attended the first session of the new school.299

women'sschool was openedsomemonths later.

The men's school prospered and during the following year started a football team.

Regular lectures, given by well-known local speakers, were held. Forty- two people

(including ten from the neighbouring Holt Town School) were attracted to the lecture

given by J. W. Graham of Dalton Hall in November 1908,300and C. E. B. Russell (who

was the secretary of the Heyrod Street Lads' Club and was prominent in the Lads' Club

in
movement Manchester)spoke to the school in June 1909 on "Vagrancy its 301
and cure".

Encouraged by consistent attendances of around twenty, the school moved into new

premisesin ChanceryLane, Ardwick, in October 1909. Now that the school had its own

premisesa social club was opened each week from 7.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. on Mondays,

297 One and, 111,March 1905.

298 Report of the Manchester District Adult School Union for the year ending 30th September 1908.

299 One All. October 1907.

and

300 One Manchester

11, and District Supplement, January 1909.
and. -I

301 Ibid.. August 1909.

272
Wednesdays and Fridays.302

At a meeting held on I Oth January 1910 in the interests of promoting better

it
commurucations was agreedthat the school should be divided into two classes,
one for

the older membersand the other for the younger ones. Bible classeswere started in the

new premises with effect from February 1910, and the rooms were shared with the
Ardwick Women'sAdult School.303

On 14th May 1910 the school held a social event in the University Settlement at Ancoats,

at which about sixty attended. The school more than its

covered expensesand gained a
few new members. Unfortunately attendances dropped sharply during the next few

had by October 1911.304

months and the school closed

Mill Street, Ancoats A school was opened on 15th October 1905 during the visit of the

National Council of Adult Schoolsto Manchester. However, due mainly to the abundance

of other voluntary agencies in the district offering similar facilities, the enterprise soon

closed.

Holt Town (13eswick) The school is mentioned in the report of the Manchester District

Adult School Union for the year ending 30th September 1908 as having come into

existenceduring the preceding twelve months, but it did not acquire a permanenthome

until March 1909. The opening ceremony of the Adult School Institute took place on

Saturday 27th March. The school flourished briefly during the first few months, after

which attendances at meetings fell to single figures. In spite of this, a Women's School

in
was established March 1910,and the schoolsachievedmuch useful and necessarysocial

302 Ibid., December 1909.

303 Ibid., Februan, 1910.

304 The school is not included in the list of Manchester schools in the May 1912 edition of the
Manchesterand District Supplement of One and. 411.nor Nvasit listed among the schools comprising the
ManchesterAdult School Union in the report for the year ending 30th September 1911.

273)
work within their communities. On Wednesdayeveningsa free supper was provided for

between two and three hundred poor children, and on Sunday mornings about 150

childrenreceivedbreakfast.
305

Consideringthe small numbersattending,the school was most active. During the winter

of 1909-10 a social club providing facilities for billiards, chess,draughts, dominoes and
table tennis had been opened, and over the August Bank Holiday weekend in 1910 the

older scholarsspent three days at a farm in Romiley, with an adult school meetingtaking

place on the Sunday morning. 306 Mthough attendancesremained low, the school was still

in existencein 1912.

Clay1onAdult School After months of preparation, during which time the basementof the

Congregational Hall in Seymour Road, Clayton, was made habitable for a social club and

for adult school work, an inaugural meeting was held on the evening of Saturday 26th

September 1908. The school opened the following morning with an attendance of

307
sixteen. By November 1910 the school was continuing to record similar numberseach

month, and by July 1912 the school in developing its educational work had become

affiliated to the W. E. A.

Top Gorton A branch of the West Gorton adult school openedon 2nd October 1908 at

High Bank House, Gorton. During the first weeks the school was well supportedby the

establishedschool and numbers had reached 35 by the end of the first month. A women's

308
schoolwas establishedsoon afterwards.

The premisesproved inadequateto hold the increasing numbers, and new rooms were

305 One Manchester

411, and District Supplement, February 1910.
and.

306 Ibid., July 1910.

307 Ibid., September 1908.

308 Ibid.. November 1908.

274
soon securedat John Street, off Wellington Street. A social event, arrangedjointly by the

men's and women's schools, which attracted about one hundred people, celebratedthe

opening of the premises on New Year's Day, 1909. By this time the average attendanceat

the morning school was about twenty, with the afternoonschool improving slightly on this
figure. The school progressedrapidly and affiliated with the Manchester Adult School

Union in February 1909.

The variety of activities widened with the forming of a social club, and a small billiard

table was purchasedfor its use. A debating class met on Wednesdayevenings, and

mission meetings beginning on Sunday evening 17th January 1909 were surprisingly

successful, attracting about seventy per session, declining to between forty and fifty after

about three months. A choral society was introduced and, the school having a regular

attendanceof between 15 and 20, a move to new premises was contemplated.309

Various activities were held to raise funds for new rooms, and the school obtained

premises in Hyde Road. The building was more than sufficient for the school's

requirements,and extensivealterationswere made before moving in. There was seating

and accommodationin the main schoolroom for up to two hundred and forty people, and
the building had a large club room and several smaller rooms. Situated on the main road

from Denton to Manchester,the premiseswere easily accessible,and Belle Vue Gardens

were nearby. The schools occupied their new home by October 1909, and the annual

meeting on 5th January 1910 reported a satisfactory first year's progress, with all expenses

having been met and funds in hand. By December 1910 attendancesat the morning school

were reported as between eighteen and twenty, and the school was still in existencein

1912.310

309 Ibid.. Novernbcr 1908. Fcbruary 1909. March 1909. and May 1909.

310 fbid., September 1909. March 1910 and December 1910.

275
Union ChaDel-Oxford Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock The school was formed probably in

either November or December

1909.311 By March 1910 about a dozen people were

attendingmeetings,although this figure had declined considerablyby the end of the year.
Rather surprisingly, the school was still surviving in 1912.

Moss Side Adult School Opened on 13th February 1910, the school held its meetings in

the Moss Side PleasantSundayAfternoon Institute. Classescomprisedlecturesand Bible

Study followed by discussions,and the first weeks saw an average of about twenty

312
attending. The school struggled but by
was supported other adult schoolsin the area,
and still existed in 1912. In the December 1910 issue of the Manchester supplement to
One andAll, the group leader of the Moss Side School, perhaps echoing the sentiments of

some of the smaller schools, broached the possibility of discontinuing the practice of

sending monthly attendance figures to that journal. He argued that the magazine of the

P.S.A. movementdid not bother with records of attendance.

Women's adult schools in Manchester

The most successful and enduring of the women's adult schools in the city were at the

Manchester Central (Byrom Street) and West Gorton schools, and both were in a

reasonablyhealthy condition in 1914.

Manchester Central (Byrom Street) Adult School A women's adult school was opened in

1865, five years after the founding of the men's school, and by the time of the move to

new premises in Byrom Street in 1886 the attendance at the afternoon class was about

thirty. In the 1890sthe women's classfrom the missionsin Gartside Street and Jackson's

Row joined the adult school.313 Additional classeswere formed in 1908 and a junior

311 The first reference to the school appears in the January 1910 edition of the Manchester and Distnct
Supplementto One and. 411.

312 One l l/, Afanchester and District Supplement, Apfil 1910

and,.

313 Wilfrid T. Ecroyd : Votes on the Origin and Development of the A dult Schools in Lancashire and
Cheshire. in One and. -III, Yorkvhire, Lancashire and Cheshire Supplement. Volume 4 (new Series),
August 1948. Number 31
-
276
section of the The
women's school was established. school organised various social and

recreative activities, including in September 1908 a summer camp at Mellor, Cheshire.

314

A dressmakingclasswas started in 1909 and in 1911 a Drilling Classwas held under the

supervision of a teacher from the staff of the Recreative Evening 315

ClasseS.

The women'sclassmet on Sundaysat 2.30 p.m. By 1914 the attendancehad fallen from

the thirties of 1908 and 1909 to an average of 22.316

West Gorton Adult School A women's school was started in 1903, a few months after the

founding of a men's adult school at West Gorton. Within five years the attendances

recorded were the highest of any of the adult schools for women in Manchester, with a

weekly average of about 50. Late in 1909 classeswere started on Monday afternoons, in

addition to the classeson Sundays.

The school organised a number of social events, and there were programmes of excursions

and ramblesduring the summer months. Of the adult schools in the Manchesterarea,
West Gorton was the most supportive of other local adult schools, and in March 1912

severalmembersof the women's adult school left to in

start a similar school Longsight.
By 1912 attendances had fallen from a peak of between 50 to 60 in 1908-9 to an average

of about twenty. However, new ventureswere still undertakenwith the commencement

of a Biblical study class on Wednesday in

evenings, and a sewing class the winter of
1912.317

Ardwick Adult School The school was openedin 1908, partly through the efforts of the

Women'sCommittee which comprisedmembersdrawn from the women'sadult schoolsin

314 One andAII, Manchester and District Supplement, December 1908.

315 Reports of the work, qf the Friends' Schools in the Manchester district for the year ending
30th September 1912.

316 Ibid., for the year ending 30th September 1914.

317 Ibid., for the year ending 30th September 1914.

277
the Manchesterdistrict. The group met in the Onward Hall and by the end of 1908was in
difficulties. By early 1909 the school had discontinued and then functioned as a Mother's

Meeting in connection with the mission at the Onward Hall. On the move of the men's

school to new premises in Chancery Lane, the women's school resumed there in
November 1909 and was supported by membersfrom the adult schools at West Gorton

and 318
Stockport. Numbers through 1910 remainedsmall and the school had closed by

October 1911.

Top Gorton Adult School Supported by West Gorton, the school started at the end of

1908, meeting on the same premises as the men's school. From an opening average

attendanceof 22 during the first month, the attendancesfluctuated with a trend that

spiralleddownwardS.
319The schoolwas still functioning in 1912.

Holt Town Adult School At a meeting held on 14th March 1910, at which two

representatives from the Women's Committee of the Manchester distfict were present, it

was decided that a women's adult school should be formed with immediate effect. The

in
weekly attendance never exceeded an average of nine, and the latter part of 1910 had
fallen to four or five. The school was still in existence in 1912.

Longsight Women's School Started by members from West Gorton on 24th March 1912,

during the first six months the school had fifty on the register and an averageweekly

attendance of 38. Support remained consistently at this level through 1914. The school

during thesetwo years formed a clothing club and a PennyBank, and on the outbreak of

war manyof the women madeclothesfor victims from the war."'

318 One andAll, Manchester and District Supplement, December 1909.

319 Attendance retums for all schools in the Manchester area appear in the Manchester supplement to
One and. from the October 1908 edition to that of December 1910, at which time the supplement
-III
ceasedpublication temporarily becauseit was running at a loss. The supplement resumed from July 1912
to November 1912, but attendance records appeared in the July issue only. The supplement ceased in
November 1912, and further attempts at publishing a Manchester supplement were not made again until
1930,but once again the venture failed after a few months.

320 Reports of the work of the Friends' 'chools in the Manchester district for the years ended
30th September 1912 and 30th September 1914.

278
From the foregoing severalthemescan be identified. One of the ultimate weaknessesof

the adult school movement in Manchester was that too many of its resourceswere

concentrated upon only four schools - the two at West Gorton and the two central ones at

Byrom Street. At the peak of expansion in 1908 these schools unnumbered 392 out of the

membership of 565 from all the adult schools in Manchester, and out of the aggregate

weekly attendancewhich averaged293 the four in

schools the area,and theseproportions

remained sirnilar in the years of the movement's decline in Manchester during the
Following years, consequently too many of the schools had insufficient resources to

continue-"'

Links with other agencies involved in adult educational activity were amicable and the

Manchester Adult School Union worked in close co-operation with the recently formed

Workers' Educational Association. Edgar Gates, the local secretary of the W. E. A.

attendeda meeting of the ManchesterAdult School Union in November 1908 which hd

been convened to discuss future developmentsin the educational work of the adult

schoolsin the district, and a small subcommitteehad been appointed to investigatethe

matter. In the following year the National Council of Y. M. C. As. had addresseda similar

question, and looked seriously at the in

possibilities of offering courses connection with

the Home Reading Union, the university extension lectures and the W. E. A. In

Manchesterthis third alternative had already made some progress and in 1912 the

ManchesterAdult School Union had affiliated with the Manchesterbranch of the W.E.A.

Several individual adult schools from the Union also took this step during the following

months and by 1914 discussions were in progress with the local branch of the W. E. A.

with a view to co-operating in the establishment of Home Study Circles.

The adult schools worked in co-operation with the Manchester and Salford Recreative

EveningClassesCommittee and for a short period towards the end of the 1890sclassesin

321 Annual report of the Manchester District Adult School Union for the year ended 30th September
1908.

279
musical drill were held at the Byrom Street Adult School.322 In addition, the schools had

a close involvement with the settlements at Hulme and Ancoats. An adult school, which

was unsuccessful, was formed at the Lancashire College settlement at Hulme in 1905, and

the Ardwick Adult School held occasional social events at the university settlementin
Ancoats.

The adult school movement in Manchesterin many respectsduplicated the activities of

someof the other agenciesin the city which offered education and recreation for adults.
Speakersfrom other institutions often lectured for the adult schools,and connectionswith

the ManchesterY. M. C.A. and some of the Lads' Clubs in the city were well established.
Although many of the parochial agencies were similar to those of other churches -

missions, social clubs, groups which organised recreational pursuits, temperance and

welfare work - in one respect the adult schools were unusually progressive. The Quaker

doctrine included sexual equality, and consequently this principle applied to education

also. The Friends actively promoted women'sadult schools in Manchesterand following

the founding of the first one at Byrom street in 1865 others were established between

1903 and 1912 at Gorton, West Gorton, Ardwick, Beswick and Longsight.

In many respects the fortunes of the adult school movement in Manchester from 1903 to

1914mirrored the vicissitudesof the movementnationally. Membershipand attendances

peakedin 1908-9, with a phenomenalrate of growth between October 1907 and October

1908. During this period of twelve months the number of schools affiliated to the

Manchester District Adult School Union rose from 15 to 27, with only the school at

CheethamHill having been closed. Total membershipnumbers for the schools in the

Union almost doubled from 756 to 1,500 (1,088 men and 412 women) and the average

weekly attendance was 689 as opposed to 411 in the previous year. The figures for
323
schoolsIn Manchesterwere asfolloWS:

322 Annual report of the Manchester and Salford Recreative Evening Classes Committeefor 1897-1898.

323 The statistics are taken from the annual report of the Manchester District Adult School Union for the
year ended 30th September 1908.

280
Name of school MemberLhip Average Attendance

Ardwick Men's School 44 20

Ardwick Women'sSchool 25 14

Manchester Central (Byrom Street) (Men) 113 53

(Women) 66 29

ClaytonMen's School 38 27

Holt Town Men's School 19 12

Hulme, Lancashire.College Settlement(Men) 30 15

Hulme, Melbourne Street (Men) 17 12

110
West Gorton Men's Adult School 51

West Gorton Women'sAdult School 103 60

565 293

From this high point in 1908 there was a sharp decline in numbers attending the adult

schoolsin Manchesterin the years immediatelybefore the First World War. Calculating

accurately the extent of the decrease is difficult from the lim-ited data available, as latterly

intermittently, if 324
some schools provided details of attendances only at all, and the
information for 1914 refers only to the Friends' adult schools in Manchester and does not

provide figures for by

adult schoolsorganised non-Quaker 325
denominations. Schoolsnot

mentionedin the Reports of the work of the Friends' school in the Manchesterdistrict for

the year ending 30th September1914 may be absenteither becausethey are Friends'adult

schoolswhich have been discontinued or becausethey are adult schools not under the

auspices of the Friends, in which case they might or might not have closed. However,

from the available data it can be safely concluded that the Friends' schools in Manchester

had declined significantly in their ability to attract and retain scholarsbetween 1908 and

1914.

324 SeeAppendix F of this thesis.

325 SeeAppendix G of this thesis.

281
The reasonsfor the decline are similar to those which contributed to the falling away of

the influence of the adult school movementas a whole. Much of the work done by the

adult schoolswas carried out equally well by other voluntary agencies,and ultimately the

schoolsfailed in their to
attempts recruit from the working classwith the exceptionof the

comparativelysmall skilled artisanelement. However, even in these instances,

there were

numerousagenciesto cater for a desire for self-improvement. From the evidenceextant,

it appears that the movement in Manchester in 1907-8 expanded at a rate which it was

going to be extremely difficult to sustain,and amid much enthusiasmnew schools were

opened which, even with the inter-visitation schemeswhich the schools employed to

provide mutual support, were always likely to struggle as zeal overrode realism. Too

many of the schools formed had few resources on which to draw and did not have
to
sufficient experience or expertise guide them successfully through difficult times. As an

addedproblem, few of the schoolswere viable financially.

What is more difficult to fathom is why the schoolsin Manchester,and also on a national

basis, should expand so rapidly over a two or three year period in the middle of the first

decade of the twentieth century. To assert, as I F. C. Harrison does, that the experience

of the adult schools after 1910 was "in marked contrast with other contemporary adult

education organisations, notably the W. E. A. ", 326is not entirely accurate and conveniently

ignores the fact that none of these other agenciesexperiencedsuch a rapid growth in

numbers over such a short period. It would also be incorrect to imply that the adult

schoolmovementwas alone in its decline in the years leading up to the First World War.

The adult school movement experienced the same problems as educational groups

associatedwith other religious denominations,

and, in Manchester,the Y. M. C.A., which
hadbeenfrom the 1870sonwards one of the main providers of educationalcoursesfor its

membershad experienceda slower but much longer period of decline. With the adventof

the W. E. A. in Manchester from 1905, the university extension work in Manchester was

affectedand also had its expansioncurtailed. The emergenceof other agencies of adult

326 Harrison. op.cit., p. 308.

282
education such as the Manchester University Settlement and groups and societies

associatedwith religious denominationsand lads' and girls' clubs meant there was a wider

choice availableto cater for a demandwhich remainedrelatively static. The fact that the

adult school movement in Manchester in

expandedand contracted such a short period
indicated clearly the strengths and weaknessesof its organisation. The movement in

Manchesterdid not grow significantly during the first forty years of its existence;from the

founding of its first school in 1860, it was not until 1903 that another school was formed

in a different area of the city. The rapid expansionoccurred becauseof and was heavily

dependentupon the efforts of a very willing and eager small band of workers who were

infectious in their enthusiasm. It was unfortunate that such rapid progress left resources

very thinly spread, and to some degree the original vision became obscured among the

trappings of organisation. However, the usefulness of the schools and the good which

they accomplished in their communities should not be underestimated, and their

commitment to providing equal opportunity for both sexes to receive the basic fight of

education at a time when such principles were not widely held had an influence which

transcendedtheir effectiveness in providing agenciesof adult education.

Although it is difficult to estimate with accuracy because of lack of extant data the extent

of the educationaland recreationalwork for adults organisedboth formally and informally

by the churchesand other related agenciesin Manchesterin the eighty yearsbefore 1914,

it is clear that it was considerable.From the evidencecited in this chapter it is reasonable

to concludethat many churchesand chapelsin Manchestermust have had amongsttheir

parochial associations agencies of an educative or recreative character in mutual

improvementsocieties, debating and literary societies,evening schools attachedto their

day schools in some instances,sports teams, rambling clubs, summer camps and other

activities which were designed to cater for the intellectual and social welfare of their

congregationsand members.Such activities, although regardedas secular,were supported

by central and local church organisations because they were usually regarded as activities

which would assist the churchesin their pfimary function of ministefing to the spiritual

and moral welfare of those who attended their services and meetings. Whilst at the

283
beginning of the twentieth century still only a small proportion of those going to church

on a regular basis were drawn from the working class (with the exception of the Roman

Catholic Church and, in certain areas,the Methodists), most of the adult educationalwork

in
encouragedand carried out connectionwith the churcheswas primarily with those from

that element of society. The Y. M. C. A. in Manchester was a significant exception, but it

catered for a need which at least in its earlier years was not being met by any other

educationalagency. In certain respectsthe demandfor in

adult education the nineteenth

century increased simply because the adult population increased greatly during this time.

What is more significant, however, and will be seenfrom the fifth and sixth chaptersof

this thesis is that even after the state took a growing interest in the provision of adult

education between 1870 and 1914, the demands made upon the voluntary sector increased

similarly until the years immediately prior to the First World War.

284
Chapter 4
Adult Education in Ancoats

Throughout the period covered by this thesis, formal and informal agenciesof education

for adults were establishedin working-class districts of Manchesterwhich were intended

to provide for the needsof its inhabitants. The areasin which these traditions evolved

most strongly from the 1830sto 1914 were Ancoats and, to a lesser extent, Hulme. In

certain initiatives
instances., in Ancoats have already received detailed exanunationby

others. The most thorough general treatment is in

contained a thesis by Mary Hanley on

educationalfacilities in Ancoats during the nineteenth century, which investigatesthe

development of formal initiatives for adults through the Ancoats Lyceum, the evening

classesorganised by Sunday Schools in the district, the Ancoats Free Public Library, the

Ancoats Recreational Movement and the Manchester School Board evening schools, and

informal ones including concerts, lectures, the Horsfall Art Museum, mutual improvement

societies, sports, the music halls '

and other pastimes. Research also has been done on

individual enterprises such as the Manchester (Ancoats) Art MuseuM, 2 the Ancoats

Recreational Movement and the Ancoats Brotherhood, 3 the Ancoats LyceuM,4 and the

Manchester University settlement at Ancoats.5 While reference will be made to these, it is

I Mary P. Hanley: Educational Provision in Ancoats, Manchester, during the Nineteenth Centut:v
(unpublishedM. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1981). Seein particular pp.377-506.

2 See Michael Harrison : Social Reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, with special
reference to TC Horsfall (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, 1987); and his article :
-Irt and Philanthropy: T. C Horsfall and the Manchester Art Museum in eds. A. J. Kidd and
.
K. W. Roberts : Civ, class and culture: Studies of cultural production and social poliqy in Victorian
Wanchester
, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), pp. 120- 147.

3 SeeJ. 1. Rushton Charles Rowle

: and the A ncoats Recreation Movement (unpublished M. Ed. thesis,
'v
University of Manchester, 1959)-,Hanley, op.cit., pp.439-451-,and Charles Rowley : Fifiv Years of Work
without Wages(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1911).

4 See W. Barton : Philanthropy and institutions for adult education in Alanchester from 1835 to the
earvfifties (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1977), Hanley, ibid., pp.384-418.

See M. D. Stocks : Fiftv Years in Evev Street: The stov of the Alanchester Universiv Settlement
(Manchester.- Manchester University Press. 1945). Michael E. Rose : Settlement of universiv men i.n great
towns: universitv settlements in Manchester and Liverpool in Transactions of the Historic Sociqv of
Lancashire and Cheshire (1989). Volume 139, pp. 137-160, and Thomas Kelly : Outside the Walls: sixtv
vears of university extension at Afanchester 1886 - 1946 (Manchester- Manchester University Press.
1950).pp.34-37.

285
not intended here to provide studiesof undertakingswhich have already receiveddetailed

attention elsewhere, but lesser known provisions - in particular, the Ancoats Working

Man's College (1857-c]860), the recreative evening classes, Manchester Ruskin Hall

(1899-1903), the lads' club movement, and the provision in Ancoats of courses of

instruction organisedby the local educationcomn-ktee- are investigated. Inevitably, the

emergencewithin a small radius of numerousformal and informal agenciesof education

for adults resultedin someoverlappingand duplication of effort as well as instancesof co-

operation,and thesewill be identified and explored in this chapter.

Ancoats was one of the populous and older districts of Manchester, located about a n-6le

from the city centre. The industrial revolution in the second half of the eighteenth century

and the first decades of the nineteenth saw a rapid growth and expansion of Manchester.

In Ancoats, the siting of mills meant that much of the surrounding housing built to

accommodate the workers there was occupied by operatives, and both Engels, who is
highly critical of the dwellings and living conditions in all Manchester's working-class

districts, and Reach, who detects improvements in some of the newer ones such as Hulme,

offer scathingobservationsabout the hardshipsenforced on the inhabitants.

' Writing in
1844 Engels comments that "Ancoats, contains a vast number of ruinous houses, most
...
of them being, in fact, in the last stages of inhabitableness", claiming that workers dwell in

them only becausethey are obliged to do so by their employers and becausethey are near

to their workplaces. He claims also that the bourgeoisie were prepared neither to build

their houses in the district nor live there "because ten or eleven months of the year the

west and south-west wind drives the smoke of all the factories hither, and that the

working- peoplealone may 7

breathe". Reach,a more detachedobserverwriting somefive

years later supports Engels's criticisms, describing Ancoats as "entirely an operative

colony" in which is situated "some of the most squalid-looking streets, inhabited by

6 For balanced interesting demographic assessment of Victonan Manchester, see Richard Dennis:
a and
English industrial cities of the nineteenth centurv: a social geograp4v (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversItY
Press,paperback edition. 1986: first published 1984), pp.69-85.

7 Frederick Engels The Condition the Working Class in England (St. Albans, Herts: Panther Books
: of
Ltd.. 1969.4th Edition 1976. First published in Bfitain in 1892). p.92.

286
 8
swarmsof the most squalid-looking people which I have have seen". In addition to the

overcrowded, damp houses which existed in "a wide-lying labyrinth of small, dingy

streets,narrow, unsunnedcourts terminating in gloomy culs-de-sac,and adorned with a

central sloppy gutter" causing hazardsto health, such problemswere aggravatedby the

city's poor supply of water, "and that which is to be procured is not by any means

universallytransparentor tasteless. The streamswhich traversethe town are incarnations

of watery filth. " 10 That the situation in Ancoats was perhaps no worse than conditions in

the poorer quarters of some other English industrial towns and cities was no consolation

to those who had to live there. Apparently there was little improvement in Ancoats

housing during the remainder of the nineteenth century. It was also difficult for Ancoats

residentswho wished to better their to

surroundings move out of the district as agents
were often reluctant to sell or rent to those migrating from what was regarded as a poor
II
andundesirableneighbourhood.

However, perhaps motivated to some degree by a desire to ameliorate such depressing

circumstances, Ancoats residents, or at least a small proportion of them, expressed an

active interest both in politics and education. The Ancoats Lyceum, instituted in 1838,

was amongst the first of several initiatives during the nineteenth century directed either

towards or by the working class in the district, and enjoyed under middle-class patronage

a brief 12
spectacular period of success. The premises in Great Ancoats Street

accommodated a library and reading room, a coffee room, a mutual improvement society

for debates, discussions and presentation of papers on topics of popular interest, lectures,

facilities for indoor recreations, and classesfor elementary instruction in reading, writing,

8 Ed. by C. Aspin Angus Bethune Reach : Manchester and the textile districts in 1849 (Helmshore:
:
Helmshore Local Histmy Society, 1972), p.3.

Ibid., p.6.

10 fbid., 9.
p.

IIT. R. Marr : Housing Conditions in Afanchester and Salford (Manchester: Sherratt and Hughes,
1904),p.57.

12 Patrons included in William Fairbairn (1789 1874) and J. A. Nicholls

prominent philanthropists -
(1823-1859), who was also a director of the institution and its secrctary from 1844 to the time of his
death.

287
arithmetic, geography and grammarwhich were attendedboth by men and women. The

female classesmet five nights a week, and sewing and knitting tuition was available,at a

for 13
small additional charge, women members.

By 1839 the Ancoats Lyceum had 735 members, the main attraction being the newsroom

which assuaged "the thirst for political knowledge which exists amongst factory

operatives, developing itself occasionally in chartist meetings, in appeals to the legislature

1114
for protection to labour, and gatherings to promote socialism and communism. By

1850 the membership had declined to 125, and J. A. Nicholls, a director of the lyceum,

complained that "the apathy and indifference of the factory population towards education

is something painful as well as fearful to contemplate.1115

The institution's loss of appeal

to its audience during the latter part of the 1840s is attributable to a number of

considerations: the resistance of a working-class clientele to middle-class attempts to

organise its leisure time; extreme poverty brought about by high unemployment, so that it

was difficult for membersto afford even the modest subscriptionchargesof two shillings

per quarter for men and one shilling and sixpence for women, 16and a departure from "the

recreative object upon which this class of societies was ushered into existence" to the

point where the lyceums had become far more similar to mechanics' institutions and had

"as a consequence lost the class of persons they first attracted". 17 However, possibly
...
the most influential factors were the building and establishment in 1846 in Heyrod Street,

Ancoats, of a People's Institute, which started its existence as a meeting place for

Chartistsafter the closure of the Carpenters'Hall in Chorlton-on-Medlock,18and the death

13 SeeHanley. 384, B. Love Hanchester it is (Manchester: Love and Barton, London-

op.cit., p. and : as
W. S. Orr and Co., and Ball, Arnold and Co., 1839), p. 108.

14 J. W. Hudson The histoiy (London- Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans,

: of adult education
1851), p. 136.

Ii Report the L* fi 1851, in Mabel Tylecote The Afechanics' Institutes

A nnual of .4ncoats vceum or cited
of Lancashire and YorA-,
vhire before 1851 (Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1957), p. 80.

16 Love,
op.cit., p. 108-

17 Hudson. 137.
op.cit., p.

18 Brian Simon The TwoNations and the Educational Structure 1780 1870 (London- Lawrence and
* -
Wishart. 1981 paperback edition. first published in 1960), pp. 244-245.

288
of J. A. Nicholls, latterly the driving force of the Ancoats Lyceum, at the early age of

thirty-five in 1859, by which date the institution had moved to smaller premises in Mather

Street. It is difficult to state an exact date of closure, but 1860 or 1861 might be

estimates
reasonable as the lyceum is mentionedin the Slater's Directory for 1861 but not

in subsequentones in 1863 and 1865. It is possible that the advent of the Ancoats

Working Man's College might have affected the lyceum adversely, but this is unlikely

becauseboth agenciesfailed at about the sametime. At best, the College could only have

hastenedwhat even as early as 1850had beenan inevitableoutcome.

The People's Institute in Heyrod Street was not long used as a centre for Chartist

activities; once the movement died out the rooms were rented out for vanous purposes.
In 1855 a representative from the Manchester City Mission Board persuaded two local

citizens, H. B. Jackson and Richard Johnson, to use the premises on Sundays for a

Ragged School. 19 Johnson taught the classesand Jackson agreed to pay the expensesfor

the first year. Initially the hall was let on Saturday and other nights when "promiscuous

dancingand other things took place"'20but gradually it was increasinglyused for mission

full-time Hall. 21
activities and was eventually purchased and used as a Mission

Ancoats was frequently likened to the Whitechapel district of London, and by 1875 it was

estimatedthat the in
population what was certainly one of the poorest parts of Manchester

was about 60,000, with a further quarter of a million within a mile radius of the area. Its

inhabitants received moral, spiritual and philanthropic assistance from prominent citizens

(including Frank Crossley who with his brother owned an engineering works at

Openshaw, C. E. B. Russell, William O'Hanion and Councillor Thomas Eggington) and a

19 The Ragged School

movement in Manchester began in 1855.

20 R. Lee Mission Miniatures: Being histo; the development Mission Hall

: a short y of origin and of
activities in connection with the Manchester Civ Mission (London, Glasgow and Edinburgh: Pickering
and Inglis-, Manchester: Office of the Manchester City Mission, 1937), p. 15.

21 The Manchester City Mission had been established in 1837. Supported

entirely through voluntarN
contributions. its main purpose was evangelistic, but educational work was included amongst its
secondaryactivities.

289
variety of voluntary organisations. Especially important in this connection was the work

of religious denominations. In her thesis Mary Hanley has described some of the evening

classwork in Ancoats conductedunder the auspicesof the Sunday Schools, and makes

particular reference to the classesfor adults arranged by those at German Street, Bennett

Street and Holland Street.22 The Rev. William Muzzell, the rector of St. Mark's, Holland

Street,was especiallyactive in promoting social and educationalactivities for the working

menand women of Ancoats, and was a leading influencein the establishmentof a People's

Institute which was optimistically but almost certainly inaccuratelydescribedas "the first

of its kind in connection with any church or parish in the kingdom where the material

wants and amusements of the people are taken in hand and guided by the clergy of the

"23
parish. The building was opened in June 1889, erected in memory of Thomas Clegg,

who had owned a business in the district, and paid for by his wife. The premises, four

storeys in height including the basement, were furnished through donations from the

public. Muzzell, who had wanted an attractive, cheerful and comfortable meeting place

where Ancoats workers could enjoy their leisure, was fortunate to achieve his objective.

The basement contained a soup kitchen and baths for men and women. The ground floor

had a library and reading room in which were placed magazines and daily and weekly

newspapers, a classroom in which men and women received elementary instruction in

readingand writing, and a room for chessand draughts. On the first floor was a room

which accommodatedup to three hundred people and was used regularly for meetings,
lectures, concerts, and on one or two eveningseach week as a gymnasiumfor young

women. The top floor contained a billiard room, a smoking room and lavatories. On a

piece of land adjoining the building was a small, aslfphaltedrecreation yard which was

used as a skittle alley. For these several facilities, memberspaid a subscription of one

penny a week and any adult was eligible to join the Institute. The annual report for 1890

indicatedthat the premiseswere well used, especiallyduring the winter months, and had a

membershipof about 250. The building was open each night of the week, and activities
included lectures on travel and health, social events, concerts, a mutual improvement

22 Hanley. 377-383.
op.cit., PP.

2.3 Manchester Faces Places. Volume 2, Numbcr 2, November 1890, p. 27.

. and

290
 in
society, and classes singing, dressmaking 24
and cookery.

Many of the churchesand chapelsin Ancoats contributed to the provision of educationfor

adults in the district, and St. Andrew's Church in Travis Street did as much as any. By the
1840s evening classes were held on church premises in reading, writing, arithmetic and

"the most useful branchesof education"25and there were lectures in scientific and more

general subjects. In 1856 was formed the St. Andrew's Parochial Association which had

its
as objectsthe promotion of "whatever best
might advancethe religious, moral, physical

and intellectual improvement of St. Andrew's 26

Parish". Its first president was Canon
Richson and J.A. NicholIS27was a committee member. During the winter of 1856-7 two

series of lectures were arranged and contributors included Professor Frederick Crace-
Calvert and Leo H. Grindon. 28

This development of educational activity was to stimulate interest in the promotion of two

agencies which had contrasting fortunes On 22nd January 1857 a meeting was held in

24 Ibid.,
pp.26-28.

25 Catalogue Books in the St. Andrew's Librav

of and Reading Room (1846) cited in ed. J. H. Skot :
St. Andrews Church, Trm,is Street, Ancoats, Manchester: Commemorative Booklet for the Centenaty
(Manchester:Published for St. Andrew's Parochial Church Council by the Holt Publishing Service, 1931),
p.62.

26 Ibid., 62.
p.

27 Canon Charles Richson was rector at St. Andrew's Church, Ancoats, from 1855 to 1874. He was
extremely interested in educational matters, encouraging the formation of the Ancoats Working Man's
College in 1857 and the provision of a free public library in the district. After 1870 he was a member of
the newly established Manchester School Board. J. A. Nicholls was until his death in 1859 the honorary
secretaryof the Ancoats Lyceum.

28 Trained in the study of chemistry in France. Crace-Calvert settled in Manchester in 1846. He

succeededLyon Playfair (who in 1853 was to become with Henry Cole Joint Secretary of the Department
of Science and Art in London) as honorary professor at the Royal Institution, and was appointed to the
chair at the Pine Street Medical School, which later became the Manchester Royal School of Medicine
and amalgamated vNithOwens College in 1872. Crace-Calvert was elected to the Manchester Literary
and Philosophical Society in 1847, and later served on the committee of the Manchester and Salford
Sanitary Ass3ciation. He was one of several prominent scientists who contributed to the programme of
popular science lectures for the people during the cotton famine in 1862. Grindon was a banker and a
noted amateur botanist who lectured on the subject at the Royal School of Medicine in Pine Street, and
who with his friend Joseph Sidebotharn founded the Manchester Ficid-Naturalists' Society in 1860. See
Robert H. Kargon : 5cience in Victorian 1fanchester: Enterprise and Expertise (Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1977), pp.80,97-99,122-123 and
194, P. H. J. H. Gosden : The developinent of Educational, 4dininistration in England and lVales (Oxford-
Basil Blackwell and Mott, Ltd.. 1966), pp.49-50.

291
the schoolroom at St. Andrew's, presided over by Canon Charles Richson, "for the

purpose of memorializing the Corporation of Manchester to establish a branch of the

Manchester Free Public Library in Ancoats. "29 The work of the Ancoats Free Library

from its inception in 1857 to the end of the century is recounted in Hanley's thesiS30and

requires only brief referencehere, although one minor inaccuracy should be noted. On
7th December 1857 the Ancoats branch of the Manchester Free Public Libraries was

opened at 190 Great Ancoats Street and not in Every Street as stated by Hanley (p.418).
The library was moved to new purpose designed premises in Every Street in 1867 and

opened there in Septemberof that year. It was found that the reading room in the
building was being frequented by boys, and accordingly a room over the library, which

could accommodate up to about 150 young persons, was provided for their use and
in
opened January 1878. The Juveniles' Room offered a selection of books, newspapers

and magazinesfor consultation on the premises, and was so successfulthat similar

facilities were instituted at the branches in Chorlton-on-Medlock (November 1878),

Hulme (September 1880), Cheetham (December 1883) and Rochdale Road (October
1885). 31 From that time onwards, new branch libraries which were established included a

room for boys' use. By 1906 208 boys on weekdays and 332 on Sundays on average were

using the reading room, and an average of 254 adults per day used the library at that

time.32 The library was to be an essentialresourcefor Ancoats residentsin the yearsup to

1914 and the increasing use bore testimony to its utility. The growth in the numbers

availing themselvesof the facilities of the Free Library in Ancoats was attributable to

several factors: the closure of the Ancoats Lyceum and its library in the early 1860s; the

population growth in and around Ancoats during the final decades of the nineteenth

29 Ed. Skot, op.cit., p.62.

30 Hanley, op.cit., pp.418-438.

31 W. R. Credland : The Hanchester Public Free Libraries: A Histov and Description and Guide to
their Contents and Use (Manchester: Printed for the Public Free Libraries Committee b-N,Thos. Sowler
and Sons Ltd., 1899), p. 94, Appendix to Council Afinutes, 1906-7, containing Reports, etc., brought
before the Council: Public Free Libraries Committee Report for the period 6th September 1905 to
31stHarch 1907, Volume 3. p.629.

32 Appendix to CouncilAlinutes, 1906-7, ibid.. p.634.

292
century; the increasingnumbersin the district learning to read through the provisions of

the Education Act of 1870; and the wider availability of educational courses through the

structure for learning developedby the Manchester School Board, Technical Instruction

Committee and Local Education Authority between 1870 and 1914.

The meeting at St. Andrew's Church on 22nd January 1857 was to give an impetus to the

foundation of a second agency in Ancoats designed primarily for the use of the working-

class population of the district. Five days later, at the same venue, the Ancoats Working

Man's College was instituted, the first such establishmentto be founded in Manchester.33

Initially the students were divided into two groups, elementary (which included a class

especially provided for "unlettered adultS"34)

and upper, with the possibility of an

additional section for advanced students. In the first session 382 persons registered,

ranging in age from fifteen to forty. The College experienced difficulty in obtaining a

sufficient number of teachersto instruct the students,but in

succeed offering tuition in

several subjects. The average attendance at the elementary classeswas one hundred, and

the one in phonetics had proved popular and useful in teaching students who had received

little or no education to read. Courses in mathematics, Latin and drawing had attracted an

average of eighteen, ten and twenty-four students respectively, and a gymnastic class had

recruited forty-five members. By the beginning of the 1858-1859 academic year numbers

had declined considerably, partly because the prospects of employment during the

previous twelve months had improved and many were unwilling or unable to attend

evening classes. Numbers enrolled had fallen to 154 and once again the most popular

classwas the elementary one:

33 The Manchester Working Man's College and a similar academy at Salford were formed in 1858. The
origins and development of the Manchester Working Man's College are referred to in the secondchapter
of this thesis.

34 Ed. Skot, op.cit., p.62.

29')
 Class Average attendan(!e35

Elementary class 62

Algebra

Euclid 9

Latin

German

French

English grammar and composition 18

Mechanicaldrawing II

Free hand drawing

There is no evidence to suggest that women were admitted as students to the Ancoats

Working Man's College. No reference is made either in the report of the annual meeting
1859.36
in 1858, or, as June Purvis notes, in It is difficult to ascertain the precise date of

the demise of the College. In the second annual report of the Manchester Working Man's

College, presented to the meeting of the governing council and students on 6th July 1860,

reference is made to the need for the College to acquire new premises, and it is observed

that "Among other important advantageswl-ch would arise from its accomplishment [i. e.

the removal], we may mention that it would render possible those more intimate relations

with the Ancoats Working Man's College which are so desirable". There is nothing which

suggeststhat the Ancoats College survived much beyond this date. It is listed in the
Maier's Directory for 1861 but does not appear in the following edition of 1863 The
.
most probable explanation is that the College ceasedoperation some time during the
1860-1861 academic session and, like those of the Manchester Working Man's College

which amalgamated with the evening classes of the Owens College in 1861, its remaining

35 The Hanchester Guardian. 6th Januan, 1859. Report of the annual meeting of the Working Man's
Collegesin Manchester. Salford and Ancoats, held at the Corn Exchange on 5th January 1859.

36 June Pun-is : Hard Lessons: The Lives and Education of fforking Class lVolnen in Vineteenlh-
Centurv England (Oxford: Polity Press, 1989), pp. 176-177. However, Purvis Indicates (pp. 175-176) that
women students were first admitted towards the end of 1860 at the neighbouring Salford Working Men's
College, and they constituted about ten per cent of the membership in 1861 (38 students out of 327). This
seemedto mark a high point. because Purvis observes that dunng the 1870s. when the College prospered,
the number of women students in any year never exceededtwenty-five.

294
 to
studentswho wished continue their educationattendedthe coursesat Quay Street.

It is difficult to draw many definite conclusionsfrom the limited data which survivesabout

the Ancoats Working Man's College. The sharp fall in the number of registeredstudents
from 382 in 1857 to 154 some eighteen months later suggests that many students found

systematiccourses of instruction too much to accommodateafter hours of work in the

nills, and others who had commencedclassesin the difficult economic climate at the
beginning of 1857 had found full-time employment as conditions improved. It was

unfortunate that the existence of the College was so brief, especially as the Ancoats

Lyceum, which aimed to provide an appropriate mixture of recreation and instruction for

working-class men and women, ceased operations at about the same time. There were,
however, numerous obstacles to those who sought self-improvement. In 1834 Ancoats

had many singing saloons and other places for drinking and dancing, there being six in one

37
streetalone. By 1875 there were some 140 public housesand off-licencesministeringto
the population there, and it is understandable that many did not wish to devote precious

hours of leisure to the pursuit of learning. Dobbs cites several sources from the latter half

of the nineteenth century which indicate, for various reasons, the reluctance of working

men in Lancashire towns to seek education rather than material improvements in their

conditions, although such observers often made such criticisms from the safety of

comparative affluence, not having to live in the cramped and unhealthy surroundings

which all too often pervaded the poorer quarters of the cities. Two different perspectives

show the nature of the problem. Thomas Cooper observedin 1870 the changeswhich he

felt had taken place in the outlook of workers in Lancashire'sindustrial towns:

"I found the towns vying with each other in the erection of new town halls and in
their superior style of erecting housesof business;I found also working men had
bettered their physical condition considerably. But I confesswith pain, that I saw
they had gone back, intellectually and morally ... In our old Chartist times, it is true,
Lancashireworking men were in rags by thousands;and many of them lacked food.
But their intelligence was demonstratedwherever you went. You would seethem
in groups discussing the great doctrines of political justice or they were in
...
earnest dispute respectingthe teachingsof socialism. "

37 Peter Bailey : Leisure and Class in Victorian Englan& Rational recreation and the contest for
control, 1830 1885 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1978), p. 30.
-

295
Some thirty years later the Toynbee Hall annual report for 1899 - 1900 observed sadly

andwith somedegreeof philosophicalresignation,

"That people have all been busy getting on, some too busy to think of anything
except their work, some too set on the pleasures now opened to them to care for
knowledge It may be a stage in progress".38
...

A concentrationon the more immediatetask of earningan adequateliving helpsto explain

to
a certain reluctance of many mill operatives study outside working hours, and the
improving relaxations offered by the Lyceurns held comparatively little attraction. The

social divisions between the rrfiddle-classdirectors for

who were responsible the running

of the institutions and the workers who attended the meetings and functions were too
distant for either group to be at complete ease in the company of the other. As Bailey

comments accurately, "trying to be festive in these circumstances must have been like

attempting a clog dance on a tight rope. "39 The development of other sin-fflarinitiatives

was usually hindered by the same type of constraint which even the exercise of good will

on both sidesfailed to remove.

St. Andrew's Church in Travis Street, which had provided a home for the Ancoats

Working Man's College, had several parochial organisations connected with it. Swimming,

football and cricket clubs were formed over the years, the most successfulof which was

the cricket team which started in 1875 on a piece of land in Ashton Old Road. However,

at the point where money was needed to purchase or rent a new ground, the enthusiasm

which had kept the club in a reasonably flourishing state failed and the club went out of

existencein 1891. One of the more rewarding ventures was the operation by the church of

a men'ssocial club, which openedin nearbypremisesin Fairfield Street on I st November

1897 with about seventy members. The objectives of the association were primarily

directedtowards the affording "to its membersthe meansof social intercourseand mutual

mental and moral improvement and recreation, and to provide refreshment on Temperance

38A. E. Dobbs : Education and Social Movements 1700 - 1850 (London: Longmans. Green and Co.,
1919).p.246.

39 Bailey. p. 45.
op. cit..

296
lines.1040This provision was the initiative of Canon CharlesWoodhouse,41who between

1896 and 1898 organised several collections for the furnishing of the rooms, and Sir

William Crossley gave generous financial assistance. The club was open to Ancoats men

irrespective of whether or not they were members of the church, and offered in the

eveningsan alternative to the public housesin the district. To strengthenthis work, St.
Andrew's Old Boys' Association was formed in November 1907 for those who had

attendedthe Sundayor Day Schoolsthere, and a similar group was establishedfor women

after the First World War. In addition to such activities, other social and intellectual

requirements of the church members and congregation were met through agencies which
included dramatic, choral (which flourished particularly between 1905 and 1910), literary

and debating, and mutuai improvement (formed in 1902) societies.

However, the main efforts of the churchesin Ancoats were directed towards attendingto

the spiritual and moral welfare of their congregations, and educational and recreative

provision was welcomed to the extent that it contributed to the pfimary purposes of

religious instruction. Several of the ministers were active in missionary work in the
42
district, and their efforts were supplemented by those of wealthy philanthropists. In

1886 interest in the work of the Salvation Army alerted Frank Crossley (1839-1897), who

with his brother William owned an engineefing works which had removed to Openshaw in

1881, to the need for missionary effort in the poorest quarters of the city. Before

commencing such an overwhelming task, he "had a large map of the city prepared, with

40 Ed. Skot, op.cit., p.63.

41 Canon C. W. Woodhousewas the minister at St. Andrew's Church, Ancoats, from 1874 to 1904.

42 One such example was the Ancoats Congregational Church which in the 1890s had as its pastor the
ReN,.Charles Garnett. He was especially interested in urban missionary work, having commenced his
career with the Young Men's Christian Association at Runcorn. In the late 1870s he served as general
secretan, of the Bristol Y. M. C.A. before taking up a business career. Retiring some years later he
undertook philanthropic work in the poorest districts of Manchester before accepting Frank Crossley's
imitation to superintend the religious and social work carried out at Star Hall, Ancoats. In 1892 he was
invited to take charge of the Ancoats Congregational Church, and instituted a variety of evangelistic
activities, perhaps influenced further in this direction through attending Dwight Moody's meetings in
America in 1897, including classes for young men and women. He established also one of the few
branchesin Manchester of the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon Societ-N, which admitted both men and women
to its meetings. Senices were held on weekdays in addition to the regular activities on Sundays. See
fanchester Faces and Places. Volume 9, Number 10. July 1898, pp. 186-187.
.k

297
every place of worship of every kind marked upon it. Going carefully over it, he put his

finger on the part where the leastwas being done. This was Ancoats...1143
With the help of

his brother, he started a missionin Openshawin their own works, before embarkingon a

more ambitiousventure in Ancoats. He consideredthat improving in

conditions Ancoats
for its inhabitants was not something which could be dealt with from a distance, by

occasionalvisits to the district or by donationsto the numerouscharitableagencieswhich

existedfor the relief of the poor, and decided that a lasting contribution for their benefit

could be achievedonly by residenceamongst 44

them. He acquired a building which had

formerly served as a music hall, had it demolished and on the same site a new hall,

designedto hold about a thousand people and equipped with classrooms, Sunday School

accommodation, living quarters for himself and his family, and a coffee house for the use

of the local populace, was built at a cost of some 121,000. Frank Crossley and his family

moved from Bowdon to Ancoats, much to the concern of his friends who "warned him

to
not go to such a district, for they themselves never ventured there without a revolver in

their pockets. He [Crossley] leamed too that it [Ancoats] was so rough that the police

refused to patrol the streets on Saturday afternoon unless they walked three abreast."45
The Star Hall, as the building was known, was opened as an undenominational mission on

4th August 1889, and the Crossley family worked indefatigably to develop activities there

for the dwellers of Ancoats. Most of the work undertaken was religious in character,

althoughefforts were madethrough a coffee tavern which distributed free hot mealsto the

poor and unemployed and classes arranged for young people and adults to provide for

fundamentalsocial and educationalneeds. SundaySchoolswere establishedand meetings

were held at the Mission on weekday evenings other than Friday. The collections taken at

Sundayserviceswere divided equally amongstpromotional work for foreign missions,the

maintenanceand running expensesof the Star Hall Mission and the people of 46
Ancoats.

