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Sunday School Education
For the vast majority of children
Sunday School was the only education they got - and for over 11,000 of
them it was in a Methodist Chapel.
In 1840 the House of Commons
set up a commission to inquire into the state of children employed in the
mines and manufactories. Samuel Scriven visited the area of
Stoke-on-Trent from December 1840 onwards to collect evidence concerning
children employed in the pottery industry.
The following is an extract
from his report entitled "Returns of Sunday Schools in the Staffordshire
Potteries and Surrounding Neighbourhood (February 1841)"
Samuel Scriven was impressed
by the work of the Sunday Schools of the time and he stated:
"The
subjoined return of the weekly, Sabbath, and infant schools, with the
number of places of worship, is, as far as it goes, conclusive evidence
that no efforts are spared on the part of the wealthy classes to afford
ample opportunities to the younger branches of the community of acquiring
moral and religious education. Indeed I do not believe that there is any
other part of the country, certainly none that I have visited, where such
examples, 'so worthy of all imitation', are to be met with"
'number
of places of religious worship'
Scriven records a
total of 63 places of worship in the Stoke-on-Trent area, 40 of these were
Methodist of one form or another........
| Places |
Church |
Wesleyan |
New
Meth'ist |
Prim
Meth'ist |
Indep'dent |
Roman
Catholic |
Baptist |
Total |
| Stoke-on-Trent |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Oakhill and Penkhull |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Hanley |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
|
Shelton |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
| Northwood |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Longton and Lane End |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
9 |
| Fenton and Lane Delph |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
Burslem |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
| Cobridge |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
| Hot
Lane |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Sneyd Green |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Green
Head |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Dale Hall |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Longport |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Etruria |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
Wolstanton |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| Tunstall |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
| Golden
Hill |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Kidsgrove |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Pits
Hill |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Smallthorn |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Eastwood Vale |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Lightwood |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
Total: |
14 |
16 |
16 |
8 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
63 |
'number of scholars
receiving instruction'
Over 18,000 children were being taught and of these 11,787 (65% or the
total) were attending Methodist Chapels.
| Places |
Church |
Wesleyan |
New
Meth'ist |
Prim
Meth'ist |
Indep'dent |
Roman
Catholic |
Baptist |
Total |
| Stoke-on-Trent |
230 |
320 |
338 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
888 |
|
Oakhill and Penkhull |
94 |
0 |
0 |
120 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
214 |
| Hanley |
155 |
400 |
0 |
0 |
440 |
0 |
229 |
1224 |
|
Shelton |
410 |
0 |
1344 |
135 |
470 |
0 |
0 |
2359 |
| Northwood |
0 |
0 |
254 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
254 |
|
Longton and Lane End |
547 |
927 |
1066 |
61 |
200 |
300 |
0 |
3101 |
| Fenton and Lane Delph |
360 |
176 |
455 |
60 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1051 |
|
Burslem |
260 |
1684 |
400 |
101 |
90 |
0 |
150 |
2685 |
| Cobridge |
42 |
0 |
247 |
0 |
0 |
110 |
0 |
399 |
| Hot
Lane |
0 |
83 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
83 |
| Sneyd Green |
0 |
147 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
147 |
| Green
Head |
300 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
300 |
| Dale Hall |
359 |
72 |
52 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
483 |
|
Longport |
0 |
137 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
137 |
| Etruria |
0 |
251 |
69 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
320 |
|
Wolstanton |
170 |
72 |
80 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
322 |
| Tunstall |
533 |
700 |
200 |
780 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2213 |
| Golden
Hill |
150 |
200 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
350 |
| Kidsgrove |
630 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
630 |
| Pits
Hill |
0 |
0 |
0 |
286 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
286 |
| Smallthorn |
0 |
0 |
289 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
289 |
|
Eastwood Vale |
0 |
0 |
93 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
93 |
| Lightwood |
0 |
0 |
188 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
188 |
|
Total: |
4240 |
5169 |
5075 |
1543 |
1200 |
410 |
379 |
18016 |
'returns of the Day
Schools in the Staffordshire Potteries'
The Sunday Schools may have been
thriving but it was a different matter in the Day Schools with only 2,841
children attending regular education and there were only 29 teachers, a
ratio of 1 teacher to 98 pupils.
Compare this with the 2,257 Sunday School teachers giving a ratio of about
8 to 1 in a Sunday School class.
| PLACE |
Scholars |
Teachers |
| Stoke-on-Trent |
160 |
2 |
|
Penkhull and Oakhill |
40 |
1 |
| Longton and Lane End |
311 |
5 |
| Hanley |
614 |
4 |
| Shelton |
183 |
2 |
|
Burslem |
429 |
4 |
| Dale Hall |
322 |
3 |
|
Tunstall |
402 |
4 |
| Cobridge |
88 |
1 |
|
Kidsgrove |
292 |
3 |
|
Total: |
2841 |
29 |
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Illiteracy
Scriven reported that three-quarters
of the population could not read or write and he put this down to
three factors......
"I almost tremble,
however, when I contemplate the fearful deficiency of knowledge
existing throughout the district, and the consequences likely to
result to this increased and increasing population, ....... it will
appear that more than three-fourths of the persons therein named can
neither read nor write.
My experience has
satisfied me that this state of things is attributable to the three
following causes.
