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William Cobbett and English Education in the Early Nineteenth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2017
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William Cobbett has been called “the spokesman of the common people” of England in the early nineteenth century. It was Cobbett who was the most important advocate of the cause of the worker on the land and in the factory during a time when conditions in England were changing more rapidly than ever before. The principal reason for this change was the new means of production, which was transforming the country into the first industrial state. Yet, while profound alterations were taking place in the economy of the nation, political and social organization were slow to respond. England, which was outstripping the rest of the world in the production of goods, was governed in almost the same fashion as it had been 100 years before when it had had a self-sufficient agricultural economy. This situation, plus the manifold effects of the wars against France, meant suffering for the most defenseless part of the population. It was this suffering which roused Cobbett to fury and led him to dedicate his powerful pen to the restoration of the materially abundant and socially tranquil conditions which he believed to have existed in his youth. It is within this policy of advocating a return to an England which was simpler and purer that we must consider his views on education.
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- Copyright © 1964, University of Pittsburgh Press
References
Notes
1. Cole, G. D. H., The Life of William Cobbett (London, 1924), 10.Google Scholar
2. See Cobbett's Political Register, hereafter cited as P.R., (8/14/19), col. 8, for a typical statement concerning Cobbett's dedication to his goal.Google Scholar
3. For Cobbett's attitudes generally, see Cole, op. cit., passim. Some of its judgments need revising but this book is still the best biography of Cobbett.Google Scholar
4. For a discussion of education in England at the time, see Adamson, J. W., English Education, 1789–1902 (Cambridge, 1930), 1–121. Also, Curtis, S. J., History of Education in Great Britain (London, 1948), ch. III, IV, V, XIV.Google Scholar
5. Adamson, op. cit., and Curtis, op. cit. Elie Halévy, England in 1815 (2nd ed.) (London, 1949), considers education in the context of English society of the period. See 525 ff.Google Scholar
6. P.R. (8/21/24), col. 482. This was one of Cobbett's most cherished beliefs. His rigidity on this point accounts in large measure for his impatience with limited changes and helps explain his seemingly paradoxical attitude on the question of reform.Google Scholar
7. Great Britain, Hansard's Parliamentary Debates (3rd Series), XXIV (1834), 131–133. Also, a frustrated student whose head had been filled with grandiose ideas might turn to crime. P.R. (12/7/33), cols. 581–95.Google Scholar
8. “… he is best educated who knows how to work ….” P.R. (11/2/22), cols. 316–17.Google Scholar
9. Cobbett's views on education are perhaps best expressed in the letter addressed to James Paul Cobbett in A Grammar of the English Language, Letter No. 1 in Cottage Economy, and in Advice to Young Men, passim. He was deeply interested in the subject and wrote about it dozens of times in the Political Register. Google Scholar
10. The writer believes that the backward looking qualities of mind traditionally ascribed to the Tory government during and immediately after the Napoleonic wars have been overstressed. The numerous instances of support given by the Tories to laissez-faire capitalism certainly suggest that these men were not captivated by visions of a bygone agricultural society but instead showed a remarkable capacity to adjust to changing circumstances.Google Scholar
11. P.R. (6/17/09), col 911; P.R. (2/23/11), col. 450.Google Scholar
12. Bell was a physician and clergyman who devised a system of education in which the older children educated the younger ones. Lancaster, a Quaker, popularized Bell's idea. Economical in cost, this scheme spread rapidly.Google Scholar
13. For Cobbett's views on education in general and references to Rousseau, see Advice to Young Men and (Incidentally) to Young Women (London, 1926), 267ff.Google Scholar
14. Whitbread was a philanthropic brewer and member of parliament who believed that education could turn the people from vice and thus eliminate the root cause of poverty.Google Scholar
15. P.R. (8/29/07), cols. 329–32; P.R. (9/26/07), cols. 487–89.Google Scholar
16. Cottage Economy (London, 1822), 5–6.Google Scholar
17. Ibid., 6–7; P.R. (12/7/33), cols. 581–95.Google Scholar
18. P.R. (9/21/33), col. 729; also, P.R. (3/7/18), col. 298.Google Scholar
19. P.R. (12/11/13), cols. 747–54; P.R. (12/18/13), cols. 776–81.Google Scholar
20. See P.R. (1/30/08), cols. 161–67.Google Scholar
21. A Grammar of the English Language (London, n.d.), 9.Google Scholar
22. See A Grammar of the English Language, passim, for Cobbett's criticisms of Johnson.Google Scholar
23. Advice to Young Men, 291–303.Google Scholar
24. He once suggested to his brother-in-law that he could improve his writing ability by reading a good deal. “You should go soberly through the history of England first of all.” Letter dated (12/13/07), Cobbett MSS, No. 8, Nuffield College, Oxford, England.Google Scholar
25. P.R. (10/12/33), cols. 91–93. His argument here that universal taxation for the purpose of education is unfair to those who educate their own children has to be considered in reference to the attitudes mentioned above. Cobbett's motivation was not primarily economy in government.Google Scholar
26. Two Penny Trash, (5/1/31), 243–44. See P.R. (11/3/21), cols. 1071–75 for Cobbett's hatred of the Dissenters, which was really based on their acceptance of the status quo in most aspects of society. P.R. (7/14/22), cols. 653–77, contains a diatribe against the social policies of the established church.Google Scholar
27. P.R. (7/16/25), col. 151 and P.R. (1/14/26), cols. 130–33. He considered London University to be a finishing achool for those ambitious to make a fortune in the stock market. The idea of becoming wealthy without hard work was odious to Cobbett.Google Scholar
28. P.R. (5/29/30), col. 710. Nor did Cobbett have any liking for the fine arts. Believing that art and liberty were incompatible, he spoke darkly of the degradation of the people through foreign music and painting. “The countries of painters and poets have not been the countries of freedom ….” History of the Regency and Reign of King George the Fourth (London, 1830), paragraph 273.Google Scholar
29. P.R. (6/30/21), col. 867.Google Scholar
30. A Grammar of the English Language, 68 and 108.Google Scholar
31. A French Grammar (London, 1824). See Letter 1.Google Scholar
32. P.R. (11/29/17), cols. 1067–82. It is probable that Cobbett's dislike of Latin was in part caused by the practice of members of parliament to quote from this language in their speeches. See P.R. (1/10/07), col. 36.Google Scholar
33. P.R. (11/14/07), cols. 750–51. Napoleon also drew Cobbett's praise for eliminating a knowledge of Latin and Greek from the degree requirements of French universities. See P.R. (3/7/12), col. 299.Google Scholar
34. P.R. (1/10/07), col. 36.Google Scholar
35. See, for example, Rural Rides, G. D. H. and Cole, Margaret, (eds.), 3 vols. (London, 1930), I, (11/18/21), 31. “… one half of the fellows who are what they call educated here [at Oxford], are unfit to be clerks in a grocer's or mercer's shop.” Eton was referred to as “… that great seminary for Tax-eaters.” P.R. (10/26/22), col. 196.Google Scholar
36. Quoted from Mathieson, W. L., England in Transition, 1789–1832 (London, 1920), 121. See also Adamson, op. cit., ch. III.Google Scholar
37. Advice to Young Men, 52–53.Google Scholar
38. Letter dated (11/8/30), Nuffield College, Oxford, England, Cobbett MSS, No. 243.Google Scholar
39. P.R. (4/21/21), cols. 193–94. Cobbett was at last able to see a use for the novel—in lighting the oven for a batch of bread.Google Scholar
40. P.R. (3/7/29), col. 293.Google Scholar