43 Ella Kathleen Crossley : He Heard From God: The Story of Frank Crossley (Lonclon: Salvationist
Publishing and Supplies Ltd., 1959), p.63.

44 Manchester Faces and Places, Volume 8. Number 9. June 1897, p. 130.

E. K. Crossley. op. cit., p. 64.

40 Crossley. ibid.. pp.64-65 and 72.

298
An adjoining site was purchasedand housesand a library erected for the use of students

who trained as missionaries,and the Hall "becamethe centre of a movement for a higher

and more consistentstandardof Christian living. 1147

On Frank Crossley'sdeath in March

1897the work he had initiated in Ancoatswas continuedby his wife and daughter.48

Various amongst the religious denominationsthrough their churches in Ancoats made

provision for the education of adults. A night school at St. Anne's Roman Catholic

Church had been commenced by Herbert MacConnell, head teacher of the Boys'

department,shortly after the new schoolsfor Catholic boys and girls had been openedin

1865, to offer the opportunity to the older boys in the parish to obtain a little more

learning and also to train future potential teachers for the school.49 Teachers were

expected to teach in the in

evening at night schools addition to taking classes during the

day.50 On MacConnell's retirement in 1885, his successor, John O'Dea, developed the

eveningschool work. Seriesof lectures were given, and St. Anne's was one of the five
main centres of the Salford and Manchester Catholic continuation schools (John O'Dea

was the assistant secretary of the initiative) which opened on 30th September 1889 for

Catholic young men and boys who had left the day schools.51 At St. Anne's classeswere

taught in reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, English history, English

47 The Y.Af C.A. Bee-hive, April 1897, p.41.

48 Even allowing for the somewhat reverential account of his life written by his daughter, it is clear that
Frank Crossley had a highly developed social conscienceand used his considerablewealth to benefit those
who were less fortunate. His daughter in her book cites numerous examples of his generosity to
individuals, including a small firm, associates in business, which he saved from bankruptcy, and his
generousdonations to charities which attempted to alleviate the conditions of the poor included, over the
years,at least L100,000 to the Salvation Anny. SeeE. K. Crossley, op.cit., p.43, and the obituary notices
in Manchester Faces and Places, Volume 8, Number 9, June 1897, pp. 129- 132 and in the (Manchester)
K.UC. 4. Bee-hive, April 1897, pp.3942.

49 The Slov of St. A nne's (Ancoats) (Manchester, 1978), pp.7-9.

50 David Lannon: Bishop Turner and Educational Provision within the Salford Diocesan Area
1840-1872(an M. Phil. thesis in preparation, University of Hull), p. 161.

51 Acta, Salford. Letter from Herbert Vaughan, Bishop of Salford, to Catholic clergy in the Diocese of
Salford, 21st September 1889, in the Salford Diocesan Archives, Sacred Heart Presbytery, Derker,
Oldham. Education was provided for women and girls also at the Catholic Continuation Schools in
Manchester and Salford. The evening and night school work organised by the Roman Catholic Church
for adults in Manchester has been referred to in more detail in the previous chapter.

299
literature and science.52 In 1899a successfuland ambitiousattempt was launchedto bring

of
subjects generalinterest to the adults of the parish in St. Anne's SundaySchool through
lectures and discussionson topics as varied as Dante, Socialism, local antiquities and

marriage.

The group met 47 times in 1898 alone and attracted an average attendance of fifty. 53 John

O'Dea was succeededas head teacher of St. Anne's Boys' department in 1910 by his
54
brother, William. Shortly before the First World war, a class of men was formed to

study English literature, history and the social sciences, and about fifty participated. The

class was taught in the same large room alongside other educational classes for

adolescents and young men which were in progress. A member of H. M. Inspectorate

visited the school unexpectedly to see how the experiment was proceeding and was

pleasedwith the results. Unfortunately the war halted the activity.55 The educational

work of the church for its parish was strongly supported by Canon O'Kelly, who was the

priest at St. Anne's from 1903 to 1929, and in the years before 1914 several social and

recreative agencies were established for the congregation including a club for men and
boys in which numbers were limited because of the size of the hall, a football team, and

numeroussocial events,concerts,lectures,dramatic 56
entertainmentsand excursions.

Various of the educationalefforts of the churcheswere directed towards the spiritual and

moral welfare of young men and women, and many religious and lay persons organised

and supported the work of Ragged Schools. In the Ancoats district, a school was

establishedin 1855 at the People's Institute in Heyrod Street, which had been built

52 Prospectusfor the Salford and Hanchester Continuation Schools issued on 26th September 1889
from St. Bede's College, Manchester.

53 The StovofSt. Anne's (-Incoats), op. cit., p. 15.

54 Ibid., p. 19.

55 Very Rev. F. W. Canon Kershaw : Afount Carmel, Blackley: Afore from a Golden Jubilarian
(Manchester, 1959 brochure). no pagination.

56 The Storj, of, '-Yt.Anne's Oncoatv), op.cit., p. 19. A parochial hall had been built in 1896 to house clubs
and societies connected with the church. and a larger hall was erected in 1908.
wounow- ,.

Num
WIM
JURN
300
originally as a Chartist hall. One of the earliest teachersthere was Thomas Eggington,
57

who was in 1892 elected as a Liberal member of Manchester City Council, a

Congregationalist who attended the chapel at Rusholme Road, and William O'Hanlon,58a

memberof the IndependentChapel in CavendishStreet, later becameits superintendent

and treasurer. In addition to the religious aspectof the work, the school taught its pupils

to read and write. There was more often than not a shortageof teachers,and from small
beginningsin 1865 the institution had developedto a stage by 1893 that three schools

were held on Sunday evenings with an aggregate attendance of between 1,500 and 2,000.

The premiseswere open every night in the year, and had a staff of almost one hundred

teachers and working men. At this time the total monthly attendance varied from 15,000

to 18,000. The agency was essentially democratic in its organisation and operation, "the

assistance ... of those for whom it is intended being gladly welcomed". 59

Several initiatives developed from the Heyrod Street Ragged School. In November 1888

a Lads' Club in
was established connectionwithit, 60having its
as objectivesthe attraction

57 Thomas Eggington was keenly interested in politics and was actively involved with several social and
philanthropic causesin the Manchester area. He was for several years chairman of the Committee of the
Bovs'Home until it was incorporated with the Manchester and Salford Boys' Reftige at Strangeways. He
devotedmuch of his time to educational matters in the Cheadle district (about ten miles from Manchester)
where he lived, and encouraged the provision of university extension lectures there, being for several
years treasurer of the local organising committee. In the winter of 1890 he inaugurated a series of
recreational entertainments for the working men and women of Cheadle on Saturday everungs from the
beginning of September to the end of March. The meetings were popular and aimed to combine
amusementand instruction, attracting average attendancesof about 350. A short address (no more than
fifteen minutes) would be given on a subject of general interest, followed by light refreshments and
discussion. These meetings were continued for four years, but eventually had to be abandonedbecauseof
the difficulties experienced in finding suitable premises in which to hold them. In addition to these
educational activities, Eggington was a member of the Manchester Geographical Society and of the
Manchester Statistical Society. See Afanchester Faces and Places, Volume 6. Number 12, September
1895,pp. 178-180.

58 This was the beginning of some thirty years' philanthropic work by William O'Hanion in Ancoats. A
Manchester businessman. he promoted in 1872 the establishment of Penny Savings Banks in Manchester
and Salford. Strongly supported by James Fraser, Bishop of Manchester, the scheme led to the founding of
the Penny Savings Banks Association, the success of which played some part in persuading the
Manchester School Board to open similar banks in connection -Aith the schools under their control. His
report on the distress in Ancoats in 1879 led to the formation of a relief committee at Hewod Street before
the District Provident Society organised such committees throughout the city. See Nfanchester Faces and
Places, Volume 4. Number 6, March 1893, pp. 85-87.

59 [bid., 85
p.

60 For the origins and development of the Lads' Club movement in Manchester from about 1880
onwards. see R. Jones : The Lads' Club Afovement in Afanchester to 1914 (unpublished M. Ed.

301
to the SundaySchool of Boys in the district who attendedno other place of worship and,

aimed more particularly at social and moral control, "to provide the boys of the Sunday
School with opportunity for healthy enjoyment that would otherwise be beyond their

reach, and to effect this in a way that would enable the Club officers to mould their

characterand develop their intelligence.

1161
In its first yearsthe club establishedclassesin

connectionwith the Manchester and Salford Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee in

drill, 62
singingand rnilitary but it was not until 1897, partly through the efforts of Charles

E. B. Russell,that a suitable schemeof systematiceducation was introduced.63 At that

time Russell,who had servedwith the LancashireVolunteers and had becomeconnected

with Heyrod Street in 1892, was living at the university settlement at Ancoats. Aided by a
Mr Barnes and E. T. Campagnac, the then warden at the settlement, Russell drew up a

schemewhich increasedthe scopeof the educationalwork of the in

club, and the winter

of 1897 - 1898 successful classeswere held in geography, singing, shorthand, arithmetic,

writing and gymnastics. In 1893 the chairman of the committee had urged that a company

of the Boys' Brigade be formed at the club, and membership of the brigade was an

essential prerequisite before permission was given to join the Lads' Club. Those over

eighteenyearsof agebecamemembersof the Men's Club at Heyrod Street.

dissertation, University of Manchester, 1986), which focused in detail upon the work of two institutions,
the Hugh Oldham Lads' Club, Livesey Street, New Cross (established 1888) and the Procter Gymnasium
and Hulme Lads' Club (which amalgamated in 1893). The Hulme and Chorlton-on-Medlock Lads' Club
was established in November 1886 largely through the efforts of its first secretary, Alexander Devine.
However, his contribution to the work of Lads' Clubs in Manchester is somewhat overstated by
W. M. Eagar in Making Men: The History of Bqvs' Clubs and Related Movements in Great Britain
(London: Universitv of London Press Ltd., 1953), pp.267-273. For an account of the life and work of
Devine (1865-1930) see Frank Whitbourne: Lex, being the Biograpkv of Alexander Devine, Founder of
ClqvesmoreSchool (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1937). As Jonescorrectly points out (p. 104) the
Heyrod Street People's Institute offered a variety of activities, of which the Lads' Club was only one.
Others included a Mission Hall, the Ragged Schools, and Girls'and Working Men's Clubs.

61F. P. Gibbon: A Histo.v of the He vrod Street Lads' Club and of the 5th Manchester CompanYof the
*
Boys'Brigade 1889 - 1910 (Manchester, 1911), p.5.

62 Annual Report of the Manchester and Salford Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee for 1888-1889.
The Hevrod Street Girls' Club. established shortly after the Lads' Club, had classesin cookery arranged by
the Committee by 1891 - 1892, but at neither club was the venture successftil in the early years.

63 T. A. Coward : Charles E B. RusselIfOr Remembrance 1866 1917. Alemorial written speciallY

- .4
for the members and old members of the Heyrod Street Lads'Club (Manchester, 1917), p.4.

302
The Boys'Brigade was one of several youth movements formed between 1890 and 1914
-

others included the Church Lads' Brigade (1891), the Jewish Lads' Brigade (1895), the
Catholic Boys' Brigade (1896), the Boys' Life Brigade (1899), the Boys' Own Brigade

(1899), the Girls' Own Brigade (1913). the Boy Scouts (1908), and the Girl Guides

(1908) - which sought to inculcate amongst working-class youth the values of discipline,

obedience,and good citizenshipthrough healthy and useful recreation - physicalexercise,

summercamps,music, football, swimming,and first-aid It

skills. was envisagedthat these

enterprises would "cement national unity and reinforce social confbrmity amongst
64
working classes". They appealed to loyalty and nationalism at a time when socialism

was gaining popularity at home, and the British Empire and what it represented was being

threatenedfrom abroadas numerouscircumstancescombinedto bring the prospectof war

nearer to actuality. However, it would be incorrect to classify all these movements as

identical entities under different designations. Their activities, aims and structure varied,

as did their attitudes towards increasingmilitarism as war becameinevitable.

65

64 Robin Bolton : BoYs of the Brigade: Volume I (Market Drayton: S. B. Publications, 199 1), p. x.

65 Ibid., p.xi. In addition to the two volumes by Robin Bolton, useful introductions to the development
of British youth movements in the late nineteenth century include John Springhall's : Youth, Empire and
ociqv: British Youth Movements, 1883 - 1940 (London: Croom Helm, 1977), which has a short chapter
,
on girls' organisations and includes studies of Boys' Brigades, Church Lads' Brigades, Cadet Corps and
the Scouts; and W. M. Eagar, Making Men: The History of Bovs' Clubs and Related Movements in Great
,
Britian (London: University of London PressLtd., 1953). Eagar includes a short but interesting narrative
of the origins of the Lads' Club Movement in Manchester in the late 1880s (pp.267-284). For the ethos
exemplified by some of the youth movements at this time, see in eds. J. A. Mangan and James Walvin :
Manliness and Moraliiy: Middle-class muscularity in Britain and America 1800 - 1940 (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1987) the following essays in particular : John Springhall : Building
Character in the British Bov: the attempt to extend Christian manliness to working-class adolescents,
"
1880 to 1914 (pp.52-74), John M. Mackenzie : The imperial pioneer and hunter and the British
masculine stereovpein late Ilictorian and Edwardian times (pp. 176-198); and Allen Warren Popular
manliness : Baden Powell, scouting and the development of manlv character (pp. 199-219). For the
influence on British youth of the conceptsof imperialism and nationalism, seeed. J. A. Mangan Benefits
Bestowed?Education and British Imperialism (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988): Michael
Blanch : Imperialism, Nationalism and Organised Youth in eds. John Clarke, Chas Critcher and Richard
Johnson : ff,orking Class Culture : Studies in Historv and Theorv (London: Hutchinson and Co.
Publishers Ltd in association '"ith the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of
Birmingham, 1979), pp. 103-120-,and Patrick A. Dunbar : Bo vs' Literature and the idea of Empire,
,
1870-1914in lictorian Studies, Volume 24. Number 1. Autumn 1980, pp. 105-121. For the origins and
developmentof the Boys' Brigade, seethe work by Robin Bolton referred to in the previous footnote. and
John Springliall, Brian Fraser and Michael Hoare : Sure and Sted/ast: A history of the Bo vs' Brigade
,
(London: Collins, 1983). For the Scout movement. see the article by Allen Warren referred to earlier in
this footnote and E. E. Reynolds : Baden Powell (New York: Oxford University Press, 1957). For
histories of girls' youth movements. see Marion Lockhead :A Lamp was Lit: Girls' Guildiy through fifty
years (Edinburgh, 1949). (ed. Alix Liddell) Rose Keff Stor, of the Girl Guides, 1908 - 1938 (London:
The Girl Guides Association. 1976). and Afix Liddell Story of the Girl Guides, 1938 - 1975 (London:
The Girl Guides association. 1976).

301
Much of the educational work done by the Heyrod Street Lads' and Girls' Clubs was

designedto support the religious work, as with the adult schools and the Y. M. C.A.,

undertakenby these organisations. The aims of the Lads' Clubs were similar to the ones

expressedby the Gorton and Openshaw Working Lads' Club (founded in November

1888),which were "To makeBoys'lives happierand purer, and to encouragemanlinessof

the highestorder, and to put before the Boys a higher standardof life so as to help them

to be Christiansin life as well as in name."66 Such sentimentsreflectedthe attitudes of the

wealthy niddle-classpatrons of the Clubs, which operatedentirely upon voluntary effort.

Like the Boys' and Girls' Welfare Society, the work of the Clubs was redemptive and both

used similar recreative pursuits as part of their activities. 67

The educationalwork of the Lads' and Girls' Clubs was undertakento a large extent in

conjunction with the Manchester and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening Classes
Committee, which had been instituted in 1886. The classes organised by this committee

were usually held on the premises of the agencies which were directly concerned with the

66 Richard Flint :A Brief Histmy of the OpenshawLads' Club (Manchester, 1948), p.8. The Lads' Club
movement developed rapidly in the late 1880s and early 1890s, and London and Manchester were its
main centres. See R. Jones : The Lads' Club Movement in Manchester to 1914 (unpublished M. Ed.
dissertation. University of Manchester, 1986), p. 104. The first Lads' Club in Manchester, The Hulme and
Chorlton-on Medlock Working Lads' Club, had been founded in 1886, although Richard Flint notes that
one had been started in Rusholme in 1878. SeePaul H. Schill : Histopvof the Ardwick Lads'and Men's
Club together with some notes and memoirs (Manchester: J. Ellis Benson Ltd., 1935), p.5; and Flint,
ibid., p.7. Eagar traces the origins of the Rusholme group to 1870 when JamesL. Carnelly hired a room
in a cottage in the district and arranged social and educational activities for boys "whose roughnessand
poverty disqualified them for the Sunday-schools of the neighbourhood". In 1872, when the Union
Chapel erected a People's Institute, evening classeswere provided on two nights during the week. When
thesewere discontinued in 1878 as the Manchester Corporation had begun to make increasing provision
for evening schools in the city, a Boys' Club was started in the building. The Working Men's Club, which
had also used the premises. moved elsewhere. SeeEagar, ibid., pp.283-284.

67 Jonesdraws a clear distinction, however, between the two voluntary agenciesin terms of structure and
mission. The Welfare Society was full-time, residential and had a redemptive purpose, the Lads' and
Girls' Clubs were part- time. open each evening, non-residential and aimed at encouraging working-class
to
youth use its leisure time honestly and constructively. See R. Jones, ibid., p. 144. For an account of the
work of the Boys' and Girls' Welfare Society, see F. W. Pugh : Childhood and Youth in Late Nineteenth
Centurv Alanchester u4th Particular Reference to the BoYS' and Girls' lVelfare Societv, 1870 - 1900
(unpublished M. Ed. thesis. University of Manchester, 1980). For a brief general suney of the nature of
the educational and recreative work undertaken by the Lads' Clubs in Manchester, see J. H. Helin-
Evening Classes in the Afanchester Lads' Clubs in ed. M. E. Sadler: Continuation Schools in England
and Elseu, here: Their Place in the Educational vstetn of an Industrial and Commercial State
(Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1908. secondedition), pp. 202-208.

304
 in
poorest children and adolescents working-classdistricts of the city. The committeewas

well aware that of the thousands of children leaving the day schools, only a small

percentageretained any connectionwith educationalagencies,and efforts were madeto

provide at Lads' and Girls' Clubs and other appropriate venues "recreative classesand

wholesomeamusementsas a counter attraction to the streets"where many working- class

children often spent their leisure time. In addition to promoting its work in as many
districts as possible, the committee sought to offer "attractive evening occupations or

by by
recreations",conductedusually voluntary workers who were assisted the managers

of the centres, designed to persuade young people away from "the low music halls and the

dancingsalon."611During its early years the RecreativeEvening ClassesCommittee had

strong connections with the Manchester Working Men's Club Association, and their

annual meetings were held jointly. In 1886 the Manchester Trades Council had sought the

assistanceof the Association in organising recreative evening classes. Meetings were held
in Manchester and Salford,, as a result of which a committee had been formed comprising

eleven persons approved by the Trades Council, eight from the Association and several

others interested in education. Until 1900 the Committee worked in co-operation with the
Association, before continuing after that date as a separate organisation.69 In 1896 James

Johnston was chairman of the council of the Association and honorary secretary of the

Recreative Evening Classes Committee; Gustav Behrens acted as treasurer to both

agencies;and W. J. Ellam was secretary to both. In pointing this out at the annual

meeting of 12th May 1896, Archdeacon Wilson opined that the two movements were
1170
linked "by a common personnel, common aims, and a common inspiration. The

RecreativeEvening ClassesCommittee offered classesand activities for adolescentsand

young persons; the Working Men's Club Association arranged similar programmesfor

68 Annual report of the Manchester and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening Classes Committee,
1895-1896

69 K. T. S. Dockray : The Afanchester and District Branch of the Iforking Alen's Club and Institute
I'nion Limited, 1877 - 1927 (London: The Working Men's Club and Institute Union Ltd., 1927), p.26-

70 Annual report of the Hanchester and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening Classes Committee,
1895 - 1896. (Members of both committees included Professor I E. C. Munro, T. C. Horsfall.
W. H. Houlds-worth. A. E. Steinthal and William Mather. )

305
 71
adults.

The classes organised by the Recreative Evening Classes Committee were held in

Institutes, the pren-isesof Board Schools under the auspices of the Manchester City

Council, Ragged Schools,church halls and other appropriatevenues. The large majority

of these centres were in the working-class districts of Manchester - Hulme, Ancoats,

Strangeways, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Ardwick, Openshaw, Nfiles Platting, New Cross,

Moston and Collyhurst. Almost all the teachersworked in a voluntary capacity,with the

exception of a few of the teachers of domestic economy who were supplied by and paid

through a grant from the Manchester Education Committee.72 Classesusually were

organised from September to the end of March, and attendances were almost always

better before Christmas than after. The activities were, as the name of the committee

implied, of a practical or recreational nature. Classes for boys included woodwork,

metalwork, bent iron work, joinery, basket making and musical drill; the ones for girls

concentrated primarily on domestic economy, dressmaking, millinery, cookery, laundry

work, physical culture and lectures on health. A few centres, including the school at

Bennett Street and St. James the Less Girls' Club in Ancoats, offered occasional classes

for adults as part of their regular programme, but this was not usual. Instruction was

aimed particularly at the working class and was relatively successful, although frequently

classeswere discontinuedafter a few weeks becauseof lack of support. On occasion,the

coursesdid not reach the for

audiences which they were designed. The teacher of the

cookery class at St. Michael's School, Hulme, noted disconsolately in 1889 that "Instead

of the working class girls and young women whom we hoped to benefit, the class has

principally been attended by business young ladies, married ladies in business, and school
"73
teachers.

71 Reference to Working Men's Clubs in Ancoats will be made later in this chapter. A more detailed
assessmentof the educational efforts of the Manchester Working Men's Clubs Association (later renamed
as the Working Men's Club and Institute Union) appearsin the sixth chapter of this thesis.

72 A nnual report of the Manchester and Saffiord Practical and Recreative Evening Classes Committee,
1905- 1906. Classesin domestic economy had started in 1891 - 1892.

73 Annual report of theAlanchester and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee,
ISSS- 1889.

306
The initiative began in 1886 on a small scale and by 1888 - 1889 had progressed

significantly. Classeshad been commencedat nine schools or institutes in Rusholme,

Deansgate, Hulme (three centres), Miles Platting, Strangeways, and at All Souls, Every

Street, and Heyrod Street School in Ancoats. Classes would sometimes be held

irregularly as premiseswere required for other purposes,and the most popular subjects

were drawing, singing and clay modelling. At Every Street a class was offered in

shorthand on Monday 74
eveningS, but after 1905 in
classes academic and commercial

subjectswere transferredto the ManchesterEducation Committee which had approached

most of the in
voluntary agencies the city which were running educationalclasseswith a

view to bringing the curricula in line with those of the evening schools organisedby the
local education authority. In return, the Manchester Education Committee assumed

financial responsibility for the expensesincurred by the classeswhich continued to meet at

their usual venues. The voluntary agencies undertook the management of the classes,

including the selection of teachers, although the Education Committee was available to

give help 75
and advice when necessary. This step had little effect on the numbers catered
for by the Recreative Evening Classes Committee, which, similarly to but not as

spectacularly as those for the adult school movement in Manchester, increased steadily to

1910 before declining slightly by 1914.

Number of Number of Number of Aggregate 76

Teachers, Pianists, Centres Classes Weekly
& Class Managers Attendance

1895-1896 26 50 950
1896-1897 75 30 62 1100
1897-1898 80 32 72 1150
1898-1899 79 36 73 1200

1899-1900 34 79 1300
1900-1901 87 40 80 1200
1901-1902 69 34 75 1250
Continued

74
Ibid.

75 Paul H. Schill : Histo,v of theAncoats Lads' andA len's Club together with some notes and memoirs
(Manchester: I Ellis Benson. 1935), p. 19.

76 The figures are taken from the annual reports of the Manchester and Salford Practical and Recreative
Evening ClassesCommittee for the years referred to above.

307
EContd.
Number of Number of Number of Aggregate
Teachers, Pianists, Centres Classes Weekly
& Class Managers Attendance
1902-1903 115 36 84 1450
1903-1904 41 120 2450
1904-1905 54 139 2600
1905-1906 260 61 156 2800
1906-1907 300 56 163 2900

1907-1908 300 59 173 3250

1908-1909 250 70 166 3270
1909-1910 300 79 161 3346
1913-1914 430 1 79 169 3168

The most active district for the work of the recreative evening classesin Manchester was

Ancoats. Between 1888 and 1905 instruction was given at 26 centres, including Ragged

Schools, Girls' and Lads' Clubs, Girls' Friendly Societies, Mission Halls, Institutes and,

briefly between 1889 - 1900 and 1902 - 1903, the Ancoats Art Museum.77 From 1891
-
1892 onwards several short practical courses were arranged for the Mill Girls' Institute in

Mill Street. The classesfor the mill girls in Ancoats started originally in 1868 as a branch

of the educational work in connection with the Manchester Young Women's Christian
Association, and the girls were instructed in reading, writing, sewing and religious

knowledge.78 In 1871 the classes separated from the Y. W. C. A., and inadequate

accommodation forced the organisers to seek more suitable premises for the work.

Eventually one of the rooms in the Wesleyan Sunday School in Lever Street was rented,

and the classes commenced on 20th March 1872 and continued to meet on Wednesday

77 It is not difficult to detect the influence of T. C. Horsfall in this arrangement. Ancoats Hall housed
the Manchester Art Museum. which was financed by Horsfall, who was also a member of the Manchester
and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening Classes Committee. The women resident students of the
universit), settlement at Ancoats lived in accommodation in Ancoats Hall. During the same period,
classesin domestic economy and dress making were held at the Lancashire College settlement in Hulme.
Seethe annual reports for those years of the Manchester and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening
ClassesCommittee. See also M. D. Stocks : Fiftv Years in Everv Street: the storv of the Manchester
Universitv Settlement (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1945), p. 16-, Michael E. Rose-
Settlement of universitv men in great towns: universiy settlements in Manchester and Liverpool in
Transactions of the Historic Sociqy of Lancashire and Cheshirefor the.vear 1989 (Volume 139), p. 139.
For an account of Horsfall's contribution to the work of the art museum at Ancoats Hall. see Michael
Harrison - -Irt and Philanthrop.v: T. C Horsfall and the Manchester A rt ,Ifuseum in eds. A. 1. Kidd and
K. W. Roberts : Ci(v, class and culture: Studies of cultural production and social polIcY in I"ictorian
Alanchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1985), pp. 120-147.

78 Annual theAlission to theAncoats Afill Girls, 1880. In 1885 the Mission changed its narne
report of
to the Mills Girls' Institute. Ancoats.

308
eveningsfrom 79
sevenuntil nine. Writing and dressmakingwere studied at the 80
classeS,

and girls also received training in neatness,cleanlinessand politeness from the middle-

classladies who organisedand taught the girls. The averageattendanceincreasedfrom

99 in 1872 to 151 in 1873 to about 200 in 1874.81 Girls were also taught to read, as

exceptionally were older women. The annual report for 1876 gave an instance of a

woman "nearly 40 years of age, who could not read, sought admittance. She was so

much older than any of the young women in the Adult Classesthat there seemedsome

questionas to the propriety of adrnitting her; but as shewas urgent in her entreaties,her

requestwas granted. So eagerwas she to learn, and with such assiduity did she practise

readingat home, that after a few months' instruction is to

she able read [from] the New
Testament."

Results such as this illustrated the usefulness of the classes, and at the end of 1877 the

numbers had increased to such an extent that it was necessaryto rent a second room in

the samebuilding.82

In 1886 the Mission to the Ancoats Mill Girls became reaffiliated to the Manchester

Y. W. C. A. and became known as the Manchester NO and Working Girls' Society. The

classes in reading, writing and sewing continued and, perhaps reflecting the religious
influence of the Y. W. C. A., efforts were made to bring the girls together to receive Biblical

instruction. The classes had been started by the Manchester Y. W. C. A. in April 1868 for

the mill girls becauseit had been observedthat "numbersof girls spent their eveningsin

wanderingabout the streets, singing low songs, or visiting public houses in worse than
doubtful company.1183 This venture was an unusual departure for the Manchester

79 A nnual report of the Afission to the A ncoats Afill Girls, 1872.

80 Annual reports of theAfission to theAncoatsAfill Girls, 1874 and 1875.

81 A nnual the Vfission to the A ncoats A fill Girls, 18 72,18 73 and 18 74.
reports of

82 Annual report of the Mission to theAncoats Mill Girls, 1878.

83 nnual report oj'the AfanchesterA fill and Working Girls'Societ. v, 18S6.

.4

309
Y. W. C. A.; its work was concerned primarily with young women employed in the

commercial offices in the city. In 1891 additional courses were started in conjunction

with the RecreativeEvening ClassesCommittee. Instruction in cookery was arrangedfor

Mondays and Wednesdays,and by 1893 two classeshad been commencedin each of

millinery, dressmakingand laundry 84

work. In 1895-1896classesfor women in domestic

economyand cookery for artisanswere begun. Both courseswere reasonablysuccessful,

attracting averageattendancesof thirty. 85

Although such educational and recreative activities did in themselveshave some value,

their worth was enhancedfor the middle class to the extent that they allowed the

organisersfrom that classto control the conduct of working-class men and women who

were expected to use their leisure time in ways which would assist self-improvement and
discourage drunkenness, idleness and the following of aimless pursuits. The rationale

underlying the recreative classes was estimated accurately in the introductory speech

given by a strong supporter, the Earl of Derby, at a meeting held in the Manchester Town

Hall in September 1889 at the beginning of the session:

"There are three separatebut not unconnected objects which the promoters of these
classes have in view. They want to help in the extension of that technical instruction
for which everybody is now calling out, and which is so useful, perhaps so necessary
for material success in life. They want to help young men who have a turn for
culture, whether scientific, literary, or artistic, to develop their faculties for the sake
84 Annual reports of the Manchester and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening Classes Committee,
1891- 1892 and 1893 - 1894.

85 Annual report of the Manchester and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening Classes Committee,
1895 - 1896. The Recreative Evening Classes Cominittee was part of a national organisation, the
RecreativeEvening Schools' Association, the objects of which were:
"(1) To encourage and attract those boys and girls who have left the Public Elementary Day
Schools to continue their education at Evening Schools, opened under Government Inspection, and
for this purpose to encourageRecreative and Practical Instruction.
"(2) To utilise as far as possible Elementary Schools and other buildings for the establishment of
Evening Homes [open every evening for rest, recreation and instruction in useftil subjects] for
working women and girls, and Clubs and Institutes for working men and boys [providing social,
recreative and educational opportunities to youths over 16. and suitable meeting places for clubs
and provident and benefit societies].
"(3) To stimulate public opinion and Voluntary and State effort towards the promotion of the
industrial and social well-being of the people by all such means as come within the scope of the
Association. " (M. E. Sadler (ed.), op.cit., p.92.)
For a brief discussion and outline of the work of the Recreative Evening Schools' Association, see
Sadler (ed.). ibid., pp.91-96.

310
 of the increased enjoyment, the deepened interest in life which all increase of
intellectual power tends to give; and lastly, they want to help boys of the ordinary
sort - not exceptionally bright or exceptionallystudious - but boys with a good deal
of human nature in them, to find some decent, harmless, and pleasantoccupation for
the hours which are not taken up with work, and which, in the absenceof such
be
occupation,will almost certainly wasted in idleness, and be
very probably wasted
in mischief"86

This fear of working-class unrest and the consequenteffects on an ordered hierarchical

structure of society was by no means new and had been one of the motIves which

contributed to the development of Sunday Schools a century earlier. The Recreative

Evening ClassesMovement achieved one of its objectives in that an increasing number of

young men and women were kept harmlessly occupied and entertained and had an

opportunity to learn practical skills. What the classes manifestly did not do was to equip

young people from the working class significantly to improve their status in life.

The Heyrod Street Lads' and Girls' Clubs made frequent use of the amenities provided by

the Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee. 87 The classesat the Lads' Club were offered

irregularly; the Girls'Club, from a successful beginning in 1891 - 1892 when an average of

between 45 and 50 persons attended fortnightly classes in cookery during the winter

months, widened the scope of the work over several years with rather mixed results to
in
incorporate classes millinery and sewing for girls and, unusually, an afternoon class on

Thursdaysfor married women betweenthree and five o'clock on cooking for artisans. In

1904 - 1905 classeswere held at the Ancoats Lads' Club in Beswick Street, but this

enterprise failed quickly. 88

The classes made available by the Recreative Evening Classes Committee were only one

86 4nnual report of the Manchester and Salford Practical and Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee,
.
1889-1890.

87 By March 1905 the work of the Recreative Evening Classeswas expanding so rapidly that the funding
could not cope with the demands which were being made upon it. The Committee, requinng about L300
to meet current expenses. launched an appeal which realised L130. See the Annual report of the
Afanchester andWford Practical and Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee, 1904 - 1905.

88 See the annual reports of the Manchester and Salford Practical and Recrealive E17ening Classe.v
Committee for the years 1891 - 1892.1892 - 1893,1896 - 1897 and 1904 - 1905,

311
aspect of the educational work of the Lads' Clubs in Ancoats and other districts in

Manchester. Robert Jonesis probably unduly severein his assessmentof the contribution

madeto education in Manchesterby the two institutions - Hugh Oldham Lads' Club and
the Procter Gymnasium and Hulme Lads' Club - which he examined in detail in his

research The efforts of one are dismissed as "minimal" and the other as "tardy and
failing", although he does concedethat OpenshawLads' Club was unique.89 This agency

had been formed in 1888 as the Gorton and OpenshawWorking Lads' Club, and it was

financedprimarily by its founder, Sir William J. Crossley(brother of Frank Crossley)and

met in a small building near the works. 90 At first, efforts were concentrated upon the

provision of recreative activities for the works' employees as a supplement to the central

religious purpose of the organisation. During the first year a gymnasium was equipped for

the use of members, and provision was made for quiet games such as chess and draughts.

The club also arranged classesin arithmetic, reading and writing so that social and

educational activities could be held in the same building. In 1889 a much more ambitious

scheme was introduced, and a wider range of subjects, including science, was offered.

The club eventually housed what was claimed to be the largest of any of the evening

schools in Manchester outside the ones under the auspices of the Manchester
Corporation.

To encourage use of the educational classes, the club made attendance at them a

for
requirement participation in the annualcamp held dufing Whit Week. This expenment

was tried in the winter of 1890 1891 for the first of these camps. The result was that the
-

numbersat the classesfor the following year almost doubled, and the use of the winter

educational courses as a qualification of eligibility for the camp was adopted

89 R. Jones : The Lads' Club Movement in Manchester to 1914 (unpublished M. Ed. dissertation,
University of Mwnchester, 1986), p. 103.

90 The club changed its name in 1895 to the Opensham,Lads' Club and was retitled The Crosslev Lads'
Club in 1913 in memory of Sir W. J. Crossley. In 1948 the club reverted to its previous title. SeeRichard
Flint A Brief Histov qf the Openshmt,Lads' Club (Manchester, 1948). p.7. One of the most active and
longest serving members at the club was George Leader Williams, who served for many years on the
committee of management of the Manchester Y. M. C. A. He joined the Lads' Club in 1893 and became
one of its first vice-presidents in 1948.

312
permanently. 91

In 1896, through the generosity of Sir William Crossley, the club acquired the premises in

Pottery Lane of what had formerly been a mechanics'institute. Extensionswere built to

ensurethat the new accommodationwas adequatefor the club's requirement. Crossley

also purchaseda site in Clayton for use as a sports ground, and had it suitably prepared
for soccer,cricket, tennis and hockey. Appropriately equippedchangingrooms were built

for the use of participants. Following Sir William Crossley's death in 1911 his family
,
gave that
assurances the Lads' Club would continue, and plans were drawn up for the
building of modem and larger premises on a site purchased by the Crossley family. It was

agreedthat the new club should provide a memorial to Sir William, and its name was

changed to the Crossley Lads' Club when the new buildings were opened in September
1913. The premises catered well for agencies which were still increasing in membership -

the Openshaw Lads' Club had about eight hundred on its register in 1903, and the rooms

were used also by the Crossley Girls' Club which had been formed in 1895. The running

of this club was supervisedby Lady Mabel Crossley, Sir William's spouse,and its main
functions were religious and moral. The educational classes,which were similar in type to

those provided by the Recreative Evening Classes Committee, were initially restricted to

knitting and sewing, but following affiliation to the Manchesterand Salford Girls' Club

Union a much wider variety of educative and recreative activities were undertaken,

including physical training, netball, hockey, singing, drama, country dancing and leather

work. As with the Lads' Club, the girls had an annualcamp, and there was also following
the final educationalclassesan end of sessionpicnic at Alderley Edge.92

In 1905 the Manchester Education Committee approached voluntary organisations in the

city which organised educational classeswith a view to bringing into conformity the

coursesoffered by all the by

evening schools,whether arranged voluntary agenciesor by

91 Flint. ibid., pp. 9-13.

92 Flint. ibid., pp. 17,25 and 40.

313
the local educationauthority, within the city. Many groups, including severalLads' Clubs,

to
chose accept the Education Cornrnittee's
offer to take over the financial responsibility

for the courses, with the arrangementsand selection of teachers being left to the

institution which had previously made the provision if this was so wished. In

administrativeterms this was a convenientand appropriatesolution which assistedmost of

the parties concerned,although reservationswere still from time to time expressedabout

the growing involvement of the State in education at the expenseof what was perceived

as the disinterested standpoint of the voluntary provision. AJthough maintaining good

working relationships with the local education authority, the Openshaw Lads' Club

remained outside the administrative structure set up by the Manchester Education

Committee.93 Since at least half of the membersof the Lads' Club were employed by

Crossley Brothers Ltd., the educational provision was, in effect, to some extent made by

the firm, rather than by the Club, for its employees. The classes which had been

systernatisedin 1899 had by 1907 been extended to include evening courses of instruction
in engineering and commerce. The engineering course comprised four hours per week

over three years, and the entry requirements specified that the students had to be at least

fourteen years of age, had to have spent at least twelve months in Standard VI of a public

elementary school and currently had to be "engaged in industrial occupations".94 The

commercialcourse which was taken over two years laid down similar conditions except
that applicantshad to be working in "Commercialor distributive occupations".95

The courses offered by the Openshaw Lads' Club were taught by appropnately qualified

persons,and before being put into operation had been by in

approved experts educational
training. The engineering course consisted of tuition in experimental mathematics

(including technical drawing) over three years for three hours per week in the first year

and two hours per week in the two subsequentones. The remaining elementscomprised

93 Flint, ibid., p. 9-

94
Ibid., p. 18.

95 Ibid., p. 19.

314
one hour per week of English composition during the first year; two hours per week of

theoretical and practical mathematics and physics in the following year, and two hours per

week in the final year of machineconstruction and drawing. The commercialstudentsin

the first year receivedweekly instruction for two hours in commercialarithmetic, one hour

of English, and one hour of shorthandor bookkeeping or French. A similar amount of

time was spenton commercialarithmetic in the secondyear, with one hour being devoted

to correspondenceand office routine and the other one to shorthand, bookkeeping or

French. A preparatory course was provided "for backward lads, who require instruction

chiefly in the subjects taught in the Elementary Day Schools" whereby students received
instruction as necessaryin reading, writing, composition, arithmetic and, at the discretion

of the head teacher, geography or history. Two courses for each year were offered for the

technical subjects and one each year for the commercial classes.The evening school staff

consistedof a headteacherand twelve teachers.96

The scheme of education provided by the Openshaw Lads' Club was similar in design to

those offered to other voluntary organisations which so wished by the Manchester

Education Committee. Through the agreement reached with the Committee in 1906, from

1907-1908 the evening classes at the Heyrod Street Lads' Club, were established on a

more systematic basis.97 From 1906-1907 the educational activities of the club played a

more prominent part in its programme. Classes were based on a requirement that boys

under seventeenshould ideally attend for a total of four hours' instruction each week in

various subjects,and were held each night from Monday to Friday. Most sessionslasted
for one hour, with the exception of woodwork (2 hours) and workshop afithmetic

96 Details taken from the 1907-1908 prospectus, reprinted in Flint, ibid., pp. 18-19. Brief referencewill
be madeto evening class provision made for workers by Manchester employers in the sixth chapter of this
thesis.

97 The Board of Education had reorganised Heyrod Street from 1897 as an evening continuation school
and. largely through the efforts of C. E. B. Russell and E. T. Campagnac. at that time the warden of the
university settlement in Ancoats. the scopeof the educational work had been expanded. as noted earlier.
in 1897-1898. A grant of LIO towards this work had been received in 1899 from government funds
which, by 1906-1907, the last year under the central authority, had increased to L84.19s.0d. See
F. P. Gibson: A Histov of the He.vrod Street Lads' Club and of the 5th Ifanchester CompanYof the Bo.vs'
Brigade 1889-1910 (Manchester. 1911). p.3 1. and T. A. Coward, op.cit., pp.4 and 6.

315
(1.5 hours), and classesusually took place between7.45 p.m. and 9.45 p.m. Unlike many

voluntary agencies the Heyrod Street Lads' Club provided for differing levels of

attainment,both in in
commercialand more generalsubjects.

Elementary classes were offered in arithmetic, writing and shorthand, a course in

shorthand at intermediate level was provided; advanced classes in bookkeeping and

English composition f6rmed part of the curriculum; and numerous other courses,

including algebra, British trade and commerce, gymnastics, workshop arithmetic,

mercantile arithmetic, English, geography, citizenship, English literature, history,

ambulanceand hygiene lectures, mechanical drawing 98

and woodwork were arranged.

The formal education classesof the Lads' Clubs in Manchester increased in popularity as

the local education authority assumed a growing responsibility for them from 1905-1906

onwards. In some instances the existing arrangements of voluntary provision of courses

continued for one or two years, but the co-ordinating of such educationalactivity on a

systematicbasis was useful in that a more organisedand less indeterminateapproachto

the teaching and allocation of courses began to emerge, there was less duplication of

effort, and there was for the Clubs, which were voluntary the
organisations, by no means

insignificantconsiderationthat the in
classeswhich were offered associationwith the local

authority attracted governmentgrants which improved as attendancesat classesincreased.

In the first year of this arrangementbetween Manchester Lads' Clubs and the city's

Education Committee, 897 working-class youths attended one or more educational

classesprovided at the Lads' Clubs in the city and grants awarded amounted to
1391 1 Is 6d. 99

Suchformal provisions were underpinnedby, and often had their genesisin, a network of

more informal ones offered by Lads' Clubs in an effort to afford moral guidanceto their

98 F. P. Gibbon: Histo;y of the Heyrod Street Lads'Club, ibid., p. 58.

.4
99 Ed. Sadicr, op.cit., p. 205.

316
clientele. The Clubs were usually situated in the working-class districts of Manchester

and Salford - Ancoats,

100
Collyhurst, Crumpsall, Ardwick, Knott Nfill, Hulme and their
-
work was often carried out in difficult in
circumstances unpromising surroundings.
Attempts were made, sometimessuccessfully,to instil valuesof discipline into youths who

resentedefforts to restrain and guide them. Russell observedthat no allowanceswere

for
made weaknessin those to
who sought control them, although his assertionthat "boys

of this class recognise,appreciate,and respect the capacity or the power to understand

and control them"101 smacks somewhat of optimism. Given such circumstances, adult

supervision of activities designed to channel the energies of working-class youth into

healthy and productive channels was considered by anxious middle-class respectability to

be essential. John Springhall attributes this development of attempts at the social

conditioning of working-class youth in the 1880s and 1890s to "a period in which the

young found themselves increasingly becoming socialized into national moulds by a

committed middle class that took its weltanschauungfrom various permutations of

militant Evangelical Christianity, Public-school 'manliness, militarism and imperialism.11102

Certainly the Heyrod Street Lads' Club with which Russell was closely connected

its
underlined religious objectiveswith a desire to provide for its membersopportunities
for "healthy enjoyment" under such supervision as would enable "the Club officers to

mould ... character and develop intelligence"103of the lads. To this end, the club
...
100 There were three lads' clubs which were situated in reasonably close proximity to each other in
Ancoats: the Heyrod Street one, formed in November 1888, which by 1905 had a membership of about
700-,the Ardwick Lads' Club, founded in 1889, which had its premises in Palmerston Street, Ancoats, and
was of a similar size, and the Ancoats Lads' Club, near Mill Street, one of the largest clubs of its kind in
Manchester, which by 1905 had some two thousand members. There is some disagreement over the date
of inception of the Ancoats Lads' Club. W. M. Eagar gives the year as 1889; R. Jonesas 1894. The latter
is probably correct. It is possible that Eagar has confused the year with that of the establishment of the
neighbouring Heyrod Street Lads' Club, which came into existence in 1889. He asserts incorrectly that
the Heyrod Street one was formed in 1890. See R. Jones: The Lads' Club Movement in Manchester to
1914 (unpublished M. Ed. dissertation. University of Manchester, 1986), p. 103 (a); F. P. Gibbon: A
Histov of the Heyrod Street Lads' Club and of the 5th Company of the Boys' Brigade 1889 - 1910
(Manchester. 1911), p. 55-, and W. M. Eagar: Making Men: The Histov of Bovs' Clubs and Related
Afovementsin Great Britain (London: University of London PressLtd., 1953), p.280. ,

101 Charles E. B. Russell: Manchester Bovs: Sketchesof Manchester Lads at Work,and Plqv (Swinton:
'
Neil Richardson, 1984. First published in 1905), p.3.

102 John Springhall: Youth, Empire and Societv: British Youth Movements, 1883 1940 (London:
-
Croom Helm, 1977), p. 16.

103 F. P. Gibbon-.A Histov of the HeyrodStreet Lads'Club and of the 5th Manchester Company of The

317
instituted a series of Whit Week Campsfrom 1891; a football team was founded in the

following year; and in 1893,largely due to the influenceof Russelland the chairmanof the

committeeof the club, William Johnson,a Companyof the Boys' Brigade was established.
The Boys'Brigade Movement encouraged both nationalism and militarism, and at Heyrod

Street membership of the Company (between the ages of fourteen and seventeen) was a

prerequisite to joining the Lads' Club. In Manchester in 1894 leagues for football and

cricket teams of the various companies of the Brigade were set Up.104

To some degree, the problems facing well-intentioned middle-classorganisersof Lads'

Clubs was exemplified by the one at Ardwick. Formed in 1889, the club met on several

premises during its early years before establishing a permanent home in purpose designed
buildings in Palmerston Street, Ancoats, in 1898. Given the limited facilities available,

activities were confined to gymnastics and quiet games such as chess and draughts. By

1892 the club met on five nights each week and a Harriers' Club had been formed. Earlier

that year the club had arranged the first of a series of annual Spring Camps. During that

winter the club almost went out of existence through a failure to find suitable premises,
but eventually an agreementwas reachedwith the ManchesterBaths' Committee which

boardedover one of the swimming baths during the winter months and equippedit with

gymnastic equipment for the use of the boys from the neighbourhood. However, the

numbers taking advantage of these amenities were well in excess of what could be
supervised reasonably by one paid official, and not surprisingly "there abounded

horseplay,uproar, gambling and all kinds of ill-use".105In December1893the Lads' Club

movedin and imposed somekind of order, and soon afterwardsthe rooms were catering
for an attendancewhich averaged80 during the week and 250 on Saturdayevenings. One

early loss to the Club was its chair of committee, George King, who resignedbecauseit

Boys'Brigade 1889 1910 (Manchester, 1911), p.5.

-
104 Springhall notes that after the First World War, youth organisatlons which placed
some emphasis on
militarism went into a decline from which only the Boys' Brigade made any significant recovery. See
Springhall, op.cit., p.46.

105 Paul H. Schill: Historv of the A rdwick Lads' and Afen's Club together with
some notes and memoirs
(Manchester: J. Ellis Benson Ltd., 1935), p. 7.

318
was decided to provide instruction in boxing at the Club, and he felt this was
inappropriate. For a short time during 1895 the Club operated from two venues and

remainedopen during the summer months, before moving to new premises,

openedby

William Crossley, in Palmerston Street in December 1898.106

The new buildings enabled the club to expand its activities to include recreational

activities which supplementedits religious and educational program-mes. The nightly

doubled,
attendance which brought with it the problem of keeping order on the premises.
A group of stewards from among the older lads was formed to assist the committee, and

the arrangement worked with reasonable success. Classes in conjunction with the

Manchesterand Salford Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee were maintained and

increased; summer camps were organised each year in North Wales up to 1914; and a

Men's Club was founded in 1899 following the move to the new rooms. Initially

membership was restricted to those who formerly had been associated with the Lads'

Club, but gradually others were admitted. Within five yearsof its formation, this aspectof

the club'swork was flourishing. Social eveningswere held, a readingroom was equipped,

anda billiards room housedoccasionalconcerts. Cricket, cycling and athletics'clubs were

107
established, and during the winter of 1899-1900 a debating society was formed.