The first, and perhaps most
prominent, I conceive to be that of sending children at too early a
period of life to labour from morning till night, in hundreds of
cases for 15 or 16 hours consecutively, with the intermission of
only a few minutes to eat their humble food of " tatees" and " stir
pudding", and where they acquire little else than vice, for the
wages of ls. or 2s. per week, whereby they are necessarily deprived
of every opportunity of attending a day or evening school.
Another is the total indifference
of parents, who, although in numberless instances earning from 2s.
to 3s. or 4s. per week, and not requiring the early labour of their
offspring, nevertheless care so little about their immediate or
future welfare, as to be equally satisfied whether they continue in
ignorance or not.
A third is doubtless the poverty of
others unemployed.
In all the schools
2d. per week is required from every pupil, which, although trifling in
amount, is beyond the reach of many; instances, happily, are not
wanting in which benevolent persons contribute this stipend to the
children of industrious and deserving parents, who have during the
recent depression of trade been thrown out of work."
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The practice of the
Methodists..
"There
are in the district Sunday-schools belonging to the church, and to
dissenters of many denominations, but chiefly to Methodists of' the "
Wesleyan", " New Connexion", " Christian Association", and " Primitive"
connexion.
In these are congregated
immense numbers of children of both sexes. The practice of all is to
open their doors at nine o'clock in the morning, and close them at half
past ten, when they retire to the religious worship of their respective
churches or chapels: to open again at one o'clock, and retire at half
past two generally, for the same purpose, thus giving three hours of
instruction deducting half an hour for prayer and singing, with which
they commence their duties.
There are defects in the
system of Sunday-school training, or whence arises the fact of children
whose depositions I hand you from Burslem, the very pride of the
potteries, their very seat of learning, being so profoundly ignorant as
not to know one letter from another, and yet regularly "attend Sunday
schools" my deliberate opinion is; that in an educational point of view
they are not doing the good which is attributed to them:
first, on account of the
limitation of the hours of schooling;
next; from the absence of writing, and other such secular instruction;
and,
thirdly, on account of the teachers; who with honour be it spoken, are
eight-tenths of the working classes, yet unequal to the task of
teaching.
I do not mean to detract
from the merits of Sunday-schools as a source of religious knowledge,
which by some is considered the basis upon which all others should be
built, or from the moral effects resulting from the congregating of
children in religious places; or from associating with religious
friends; but would rather give my humble praise to the many sects who
have with such determined efforts striven to stem the torrent of
infidelity, profligacy, and drunkenness, and continue with pious zeal,
in imitation of their founder, to extend the knowledge and love of God.
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testimony of the pottery workers..
Benjamin
Taylor (aged 12)
"have worked in the press-room 2 years; I come at half past 6 in
the morning, and leave at 6 at night. I have half an hour for
breakfast, 1 hour for dinner...... I go to Sunday-school down to
Methody's; can read, can write, can cipher a little; can tell how much
5 time 7 is, 21; 4 times 9 is 30 (sic)....."
Lydia Dale (aged 20)
"I have been employed 6 years this Martlemas; can neither read or
write; attended a Sunday-school a little, not long, at Stoke,
Methodist Connexion; can do needlework and knitting; not married...."
Joseph Bevington, very pale and
phthisical (aged 10)
"I have been at work 12 months in the handle-room; father works
there; I get 2s. a week,... I come at 7 in the morning and leave at 6
in the evening;... Can read; can't write; have been to Trent Vale
Sunday school and a day school at Oakhill. Get some play at
dinner-hour in the yard with the rest of the boys, and at
breakfast-time; leave work at 4 o'clock Saturdays, and go to
Sunday-school, now, at Trent Vale...."
George Burton (aged 9)
"I work in the oven as
stoker, and carry coal to the fires ; begin work at 6 o'clock and
leave at 5.... don't know how much wages : I get, a-week; all goes to
father; he sometimes gives me a penny, sometimes twopence. I can t
read, can't write. I went to a Sunday school ; don't go now ; there is
no school belonging to the works..."
Ann Smith (aged 46)
"am a transferer; have been engaged at this work and cutting for
30 years ; I have worked at different potteries; have been here 10
years; was never married can read; can't write ; can form an opinion
about bringing children into the works early ; 'tis a very bad plan ;
their coming depend upon the circumstances of parents; parents can't
live without their help; thinks reading and writing a good thing for
children, and approves of schools; thinks those who go to school turn
out best. If I had half-a-dozen children, and could maintain myself
and them by my own work, I would keep them at school;"
Hannah Barker - painting room
(aged 40)
"am a widow, and managing the children in this room ; have been
employed in the painting department more than 30 years ;.... The
children do not work over time; have about 16 girls in this room, 9 of
them are under 13 years of age; all of them are healthy now, but I
have buried many out of this room ; .....Some of the girls can write,
about 6 of them ; all of them can read, all of them attend the Sunday
schools. They are very clean, and moderately well conducted"
William Hell (aged 13)
"...can't read; can't write; don't go to a Sunday-school ;
never went to day-school ; don't know the reason why, except that
mother's so poor and haven't got no clothes."
George Bragg (aged 17)
"...have been to Sunday-schools and British day-schools,
but have forgotten all about reading and writing; left school about 12
or 13, but never attended regular, as I was often called away to mind
cows"
John Colly (aged 11)
"I have been at work 2 years.... Can't read can't write; have been to
national Sunday-school at Newcastle; I went to Mr. Minton's private
infant-school in Stoke-lane, but got turned out for being naughty :
went then to a day-school" |
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