Degree of instruction?

[kerryb]

Hi

I've been looking through the new criminal registers that have appeared on Ancestry and I am puzzled.

What does Degree of Instruction mean?

I thought it maybe something to do with schooling but some of the abbreviations such as 'well' don't make sense 

Kerry

[Erato]

I wondered too.  Could it refer to the level of legal representation received by the accused?

[stanmapstone]

It does refer to the level of education, i.e. reading and writing.
From The Times 2nd May 1844

Respecting the degree of instruction of the persons taken into custody, the document proceeds to show us that out of the 62,447 persons so taken up by the police, 11,336 males, and 5,682 females (in all 16,918) could neither read nor write; that 25,897 males and 13,170 females (in all 5,823) could read and write well ; and that 654 males and 15 females were of superior instruction.

Stan

[Erato]

Useful information  .....  Now if I could just find an ancestor listed.  Too bad they almost all have common names and most entries don't include a year of birth.

[stanmapstone]

Instruction The action of instructing or teaching; the imparting of knowledge or skill; education;  

Stan

[avm228]

In the same context, does anybody know what "Imp" stands for in the Degree of Instruction column? The example I'm looking at is John Stares b abt 1793 in an 1847 Hampshire record.

Anna

[kerryb]

Thanks Stan

That explains that 

I've just found an Imp - impeded???

Kerry

[stanmapstone]

Could be Imperfectly. I have come across a report which states that one of the prisoners as being able to read and write well; some only do it indifferently; and others not at all .

Stan

[AnnabelUK]

Very useful, I came across two larcenous distant cousins one of whom was imp in 1847. It was good to have an explanation.  Is it my imagination or do none of those figures in the Times article add up? 

Anna