Popular social events for members, relatives and ftiends were organised, and eventually

the building becameinadequateto houseall the activities of both clubs. In the early 1900s

a new building the to

alongside existing one was erected accommodatethe Ardwick Men's

Club, as a result of which the rooms opened during the day to provide facilities for the

manyunemployedin the area in 1903 and a labour bureau, which successfullyfound jobs

for severalof the members,was instituted.101

106 John Milne of the Manchester Kendal Milne and Co. was one of the club's vi ce-presidents See
-
Schill, ibid., p. 12.

107 In 1900-1901 the club formed a Boys' Brigade Company which was unsuccessful and quickly
disbanded. See Schill. ibid., p. 16.

108 Schill, ibid., p. 18.

319
The contribution of the Lads' Club Movement to adult education in Manchester in the

twenty-five years before 1914 is not easy to estimate. R. Jones, as noted earlier in this

chapter, 109
has rather understated the it
provision, although should be remembered that he

was commenting on the two Clubs which he had studied in detail. The Lads' Clubs in

Manchester concentrated primarily on the provision of activities which would instruct and

offer what was perceivedto be useful meansof recreationthrough a variety of alternatives

- summer camps, gymnastic activities, athletics, concerts, recreative evening classes to

developmanualskills, readingrooms, choirs, debatingsocieties- and thesesupportedthe

more formal educationalprovision which was at first arranged on a voluntary basis and
increasingly in the decade before 1914 with the active assistanceand co-operation of the

city's educationcommittee. Although somewhatsparselydocumented,there is sufficient

to
evidence suggest that the adult educational work undertaken by the Lads' Clubs in the

city was a significant although secondary aspect to their work; like the Y. M. C. A. the

primary objectives of these clubs was religious.

Other educational enterprises for adults in Ancoats developed as a response to a demand

which was evidenced particularly during 1862 1863 when the trade depression in
-
Manchester which caused great hardship was at its most severe. The unusually difficult

conditions brought relatively affluent Ancoats residents like Charles Rowley (1839-1933)

into close contact with less fortunate neighboursand they becameacutely aware of the

miseryand poverty which surroundedthem. Rowley observedthat "The memoriesof the

squalor and the potency of the odours of those appalling, stinking slums can never be

effaced. We had been living next door to them all our lives, and yet were not aware of

their bestial condition."110 As describedin an earlier chapter of this thesis, one effort

to
which was made alleviate distressthrough the provision of stimulating and purposeful

activities for for

the unemployedconcerned establishmentof educationalclasses adults
the

and adolescentsat schools,using mills which had closed through lack of trade and welfare

109 Seefootnote number 89 in this chapter.

110 Charles Rowlev : Fiftv Yearsof If"ork-without Wages(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1911), p.33.

320
institutes. III In the winter of 1862-1863 "instructive evening lectures" I 12were given in

the poorer districts of the city - Hulme, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Gaythom and at a n-till in

Bengal Street, Ancoats - to which the unemployedwho attendededucationalclasseswere

given free admission. The staff at Owens College, led by H. E. Roscoe and Arthur

Ransome,were actively involved in this programme, and the results were encouraging.

Given the good response,it was surprising that the experiment was not repeateduntil

1866-1867, after which there was a further gap until 1870 when the series continued for a
13
further nine years. '

The successof James Stuart, who lectured to working-class men and women in the north

of England during 1867-1868, indicated there was a demand for knowledge from amongst

sectionsof the population which had not been catered for by more traditional forms of

educational provision. 114 In Ancoats, such need had been met to some extent by the

lyceurns, the Working Man's College and the various societies for instruction and

in
recreation connection with the churches of different denominations. Rowley's election

to the city council as a representative for Ancoats in 1875 prompted him to investigate

and remedy a lack of amenitiesin the district for cultural and leisure pursuits to provide
for the inhabitants an antidote to their depressing surroundings. Such circumstances

provided an impetus towards the formation and development of the Ancoats Recreation

Movement and Ancoats Brotherhood, in which Rowley played a leading but by no means

a sole part, and the Ancoats Art Museum. Detailed accounts of the work of those

enterpriseshave already been well documented,and it is the intention of this thesis to

examineonly the by
general contribution made them to the range of adult education in
Ancoats and how they connectedto and co-operatedwith other educationalinitiatives in

III SeeJohn Watts : The Facts of the Cotton Famine (London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co.-,Manchester:
A. Ireland and Co.. 1866), pp.201-202. Ross D. Waller : Henry Roscoe and Adult Education in Rewley
House Papers, Volume 3, Number 10,1961-62, pp. 16-18.

112 Waller, ibid.. p. 18.

113 Ibid., pp. 18-19 and 25-28.

114 Thomas Kelly :4 Histo?y ofAdult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1992, third edition). pp.219-221.

321
 115
the distfict.

Although Rowley was brought up in Ancoats, the family business was sufficiently

profitable for him to enjoy a comfortable standard of living and allowed him time to

pursue his philanthropic inclinations. Because self-effacementwas not his forte, it is

unsurprising that neither T. C. Horsfall nor his efforts to provide rational recreation and a

civilising influence for the working classesthrough art' 16received acknowledgementin

Rowley's account of educational and recreational programmes in Ancoats, even though

the two ventures were not unrelated. Equally remiss was his failure to credit the

significant contribution made by the Manchester and Salford branch of the Sunday
Lecture Society to the origins and development of the Ancoats Recreation Movement. 117

Outside London, the work of the Society was carried out most vigorously in Manchester

where a thriving association had been established by 1876, with John Watts as its

treasurer and W. E. Axon as its secretary.118 By 1882 a sound basis had been established

for the Ancoats Recreation Committee, comprised mainly of members drawn from the

to
working-class, embarkon a similar programmeas one of its activities.

Both Rushton and Michael Harrison have identified the importance of the Manchester

115 For the Ancoats Recreation Movement and Brotherhood, seeJ. L. Rushton : Charles Rowlev and the
Recreation Alfovement (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1959); and Charles
,-Incoats
Rowley : Fiftv Years of Work without Wages (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1911), especially
pp. 127-226. For the early years of the movement, see also Mary P. Hanley : Educational provision in
4ncoats, Afanchester, during the nineteenth centurv (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester,
.
1981), pp.439-45 1. For the work of the Ancoats Art Museum and of the philanthropic contribution to
Manchester life made by T. C. Horsfall see Michael Harrison : Social reform in late Victorian and
Edwardian Ifanchester, with special reference to T C. Horsfall (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of
Manchester, 1987) and an article by him based upon a section of his thesis : Art and Philanthropy:
TC 11ors/all and the Afanchester Art Ifuseum in (eds.) A. J. Kidd and K. W. Roberts: City, class and
culture: Studies of cultural production and social policy in Victorian Alanchester (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1985), pp. 120-147.

116 Harrison,. Philanthropy, p. 122.

-Irt and
117 The Sunday Lectnre Society had been formed in 1869 to encourage the promotion
1 on Sundays in
London and the provinces of lectures on science, history, art and literature. JamesHeywood and Herbert
Philips were Mancunians who were members of its first committee, and William Mather and
W. E. A. Axon were membersof the society. SeeRushton, op.cit., p. 37.

118 Rushton, ibid.. p.38. An account of the origins of the Ancoats Recreation Movement and its progress
to 1882 when the Recreation Committee was formed is given on pp.36-42 of Rushton's thesis.

322
Literary Club in the support of the enterprises both of Rowley and Horsfall. 119 However,

a much more complex philanthropic structure is identified by Rushton and Harrison

through the overlapping membershipof middle-classpatrons on committeesdesignedto
further programmes of cultural, educational and social concern. Rushton gives the

examplesof Herbert Philips,120T. R. Wilkinson,121Rowley and HorsfaII122

who were

were actively involved with several of those organisations, and Harrison shows
connections of the Ancoats Art Museum through the personnel on its committee with

other associations in Manchester, including the Manchester and Salford Sanitary

Association,the Manchesterand Salford SundayLecture Society, the Ruskin Society,the

Royal Manchester Institution and the District Provident Society. 123 Horsfall had an

extensiveassociationwith many of these organisations. In addition to a short term as

presidentof the university settlementat Ancoats (a position he was forced to relinquish

after a few months becauseof the he

pressureof other commitments), servedas president

119 Sec Rushton, ibid., pp. 8-9-, Harrison, Art and Philanthropy, pp. 123-124.

120 Herbert Philips was one of Manchester's leading philanthropists who donated liberally of his wealth
and time to many recreational and educational causes. One aspect of his work which has received
comparatively little attention is his work with the Manchester Young Men's Christian Association. He
was appointed as president of that organisation at the time of its resuscitation in 1872, a position he held
until 1894. He provided financial assistance to the Association in 1872 to enable it to secure more
adequate premises, and in 1875 he was one of several prominent citizens who loaned money to the
Association for it to purchase and use as a permanent home the building in Peter Street which had been
owned by the Manchester Society for the Promotion of National History. In 1879 his shareholding of
L5,000 in the property was gifted to the trustees for the benefit of the Manchester Y. M. C.A. In addition,
the firm in which he was a partner donated L1,000 towards the purchase of the premises.

Although Philips was actively involved in business, in addition to his Y. M. C.A. commitments he served
as a vice-president of the Manchester and District Provident and Charity Organisation Society, the
Manchester Diocesan Branch of the Church of England Temperance Society and the Manchester and
Salford Sanitary Association, he chaired the Open SpacesCommittee; he was a member of the conu-nittee
of the Ancoats Art Museum and of the university settlement at Ancoats; and was a member of the
Manchester Statistical Society. See Michael Harrison : Social reform in late Victorian and Edwardian
kfanchester,with special reference to T C. Hors/all (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester,
,
1987), Appendix 5a, pp.409-410.

121 T. R. Wilkinson was president of the Manchester Statistical Society, treasurer of the Geographical
Society and of the Portico Library, and served on the committees of the Manchester and Salford Education
Aid Societv, the Athenaeum, the Art Gallery and several other associations in Manchester. SeeMichael
E. Rose : Culture, Philanthropy and the Hanchester Ifiddle Classes in A. J. Kidd and K. W. Roberts
(eds.) : CitvI class and culture: Studies of cultural production and social policV in Victorian Afanchester
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), p. 113.

122 Rushton, op.cit.. p.44.

123 Hamson -A rt and Philanthropy, p. 123.

323
of the Citizens' Committeefor the Improvement of the Unwholesome Dwellings and
Surroundingsof the People; as treasurerto the Ancoats Art Museum; as one of the first

two honorary secretariesof the Manchester and district branch of the Working Men's

Club and Institute Union124and as secretaryto the ManchesterDiocesan Branch of the

Church of EnglandTemperanceSociety; he was on the committeesof the Manchesterand

District Provident and Charity Organisation Society, the Social Questions Union, the

Ancoats Recreational Movement, the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association, the

Open Spaces,the Manchesterand Salford Children's Holiday Fund and the Manchester

and Salford Church Day School Association; and was a member of the Manchester
Statistical Society and of the Manchester Literary Club. 115 In addition to Horsfall,

Harrison identifies a group of what he terms "Manchester's leading philanthropic and

cultural elite" who staffed these committeesand servedon at least two or more of these

committees with him and mentions specifically among others George Milner, 126Frank
Crossley, William Mather, 1271 E. Phythian121and Rev. S. A. Steinthal,129and there was

124 T. C. Horsfall was connected with the Working Men's Club movement in Manchester for
over fifty
years. In addition to his work as secretary to the branch association in Manchester for two years from its
inception in 1877, he served as a member of its council from 1880 to 1900 and became one of the
association'svice-presidents in 1901. SeeK. T. S. Dockray : The Hanchester and District Branch of the
lVorking Afen's Club and Institute Union, Limited, 1877-1977: a survey (London: The Working Men's
Club and Institute Union, Ltd., 1927), p. 13.

125 Michael Harrison: Social reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, with special
reference to T C. Hors/all (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, 1987), Appendix 5a,
pp.409-4 10.

126 George Milner was an active contributor to the literary life of Manchester and to
adult educational
movementsin that city. He had a lifelong connection with the Bennett Street Schools, was a member for
many years and eventually president of the Manchester Literary Club, served on the Manchester School
Board for nine vears, chaired the Ancoats Art Museum Com-mitteeand the committee of the council of the
university settlement, was a member of the council of the Royal Institution and a vice-president of the
Manchester Working Men's Clubs Association. See Faces and Places, Old Series, Volume 16,
April 1905, pp. 115- 117.

127 William Mather (1838-1920) was a partner in the Mather and Platt engineering works in Salford
and had a strong interest in educational matters. He attended evening classes at the Manchester
Mechanics' Institute during the mid 1850sand with Henry Rawson helped in 1869 to found and maintain
a ragged school at the Queen Street Institute, Salford. He established a short-lived mutual improvement
society for apprentices at his Salford Ironworks firm in 1866, and provided from 1873 a far more
systematic education through the Salford Ironworks Evening School of Science which continued until
1902. He sen,ed on the Salford School Board from its inception in 1870 until 1882, and in 1883 was
appointed as a member of the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction to examine training in science
in Europe and elsewhere. Mather investigated scienceeducation in Russia and the United States. Several
of the Commissioners' recommendations were incorporated in the Technical Instruction Act of 1889. He
strongly supported the Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition of 1887. one aim of which was to promote
industnal and art training in Manchester, and was the first president of the Association of Technical

324
also Charles Rowley, T. R. Marr, Alice Crompton130and W. E. A. Axon. 131

Institutions on its formation in 1894. He made many generous financial donations to Owens College and
was a member of its Court of Governors from 1889 and of its Council in 1895. He was involved for over
fifty years with the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes, being a vice-president over many years,
and was elected as its president in 1908, an office he retained until 1918. Other philanthropic interests
included membership of the committees of the Ancoats Art Museum and the Manchester and Salford
Children's Holiday Fund; the university settlement at Ancoats, of which he was a vice-president; and he
was a member of the Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. Active in politics, he served as a
Liberal member of the Salford Town Council from 1871 to 1874 and was elected as a member of
parliament for Salford ftom 1885-1886, for Gorton in 1889-1895 and, finally for Rossendale in 1900
before retiring in 1904. See1. R_Cowan : Sir William Mather and Education in The Vocational Aspect of
Education (Spring 1969), Volume 21, Number 48, pp.39-46-, J. H. Reynolds : Education and Social
Activities in L. E. Mather (ed.) : The Right Honourable Sir William Mather (1838-1920) (London:
Richard Cobden-Sanderson,1926), pp.89-135; Manchester Faces and Places, December 1890, Volume 2,
Number 3, pp.39-42 and November 1904, Volume 15, Number 11, pp.334-336-,and Michael Harrison :
Social reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, with special reference to T C. Horsfall
(unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, 1987), Appendix 5a, pp.409-4 10.

128 J. E. Phythian was an active member of a small group of philanthropists interested in educational
and
social welfare in Manchester. He served on the committees of the Ancoats Art Museum, the university
settlement at Ancoats, the Manchester and Salford Children's Holiday Fund and the Manchester and
Salford Sanitary Association-,was a member of the Manchester Literary Club and of the Social Questions
Union-, and was a subscriber to the Ancoats Recreation Movement. See Michael Harrison's Ph.D. thesis,
Social reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, ibid., Appendix 5a, pp.409410, and his
article Art and Philanthropy: T C. Hors/all and the Manchester Art Museum in A. J. Kidd and
K. W. Roberts (eds.) : City, class and culture: Studies of cultural production and social policy in
Victorian Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), p. 124.

129 Rcv.S. A. Stcinthal (1826-1910) received his theological training at the Unitarian Manchester New
College, following which he undertook missionary work in Somerset and Liverpool. Returning to
Manchester in 1864, he was made minister at Platt Chapel, Rusholme, for six years before accepting, in
1871, an appointment at Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, in succession to Rev. James Drummond.
There he worked with Rev. William Gaskell and remained until 1893. He was especially active in the
adult education work of the Lower Mosley Street Schools, and was president of the mutual improvement
society. His secular interests were diverse: he was a founder member of the National Association for the
Promotion of the Social Sciences, served as secretary to the Manchester Children's Hospital from
1879-1898-,was a pioneer of women's suffrage, was chairman of Manchester New College from
1884-1889 and president from 1904-1907; and was a founder member of the Manchester Geographical
Society in 1894, serving on its council for sixteen years. SeeManchester Faces and Places, Volume 3,
Number 10, July 1892, pp. 149-150; Rev. H. McLachlan: Essqys and Addresses (Manchester: Manchester
University Press, 1950), pp. 107-108; Lester Burney: Cross Street Chapel Schools, Manchester
1734-1942, (Manchester, 1977), pp.60-62 and 70-72; Rev. A. C. Smith: The Rev. S. Alfred Steinthal,
1826-1910. A Memorial Address delivered to the congregation of the Lolver Mosle Street Sundav
,v
School, Manchester, on Sundqv Evening, 8th Afqvl 1910, (Manchester: Co-operative Printing Society
Limited, 1910), Manchester Faces and Places, July 1892, Volume 3, Number 10, pp. 149-150.

130 Alice Crompton served as warden at the Women's House at the university settlement from 1898 to
1909, during its early years. In the 1920s, when the fortunes of the settlement were at a low ebb, she
launched, in conjunction with J. J. Mallon, a former worker at Ancoats who later became the warden at
Toynbce Hall, London, an appeal for f.6,000 to enable the necessaryrebuilding and renovations to be
carried out at the settlement. In her earlier time at Manchester, Alice Crompton served on the committee
of the university settlement and as secretary to the Manchester Art Museum Committee, and on the
Citizens' Committee for the Improvement of the Unwholesome Dwellings and Surroundings of the
People. She was also keenly interested in the Working Men's Club movement and was a member of the
committee of the association of Manchester branches. See M. D. Stocks: Fifty Years in Eve,
V Street: the
Storv of the Afanchester Universitv Settlement, (Mannchester, Manchester University Press, 1945),
pp. 18-37 and 60-66, and Michael Harrison: Social Reform in late V'ictorian and Ethvardian itfanchester,
fe
with special re rence to T C. Horfall. (unpublished
III. Ph. D. thesis. Universitv of Manchester, 1987).
.
325
The Ancoats RecreationMovement benefitedfrom the co-operation obtainedthrough the

network of contacts Rowley in

gainedas a product of working a voluntary capacityon so

many committeeswhich sought to provide for the educational,cultural and social welfare

of Mancunians. The claim made by Mexander Hadden, one of the two secretariesto the
Ancoats Recreation Conu-nittee,132in the annual report of 1900-1901, that the committee

worked without a senseof competition or rivalry with other older institutions in the
distfict is largely borne out from the co-operationgiven to and receivedfrom them. Some

idea of the extent of this amicable reciprocity can be ascertained from a brief survey of the

activities of the Ancoats Recreation Committee and the Ancoats Brotherhood.

The aims of the Ancoats Recreation Movement were succinctly stated in the committee's

annual report for 1900-1901: "For over twenty years they [the present and former

members of the committee] have been trying to encourage in Ancoats and the vast

industrial district which surrounds it, some taste for a higher social life. How to create a
desire for the best things in literature, science, art, and especially music- and how to make

ourselvesand our neighboursdissatisfiedwith any other than the best." The immensityof
such a task in such unpromising surroundings is illustrated by J. J. Mallon, an early worker

at the university settlement in Ancoats, who was addressing an Ancoats audience. He

informed his listeners that life expectancy of dwellers in that district was only thirty-five

years. The observation of a member of the audience, "Thirty- five years of life in Ancoats,

- Governor, it's a damned sight too long", was an accurate reflection of the feelings of

Appendix 5a, pp.409-4 10.

131 W. E. A. Axon (1846-1913) worked for twelve years as an assistant at the Manchester Free Library
in Campfield, beforejoining the Alanchester Guardian as a member of its literary staff in 1874, a position
he held until 1905. His contribution to cultural, educational and social movements in Manchester was
immense. He served as president of the Manchester, Salford and District Temperance Union, of the
Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Association, and of the Manchester Literary Club. he served as a
councillor on the Moss Side Urban District Council and a
was member of its Libraries Committee, he was
a memebr of the Salford School Board, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1864) and of the Royal
Statistical Societv (1870), and served as an honorary secretary of the Manchester Art Museum. See the
article b%,Robert Walmslev: It' E. A. Axon -, Ifanchester book-inanin the, kfanchester Review, Volume 10,
Summer-Autumn 1964. pp. 138-154, and Ifanchester Faces and Places: April 1892. Volume 3, Number
7, pp. 109-110.

132 The other secretarv to the committee N-vas

Charles Rowley.

326
 133
many.

From 1881 onwards the com-mitteearranged each year series of lectures and music for the

inhabitantsof Ancoats and others on Sundayafternoonsfrom early October to the end of

February at the New Islington Hall. Rowley's wide circle of connections, together with

influential figures sympatheticto the aims of the movement, including C. P. Scott, the

member of parliament for Leigh and the editor of the Manchester Guardian,

T. R. Wilkinson, the industrialist Hans Renold, J. H. Reynolds (who with C. H. Wyatt was

joint Director of Education for Manchester and had responsibility for higher education),

city councillors Gustav Behrens and Edwyn Holt, and some members of the academic

staff from Owens College, including Professor Toller, C. H. Herford and E. Donner,

ensured a steady supply of distinguished lecturers.

The connection with Owens College and the university settlement at Ancoats was strong,

and enabled the committee to recruit as lecturers distinguished speakers such as Professor
Weiss, Professor Tout, W. E. Hoyle (the director of the Manchester Museum), Michael

Sadler, Alfred Hopkinson (the vice-chancellor of the Victoria University of Manchester),

A. Woodrofe Fletcher (co-secretary with H. Pilkington Turner at the university

settlement) and Sydney Chapman. Rowley was also acquainted with Canon Samuel

Barnett, the warden of the settlement at Toynbee Hall, London,134and this and other

similar links helped to secure nationally or internationally known figures who included

Rev. W. Hudson Shaw,135the actress Janet Achurch, Albert Mansbridge, 136George

133 J. J. Mallon : Robert Blatchford and "Iferrie England" in The Afanchester Review, Spring 1949,
p.222.

134 Hennrietta Barnett Canon Barnett: His Life, Work and Friends (London: John Murray, 1921, third
:
edition), p.436. For brief details of the career of S. A. Barnett, seeApendix B of this thesis.

135 SeeMaud Royden Threefold Cord (London: Gollancz, 1947) and Appendix B of this thesis.
-,-I

136 Albert Mansbridge 1903 fon-ned an Association to Promote the Higher Educatiion of Working
in
Men, which from 1905 becameknown as the Workers' Educational Association. For details of the career
of Albert Mansbridge and of the work and history of the W. E. A., see Albert Mansbridge : Universiy
Tutorial Classes: -1 Stuv in the Development of Higher Education among Working k1en and Women
.
(London: Longmans. Green and Co., 1913)-, The If'. E. .4. Education Year Book 1918 (London: The
Workers' Educational Association. 1918). Bernard Jennings : Knowledge is Power: .4 Short History of the
Workers' Educational -Issociation, 1903 - 1978 (Hull: Newland Papers, Number One, Department of

327
Bernard Shaw, the Russian emigres Prince and Princess Kropotkin, and Philip Snowden,

who was to become a leader of the Labour Party. 137

The weekly lectures were usually preceded and concluded by a programme of music

by
performed amateurmusicians,although for specialoccasionsprofessionalswere invited
to provide entertainment. From time to time Dr Henry Watson gave freely of his services

to arrange programmesfor the committee,138and students from the Royal Manchester

College of Music assisted at these functions and were given the opportunity of gaining

experience through performance before a supportive audience.

From the late 1880s, using the venue of the New Islington Hall, the Ancoats Recreation

Committee arranged short series of university extension lectures, initially in co-operation

with the Oxford University Extension Delegacy and subsequently, after 1895 and the

founding of the university settlement in Ancoats, 119primarily in connection with the

Victoria University. 140 From 1895 onwards most of the university extension work in

Ancoats was organised by the university settlement, although the Recreation Committee

also maintaineda contact with the Oxford University Extension Delegacyin that popular

Adult Education, University of Hull, 1979); Albert Mansbridge : An Adventure in [Vorking-Class

Education. Being the storv of the Workers' Educational Association, 1903 - 1915 (London: Longmans,
Green and Co., 1920); T. W. Price : The Storv of the Workers' EducationalAssociationfrom 1903-1924
(London: The Labour Publishing Company Ltd., 1924); M. Stocks : The Workers' Educational
Association: Thefirst fiftv years (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1953); Brian Simon: Education
and the Labour Movement 1870 - 1920 (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1980 edition, first published in
1965), Roger Fieldhouse : The Workers' Educational Association: Aims and achievements 1903-1977
(New York: SyracuseUniversity Press); and Appendix B of this thesis.

137 See the Programmes of the Autumn and Winter Work of the Ancoats Recreation Committee for
1901-1902,1907-1908 and 1909-1910.

138 Henry Watson had

an extensive and valuable library of musical works and manuscripts which in
1900 he offered to transfer to the ownership of the Manchester City Council. This gift was accepted,and
the only stipulation made by the donor was that the library was to remain in his possessionduring his
lifetime. See the Annual report of the Public Free Libraries Committee for the year ending October
1900.

139 More detailed reference will be made to university extension work in Manchester in the sixth
chapter of this thesis. See also Thomas Kelly : Outside the Walls: Six(y Years of Universiv Extension at
Afanchester 1886 - 1946 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1950).

140 The Victoria University was a federal institution which had came into being in 1880 and comprised
Owens College. Manchestec Uni-versity College, Liverpool (1884)-,and Yorkshire College, Leeds (1887).

328
lecturers such as Hudson Shaw and J. E. Phythian continued their association with

Ancoats even after the majority of the extension work had been transferred to the Victoria

University. 141

Charles Rowley's interest in the work of the National Home Reading Union142manifested

itself in several ways in the activities of the Ancoats Recreation Movement. Reading

parties under the leadership of Emily Cox and Eva Gore-Booth, who was actively
involved with the suffragette cause, met weekJy on Sunday mornings at the Recreation

Movement's premisesin Canning Street. Classicaltracts were read and discussed,and

numbersattendingwere limited to fifteen 143

per session. To supplementthis initiative, the
committee organised a book stall which sold inexpensive copies of English classical
literature at cost price, and from time to time issued lists of books for home reading which

could be borrowed from the book stall or from the buildings in Canning Street or were

available at the Reference Library in King Street or from the local libraries in Every Street

and Livesey Street.

The recreational aspects of the movement's programme were organised by the Ancoats

141 Hudson Shaw had lectured for the Oxford University Delegacy Ancoats
at since 1886 and identified
himself strongly with the work in that district which was being carried out by the Ancoats Recreation
Committee. In 1901 he had attended as the guest speaker a meeting presided over by the Lord Mayor of
Manchester, Alderman James Hoy, to celebrate twenty-five years of the Ancoats Recreation Movement
and twenty years of its Sunday afternoon meetings at the New Islington Hall. In 1909 Shaw gave a series
of six lectures on "Italian Cities" to commemorate his many years' connection with the Ancoats
Movement, and in 1913, at the formal gathering to mark his retirement from the Oxford Delegacy, he was
presentedwith a testimonial book (containing six hundred signatures) which had been illuminated and
bound by a member of the Ancoats Brotherhood. See the brief biography of G. W. Hudson Shaw by
Stuart Marriott in J. E. Thomas and Barry Elsey (eds.) : International Biograpkv of Adult Education
(Nottingham: Department of Adult Education, University of Nottingham. 1985), p.539. The article is on
pp.533-540. See also the Programmes of the Autumn and Winter Work and the annual reports of the
Ancoats Recreation Committee for the years 1901- 1902 and 1907-1908.

142 The National Home Reading Union formed in 1889 and published coursesof guided reading at
was
various levels for home study. The Union encouraged the formation of reading circles and discussion
groups, and provided assistanceand support to the individual reader. For a brief account of the work of
this enterprise, see Thomas Kelly: A Histw: v of Adult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool: Liverpool
University Press, 1992. third edition), pp.238-239.

143 These had been by Charles Rowley in 1880s

classes originally instituted the early when the group
held its meetings at his home in Moston. SeetheAnnual report of the Ancoats Recreation Committeefor
1901 - 1901.

329
Brotherhood. Unlike the educational activities, which were to some extent subsidised

through annual subscriptions,the leisure pastimes which took place mainly during the

spring and summer months were self-financing, with any surplus revenue being donated to

the Ancoats Hospital. 144 From the first Sunday in March to the first one in May each

year, Brotherhood Sunday mornings were arranged, and consisted of lectures on topics of

general interest, including literature, music, astronomy, politics and religion. Less serious

but more strenuousenterpriseswere arrangedas outdoor recreation by the rambling and

cycle clubs. Traditionally the first walk of the year coincided with the Easter break, and

subsequentlyfrom mid-May to mid-September rambles were organised for Saturday

afternoons and all day on Sundays. From 1895, continental excursions formed part of the

programme and took place either at Easter or during Whit Week, 145and from 1911 on

one Wednesday afternoon each month from May to September rambles, cricket and other

sports were arranged.146 The cycling club met on Saturday afternoons and Sundays from
late March to late September, and each year organised tours at Whit Week and at Easter

and August Bank Holiday weekends. By 1902 this club was floufishing, with over 150

147
members. All these to
activities were open membersof the Ancoats Brotherhood for

an annualsubscriptionof not lessthan one shilling.

The AncoatsRecreationMovement co-operatedwith and worked harmoniouslyalongside

other educational agencies in the district. Mention has been made already of the

important contribution made by the staff of the Victoria University to the autumn and

winter Sunday afternoon lectures by

scheduled the committee and the reduction after
1895 in the number of extension courses arranged as most of the work was allocated to

the university settlement in Ancoats. In addition, details of the winter programme of

by
activities offered the ManchesterUniversity Settlementand Art Museum were listed in

144 Between 1890 1913, L700 by the Ancoats Brotherhood to the funds of the
and over was contributed
Ancoats Hospital. Seethe Ancoats Recreation Brotherhood Programmes 1909 and 1913.

145 Annual theAncoats Recreation Committee, 1900 1901.

report of -
146 Recreation in A A Brotherhood Alarch 1911.
ncoats: ncoats

147 Annual theAncoats Recreation Committee, 1901 1902.

report of -

330
the publications of the autumn and winter work of the Ancoats Recreation Committee,

and the Art Museum provided the venueon the first Sundayin May for the annuaiflower
festival organised by the Brotherhood. During the winter months, courses of lectures

were held at the New Islington Hall under the auspices of the Royal Manchester
148
Institution.

The origins, objectivesand activities of the Manchester(Ancoats) Art Museum149

and its

relationship to the university settlement'" have been well documented and analysed

elsewhere and need little further reference here. Horsfall's intentions in providing and
furnishing an art museum for the people of Ancoats were clearly indicated, and were

somewhat motivated by the work of social welfare upon which he was actively engaged:

"It may be assertedthat if the life of the inhabitants of our large towns is to be made
more morally healthy than it is now, facilities for acquiring knowledge and
admiration of beautiful country things, and of beautiful and interesting forms of
human work and life, and inducements to use the facilities, must be brought within
the reach of all classesof the inhabitants of these towns. The only facilities which it
is possible to place within the reach of all the inhabitants of large towns like
Manchester for this purpose are collections which, while they may consist partly of
beautiful things in themselves, must be made up of pictures representing such
things 15,
...

This initiative had originally taken the form of a collection by Horsfall in 1877 of pictures

148 For example see the Programmes of the Autumn and Winter Work of the Ancoats Recreation
Committee, October 1907 and October 1908.

149 See Michael Harrison Social

: reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Alanchester, with special
reference to TC Horsfall (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, 1987) and his essayArt
and Philanthropw T C. Horsfall and the Manchester Art Museum in A. J. Kidd and K. W. Roberts (eds.)
C4v, class and culture: Studies of cultural production and social poliqy in Victorian Manchester
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), pp. 120- 147. Harrison specifies the date of the
commencementof the tangible development of Horsfall's idea for an art museum as December 1877; the
less precise "about 1876" given in Anthony Blunt and Margaret Whinney (eds.) : The Nation's Pictures :
-I Guide to the chief national and municipal picture galleries of England, Scotland and Wales (London:
.
Chatto and Windus. 1950). p.212, is incorrect.

150 See M. D. Stocks Fiftv

: years in Everv Street: the story of the Hanchester Universitv Settlement
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1945), pp. 12-13 and 39-52. The Manchester Art Museum
and the University Settlement in Ancoats amalgamated in November 1901 until 1918.

151 See M. D. Stocks Fifty

: years in Everv Street: the storv of the Hanchester Universitv Settlement
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1945) pp. 12-13 and 39-52. The Manchester Art Museum
and the University Settlement in Ancoats amalgamated in November 1901 until 1918.

331
for children to use.152 Horsfall was strongly influenced by the ideas of Ruskin and

strengthenedhis natural inclinations to believe that "the 'guiding classes'should provide

the civilising agenciesthat the poor town dwellers lacked".153 Ruskin encouragedand

approved Horsfall's aim in providing an art museum, although he was not sanguine about

its ultimate prospectsof success. However, he quoted from Horsfall's letter which had

appeared in the Manchester Guardian of 27th February 1877, and which had contained

an outline of the work of a proposed art museum,and commentedconstructively,154and

by December of the same year Horsfall had, with support from some of the more

prominent membersof the ManchesterLiterary Club, establisheda conunittee to further

the idea.155 As Horsfall's collection developed it was housed in 1884 in the Queen's Park

Museum before being moved in 1886 to Ancoats Hall, which had been leased from the

Midland Railway Company.156 While Horsfall's encleavourshad the support of influential

figures of national importance like Ruskin and William Morris and local ones including

Herbert Philips, the Crossley brothers, W. H. Houldsworth and C. P. SCott' 157

he

criticised in an address delivered in February 1896 to the Manchester branch of the

Teachers' Guild elements of the middle class whose efforts to improve conditions for the

community were based on "the idiotic belief that all that is to

needed improve its life is a
few more hospitals, more churches and chapels; that it shall be kept out of the public

houses; and that it shall have board schools in place of denominational schools or

denominational schools in place of board schools."151 For Horsfall, such pragmatic

152 M. D. Stocks,
op.cit., p. 13.

153 A. J. Kidd
and K. W. Roberts (eds.), op.cit., p. 121.

154 John Ruskin Fors Clavigera: Letters to the labourers Great Britain (Orpington
: workmen and of
and London: George Allen, 1896). Seeletter LXXIX dated 18th June 1877, especially pp. 132-138.

155 SeeA. J. Kidd

and K. W. Roberts (eds.), op.cit., pp. 122-124.

156 Stocks,
op.cit., p. 13-,Horsfall.

157 Scott. Philips and Frank and William Crossley donated to the Manchester Art Museum-,
Houldsworth had written in November 1889 a letter which strongly supported its work. In 1895 the
committee included several individuals who were actively involved with other educational and cultural
agencies in Manchester: Helen Stoehr, Julia Gaskell, W. E. A. kxon, Herbert Philips, William Mather,
Charles Rowley and Rev. S. A. Steinthal amongst others. SeeT. C. Horsfall:. 4 description of the Ifork of
the AfanchesterArt, kfuseuin, 4ncoats Hall, Great, 4ncoats Street (Manchester, 1895), pp.55-56.

158 T. C. HorsfallAn Idealfor Life inAfanchester realisable if - (Manchester: J. E. Cornish, 1900), p.3.

332
solutions did not necessarily contribute to enhancing the quality of life: this was rather to

be gained through some understandingof how art might be appreciated;through the

provision of art galleries and museums which would aid the development of such

understanding so that children and adults would have a greater awarenessof the

possibilities of beauty in their surroundings; and "by showing Town Councils and well-
disposedrich people that sensiblyarranged museumsand picture galleries can raise the

intelligence,the moral condition and the generalwelfare of the people and add greatly
...
159
to the wholesomepleasureof the life of personsof all ages."

In surveying the aims and development of the Ancoats Recreation Movement and the

Manchester Art Museum, a rather curious point emerges which suggeststhat some rivalry

or even antipathy might have existed between Charles Rowley and Horsfall. Each was

deeply interested in art; both enterprises came into being at approximately the same

date160and had related objectives; both men served on three or four of the same

committeesof Manchester'seducational, cultural and recreational agencies,and, more

specifically, Rowley served on the committee of the Manchester Art Museum and is

recorded as contributing to its funds; 161and the two enterprises were situated in close

proximity and on occasion worked in co-operation. However, in spite of these various

common interests, neither person acknowledges the work of the other.

Horsfall did, however, exhibit rather more generosity in other directions, and his

permission for the newly-formed university settlement in Ancoats in 1895 to use Ancoats

Hall as a centre for its activities and subsequently as a residence for its female workers

made a necessary contribution to the success of the venture. The increasing demand for

159 T. C. Horsfall The Relation Art to the Welfare the Inhabitants of English Towns (a reprint,
: of of
with additions of letters to the Manchester Guardian (Manchester- J. E. Cornish, 1894), letter to the
Manchester Guardian, Januarv 1894.

160 The Ancoats Recreation Movement commenced in 1876: the Ancoats Art Museum was established
in 1877.

161 T. C. Horsfall :A description of the ffork of the Manchester Art Museum, Ancoats Hall, Great
AncoatsStreet (Manchcstcr. 1895), p.55.

333
adult education for working-class people in the final years of the nineteenthcentury had

expresseditself primarily through the efforts of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge,

which had organisedseriesof extensionlectures in

at severalcentres the north of England,

and in the late 1880s and early 1890s the Victoria University had arranged lectures at

several centres in the regions served by its constituent colleges. 162 However, as with

many other initiatives designedprimarily to meet the educational needsof the working

class, the audiencefrequently consisted of men and women from the middle class and
from the comparatively small artisan section of the working class.163 With its strong

tradition of working-classeducationprovision, in the Manchesterdistrict Ancoats proved

to be a significant exception and in many respects it was quite logical for further

educationalinitiatives - the university settlement and the short-lived ManchesterRuskin

Hall - to be located in Ancoats.

Through the friendship of Charles Rowley with Michael Sadler, the Oxford University

Extension Delegacy organised lectures at Ancoats from 1885 onwards. 164 As mentioned

earlier, Ancoats hosted extension lectures organised by the extension committees from
both Oxford and Victoria Universities before the Ancoats Recreational Movement

162 Cambridge University had lecture in local in

the
systernatised provision of courses centres 1873, and
the universities of London and Oxford had arranged comparable schemesfrom 1876 and 1878 onwards.
By the time the Victoria University began to organise coursesof extension lectures in 1887-1888, Oxford
in particular had established several centres in Lancashire. During the next few years there was a
considerablefriction between the two extension committees as each worked in competition with the other
in the Lancashire area. See Stuart Marriott : Extramural Empires - Service and Self-Interest in English
Universiv Adult Education 1873 - 1983 (Nottingham: Department of Adult Education, University of
Nottingham, 1984), pp.46-50 and 70-74-,and Thomas Kelly: Outside the Walls: Sixty Years of University
Extension at Afanchester 1886 - 1946 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1950), pp.30-3 1. For
the development of university extension lectures under the auspices of Cambridge University, see Edwin
Welch : The Peripatetic Universitv: Cambridge Local Lectures 1873 - 1973 (Cambridge: Cambridge
Uftiversity Press, 1973).

163 This is intended

as an observation rather than as a criticism. The universtity extension lectures
evidently catered for certain in the community who might previously have had little opportunity to aquire
much in the way of formal education, but the provision was not used a great deal by those for whom it was
4-
originally inended.

164 Michael Sadler was appointed as secretaryto the Oxford University Extension Delegacy in 1885.
From 1903 he held the post of Professorof Education at the University of Manchester, before becoming
Vice-Chancellor at Leeds University. For details of the life of Michael Sadler, seethe biography by his
son, M. SadleirAlichael Ernest Sadler (Sir Ifichael Sadler, K. CSI) 1861 1943 (London: Constable,
-
1949)-,for an appreciation of his work, seeLynda Grier :A chievement in Education. The work of
Afichael Ernest Sadler 1885 - 1935 (London: Constable, 1952). However, there remains a need for a
more impartial assessment of Sadler and his career.

334
transferred most of its extension work to the newly-formed Manchester UnIvers,tv
Settlement in 1895.165 More generally, however, it was clear that the university extension

lecture movementwas failing to make any significant headwayamongstthe working class.

This want had beenremediedto a small degreeby the establishment,as universitiesbegan

to feel a greater senseof responsibilityto and concern for the communitiesof which they
formed a part, of settlementsorganisedusually in the working-class districts of cities by

unIversitystaff, studentsand former studentswho would live in thesedistricts and arrange

educationaland recreationalactivities for the inhabitants from surrounding areas. Many

of these settlementsconcentratedprimarily on catering for the religious, social and moral

welfare of their clientele; Manchester's was somewhat exceptional in the emphasis given

to education. The first of these communities was established at Toynbee Hall in the east

end of London with Samuel Barnett its

as warden in 1884,166and similar enterprises were

formed in other cities during the following decade.167 A second initiative, the provision of

a residential college for working men, Ruskin Hall, started in 1899 at Oxford. 168 It was
hoped by its founders that this college would become the first of many similar institutions

in Britain, but the parent college was the only one to survive. Apart from Ruskin Hall,

Oxford, the only other attempt to create a residential settlement for working men to

pursue their studies was made at 169

Manchester. This enterpriseis discussedat greater
lengthlater in this chapter.
165 A survey of university extension lecture work in Ancoats is given in J. 1. Rushton : Charles Rowley
and the Ancoats Recreation Alovement (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1959),
pp.71-78.

166 For an account of the origins and development of the work at Toynbee Hall see Asa Briggs and
Anne McCartney: Tovnbee Hall : The First Hundred Years (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984);
'
J. A. R. Pimlott : Tovnbee Hall : Fifty Years of Social Progress, 1884 - 1934 (London: J. M. Dent and
*
Sons Ltd., 1935)-,and Henrietta Barnett : Canon Barnett, his Life, Work, and Friends (London: John
Murray, 1921 edition. First published in 1918).

167 See Werner Picht (trans. L. A. Cavell) : Toynbee Hall and the English Settlement Movement
(London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd., 1914).

168 This institution changed its name to Ruskin College in 1907.

169 Thomas Kelly :. 4 Histo,v ofAdult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1992, third edition), p-246. For the inception and development of Ruskin College, Oxford. and the
conflicting concepts of workers' education which gave rise to the clash in 1909, seeB. Jennings:
Revolting students - the Rusk-inCollege dispute, 1908 -9 in Studies inAdult Education, Volume 9, April
1977, pp. 1- 17, P. Yorke : Education and the working class: Ruskin College, 1899 - 1909 (Oxford: Ruskin
College, 1934). and Brian Simon: Education and the Labour Afoveinent 1870 - 1920 (London: Law-rence
and Wishart, 1980. fourth edition). First published in 1965), pp. 311-326.

335
Accounts of the origins and progress of the university settlement at Ancoats have been

provided elsewhere,IM and it is the intention here only to examinethe extent to which it

was dependentupon and co-operatedwith other educational enterprisesin the district.

The close informal connection between the Victoria University and the settlement
was
evident from the outset. University staff supported the venture in various capacities,

especiallyduring its early years. T. F. Tout, W. E. Hoyle, Professor SamuelAlexander,

RamsayMuir, Philip Hartog, F. E. Weiss and SidneyChapmanlectured at the settlement;

successiveco- wardens, E. T. Campagnac,Sidney McDougall and Guy Kendall were

appointedby the university to its list of extensionlecturers; and H. Pilkington Turner was
the presidentof the settlement'sToynbeeDebating Society.171T. C. Horsfall and Charles
Rowley, who were associatedwith other establishededucationalprovisions in the district,

the Manchester Art Museum and the Ancoats Recreation Movement, offered active

support, Horsfall especially so. Through their friendship with Samuel and Henrietta
Barnett, both were acquaintedwith the operation of Toynbee Hall and its objectives,and

both had stayed there as visitors.172 Horsfall offered immediate practical assistancein

1895 by providing rooms and accommodationin Ancoats Hall (the home of the Art

Museum)for the Women'sSettlement,and in return the settlementworkers assistedwith

the work of Horsfall's Art Museum.173 Horsfall was the university settlement'sfirst

president,before resigningbecauseof pressurefrom other commitmentsand both he and

170 M. D. Stocks : Fiftv Years in Everv Street: The Storv

of the Afanchester Universitv Settlement
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1945); and Michael E. Rose : Settlement of universiv men in
great towns: universiv settlements in Afanchester and Liverpool in Transactions of the Historic Sociqv
of Lancashire and Cheshirefor theyear 1989 (Volume 139), pp. 137-160.

171 SeeStocks, ibid., pp.vi-vil, The Universiv Extension Journal: Volume 2, Number 19, October 1896,
Volume 2, Number 16, April 1897, Volume 3, Number 19, October 1897-,Volume 3, Number 22, January
1898; Volume 5, Number 41, Februarv 1900; the Afanchester Universitv Settlement and Art Afuseum
Winter programme for 1901 1902 in Programmes of the Autumn and Winter Work of the Ancoats
-
Recreation Committee, October 1901-,and Thomas Kelly : Outside the Walls: Sixv Years of Universiv
Extension at. Ilanchester 1886 1946 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1950), pp.34-35.
-
172 See Henrietta Barnett, op.cit., pp.436 and 438. The Bametts and Horsfalls were close friends for
inany years, and each would stay with the other on visits to London or the north-west. SeeBarnett, ibid.,
pp. 172,305 and 438.

173 Michael Harrison: Art and Philanthropy: T C. Hors/all and The Afanchester Art
'fuseum in
A. J. Kidd and K. W. Roberts (eds.): Ci(v, class and culture: Studies of cultural production and social
poliiv in I"ictorian. Ifanchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), p. 138.

336
Rowley lectured occasionally for the settlement, Rowley also serving on its committee.

The Victoria University was also strongly represented on the committee through

H. Pilkington Turner and Professors Tout and Mexander. The committee in 1895 was

entrustedwith the task of "setting on foot an organisation of social work in Manchester,

in the spirit of the University Settlements Scheme as explained by Canon Barnett and the

Right Hon. Sir John Gorst; such work to be, if possible, connectedclosely, though not
174
exclusively with Owens College".

At about the sametime as the university settlementat Ancoats was being established,a

similar initiative was being commenced in connection with the Lancashire College at River

Street Hulme. 175 Very little is known about this settlement, although by 1899 the work

was flourishing and the premisesin Embden Street provided rooms for accommodation,a
Lads' Club, a Men's Club and educationalclasses. Studentsfrom the nearby Lancashire

Independent College assisted in the work of the settlement, and by 1899 there were 250

scholarsregistered in the educational classesfor men and women. Classesin political

economy, literature, history, scripture, music, reading, writing, arithmetic, English,

chemistry, cooking and nursing were offered in the evenings, and the settlement had a

choir and a soccer team. 176 There is a scarcity of information about the activities of the

settlement after 1900. Connelly merely observes that the settlement "continued its

"
activities until 1914,177 and Michael Rose notes that the settlement had a "somewhat

precarious existence" 178 until 1913, after which date it was presided over by an

174 M. D. Stocks, op.cit., p.6. See also Thomas Kelly : Outside the Walls: Sixiy Years of University
Extension at Manchester 1886 - 1946 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1950), pp.34-35; and
T. C. Horsfall : description of the work of the Manchester Art Museum, A ncoats Hall, Great A ncoats
.4
Street (Manchester 1895), p.26.

175 Charles Connelly gives incorrectly the founding date of the settlement at Hulme as 1889 in his
Congregationalism and the education of the people in the Manchester district, 1806 - 1900 (unpublished
M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1973), p.84. Michael Rose in his article on the university
settlementsat Manchester and Liverpool offers definite evidence that the commencement date was 1895.
See Transactions of the Historic Sociev of Lancashire and Cheshire for the vear 1989 (I"Olume 139),
p. 140 and footnote number 25 on page 154.

176 Connelly, ibid., pp.84-85.

177 Ibid., p. 85.

178 Transactions of the Historic Sociqv of Lancashire and Cheshire for theyear 1989 (Folume 139),

337
undenominationalcommittee, with there being no record of the settlementafter 1914, It

would appear that the initial enthusiasm waned rapidly and the enterprise failed before
being relaunched in 1905 as an adult school from its premises in Embden Street.179

Numbers did not increasebeyond the initial thirties, and by 1912 the settlement was

surviving only becauseof assistancereceivedfrom other adult schoolsin the city.

