Literacy in 18th Century England

[PurdeyB]

I've been watching the repeats of Michael Wood's Story of England and the last programme covered the fact that literacy rates were much higher than many of us understand them to have been. It made me look again at the record I have for my 5 x GG marriage in 1761.

As my G x 5 grandfather's trade was charcoal burner, had I thought about it before, I would probably have expected both to be illiterate. In fact, both appear to have signed the register in their own right. There are entries elsewhere on the page which are signed by mark.

It's an observation rather than a question as such but if anyone can shed light on the level of education they might have received - church school? at home? - it would be interesting.

[Andrew Tarr]

One thought that occurs to me is that the signatures may not be those of the witnesses, as the wording is 'in the presence of' which strictly could be in anyone's writing (but by convention isn't), and if that were the case, the name would be unfamiliar to the person signing, making it appear a little clumsy.
In later years when copies were made for the register, the cleric clearly filled in signatures, and I suppose that might be the case here.  The styles are not wildly different, tho the capital W may be an attempt at variation.

[PurdeyB]

Thanks, Andrew. It's possible and I'd assumed so previously. It's not clear on the extract but the layout is:

This marriage was solemnized between us {John Branfoot
      Dorothy Walker

In the presence of { Geo Walker
                                    Thomas Robinson

There are other entries on the same page which are set out as:

This marriage was solemnized between us { The mark of [first name] X [last name]

Similarly for some of the witnesses.

I cut the entry in the new attachment when I copied it as it wasn't of interest but it shows the variety of signatures in the register.

[AntonyMMM]

They are signatures of the parties ....but being able to sign your name doesn't automatically  mean you were completely literate

[Andrew Tarr]

They are signatures of the parties ....but being able to sign your name doesn't automatically  mean you were completely literate.

Of course you may well be right, Antony.  But the slope of every signature seems suspiciously similar to me, and the cursive nature suggests that everyone signing was pretty 'literate'.  Signatures from four different people would usually have varied rather more, in my opinion.

[melba_schmelba]

I think the signatures are all by different hands, but as someone else has commented, people supposedly used to learn to only sign their name (although I am not sure what the source for that is). I think most places probably had church or charity schools which would teach up to about the age of 10, but from then on if the child had the means or a scholarship they may attain entry to a Grammar School in the nearest big town or city, otherwise they would go out to work, or work within whatever the family business was.

[Andrew Tarr]

I am no expert, but we are talking here about the 1760s, and I'm not sure how many places could then offer the services you mention.  People may have been taught how to sign their name, but I can't think of many occasions when that might have been needed (at least by an 'adult'), so any attempt might have been rather less fluid than the examples above.  That's my suspicion, anyway.

[melba_schmelba]

I am no expert, but we are talking here about the 1760s, and I'm not sure how many places could then offer the services you mention.  People may have been taught how to sign their name, but I can't think of many occasions when that might have been needed (at least by an 'adult'), so any attempt might have been rather less fluid than the examples above.  That's my suspicion, anyway.

I think many churches had little schools Andrew, almost certainly not 5 days a week, perhaps only 2 or 3 but there would likely be some kind of church led learning or perhaps charitable institution in towns or cities that ran schools.

[youngtug]

http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/chapter05.html#04