The settlement at Ancoats although not as successfulin its early stages in terms of

numbersas the one at Hulme, increasedsteadily and by 1901 afforded a wide range of

activities for the educational,social and recreationalwelfare of the local inhabitants. The
in
settlement Ancoats and the Manchester Art Museum had amalgamated during that year

and, jointly with Manchester Ruskin Hall, organised several classeson weekday evenings
for working-class adults which continued after the demise of the Ruskin Hall at

Manchester in 1903. Courses which met weekly or fortnightly were arranged in art

(conducted by T. C. Horsfall), English composition, nature study, economics,

Shakespeareand geography, and a series of popular lectures took place on Thursday

nights during the winter months. The settlement and the Art Museum worked in close co-

operation, and Ancoats Hall (the home of the Manchester Art Museum) provided a venue
for many of the jointly arranged educational and recreational programmes, including the

Fawcett Debating Society (for women), the Toynbee Debating Society (for men), the

amateur dramatic society, and the Elizabethan Society for women and girls. The Hall

accommodated also the monthly gathering of associates180

and the indoor meetings of the
Field Club, formed in 1902, which in addition organised excursions on Saturdays to study

plant and animal life. The settlement staff also assisted in the work of the Art Museum by

p. 154, footnote number 25.

179 See One and Afl, February 1905. Brief reference has been made previously to the activities of the
settlement at Hulme between 1905 and 1912 in the third chapter of this thesis.

180 The body of Associatesof the Settlement and Art Museum was formed in 1898 1899 and consisted
-
of representatives from the governing council. all tutors of classes,residents, and chairs of clubs. Other
who helped in the activities of the settlement in a voluntary capacity could be elected as Associates,and
the Associates were representedon the governing council of the settlement. See Third annual report of
the universitv settlementfor the.vear ended 30th June 1899.

338
conducting groups of visitors on tours of the premisesto view the various exhibits.181
The harmonious relationship which existed between the Art Museum and the university

settlementunderwent considerablestrain following the appointmentsof Bertha Hindshaw

towards the end of 1912as assistantcurator at the museumand G. K. Grierson as warden

of the settlement in 1913, and their failure to work amicably together contributed

significantly to the formal separation of the two institutions confirmed at the annual
in June 1919.182 For a venture which had at its combination of resources in 1901
meeting

the primary objective "to disseminateand nourish a healthy love of Nature and of the best
in Art, Music, Literature and Scienceamong the industrial population of Manchester",183

it was a particularly unfortunate ending.

It is difficult to estimate with any certainty the degree of success of the settlement's

educational programmes in the years before 1914. Certainly the Ancoats one was unusual
in the extent of its educational activity, and the working-class inhabitants of the district

were encouragedto attend the classesand extension courses provided free of charge
becausetutors gave their services voluntarily. 184 Initially the settlement had experienced

the same difficulties as other voluntary organisations which endeavoured to organise

educational classes for adults: irregularity of attendance by students and difficulties in

obtaining teachers. However, in February 1899 a decision was taken to develop the

educationalactivities of the settlementalong more systematiclines, with preferencebeing

given to (and in some senseforeshadowing the later university tutorial classes) the study

181 See the Manchester Art Museum and Universitv Settlement, Ancoats Hall, Winter Programme,
1902-1903 in Programmes of the Autumn and Winter Work of the Ancoats Recreation Committee,
October 1902.

182 In essencethe problem stemmed from Bertha Hindshaw's strong objections to the removal of items
from the Art Museum for the use of the settlement. SeeM. D. Stocks, op.cit., pp.46-47 and 51-52.

183 Stocks, ibid., p. 18. Bertha Hindshaw was employed for many years at the Manchester Art Museum,
which was taken over by the Manchester City Council after the First World War. G. K. Grierson, the
warden of the settlement, who also lectured in social science at the Manchester University, left in 1917 to
join the Royal Navy. Seethe Annual report of the Manchester Art Museum and UniversivSettlementfor
the.vear ending 30th April 1914*,and Stocks, ibid., pp.47 and 50.

194 Report of the Afanchester Art Ifuseum and Universiv Settlement for the vear ending
.-Innual
30th. 4pril 1909. There vvas.however, a box strategically placed for the receipt of donations in the foyer
of the Art Museum.

339
of literature, history and economicsrather than mathematicsand languages. The advent

nearby of ManchesterRuskin Hall, which had educational aims closely allied to those of
the settlement, gave a stimulus to the educational efforts made for adults in Ancoats, and

the two institutions co-operated.185The work of ManchesterRuskin Hall after its closure

in 1903 was continued by the settlement, although the decline experienced by other

agenciesengaged in the provision of education for adults between 1910 and 1914 affected
186
the settlementalso.

The reduction in the settlement'seducationalcourseswas compensatedfor by its increase

in recreationalactivities and other initiatives designedto provide for the social welfare of

Ancoats dwellers. These enterprises helped to fulfil the more general aim of the

settlement, which had been "founded in the hope that it may become common ground on

which men and of in

women various classesmay meet good will, sympathy and ffiendship:

that the residentsmay learn somethingof the conditions of an industrial neighbourhood,

and share its interests, and encleavour to live among their neighbours a simple and

religious life. " 187 A solicitor attended the settlement on Monday evening each week to

offer free legal advice to those who would ordinarily not have been able to affordit, 188the

settlement assumed responsibility for the organising during the winter months of

entertainments and concerts which had previously been arranged by the Ancoats Art

115 Annual Report of the Alanchester Universiv settlementfor theyear ended 30th June 1899.

186 In Manchester, the era which Mary Stocks terms "the golden years" (Stocks, op.cit., p.22) of the
university settlement at Ancoats ( 1902 - 1909) has its parallel with the adult school movement in the city
which developed rapidly between 1903 and 1908. These years were marked also by improved
communications between the various settlements. The Conference of Northern and Midland Settlements
had originated in Manchester in 1901, and in the summer of 1907 the settlements at Ancoats and Hulme
provided venues for a similar meeting which was attended by delegates from Liverpool, Birmingham,
Sheffield, Chesterfield, Dundee and Edinburgh. See the Annual report of the Manchester Art Museum
and Univer*v settlementfor the.vear ending 30th April 1908. The settlement ceasedto offer educational
classes as such by 1911, but Ancoats Hall was used as a local centre for lectures by the Workers'
Educational Association from 1911 - 1912 onwards. See the Annual report of the Manchester Art
1fuseumand Universitv settlementfor theYears ending 30th April 1908 and 30th. 4pril 1912.
.
187 First annual report of the Afanchester Universi(v Settlement, 1897.

188 Winter prograrnme, 1902 - 1903, of the Afanchester Art Museum and Universiy Settlement at
Ancoats Hall.

340
Museum;189monthly "at homes" were organised at the Art Museum for games,music,

chat and tea; concertsand social gatheringswere plannedperiodically; danceswere held at

Every Street to which those having little or no connection with the settlement'sother

activities would come, and an increasingemphasiswas placed on healthy recreationand

exercise through the provision of a tennis club and instruction for men and women in

gymnastics and swimming. 190

Pioneeringwork with blind and crippled children in the district which had begunin 1896-

1897 through the provision of activities in the afternoons at the Art Museum which

consistedof listening to stories and music had developedby 1914 to a point where such

meetings took place each Monday afternoon for reading, travel talks, music, singing and

conversation.191 The settlement from the outset made itself a part of the Ancoats

community, and during the following years helpers from there involved themselves

actively with Lads' and Girls Clubs in the districts; provided concerts, lectures, and,

encouraged by C. E. B. Russell, intelligent conversation and guidance in the development

of social skills to dwellers in Ancoats lodging houses;

192recreational and educational

activities with Scout troops; and from time to time social investigations into conditions in

Ancoats and the publication of the results of such enquiries.193

By 1914 high unemployment among the inhabitants of Ancoats had resulted in increasing

use of the facilities which the settlement had to offer. In addition to its usual evening

programme,the settlementprovided recreationaland educationalactivities eachafternoon

189 Second annual report of the Afanchester Universiv Settlementfor theyear ending 30th June 1898.

190 Annual report of the Manchester Art Museum and Universiv Settlement for the year ending
30thApril 1907.

191 Annual report of the Manchester University Settlement for the year ended 30th June 1898 and
Ifanchester,,
annual report of the , Irt, kfuseum and Universitv Settlementfor theyear ending 30th April
1914.

192 This latter intrusive and patronising activity was often not welcomed by those for whose benefit it
was intended.

193 A nnual reports of the Manchester University Settlementfor 1897 and 1898 and the annual report of
the, 11anchesterArt Huseum and Universitv Settlementfor theyear ending 30th April 1914.

341
for the unemployed or for those on short time so that leisure hours might be spent usefully

in "pleasurable and profitable employment". 194 This increased drawing on its resources,

together with the outbreak of war some months later, brought about a serious
deterioration in the financial position of the settlement and the art museum. Regular

expenditure had traditionally exceededregular income, and the books had usually been

balancedthrough the receipt of legacies and donations for particular projects. It was

evident that if the settlement'sactivities were not to be seriously curtailed, stringent

195
economywould have to be practised.

Similar financial difficulties had hindered the development of Manchester Ruskin Hall,

which was founded in 1899 and had close connections, as described earlier, with the

university settlement.196 It was established on similar principles to Ruskin Hall, Oxford,

which had been establisheda few by

months earlier two American university men, Walter
Vrooman and Charles Beard, 197who were interested in the labour movement and were

supporters of the ideas of John Ruskin. They hoped that the residential college for

working men in Oxford would become the first of many such initiatives throughout Britain

and the United States of America. Initially it was intended primarily to offer "a training in

subjects which are essential for working class leadership, but which are not a direct

to
avenue anything beyond." 198 Students were charged low fees for basic accommodation

and where necessary were at first supported financially by the founders. Once they had

returned to America in 1902, the institution depended upon donations from private

194 A nnual report of the Manchester Art Museum and Universiv Settlement, ibid.

195 Annual report of the Manchester Art Museum and University Settlementfor 1914 -1915.

196 1 am indebted for much of my information about Manchester Ruskin Hall to documents generously
sent to me by Derek Legge, formerly Senior Lecturer and deputy head of the Department of Adult
Education at the University of Manchester.

197 For a brief history of the early years of Ruskin Hall (later Ruskin College), Oxford. seeBrian Simon:
Education and the Labour movement 1870 - 1920 (London: Lawrence and Wishart. 1981 edition),
pp.311-326 and T. Kelly A Histoty of Adult Educationdl in Great Britain (Liverpool: Li%,
erT)OOI
University Press, 1992, third edition), pp.243 -246.

198 Ministry of Reconstruction- Adult Education Committee: Final Report (London: H.M. S.O.. 1919),
p.57.

342
individuals and, increasingly,from the trades union movement. Simon reports that by
1908 "the student body was frankly socialist in colour, predominantly Marxist in outlook,

thom in the the " 197 The same thing did happen
and a side of university. not at
Manchester Ruskin Hall, which was the only similar institution which operated on a

basis.
residential

Before Ruskin Hall, Oxford, had opened in 1899 there had been enquiries about the

possibilities of establishingclassesin Manchester from working class residents in that

district. One of the students, W. H. Sykes, who for some years had attended University

ExtensionLecturesand had had previous experienceof initiatives designedto bring higher

education to the working class, was elected as secretary to assist the development of the

movement in Manchester. He convened a meeting of all students from the Manchester

area who had written to Ruskin Hall, Oxford, and formed them into a group. Several

prominent members of the academic staff at Owens College showed interest in and lent

practical support to the new movement, with the result that the students were offered the

use of a room either at the University Settlement in Ancoats or at the men's residence

nearby in Ardwick. Ramsay Muir, who lectured in history at Owens College, and Alice

Cooke, who also lectured at OwensCollege,agreedto take the classes.

At this time Llewellyn T. Dodd of Merton College, Oxford, who was especially interested

in the Ruskin Hall movement,visited Manchesterand addressedmany meetingsof existing

and potential students,describingthe aims and methodsof the parent college at Oxford,

its origins and developmentand the life of the studentsthere. He spoke to classesat the
University Settlement and to employees at the Co-operative Wholesale Society

(Manchester). The result of this activity was the arranging of a public meeting in the

Manchester Town Hall on 27th April 1899.199A local committee comprising a member of

the class at Ancoats, an employee from the class held at the Co-operative Society in

Manchester, J. A. Harker of the Manchester and Salford Trades' Council, and with

199 This meeting was held under the auspicesof the Manchester and Salford Trades' Council.

343
W. H. Sykesas its secretary,organisedand publicised the meeting, which was chairedby

the Lord Mayor, W. H. Vaudrey. It had been intended that one of the founders of the

movement,Walter Vrooman, should attend and addressthe assembly,but he was absent

owing to illness. His partner in the initiative, Charles Beard, was present, however, and

proposedthat an institution similar in aims to Ruskin Hall, Oxford, be formed.

200 A new

and much larger committee was appointed, which included representativesfrom Owens

College, the Manchester and Salford Trades' and Labour Council, the Co-operative

Union, the Co-operative Educational Conu-nittees'Association, the Women's Trades'

Union Council, the Technical Instruction Conunittee of the Manchester Corporation, the

Council of Owens College, the ManchesterWorking Men's Clubs Association and, once
Hall. 201
they were in residence, two incumbents of Manchester Ruskin A sub-committee

comprising Alice Crompton, 202Councillor James Johnston, P. J. Hartog and W. H. Sykes

was appointed to draw up a scheme for Ruskin Hall. The first half- yearly report in 1900

summarisedthe aims of the project:

"That schemeis to establishresidential halls or colleges for working men, where

they can live as studentswhilst pursuing their callings and earning their livelihood;
to provide tutorial help and guidance in such colleges, and to organise an
educational system of classes and lectures, especially on economic social, and
political subjects,which shall centre round thesecolleges,the collegesservingas the
nuclei of the educationalsystem,as centres for the education of many who are not
residents. "

In a draft which is undated but which was written probably a short time before classes

commenced in the autumn of 1899, Hartog outlined the principles upon which the classes

would be basedand conducted:

200 Ruskin Hall News and StudentsMagazine, Volume 1, Number 1, December 1899.

201 Afanchester Ruskin Hall prospectus, 1900

202 As Manchester Ruskin Hall had very close connections with the university settlement, it was not
surprising that several of its committee members were actively involved in both enterprises. Alice
Crompton, a graduate of Owens College, was one of the joint wardens at the settlement from 1898 to
1909. She possessedexceptional energy and vision, and presided over one of the most progressive
periods in the settlement's history. She was prominent in the Women's Suffrage movement, and
eventually lcft to
the settlement work in the suffragette cause. See Mary Stocks : Fiftv Years in Every
Street : the stov of the Vanchester Universiv Settlement (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1945), pp.22- 35.

344
 "The two subjects which appeal most directly to working men and women as
breadwinnersand as municipal and political electors. are economicsand history, and
those subjectsare therefore selectedin the first instance.

.......Weekly classesare held, which give the direct stimulus of the teacher;for each
week special chapters in prescribed books are read, and finally written work is
demandedof all studentsto be afterwards criticised in class. It is the tutorial system
of the Universities adapted to a special audience. The classesare intended for
adults. "

It was intendedin the first instancethat ManchesterRuskin Hall would occupy pren-iises

in Ancoatsor Ardwick, nearto the settlement. Whilst it was envisagedthat the institution

should in the long term be it

self-supporting, was estimatedthat at least L400 per annum

over a period of three years would be required for the enterprise to be adequately

funded.203 Premiseswere found at 20 Every Street, Ancoats, about one hundred yards

from the university settlement, and Sidney McDougall, who possessedexcellent academic

qualifications, was appointed as warden. In effect, as with his successor Guy Kendall, the

appointmentwas funded by the 204

settlement. The initial period was for six months,after
which the institution was not in a position to appoint a permanent warden. McDougall

continued to help for no remuneration, and taught at Ruskin Hall classesin English history

and economics which attracted average attendances of eleven and eight respectively
during the autumn months of 1899. At this time, two classes in English history were

conducted successfully at the Co-operative Wholesale Society Offices in Balloon Street by

J. 1. Franklin, of Hulme Grammar School, who was a member of the Ruskin Hall

managementcommittee. In addition, well attendedseriesof economicand social science

lectures were given by other members of the committee, including Professors Tout and

Flux, and JamesJohnston,at the University Settlementin Ancoats Hall, with an average

attendanceof forty-five. Other lecturers of note included the historians G. M. Trevelyan

and J. H. Clapham and the economist Sidney J. 205

Chapman.

203 P. I Hartog : Ruskin Hall, Manchester (undated draft).

204 SeeStocks, op.cit., p. 18.

205 At this time, Sidney Chapman lectured in economics at Cardiff. Prior to his appointment there he
had given active assistance to the settlement's educational activities, taking a prominent part in the
formation of a body of associates to have a voice in the organisation and running of the settlement.
Chapman returned to Manchester in 1901 when he was appointed as Professor of Political Economy at
Owens College, a post he held until 1918. He was appointed in 1901 also to the committee of
managementat Manchester Ruskin Hall.

345
The scopeboth of the lecturesand their organisationwas extremely ambitious. Professor

206of Owens College, gave a course of six talks on "Evolution" to an average

WeiSS,

attendance of fifty persons. In the Easter term of 1900, the classes started in the previous

term by J. 1. Franklin and Sidney McDougall, the warden of the settlement,continued.

Miss E. H. Moore, who in 1901 was appointed to the Manchester Ruskin Hall comrnittee

of management, gave a successful course of lectures in English literature to a class of

sixteen students, and Professor Alexander's university extension lectures on psychology

attracted an average attendance of about fifty. In addition, Kenneth Dockray of Trinty

College,Cambridge,commenceda classin Logic, which attracted eight students.207

P. J. Hartog had been asked to teach an evening class and selected English composition

for his subject as a result of attending one Sunday afternoon lecture for working men at

which he became aware that the audience responded solely to the tone in which the talk

was delivered whilst remaining indiscriminateabout its content. Hartog took this class,

which consisted of some thirteen pupils and included clerks, upholsterers, French polishers

and printers, for the sessionsof 1901 - 1902 and 1902 - 1903.208 Hartog realised that

the class needed to be trained to think about what they read or heard so that they would

learn to interpret intelligently, and began his first class by reading an essay on "Energy"

from a collection of essaysfor candidates sitting examinations for the Civil Service. AJI

the students except one thought that the essaywas excellent. Hartog then proceeded

through question, answer and discussionto begin to teach his students to think about

what they had heard, and asked them why they consideredthe extract he had read to be

good -

206 Professor Weiss had been appointed to a Professorship in Botany at Owens College in 1892 and
retained this office until his retirement in 1930. He had been associated with the university settlement
from the outset, and gave generously of his time to give support to it and to Manchester Ruskin Hall.

207 In addition to his connection with Manchester Ruskin Hall as a member of its management
committee, K. T. S. Dockray was prominent in the Manchester and district branch of the Working Men's
Club and Institute Union. He was a member of its council from 1900-1901, served as its honorary
secretaryfrom 1902-5 and as its chairman from 1906-9. In 1909 he was honoured with the presidency of
the Manchester District Union. an office he held for many years.

208 Mabel Hartog : P. J flartog. -A Afemoir (London: Constable and Co. Ltd.. 1949), pp.33-34.

346
 "Becauseit soundedso well. " The exceptionalpupil said "he didn't seemuch in it, "
and I concurred. It was then the turn of the class to cross-examine,and for me to
justify myself, and we decided to analyseone or two of the passagestogether- here
is one: "What serious-minded man ever travels in a railway carriage without
reflecting on the energyof a Watt or a Stephenson? " The author obviously intends
to
us reply - None. Yet he knows perfectly well that hundreds and thousandsof
well-informed and serious-mindedseason-ticket holders travel by train every day
without thinking about the energy of either Watt or Stephenson. That one lesson
put the classextraordinarily on their mettle ...11209

From such beginningsHartog selectedpassagesfrom various authors for the studentsto

evaluatecontent and style. He then proceededto teach the classto distinguishthe salient

points in a passage through the use of precis, whereby the length of the summary was

reducedto about one-fifth or one-sixth of the original. Hartog consideredthe object of

such an exercisewas to enable students to distinguish in any written article or report

betweenwhat was essentialand what was not, and illustrated his teachingwith reference

to contemporary fiction, political speechesand newspaper articles, some of which he gave

his pupils to surnmarise. The final lesson of the 1902 - 1903 session took the form of an

by
evaluation the studentsof the course, and the class memberswere asked to write a
brief description and assessmentfor those who knew nothing about it. The comments of

one student, whilst referring to Hartog's teaching, summed up more generally what the

tutors at Manchester Ruskin Hall were trying to achieve with their working-class students:

"When this classstartedwe all of us wanted to write essayson big subjects,though

Mr Hartog said he would prefer that we should write on subjectsof which we knew
more, and not less, than he did. But at last he in
gave to our wish that we should
write an "essay"for him. We then saw that he was fight in thinking it was better for
to
us write on subjectsof which we knew more and not less than he did...

"Mr Hartog reads out each man's essay and then asks questions about it and
criticizes it. First he knocks you down, then he sets you on your feet again, then he
knocks you down again, but he lets you hit him as hard as he hits you. I think he
has made only one mistake with this class. He has called it a class in composition. I
it in
call a class thinking. " 2 10

Even though Manchester Ruskin Hall catered for only small numbers of students, the

209 Sir P. Hartog : Words in Action: The Teaching of the Mother Tonguefor the Training of Citizens in
a Democracv (London: University of London PressLtd., 1947), p.53.

210 Sir P. Hartog, ibid., p. 254.

347
examplejust cited showsthe resultsits teaching in
could achieve individual circumstances.

With its close connections with the university settlement, it was to be expected that

OwensCollege would be strongly representedon the ManchesterRuskin Hall conunittee

of management. Equally predictably, the majority of the remaining personnel were drawn

from two sources. those who were involved in some capacity with the work of the

university settlement and those who were connected with the labour movement in
Manchester. The wardens of the settlement served on the Ruskin Hall committee - Alice

Crompton throughout the Hall's existence,and Sidney McDougall and Guy Kenda11211

during their respective periods of wardenship. Alice Cooke, Alf red Haworth, 212

T. C. Horsfall and Professor Tout served on the university settlement committee in

addition to that of Manchester Ruskin Hall. Several of the remaining members of the

committee were drawn from various sections of the labour movement, the most notable of

whom was the suffragette, Eva Gore-Booth, who, in addition to her work with the

settlement,was a memberof the Women'sTrades'Union Council.

A vital appointment to the Manchester Ruskin Hall committee was that of J. H. Reynolds,

who was there as a representative of the Technical Instruction Committee of the

Manchester Corporation and who brought a wealth of experience and expertise in

educationaladministrationto the task. Reynoldshad a lifelong interest in the educationof

adults, and his detailed knowledge was of practical help in dealing with some of the

complications arising from the Hall's precarious financial circumstances.

The first half-yearly report in 1900 outlined some of the problems being encountered by

ManchesterRuskin Hall. The fundamentalone was a lack of successin recruiting from

211 Guy Kendall arrived to work at the university settlement in April 1901 and was appointed as warden
at Manchester Ruskin Hall two months later. He left Manchester in the following year to pursue a career
in teaching.

212 Alfred Haworth served on the Manchester Ruskin Hall committee of management as a nominee of
the Council of Owens College. He was a staunch supporter of the settlement, being involved there on its
committee from the time of its formation.

348
among the working class generally and especially among the unskilled elements of it.

Finding suitable instructors who had enjoyed the advantagesof higher educationwas not

difficult: the problem lay in persuadingpeople to attend lectures and classes. Whilst this

indicates a rather depressingprospect, this relative lack of successneedsto be set in

context. The parent residential institution, Ruskin Hall, Oxford had twelve studentsin

1899,56 in 1909 and 46 in 1913,213although after 1903 its growth rnightwell have been

affected by the developmentof the W.E.A. Other hindrancesarose from the perennial
difficulties involved in trying to combine study along with the demandsof full-time jobs

and long hours of work. It was hoped also that a hall for
of residence women would be
establishedby Ruskin Hall, Oxford but this project never reached fruition.

By the end of the first year of operations the structure of the way Manchester Ruskin Hall

was evolving had begun to emerge. The committee now numbered twenty-four, six of

whom were from Owens College, ten from various organisations within the labour

movement, and two residents from Ruskin Hall itself 214 The programme for the session

1900-1901 contained a letter, signed by James Johnston and Philip Hartog, which gave a

brief report of the progress of the institution during its first year of existence, together

with a clear statement of its requirements. The fact that Manchester Ruskin Hall had no

political or party bias of any kind it

was stressedand was largely due to Hartog's influence

that the Manchesterestablishmentwas not troubled by the type of secessionwhich was to

1909.215
occur at the parent institution at Oxford in However, there were still pressing

213 See Ministry of Reconstruction: Adult Education Committee Final Report (London, H.M. S.O.,
1919),p.39.

214 The committee members having connections with Owens College were Alice Cooke, Catherine
Dodd. Professor A. W. Flux, Philip Hartog, Alfred Haworth and Professor T. F. Tout. Catherine Dodd
had the distinction of being the first woman to be appointed to the academic staff of Owens College, and
during her thirteen vears at Manchester was an innovative Mistress of Method and lecturer in Education.
For a brief account of Dodd's work at the university seeA. B. Robertson 4 Centuty of Change: the 5tudy
..
of Education in the Universjv ofkfanchester (Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1990). See
also E. C. Wilson : Catherine Isabella Dodd (London: Sidgwick and Jackson. 1936).

215 For an analysis of the long term implications of the confrontation at Ruskin College, Oxford. in
1909, see ed. Brian Simon : The Search for Enlightenment: The ff Ork-ing Class and. 4 dult Education in
the Tu,entieth Centurv (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990) for the essay bv Brian Simon - The
Strugglefor Hegemon.v, 1920 - 1926, pp, 15-70.

349
problemswhich only an infusion of funds would alleviate. The committeeaskedfor f500

to clear existing debts of Y.60, part of which had been incurred through securing the

temporary services of a warden; to finance certain structural alterations at Manchester

Ruskin Hall; and to pay the salary of the warden for the next three years. This request

was somewhat optimistic in view of the fact that by

subscriptionsreceived Manchester
Ruskin Hall during the first year amounted to only L71 19s Od, of which 120 had been

contfibuted by T. C. Horsfall.

A brochure entitled "Manchester Ruskin Hall" provided details of an enterprising

programme for 1900-1901. Fifteen classes were offered jointly by Manchester Ruskin

Hall and the university settlement. The courses were free of charge to the students, and

covered aspects of English literature and English poetry, botany, practical ethics,

psychology, sociology, industrial history, constitutional history, English history,

government and Sophocles in translation. Eleven of the courses were held at Ancoats
Hall; three at Lockhart's Cafe, Deansgate; and one at the premises of the Co-operative

Wholesale Society in Balloon Street.

The financial position of the university settlement had improved by 1901 to the extent that

it felt able to fund an appointment as warden for one year. It was envisaged that the

warden would live at Manchester Ruskin Hall, but that most of the daily work would
involve the organisation of the classes at the settlement. In 1899 Alice Crompton, the

women's warden at the university settlement, had met during a visit to Oxford Guy

Kendall and had interestedhim in the work proceedingat Manchester. During the winter

of 1900-1, thanks in some measure to Hartog, Kendall was added to the list of the

Victona University extension lecturers. Having in the spring of 1901 taught for a term at

Sedburgh,Kendall arrived in Manchesterat Easter to commencework at the settlement

whilst lodging at Ruskin Hall. However, as there were no residents living there at that

time, except T. R. Marr who was employed on some work for Horsfall, the post of

warden remained unfilled for the time being. Through an introduction to Professor

H. L. Withers, a former Balliol man who was Professor of Education at Owens College

350
from 1899 until his death in 1902, Kendall was given temporary work assessingstudents

who were away from the college on teaching practice in schools in the Manchesterarea.
J. E. King, the High Master of ManchesterGrammar School, invited Kendall to deputise

during May for a teacher who was absent through illness. In June 1901 John Graham, the

Principal of Dalton Hall and the honorary treasurer and a member of the committee of the

settlement,informed Kendall that he and his colleaguesdid not feel that it was right for

him to be working for the settlementwithout remuneration. Accordingly he suggestedto

the Ruskin Hall committee an arrangementby which Kendall, although paid by the

settlement,would residein Ruskin Hall and devote part of his time to that enterprise,with

a majority of his work being done for the settlement. Kendall arrived at Manchester

Ruskin Hall after the summer vacation on 31st August 1901 to take up his appointment,

and was welcomed by P. Lavin, the senior resident in the house. The property contained a

dining room which doubled as a common room, a study or quiet room, and sleeping

accommodation for eight residents. To cover the costs of food, rent, rates and household

expenses,residents paid 12s 6d per week. The first half-yearly report presented a

somewhat idealised view of life in a Ruskin Hall:

"In our Ruskin Hall we hope to develop the finest kind of college life, an espirit de
corps, and a common ambition to learn and do good. The gain of co-operation in
living is very great. For about 12s a week men may live at Ruskin Hall in solid
comfort, and there be
must many students who would be very thankful to exchange
a lonely life in noisy and uncomfortable lodgings for a studious life in a Ruskin
Hall."

The reality appeared to be rather different for Kendall, who came from a wealthy family

background and found Ancoats a considerable change from Eton and Oxford. He

commented with feeling on the overcrowded conditions when the house was fully

occupied,and observed:

"Life at Ruskin Hall was naturally not luxurious. Like most enthusiasts with a touch
in their nature, I rather gloried in the grubbiness of it; but it was hardly
of asceticism
My bedroom floor was of stone, and the cupboard where I kept my
sanitary.
was so damp that I soon began to suffer from rheumatism, till I discovered
clothes
the cause. I loved to have to clean my own boots, even though it rather scandalised
my mother, who wrote that "even in Sisterhoods" they had people in to do these

351
 11216
jobs for them and that it was a waste of educatedtime.

Prior to Kendall's arrival, the Manchester Ruskin Hall accounts had been kept by Lavin,

who worked in the clerical departmentof the London and North West Railway, but this

task now devolved upon the new warden. It appearsthat Kendall had a difficult time in

adjusting to life at ManchesterRuskin Hall, and felt that his abilities were underused. In

view of his impending marriageto a helper at the settlement,Kendall felt that he needed
to secure more lucrative and continuous employment. He left the settlement early in 1902

before the completion of his year as warden and, after spendinga disastrousterm at a

minor public school, becamean assistantmaster at Charterhousebefore moving on in

1916 to take up an appointment as Head Teacher at the University College School,

Hampstead.

In 1901 the settlement was fortunate and grateful to receive two donations of 11,000 and

one of 1500. This enabled it to purchase Ruskin Hall (20 Every Street, Ancoats) along

with the adjoining land. The residents at Ruskin Hall were invited to stay on, although

some refused because they felt that the settlement committee had been in
underhand the

way the transaction had been pursued. In the following year, T. R. Marr succeeded
Kendall as warden, and improved the living conditions at Ruskin Hall. Kendall's overall

assessmentof the settlement and Ruskin Hall, admittedly from a distance of thirty years, is

an interesting one:

"The Settlement may have been unpractical in many of its ideas; it may have
welcomed too indiscriminately the crank and the revolutionary. But the crank
11217
be
should welcomed if he is in
a man of good will a world of abuses...

By the beginning of the 1901-02 session the Manchester Ruskin Hall enterprise was again

in difficulties. Kelly had observedthat at somepoint in 1901 a rift had occurred between

the students who were meeting at Every Street and those who met at Lockhart's Cafe,

216 SeeGuy Kendall -A Headmaster Remembers: (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1933), p. 158

217 Ibid., p. 163. Most of the information about Guy Kendall has been derived from his autobiographyA
Headmaster Reinembers (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1933), pp. 131-163.

352
Deansgate.111 As the prospectus for the 1901-02 session of the Manchester Ruskin Hall

states that classeswere to be held either at the university settlement or at Ruskin Hall, this

suggestionmight well be correct. What is immediately apparent is the reduction in the

number of courses offered from fifteen to eight and a corresponding narrowing of the

range of subjectscovered - English Literature, English history, ethics, political economy,

natural history and English composition,this last coursebeing taught by Hartog.

Kelly commentsthat he has been unable to discover when the Ruskin Hall enterpriseat

Manchester ceased, although it was still in existence in the 1902- 3 session.219 A letter

from T. R. Marr, who during the previous year had been appointed asjoint warden at the

university settlement, to Philip Hartog, dated 26th January 1903 confirms this, and

indicates that the initiative was in serious danger of collapsing. The weaknesses which
hindered the success of the enterprise from its inception - the lack of support from the

working class, the unwieldy nature of the committee and the consequent lack of activity,

the dependence upon Hartog, and the resentment caused by the settlement's purchase in

1901 of the property occupied by the Manchester Ruskin Hall, with its attendant

implications - are clearly identified, and the tone of the letter is unusually direct:

"I am worried about the Ruskin Hall Committee. I feel that the Ctte. has lost all
enthusiasm and energy and that it does not have the backing of organised labour
is
which needful. So far I
as can see our movement is, for the time being, dead
...

For six months the committee has been practically dead, yet the educational
work has gone along as well as before.

"Miss Moore's suggestion that the committee should dissolve was the only proposal
at the last meeting with which I was in complete accord and I cannot urge the taking
of that step because some folks have got the idea that the settlement is seeking to
crush out Ruskin Hall. This, of course, is untrue but I am unwilling to take any

218 Thomas Kelly : Outside the Walls: Sixv Years of University Extension at Afanchester 1886 - 1946
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1950), p.37. The only evidence I have been able to locate in
support of Kelly's assertion of a rift between students at Manchester Ruskin Hall in 1901 is of a rather
negative nature in that it does not disprove his hypothesis and might be argued to support it. In the
programme giving details of the joint classes offered by Manchester Ruskin Hall and the university
settlement for the 1901-2 session,none of the coursesare shown as having Lockhart's Cafe, Deansgate, as
their venue.

219 Kelly. ibid., p. 37.

353
 steps which may be interpreted in this way.

I am writing to you thus because you are practically the committee.220 The
suggestions you make are the suggestions adopted . ...... when we are all unanimous,
as we were at last meeting, that the scheme cannot be made to go unless someone
takes it up and works it vigorously, I think we are culpably wasting time and energy
in holding meetings and issuing circulars, while we are unable to find the necessary
to
person carry the thing through. to drag on under the present conditions seems
....
to me to invite failure of a disastrous kind. "221

In addition to the reasonssuggestedabove for the failure of the ManchesterRuskin Hall

initiative, other factors need to be considered. The location of Ruskin Hall in such very

close proximity to in
other establishededucational agencies the Ancoats area - the

university settlement, the extension lectures, the Ancoats Recreation Movement, and a

number of more informal enterprises- might have proved to be a rather mixed blessing.
Whilst the available evidence suggests that Manchester Ruskin Hall worked in amicable

co- operation with other agencies nearby, there was always a substantial element of risk in

introducing yet another educational activity into an area which, although traditionally

enjoying a strong response from its working class community, seemed to have such needs

already catered for sufficiently by the existing facilities. Whilst the concept of a residential

college for working class people was relatively new, the it

activities and courses organised

merely duplicated the existing provision to a significant extent. Furthermore, because of

the three donations in 1901 amounting to L2,500, the university settlement found itself on

a financially sound footing quite suddenly and had the wherewithal to strengthenand

support its activities and projects to herald a period - 1902-1909 - that Mary Stocks

describes as "a kind of golden age".222 Although there was no overt evidence of

competition between the two organisations, it became increasingly apparent that

ManchesterRuskin Hall did not havethe resourcesto survive.

220 This impression is confirmed by Guy Kendall, who refers to Philip Hartog as the "hon. sec. and
generally protecting genius of this smaller institution [Manchester Ruskin Hall]". SeeKendall, op.cit.,
p. 140.

221 Letter from T. R. Marr OoInt warden of the university settlement) to Philip Hartog (honorary
secretary to the committee at Manchester Ruskin Hall), 26th January 1903.

'22 Stocks. op.cit.. p.22.

354
The closing date of the Ruskin Hall enterpriseat Manchester remains undiscovered,but

some time during the summer of 1903 would be a reasonablededuction. Marr's letter

written towards the end of January 1903 indicated that the venture was likely to fold
imminently if vigorous efforts were not made to ensure its survival. The removal of

Hartog, latterly the central support of the ManchesterRuskin Hall undertaking,to London

during the summermonths of that year to take up an appointmentas AcademicRegistrar

at the University of London perhapsprecipitatedthe final collapse,at least in Manchester,

of what had proved to be an innovative experiment.

The void left in working-class adult education in Ancoats by the demiseof Manchester

Ruskin Hall was compensated for in the immediate future by the university settlement

courses. In the longer term, the emergence of the Workers' Educational Association and

its system of tutorial classes,which had in many respects been implemented at Manchester

Ruskin Hall, was to cater for increasing numbers of working men and women, and Hartog

gave early encouragement to the developing movement.223 In 1911 - 1912, at the

invitation of the recently appointed warden at the university settlement, Graham Cox, the

Workers' Educational Association used Ancoats as one of its local lecture centres.224

One other initiative might be referred to briefly here, the Working Men's Club
-
Movement.225 The Working Men's Club and Institute Union had been founded in 1862

223 The Workers' Educational Association and the tutorial class movement in Manchester is considered
in the sixth chapter of this thesis. For an introductory survey of the work in Manchester, see Thomas
Kelly : Outside the Walls: Sixy Years of University Extension at 11anchester 1886 - 1946 (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1950), pp.36-37 and 44-67.

224 Seethe annual report of the Manchester Art Museum and Universiv Settlementfor theyear ended
30thAPril 1912, and M. D. Stocks : Fifty Years in Every Street: the stoty of the Manchester University
Settlement (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1945), p.39.

225 The Working Men's Club Association in Manchester is referred to more fully in the sixth chapter of
this thesis. For general histones of aspectsof the movement, seeB. T. Hall : Our Sixv Years: the sto?y of
the tf'orking k1en's Club and Institute Union (London: the Working men's Club and Institute Union,
1922), Peter Bailey : Leisure and Class in Victorian England: Rational recreation and the contest for
control, 1830 - 1885 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978), in particular Chapter 5, Rational
Recreation in Operation: the lVork-ingAfen's Club movement, pp. 106-123 and 208-213-,J. Levitt : dult
.4
Education in Iforking Afen's Clubs in, 4dult Education, Volume 28, Number 4, Spring 1956, pp.260-272-,
R. N. Price : The ff'Orking men's Club Alovement and Victorian Social Reform Ideology in Victorian
Studies. Volume 15. Number 2, December 1971, pp. 117-147-,and Brian Simon : Education and the
Labour Afovement 1870 - 1920 (London: Lawrence and Wishart. 1980 edition), pp.71-75. For the origins

355
largely through the efforts of its first secretary, Henry Solly. 226 Its aim was to help

"Working Men to establishedClubs or Institutes where they can meet for conversation,

business,and mental improvement, with the means of recreation and refreshment,free

from intoXicating drinks."227 In 1864 Solly and Rev. S. A. Steinthal had convened a

meeting in Manchesterto examinethe possibilities of founding a Working Men's Club in

Ancoats,but nothing had developeduntil a more successfulinitiative in 1876 by Hodgson

Pratt (the chairman of the Council of the Working Men's Club Association). 228 The

Council rented Ancoats Hall (which in 1886 was to becomethe permanenthome of the

ManchesterArt Museurn)229frornthe Nfidland Railway Company. The Club was opened

on 5th March 1878 by James Fraser, Bishop of Manchester'230 The membership initially

was numerous but had declined to 56 in 1884231

owing to high unemployment because of

the commercial depression in Manchester. The Club had various faculties, including a bar

where refreshmentswere available, rooms for cards, billiards, concerts and amateur

and development of the movement in Manchester, see K. T. S. Dockray : The Manchester and District
Branch of the Working Men's Club and Institute Union Limited, 1877 - 1927 (London: The Working
men's Club and Institute Union Ltd., 1927). For the movement in Ancoats see M. Harrison : Social
Reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, with special reference to T C. Horsfall
(unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester, 1987), pp.202-245.

226 Solly, a Unitarian minister, had been an active supporter of F. D. Maurice in his establishment of the
London Working men's College in the 1850s. He encouragedthe formation of Clubs to provide education
and recreation for working men. The early years of the movement were not without dissension, and Solly
resigned as secretary in 1867 to form the rival Social Working Men's Club and Institute Union as
Organising Secretaryat the end of 1871 before resigning again in 1873. SeeGeorge Tremlett : The First
Centu,v (London: The Working Men's Club and Institute Union Ltd., 1962), pp. 16-17 and 21-22.

227 B. T. Hall, op.cit., p. 14

228 SeeM. Harrison, op.cit., p.213. Hodgson Pratt was one of the leading figures in the early years of
the Working Men's Club and Institute Union. He becameone of a triumvirate of honorary secretarieswho
Nvereappointed on Solly's resignation in 1867, although Pratt resigned his position on Solly's return in
1871. In spite of this, from 1870 to 1874 Pratt was actively involved in the administration of the Union
from 1870 - 1874, following which he served as Chairman of the Council of the Union for nine years
until 1884, at which time he resigned due to ill-health. He was President to the Union from 1885 to 1902.
It was largely through Pratt's efforts that the Manchester Association of Clubs became affiliated to the
Union. SeeTremlett. op.cit., pp.21-22,26 and 3 1.

229 Michael Harrison : Art and Philanthropy: TC Horsfall and Afanchester, jrt. Vuseuin in A. J. Kidd
and K. W. Roberts )
(eds. : Citv, class and culture: Studies of cultural production and social policy in
Fictorian Afanchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), p. 127.

230 Fraser was the first president of the Manchester Working Men's Clubs Association which had been
formed in Februarv 1877. SeeK. T. S. Dockray, op.cit.. p.7.

231 Dockray, ibid., p.2 1.

356
dramatics, a reading room which was open on weekdays and Sundays, and a gymnasium

to
which was added the Club in 1880. The Club also had its own cricket team and brass
band. 232
By 1884 a similar institution in Ancoats had been established at Heyrod
233
Street.

During the nineteenth century the formation of many enterprisesin Ancoats for adult

education - the Ancoats Lyseum, the Free Library, the Working Man's College, the
Working Men's Clubs, the university settlement,ManchesterRuskin Hall, the Manchester

Art Museum., the Ancoats Recreation Movement, the People's Institutes and the clubs,

societies and evening classes attached to the different churches in the district, the

university extension lectures, the Workers' Educational Association and the university

tutorial classes- had all madetheir various contributions to the establishmentof an active

tradition of providing educationfor the working classin Ancoats. Someof theseventures

survived for only a short time, partly because of the emergence of other agencies which

catered for the same customersand partly becauseof the sheer number of educational
initiatives. The voluntary sector, which also included the evening courses of the

Manchester and Salford Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee (which from its formation

in 1886 up to 1900 worked in conjunction with the Working Men's Clubs Association in

Manchestei-234),
was an essential component in the outreach of adult educational
movements to inhabitants in Ancoats even after the Manchester Education Committee

began after 1870 and more particularly in the first decade of the twentieth century to

develop an increasingly sophisticated network of provision via its evening classes. Even

in Ancoats, the proportion of the working class reached through all these channels of

activity was small, but the collective efforts made by individual philanthropists,voluntary

agencies and the state provided a necessary impetus which at least offered some

alleviation to the depressing conditions in which so many endured lives of extreme

232 Seventh annual report of the Working Hen's Club Association for theyear 1883 1884.
-

233 Dockray, op-cit., p.2 1.

234 Dockray. ibid.. p.26.

357
hardship. Education was one meansbY which some of the wealthier middle classbecame

actively involved in and more aware of the difficult circumstancesunder which all too

many of the less affluent existed, and also offered for some artisans an opportunity to

escapefrom or at least come to terms with the exigenciesof living in nineteenth-century

Ancoats.

358
Chapter 5
Local Authority Provision of Recreative Activities and
Adult Education in Manchester from 1830s to 1914

The numerous voluntary organisationswhich had evolved during the latter half of the

nineteenthcentury especiallyreflected a growing demandfrom an increasingpopulation

for the provision of facilities for adults both for educationand recreationalpursuits. The

churchesand other charitable and voluntary agenciesmade considerableefforts to meet

these demands through classes which were aimed initially at offering elementary
instruction to adults in reading, writing, arithmetic and other subjects; through activities

which helped some of the in

working class particular to develop skills; and more generally

to provide forms of recreation and relaxation which would encourage the ambitious and

upwardly mobile to conform to the mores and values of the existing state of society and

afford some form of guidance which would help to ensure that the elementsfrom the

working-class mass, which was viewed by the rniddleclass with some concern and on

occasion fear, employed their leisure hours usefully and relatively harmlessly while at the

sametime being directed away from vice, drink and gambling. What became more evident

as the century progressed was that voluntary organisations were unable to cope alone with

the requirements asked of them, and that if significant progress were to be made in

educatingand civilising the working class it would be necessaryfor the state through

central and local government to support and develop the work being done by these

voluntary agencies. For reasons which were both humanitarian and concerned with self-

preservation - revolutions abroad in 1830 and 1848 and minor insurrections in Britain

during the 1830s and 1840sin responseto depressedtrade conditions which brought in

their wake considerableunemployment and consequenthardship had made successive

governmentsand the wealthier elementsamong the middle class alert to the possibility
that the working class might rise and overturn the exiting structure of society in an

attempt to improve their situation in life - the state assumed responsibility for assisting

initiativesand developingamenitiesfor the recreationand educationof the people.

359
This chapter examinessomeof the ways in which the authorities undertook the provision

of and developedfacilities for the rational recreationand instruction of the population as a

whole and not merely those who had the wherewithal and the status to enjoy their hours

of leisure. Four initiatives are surveyed and the contribution of central and local

authoritiesassessed,with particular referenceto Manchester,in relation to the following..

the movement for the provision of public parks; the development of the public free
libraries;the establishmentof art galleries for the use of the public; and the development

of adult educational amenities for those whose early opportunities had been limited

through circumstancesor inclination.

By the 1830s there was widespread agre.ement upon the need to provide in large towns

additional facilities for the recreation and relaxation of citizens. This had been one of the

suggestionsoffered in 1834 by a select committee which had been appointed to investigate

the question of drunkenness among the population. The committee reported that a wide

rangeof altematives would be neededif the attractions of the public house were to be

countered with any realistic prospects of success:

"The establishmentby the joint aid of Government and the local authorities and
residentson the spot, of public walks and gardens,or open spacesfor healthy and
athletic exercisesin the open air, in the immediate vicinity of every town, of an
extent and character adapted to its population; and of district and parish libraries,
museumsand reading rooms, accessibleat the lowest rate of charge; so as to admit
of one or the other being visited in any weather and at any time. " I

As Peter Bailey indicates, government and local authofities were tardy in implementing

suchrecommendationsin spite of pressureapplied by Members of Parliamentlike Robert

Slaneyand JosephHume who wished to seethe successfulpassageof legislationwhich at

least would encourage, even if it stopped short of requiring, the provision of municipal

improvements. In 1840 Parliament agreed that funds could be made available to local

authorities to assist them in in

provijing, especially the poorer areas of towns and cities,

1 Report Select Committee Inquirv drunkenness, in Peter Bailey - Leisure and

of a into p.viii, cited
C/ass in Victorian England.- Rational recreation and the contest for control 1830 1885 (London:
-
Routlcdgeand Kegan Paul, 1978). p.38.

360
parks and recreation grounds for the use of the 2
population. Manchester took early

advantageof the legislation, but was not the first local authority to set asideareasas open
for
spaces public use - Preston had done so in 1834, and Birkenhead and Liverpool were

makingprogressin the provision of parks and gardensas for

places the rational recreation

of the population. 3Manchester's response had been prompted by a letter of 3rd May 1843

to its council by one of the borough'sMembersof Parliament,Mark Philips, who observed

it
that was "lamentableto think how little provision has been made in Manchesterand

other great manufacturingtowns for the exerciseand recreation of the "

people. Philips
....
urged that the council should take advantage of the funds made available by the

government to contribute towards the expense involved in creating "public walks or places

of recreation for our over-worked and underf ed population". 4 The council assigned its

General Purposes Committee to investigate the possibilities of making available land for

use as parks or open spaces,and in 1845 a Public Parks Committee was appointed which
had responsibility during the ensuing year to lay out areas for parks and erect any

buildings
necessary in connectionwith them, after which these areaswould be maintained
by the Corporation. The parks were to be opened on each day of the week, including

Sundays,and were available to be used without charge to the public. The selling of

alcoholic beverages within the confines of the parks was forbidden, and the council

employed park-keepers and police "to maintain good order, and prevent riotous or

improper conduct. " During the following year three public parks - Queen's Park, Philips

Park and Peel Park6were opened in Manchester on 22nd August 1846.7 To a large extent

2 Bailey, ibid., 38-39. In 1840 L10,000 had been by Parliament for public walks. By 1843 only
pp. voted
L500 of this money had been spent in grants to Dundee and Arbroath. SeeReport of the Proceedings of
the Council of the Borough ofAfanchesterfrom November 1842 - November 1843, p.92.

3 Hugh Cunningham Leisure in the Industrial Revolution 1780 1880 (London: Croom Helm. 1980),
: c. -
p.94. For the development by local authorities of parks and open spacesfor public use in towns and cities
in the nineteenth century, see G. F. Chadwick : The Park and the Town, public landscape in the 191hand
20th centuries (London: Architectural Press, 1966).

4 Letter from Mark Philips, M. P., to the Lord Mayor of Manchester, 1843, quoted in the Proceedings of
the Council of the borough ofHanchesterfroin November 1842 to November 1843, pp.92-93.

5 Proceedings Council the borough Manchester from November 1844 to November 1845,
of the of of
from the Town Clerk on behalf of the Committee for General Purposes,4th August 1845.

6 Sir Robert Peel in 1845 donated LLOOOtowards the instituting of Peel Park. SeeBailey, op.cit., p.39.

361
theseparks had been paid for through public subscription. A further twenty years passed
before Manchester (which had been granted city status in 1853) make any further

significant progress in providing parks for its citizens, and it was not until 1867 that
Ardwick Green was acquired by the Corporation which in the following year also

purchasedAlexandraPark.8

From the outset it was intendedthat the parks should have an improving and educational

role, and restrictions were enforced to discourage any disorderly and anti-social
behaviour. The intention was that citizens should be encouragedto learn to appreciate

and value the beauty of the surroundings, and Manchester claimed - somewhat
optimistically - by 1854 that parks were successfully attracting the working class away

from the public houses and from loitering in the streets. The more cynIcal observed that

many who had enjoyed the amenities of the parks went on from them at night to the public
housesafter the parks had closed.9

Hugh Cunningham makes the valid observation that the parks were one representation of

civic achievement and pride and that it was far easier to finance and maintain a park in the

affluent districts of the city than in the poorer areas.10 This was undoubtedly correct; the

problem which cities such as Manchester faced was that this type of amenity was urgently

in
needed the less prosperous surroundings. This affords one explanation as to why
Manchesterafter such an encouragingbeginning in 1846 achieved little in the way of

provision of additional similar facilities for its population for thirty years. The purchase of

Ardwick Green and Alexandra Park in the late 1860s had been followed by a further

lengthy period of inactivity, and it was not until 1880 and 1881 that further recreation

7 The Peel Park Salford Corporation.

management of was subsequentlytransferred to

8 Illustrated Handbook Manchester Civ Parks Recreation Grounds (Manchester: Parks and
of the and
Cemeteries Committee, 1915), pp. 14-1-5. Rather curiously, Ardwick Green, which had been the one
existing park in Manchester before 1846, was not acquired at the same time as the Queen's. Philips and
PeelParks were purchased by the Manchester Corporation.

9 Cunningham,
op.cit., p. 95.

10 Cunningham.
op.cit., pp.95-96.

362
grounds were acquired on sites near the city centre at Helmet Street (Ancoats), Willert

Street (Collyhurst), and Kemp Street (Ancoats)11. Little more was achievedduring the

following decade, and by 1890 the city possessedonly five parks and eight open spaces.

However, by 1900 this position had improved considerably in that the city owned nine

parks and thirty open spaces,and the incorporation into Manchesterfrom 1903 onwards

of Rusholme, Didsbury, Withington and Burnage enabled Platt Fields and Fletcher Moss
Playing Fields to be added to the significant acquisition of Heaton Park in 1902.

Not unnaturally there were persistent demandsthat parks should not merely provide

education and culture12but also offer facilities for sports. This need was gradually

acknowledgedand by 1914 parks and recreation grounds provided cricket and soccer
pitches, fields for hockey for women, and amenities for bowls, tennis, golf and, at Heaton

Park, Boggart Hole Clough and Platt Fields, boating. 13

The policy of the Council was to make more generous provision for recreation grounds in

the artisan and working-class districts of Manchester than in the more prosperous suburbs,

and in 1912 the Parks Committee commenced a scheme to make more profitable use of

the recreationgrounds in the poorest parts of Manchester. It had beennoted with concern

that many of the playgrounds were being monopolised by gangs of rough youths or the

rangeof activities offered was so limited that many merely drifted back to the streets. In

that year an Organised Play sub-committeeof the Parks Committee was formed, and
female instructors were appointed to supervise games for children either during the

mornings or the afternoons at eleven sites in Ancoats, Hulme, Collyhurst, Monsall,

Ardwick and Red Bank - all working-class districts of Manchester. The scheme was

successfulin that the opportunity was extensivelyused,and there were underlying motives

II The provision of a recreation ground at Willert Street, where a mission had been maintained for
several years, was an especial helpr in widening the scope of its activities and encouraged ftirther
development of the premises there to cater for the increasing demand for recreational relaxation.

12 Illustrated Handbook the Manchester Ci(v Parks Recreation Grounds (Manchester: Parks and
of and
CemeteriesCommittee, 1915), p. 18.

13 Ibid., 25
p.

363
which aimed at ensufing that the clientele was trained to behave respectably.Whilst the

committee was pleasedthat the idea had been received so well, it considered "of still

greaterimportancethe opportunity which the schemeaffords for training in habits of self-

relianceand ready discipline, and they recognisewith pleasurethe quick responsegiven by

the children to appeals to their senseof unselfish combination and fair play. All the

"gamesleaders"have also noticed the increasedcleanlinessof the children consequenton

1114
the rule that no child is allowed to take part in gameswho is not reasonablyclean.

The park as a place to assimilate culture as an adjunct to its recreative activities revived

during the first decade of the twentieth century. In the 1880s the experiment of providing

in
music several Manchester parks had proved a failure and the idea had been dropped.

However, some twenty years later the idea was resurrected and on this occasion proved

more successful, especially in the six years before 1914 when crowds would often be

attracted to the musical performancesof bands at weekendsand on weekday evenings

offering recitals from light operas to more classical selections. This particular recreation

was brought to a halt in 1914 by the war, but for some years by then music had been

played in 14 parks and 21 recreation grounds from mid-May to the end of August in many

of the poorest districts of the City. 15

The Parks Committee of the Manchester City Council was influenced in its efforts to

provide additional recreation grounds and other land for similar purposes by the

Manchester and Salford Playing Fields Society. 16 Formed in 1907, Councillor Will

Melland chaired this agency which endeavoured to increase the supply of available playing

fields, public or private, within these two cities. With the numerous building

developments taking place in Manchester in the years round the turn of the century, land

14 [bid., 28.
p.
15 Ibid.,
pp.32-37.
16 The movement in Manchester developed from the city's Lads' Clubs which were finding it
increasingly difficult to find fields for the playing of sports which were an essential part of their recreative
activities.

364
for sports pastimes was difficult to acquire and popular sports such as soccer were

increasinglylikely to become the preserve of the middle class as clubs moved into the

suburbs to try to obtain the necessary space. In the years before 1914 the Society,

through generousgifts of money and land, acquired playing fields in Gorton, Pendleton,
Crumpsall,Newton Heath and Didsbury which were used by sometwo thousandpersons

each Saturday.Increasing emphasiswas placed on the value of team sports which were
to
considered assistin the developmentof character,discipline and a willingnessto work
in co-operation with others, and such activities were viewed as allowing the working

class, under the supervision of middle class patrons, to expend their energies in a

constructive and healthy way. The Society did a worthwhile job in that it helped to bring

team sports within reach of what young working-class men and women were able to

afford and pr+ided an alternative to more questionable pursuits as far as the promoters

of suchinitiatives were concerned.

As noted earlier, another of the recommendationsfor local authorities with aid from

central government made by the Select Committee Inquiry into Drunkenness in its report

of 1834 related to the creation of reading rooms, museums and district and parish
libraries. In 1845 the Museums Act allowed boroughs with populations of over ten

thousand to levy a halfpenny rate for the setting up of museums of art and science.

Canterbury,Warrington and Salford placed rather more liberal interpretation upon the

legislation to establish libraries together with museums. The Select Committee of 1849

that
recommended government grants should be given to in
assist the establishmentof
librariesand that such libraries might be funded and maintainedfrom the municipal rates.

The Public Libraries Act of 1850 extended the terms of the Museums Act of 1845 to

includelibraries and their upkeep,but did not allow expenditureon books.17

Manchester responded quickly anU in the autumn of 1850 set up a public subscription to

contributetowards the cost of establishingin the city a public free library. It is not the aim

17 Thomas Kelly Historv Public Libraries in Great Britain (London: The Ubran, Association,
: -I of
1973),pp.9-13.

365
of this thesis to reproduce an account of the development of public free libraries in
Manchesterwhich has already been done competently elsewhere,but there are certain

themeswhich emergefrom a considerationof the steady progress made in this direction

between1850 and 1914.11

Prior to 1850 accessto libraries had been largely confined to the professionalclasses,

students attending institutions providing education - the mechanics'institutes and, in

Manchester,the lyceums - or recreation, membersof learned societies,and membersof

churchesand chapelswho were able to use the small libraries which were sometimes

organisedby religious bodiesfor their congregationsand church members. For those who
to
were able afford the fees, Manchesterfrom the late eighteenthcentury onwards had a

subscription library. In addition, Manchester had the Chetham'sLibrary to which the

public could be admitted to refer to the books on the premises.However, thesevarious

channelscatered collectively for only a very small percentageof the population and

certainlyvery few from the working class. The move made in Manchesterfor a public
fi-eelibrary, promoted by John Watts and furthered by influential supportersincluding the

Lord Mayor of Manchester,Sir John Potter, was designedto changethis situation. In a

letter from Potter (dated 21st July 1852) to the General Purposes Committee of the

borough council, the public free library was being established"with a view to provide

increasedfacilities for intellectual cultivation among all classes,and especiallyto promote

the education and self-culture of the poor classes generally, and the artisans and

18 Thomas Kelly has VMtten what are currently the standard reference works on the origins and
development of British public libraries. See T. Kelly : Early Public Libranes :A History of Public
Libraries in Great Britain before 1850 (London: The Library Association, 1966) together with the work
mentioned in the previous footnote. In the latter, Kelly deals in some detail with the progress and
administrative changes which occurred during the latter half of the nineteenth century in some of the
leading Scottish and English public librafies, including that of Manchester (pp.41-44). For general
background see also the earlier work of W. A. Munford : Penn Rate (London: The Library Association,
'v
1951). For the development of libraries in Manchester see J. Meakin : Afanchester Libraries and their
role in education prior to 1850 (unpublished dissertation for the Diploma in Advanced Study in
Education, University of Manchester. 1973. a copy of which is held by the university's Department of
Education), for the ongins and expansion of public free libraries in Manchester after 1850, see W. R.
Credland : The Afanchester Public Free Libraries: A History and Description, and Guide to their
Contentsand Use (Manchester: Public Free Libraries Committee, 1899). For a history of the public free
library in Ancoats, Manchester. see Mar' P. Hanley : Educational Provision in Ancoats, Manchester,
during the Nineteenth Centuri, (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester. 1981), pp.418-438.

366
 in
workpeople employed the various industrial establishments of the borough. "19 It was

anticipatedthat the facility of being able to borrow books for home use would afford a

means "of attracting sound and useful knowledge not only to individuals, but to
...
"20
families. During the autumn of 1852 lectures were given at the library in Campfield,

Deansgate," to popularise the venture by Professor A. J. Scott, principal of Owens

College, by Dr. Vaughan, principal of the Lancashire Independent College, and by

F. Crace Calvert, honorary professor of chemistry at the Royal Manchester Institution.

The free lectures were attendedby enthusiasticaudiencesand stimulated a demandfor

books, especially from the reference section of the library. 22 Rather surprisingly, this

experiment was not repeated until the winter of 1888 - 1889 and again in 1891 - 1982,

when lecturers included Charles Rowley, W. E. A. Axon, J. E. Phythian, Harry Rawson

(who chaired for several years the Public Free Libraries Committee), and Professors

W. Boyd Dawkins and A. S. Wilkins" from OwensCollege.

The Public Free Libraries committee appointed Edward Edwards as Manchester's first

chief librarian,, in
who was many ways a visionary but was not tactful in his dealingswith
24
people. However, a difficult temperament was compensated for by a high degree of
innovative flair, and in his seven years at Manchester he instituted or considered several

progressive steps which were to become features of libraries during the following half

century: the establishment of special libraries for science, industry, commerce, politics and

19 Borough Manchester Proceedings the Council November 1851 to November 1852, p. 187.
of : of

20 fbid.

21 This building had been built for the Owenites Manchester Hall Science and had
previously as a of
beenusedby them up to about 1849 - 1850.

22 Report the Public Free Librav Committee. October 1853.

qf
23 Both Wilkins and Boyd Dawkins also did much extension lecturing in Manchester and its
surrounding districts at this time for the Victoria University.

24 Edwards had been dismissed from his the British Museum Library in 1850 for insolence, and
post at
his relationship with the Manchester Free Libraries Committee was frequently strained, although the
committee was ungenerous in it treatment of him. See T. Kelly :A Historv of Public Free Libraries in
Great Britain (London: The Library Association. 1965), pp.42-43.

367
history, lending libraries; children's libraries,25 a reference library catalogue, and the

possibility of open accessfor the public to bookshelveswas discussed.

26

The reference library in Deansgate was used extensively by ministers, students and the

professional classes and in the evenings mostly by the working classes. Edwards noted

that many read purely for amusement but others obviously were cultivating a wish for self-

improvement. 27 As with the mechanics' institution library, demands were primarily for

works of fiction, about which Edwards seems to have been philosophical. Evidence

suggested that the free library was fulfilling a useful role as an educative agency, and this

impression was strengthened following a favourable response by the Public Free Libraries

Committee to a letter of 20th February 1859 from several signatories connected with

education in Manchester, including H. E. Roscoe, J. E. Greenwood (the principal of

Owens College), and several head teachers from many of the church schools in the district

suggesting that an educational section be added to the library's reference department. In

reply, the committee agreed to have placed in the library many of the leading scientific

books and periodica]S. 21 By this time, however, Edwards had been dismissed because of

personal difficulties with the Public Free Libraries Committee. The Council Minutes are

uninformative about the reasons for Edwards's departure, stating merely that his

resignation was required with effect from 29th September 1858.29 Munford is more

forthcoming, indicating that Edwards was sacked for insubordination whereas Kelly

25 This
was done eventually in 1878 with the creation of a separatereading room for boys at the Ancoats
branch library. This experiment proved so successfulthat similar provision was made soon afterwards at
the Chorlton-on- Medlock and Hulme libraries, and subsequentlyat Deansgate (1882), Cheetham (1883)
and Rochdale Road (1885). All Manchester libraries commencedafter 1885 incorporated reading rooms
for boys and, in a few instances, both sexes. See the annual reports of the Public Free Libraries
Committeefor the.vears ended 5th September 1878 and 5th September 1885.

26 See Keily, op.cit., p.42, and a brief article, unattributed. in the Manchester Review. Volume 10.
Winter 1964 1965, pp. 186-187 about Edward Edwards.
-
27 Public Free Librarv Committee Report, October 1853.

28 Public Free Libraries Committee Report, September 1860.

29 City Manchester Proceedings the Councilfrom November 1857 to November 1858. Heeting
of : of
qf the Civ Council, I st Scptcmbcr 1858, pp.280-281

368
 that
suggests both to
partieswere somewhat 30
blame.

Parliamentary legislation in 1856 allowed for the levying of a rate of not more than a

penny in the pound for the establishment of public free libraries. Manchester opened two
branch libraries in Hulme and Ancoats, and before long they were being well used,

especially the newsrooms. By 1860 it had been necessary for the library at Ancoats to

acquirean additional room at a housewhich adjoinedthe premisesas the building was so

crowded. The winter of 1861- 62 during one of the most difficult periods of the cotton
famine saw the resources of the Reference Library in particular being stretched well

beyonda level with which it could cope. The referenceroom each eveningwas crowded

asyouths, no doubt in part seekingto escapethe cold weather, congregatedthere. Special

provision was made for them at Campfield, and two tables were set aside for their use.

Following this arrangement, over the next few months an average of 54 young persons per

day used the reading room. 31 From 1878 similar provision was made for young persons at

the Ancoats branch library and this example was soon followed by other branches.32

During the following years the development of branch libraries in Manchester increased

"
steadily, and their educative role remained well to the fore. In 1863 the Committee

agreedto purchase a suppl;y of books for the use of blind people who dwelt within a three

mile radius of Manchester, and the books obtained included religious, devotional,
historical and geographicalworks, together with some fiction.34 The Committee
was on

30 SeeKelly, Op.
cIt., pp.42-43-. and W. A Munford : Edward Edwards (1812 - 1886): a portrait of a
librarian (London: The Library Association, 1963), p. 130. Edwards was succeededby Robert Smiles, the
brother of the well known author of Self-help, Dr Samuel Smiles. and subsequentlyby Andrea Crestadoro
form 1864 - 1879 and Charles Sutton from 1879 - 1920. For the career of Crestadoro, see N. K. Firby
4ndrea Crestadoro, Chief Librarian, Manchester Public Libraries, 1864 - 79 in the Manchester Review,
.
Volume 12,197 1, pp. 19-25.

31 Public Free Libraries Committeefor theyear 5th September 1862.

.4nnual report of the ended

32 See Melwn Barnes : Children's Libraries in Afanchester: A Historv in the Manchester Review.
Volume 11, Winter 1966b - 1967, pp.80-89.

33 SeeAppendix H this thesis.

of

34 A Public Free Libraries Committeefor theyear 8M Septemb 1863.

nnual report qf the ended er

369
occasion forced to defend itself againstpublic criticism about the literature availablefor
the consumption of the public, and in 1867 did so vigorously after conducting a thorough

examinationof the issue of books during one month from the branch library in Rochdale

Road. It was statedthat the committeewas awarethat it was "required to aim at the most

generalprovision of literature consistentwith pure taste and a moral tone", and cited that

the writers chiefly in demand were Shakespeare,Dickens and Walter Scott. The

committee saw its responsibility at that time as catering "for the partially-instructed and

industrialclassesequallywith those more fully educated,that advantagemay accrueto the

COMMUrty. "35
whole

The libraries had during the 1860s and 1870s been increasing their hours of opening so

that the lending libraries opened each weekday from 8.30 a.m. to 9.00 p.m., with the

reference library opening from 10.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. In July 1878 a petition was

presented from the Manchester and Salford Sunday Society requesting that the branch

libraries open on Sunday afternoons and evenings. The case presented was strong and

reasonedthat since art galleries,museumsand libraries were "instrumentsfor promotion

of intellectual and moral well-being and .... agencies opposed to ignorance and vice. " it

was most important that they be

should availablefor the use of the community at a time

when most people were able to make use of the amenities. It was argued that Sunday

opening would serve to reduce "dissipation caused by enforced idleness and the

temptations of the public-house" and would be a valuable support to the work of

churches, chapels and Sunday Schools. As vafious religious institutions opposed this

it
suggestion, was clear that agreement on the question was by no means widespread. It

was debated somewhat heatedly at three successive council meetings before being

approved by a narrow majority. With effect from Sunday 8th September 1878 all

Manchester public libraries were open from 2.00 p.m. until 9.00 p.m., an arrangement

which stayedin force for the remainderof the century and 36

beyond. The decisionto open

35 Report the Public Free Libraries Committee (dated 31st Julv 1867) presentedat the meeting of the
of
Council of the Citv of Manchester on 7th August 1867.

36 Credland,
op.cit.. pp. 136-137.

370
on Sundays was quickly justified by results, Newsrooms were the most frequently used of

the facilities offered by libraries.37 Their lending departments remained closed on

Sundays,18 although books could be obtained for reading in the newsroom. The libraries

took a wide range of periodicals and newspapers,both national and local, including The
Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Graphic, the Manchester Guardian, the

Manchester Courier, the Manchester City News, the Manchester Weekly Times, the

Manchester Evening News, the Manchester Evening Chronicle and the Manchester

EveningMail. 39

In 1871, rather by default, the Public Free Libraries Committee in Manchester became an

early equal opportunities employer. Difficulties had been experienced in filling vacancies

which had arisen on the libraries' staff, and the committee "tried the expedient" of

considering both sexes for employment as library assistants. The report observed with

some condescensionthat as far as could be ascertained the women were suited to the jobs,

and by 1899 the majority of branch library assistants were female, as were five out of

elevenbranch librarianS.
40

The public free libraries were a positive force as support to adult educational activity in

Manchester in the latter half of the nineteenth century. During this period the volume of

to
materialaccessible the public increased 41
considerably, and the facilities freely available

and the long hours of opening afforded opportunities to elementsof the population who

might have had little formal instruction to improve their knowledge and skills. Given the

emergence of many voluntary agencies of education in Manchester in the fifty years

37 SeeAppendix I in libraries
of this thesis for use of newsrooms Manchester in 1905.

38 In 1899 Manchester libraries from 8.30 to 9.00 Mondays to Fridays and

public opened a.m. p. m. on
from 8.30 a.m. to 5.00 p. m. on Saturdays. The newsrooms were open on weekdays from 8.30 a.m. to
10.00p.m. and on Sundaysfrom 2.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. Credland, op.cit., pp. 271 and 276.

39 Credland. ibid.,
pp.271-276.

40 Report the Public Free Libraries Committee for theyear ended 5th September 1871, Credland,
of
ibid., pp.281-282.

41 SeeAppendix J this thesis.

of

371
before the First World War together with the developing state provision for education,

libraries were an essential resource in assisting and supplementing such enterprises in

addition to providing ample scopefor the autodidact. It is difficult to estimatethe extent

to which public libraries in Manchesterservedthe working class. By 1905 over 56,000

Mancunians were registered as borrowers with the city's librafieS,42 which figure

representsonly a small percentage of the city's population. However, it is evident that the

working class did use newsrooms where newspapers and magazines were readily

available. Membership of the libraries increased as the literary standard of the population
improved, and the libraries played an essentialrole in assistingthe efforts of the local

education authority to implement from 1906 a carefully graded system of courses of

instructionfor studentsin eveningschools. In addition there were individual instancesof

co-operationbetween libraries and voluntary agenciesinterestedin adult educationwhere

such groups were allowed free use of library facilities.

The contribution of the ManchesterCity Council to adult educationvia its provision of art

galleries is rather more difficult to assess. Before 1882 such initiatives had been pursued

primarily on a voluntary basis as exemplified by the activities of the Royal Manchester

Institution and the Manchester Art Museum referred to in the second and fourth chapters

of this thesis. Before 1870, even though councils of boroughs with a population over

10,000had beenempoweredto establishpublic museumsof art and science,43Manchester

had made no move to do so. In 1872 the Manchester City Council's General Purposes

Committeehad been instructed to report on the possibility of allocating part of the new

Town Hall building for use as an art gallery and the project had not proceeded.44 Later in

the 1870's the Royal Manchester Institution experienced financial difficulties, and in 1880

representatives from its goveming council suggested that the buildings and contents be

42 SeeApp-.
ndix K of this thesis.
43 T. Kelly- Histov Public Libraries in Great Britain (London: The Library Association. 1973)
.-I of
P. 10.

44 Proceedings the Manchester Civ Council from November 1872 to November 1873,
of meeting of the
council of 6th Apfil 1873, p. 188

372
transferred to the Corporation subject to certain conditions- the governors of the

Institution would continue to have representationon the newly establishedArt Gallery

Committee; the Corporation would guarantee for 20 years to raise 12,000 per annum ftom

the city rates for the purchase of pictures, to which sum would be added any profits from

art exhibitions held on the premises; and the reservation to the governors of certain

privileges.45 The Corporation was agreeable and the transfer was completed by a special

Act of Parliament in 1882. The Royal Manchester Institution continued during the winter

to
months offer lecturesto the public and severallocal cultural societiesheld meetingson
the premises. Following the death of Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-1887), the legatees

presentedto the Whitworth Institute, which had been formed in July 1890, twenty acres of

land. It was decided that this should be developed as a park for the public to enjoy, and

the large house in the grounds was used as an art gallery and museurn.46

By 1906 the pressure at the buildings of the Royal Manchester Institution (now the

Manchester City Art Gallery) on space to display and house collections of works of art

was acute, and during the previous year a council sub-committee had been appointed to

investigate the matter. Seeking a solution, the sub-committee negotiated with the Parks

and Cemeteries Committee and on 8th March 1906 an arrangement was concluded

between the two parties that as far as possible the halls in public parks should be used as

art museums, with any work necessary to bring this about being undertaken by the Art

Gallery Committee. 47 At its meeting on 26th April 1906 the City Council approved the

recommendations of the committee that Queen's Park Museum be transferred from the

45 Procee&ngs the Manchester Ci(v Council 1897 1898 pp. 415 417
of - -
46 Joseph Whitworth firm in Manchester and was a noted philanthropist. From
owned an engineering
1869 he had invested E100,000, which yielded interest of 0,000 per year to fund engineering
scholarships, and in his will left a similar capital sum to continue the work. He left somewhere in the
region of L500,000 to be used for charitable and educational causes in Manchester. See Manchester
Faces and Places, Volume 6, Number 3, May 1895, pp 122-123. For details of the Whitworth
engineering scholarships, see Harry Butterworth: The Inauguration of the Jfhitworth Scholarships in the
I "ocational Aspect ofEducation, Volume 23, Number 5 1, Spring 1970, pp. 35-39.

47 By the Public Libraries Act of 1892, the city council was allowed to provide and maintain museums
of natural objects. but in Manchester this power had been delegated to the Public Free Libraries committee
and not to the Art Gallery Committee.

373
Parks and CemeteriesCommitteeto the Art Gallery Committee and that the latter paid a

nominalrent to the Parks and CemeteriesCommittee for the use of rooms in Heaton Hall.

This proved to be an advantageousarrangement,especiallyas both venueswere visited by

large numbersof people.41 Following these negotiations, the Central Gallery in Mosley

Street continued to house the permanentcollections, and annual temporary exhibitions

suchas the Autumn Exhibition and the ManchesterAcademy Exhibitions were held there

also. At the Lower Mosley Street Gallery, seriesof Lectures under the auspicesof the
Royal ManchesterInstitution and designedfor the educationof the public were delivered.

The branch galleries of Heaton Park and Queen'sPark were used for the holding of

variousexhibitions.

As with Horsfall's Art Museum, the results in the long term of the provision of this type of

cultural activity for Mancunians were difficult to estimate. Certainly the exhibitions

seemedpopular and possibly some attendees were attracted by the free admission. The

initiatives generally were well supported financially from the 1880's, as were several other

activities of an educational nature for adults, by the Manchester City Council and were

oneof severalattemptsto provide quiet and improving recreationfor Manchestercitizens.

It was through the fourth channel of activity, however, the establishment of evening

by
school classes, which the City Council its
made most significant contribution to adult
education in Manchester. The first educational grant in England from central government
funds had been made in 1833 and it was possible for evening schools connected with day

schools to receive grants. By the time of the Newcastle Commission in 1860 evening

schoolswere recognisedas an important in

element the provision of elementaryeducation,
by
although the RevisedCode of 1862 pupils had to in
passexaminations reading,writing

andarithmetic for eveningschoolsto receivegrants. During theseyearsthe administrative

machinery for the central adni-inistration of education had developed through the

Committee of the Privy Council for Education (1839-1856), the Education Department

48 4ppendix to the Council Minutes, 1905 - 1906, containing reports brought before the Council,
,
Volume 2, Report of the Art Gallery Committee to the City Council pp. 276 - 283

374
(1956-1900) and, for technical and commercialeducation,the Department of Scienceand

Art (1853-1900).

The report of the Bryce Commissionin 1895 had recommendedthe streamliningof central

administrationthrough the amalgamationof the Education Department,the Departmentof

Scienceand Art and the incorporation of certain functions of the Charity Commissionand

the Board of Agriculture into a single unit, the Board of Education.49 Local

Administration following the passingof the Education Act of 1870 commencedwith the

establishmentof School Boards which had the responsibility of providing elementary

education and adequate buildings and equipment for it from fees, government grants and

assistancefrom local rates. Technical Instruction Committees came into being following

the passageof the Technical Instruction Act of 1889 by which county and county borough

councils could raise one penny from the rates to support the provision of technical

education. The 1890 Local Taxation (Customs & Excise) Act permitted revenue obtained

through increased duties on beer and spirits to be used by local councils, with a

government recommendation that such monies might be to

used assist in funding technical

education. The final decade of the nineteenth century saw a large increase in the numbers

of evening schools and of pupils attending them, largely through the changes introduced in

regulations by the Code for Evening Continuation Schools in 1893. At this time, in many

respectsthe in
evening schools were regarded administrativeterms as an adjunct to the
Board Schools and had as their main functions the task of supplementing the elementary

instruction provided in the day schools. However, by the legislation of 1893 it was

possiblefor to
evening schools receive grants from central funds in respect of students

over twenty-one years of age; scholars would not be forced to take elementary subjects,

and grants would be assessedon the hours of instruction by

received the scholarsat the

schools and not, as previously, by the examination results of individual 50

scholars.

49 K. O. Roberts: The Secondav Education froin Technical Education 1899 1903 in The
separation qf -
Focational Aspect of Education, Volume 2 1. Number 49, Summer 1969, p. 102.

50 Paper Number II of the Adult Education Committee: Adult Education and the Local Education
Authoritv (London: H. M. S.O.. 1933), p. 7

375
Even allowing for this clarification of 1893, the connection between the School Boards

and evening continuation schools was unsatisfactory. Between 1890 and 1900 four

particular types of evening school had developed; those providing elementary instruction,

those offering primarily recreationalactivities; others which provided, as in Manchester,

for example,what were essentiallyclassesin practical subjectssuch as cookery, craftwork

and nursing; and those conducting more advanced classesunder the Department of
Science and Art. 51

Problemsarose for evening schools through the Cockerton Judgment of 1901 when an

auditor ruled that some of the expenditure by the London School Board on its Higher

Grade and evening school work was not permissiblein that it was not approved by the
52
Education Act of 1870. On appeal, the court in December 1900 concluded that the

Board controlled only the provision of elementary instruction for children, possibly up to

the age of 16 or 17, and had no legal authority for conducting evening school classesfor

adults. Whilst the Judgement did not make alterations to the system of administration
inevitable, the government did use the opportunity to resolve the matter." Acts were

to
passed enablefunding from central governmentfor evening continuation schoolsuntil
30th April 1904, at which time the terms of the Education Act of 1902 came into effect,54

by which School Boards and Technical Instruction Committees were discontinued and

replacedby local educationauthoritieswhich had "

more extensiveresponsibilities.

51 Eric Eaglesham: From School Board to Local A (London: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1956),
uthoriv and
p.55

52 H-C-Barnard: A Histov English Educationftom 1760 (London: University London Press Ltd.,
of of
1971,seventh edition. First published in 1947), pp. 208-209. For discusslon of the Cockerton Judgement,
seeH.J. Edwards: The Evening Institute (London: National Institute of Adult Education. 1959) pp. 51-63.

53 P.H. J.H. Gosden: The development in England Wales (Oxford:

of educational administration and
Basil Blackwell and Mott. Ltd., 1966) p. 173

54 Paper Number II
of the Adult Education Committee, op.cit., p. 8
55 For in the during the half
a clear summary of the administrative changes educational system second
of the nineteenth centurv. see Keith Evans: The Development and Structure of the English Education
vsteni (London: Univers1tv of London Press Ltd., 1975), pp. 136-155. The most informative current
study of the development of central and local government administration of education is P.H. J.H. Gosden,
op.cit. A. S. Bishop in the Rise of a Central 4uthoriv for English Education (Cambridge: Cambridge
Universit), Press, 1971) concentrateson the origins and progress of central administration and looks at the
personalities involvcd. Whilst the choice of 1899 as a concluding date for his anaiysis is understandable.

376
Neither the legislation of 1870 nor 1902 madeit compulsory for local authoritiesto make

provision of education for 56

adults. What the 1902 Act did to
was give local education

authorities powers which extendedto adults for providing higher (i. e. post-elementary)

education,and gave them the to

right aid classeswhich were being provided by voluntary
57
agencies. The first major task following the 1902 legislation was to concern the

reorganisationof eveningschoolsby local educationauthorities.

Following the passing of the 1870 Education Act, the Manchester School Board's first

responsibility was to put in place a system of day schools providing elementary instruction

in reading, writing and arithmetic. However, it quickly became apparent that this

provision would need to be extended, and in the winter of 1873-1874 the first evening

classes were instituted. Initially the classes were concerned only with rudimentary

instruction; but by 1875-1876 the Board, which included Herbert Birley, 58Lydia Becker,59

J.E. Phythian, Dr John WattS,60and, from 1878, ET Broadfield'61 had establishedscience

the work would have been more valuable if it had included some observationson the ramifications and the
implications of the legislation of 1902.
56 This did
not happen until 1944. See Derek Legge: The Education of Adults in Britain (Milton
Keynes:Open University Press, 1982), P.22.
57 PaperNumber II
of the Adult Education Committee, op.cit., p. 8
58 Herbert Birley (1820-1890) was a member of a prominent Manchester family who owned a large
works in Hulme. He was aware of the problems of the city's poor and unemployed and contributed
generouslyto funds in an effort to alleviate the worst hardship causedby the cotton famine of 1861-1865.
He was especially interested in educational work and chaired the Manchester School Board from its
inception in 1870 until 1885, and again from 1888 until his death in 1890. See Manchester Faces and
Places, Volume 2, Number 3, December 1890, pp.4546.

59 Lydia Becker, involved in for Women's Suffrage,

who was actively the movement served on the
ManchesterSchool Board from 1870 until 1890.

60 J. E. Phythian, lecturer, John Watts,

who was also a prolific university extension and who provided
several reports to the Manchester Statistical Society, were both active on behalf of several educational
causesin Manchester.
61 Edward John Broadfield was educated at Owens College at its location in Quay Street. and was
appointed to its Court of Governors in 1871. In 1865-1866 he had taken over William Gaskell's English
Languageand literature classesat the CoRegewhen the latter withdrew on the death of his wife. and later
undertook for a time the work of Professor Jevons at the time of his illness, lecturing on mental and moral
philosophy. He was appointed to the Manchester School Board in 1878, playing a prominent part in the
development of the Board's evening continuation schools, the evening commercial schools and the
Evening Institutes for women and girls. When the School Board was abolished in 1902, he continued on
the Education Committee of the City Council until his resignation in 1908. Broadfield was a vice-
chairman of the directors of the Gentleman's Concerts, and took a leading part in founding the Royal
ManchesterCollege of Music.

377
 in
classes mathematics, chemistry, physics, botany, physical geography, technical drawing

and machineconstruction. Art Classesintroduced in 1875 were sufficiently well attended

to justify their continuance, and in 1876-1877 the Board organised a series of special

classesin arithmetic, English, French, Greek, Latin, singing and phonetic shorthand. In

addition, from 1877 the Board extendedthe scienceclassesto include agriculture, botany,

appliedand theoretical mechanics,and geology, and openedthe classesto the public "with

a view to extending (their) advantage as widely as possible amongst the working

62
classes". Numbers increasedrapidly between 1875 and 1877,but in commonwith many

other parts of the country including London, attendancesdeclined significantly in the

1886.63
1880'sup to

Perturbed by the situation conceming the evening schools, the Manchester School Board

carried out a drastic overhaul of its system of evening classesin 1887 and 1888. Reducing

the number of teaching centres, the Board gave priority to the recruitment of teachers of

proven exdellence. The Board also in 1887 took advantage of the amenity offered by the
Science and Art Department that drawing could be taught to pupils who attended

elementary evening classes and cookery could be taught to girls. Through placing the

emphasison quality rather than quantity, numbers in 1887 increased by over 50% in spite

of a reduction in the number of centres. In the following year, the scope of the elementary

eveningclasseswas greatly extended. The Board openedtwenty new evening schools;

these were organised in 32 departments, 16 for males and 16 for females. In addition to

the core subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic, particular attention was given to

drawing and commercial classesin shorthand were introduced for young men. For young

women,new classesincluded instruction in dressmakingand the cutting out of garments,

andto encourageadults and senior girls to attend separateaccommodationwas provided

for them.64

62 City of Manchester School Board :Second and Third general reports for the periods
Ist October 1873 - 30th September 1876 and Ist October 1876 to 30th September 1879.

63 Manchester School Board: Sixth General Report for the three years ended 29th September 1888;
PaperNumber 11, Adult Education Committee, op.cit., pp.4-5

64 Manchester School Board. ibid.

378
Return showing attendanceand fees at the ElementaryEvening Schoolsfor the first four

weeksof eachterm.65

Year Departments Averne Fees - i. s.d.,

1875 13 740 f 32 10s Od

1876 28 1568 164 15s Od

1877 27 1947 f 69 1Is 9d

1880 31 1932 167 4s 7d

1883 33 1642 143 9s 4d

1886 22 1011 141 1Is 4d

1887 16 1599 196 14s 7d

1888 32 3834 1157 17s 6d

The second report of the Royal Commission on technical Instruction had in 1884 indicated

certain fundamental flaws in the teaching of science in England. Two men from

Manchester were members of the commission - John Slagg, the Liberal M. P., and

H. E. Roscoe, Professor of Chemistry at Owens College.66 Roscoe had trained with

Bunsen in Heidelberg and saw much to commend the German system of education. He felt

that a more systematic approach to the teaching of science, which would encourage and

identify those capableof achievingacademicsuccess,was neededand felt this would be

level. 67
achievedthrough a better provision of facilities at an elementary Consequently

Roscoe was keenly interested in attempts to improve the system of education in English

68
evening schoolS. The findings of the Commission were influential in deciding the

eventual content of the Technical Instruction Act of 1889. "Technical Instruction" was

65 Ibid., Appendix, Table IV

66 J.D. Marshall : John Henv Re.vnolds : Pioneer of Technical Education in Manchester in The
I'locational Aspect ofEducation, Volume-16, Number 35. Autumn 1964, p. 180.

67 D. Thompson: Heniv Enfield Roscoe in The Vocational Aspect

of Education. Volume 17. Number
38. Autumn 1965, pp.224-225

68 Robert H. Kargon: Science in Fictorian Manchester: Enterprise and Expertise (Baltimore. Johns
Hopkins University Press. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1977) p. 181

379
defined as meaning"instruction in the principles of scienceand art applicableto industries

and in the application of special branches of science and art to specific industnes or
employment". 69 The definition indicated that it was theory rather than practice which

should be taught, although generally practical instruction was 70

tolerated. The nature of

the definition of technical educationunderwent significant changesin the years following

1870. In the 1870s the term referred specifically to scientific instruction of a theoretical

principles rather
nature, exan--dning than dealing with specific practical applications. By

the late 1880sit referred to "instruction of both a specific and a generalnature".71 In his

report to the Bryce Commission, Bernhard Samuelson, who had chaired the Royal

Commission on Technical Instruction (1881-1884), defined "technical education" as

"everything which prepares a man or a woman for the walk of life which he or she intends

to pursue". Samuelson also made a clear distinction between Technical Secondary

Education and Technical Education for adults. In the former instance it was part of a
72
more general education; in the latter it applied to practical skillS.

At the city council meeting of 2nd April 1890 a committee - which consisted of

representatives from the Manchester Technical School,73 the Whitworth Committee,

Owens College and the Manchester School Board - was appointed to implement the

provision of the Technical Instruction Act of 1889. It was estimated that monies coming

from the Local Taxation (Customsand Excise Act) of 1890 would be about 111,500, and

it was agreed that the bulk (110,300) of this sum should be given as grants or should be

added to existing ones. Accordingly, distribution was made to the Manchester School

Board (13,500), the Manchester Technical School (14,000) the Manchester School of Art

69 Meeting of the Committee for General Purposes of the Manchester Civ Council to discuss the
Technical Instruction Act, 14th February 1890. This definition had been made by Parliament in 1889.

70 P.W. Musgrave: The Definition of Technical Education, 1860-1910 in The Vocational Aspect of
Education, Volume 16, Number 34,1964, p. 108

71 Ibid.,
p. 109
72 Ibid.,
pp. 108-109
7'1 In 1883 former Manchester Mechanics' Institution had completed its transition to the Manchester
the
Technical School.

380
(050), Manchester Grammar School (1250), Manchester Commercial Schools (150), the

Lower Mosley Street Schools (1100), Owens College (11,000), the (Catholic) Christian

Arts and Crafts School in Dover Street (L50), the Manchesterand Salford Practical and

Recreative Evening Classes Comn-ktee (f. 100) and the University Extension Association
(JI00). 74
The range of institutions in receipt of grants in some ways illustrated the nature

of the problem which faced those who were attempting to put the teaching of technical

subjectson a more systematicbasis. However, a combination of several circumstances

the
opened way for progressto be made.

In 1891 a deputation from the Manchester City Council's Technical Instruction

Committee, under the leadership of JamesHoy'75 had visited technical schools and related

institutions in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and had presented a detailed

report showing the extent to which provision was being made in those countnes for the

supply of instruction of a scientific and technical nature to those engaged in industry and
in
commerce those countries. England's provision of technical education and indeed

education more generally compared unfavourably with Germany, Switzerland and France,

where elementary education up to the age of fourteen was compulsory and free.
Secondary education was funded generously from central and local government and from

endowments. In addition, there were technical and commercial schools for girls and

young women in Paris and Stuttgart. 76 The contrast with such provision in Manchester

was stark. In 1883 the ManchesterMechanics'Institution had becomea technical school

74 Report
of the special committee to carry out the provisions of the Technical Instruction Act, 1889.
dated 25th June 1891, approved by the meeting of the Manchester City Councili on Ist July 1891. See
Proceedingsof the Manchester Civ Council, 1890-1891, pp 567-570

75 JamesHoy had been Manchester City Council in the mid-1880s and was appointed as
elected to the
Chairman of its Technical Instruction Committee from its inception in 1890. Born in 1837. he had
attended evening classes in the 1850s at the Manchester Mechanics' Institute in Cooper Street and also
went to classes at the Manchester Working Man's College. Hoy served for seventeen years on the
Technical Instruction Committee and then the Education Committee before resigning in March 1907. He
died twelve months later. See Afanchnter Faces and Places, Volume 13, Number 11. October 1902,
p.264. and Volume 15, Number 11, pp.330-332; and the Annual Report of the Education Committee of
the City Council of Manchester for the year 1907-1908, Proceedings of the Manchester 0y Council,
Volume 2, p.405.

76 Report from the Technical Instruction Committee made by a deputation appointed to visit
Educational Institutions and Schools on the Continent. 21st April 1891.

381
and during the following years had expandedto the point where new buildings were

urgently needed. There was a comparatively poor response from local industry and
individuals to appealsfor money, but the school did prosper through voluntary effort in

the short term.77 The profits from the Royal JubileeExhibition of 1887 had beendonated

to the promotion of local culture and education; and the Technical School had received

some113,000; in addition, in 1890 the legateesof Sir JosephWhitworth, acting on behalf

of the newly created Whitworth Institute of Art and Industry (which was to include the
Manchester School of Art and the Whitworth Art Galleries) gifted a site for the

Manchester Technical School in Sackville Street together with a donation of 15,000

towards new buildings and equipment. On 9th October 1891 and 26th November 1891

the Lord Mayor of Manchester had received deputations of representatives of the

Manchester Whitworth Institute, by whom it was proposed that the Manchester Technical

School, the Manchester School of Art, the Peter Street Spinning and Weaving School and

other property should be transferred to Manchester Corporation. The Technical

Instruction Committee in its report of 21st January 1892 agreed in principle and the

Manchester City Council at its meeting on 3rd February 1892 endorsed the

recommendation. In 1892 the institutions were transferred to the City Council, as a result

of which there was no need further to subsidisetheir work through subscriptionsand

donations. In March 1892 J.H. Reynolds was appointed as secretary and director of this

new institution comprising the Manchester Municipal Technical School and Municipal

Schoolof Art and the entire businessassumeda more professionalfooting.78

The Manchester School Board's provision of evening schools continued to progress. In

1889 the decision had been taken to open an evening commercial school in the Board's

77 The progress of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution to the Manchester Municipal School of
Technology and the educational work undertaken there between 1850 and 1914 is recounted by M. J.
Cruickshank :From Afechanics'lnstituftn to Technical School, 1850 - 91 and P.J. Short The Municipal
School of Technologv and the University, 1890 - 1914 in D. S.L. Cardwell (ed): Artisan to Graduate:
Essqvsto commemorate the foundation in 18-74of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, now in 1974
the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technologv (Manchester : Manchester University
Press,1974), pp. 134 - 156 and 157 - 164.

78 See Procedings of the Manchester City Council for the year November 1891 to November 1892.
Volume 1, pp. 260-266, Cardewell (ed.). ibid., pp. 144-152. and J. D. Marshall --op.cit, pp. 184-185.

382
Central School in Deansgate,and instruction was provided in bookkeeping, commercial

arithmetic, shorthand, typewriting, businessEnglish, economics and foreign languages.

The Board felt that increasingdemandfor these classescould be met more effectively by

in
one institution which specialised commercial subjectsrather than by following separate

courses at different evening schools in the 79

City. In the following year elementary

commercialclasseswere held at additional centresin Greenheys,

Ardwick, Cheethamand

Aytoun Street and in 1891 further ones were commenced in Newton Heath, Bradford,
. 80
Hulme and Mies Platting. :r A second new venture was started in 1891 - evening

institutes for women and girls over sixteen were opened,under the supervisionof Miss

Cleghom (who had been appointed by the School Board), at Hulme, Ardwick, Beswick

and Harpurhey. The curriculum included lectures and practical instruction in nursing the

sick and dealing with emergency situations,and classes in cookery, economy and

householdmanagement,dressmakingand laundry work. 81

Mthough the evening school centres in Manchester proliferated in the 1890s it was

becoming increasingly evident that the entire system needed to be reorganised and

streamlined. Two problems required particular attention- how best to make use of

resources to improve the city's system of evening school provision, and the relationship

between the Manchester School Board and the city council's Technical Instruction

Committee.

In February 1895 a committee drawn from these two groups together with representatives

79 The Central Board School in Deansgate had been 1884, continuing the work of the Peter
opened in
Streetand Lower Mosley Street Schools,which had operated under voluntary managementand had closed
in 1880. This school was demolished in 1897 to accommodatea new goods station for the Great Northern
Railway Company. and in 1896 work had commenced on building a new school in Whitworth Street.
The buildings were completed in 1900 and were opened on 15th October of that year. SeeManchester
Faces and Places Volume 11. Number 10, October 1900 p. 168. For details of the courses offered at the
commercial evening school in Deansgate, see Alan Fowler and Terry Wyke: From Evening School to
Polvtechnic: One Hundred vears of mmmercial education in Manchester (Manchester: Manchester
Polytechnic 1989), p.3

80 City of Manchester School Board: Seventh general report for the three years ended 29 September
1891.

81 Ibid.

383
from Owens College, ManchesterGrammar School, ManchesterRgh School, the Lower

Mosley Street Schools and the Catholic Collegiate Institute met to addressthe first of

thesequestions. A sub-committeewas formed comprising J.H.Reynolds, C.H.Wyatt (the

secretary to the Manchester School Board), the Dean of Manchester, James Hoy and
Professor A. W. Ward. 82 One conclusion was not unexpected : that there were many

duplications of courses being offered by different agenciesand charging different fees.

The other looked at the possibility of the public elementaryschools in the city acting as

sourcesof studentsfor the higher institutions. The sub-conimitteewas disturbed at the

small percentage of pupils remaining at the city's public elementary schools after the age of

twelve - only nine per cent. The other matter somewhat surprisingly was rather more

easily resolved. The School Board and the Technical Instruction Committee had foreseen

the likelihood of some of their respective functions and spheres of influence overlapping,

in
and December 1895 a meeting was convened to consider their relationships concerning

the new Municipal Technical School and the new Central Board School. It was agreed

broadly that the new Central School would assume responsibility for the elementary

teaching in science and art but would cease to provide advanced teaching in these

subjects,which would now be undertaken by the Municipal Technical and Art Schools. In

return the Municipal Schools would cease to teach elementary or preparatory courses,

with the possible exception in the day departments of these institutions of the teaching of

foreign languages, commercial studies, or domestic economy classes for women.

However, in the latter instance care had to be taken to ensure that the class did not
83
complete with those of the School Board's Evening Institutes for women and girls.

82 Professor A. W. Ward commenced an academic career at the University of Cambndge and or

Glasgow, and was appointed to a Professorship in History and English Language at Owens College in
1866. He succeeded to the principalship of Owens College in 1890, folloWling J.G. Greenwood's
resignation for reasonsof health at the end of 1889. Ward belonged to several local cultural societies,and
was president of the Spencer Society and of the Manchester Goethe Society, was an honoran, member of
the German ShakespeareSociety and a Themberof the Council of the Chetham Society. SeeManchester
Facesand Places, Volume 4, Number 2, November 1892, p.22.

83 Report joint meeting of the representatives of the School Board

of the sub-committee appointed at a
and the Technical Instruction Committee of 12th December 1895 to consider the relations which should
subsistbetween the Manchester School Board and the Technical Instruction Committee in respect of the
Ne%N,Central School and the new Municipal School. and to prepare a schemedealing therewith.

384
The Education Act of 1902 with its removal of the School Boards and Technical

Instruction Committees,and their replacementby local education authorities encouraged

joint directors of educationfor

Manchester,now with C. H. Wyatt and J. H. ReynoldS84as

the city, to systematise and co-ordinate not only its system of courses of instruction so

that it would be theoretically possiblefor studentsto proceedin ordered, graduatedstages

as far as their ability would take them, but also its schemeof bursariesfor assistingpoor
but able individualsto progressand make good use of their talents.

To cope with the additional responsibilitiesof the new Education Committee severalsub-

committees were appointed. For higher education, separate sub-committees were

delegated to the management of the Municipal College of Technology and the Municipal

School of Art; to the training of teachers for higher grade schools and evening schools-,

for grants in aid of and provision of higher education; and finance (elementary and higher

education). The grants-in-aid sub-committee reviewed what grants were currently

availablethrough scholarshipsand exhibitions tenable at Owens College, the Municipal

Schools of Technology and Art, Manchester Grammar School, and evening exhibitions

and grants through the Corporation's science and art classes, and produced a system,

carefully phased over five years, during which time the value of available scholarships
85
would have increased by 1908 from 13,670 to 18,545.

Further efforts were made to co-ordinate coursesmore effectively so that effort was not

misdirected. This initiative had commencedas far back as 1896 had

when agreement been

reached between Owens College and the Municipal Technical School to prevent

duplication of courses. The visit in 1897 of the Technical Instruction Committee to

84 Reynolds had for the higher (i. e. post elementary) education.

responsibility organisation of

85 In fact, did happen. The paid out in grants in aid of technical instruction in the city
this not arnount
1111913-1914 was L5725, distributed as follows, The Victoria Univeristy of Manchester (E4000),,
Manchester Grammar School (L400)). The Royal Manchester College of Music (000). the Lower Mosley
StreetEvening Schools (L250). the Manchester High School for Girls (LIOO), the Manchester and Salford
Recreative Evening Classes (LIOO). Manchester Warehousemen and Clerks' Orphan Schools. Cheadle
Hulme (LIOO). Xaverian College, Victoria Park (00). Henshaw's Blind Asylum (00), The Deaf and
Dumb Schools, Old Trafford (L50). the Workers' Educational Association (L25). See Report of the
Manchester Education Committee for 1912-1913.

385
scientific and technical institutions, schools and museumsin Germany and Austria, had

shown the advantagesof a well organisedcentralisedsystem,and four of that deputation-

JamesHoy, Ivan Levenstein'86CharlesRowley and J. H. Reynoldswere actively involved
in the carrying through of the scheme in Manchester. From about 1904-5 standardsat the

two Municipal Schoolssteadilyimproved and in practice studentsbelow the ageof sixteen

were not admitted to the advancedcourses. One consequenceof this was a marked
declinein the numberof eveningstudents,which was compensatedfor by a corresponding

increasein full-time day ones. Advanced commercialclassesfrom 1904 were conducted

entirely at the Municipal School of Commerce, and the organisation of the school was

refined again in 1907 when it divided into three clearly defined departments; a lower

schoolwhich catered for studentswho had received elementaryinstruction at the Branch

CommercialSchools,a higher school which provided advancedbusinessand professional

courses, and a School of 87

Languages.

As referred to in some detail in the previous chapter, from 1905-1906 onwards the

Education Committee approached voluntary organisations with a view to persuading them

to co-ordinatetheir coursesand classeswith those of the local authority. Somegroups,

including the classes held in connection with the Dob Lane Chapel, Failsworth, handed

over their educationalwork to the local authorities, whilst others such as the Manchester
Y.M. C.A. worked harmoniouslywith the new arrangement. The result of all this activity

was the production in October 1907 of a comprehensive plan which established clear and
distinct links between three levels of attainment geared towards the varying capabilities of

evening school studentS88divided into three grades: Continuation Schools; branch

86 Ivan Levenstein came to Manchester from Germany in 1864 and established a chemical
manufacturing business at Blackley. The business expanded and in 1887 was transferred to Crumpsall.
In 1881 Levenstein helped to found the Manchester branch of the Society of Chemical Industry, and in
1887 he was appointed to the Executive Council for the Royal Jubilee Exhibition. A life governor of
Owens College, he served also as a member of its council. See Afanchester Faces and Places, Volume 15,
Number 11, November 1904, pp. 332-33*-.

87 The Education Committee of the City Council of Manchester Annual Report for the year ended
October 1908, in Appendix to Council Minutes 1908-9, Volume 2, p. 94 1.

88 SeeAnnual Report the Education Committee of the City Council of Manchester for the year ended
of
30th October 1902 in Appendix to Council Minutes, 1906-7. containing Reports, etc. brought before the
Council. Volume 3, page 933. seealso Appendix L of this thesis.

386
technical and branch commercial schools and Institutes for women and girls; and the

Municipal Schools of Technology and Commerce,the Central Institute for women and

girls and the central school for teachers.

Session 1906-1907 Number of schooIS89

Grade I Continuation Schools 77
Grade2 Branch Technical Schools 6
Branch CommercialSchools 17
Institutes for Women and Girls 8
Grade3 School of Technology 1
Central School of Commerce 1
Central Institute for Women and Girls 1
Central School for Teachers 1

At the time of the reorganisation, 17,117 individuals were in the various grades of schools

in 1906-1907 (1902-1903: 15,776). Of these 5,149 attended the Municipal School of

Technology; 942 (502 men and 440 women) were enrolled at the Municipal School of

Art; and 3,028 at the Municipal School of Commerce.

The move towards co-ordination of courses and standardswas helped unwittingly by a

request from the trustees of the Manchester School of Domestic Economy at this time for

the Manchester City Council to take over responsibility for the running of the school.90

One immediateproblem was inadequateaccommodationand this situation was rectified

only when the school moved into new rooms in Chorlton-on-Medlock in 1912. During

the interim period after leaving the old buildings, the school sharedthe prem-isesof the
Junior School of Domestic Economy in Granby Row. 91

89 The Evening Institutes for Women and Girls were restricted to girls over 16 years of age. The
Evening Continuation Schools offered preparatory courses in reading, writing and arithmetic; a
commercial course for boys engaged in industry; a domestic course for girls and young "A'omen-.and a
commercial course for boys and girls engaged in commercial occupations.

90 The School Domestic Economv lmd been formed in 1880, following the failure
of of a similar venture
after six years In 1878 which had met in one of the rooms in the Manchester Y. M. C.A. in Peter Street.
With the exception of a small grant from the City Council, the School was entirely dependent for its
income upon fees, subscriptions and donations until it was taken over bY the Council in 1912.

91 Appendix to the Council Minutes, Volume 2, Proceedings of the Council for 1911 - 1912 annual
report of the Education Committee of the City Council of Manchester for the year ending October 1911
p.710.

387
In an effort to encourage a greater percentage of young people to go on to evening

continuation schools on leaving day schools, the committee operated a scheme by which

those who pursued such further studies were admitted free of charge to one session. In

the first year 2,589 students took advantage of this scheme, and 48% registered for the

following year and paid their own fees.92

The committee also strengthened links with employers in Manchester and Salford, many

of whom sent their apprentices and clerks to the city's evening schools. The schools

offered to prepare records of progress for employers so that they would be able to judge
how their employees were faring and which weaknessesneeded to be remedied. At first

surprisingly few employers asked for such assessments,but over the years requests
became more frequent. Employers were encouraged to release staff from work at an

earlier hour than ususal so that they could attend evening classes at the schools, and the

committee made particular efforts to try to accommodate courses to fit round the

requirements of industry and trades. In the decade before 1914, it happened more often

that employers were prepared to release their more intelligent apprentices for special day

courseswhich were directly relevantto their work circumstances.

This provision had started originally in 1903 when, after close consultation with employers

and with the committee of the Manchester Association of Engineers, a special day course

for engineeringapprenticeswas conducted. Candidatesfor these courses,which became

an established feature of the educational programme arranged by the committee, had to

provideevidenceof competencein mathematicsand mechanicaldrawing. In the following

years,specialcourseswere organisedfor the plumbing and painting and decoratingtrades,

and by 1911 over one hundred apprentices each year attended the engineering course.

This particular class was held on oTieday each week for forty weeks of the year. The day

classes had a distinct advantage over the evening ones for these types of course in that one

92 Annual Report Education Committee the City Council Manchester for the year ending
of the of of
October 1906.

388
day's tuition of seven hours was equivalent to three evenings' classes, and the evening

course lasted for only thirty weeks as compared with the forty of the day class.93

Just as it did with the Municipal School of Technology, the Education Committee

attemptedto bring the Municipal School of Art into closer contact with the trades and

crafts for which the training received in the study of art was of practical value. The

committee was rather dissatisfied with the results of its endeavours, although by 1911 one
hundred and fifty students from trades in the neighbourhood were engaged on courses

which were directly related to their work, including 29 textile designers, 21 engravers and

25 architect's pUpilS.94

In the decade before 1914, the number of day students at the Municipal Schools tended to

increase whilst the proportion of evening students declined. As noted earlier this was

partly due to a reluctance on the part of the Schools to take pupils under sixteen years of

age, but as academic standards became more demanding younger students would

commenced their courses at either the evening continuation schools for elementary

coursesor at branch technical or commercial schools or in classesat the branch art or

domestic economy classes. 95

Funding for the various provisions of post-school education came from severalsources.

The city contributed from the rates; grants were paid from central government funds

subject to a satisfactory outcome from a visit from H. M. Inspectors;96 capitation grants

were received from Lancashire and Cheshire County Councils for students resident in
those counties who attended one of the Manchester Municipal Schools, and a small

93 Annual Report
of the Education Committee of the City Council of Manchester for the year ending
October 1911.

94 Ibid.

95 SeeAppendix M.

96 Generally the amount received by the Municipal Schools in Manchester N'la central gowernment
amounted to approximately three times the income through tutition fees.

389
percentageof the total costswas recoveredthrough tuition fees.
97

The post-school education channelledthrough the provision of the range of options

available to students following the co-ordination of classes offered by voluntary

organisationsand the ManchesterEducation Committee, resulting from the negotiations

of 1905-1906, directed efforts in ways which made good use of the resources available.

The graded system of instruction designedby J. H. Reynolds and the city's Education

Committeewas used by other authorities, and helpedto ensurethat studentswith ability

to
were able maximisetheir skills through following an establishedpattern.

The concern for the committee was that even with a successful administrative procedure,

the numbers of working class adolescents and adults continuing educational studies after

leaving school were still disappointing to those who made such facilities available. Where

attendance at classes was not compulsory, the education authority in Manchester

experiencedsimilar problems to those encounteredby its voluntary organisations- for

many young men and women the motivation to commence studies after a day's work was

not sufficiently strong when compared with the attractions offered by the public house and

the casino. What was also apparent from the entry of the state into the provision of

education, especially at the post-school stage, was that voluntary agencies still had a most

importantrole to fulfil.

Having made allowances for these reservations,the fact remains that the Manchester

Education Committee after 1902 continued - as it had done prior to that date via the

Manchester School Board and the Technical Instruction Committee - to operate a policy

which was forward-looking and in some ways quite radical. The visits by committee

members to observe the condition of technical education in European countries in 1891

and 1896-1897 provided a stimulUs for reform. The major reorganisation, after 1902 was

in
prompted part by the Education Act of that year. Many councils reviewedtheir evening

97 Scc Appcndix N.

390
 in
class arrangements the following few years and experienced common difficulties.

H. Bompas Smith in referring to evening continuation schools in Manchester in 1907

identifies several - lack of suitable teachers, apathetic employers, difficult working

conditionswhich meant that on occasionsstudentscould not attend classes,

and a fourth

rather less obvious one, a lack of balancein the curriculum, "leading the school to train

the workman and to forget the man".98 The Consultative Committee on Attendance at

Continuation Schools in 1909 commentedon the greater depth and thoroughnessof the

evening school work of many local education authorities. This appeared to have been

achievedat a cost - the in

comparativeshortageof classes non-vocationalcourses,suchas
literature and history, which was atributed to students'wishing to pursue courseswhich

had a direct relavance to their working lives.99 Henry Roscoe duuring his years at

Owens College "wished to see constructed a ladder from the pavement to the
....
university up which any person however humble in ofigin, could pass".100 Through the

reforms carried out by the Manchester Education Committee in the decade after 1902, this

vision had moved rather nearer to becoming a reality.

98 M. E. Sadler (ed): Continuation SOToolsin England and Elsewhere : Their Place in the Educational
Svs1emo an Industrial and commercial State (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1908. second
education), p. 157.

99 Paper Number II the Adult Education Committee, pp-10-12.

of

100 D. Thompson- Henv Enfield Roscoe in The Focational Aspect of Education, Volumc 17. Numbcr
38, Autunin 1965, pp.224-225.

391
Chapter 6
Further initiatives in adult education in Manchester,
1870-1914o

The emergence of the State as a provider of school and pre-school education in the years

after 1870 solved some of the by

problems experienced the voluntary provision of adult

educationup to that time but raised others. For some years after 1870 it becameless

for
essential organisationsproviding educationfor adults to give instruction in readingand

writing, and much elementary education which had previously been undertaken by

voluntary effort in formal or informal ways was now conducted in schools maintained by

the School Boards or by religious denominations. One of the results of state entry into

the field of education was an increasing requirement from certain elements of the working

classand from women for the availability of some form of post-school education, and

goes some way towards explaining the participation of women as students in the

university extension lecture programmes from the 1870s onwards. This chapter examines

some of the initiatives in adult education which developed in the period from 1870 to

1914 and the types of students for which it provided, with particular reference to

Manchester.

The publication of a book by Samuel Smiles on "self-help" in 1859 had proved to be

popular with the public, and illustrated what could be achieved by individual effort,
however difficult the circumstances or unpromising the surroundings, and the application

of characteristics such as diligence, industry, attention to detail, thrift, sobriety, application

IIF.
and perseverance. C. Harrison observesthat self-help was originally intendedas a

I Samuel Smiles : Self-help with illustrations of conduct and perseverance (London : John Murray,
1958. First published in 1859.), pp. 146,228,267 and 294. Seealso M. D. Stephensand G. W. Roderick
(eds.) : Samuel Smiles and nineteenth eentuv self-help in education (Nottingham : Department of Adult
Education, University of Nottingham, 1983), NN, hich deals iNith the application of Smiles's doctrine to
corporate activities. The book includes an essay by Alan Chad,, Arick on the development of museums as
agencies of an educative nature and makes particular reference to the Manchester Art Museum. The
literature relating to aspects of self help is plentiful. See P. H. J. J. Gosden : Self-help Voluntat,
Associations in Nineteenth Centurv Britain (London : Batsford, 1974), NN, hich deals with thrift
associations.

392
way of achieving for the working classperson social advance,and that the attractions of

its philosophy lay in the fact that it seemedto offer opportunities for progresswhere other

methodswere regardedwith suspicionor hoStility.

2 Those who propoundedthe theory of

self-help saw institutions of adult education such as mutual improvement societies,

institutes,
mechanics' lyceums,public libraries and People'sCollegesas characterisingthe

essenceof its ideology.

3 One striking exampleof this was the apprentices'improvement

societyat the Salford Iron Works of Mather and Platt. The object of the society was "to

its
assist membersin becoming steady, well-informed and intelligent working men" and
this aim was to be realisedthrough lectures, readingsand classes. The society was open

to young men betweenthe agesof twelve and twenty-one who were employedby Salford
Iron Works. Members had to agree on joining to avoid smoking or "partaking of

intoxicating liquors" before the age of twenty-one and had also to avoid swearingand the

use of bad language generally. The society was organised by a committee of seven

persons, and the group's president was one of the partners of the firm, Sir William
Mather.4 Membershipof the society cost one penny a week, and records of attendances

2 SeeJ. F. C. Harrison: The Victorian Gospel of Successin Victorian Studies, Volume 1, Number 2,
December 1957, p. 162.

3 See Kenneth Fielden : Samuel Smiles and Seflhelp in Ilictorian Studies, Volume 12, Number 2,
pp. 155-176.

4 Sir William Mather (1838-1920). A partner in the Safford engineering firm of Mather and Platt Ltd,
Mather, from his youth expressed a particularly keen interest in education. As early as 1869 he had
established with Henry Rawson at their own expense a ragged school at the Queen Street Institute,
Salford, and in the 1870s helped to fopund the Manchester Kindergarten Training College in Manchester
for the training of teachers. He served on the Salford Schol Board from 1871 to 1882, and the school
which he formed at the Salford Iron Works in 1873 was described in the first volume of the report of the
Roval Commission on Technical Education. The school ceasedin 1905 at a point when Mather felt that
the evening classes provided by the local colleges were of an appropriate standard. Among his many
educational comittments, Mather was associated for over 50 years with the work of the Union of
Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes and was a vice-president for many years. He was elecetedpresident in
1908 and held that office until 1918. From 1889 he was a member of the Court of Governors of Owens
College and its Council from 1895. He donated generously (about L6000) to the university's Department
of Russian Language and Literature. He addressedmeetings of the British Association on Education in
1887 and 1915. and had conferred on him by the University of Bristol an honorary degree of Doctor of
Law. From 1914 until his death in 1920 he was vice-president of the University of Southampton. A
Liberal in politics, he represented South Salford in Parliament from 1885-1886, Gorton from 1889-1895-
'
and the Rossendale division of Lancashire from 1900-1904. See J. H. Reynolds: Education and Social
Activities in L. E. Mather(ed. ): The Right Honourable Sir William Mather, D. C, LL. D., Af. Inst. CE.
(1838-1920) (London: Richard Cobden-Sanderson, 1926), pp.89-135,1. R. Cowan: Sir ff`illiam Mather
and Education in The f,ocational Aspect of Education, Volume 2 1. Number 48, Spring 1969, pp.3946-.
and Manchester Faces and Places, Volume 2, Number 3, December 1890, pp.39-42,

393
were kept. 5 Perhaps not surprisingly in view of the conditions which had to be observed

the society, which was founded in 1866, had a brief existenceonly and had ceasedby

1869. However, Mather had been sufficiently encouragedby the commitment to the

society of some of the young employees to see the possibilities of developing such

potential through education, and in 1873 instituted at the works a science and technical

school to enable apprenticesto study subjects which related to their daily occupation.
The school which was on the site of the works was maintained by the firm until 1905 at

which date, partly through the desire of the Manchester Education Comrnitteeto bring
into conformity the evening courses provided by itself and the many voluntary

in
organisations Manchester, apprentices were required as a condition of employment to

attend eveningcoursesof the municipal technical schools in Manchesteror its 6

environs.
Reporting on the workshop school to the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction in

1884, of which he was a member,7Mather opined that the school had to be brought to the

it
works as was not practical to try to bring the works to the school. The essential part

was that employees were able to learn the theories and practicalities of their trade in situ,

and the instruction from the teachers(who were employedas draughtsmenin the works

and taught to obtain additional income) was of direct relevanceto the tasks upon which
the apprentices were engaged.8 Mather was a strong supporter of adult education and

contributed liberally to educational and other pHanthropic institiutions-9

Rules of the Apprentices Improvement Sociev

6 M. E. Sadler (ed.) Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere Their Place in the Educational
vstem of an Industrial and Commercial State (Manchester : Manchester University Press, 1908, second
edition), pp.282-283

7 Mather, as a member of the Commission from 1881 to 1884, reported on the conditions of general and
technical education and industry in the United Statesand on primary education in Canada.

8 SecondReport of the Roval Cominissioners on Technical Instruction, Volume 1, (London : Eyre and
'
Spottiswoode, 1884), pp. 429430. -

9 As noted elsewhere in the thesis, Mather served on the committee of the Manchester Art Museum and
'.vasa vice-president of the university settlement at Ancoats. He was also a member of the Manchester
and Salford Sanitary Association.

394
Although in Manchester previous efforts to establish,either under the patronage of the

middle class or organised by the workers themselves, educational organ,sat,ons for

working men and women had beenof short duration, the feeling persistedthat the demand

existedfor such provision. One venture which did survive and prosper in Manchesterwas
the Working Men's Club movement.10 Referencehas already been made in this thesisto

the failure of the attempt by Solly" and Hodgson Pratt, pioneers of the Working Men's
Club movement,to establishthe associationin Manchesterin the 1860sin Ancoats, and in

the city more generally.12 Price attributes the failure to establish the movement in

working-class districts because of its lack of appeal to working men to the overt

moralising purpose of the clubs. Alcohol and tobacco were often prohibited, and Bible

classesoften featured as part of the programme of events.13 Through the offices of

Hodgson Pratt, who by this time had become the Chairman of Council of the Working

Men's Club and Institute Union, a secondeffort to form a district associationof working

10 Even now probably the most authoritative source on the early history
of the Working Men's Club
movement in England is B. T. Hall : Our sixty years : the story of the Working Men's Club and Institute
Union (London : The Working Men's Club and Institute Union Ltd. 1922). Seealso George Tren-flett The
First Century (London : The Working Men's Club and Institute Union Ltd., 1962) and the chapter on the
Working Men's Club movement (pp. 106-123) in Peter Bailey : Leisure and class in Victorian England:
Rational Recreation and the contestfor control, 1830-1885 (London : Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978).
For a discussion of the adult education work undertaken by the clubs, seeJohn Levitt : Adult Education in
Working Men's Clubs in Adult Education, Volume 28, Number 4, Spring 1956, pp. 260-272. For the
difficulties and clash in the Working Men's Club movement between middle class aims of social reform
and the needs of the working class, see Richard N. Price The Working Men's Club Movement and
Victorian Social Reform Ideology in Victorian Studies, Volume 15, November 2, December 1971, pp.
117-147. For a discussion of the movement in London, see the essay by T. G. Ashplant : London
Working Men's Clubs, 1875-1914 in Eileen Yeo and Stephen Yeo, (eds.) : Popular Culture and Class
Conflict, 1850-1914 : Explorations in the Histoty of London Labour and Leisure (Brighton : Harvester
Press, 1981). For the early history of the Movement in Manchester, see K. T. S. Dockray : The
Manchester and District Union of the Working Men's Club and Institute Union, Linited, 1877-1927 :A
Survey (London The Working Men's Club and Institute Union, Ltd. 1927).

11 Henry Solly (1813-1903) was a Unitarian minister in London from 1851 to 1858 and at Lancaster
from 1859 to 1862. While at Lancaster he developed the idea of improving the working class through
social recreation. In 1862 he founded the Working Men's Club akd Institute Union with the object of
creating new clubs and developing established ones, and served as its general secretary from 1862 to
1867. Resigning over a matter of policy, he formed a r-ival Social Working Men's Club Association which
soon failed. He rejoined the Working Men's Club and lnitute Union as its organising secretary in 1871
and resigned in 1873 owing to clashes of personality, although he remained a memor of the Union's
council until 1878. See the references-cited in the preceding footnote, especially the article by Richard
Price.

12 Tremlett. ibid., p. 50, Dockray, ibid., p.7

13 Price, op.cit., p. 120. At Manchester, some Clubs did sell alcoholic drinks on the prerruses,but their
sale was restricted to members.

395
men's clubs in Manchesterwas successful. As a result of the preparatory work done by
Pratt and local sympathisers in Manchester in December 1876, the Manchester Working

Men's Clubs Association came into being at a meeting presided over by JamesFraser,

Bishop of Manchester, 14at the Town Hall on I Ith January 1877. The Bishop saw the

function of the clubs as providing "places where working people could find ham-dess

amusementand occupation without being tempted to drink". 15 The objects of the

ManchesterWorking Men's Clubs Associationwere clearly defined:

a: to promote the establishment and maintenance of Working Men's Clubs

and Institutes for social recreationand mentalimprovement;

b. to provide for the use of the associated clubs and institutes a circulating
library of sound English literature,

C. to aid clubs in obtaining the help of Lecturers, Teachers, Musicians and

others;
d. to provide or promote musical or other good public entertainment for the
16
working classes.

Connectionswith other recreative and educationalagenciesin the Manchesterarea were

quickly established. Clubs were attracted by the university extension lecture scheme and

severallecturers from the Victoria University, including ProfessorsBoyd Dawkins" and

14 JamesFraser was the first President of the Manchester Working Men's Clubs Association from 1877
until his death in 1885. Other active supporters of the Association from its inception were W. H.
Houldsworth and T. C. Horsfall, who was its first honorary secretary from 1877-1879, a member of its
Council from 1880-1900 and a vice-president from 1901 until his death in 1932.

15 Dockray, op-cit. pp. 7-8, K. T. S. Dockray was actively connected with the Manchester Working
Men's Clubs Association. He was a member of its council from 1900 to 1901, served as honoran,
secretaryfrom 1902-1903 and chaired its council from 1906-1909, and was appointed as president from
1909onwards.

16 Seventh annual report of the Manchester Working Men's Clubs Association, 1884

17 Professor William Boyd Dawkins. After obtaining a degree in Classics and Natural Scienceat Oxford
University in 1861. Boyd Dawkins worked as a geologist until 1869 before accepting an appointment as
the curator of the Manchester Museum and in 1870 as a lecturer in geology. He was appointed as
Professor of Geology in 1874, and became president of the Manchester Geological Society in the same
year. He played an important part in the foundation of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society
in 1885 and in 1890 served on the Commission appointed to enquire into education in Ireland. Boyd
Dawkins spent twenty years in establishing the Manchester Museum of Owens College as one of the

396
Flux18, gave of their services. The link with the Victoria University was strong. Boyd

Dawkins was a vice-president of the Association; J. E. C. Munro was an active supporter,

and H. Pilkington Turner served as the Association's honorary secretary between 1897

and 1900.19 The Association in

was prom=inent organising a scheme for Practical and

RecreativeEvening Classesin Manchesterand Salford, and severalof its membersserved

on the committee. From its inception in 1886 to 1900 the Association worked in close

harmony with the Recreative Classes Committee, hosting joint annual meetings and

publishingtogether the reports and accountsof each.20 What was rather more surprising

concernedthe comparative lack of co-operation or even solidarity with other working-

class organisations. Relations with Co-operative Societies were not always harmonious
-
the suffragist Lydia Becker describedthem, possibly not entirely inaccurately,as "selfish

men's clubs" - and it was only after some years that the latter were admitted as members

of the Association and participated in the benefits such recognition brought. 21

leading institutions of its kind, and organised free lectures in connection witht the museum on Saturday
afternoons and evenings for the public. In Manchester, Boyd Dawkins was actively connectedwith the
Manchester Working Men's Clubs Association, lecturing for the movement from 1877 and becoming one
of its vice-presidents in 1901. SeeManchester Faces and Places, Volume 15, Number 10, October 1904,
pp.297-301. Boyd Dawkins served also for many years as a Victoria University Extension Lecturer.

18 Professor A. W. Flux lectured for several years on Victoria University Extension courses in history
and economics at several centres, including Working Men's Clubs in the Manchester district and at the
university settlement at Ancoats. See Dockray, op.cit., p.24, Thomas Kelly: Outside the Walls: Sixty
years of University Extension at Manchester 1886-1946 (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1950), p.32; and M. D. Stocks: Fifty years in Every Street: The story of the Manchester Universiv
Settlement(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1945), p. 19.

19 Dockray, op. cit., p.29. H. Pilkington Turner (1868-1950) was educatedat Owens College from 1888
to 1893 and qualified as a barrister in 1895. In March of that year, he was one of several organisers of a
meeting addressedby the M. P. John Gorst and Canon Sainual Barnett, the Warden of the Toynbee Hall
Settlement, London, at which a decision was taken to found a university settlement in Ancoats. With
A Woodroofe Fletcher, Turner served as joint secretary to the settlement and for the first ten years of its
existencewas president of the Toynbee Debating Society there. From 1908-1920 he was the secretaryto
the University Extension Conunittee; from 1912-1933 he served as secretary to the Unoversity Senate,
from 1920 he was appointed as External Registrar; from 1926-1938 he was the university's director of
extra-mural studies, and from 1928-1943 he was chairman of the north-westem district of the Workers'
Educational Association. See R. D. Waller: Harold Pilkington Turner: Memories of his work and
personality (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1953).

20 Dockray, ibid., p.26'

21 Dockray, ibid., p. 16. The Co-opcrative Societies were able to attend lectures sponsored by the
Association. Like many other working class organisations, the Co-operative Societies supported and
promoted adult education. For example, see Susan Rawlinson : The Women's Co-operative Guild
1883-1983 (unpublished M. Ed. dissertation, Department of Education. University of Manchester, 1984).

397
Referencehas already been made to the Working Men's Club in Ancoats in the fourth

chapter of this thesis. Formed in 1877, it was affiliated to the Association, unlike some of

the other clubs in the Manchesterareawhich were not in their early years. The Rusholme
Club was founded in 1875 and establishedpremises
on Wilmslow Road where members
might meet away from the public house. Within a few months, the membershipexceeded
two hundredand premiseswere openedfor the saleof light refreshmentsto the public. A

smalllibrary was formed and a savingsbank instituted, but the club experienceddissension

when in 1877 it was decidedthat intoxicants could be sold to members. By 1879the club

was temporarily closed,but thanks to the generosityof wealthy patrons a club housewas
built and furnished in Nelson Street in 1883. The premises contained a lecture room,
a
billiards room and rooms for reading and indoor games.

Clubs varied both in terms of size and activities and their particular policy to the sale of

intoxicants to members. A club was establishedin Chester Street, Hulme, in 1873, its first

secretary being Mrs. Hind Smith, the wife of the general secretary of the Manchester

Y. M. C.A. By 1876 the premises were inadequate and adjoining rooms were taken, but in

1882 the club moved again to larger accommodation. The club allowed no intoxicating

liquor on the premises, its promoters making that a specific condition of their support. By

1884 the club had I 10 members. A much smaller club had been established in Moston in

1875,which by 1884 had thirty five members. Its activities were somewhatlimited, but

lectures were given and discussion meetings held during the winter months. The most

active of the clubs in the Manchesterarea during this period was the one at Ladybarn.
The membership fees were two shillings per quarter, and several honorary members paid a

subscriptionof a guinea per year. The club comprised a reading room which was well

supplied with magazines and newspapers, a billiards room and classroom, and the

committee consisted mainly of working men who were club members. Social activities

were arranged,with the most profhinent eventsbeing the New Year's party and danceand

the August Bank Holiday picnic to which relatives and friends were invited. Lectures and

in
concerts were given on average about once a month the large hall, and educational

classes in reading and writing were conducted. The club organised a savings' bank and

398
operated a lending library (which contained about six hundred volumes) from which

memberscould borrow books for readingat home.22

By 1883 the Association had twenty-nine affiliated clubs including the following ones in

the Manchesterarea:

AFFILIATED CLUBS23

Name of Club Number of Members

Ancoats 56
Heyrod Street (Ancoats) Not stated
Hulme (City Road) 120
Hulme (ChesterStreet) 110
Ladybam 70
Moston 20
Rusholme 180

Although the Working Men's clubs were heavily dependent upon middle-class patronage

to survive during the early years of their existence to provide essential finance and

expertisein the arts of committeework, the movementin Manchester,as elsewhere,made

significant headway only when the middle-class influence lessened and working men

assumedresponsibility for the organisation and running of the clubs.24 Of the institutions

established for education purposes for working men in the forty years before 1914, the

Working Men's Club movement is exceptional in that it not only survived when other

22 Seventh annual report of the Working Men's Clubs Association. 1884

23 Dockray, op. cit., p.21

24 Price. op. cit.. p. 130

399
bodies with sin-fflar aims were in decline but also increased in strength after 1918,

to to
continuing make an important contribution adult educationalwork. 25

In Manchester during the 1860s and 1870s women also, especially from the middle class,

were becorningmore persistentin their demandsfor higher education. The lecturesgiven

by James Stuart to women's groups from the North of England Council for Promoting the

Higher Education of Women (formed in 1867)26helped to develop the idea of extension

lectures given by membersof universities to groups who would not normally have the

opportunity of attending one, but it also sharpenedawarenessof the need for the

provision of such education for women. Eventually this took tangible form in Manchester

with the founding in 1877 of the Manchester and Salford Womens College which offered

for "girls who have left school, and who are able and willing to give, not a small part only,

but the greater portion of their time to a course of continuous study"27 over three years.

There were ten hours of lectures over 24 weeks in the prelinunary year and nine per week

over the same length of time in the subsequent ones. In the first year candidates studied a

preliminary course incorporating Greek, Latin, French, German, arithmetic, algebra,

geometry, English Language, and history. The following two years consisted of more

advanced work in English and history or in the in

classics, addition to the study of two

su ects om te owing: renc anguage an i era ure, erman anguage an

literature, Greek Testament, mental and moral philsophy and political economy. For those

in
who wishedto specialise mathematicsand physics,at least two additional subjectsfrom

Chemistry,physical geography and geology, botany and zoology, and physiology had to

be studied. Successfulcompletion of the three years'course and its examinationsresulted

in the awarding of a College Certificate. Many of the staff from Owens College lent

25 The number of affiliated clubs in the Manchester Association was 31 in 1884,83 in 1894,141 in
1904-, 179 in 1914, and 261 in 1924. SeeDockray, op. cit., p.47.

26 T. Kelly :A Historv ofAdult Education in Great Britain (Liverpool Liverpool University Press. 199"
edition ), pp. 219-220

27 Manchester and Salford Women's College, Draft Scheme, 31st May 1877. These requirements.
together with fees of f1 for the first vear and f 13.1Os. per annum for the following two. would almost
-5
certainly have precludcd working-class women from taking this course.

400
active support to this initiative, and those who expresseda willingness to teach at the

college tended to be those who were later interested in university extension lecturing.

There number included ProfessorsCore28,,

Roscoe, and A. S. WilkinS29,and the historian

Ramsay MuiOO. The scheme was sufficiently successful for the college to be taken over

and incorporated as a department of Owens College in 1883.31

The successof JamesStuart's lecturestogether with that of the seriesof lecturesgiven in

working-class districts of the city by Roscoe and others during the 1870s had indicated

that there was some demand for the provision of education which was other than

elementary. The origins and development of the university extension movement generally
its early history in Manchester have been recorded elsewhere and it is intended here
02

to look only breifly at its progress in Manchester. The movement had commenced

officially from an initiative from James Stuart, a lecturer at Cambridge, who in 1873 had

lobbied successfully for the university to make provision for some arrangement whereby

lecturers were sent to talk to those who would not otherwise have experience of lectures

28 Thomas Hamilton Core was appointed as a professor of physics at Owens College in 1870. He was a
founder mmemebr of the Manchester Geographical Society, and from 1893 he was a lecturer for the
Victoria University Extension Committee. SeeManchester Faces and Places, Volume4. Number 9, June
1893.

29 A. S. Wilkins was appointed as Professor of Latin at Owens College in 1869 at the age of 26. He was
activel,interested in the organisation of adult and higher education in Manchester, especially women's
education. He served for several years as a lecturer for the Victoria University Extension Committee,
retiring in 1903 when. on medical advice, he resigned the professorship of Latin. See Afanchester Faces
and Places, Volume 15, Number 10, October 1904, pp.302-304.

30 Ramsey Muir was involved for several years in extension work for the Victoria University, and was
widely acknowledged as being one of the finest lecturers in the country. Whilst at Manchester he lectured
as an extension lecturer at the university settlement.

31 J. Thompson: The Owens College : Its Foundation and Growth; and connection with the Victoria
Unii,ersiy (Manchester : J. E. Cornish, 1886), p.502, Manchester Faces and Places, Volume 12,
Number 4, April 1901, p.65. For women's education at the university, seeMabel Tylecote : The Education
of Jfomen at Manchester Universiy, 1883-1933 (Manchester : Manchester University Press, 1941)

32 See James Stuart: Reminiscences (London: Printed for private circulation at the Chiswick Press.
1911), pp. 152-177, N. A. Jepson: Th7 Beginnings of English Universitv 4dult Education (London:
.
Michael Joseph, 1977)-. W. H. Draper: Universiv Extension, 1873-1923 (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1923), E. Welch- The Peripatetic Universiv: Cambridge Local Lectures 1873-1973
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1973), T. Kelly: Outside the Walls.- Sixv Years of Universiv
Extension at Manchoser 1886-1946 (Manchester: Manchester University Prpess, 1946): and S. Marriott:
Extramural Empires: Service and Self-Interest in English Universiy 4duilt Education 1873-1983
.
(Nottingham: Department of Adult Education. University of Nottingham. 1984).

401
and courses that were available to ungversity students. Accordingly in 1873 a decision

was taken by Cambridge University to appoint a Local Lectures Syndicateto consider

how the requirementsof the extension of university teaching in other towns and cities

could best be achievedand to organisesuch a scheme". London and Oxford established

similar initiatives themselvesin 1876 and 1878, and the Victoria University, which in the

early 1880s was in the process of federation34 arranged its own venture in 1886. This

arose partly from an enterprise in Withington when several persons interested in

promoting higher education in Manchester and having some knowledge of the success
by
achieved unVjrsity extensionlectures elsewheredecidedto see if they could arrange

somethingalong similar lines. A meeting was held at Withington Town Hall on 11th

December 1885 at which it was agreed that a committee should be formed to promote

universityteaching in the district and that representationsshould be madeto the Victoria

University to supply such lecturers as mught be required. A local committee with

C. E. Schwann35as its chairman was appointed, and this was supported by a general

committeewith connectionswith OwensCollege via I G. Greenwood36and A. W. Ward.

A course of eight lectures was arranged for the first months of 1886, and the committee

was grateful to R. D. Roberts, the secretary to the Cambridge University Local Lectures
Syndicate, for his assistanceand advice. The average attendance at the course was about

200 per lecture.37 During the following four years, the committee organised courses in

33 Draper, ibid., p. 5.

34 Owens College becamethe first institution of this federation in 1880. followed by University College,
Liverpool (1884) and the Yorkshire College, Leeds (1887).

35 C. E. Schwann was a partner in a Manchester commercial firm who in 1886 was elected as a Lioberal
M. P. for North Manchester. He was involved in the transition of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution
to a technical school and. in addition to an interest in education. supported several philanthropic
enterprises. SeeAIanchester Faces and Places Volume 11. NT-Jmber11, November 1900, p. 176.

36 J. G. Greenwood (1822-1894) at the foundation of Owens College in 1851 was appointed as a

professorof classics and history. In 185-7,on A. J. Scott's resignation. he becameprincipal of the college,
and was actively involved in its move from Quay Street to Oxford Road and in the obtaining of the
University Charter in 1880. He resigned owing to 111-healthin 1889. See Manchester Faces and Places,
Volume 6, Number 3, December 1894, pp.33-35.

37 Report of the Victoria University Local Lectures Committee. Lent Term. 1886.

402
Withington and Choriton-cum-Hardy, and speakersincluded J. E. C. Munro, who also

lectured for the ManchesterWorking Men's Club Association, and A. NfilnesMarshall.38

The developmentof the Victoria University extension lecture schemein the Manchester

areawas hindered by the fact that the earlier providers of extensionjectures had already
by the late 1880sestablishedstrong connectionsin Lancashire. This was true especiallyof

Oxford University (Cambridgehad a much lesser provision in the north-west) and there

were tensionsbetween the organising committeesof the Victoria and Oxford University

extension lectures as disputes arose over fights and territofies.39 In March 1890 a

memorandumwas sent by the Local Lectures Committee of the GeneralBoard of Studies

of the Victoria University to the Oxford Delegacy complaining about its continued

organisation of university extension lectures in Manchester and surrounding distn CtS.40

The reply was carefully drafted but unequivocal in its tone, and referred to the infancy of

the university extension movement and the need to avoid discouraging local initiative and

restricting possible growth through a requirement to observe geographical boundaries.

Referring to university extension work in Lancashire and Yorkshire the delegacy observed

that "they think that the exclusion of other [i. e. than the Victoria University] bodies from a

share in this work would be alike unjustifiable in principle and injurious to the common

objects which the Universities desire to provide". 41

38 A. Milnes Marshall was Professor of Zoology and secretaryto the General Board of Studies at Owens
College. Appointed at 27, he gave the first course of Victoria University Local Lectures at Withington
1886 and gave a second course on natural history in ther following year. He served as secretary to the
Local Lectures Committee until his untimely death in an accident on Scafell in December 1893. See
Kelly, op.cit., pp. 9-19-,and Manchester Faces and Places, Volume 2, Number 1, October 1890, p.9.
39
Neither of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge was willing to give local university lecture
schemessole rights in its own locality, although Oxford's policy was the more openly agressive. See
Stuart Marriott, op.cit., pp.47-51.

40 Memorandum addressedto the Delegates of Local Examinations of the University of Oxford by the
Local Lectures Committee of the Gener4aiBoard of Studies of the Victoria University, March 1890.

41 Memorandum addressed to Local Lectures Committees of the General Board of Studies of the
Victoria University, by the Committee of Delegates of Local Examinations appointed by the University of
Oxford to carry into effect the statute " for the establishment of lectures and teaching in large towns".

403
In a memorandumto local committeesin 1891, the object of the movementwas statedto

be "to give to those whose occupationsdo not admit of residencein a University town, or

at attendanceon the regular College or University curriculum, opportunity of attending

systematic courses of instruction by lecturers of high University standing, in the various

branchesof literature, art and science, The purposeis in fact 'to bring the university to the

people when the people cannot come to the university"'. In the earliest years in

Manchesterand district, courses(usually of no more than one meeting per week over a
)
maximum of eight weeks) were held only during the winter and spring terms. Charges

varied, but five shillings for a course of eight lectureswas a recommendedcharge,and for
it
audiencesof working men and women was suggestedthat sucha course should cost no

more than one shilling. It was not unusual for there to be two scalesof chargeswhere

audienceswere mixed, and on occasion the entire costs incurred on a course would be
met by a charity or individuals. The university charged twenty guineas for a course of six
lectures twenty-five guineas for eight and thirty guineas for a course of ten lectures.

Other fees to be borne by local committees included the travelling expenses of the

lecturer, the hire of the hall or rooms. expensesincurred through the obtaining or hiring of
42
equipment for the lecture and advertising and printing CoStS. In some instancesthe work

was self-supporting, especially in the wealthier areas of the city, and afternoon lectures

given to societies or to ladies' groups would sometimes help to cover the costs of work

done in poorer areas. A letter to the Matichester Guardiati in 1900, whilst expressing

gratitude for the efforts of the Ancoats RecreationMovement and for the lectures given
by the Hudson Shaw, Milnes Marshall and Professor Tout,43and appreciatingthat such

teaching could open up new hofizons to listeners, urged that outside support be given to

42 The Victoria University Extension Lectures: Memoranda for the use of Local Committees and of
others engaged in the Organisation of University Extension teaching. (Manchester. 1891).

43 Professor Tout, who was a professor of history at Owens College, served as a Victoria University
extension lecturer from 1893 and for twelve months served as secretan, to the Victoria Unjversit,'
Extension Committee following the death of A. Milnes Marshall. Philip Hartog succeededTout in 1895.
and Tout became the chairman of the committee for the next 18 years. SeeKelly, op. cit., pp. 19 and 48.

404
the Victoria University if costs, described as "almost prohibitive", were to be brought

within the 44
reachof working-classaudienceS.

By 1891 extension work in the Lancashireand Cheshirearea had developedsufficiently

for an Association for the Extension of University Teaching to be formed. By this time,

pioneer and short of

courseS45 lectures were being given at 35 in
centres the counties,
includingManchester,Huyton, Lancaster,Macclesfield, Ormskirk and Warrington. In the

Manchester area local lecture courses, organised by comn-ktees operating in these

districts, had been establishedat Blackley, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, central Manchester,

Gorton, Failsworth, Openshaw, Moston and Withington. The Association, founded in

1891, had several objectives: the promotion of the extension of university teaching in

Lancashire and Cheshire; to help centres organise course more efficiently and reduce

costs; to identify working-class centres which needed financial help; to apply to local and

county councils and other bodies to obtain grants for the university extension work of the

centres within the Association; to

and give delegates from centres the opportunity to meet

each other and representatives from the universities. The Victoria, Oxford and Cambridge

universities each had two representatives, nominated annually, who attended meetings of

the Association. They were there primarily as observers and had no voting rights, but

were able to contribute to discussions. Vice-presidents of the Association included A. J.

Balfour (who was later to be leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister from

1902-1905), William Mather, H. E. Roscoe and A. W. Ward, and A. Milnes Marshall and

Charles Rowley were among those who served on its executive committee. In areas such

as Openshaw, the establishment of centres replaced other local 46

initiativeS, and in other

districts organisations already arranging lectures were encouraged to co-ordinate their

activities. The purpose of the Association was not to organise courses of lectures or to

44 Letter from a correspondentto the Manchester Guardian, 13 December 1900, concerning the
extensionwork of the Victoria UniversitV.

45 Pioneer courses would consist of not more than four lectures. short courses would compnse between
six and eight lectures.

46 From 1887-1892 annual series of science lectures were given in Openshaw. Seethe annual reprots of
the Openshaw Science Lectures Committee for 1890 and 1892.

405
arrange for lecturers to be supplied; this work was done by local committeeswho dealt
directly with the universities concerned. However, the Association did make application

for funding for such courses,and in 1891-1892 obtained flOOO from LancashireCounty

Council from the County Technical Instruction Fund and E100 from the Technical

Instruction Committeeof the ManchesterCity Council.47

From 1893 the Victoria University began to organise longer courseS48of between 10 and

24 lectures over one or two terms, and in the latter instance there was an examination in

connectionwith someof the 49

courses. Occasionally,courseswhich adheredto the letter
rather than to the spirit of the underlying aims of the university extension movement were

conducted. In 1898 the Victoria University instituted a series of science lectures of an

advanced nature which were specifically designed for and open only to the members of the

medical profession. By way of justification, it was explained that "This step was in strict

accordance with the ideal of bringing University teaching to those who are unable to
50
attendclasseswithin the university walls".

Two considerations affected the nature and extent of the provision of university extension

teaching in Manchester from 1903: the division of the Victoria University in 1902 into the

separate universities of Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds; and the emergence of the
Workers' Educational Association. During the 1890s the Oxford University Extension

Delegacy through lecturers such as Hudson Shaw, Hilaire Belloc, J. E. Phythian and J. A.

R. Marriott5l had maintained strong links with its centres in Lancashire and Cheshire, but

Marriott foresaw the time when Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham in particular

47 The Lancashire and Cheshire Association for the Extension of University Teaching. first annual
report, May 1892.

48 See T. Kelly, op.cit., Appendix 11,Statistics of Extension Work at Fictoria Universi(v, 1886-1903.
p. 103. -

49 Seethe Universitv Extension Journal. Volume 3, Number 19, October 1897.

50 Ibid. Volume 3. Number 25, April 1898.

,
51 SeeAppendix B of this thesis. Biographical Notes.

406
would seek to monopolise university extension provision in their localities and was
reasonably philosophical about the situation whilst resisting the change. Stuart Marriott

points out that in the 1890s the Victoria University had in effect worked in partnership

with Cambridge and, more particularly, Oxford in the provision of extramural lecturesin

the north of England with some measure of harmony becauseits activities had taken
distinctive forms: agricultural lectures at the Yorkshire College and the provision of

lecturesand coursefor pupil-teachersfrom all three institutions. This was to changewith

the cessationof the Victoria University federation and its replacementby the creation of

three separate universities. From 1903 each of the universities of Manchester Liverpool
,
and Leeds assumedresponsibility for its own negotiatedgeographicalarea, although the
intention was to work in co-operation concerningthe preparationof lists of lectures and

levels of fees. The overall result was that during the following five years Manchester

extensionprovision went into 52

decline.

Statistics of Extension Work at Victoria University, 1886-1903,

and of Extra-Mural Work at Manchester University from 1903.53

Courses
Session Sessional Terminal Short Total Total of
(16-20) (6-15) (2-5) Single Lectures& Students

Courses Courses Courses Courses Lectures Lectures Students

1885-86 1 1 8 236
1890-91 11 1 12 84 (1406)
1891-92 88 14 102 865 (5000)
1895-96 6 76 19 101 1 908 7796*
1899-00 5 46 2 93 33 482 3464*
1902-03 5 25 20 50 (379
1908-09 1 14 1 16 3 121

The university extension movement was affected also after 1903 by the emergence of the

Workers' Educational Association. This idea was developedby Albert Mansbridge, an

employee of the Co-operative Society, who had wfitten in 1903 to the University

Extension Journal two articles suggesting a working together for educational purposes

52 SeeStuart Marriott. op.cit.. pp.70-74.

53 SeeKelly. op.cit., Appendices II and 111,pp. 102-104.

407
among the university extension movement, the co-operative movement54 and the trades
55
unions. Mansbridge received support from an autodidact, Robert Halstead,56* and the

outcome later that year was the founding by Mansbridge of an Association to Promote the

Higher Education of Working Men (which in 1905 became the Workers' Educational

Association). The Association had two main purposes: to promote working-class

educational initiatives and to develop a partnership between the universities and the

working-class movement.57 One product of that aim was the evolution of a systemof
58 Very rapidly the W.E.A. becamean independentmovementwhich was
tutorial classes.

no longer merely an emanationof the university extensionmovement and developedits

own organisation. Following a conferenceat Oxford in August 1907,a joint committee

had been appointedto consider the relation of the university to the Higher Education of

Workpeople. In committee,the secretaryof the Oxford Delegacy,J. A. R. Marriott, who

was anxious to keep the development firmly under the control of the university

extensioniststo direct and guide, was outmanoeuvred,and the resulting report on Oxford

and Working Class Education saw the prompt creation of tutorial classesfor working

men and women and a joint committee establishedto carry out this new venture.59 The
Workers' Educational Association (north western district) had been formed in 1906 and

54 There had already been some co-ordination of activities betweenthose two

movements.

55 Seethe Univers4v Extension Journal, Volume 8, Numbers 67

and 69, March 1903.

56 Ibid., March 1903

57 Bernard Jennings : Knowledge is Power Short History the Workers' Education Association
:A of
(Hull : Newland Papers, Number One, Department of Adult Education, University of Hull), pp.3-5.

58 The development
of the Workers' Association and the evolution of University Tutorial Classes has
been extensively documented. See B. Jennings, ibid-, Mary Stocks : The Workers' Educational
Association : The First Fifly 1ears (London : George Allen and Unwin Limited) : Roger Fieldhouse : The
Workers'Educational Association : Aims andAchievements 1903-1977 (New York : Svracuse Universivy
Press, 1977), T. W. Price : The Sto,v of the Workers' Educational Association from 1903 to 1924
(London : The Labour Publishing Company Limited, 1924-, Albert Mansbridge : Universiv Tutorial
Classes, a Stuqv in the Development of Higher Education among Working Men and If Omen (London -
Longmans, Green and Co. 1913): and Albert Mansbridge : An Adventure in Working-Class Education.
Being the Sto,v of the Workers'Educational Association (London : Longmans, Green and Co. 1920)

59 S. Marriott Extramural Empires Service Sef-lnterest in English Universitv Adult Education

: and
(Nottingham : Department of Adult Education, University of Nottingham. 1984). p. 76'-77. For accounts
of the development of the tutorial classes viewed from different perspectives. see the books by Mansbridge
already cited and J. A. R. Marriott : Heinories of Four Score Years (London and Glasgow : Blackie,
1946)

408
co-ordinated "existing agenciesand [devised] fresh by
means which working peopleof all
degreesmay be raised educationally,step by step," until they were "in a position to take

advantageof the facilities which are and which may be provided by the universities". This
involved assessingthe needs of workers and working in co-operation with the local

education authorities,,the Board of Education, the universities and other educational

agencies, and by directing workers towards the opportunities offered by higher

60Manchester
education. was one of the earlier branchesformed in the north west (1907),

and in collaboration with Manchester University the Manchester University Tutorial

Classescommenced in 1909. The committee with H. Pilkington Turner as its secretary

consisted of representatives from the university (including Professors Tout, Weiss and

Sidney Chapman - all of whom were university extension lecturers), and others drawn

from the Co-operative Union, the National Conference of Friendly Societies, the W. E. A.

and the LancashireFederation of Trades and Labour Councils and other federationsof

workers. 61 Two classes were formed at Manchester in economics, although the annual

report for 1909-10 commented on the relative lack of enthusiasm displayed by students

when compared with other centres and a "tendency to turn the discussions into criticism

of the present social system". The Economics classeswhich were held at the university

settlementin Ancoats and at the Manchester headquartersof the Co-operative Union

drew attendances of between twenty and twenty-five. Classes in History and Economic

History commenced in 1912-1362and attracted similar numbers of students. In 1913-14

classeswere undertaken in English Literature and Medieval History and the latter class

which had an averageattendanceof fifteen included four 63

women students.

60 Annual Report, 1911-1912, of the Workers Educational Association. North Western Distnct.

61 Manchester University Tutofial Classes: First Annual Report 1909-1910

62 Manchester University Tutorial Classes: Annual Report 1912-1913

63 Manchester University Tutorial Classes: Annual Report 1913-1914

409
 Statistics of Extra-Mural Wnrk at Manchester University 1909-191464

Session Three-year Tutorial Courses

Courses Students
1909-10 9 299
1910-11 13 380
1911-12 14 350
1912-13 15 402
1913-14 16 366

The reports of the work of the studentsduring the first five yearsof the university tutorial

tended
classes to have a certain similarity of content. Studentsgenerallywere extremely
keen, interestedin the topics, lively in discussion,and somewhatirregular in attendance

because of work and other commitments. The written work of students, when it

in
appeared,was variable quality, although tutors commented upon the excellent quality of

a small proportion of the essays.

The activity of the university extension movement and the Workers' Educational

Association increased considerably during the inter-war period, reflecting the growing

demandfor advanced adult educational classes. The entry of the state into education after

1870 had seen the gradual development of a structured system of graded educational

steps. In Manchester, following the reorganisation of the city's evening class instruction in

1905-1906, many voluntary agencies in the city co-ordinated their courses with those of

the Manchester Education Committee which took much more responsibility for their

conduct. The period from 1870-1914 was marked by two further themes: a developing

co-operation between some of the voluntary agencies and the successful development of

working-class initiatives in adult education. In Manchester, co-operation among

voluntary agencies ranged from the collaboration of the Ancoats Recreation Movement

and the university settlement on publicity for their respective programmesto some co-

ordination of extension lecture activities; the co-operation between the university

extension movement and the Workers' Educational Association in the city, and links,

admittedly on occasion somewhat tenuous, between various voluntary organisations

which offered joint courses. The connectionsbetween the adult education movement in

64 SeeKelly, op.cit., Appendix 111.pp. 104-105.

410
Manchesterwith the local Workers" EducationalAssociation and with the National Home

Reading Union indicated what could be achieved through the elimination of divisions.

The era also witnessedthe successfuldevelopment,after strong support from the middle

in
class their early stages, of successful working-class adult educational initiatives- the

Working Men's Clubs Association and the Workers' Educational Association. Both

movementsflourished, especially following the reduction of middle-classinfluence, so

necessaryin the initial years of these ventures.

This thesis has looked at developments in adult education in Manchester in the eighty

years to 1914. Efforts of voluntary organisations to cater for the education of the

working class in the city during the first half of the nineteenth century were often short-
lived, and a recurrent theme of bewilderment by well-intentioned patrons when their

enterpriseswere rejected echoedthrough the remainder. In certain instances,endeavours

were successful even though they did not necessarily achieve their original intentions, the
Manchester Mechanics' Institution and the university extension lecture schemebeing cases

in point. What is remarkable is not necessarily that comparatively little appeared to be

achieved by the voluntary organisations when one considers the multiplicity of agencies
dealing directly or indirectly with adult education, but that so many efforts were made at

all. The overall effect of all the time and care expended by so many is necessarily

intangible. "the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts. and

that things are not so ill... as they might have been,if half owing to the numberwho lived
faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs".65

65 George Eliot : Afiddlemarch : (Hamondsworth. Middlesex : Penguin Books Ltd. 1968 edition. First
published in 1871-1872), Book 8. Finale. p. 896

411
 Chapter 7.
Conclusions

The Final Report presented in 1919 by the Adult Education committee of the Nfinistry
of
Reconstruction was a document of singular importance in that it provided an exceptionally

thorough statement of the national development of adult education since 1800, a

comprehensive examination of the current provision and recommendations for its

continued evolution. Amongst a wealth of detail, the report keeps clearly in view the

motives for the promotion of movements which have an educational intent the supplying
-
of opportunities for individuals who wish to pursue a branch of knowledge for its own

sake and the creation and maintenance of an improved social order. Adult education is

seen as a subject which cannot and should not be considered in isolation; rather, it is "the

natural outcome both of the wider diflusion of intellectual interests and of the

simultaneous development of other movements which are not the less educative because

the promotion of education is not their primary object". ' Many voluntary organisations,

including the Young Men's Christian Association and the adult schools which did not have

the provision of education of a secular nature to adults as their principal objectives,

included educational activities as part of their programme alongside their more prominent

moral, religious and social work.

As was set out in the opening chapter,the aim of this thesis hasbeento eliminategapsin

the overall picture of the facilities available for the education of adults in Manchester
betweenthe 1830s and 1914 and to bring together findings from previous research. At

the beginningof the nineteenthcentury voluntary agenciesof one sort or anotherhad been

responsiblefor making availablethe various meansof educationfor adults. The entry of

the State and the Universities into the field of adult education during the course of the

century meant that by 1914 adui-Iteducation instruction operated through three main

channelswhich to some extent existed in co-operation with each other but which made

1 Ministrv Adult Education Committee: Final Report (London: H. M. S.O.. 1919).

of Reconstruction:
p. 50.

412
different contributions to the work. The Local Education Authorities by 1914 had

developed and provided a central and local framework for the organisation and

administrationof education;the Universities were able to adopt a broader and in certain

respects a more detached outlook on the provision of educational facilities and

opportunities which did not come within the scope of the Local Education Authorities-,

and the voluntary organisationswere able to respond informally and with a degree of
flexibility not possible for the other bodies to local requirementS.
2The role of voluntary

in
organisations the arrangingof adult educationenterpriseswhich had been so necessary
in the first half of the nineteenth century and before remained an essentialpart of the

process. While it was not unknown for a Local Education Authority to take over the

running and financing of an enterprisewhich had been previously under the control of a

voluntary agency - in Manchester, for example, the City Council, which for some years
had provided financial assistance to the Technical School via the Manchester Technical

Instruction Committee, in 1892 assumedresponsibility for the financing of the institution3

and the educationalclassesof the ManchesterY. M. C.A. were transferredto the control of
the city's Education Committee in 19124 -such an occurrence was by no means so
frequent as might have been expected. Neither was it the situation that voluntary agencies

were seeking to take over functions which might be carried out more effectively by Local

Education Authorities. However, it was the case by 1914 that "at the present time

voluntary effort is inadequate to perform the work which it alone can effectively

undertake"5- the organisation of educationalwork and the making availableof suitable

facilitiesfor it rather than the provision of classes.

lbid, pp. 111-112.

3 Ed. D. S.L. Cardwell: Artisan to Graduate: Essqvs to commemorate the foundation in 1824 of the
Manchester Mechanics' Institution, now in 1974 the University of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974), p. 152.

4 SeeAppendix to Council Minutes 1911-12,1, olume 3, containing Reports etc., brought before the
Council: Annual Report to the Education Committee of the Citv Council of Manchester for the Year
ending October 1911, p. 708.

5 Minism, of Reconstruction, op.cit., p. 115.

413
By 1914 the three main sources of provision of adult education in the main offered

different types of instruction, although inevitably there remained a certain amount of

overlapping and duplication of effort. The evening classes of the Local Education

Authorities were concernedprimarily with technical, scientific and commercialeducation,

much of which was applicable directly to trades and professions. The university extension

lectures and the tutorial classes,the latter being organised by representativesfrom the

universitiesand from different sections of the Labour movement,concentratedmore on

what the Report of 1919 defined as liberal or humane studies - history, literature,

sociology and economics. Both suppliersoffered usually systematiccoursesof education

which led to the award of a professional or academic qualification. The voluntary

agenciesincreasingly devoted their effort to arranging activities, lectures, and courses of a

more informal and frequently non-vocational nature.

As hasbeen shown in this thesis,thesenational trends were reflectedwith consistencyby

adult education developmentin Manchester. In a detailed presentationof the educational

opportunities available for adults in Manchester by 1914, there is clear indication that in

the provision of such facilities the city followed and on occasions was at the forefront of

national changes. The City Council was one of the first in England to appreciate the need

for the provision of adequateand useful leisure activities for its citizens through public

parks, art galleries and public libraries. it recognised early the possibilities for the
financing and development of amenities for adult education through the raising of a penny

to
rate support technical in
education accordancewith the Technical Instruction Act of
1889and through the increasedrevenueobtainedby the councils as a result of the higher

duties on beer and spirits imposed by the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act of

1890.

Certain themes recur throughout Thethesis, which establishesclearly what it sets out to

achieve. The range of educational activities for adults as provided by the Mechanics'

Institutions, the several initiatives from the working class, the university extension

movement,the numerouseveningclassesconductedunder the auspicesof the Nlanchester

414
Education Committee and the fragmented and usually informal nature of the classes,

lectures, societies, discussion groups, study circles and recreational programmes offered

by a diverse collection of voluntary agencies identifies and underlines the extensive

facilities availablefor the educationof adults in Manchesterby 1914.

What is also delineated in some detail is the comparatively narrow section of the

population in Manchesterreachedby these efforts. Although a majority of the educational

movementsin the to
city attempted recruit from the working class,very few achievedany

significant degree of success. Some, including the Lyceums, and the various mechanics'
institutions in the city, attempted to attract support through a concentration on fewer

systematic courses of instruction and more lectures to suit popular tastes. The university

extension lecture movement in Manchester ultimately failed to gain much working class

support, but did draw successfully from the ranks of skilled artisans and met a requirement

for education among middle-class women. Other enterprises, including the Working

Man's Colleges in Manchester and Ancoats, were of short duration and were integrated

into other institutions offering similar facilities, and at the beginning of the twentieth

century Manchester Ruskin Hall failed to survive because it duplicated to a large extent

the work of other agencies in the district.

The relative success of the several Christian religious denominations in the city in

attracting and retaining working-class support is difficult to assess. The censusof 1851

dispelledany illusions that a significant proportion of the working classattendedany place

of worship, although Roman Catholics were a notable exception to the general trend.
However, this situation of declinewas remediedin part but not reversedthrough different

sectsrealisingthat unlessthe needsof the urban poor were addressedmore practically and

effectively by the churchesthey would continue to fail to minister to the working class.

At the sametime, many of those'Aihoattendedclassesfor instruction in secular subjects

by
organised the different denominationswere working-class. Elizabeth Isichei observes

6 See K. S. Inglis- Churches and the If"orking Classes in Victorian England (London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul, 1963). pp. 1-20 and 119-142.

415
that up to the 1860'svery few poor personsattendedmeetingsof the Society of Friends,
but from 1870 to the end of the century most applicantsfor church membershipwere from

the working class and many had come to the Society via the adult schools. It was noted

that the increasehad occurred mainly in the towns and cities in the north of Englandfrom

amongstthe labouring 7
class. However, all too frequently the evidenceis inconclusive

and any temptation to overstate conclusions on the basis of such findings should be

avoided.

This thesis aimed to draw together researchwhich had been done on adult educationin

nineteenth century Manchester. The lengthy literature in

review the first chapter indicated

that certain aspects have been adequately researched and documented - the early years of

the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, the Lyceums in the city, scientific and technical

education, and the Ancoats Recreation Movement and the Ancoats Art Museum. Other

work is currently in progress - Michael Rose is researching the university settlement

movement in Britain and this writer is currently completing for publication a history of the

Manchester Young Men's Christian Association.

A significant contribution to knowledge of adult education in Manchester has been made

through the filling of gaps which had been left by previous research. New insights have
been provided in the analysis and description of several initiatives in working-class

in
education, especially connection with the Working Man's Colleges at Manchester and

Ancoats, the educationalactivities of the Working Men's Club Movement in Manchester

and the brief history of ManchesterRuskin Hall. In addition, an examinationof the early

years of the Workers' Educational Association and the Manchester University Tutorial

Classessupplements the account provided over forty years ago by Thomas Kelly. 8

Elizabeth Isichei: Tictorian Quakem (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), p. 129.

8 Thomas Kelly Outside the Walls: Sixty vears of UniversitV Extension at IvIanchester 1886-1946
(Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1950), pp.44-67.

416
A second relatively unresearched topic which the thesis has investigated concerned the

contributions made by the Christian religious denominations and their related

organisations in Manchester. Much diverse and scattered material has been drawn

together to assemblea coherent description of the secular educational work of the

societies of the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist churches and other
provisions together with a study of the educational activities for adults undertaken by the

adult schools in Manchester and by the city's Y. M. C.A. Connelly deals primarily with

Congregationalist training for the ministry in his 1973 thesis9 which examines educational

provision for in
adults and children the Manchesterdistrict, and referenceis made in the

work on Continuation Schools edited by Michael Sadler to the Catholic evening schools in

the city-10 Mary Hanley describes briefly the evening classes held and orgamsed by the

Sunday Schools in the Ancoats area in the nineteenth century, II and the educational

activities of the Manchester Y. M. C. A. have been discussed briefly by Gregory

Anderson.12 Little had been researched into the development of the adult school

movementin Manchester,with the exception of a few brief referencesin Currie Martin's

discursive narrative of the history of the adult school movement, and there are two articles

on the adult school movementin Lancashireand Cheshireby Wilfrid Ecroyd, one of the

earliestmembersof the ManchesterCentral Adult School.13 The Unitarian contribution to

adult education in Manchester has been well documented,but this has proved to be

exceptional. Considerabledifficulties have been experiencedin locating primary source

material,but the thesis does provide an indication of the nature and extent of the secular

educationalactivities offered and supportedby the main religious denominationsand their

9 Charles Connelly: Congregationalism and the education of the people in the Manchester district 1806-
1900 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1973), pp.84-113.

10 Ed. M. E. Sadler: Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere: Their Place in the Educational
vstem of an Industrial and Commercial State (Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1908. Second
Edition), pp. 198-202.

See Marv Hanley Educational Provision in Ancoats, Afanchester, during the Nineteenth Centuv
(unpublished M. Ed. thesis. University of Manchester. 1981), pp.377-383.

12 Gregory Anderson: Victorian Clerks (Manchester: Manchester UnIversity Press. 1976), pp.74-82.

13 See the Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire Supplement to One and. Volume 4, Numbers 31
-III,
and 32 (New Series), August and September 1948.

417
related organisationsin the eighty yearsbefore the First World War. If materialturns out

to be extant which at presentis undiscoveredadditional work can be undertaken,but the

availablesourceshavebeenusedas far as can be ascertained.

This thesis examines a third aspect of Mancunian education which has received little

attention rom researchers- the provisions made by the city council and local education

authority. In addition to an assessmentof the establishmentof evening classesby the

various statutory authorities in Manchester between 1870 and 1914, detailed reference has

been made to the provisions by the city council of public parks, libraries and other

amenitiesfor the constructive use of the leisure time availableto citizens. The study of
leisureby social historiansis a comparativelyrecentphenomenon,and a list of someof the

maintexts is included in the bibliographyto this thesis.

The history of adult educational development in Manchester in the nineteenth century

needs to be examined in relation to the situation nationally. Many accounts of the

histories of individual educational institutions have been written, but studies of the

developmentof the provision of facilities for the education of adults in cities and towns

are rare and far fewer than studies of higher education in particular localities. 14

Becauseof the extensivescope of this thesis, decisionshad to be taken which resultedin

someregrettableon-issions.Three areasin particular would reward further research: the

development of women's education in Manchester; the contribution of the learned

societies to adult education in Manchester; and the provision and progression of

educational amenities for mentally and physically disadvantaged adults. There have been

very few studies of women's education in Manchester with the exception of Mabel

14 For example. see W. B. Stephens:Adult Education and SociqV in an Industrial Town: Warrington
1800-1900 (Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1980)-, Thomas Kelly: Adult Education in Liverpool: A
narrative of two hundred. vears (Liverpool: Department of Extra-Mural Studies of the University of
Liverpool. 1960). William Devereux: Adult Education in Inner London, 1870-1980 (London: Shepheard-
Waiw-vn in collaboration with Inner London Education Authoritv), John Burrows- Universitv Adult
Education in London: A Centurv ofA chievement (London: Univers1tv of London. 1976).

418
Tylecote's work on the education of women at Manchester University. " Asurveyonthe

developmentof girls' and women'sclubs in Manchesterwould be a most useful addition to

the literature and would complement R. Jones's study of the Lads' Club movement in the

16
City. There is little published material on education for mentally and physically
disadvantagedadults, althoughone or two items havebeenincluded in the bibliographyto

this thesis. The assessmentof the educational contfibution of the leamed societies in
Manchesteralso requires further research. Histories of individual societiesexist, but so

far no attempt hasbeenmadeat a detailed survey of the most prominent onesto compare

the activities undertakenby eachand to ascertainthe extent to which they had a common

membership.

Several suggestions for further research emerge from this thesis. An obvious one would

take the development of adult education in Manchester from 1914 to the present. The

uneven quality of the essays from Artisaii to Graduate would seem to necessitate a

scholarly study of the Manchester Municipal College of Technology through to its

recognition as the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and up

to the present. Many of the histories of Manchester colleges were written to celebrate

jubilees and were published as brief souvenirs. These deserve careful and scholarly

analysis so that gradually a complete picture of adult education provision in Manchester

emerges. The developmentof teachertraining in Manchestermerits further research,and

in view of the reductions of the State provision in adult education over the past fifteen

years a renewed examination of the educational work of the city's voluntary agencies

would seem to be both timely and entirely appropriate.

Today there is still need for voluntary organisationsto undertake responsibility for the

provision of adult education facilities as there has always been. The conclusion to the

15 See M. Tylecote: The education of Women at Manchester UniversitY, 1833-1933 (Manchester:

Manchester University Press. 1941).

16 R. Jones: The Lads' Club Afovement in Alanchester to 1914 (unpublished M. Ed. dissertation,
University of Manchester. 1986).

419
chapter on voluntary organisationsand adult education in the Final Report of 1919 has a
timeless quality which brings forward echoes over seventy-five years-

11 as the appetite for knowledge grows amongst adults, the voluntary

......
organisationwill find itself, not with a narrowed area of activity, but with a wider
field of service before it. Voluntary agenciesmust, therefore, be regarded as an
integral part of the fabric of national education, in order to give spontaneityand
variety to the work and to keep organised educationalfacilities responsiveto the
ever-wideningneedsof the human rnindand spirit.1117

17 Ministry of Reconstruction, op.cit., p. 116.

420
 APPENDIX A

HEATON

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1890

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WYTHENNSSHHAAWWEE OrigincaTownsruo
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1199331
41 f 690

1904
i909
0 1913
4. 1931
I? A% -r
City BounciaN

Extensions to the Manchester city boundary,

1838 - 1938

421
 APPENDIX B

Biouaphical Notes

Samuel A Barnett (1844-1913) Following his graduation from Oxford University in

1865, Barnett spent two years teaching before being ordained as a priest in 1868. In the
following year he founded with the assistance of Octavia Hill the Charity Organization
society. Marrying Henrietta Rowland in 1873, he accepted the living at St. Jude's,
Whitechapel, in the same year. His experience in the East End of London enabled him in
1883 to suggest ways to a group of Oxford undergraduates as to how they might usefully
serve in London's East End. In November 1883 he presented at St. John's College,
Oxford, his paper on Settlements of University Men in Great Towns in which was
contained many of the ideas which led to the establishment in Whitechapel of Toynbee
Hall some months later. Barnett was appointed as the settlement's first warden, a position
he held until 1896. He resigned from St. Jude's in 1893 on being appointed as a canon of
Bristol Cathedral, and in 1906 was appointed Canon of Westminster.

D. H. S. Cranage (1866-1957) On graduation from Cambridge University in 1890,

Cranage was appointed in the following year as an extension lecturer for the Local
Lectures Syndicate at Cambridge. Ordained in 1897, he was a curate on a part-time basis
for five years at Wenlock, in Shropshire, before succeeding R. D. Roberts in 1902 as
Lecture Secretary to the Local Lectures Syndicate at Cambridge. Cranage remained in
charge of the university's extra-mural work until 1929, and unlike J. A. R. Marriott, his
counterpart at Oxford, negotiated skilfully with the Worker's Educational Association and
the other university extension lecture societies to avoid friction in the Cambridge centres.
In 1928 he retired from adult education work at Cambridge, having accepted an
appointment as Dean of Norwich.

Rowland Detrosier (1800-1834) An autodidact who was a successful lecturer in the

Manchester area, Detrosier featured prominently in the establishment of the New
Mechanics' Institution in Manchester in 1829 as a result of the dissatisfaction expressedby
workers about the lack of democracy in the organisation of the Manchester Mechanics'
Institution. The new venture lost much of its impetus in 1831 with Detrosier's departure
to London to become secretary to the National Political Union. The Union ceased
operation on the passing of the 1832 Reform Act, and Detrosier returned to Manchester
to earn his living as a lecturer. In this he was unsuccessful and took an appointment in
charge of a New Mechanical Hall of Science in Finsbury.

Frederick Engels (1820-1895) lived in Manchester from August 1844 to November

1845 and from 1850 to 1870, and wrote "The condition of the working classes in
England", one of the most significant works on British sciety.

William Fairbairn was an engineer who came to Manchester in 1817. He was a

member of the Manchester Geological Society and a vice-president and president (1855-
1860) of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.

William Gaskell (1805-1884), a Unitarian minister who taught at the Manchester New
College from 1840 to 1853 and at the Manchester Working Man's College in the late

422
1850s. He taught at the Unitarian Home Missionary Board from its inception in 1854,
and was a vice-president of the Manchester Literary and Philospohical Society.

Robert Halstead (1858-1930) A genuine worker-scholar, Halstead for many years

attended evening classes and Oxford University extension lectures in Todmorden and
Hebden Bridge. Employed as a weaver by the Hebden Bridge Fustian Co- operative
Manufacturing Society, Halstead lectured for the co-operative movement in Lancashire
and Yorkshire and contributed articles to its journals. In 1903 he wrote to the University
Extension Journal in support of articles by Albert Mansbridge which were to lead to the
founding of the W. E. A. In 1900 Halstead moved to Leicester to become the secretary of
the Co-operative Productive Federation, bur retained a strong interest in adult education
work.

P Hartog served as secretary of the Victoria University Extension Movement from 1895
to 1903 and was a main sustaining influence behind Manchester Ruskin Hall. In 1903 he
became academic registrar at London University.

Benjamin Heywood (1793-1859) was a Manchester banker. He was the first president
of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution (1824-1840); of the Manchester Statistical
Society (1833-1834); treasurer of the Manchetser Literary and Philosophical Society; and
founded in 1836 the Miles Platting Mechanics' Institution.

Oliver Heywood was the son of Benjamin Heywood and was involved in many
Manchester cultural, educational and other voluntary activities.

Albert Mansbridge (1876-1952) Mansbridge attended evening classes and university

extension lectures before joining the Co-operative Wholesale Society as a clerk in 1896.
He studied and later taught at the co-operative evening classes. Actively concerned with
co-operative education, in 1903 he wrote a series of articles for the University Extension
Journal which considered a form of educational co-operation between the trades union
movement, the university extensionists and the co-operators. The result was the W. E. A.,
which aimed to from links between the university extension movement and the working
class. The W. E. A. developed rapidly, placing much extra work on Mansbridge who had
been the general secretary of the Association since its inception. He resigned in 1915
owing to ill-health, but in the inter-war years founded several organisations connected
with adult education: the World Association for Adult Education (1919) which he chaired
from 1919- 1929; the Seafarer's Education Service (1919); and the British Institute of
Adult Education (1921), of which he was chairman from 1921 to 1940. However, his
main achievement remained the development of the W. E. A. and the tutorial class
movement.

I A. R. Marriott (1859-1945) Marriott lectured for the Oxford University Extension

Delagacy from 1886 before succeeding Michael Sadler as its secretary in 1895, a position
he held until 1921. His determination to establish Oxford as the foremost influence in the
university extension movement led to friction with both London and the Victoria
Universities. Attempting to guide the newly created W. E. A. movement in such a way as
to retain the Oxford Delagacy's influence, Marriott was outmanoeuvred by Mansbridge
and subsequently lost much of his status in the adult education movement. He became a
Conservative M. P. for Oxford in 1917 and for York from 1924 for six years.

423
F. D. Maurice (1805-1872) Ordained in the Church of England in 1834, Maurice was
appointed as professor of English literature and history at King's College in 1840 and
became professor of divinity at Lincoln's Inn in 1846. In 1848, with Charles Kingsley
and
J. M. Ludlow, he founded the Christian Socialist movement. Its lack of success, partly
because of the poor education of many of its members, led Maurice and his colleagues to
believe that their efforts might be better directed in forryfing a college for working men
similar to the People's College in Sheffield. The idea of a resitial college for working
men was successful. Maurice felt the collegiate experience was beneficial to the students
and considered that the experiences gained by students who had worked for their living
rather than coming directly following their school years was not only useful but necessary
to the distinctive approach of the College. The successful establishment of the London
Working Men's College led to the creation of several provincial ones organised along
similar lines, but most of them were of short duration and did not achieve the successof
the London institution.

John Owens (1790-1846) bequeathed L96,000 for an institution to be founded within

two miles of the city centre for the instruction of young men in branches of learning and
science and subjects which would usually be taught at universities.

J. H. Reynolds (1842-1927) was appointed as secretary to the Manchester Mechanics'

Institution in 1879. From 1890 he served as secretary to the city's technical instruction
committee. With C. H. Wyatt he was appointed as Joint Director of Education for
Manchester in 1902.

H. E. Roscoe was appointed as Professor of Chemistry at Owens College in 1857. He

was particularly interested in taking the university out to the community and in the 1860s
and 1870s gave a series of science lectures to the people.

John Ruskin (1819-1901) was an influential writer on art, architecture and social and
political problems whose interest in adult education was strengthened by his time as a
tutor at the London Working Men's College. In 1877 he gave encouragement to T. C.
Horsfall's art museum venture.

Michael E. Sadler (1861-1943) Born in Barnsley, Sadler studied at Oxford University

and became secretary of the Oxford University Extension Delagacy in 1886. He was a
member of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education from 1893 to 1895 and
worked as Director of Special Inquiries and Reports in the Education Department from
1895 to 1903. He accepted an appointment as Professor of History and Education at
Manchester University before becoming vice-chancellor of Leeds University in 1911, a
post he retained for twelve years. Keenly interested in adult education, he wrote (with H.
J. Mackinder) a significant work on the university extension movement in 1891 and edited
and contributed extensively to an authoritative volume on the evening continuation school
system.

G. W. Hudson Shaw (1859-1944) Bom in Leeds, Hudson Shaw graduated from Oxford
University in 1883. His most significant contribution to adult education work came as a
noted lecturer with the Oxford University extension lecture scheme. He was extremely
able and popular, especially with working-class audiences in Lancashire and Yorkshire,
and lectured successfully on many occasions at Ancoats. He worked as a university
extension lecturer from 1886-1913 to supplement the meagre income he received as a
clergyman, but in 1912 the appointment to a well-paid living in London enabled him to

424
give up his lecturing. Deeply interested in adult educationfor the working class,he was a
supporter of the W. E. A. and devoted time to
and energy other causesalso, including the
ordination of women in the Church of England.

JR Kay-Shuttleworth was a Manchesterdoctor who submitted a report on the Moral

and Physical Condition of the Working Classesin 1832. He was a founder memberof the
Manchester and Salford District Provident Society in 1833 and prepared a further
comparativereport on education in 1862.

Samuel Smiles (1812-1904) graduatedin medicineat Edinburgh University and practised

in Edinburgh for severalyears before turning to journalism. His most notable work was
his volume on Self-Help, published in 1859, which gave numerousexamplesof success
being achievedthrough individual effort by the application of suchqualities as persistence,
determination,punctuality, hard work and thrift.

James Stuart (1843-1913) Stuart is noted particularly as the founder of the university
extension movement in 1873. In the late 1860s he had lectured extensively for working
men's institutions and ladies' educational associations in the north of England, and
encouraged by the response to his lectures set out to organise courses of lectures in towns
and cities throughout the country given by himself and his colleagues at Cambridge
University. After persistent pressure, a Local Lectures Syndicate was established at
Cambridge in 1873 with Stuart as its secretary, a post he held until 1876, giving it up on
his appointment as Professor of Mechanism at Cambridge University. From 1884 to 1900
and again from 1906 to 1910 he represented constituencies as a Liberal M. P. In 1889 he
married Laura Colman and managed the family mustard factory at Norwich from 1898
following the death of his father-in-law. He remained a keen advocate of university
extension for the rest of his life.

C. H. Wyatt (1849-1913) became associated with Manchester educational work in 1871

as clerk to the Manchester School Board. Following the passing of the Education Act in
1907, he became joint Director of Elementary Education for the city and was apointed
sole director on I H. Reynolds' retirement in 1912.

Basil Yeaxlee was a memberof the Commissionwhich producedthe Final Report to the
Ministry of ReconstructionAdult Education Committeein 1915.

425
 APPENDIX C

Manchester New College 1840 - 1853

1
Members Of Staff

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC DEPARTMENT

Member of Staff SubjectsTaught Date of Date of

Joinin Leaving

F. W. Newman Greek, Latin, English Grammar 1840 1846

Robert Finlay Mathematics & Natural Philosophy 1840 1853

Montague L. Phillips Physical Science& Natural History 1840 1843

Rev. John Kenrick History (Ancient and Modern) 1840 1850

Rev. JamesMartineau Mental & Moral Philosophy & 1840 1885

Political Economy

F. E. Vembergue French Language& Literature 1841 1850

Dr. Bernstein German 1841 1845

Edward Sang Civil Engineering Feb. 1842 1842

Rev. William Gaskell English History, Literature & 1846 1853

Composition

EddowesBowman Greek & Latin Classics, & 1846 1853

Greek & Roman History

426
 THEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT

Member of Staff SubjectsTaugh Date of Date of

Joi"n Leavinp-

Rev. Robert Wallace Critical & Exegetical Theology, 1840 1846

Biblical Archaeology, & the Evidences
of Natural & RevealedReligion.

Rev. J. G. Robberds Pastoral Theology, & the Hebrew, 1840 1852

Chaldee& Syriac Languages.

Rev. J. J. Tayler EcclesiasticalHistory 1840 1869

Rev. G. Vance Smith Critical & Exegetical Theology, 1846 After

Biblical Archaeology, the Evidencesof 1856
Natural & RevealedReligion, & the
Hebrew, Chaldee& Syriac Languages.

The Revs. J. Martineau, J. J. Tayler and G. Vance Smith transferred with the College
it
when moved to London in 1853.

2 Numbers Of Students

Session Divinity Lay Occasional Civil

Students Students Students Engineedng

1840- 1841 11 17
1841 - 1842 8 7 9 7
1842- 1843 8 8 10
1843- 1844 8 12
1844- 1845 13 7
1845- 1846 12 8
1846- 1847 10 9
1847- 1848 13 10
1848- 1849 7 6
1849- 1850 7 5 unspecified number
1850- 1851 8 8
1851 - 1852 5 6
1852- 1853 7 4

The College ceasedto take lay studentsfollowing the move to London in 1853.

427
 Principals of the College 1840 - 1885

1840- 1846 Rev Robert Wallace

1846- 1850 Rev John Kenrick
1850- 1853 Rev George Vance Smith
1853- 1869 Rev John James Tayler
1869- 1885 Rev James Martineau

4 Presidents of the CoBege1840 -1853

1840- 1842 Sir Benjamin Heywood, Bart.

1842- 1846 Mark Philips
1846- 1848 Thomas W. Tottie
1848- 1853 Robert Philips

5 Chairmen of Committee 1840 - 1853

1840 - 1852 J. Aspinall Turner

1852 - 1853 Robert NeedhamPhilips

The Rev William Gaskell became the chairman of committee when the College moved
to London in 1853.

428
 APPENDIX D

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429
 APPENDIX E

Table showdistribution of Adult Schools in Great Britain in 1914

UNIONS No. of Schools Membership Avg. Attend.
(M = men; W= women) M W Mixed M W M W
Bath & Wilts. 16 8 3 367 236 192 138
Beds, Bucks & Herts 33 28 3 1,422 1,542 821 794
Berks & S.Oxen. 13 12 3 539 543 350 370
Bristol 46 25 2,038 908 1,240 570
-
Cornwall 6 3 555 128 260 61
Devon 8 6 1 254 167 134 94
Dorset & W. Hants 15 15 393 648 268 378
-
Durham South 11 6 4 533 218 312 131
Essex & Suffolk 16 12 1 429 448 301 304
Gloucester & S.Worcs 8 3 1 187 119 136 67
Hants 8 9 193 292 100 159
-
Hereford & Radnor 6 6 1 594 383 344 214
Kent 37 43 3 1,381 2,173 701 1,195
Lancs & Cheshire 51 31 5 1,204 940 649 489
Leicestershire 86 52 4,627 2,372 2,972 1,537
-
Lincolnshire 14 11 683 747 357 351
-
London 95 66 7 2,732 2,848 1,710 1,674
Midland 195 81 11,391 4,476 7,068 2,899
-
Norfolk 52 33 6 2,581 1,648 1,810 1,100
Northants 30 32 3 1,269 1,704 749 999
Notts 26 17 1 1,417 1,088 943 652
Scottish 5 3 2 290 259 159 140
Somerset 25 17 1 766 730 452 425
Surrey 33 24 1,572 1,222 914 589
-
Sussex 6 7 - 93 268 62 145
Tees-side 6 5 3 227 292 109 148
Tyne & Wearside 22 16 - 818 980 453 527
Wales,S & Mon. 10 3 - 175 50 100 30
Yorkshire 170 136 8 7,687 5,897 3,900 3,084
Overseasschools 27 4 9 680 175 415 114
Unaffiliated schools 9 7 2 419 358 248 225
=19,718
TOTALI 1,0851 7211 671 47,5261 33,8541 28,2591
This table appearson page 212 of the Ministry of Reconstruction: Adult Education Committee:
Final Report (London, H. M. S.O., 1919)

430
 APPENDIX F

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433
 APPENDIEK G

Membership and attendance rigaures for the Friends' Adult Schools

in Manchester in 1912 and 1914

For the year ended 30th September 1912

Byrom Street Adult School
Number on books 108 (men 63; women 45).
Average attendance62.

Byrom Street Junior School

'D-
Average attendance Boys 22; girls 19; infants 13.

Byrom Street Mission

Sundays at 7.00 pm. Average attendance50
Mondays at 8.00 pm. Average attendance20-24
(Meeting for young people)
Tuesdays at 8.00 pm. Average attendance30-40.

West Gorton Adult And Junior Schools No details given.

Lonasiaht Women's Schools

Number on register 50. Average attendance38.

2. For the year ended 30th September 1914

Byrom Street Adult School
Number on books 99 (men 55; women 44).
Average attendance 60 (men 35; women 25).

Byrom Street Junior School

Average attendance: Boys 16; girls 19; infants 12.

Byrom Street Mission

Sundays at 7.00 pm. Average attendance 55-60.
Monday evenings Figures not given.
(Meeting for young people)
Tuesday evenings Figures not given.

West Gorton and Children's (Junior) Schools

West Gorton Men's School No figures gten.
West Gorton Women's School Average attendance18
West Gorton Children's School Average attendMce 56
(for the year ended 28.12.13).

Longsight Women's School

Average weekly attendance39

Figures taken from reports of the work of the Friends' Schools in the Manchester District for the years
ending 30th September 1912 and 30th September 1914

434
 APPENDIX H

0.0 m Manchester from 1852 1914

Development of public libra! ry provision -

The main lending and reference library was opened in Deansgateon 6th September
1852. Three libraries, at Moss Side, Gorton and Levenshulme, were in existenceat
the time these districts were assimilated into the city of Manchester, at which time the
responsibility for the libraries was taken over by the ManchesterCity Council.

Date of Commencement
Branch Libraa
or Incorpgration

Hulme 23 November 1857

Ancoats 4 December 1857
RochdaleRoad 4 June 1860
Chorlton-on-Medlock 8 October 1860

Cheetham 29 January 1872

Bradford 8 February 1887
Harpurhey 9 February 1887
Hyde Road 7 May 1888
Newton Heath 28 September1891

Rusholme 30 April 1892

Longsight 23 July 1892
ChesterRoad 31 March 1894
West Gorton 5 May 1894
Openshaw 7 July 1894

Crumpsall 6 September1897
Moston 5 February 1898
Blackley 10 October 1901
Moss Side 9 Novemeber 1904
Chorlton-cum-Hardy 23 November 1908

Didsbury 7 December 1908

East Gorton 9 November 1909
Levenshulme 9 November 1909
Withington 13 October 1911

Figures taken from the relevant annual reports of the Public Free Libraries Committee.

435
 ApPENDIX I

Number of times persons have use the News Room during two weeks -
one in Februarv 1905 and one in Auggst 1905 -
and the actual number of visitors on Sundays throughout the year

Daily Average Actual Number of

February August Visitors on Sunday
Branch Libraries
Ancoats 646 631 212
Blackley 315 213 163
Cheetham 1269 134 327
Chorlton 1575 1207 388

Deansgate 1740 1333 368

Gorton 806 658 211
Hulme 1473 1232 419
Longsight 716 613 282
Moss Side 820 527

Moston 281 211

Newton Heath 451 392 154
Openshaw 749 513 177
Rochdale Road 1087 777 414
Rusholme 681 625 229

Readinp-Rooms
Bradford 272 280 62
ChesterRoad 904 744 218
Crumpsall 286 143 83
Harpurhey 647 568 202
Hyde Road 763 710 205

436
 APPENDIX J

Increase in the Number of Volumes in the Libraries since their foundation

Lending Librajy
Year ReferenceLibrary Total
and Reading
Rooms

1852-53 15 744 79195 22,939

1856-57 25,858 10,029 35,887
1861-62 31,604 28743 60,347
1866-67 39,264 44,705 83,969

1871-72 46,614 72,462 119076

1876-77 56,480 80,291 1379401
1881-82 70,320 90449 1609769
1886-87 84,064 101,955 186,019
1891-92 97739 127,919 2259658

1896-97 1109358 1619500 271858

1899-1900 1219445 163,864 285,309
1903-04 1399458 200,984 340442
1908-09 161994 225,930 387,924
1913-14 1849724 259455 444J79

* Excluding the Greenwoodand Henry Watson libraries, private collections donated to

the City of Manchester. The Henry Watson Music Library had been presented in 1900
that it remained in the possession of the owner until his death. The
on condition
Thomas Greenwood Library on librarianship and related subjects was presented in
1904. He also left f-5,000 for the maintenanceof this library. See Thomas Kelly: A
History of Public Libraries in Great Britain (London: The Library Association, 1973),
p. 139.

Figures taken from the relevant annual reports of the Public Free Libraries Committee.

437
 APPENDIX K

Number of Borrowers' Cards in force

at 5th September 1904 and 5th September 1905

Librarv Borrowers' Cards in Force

5.9.04 5.9.05

Ancoats 5293 4655

Blackley 3905 3093
Cheetham 5570 5769
Chorlton 44119 4278

Deansgate. 5235 5364

Gorton 2743 2822
Hulme 6631 6719
Longsight 5279 5119
Moss Side 1753
-

Moston 701 795

Newton Heath 1719 1963
Openshaw 3932 4622
RochdaleRoad 5328 5568
Rusholme 3864 4285

Statistics taken from the Public Free Libraries Committee annual report for the year
ending 5th September 1905.

438
 APPENDIEKL

DIAGRAM

ILLUSTRATING THE GRADED SYTEM OF COURSES OF INSTRUCTION

ADAPTED TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF
STUDENTS INTHE MANCHESTER EVENING SCHOOLS.

GRADE III. - CENTRAL INSTITUTIONS.

MUNICIPAL MUNICIPAL MUNICIPAL

SCHOOL OF SCHOOL OF SCHOOL OF
MUNICIPAL
TECHNOLOGY COMMERCE DOMESTIC
SCHOOL OF ART
AND LANGUAGES ECONOMY AND
COOKERY.

Specialised Instruc- Specialised Instruc- Sprcialised Instru- Specialised Instruc-

tion in Science and tion in Commercial tion in Art and Design. tion in Domestic
Technology. Subjects and in Subjects.
Languages, [Day classesonly. ]

GRADE 11. - BRANCH TECHNICAL SCHOOLS, BRANCH COMMERCIAL SCHOOLS,

BRANCH ART CLASSES, AND EVENING SCHOOLS OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

SECOND, THIRD SECOND, THIRD FIRST AND SECOND SPECIALISED IN-

AND FOURTH YEAR AND YEAR ART COURSES, STRUCTION IN DOMES-
TECHNICAL COURSES, FOURTH YEAR COM- leading SUBJECTS for
up to the TIC
to the MERCIAL COURSES, to instruction Women
meet require- at the and Girls over
ments of all classes of meet the require- Municipal School 16 years of age.
of
Technial Students. ments of Juniors in Art.
business houses.

GRADE I- EVENING CONTINUATION SCHOOLS

FIRST AND SECOND YEAR FIRST

AND SECOND YEAR FIRST AND SECOND YEAR
TECHNICAL COURSES, for COMMERCIAL COURSES. for DOMESTIC COURSES for Girls
Boys engaged in manual Boys and Girls engaged in desirous of receiving a
occupations. commercial or distributive training in domestic sub-
occupations. jects

PREPARATORY COURSE.
For Boys and Girls who desire to improve their general education or who are not
sufficiently prepared to take advantageof the above Courses.
Annual Report of the Education Committee of the Manchester City Council for the year ending
October 1907
439
 APPENDIX M

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Section A PRIMARY SOURCES

Government Publications, Reports, Etc.

Adult Education Committee: Adult Education and the Local Education Authority
Paper No. H(London, H.M. S.O., 1933).

Board of Education: Report of the Consultative Committeeon Attendance,compulsory

or otherwise, at Continuation Schools. Volume 2: Summariesof Evidence (London-
H.M. S.O., 1909, Cd.4758).

Board of Education: Report on Adult Education in Lancashire and Cheshirefor the

period ending July 31st, 1928. Educational Pamphlets, No. 73 (London- H.M. S.O.,
1929).

Ministry of Reconstruction. Adult Education Committee: Final Report (London-

H.M. S.O., 1919).

Royal Commission on Technical Instruction: Second Report of the Royal

Commissioners on Technical Instruction: Volume I (London: Eyre and Spottiswode,
1884).

2. Local zovernment publications (Manchester City Council)- annual reports, etc.

Proceedings of the City Council of Manchester 1842 - 1914 - including the annual
reports of the Comn-ktee for General Purposes; the Art Gallery Committee; the Public
Free Libraries Committee (1853 - 1913); and the City of Manchester School Board, the
Technical Instruction Committee of the City Council of Manchester, and the Education
Committee of the City Council of Manchester (1871 - 1913).

City of Manchester School Board:

1) General Reports (triennial), 1873 - 1900, continued as Manchester Education
Committee Reports 1903 - 1904 to 1911 -1912.
2) Cookery Classes: day and evening schools: recipes used at the classes (1891
pamphlet)
3) Evening continuation schools (1896 pamphlet)
4) Official Manual 1899 (Manchester, 1899).

Report of Special Committee to carry out the provisions of the TechnicalInstruction

Act 1889 (dated 25th June 1891), approvedat the council meetingof I st July 1891.

3. Annual reports, minutes, programmes, prosnectuses, etc. of a2encies providing

adult education and recreation in Manchester and Salford.

1. Ancoats Recreation Movement

Programmes of the Autumn and Winter Work of the Ancoats Recreation Committee,
(1901,1902,1907 - 1914), including annual reports.

Ancoats Recreation Brotherhood Programmes, 1909 - 1914.

446
2. Cav -,ndish Theoloizical College. Manchester (1860 - 1863)
Cavendish Theoligical College, Manchester, prospectus. (n. d., probably 1860)

Annual reports of the Cavendish Theological College, Manchester, for the Education of
Home and Foreign Missionaries, Pastors, and Evangelists, 1861 and 1862.

Letter dated 17th February 1862 from the Cavendish Theological College, Manchester,
outlining the purposes of the college.

Letter dated 26th May 1863 from the CavbendishTheological College, Manchester,
concerning the permanent establishment of the college and considering suitable
locations.

3. Cavendish Literary Societ_

Programme 1864 - 1865.

4. Collyhurst Recreation Rooms

Annual Reports 1892 - 1914.

5. Manchester and Salford Recreative Evening ClassesCommittee

Annual reports, 1888 - 1914.

6. Manchester and Salford Women's College 1877 - 1883

Manchester and Salford Women's College: Draft Scheme(1877).

7. Manchester and Salford Working Men's Clubs Association

Annual reports from 1883 - 1884 onwards.

8. Manchester (Ancoats) Art Museum

Annual reports 1899 - 1900.
Manchester Art Museum and University Settlement annual reports, 1908 - 1914.

Memorandum of agreement made 4th May 1897 between the Committee of the
Manchester Art Museum and the Council of the University Settlement, Manchester.

9. Manchester Athenaeum
Report of the Provisional Directors of the Athenaeum and Proceedings of the First
Annual Meeting, 25th January 1837.

10. ManchesterColleae of Arts and Sciences

Prospectus of the College of Arts and Sciences,Instituted at Manchester, June 6th
1783 (Manchester,9th July 1783).

11. Manchester rChurch of England] Diocesan Board of Education (estab. 1879)

First annual report of the Manchester Diocesan Board of Education (Manchester,
1871).

12. ManchesterMechanics'Institution
Annual reports.
John Davies: An Appeal to the Public in behaf of the Manchester Mechanics'

447
Institution, Cooper Street (Manchester, 1831).

13. Manchester Hall of Science

R. Detrosier: An address on the Advantages of the Intended Mechanics' Hall of
Science [delivered at the New Mechanics' Institution on Saturday 31st December 1831
(Manchester, 1832).

14. Manchester New College

Annual Reports 1841 1854.
-
Notice convening a meeting for the establishment of Manchester New College,
22nd February 1786.

15. Manchester New Mechanics' Institution

R. Detrosier: An Address Delivered at the New Mechanics'Institution (Manchester: T.
Forrest, 1829).

16. Manchester Ruskin Hall

Undated draft of the origins of Manchester Ruskin Hall by P. J. Hartog.

Letter from T. R. Marr (Joint Warden of the university settlement) to Philip Hartog
(honorary secretary to the committee at Manchester Ruskin Hall), 26th January 1903,
warning of the precarious situation of the enterprise.

17. Manchester Statistical SocLety

Manchester Statistical Society: Report of a committee of the Manchester Statistical
Society on the State of Education in the Borough of Manchester in 1834 (London:
James Ridgway and Son Ltd., 183 5).

18. Manchester University Settlement, Ancoats

Annual reports 1897 - 1900.

Manchester Art Museum and University Settlement annual reports, 1908 - 1914.

Memorandum and agreement made 4th May 1897 between the Committee of the
Manchester Art Museum and the Council of the University Settlement Manchester.

19. Manchester University Tutorial Classes

Conference of Representatives of Working Class Organisations and members of the
University on the Formation of Tutorial Classes for Working People (26th April 1908
and 24th May 1909).

The Victoria University of Manchester: Regular Courses of Instruction for

WorApeople. Prospectus of Pioneer University Extension Lectures and Tutorial
Classes drawn up by a Joint Committee Representing the University and
Organisations of WorApeople QI.d., probably 1909).

Annual reports 1909 - 1910 to 1913 - 1914.

Reports of meetings of the Joint University Tutorial Classes Committee (universities of

Belfast, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Wales), January and May 1914.

448
20. ManchesterWorking Man's College
First circular of the Manchester Working Man's College (n.d., probably December
1857 or early January1858).

Scrapbook of I H. Nodal, secretary of the Manchester Working Man's College.

Annual reports of the Manchester Working Man's College, January 1859 and July
1860.

Prospectus of the Manchester Working Man's College for the third term, 1860.

21. ManchesterYounp,Men's Christian Association

The YMCA. Bee-hive (later the Manchester Monthly), the monthly journal of the
ManchesterY. M. C.A. (1882 onwards).

Annual reports 1848 - 1856,1873 - 1914.

22. Mather and Platt Ltd., Salford

"The Apprectices Inprovement Society". Rules, and minutes of meetings from
16th November 1866to I Ith December1868.

23. Mss/ion to the Ancoats Mill Girls (known from 1886 as the Manchester Mill
and Working Girls' Society)
Annual reports 1872 - 1893.

24. Owens Colle%ze

Calendar for session 1862 - 1863.

25. Salford rRoman Catholicl Diocesan Archives

Almanacs for the Diocese of Salford 1877 - 1915.

Salford and Manchester Catholic Continuation Schools: information about the Night
Classesfor Instruction in Languages,Science,Art and Businessfor YoungMen and
Boys who have left Day Schools [issued on 26th September 1889 from St. Bede's
College, Manchester, by L. C. Casartelli (Secretary) and John O'Dea (Assistant
Secretary)].

Letter from Herbert Vaughan, Bishop of Salford, to Catholic Clergy in the Diocese of
Salford, 21st September 1889.

Letter from Herbert Vaughan, St. Bede's College, 24th March 1910. Proposal for the
formation of a Christian Arts and Crafts SchooL

Letter from Herbert Vaughan, Bishop of Salford, to all clegy in the Diocese,
29thAugust 1890, concerning-the Christian Arts and Crafts School, Dover Street,
Manchester.

Advent Circular 1891 to diocesan clegy from Herbert Vaughan, Bishop of Salford,
21st November 1891, concerninghigher grade education.

449
 26. Manchester Adult Schools
One andAll [the National Adult School Organisation].
journal of the
Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire Supplements to One and All.

Manchester and District Supplement to One and All, 1908 1910 and 1912.
-
Annual reports of the Manchester District Adult School Union for 1908,1911,1912
and 1914.

27. Victoria University Extension Lectures

7
University Extension Lectures: The Lancashire and Chesr Association. The Extension
of University Teaching. First Report, 1891 - 1892

MemorandafOr the use of local committeesand of others engagedin the organisation

of University Extension Teaching(Manchester,1891).

Annual reports of the Victoria University Extension Committees for 1894 1902.
-
Reports of the Victoria University Extension (Local Lectures) Committee (Withington
Centre), 1885 1886.
-

Memorandum Addressed to the Delegates of Local Examinations of the University of

Oxford by the Local Lectures Committee of the General Board of Studies of the
Victoria University (March 1890).

Memorandum Addressed to the Local Lectures Committee of the General Board of

Studies of the Victoria University, by the Committee of Delegates of Local
Examinations appointed by the University of Oxford to carry into effect the statute "for
the establishment of lectures and teaching in large towns" (1890).

Openshaw Science Lectures Committee Reports of 1890 and 1892.

-

A. Milnes Marshall, secretary to the Victoria University Extension Committee:

Memorandum Concerning the mode of working and the financial position of the
University Extension Movement (February 1891).

28
Annual reports 1910 - 1911,1911 - 1912, and 1914.

4. Correspondence and 12ublications from agencies Providing adult education and

recreation in areas other than Manchester and Salford.

a. The National Adult School Organisation (formerly Ihe National Adult School
Union
One and All (the journal of the National Adult School Organisation).

b. Oxford and Working-class Education

Oxford and Working-class Education: Being the Report of a Joint Committee of
University and Working-classRepresentativeson the Relation of the University to the
Higher Education of Workpeople(Oxford- ClarendonPress, 1909,secondedition).

450
c. Ruskin Hall Oxford
Ruskin Hall News and Students'Magazine.
The University ExtensionJournal 1895 onwards.

d. University Extensjon Lectures

Technical Instruction Conunittee (The County Council for the County Palatine of
Lancaster, County Offices, Preston): Grants in Aid of University Extension Lectures
(June 1893) application form and explanatory notes.
-

e. The Young Men's Christian Association

The Quarterly Messenger of the Young Men's Christian Associations (1863 onwards),
which in 1875 became The Young Men's Magazine monthly record of the
-A
YM C.As. In 1884 the periodical changed its name to The Allonthly Review and Young
Men's Christian Journal; in 1907 it became The British and Colonial YM. CA. Review
and Foreign Letter, and ten years later altered its title to The Red Triangle, which was
a monthly magazine published by the British National Council of Y. M. C.As.

Contemporarv observations.

L. D. Bradshaw (ed.): Visitors to Manchester: A Selection of British and Foreign

Visitors' Descriptions of Manchesterfrom c. 1538 to 1865 (Swinton: Neil Richardson,
1987).

R. de Tocqueville (trans. G. Lawrence and K. P. Mayer): Journeys to England and

Ireland (London: Faber and Faber, 1958).

F. Engels: The Condition of the Working Class in England (St. Albans: Panther Books
Ltd, 1976 edition). First published in Britain in 1892.

L. Faucher: Manchester in 1844: its present condition andfuture prospects (London:

Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; Manchester. Abel Heywood, 1844).

J. P. Kay-Shuttleworth: The Moral and Physical Condition of the working classes

employed in the cotton manufacture of Manchester (London: Frank Cass, 1970). First
in
published 1832.

A. B. Reach: Manchester and the Textile Districts in 1849 (ed. C. Aspin). (Helmshore-
Helmshore Local History Society, 1972).

Manchester Statistical Society: Report of a committee of the Manchester Statistical

Society on the State of Education in the Borough of Manchester in 1834 (London-.
James Ridgway and Son Ltd., 1835).

451
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

SECONDARY SOURCES

1. BOOKS

al Contemnorarv writings (pre 1915)

REV. E. ATKINS: The Vaughan Working Men's College, Leicester 1862 (London
-1912
and Leicester: Adams Bros. and Shardlow Ltd., 1912).

W. E. A. AXON: 7he Annals ofManchester (London: John Heywood, 1886).

W. E. A. AXON: Handbook of the Public Libraries of Manchester and Satford

(Manchester:Abel Heywood and Son; London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1877).

J. S. BUCKLEY: The History of Birch-in-Rusholme (Manchester: Sherratt and Hughes,

1910).

W. V. BURGESS: 1857 - 1907. A Brief Reminiscent Survey of the Founding and

Subsequent Half-Century's History of Chorlton Road Congrgalional Sunday School,
Manchester (Manchester and London: Sherratt and Hughes, 1908).

S. A. BURSTALL: The Story of the Manchester High School for Girls 1871 1911
-
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1911).

R. D. CLARK: Narrative of Messrs Moody and Sankey's Labors in Scotland and

IrelanJ also in Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham, England (New York: Anson D.
F. Randolph and Co., 1875).

R. D. CLARK: The Work of God in Great Britain under Messrs Moody and Sankey 1873
to 1875 (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1875).

C. H. CREASEY: TechnicalEducation in Evening Schools(London: Swan Sonnenschein

and Co. Ltd., 1905).

W. R. CREDLAND: TheManchester Public Free Libraries: A history and description,

and guide to their contents and use (Manchester: The Public Free Libraries Committee,
1899).

RIEV. J. L. DAVIIES: The Working Men's College 1854 - 1904 (London: Macmillan,
1904).

I W. DIGGLE: The Lancashire Life of Bishop Fraser (London. Sampson, Low,

Marston, Searleand Rivington Lt&., 1890).

B. DISRAELL Sybil, or The Two Nalions (Harmondsworth, Middlesex- Penguin Books

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G. KENDALL: A Hea&naster Remembers (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1933).

M. KENNEDY: The Halle Tradition: A century of Music (Manchester: Manchester

University Press, 1960).

M. KENNEDY: The history of the Royal Manchester College of Allusic, 1893 1972
-
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1971).

R. KERR (ed. A. Liddell): Story of the Girl Guides 1908 1938 (London- The Girl
-
Guides Association, 1976).

VERY REV. F. W. CANON KERSHAW: Mount Carmel, Blackley: Moreftom a Golden

Jubilarian (Manchester, 1959).

A. KEDD: Manchester The Town and City Histories Series (Keele, Staffordshire: Keele
University Press, 1993).

A. J. KIDD and K. W. ROBERTS (eds.): City, Class and Culture: Studies of cultural
production and social policy in Victorian Manchester (Manchester. Manchester
University Press, 1985).

R. G. KMY: An early experiment in Workers' Sef-education: The Manchester New

Mechanics' Institution 1829 1835 in ed. D. S. L. Cardwell (ed.): Artisan to Graduate:
-
Essays to commemorate the Foundation of the Manchester Mechanics'Instutulion, now
in 1974 the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (Manchester:
Manchester University Press, 1974).

R. G. KIRBY and A. E. M'USSON: The voice of the people: John Doherty, 1798 - 1854,
trade unionist, radical andfactory reformer (Manchester:ManchesterUniversity Press,
1975).

M. S. KNOWLES-. The Adult Education Movement in the United States (New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1962).

T. W LAQUEUR: Religion and Responsibility: Sunday Schools and working-class

culture 1780 1850 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1976).
-

J. LAVERSON and J. MYERSCOUGH: Time to spare iii Vicloriaii England (London-

Harvester Press, 1978).

R. LEE: Mission Miniatures: Being a short history of the origin and development of
Mission Hall activities in connection with the Manchester City Mission (London-
Glasgow and Edinburgh: Pickering and Inglis; Manchester: Office of the Manchester City
Mission, 1937).

465
D. LEGGE: The Education of Adults in Britain (Milton Keynes- The Open University
Press, 1982).

W. H. LEIGHTON: Fircroff 1909 1959: A Jubilee History (Birmingham- The Fircroft

-
College Trust, 1959).

A. LIDDELL: Story of the Girl Guides (London: The Girl GuidesAssociation, 1976).

R. LLOYD-JONES and M. J. LEWIS: Manchester and the Age of the Factory: The
Business Structure of Cottonopolis in the Industrial Revolution (Beckenham: Croom
Helm, 1988).

M. LOCKBEAD: A Lamp was lit: Girls'Guildry throughfifty years (Edinburgh, 1949).

N. LONGMATE: The Hungry Mills. Ae Story of the Lancashire Cotton Famine,

1861-5 (London: Temple Smith Ltd., 1978).

S. MACDONALD: The Royal Manchester Institution in J. H. G. Archer (ed.): Art and

Architecture in Victorian Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985).

J. M. MACKENZEE: The imperial pioneer and hunter and the British masculine
sterotype in late Victorian and Edwardian times in J. A. Mangan and J. Walvin (eds.)-.
Manliness and Morality: Middle-class muscularity in Britain and America 1800 1940
-
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987).

R. MACLEOD: Days of Judgement: Science, Examinations and the organizations of

knowledge in late Victorian England (Driffield: Nafferton Book, 1982).

J. S. MACLURE: Educational Documents: England and Wales - 1816 to the present day
(London: Methuen, 1986 edition).

J. MADDISON: Basil Champneys and the John Rylands Library in J. H. G. Archer (ed.):
Art and architecture in Victorian Manchester: Ten ilustrations o patronage and practice
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985).

C. MAKEPEACE: Scienceand technolpAyin Manchester: two hundredyears of the Lil.

and Phil. (Manchester:ManchesterLiterary and PhilosphicalPublicationsLtd., 1984).

R. MALCOLMSON: Popular Recreations in English Society, 1700 - 1850 (London-

Cambridge University Press, 1973).

S. E. MALTBY: Manchester and the Movement for National Elementary Education,

1800-1870 (Manchester:ManchesterUniversity Press,1918).

J. A. MANGAN (ed.): Benejits Bestowed? Education and British Imperialism

(Manchester:ManchesterUniversity Press, 1988).

J. A. MANGAN and I WALVIN (eds.): Manliness and Morality: Middle-class

muscularity in Britain and America 1800 - 1940 (Manchester. Manchester University
Press, 1987).

466
A. NIANSBRIDGE: An Adventure in Working-Class Education. Being the
story of the
Workers' Educational Asociation, 1903 1915 (London: Longmans, Green Co.,
- and
1920).

A. NIANSBRIDGE: The Trodden Roa& Experience, Inspiralion

and Belief (London- I
M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1940).

S. MARCUS: Reading the Illegible in H. J. Dyos and M. Wolff (eds.)- The Victorian
City: Images and Realities. Volume 2: Shapes on the GroundlA Change Accent
of
(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973).

J. A. R. MARRIOTT: Memories of Four Score Years (London and Glasgow: Blackie

and
Son Ltd, 1946).

S. MARRIOTT A Backstairs to a Degree: Demandsfor an open university in late

Victorian England (Leeds: Department of Adult Education and Extramural Studies,
University of Leeds, 1981).

S. MARRIOTT: Extramural Empires: Service and SeNnlerest in English University

Adult Education 1873 1983 (Nottingham: Department of Adult education, University of
-
Nottingham, 1984).

G. C. MARTIN: The Adult School Movement: Its Origin and Development (London:
National Adult School Union, 1924).

L. E. MATHER (ed.): 7he Right Honourable Sir William Mather (1838 1920)
-
(London: Richard Cobden-Sanderson, 1926).

H. F. MATHEWS: Methodism and the Education of the People (London: The Epworth
Press,1949).

N. McCORD: The Anti-Corn Law League 1838 - 1846 (London: George Afflen and
Unwin Ltd., 1958).

A. McCORMACK: Cardinal Vaughan: 7-heLife of the Third Archbishop of Westminster,

Founder of St Joseph's Missionary Society, Mill Hill (London: Burns and Oates Ltd.,
1966).

H. M. McKECHNEE (ed.): Manchester in 1915 being the handbookfor the Eighty- fifth
Meeting of the British Associationfor the Advancementof Scienceheld in Manchester
September seven to ten, 1915 (Manchester: Manchester University Press; London:
Longmans,Green and Co., 1915).

1. McKENZIE: Social Activities of the English Friends in thefirst ha4f of the nineteenth
century (New York: Privately printed for the author, 1935).

H. McLACHLAN: Cross Street Chapel in the Life of Manchester in H. McLachlan:

EssaysandAddreses (Manchester:ManchesterUniversity Press,1950).

REV. H. McLACHLAN- English Education Under the Test Acts (Manchester-

Manchester University Press, 1931).

467
'%EV. H. McLACHLAN: Essays and Addresses (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1950).

H. McLACHILAN: The Unitarian Movement in the Religio us Life of England.- 1. Its

contribution to thought and learning, 1700 - 1900 (London. George Allen and Unwin,
1934).

H. McLEOD: Religion and the Working Class in Nineteenth Century Britain (London
and Basingstoke: Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1984).

H. MELLER: Leisure and the Changing City, 1870 - 1914 (London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul, 1976).

G. S. MESSINGER: Manchester in the Victorian Age: The half-known city (Manchester-

ManchesterUniversity Press,1985).

W. H. MILLS (ed.): The Manchester Reform Club 1871 - 1921: a survey offifty- years
history (Manchester: privately printed for the Reform Club, 1922).

N. MORRIS: Manchester and the supply of schools in C. F. Carter (ed.): Manchester and
its region (Manchester: published for the British Association for the Advancement of
Science Manchester Meeting, 1962, by the Manchester University Press, 1962), pp.215 -
225.

W. A. MUNFORD: Edward Edwards 1812 - 1886: a portrait of a librarian (London.

Library Association, 1963).

W. A. MUNFORD: Penny Rate (London: The Library Association, 1951).

W. A. MUNFORD: Who was who in British Librarianship, 1800 - 1985 (London.

Library Association, 1987).

P. W. MUSGRAVE: Constant Factors in the Demand for Technical Education,

1860-1960 in P. W. Musgrave (ed.): Scioloy, History and Education: a reader
(London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1972,third Edition).

P. W. MUSGRAVE (ed.): Sociology, History and Educaliow a reader (London.

Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1972,third edition).

A. E. MUSSON and E. ROBINSON Science and Technology in the Industrial

Revolution (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1969).

D. NEWSOME: Godliness and Good Learning: Four Studies on a Victorian Ideal

(London: John Murray, 1961).

A
P. O'BRIEN: Warritigion cademy 175 7- 1786: its predecessors atid successors(Wigan
Owl Books, 1989).

D. OWEN- Diglish Philatithropy 1660 1960 (London: Oxford University Press, 1965).
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468
A. J. PASS: Thomas Worthington in J. H. G. Archer (ed.)- Art and Architecture in
Victorian Manchester: Ten illustrations of patronage and practice (Manchester-
Manchester University Press, 1985).

R. PEERS: Adult Education: A Comparative Study (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul;
New York: Humanities Press, 1958).

H. PELLING: Orons of the Labour Party (London: Macmillan and Co., 1954).

H. E. PERRY: A Century of Liberal Religion and Philanthropy in Manchester being A

History of the Manchester Domestic Mission Society, 1833 - 1933 (Manchester: H.
Rawson and Co. Ltd., 1933).

I A. PETCH: Fifty years of Examining: the Joint Matriculation Board, 1903 - 1953
(London: Harrap, 1953).

I A. R. PIMLOTT: Toynbee Hall: Fifty Years of Social Progress, 1884 - 1934 London-.
I M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1935).

R. POGSON: Alliss Horniman and the Gaiety Theatre,Manchester (London- Rockcliff,

1952).

S. POLLARD and J. SALT (eds.): Robert Owen: Prophet of the Poor: Essays in honour
of the two hundredth anniversary of his birth (London: Macmillan, 197 1).

H. POLLINS: The History of Ruskin College (Oxford: Ruskin College, 1984).

T. PRATT-. The Portico Library, Manchester: Its history and associations, 1802 to 1922
(Manchster: Sherratt and Hughes, 1922).

T. W. PRICE: The Story of the Workers' Fducational Association from 1903 to 1924
(London: The Labour Publishing Company Ltd., 1924).

D. D. PRfNGLE: The Story of Moss Side Baptist Church, Allanchesler: 1808 - 1958
(Manchester, 1958).

J. PURVIS: Hard Lessons: The Lives and Education of Working-Class Women ill
Nineteenth Century England (Oxford. Polity Press,1989).

D. READ: Press People, 1790 1850: opinion in three English cities (London-
and -
Edward Amold, 1961).

A. REDFORD and 1. RUSSELL: The History of Local Government in Allanchelser 3

Volumes (London. Longmans, Green, 1940).

C. B. REES: One Hundred Yearsf the Halle (London: MacCribbon and Kee, 1957).

E. E. REYNOLDS: Badett Powell (New York: Oxford University Press, 1957).

J. H. REYNOLDS- An Historical Account of the Origin and Developemni of the

Municipal College f
(? Technology (Manchester, 1923).

469
J. H. REYNOLDS: Education Social Activities in L. E MATHER (ed.)- The Right
and
Honourahle Sir William Mather 1838 1920 (London: Richard Cobden Sanderson,
- -
1926),.

J. ROACH: Public examinations in England 1850 1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge

-
University Press, 197 1).

A. B. ROBERTSON: A Century of Change: the Study of Education in the University of

Manchester (Manchester:ManchesterUniversity Press,1990).

W. E. ROBINSON: A History of the Lancashire Congregational Union, 1806 1956

-
(Manchester: Lancashire Congegational Union, 1955).

G. W. RODERICK and M. D. STEPHENS: Education and Industry in the Nineteenth

Centry Ae English Disease? (London: Longmans, 1975).

G. W. RODERICK and M. D. STEPHENS: Post School Education: Educational Values

in America and England in the Nineteenth Century (Beckenham: Croom Heim, 1984).

G. W. RODERICK and M. D. STEPBENS: Scientific and Technical Education in

Nineteenth-Century England (Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1972).

REV. J ROGAN: Newton Chapelry, 1556 - 1956 (Manchester, 1956).

M. E. ROSE: Culture, Philanthropy and the Manchester Middle Classes in A. J. Kidd

and K. W. Roberts (eds.)-. City, Class and Culture: Studies of cultural production and
social policy in Victorain Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985).

M. ROYDEN: The Threefold Cord (London: Gollancz, 1947).

M. SADLEIR: Michael Ernest Sadler (Sir Michael Sadler, KCS. I.) 1861 - 1943: A
Memoir by his Son. (London: Constable, 1949).

M. SANDERSON: The Universities and British Industry, 1850 - 1970 (London:

Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972).

P. H. SCHILL: A history of Ardwick Lads'andMens Club togetherwith somenotesand

memoirs (Manchester: I Ellis Benson Ltd., 1935).

W. R SHEARER: 7-hesesixty years (commemorating the Diamond Jubilee of the

Manchester and SafordMethodist Mission) (Manchester: The Manchesterand Salford
Methodist Mission, 1948).

P. J. SHORT: The Municipal School of Technology and the University, 1890 1914 in D.
-
S. L. Cardwell (ed.): Artisan to GTaduate: Essays to commemorate the Foundation of the
Manchester Mechanics' Instulution, now in 1974 the University of Manchester Institute
of Science and Technology (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974).

H. SELVER (ed.): Robert Owen on Education: selectionsedited with an Introduction and

by Harold Silver Cambridge
(Cambridge-. University Press, 1969).
notes
470
H. SILVER: The Concept Popular Education: ideas
of a study of and social movements
in the early nineteenth (London: Methuen Co. Ltd., 1977
century and edition). First
published in 1965.

J. SINMONS: The Power the Railways in H. J. Dyos M. Wolff (eds.): The

of and
Vistorain City: Images Realities Volume 2: Shapes the GroundlA Change of
and on
Accent (London: Routledge Kegan Paul, 1973).
and

J. SIMMONS: Ae Railway in Town and Country, 1830 1914 (Newton Abbot: David
-
and Charles, 1986).

B. SIMON: Education and the Labour Movement 1870 1920 (London: Lawrence and
-
Wishart, 1965).

B. SIMON: The Struggle for Hegemony, 1920 in B. Simon (ed.): The Search for
-1926
Enlightenment: The Working Class and Adult Eduaction in the Twentieth Century
(London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990).

B. SIMON: The Two Nations and the Educational Structure 1780 1870 (London:
-
Lawrence and Wishart, 1981 edition).

S. SIMON: A Century of City Government: Manchester 1838 1938 (London: George

-
Allen and Unwin, 1938).

J. H. SKOT (ed.): St. Andrew's Church, Travis Street, Ancoats, Manchester:

Commemorative Bookletfor the Centenary (Manchester: Published for St. Andrew's
Parochial Church Council by the Holt PublishingService, 1931).

R. SPEAKE: A Hundred Years of Holidays, 1893 1993: A pictorial history of the

-
C H. A. [Co-operative Holidays Assocxtion] (Manchester: Countrywide Holidays, 1993).

J. SPRINGHALL: Building Character in the British Boy: the attempt to extend Christian
manliness to working-class adolescents, 1880 to 1914 in J. A. Mangan and J. Walvin
(ed.): Manliness and Morality: Middle-class muscularity in Britain and America, 1800
-
1940 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987).

J. SPRINGHALL: Youth, Empire and Society: British Youth Movements, 1883 - 1940
(London: Croom Helm, 1977).

J. SPRINGHALL, B. FRASER and M. HOARE: Sure atid Stedfast: A History of the

Boys'Brigade (London- Collins, 1983).

W. B. STEPHENS: Adult education and society in an industrial town: Warrington 1800

1900 (Exeter: Exeter University Eress, 1980).
-

C. STEWART: Art in Adversity: A Short History of the Regional College of Art,

Manchester (Manchester; Council of the Royal Manchester Institution, 1954).

C. STEWART- The Sloties ofManchesier (London: Edward Arnold, 1956).

471
M. D. STOCKS: Fifty in Every Street: Manchester University
years the story of the
Settlement (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1945).

M. D. STOCKS: The Workers,Educational Association:

the first fifty years (London:
George Afflenand Unwin Ltd., 1953).

M. STURT -.7he Education A history in England

of the people: ofprimary education and
Wales in the nineteenth
century (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967).

W. G. SUTHERLAND: Ae Royal Manchester Institution: its

origins, its character and
its aims (Manchester, 1945).

E. SWINDELLS: Plait Chapel, Rusholme 1700 1950. The Story its Congregation
- of
and some account of the Ministers who have served through its long life (Manchester,
1950).

A. SYMONDSON (ed.): The Victorian Crisis in Faith (London: Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, 1974 edition).

E. P THOMPSON: The Making of the English Working Class (Harmondsworth,

Middlesex.- Penguin Books Ltd., 1981 edition. First published in 1963 by Victor
Gollancz).

L. THONWSON: Robert Blatchford. - Portrait of an Englishman (London- Victor

Gollancz,, Ltd.,, 195 1).

W. H. THOMSON: History of Manchester to 1852 (Altrincharn: John Sherratt and Son

Ltd., 1967).

G. TREMLETT: 7-he First Century (London: The Working Men's Club and Institute
Union, 1962).

H. J. TWIGG: An Outline History of Co-operative Education (Manchester: Co- operative

Union, 1924).

M. TYLECOTE: Ae education of Women at Manchester University, 1883 1933

-
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1941).

M. TYLECOTE: The Manchester Mechanics' Institution, 1824 - 1850 in

D. S. L. Cardwell (ed.) Artisan to Graduate: Essays to commenorale the Foundation of
the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, now in 1974 the University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1974).

M. TYLECOTE: The Allechanics' Institutes of Lancashire and Yorkshire before 1851

(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1957).

M. VICfNUS: The Industrial Muse: A Study of the Nineteenth Cenlury British Working-
Class Literature (London: Croom Helm, 1978).

D. VTNCENT- Reading in the Working-class home in J. K. Walton and I Walvin (eds.)-

Leisure in Brilain 1780 - 1939 (Manchester- Manchester University Press, 1983).

472
"'EV. I. WALLACE: A History of the Manchester and Saford Shafieshury Society
(Manchester, 1987).

R. D. WALLER (ed.): Harold Pilkinglon Turner: klemories His Work Personality

of and
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1953).

R. D. WALLER and C. D. LEGGE: Adult Education in the Manchester Area in

C. F. Carter (ed.): Manchester and its region (Manchester: for the British
published
Association for the Advancement of Science Manchester meeting, 1962, by the
ManchesterUniversity Press,1962).

J. K. WALTON: Lancashire: A Social History 1558 1939 (Manchester: Manchester

-
University Press, 1987).

J. K. WALTON and J. WALVIN (eds.): Leisure in Britain 1780 1939 (Manchester:

-
Manchester University Press, 1973).

J. WALVIN: Leisure and Society 1830 1950 (London and New York: Longman, 1978).
-

J. WALVfN: Victorian Values (London: Andre Deutsch, 1987).

A. WARREN: Popular manliness: Baden Powell, scouting and the development of manly
character in J. A. Mangan and I Walvin (eds.): Manliness and Morality: Middle-class
muscularity in Britain and America 1800 - 1940 (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1987).

R. K. WEBB: The British Working Class Reader (London- George Allen and Unwin,
1955).

F. E. WEISS: The University of Manchester in W. H. Brindley (ed.): The Soul of

Manchester (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1929).

F. WELCH: The Peripatetic University Cambridge Local Lectures 1873 - 1973

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973).

M. WH[FFEN: Thearchitecture of Sir Charles Barry in Manchester and neighbourhood

in I H. G. Archer (Ed.): Art and Architecture in Victorian Manchester: Ten illustrations
ofpatronage andpractice (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985).

F. WIRTBOURNE: Lex, being the Biography of Alexander Devine, Founder of

Clayesmore School (London: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd., 1937).

R. WHITFIELD: Frederick Engqls in Manchester: The Searchfor a Shadow (Salford

Working ClassMovement Library, 1988).

B. WILLIAMS. The Making of1fanchester Jewry, 1740 - 18 75 (Manchester: Manchester

University Press, 1976).

G. A. WILLIAMS. 'RowlandDetrosier, working class infidel'(York. Borthwick Papers,

473
Number 28, University Of YOrk, 1965).

R. WILLIAMS: Culture and Society, 1780 - 1950 (Harmondsworth, Middlesex-

Penguin Books, 1963 edition. First published in 1958 by Chatto and Windus).

E. C. WILLSON:Catherine Isabella Dodd (London: Sidgwick and Jackson,1936).

J. WOLFF and J. SEED (eds.): The Culture of Capital: Art, Power and the Nineteenth
Century Middle Classes(Manchester:ManchesterUniversity Press,1985).

H. G. WOOD: Frederick Denison Maurice (Cambridge-.Cambridge University Press,

1950).

M. YATES: Manchester Academy of Fine Arts: a short history of the Academy.

Centenary 1859 - 1959 No place of publication given, 1959).

B. A. YEAXLEE: Spiritual Values in Adult Education: A Study of a Neglected Aspect 2

Volumes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1925).

E. YEO: Robert Owen and Radical Culture in S. Pollard and J. Salt (eds.)- Robert Owen:
Prophet of the Poor: Essays in honour of the two hundredth anniversary of his birth
(London: Macmillan, 1971).

E. YEO and S. YEO: Culture and Class Conflict 1590 - 1914: Explorations in the
History of Labour and Leisure (Brighton: Harvester Press, 1981).

D. YORKE: Education and the working class: Ruskin College, 1899 - 1909 (Oxford:
Ruskin College, 1977).

G. M. YOUNG: Victorian England: Portrail of an Age (London- Oxford University

Press, 1953).

R. M. YOUNG The Impact of Darwin on Coventional Thought in A. Symondson (ed.)-

The Victorian Crisis o)f Faith (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knlowledge,
1974 edition).

c) Unascribed Publications

A condensedhistory of the Young Mens Christian Association in Jubilee

A4anchester:
Sovenir (Manchester, 1922).

A Short Record of the Educational Work of the YMCA. with the British Armies in
France (Letchworth: National Joumal of the Y. M. C.A., 1918)

Catholic Bicenlenary 1773 - 19-73 (St. Chad's, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, and St.
Alban, Larkhill, Blackburn (Manchester: 1973).

Cavendish Chapel, Allanchesier: A Souvenir of 150 years' Endeavour (1788 - 1938)

(Manchester, 1938).

474
Faithful Companions Jesus: Salford Diocese, 1852 1973. A Contribullon to
of -
Catholic Education in the Salford Diocese 1852 1973 (Manchester, 1973).
-
Golden Jubilee Book. The Parish Church Saint John the Evangelist, 1908 - 58, Old
of
Trafford (Manchester: The Holt Publishing Service, 1958).

Illustrated Handbook Manchester City Parks

of the and Recreation Grounds
(Manchester: published in 1915 for the Parks and Cemeteries Comn-ittee).

Manchester Athenaeum: centenary celebrations 1835 1935 (Manchester, 1935).

-
Mount Street 1930 1930: An Account of the Society of Friends in Manchester together
-
with Short Essays on Quaker Life and Thought, written for the centenary of the Friends'
Meeting House, Manchester (Manchester: The Mount Street Centenary Committee,
1930).

St. Margaret's Church, Burnage. 75th Anniversary 1875 1950. Jollingsftom the Past
-
(Manchester, 1950).

The Ladies of Charity iii Safford 1887 1988 (Manchester, 1988).

-

The Manchester Athenaeum: Its history andpurpose (Manchester, 1903).

The Story of St. Annes's, Ancoals (Manchester, 1978).

Ar

Technical Training in Manchester: a hundred yeedsof effort in technical education

1824-1924 (Manchester, Manchester Municipal College of Technology: 1924).

Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institution, 1839 - 1939: a hundred years of

educational service (Manchester, 1939).

The. W. E. A. Education Year Book 1918 (London: The Workers' Educational

Association, 1918).

d) Undated Publications

ANON: A Handbook of Information for those who are in any way interested to promte
the interests of the Adult School Union (London: The National Adult School Union, n.d.).

Elizabeth Gaskell College of Educatioti 1880 - 19 70 (Manchester. n.d.).

V. EGERTON: A history of Hollings College 1901 1976 (Manchester: n.d.).

-

J. B. HOOD- The Lyceums (Pamphlet: Publisher and date of publication not given).

J. ODEA: The Story of the Old Faith in Manchester (London, Manchesterand Glasgow:
R. and T. Washbourne Ltd., n.d.).

475
2 ARTICLES FROM JOURNALS AND PERIODICALS
...
1. ADULT FTITWATION
C. BIBBY: Ae South London Working Men's College:
a forgotten venture
(Volume 28, Number 3, Winter 1955, pp.211-221).

E. BIRKIHEAD: Journals of the University Extension Movement: 1890 1914

-
(Volume 32, Number I, Summer 1959, pp.45 49)
-
L. J. DYER: Newcastle Mechanics' Institute (Volume 22, Number 2, December
1949, pp. 122-129; and Volume 22, Number 3, March 1959, pp.205-212).

L. J. DYER Thornton Mechanics' Institute (Volume 2 1, Number 1, September

1948, pp. 15-22; and Volume 2 1, Number 2, December 1948, pp. 59-66).

T. L. HODGKIN Adult Education and Social Change (Volume 23, Number 1, June
1950, pp. 7-11).

J. LEVITT Adult Education in Working Mens Clubs (Volume 28, Number 4,

Spring 1956, pp.260-272).

W. E. STYLER Rowland Detrosier (Volume 2 1, Number 3, March 1949,

pp. 133-13 8).

Z. F. WILLIS The YMCA. and Adult Education (Volume 3, Number 1, October

1928, pp.36-46).

J. M. WYSE The Church of England and Adult Education (Volume 27, Number 1,
Summer 1954, pp. 57-63).

2. BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES

P. H. BUTTERFIELD The Educational Resources of the Manchester Statistical
Society (Volume 22, Number 3, October 1974, pp.340-359).

J. F. C. HARRISON: Adult Education and Self-help (Volume 6, Number 1,

November 1957, pp.37-50).

T. KELLY The Origin of Mechanics' Institutes (Volume 1, Number 1, November

1952, pp. 17-27).

A. B. ROBERTSON "Betweenthe Devil and the Deep Sea": Ambiguities in the

development of Professorshipsof Education (Voluime 38, Number 2, May 1990,
pp. 144-159).

3. BULLETIN OF THE JOHN RYLANDS LIBRARY

A. P. WADSWORTH TheFirst Manchester Sunday Schools (Volume-3)3, Number
2, March 195 1, pp.299- 326).

4. THE AL MONTHLY
R. R. TURNER 1863 Nottingham Congregational Institute - Paton
-
Congregational College 1963: a brief survey of origins and the men who
-

476
 developed it in The Congregational Monthly, Volume 11, Number 480, December
1963, (London: Independent Press Ltd., 1963), 8-9.
pp.
5.ECON0MTrMQT RY REVIEW
A. E. MUSSON and E. ROBINSON Science
and Industry in the late eighteenth
century (Volume 13,1960-196 1, pp.222-244).

6. FRSTORTr. JnT TWMAL

E. ROYLE Mechanics'Institutes and the Working Classes (Volume 14, Number 2,
1971, pp.305-321).

7. THE FUSTORY OF EDUCATION

D. K. JONES The Educational Legacy of the Anti-Corti Law League (Volume 3,
Number 1, January 1974, pp. 18-37).

D. G. PAZ: Sir James Kay-Shuldeworth: The man behind Me myth (Volume 14,
Number 3, September 1985, pp. 185-198).

8. HISTORY OF EDUCATION SOCIETY BULLETIN

R. N4URPHY Two Working-class Institutions in mid-nineleenth Century
Manchester: The Hall of Science and the Carpenters' Hall (Number 35, Spring
1985, pp. 8-13).

9. JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES

H. M. WACH Culture and the Middle Classes: Popular Knowledge in Industrial
Manchester (Volume 27, October 1988, pp.375-404).

10. JOURNAL OF LIBRARIANSHIP

A. ELLIS: The users and uses ofpublic libraries at the outbreak of the First World
War (Volume 11, Number 1,1979, pp.39-49).

1. JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES

D. ELESH The Manchester Statistical Society (Volume 8,1972; part 1, pp.280-301
and part2, pp.407-417).

12. JOURNAL OF THE MANCHESTER GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY

H. B. RODGERS Ae Suburban Growth of Victorian Manchester (Volume 58,
1962, pp. 1- 12).
13. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF CHEMISTRY
W. H. BRINDLEY The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society (Volume
791 February 1955,
pp. 62-69).

14. MANCHESTER FACES AND PLACES

ANON Mr. Samuel Ogden, JP- (Volume 4, March and April 1893, pp.81-84 and
99-101).
15. MEMOIRS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE MANCHESTER LITERARY AND
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
D. S. L. CARDWELL "Two Centuries of the Manchester Lil. and PhiL " in
A,fanchester Memoirs (Volume 1,1980-198 1, pp. 122-137).

477
 H. MCLACHLAN John Dalton and Manchester, 1793-1844 (Volume 86,
1943-1945, pp. 165-177).

F. NICHOLSON The Literary and Philosophical Society, 1781-1851

(Volume 68,1923-1924, pp.97-148).

16. NLANCHESTER REGION HISTORY REVIEW

R. WMTHELD The Double Life of Frederick Engels (Volume 2, Number 1,
Spring/Summer 1988, pp. 13-19).

17. THE MANCHESTER REVIEW

M. BARNES: Children's Libraries in Manchester: A History (Volume 11, Winter
1966-7, pp. 80-89).

D. A FARNEE: The commercial development of Manchester in the later

Nineteenth Century (Volume 7, Winter 1955, pp.327-337).

N. K. FIRBY Andrea Crestadano, 1808-1879: Chief Librarian, Manchester

Public Libraries, 1864-1879 (Volume 12,197 1, pp. 19-25).

N. J. FRANGOPOULO Foreig7i Communities in Viclorian Manchesler

(Volume 10, Spring/Summer 1965, pp. ] 89-206).

W. G. FRY. The Manchester Public Libraries 1852-1938 (Volume 1,

Summer 1938, pp.289-301).

R. E. HUGHES: The Boys'and Girls' Welfare Society, 18 70 - 19 74 (Volume 13,

Number 1, Summer 1974, pp. 1-13).

N. J. LASKI: The History of Manchester Jewry: A Tercentenary A&hess

[delivered at the Manchester Central Library, Tuesday 24th April 1956]
(Volume 7, Summer 1956, pp.366-378).

N. LASKI: The Manchester and Satford Jewish Community, 1912 - 1962

(Volume 10, Spfing 1964, pp.97-108).

J. J. MALLON: Robert Blatchford and Werrie England" (Volume 5,

Spfing 1949, pp.222-225).

C. NOWELL: One hundred years of Library Service: The centenary of the

Manchester Public Library September 1852 September 1952 (Volume 6,
-
Spring 1952, pp.205-210 and Summer 1952, pp.244-251).

W. A. RICHARDSON The Hugh Oldham Lads' Club, 1888-1958 (Volume 8,

Autumn 1959, pp.339-351).

B. R. VMLY: James William Hudsoti, Ph.D. (Volume 10, Winter 1962-3,

pp. 352-361).

478
 R. WALMSLEY- W. E. A. Axon: Manchester bookman (Volume 10, Summer
-
Autumn 1964, pp. 138-154).

G. E. WEWIORA Manchester Music-Hall Audiences in the 1880s (Volume 12,

Number 1, pp. 124-128).

18. REWLEY HOUSE PAPERS

E. C. EAGLE Ae Leicester Mechanics' Institute, 1830-1870: A Reassessment
(Volume 3, Number 7,1958-19595
pp.48-73; and Volume 3, Number 8,
1959-1960, pp.26-42).

N. A. JEPSON Staffing Problems During the Early Years the Oxford

of
University Extension Movement (Volume 3, Number 3,1954-1955, pp.20-33).

A. TYNAN Lewes MechanicsInstitution (Volume 3, Number 4,195 5-1956,

pp. 12-23).

19. TBE RUSKIN READING GUILD JOURNAL

H. LLOYD: A visit to the Manchester Art Museum hy several of the memhers of
the Liverpool Ruskin Society (Volume 1, Number 5, May 1889, pp. 149-151).

20. SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE

S. SHAPIN and B. BARNES Science, Nature and Control: Interpreting
Mechanics'Instituies (Volume 7,1977, pp.31-74).

21. STUDIES IN ADULT EDUCATION

K. KUNZEL Ae Missionary Dons: 1he Prelude lo University Extension in
England (Volume 7, Number 1,1975, pp.34-53).

E. WELCH: Oxford and university extension (Volume 10, Number 1,1978,

pp. 39-50).

22. TRANSACTIONS OF THE HISTORIC SOCIETY OF LANCASHIRE AND

CHESHIRE
D. M. DITCHFIELD The Early History of Manchester College (Volume 123,
1972, pp. 81-104).

M. E. ROSE Settlement of University Men in Great Towns: university settlements

in Manchester and Liverpool (Volume 139,1989, pp. 137-160).

23. VICTORIAN STUDIES

P. A. DUNBAR Boys'Literature and ihe Idea of Empire, 18 70-1914 (Volume 24,
Number 1, Autumn 1980, p. 105-12 1).

K. FIELDEN Samuel Smiles and Self-help (Volume 12, Number 2, December

1968, pp. 155-176).

479
 S. M. GASKELL Gardens for the Working Class: Fictorian Practical Pleavire
(Volume 23, Number 4, Summer 1980, pp.479-501).

G. HAINES German Influence upon Scientific Instruction in England, 1867-1887

(Volume 1, Number 3, March 1958, pp.215-244).

J. F. C. HARRISON The Victorian Gospel of Success (Volume 1, Number 2,

December 1957, pp. 155-164).

S. MEACHAM The Church in the Victorian City (Volume 11, Number 3, March
1968, pp.359-379).

R. R. PRICE Ae Working Men's Club Movement and Victorian Social Reform

Ideology (Volume 15, Number 2, December 1971, pp. 117-147).

24. THE VOCATIONAL ASPECT OF EDUCATION

H. BUTTERWORTH The Inauguration of the Whitworth Scholarships
(Volume 32, Number 51, Spring 1970, pp.35-39).

1. R. COWAN Elementary Evening Schools and the Evening Continuation School

Movement in Salfordftom 1862 to 1903 (Volume 22, Number 5 1, Spring 1970,
pp.41-47).

1. R. COWAN Higher Elementary, Secondary and Pupil- Teachers'Education it]

Salford, 1870-1903; parts I and 2 (Volume 23, Number 56, November 1971,
pp. 163-172; and Volume 24, Number 57, April 1972, pp. 37-42).

1. R. COWAN Mechanics'Institutes and Scienceand Art Classesin Satford in the

Nineteenth Century (Volume 20, Number 47, Autumn 1968,pp.201-210).

1. R. COWAN Sir William Mather and Educatioti (Volume 21, Number 48,
Spring 1969, pp.38-46).

L R. COWAN The Technical Instruction Committee in Safordftom 1889 to

1903 (Volume 17, Number 40, Summer 1966, pp. 121-132).

B. DOHERTY: Compulsory Day Continuation Education: An Examination of the

1918 Experiment (Volume 18, Number 39, Spring 1966, pp.41-56).

J. P. BENINUNG Some A Itempts at Commercial Education in Mechanics'

Institutes (Volume 30, Number 76, Spring 1979, pp. 41-44).

D. K. JONES Working-class Education in 191h Century Manchester: The

Manchester Free School (Yolume 19, Number 42, Spring 1967, pp.22-23).

M. C. LUPTON The Mosley Education Commission to the UtWed States, 1903

(Volume 16, Number 33, Spring 1964, pp. 38-49).

Engineering Apprenticeships
Ip and Education in Bollon (1900-14)
J. LYON
(Volume 15, Number 32, Autumn 1963, pp.217-230).

480
 I MANAGHAN Some Views hi Educanoti hidustrial Progress Hutidred
atid a
Years Ago (Volume 20, Number 47, Autumn 1963,
pp. 187-194).

J. D. MARSHALL John Henry Reynolds: Pioneer Technical Education in

of
A4'anchester(Volume 16, Number 35, Autumn 1964,
pp. 176-196).

P. W. MUSGRAVE Ae Definition Technical Education, 1860-1910 (Volume

of
16, Number 34, Summer 1964, pp. 105-111).

K. D. ROBERTS Ae Separation of Secondary Education ftom Technical

Education 1899-1903 (Volume 2 1, Number 49, Summer 1968, pp. 101-105).

G. W. RODERICK and M. D. STEPHENS: Middle Class Adult Education and

Training: The Royal Institutions in the 191h Century (Volume 25, Number 60,
Spring 1973, pp.39-48).

M. D. STEPHENS The Role of the Amateur in Nineteenth Century American and

English Scientific Education (Volume 34, Number 87, April 1982, pp. 1-5).

D. H. THOMAS: Industrial Schools Forgotten Precursors m T"ocalional

-
Education? (Volume 33, Number 85, August 1981, pp. 51-63).

D. THOMPSON Henry Enfield Roscoe: A Contribution to Nineteenth Century

Scientific and Technical Education (Volume 17, Number 38, Autumn 1965,
pp. 220-226).

D. WARDLE: The Nottingham School Board's Experiments in Vocational

Education (Volume 17, Number 36, Spring 1965, pp.28-39).

3 THESES AND DISSERTATIONS

W BARTON: Philanthropy and Institutions for adult education in the Manchester area
ftom 1835 to the early fifties. (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester,
1977).

A. BLACK: Owenite Education 1839 - 1851, with particular reference to the Manchester
"Hall of Science". (unpublished dissertation, Department of Education, University of
Manchester, 1953).

A. CHADWICK: Derby Mechanics' Instilule, 1825 - 1880 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis,

University of Manchester, 1971).

C. CONNELLY: Congregationalism and the Education of the People in the Manchester

district, 1806 - 1900 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1973).

J. DAWKfNS: The relationship between productive inditry, and technical education in

U- -
Manchester from about 1870 1939 (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of
-
Manchester, 1959).

481
K. DIXON: The Manchester School Design Printing IndmtrY'
of and the Calico
(unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University
of Manchester, 1967).

M. HANLEY: Educational Provision in Ancoats, Manchester, during

the nineteeih
century (unpublished M. Ed. thsis, University of Manchester, 1981).

M. HARRISON: Social reform in late Victorian and Edwardian Manchester, with

special reference to TC Horsfall (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Manchester,
1987).

J. P. HEMTVffNG: Adult Education in Huddersfield District, 1851 - 1884

and
(unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University Manchester, 1966).
of

J--P. BEMMUNG: The Mechanics'Institute Movement in the Manufacturing Districts of

the North ofEngland after 1851 (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Leeds, 1968).

M. A. HILES: The development of public library facilities in 191h century Uanchester

(unpublished dissertation for the degree of B. A. Humanities and Social Studies,
Manchester Polytechnic, 1981).

R. B. HOPE: Education and Social Change in Manchester, 1780 1851 (unpublished

-
M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1955).

R. JONTES: The Lads' Club Movement in Manchester to 1914 (unpublished M. Ed.

dissertation, University of Manchester, 1986).

I MEAKIN: ManchesterLibraries and their role in educationprior to 1850 (unpublished

dissertation for the Diploma in Advanced Studies in Education).

F. W. PUGH: Childhood and youth in Late Nineteenth Century Allanchester with

Particular Reference to the Boys'and Girls' Wetfare Society, 1870 1900 (unpublished
-
M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1980).

S. RAWLINSON: The Women's Co-operative Guild 1883 - 1983 (unpublished M. Ed.

dissertation, Department of Education, University of Manchester, 1984).

E. RELEY: Secondary and Technical Education in Manchester, 1851 - 1914, with special
reference to the work of the Public Authorities (unpublished M. Ed. thesis, University of
Manchetser, 1965).

J. 1. RUSHTON: Charles Rowley and 1he Ancoals Recreatioti Movemeid (unpublished

M. Ed. thesis, University of Manchester, 1959).

P. A STERN: The earlY development of industrial education in Manchester (unpublished

M. Sc. thesis, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, 1966).

W. VMALLEY- An Historical Account of Catholic Educalion in Englaild, with special

in the Saford diocese (unpublished M. Ed. thesis,
reference to educational activities
University of Manchester, 1938).

482
J. H. WILLIAMS: The Crewe Mechanics' Institute 1843 - 1880 (unpublished M. Ed.
thesis, University of Manchester, 1971).

4. WORKS OF REFERENCE

Slater's Street and TradeDirectories, from 1850.

J. E. THOMAS and B. ELSEY (eds.): International Biography of Adult Education

(Nottingham: Departmentof Adult Education,University of Nottingham, 1985).

5. NEWSPAPERS

ManchesterExaminer and Times.

Manchester Guardian.

483)