Literacy in 18th Century England

[Rena]

I'm defending the handwriting.

These days most people are used to writing with a ball point pen and have no idea how difficult it is/was to use somebody else's ink pen, where the nib would not accommodate a stranger's handwriting style.   Nibs were narrow, medium or wide - I preferred a medium nib for my handwriting style.

Additionally as the year is 1827, it could very well be that an old fashioned quill (a goose or swan wing feather) was used as the writing implement.   The owner of the pen has beautifully styled handwriting, and the quill would probably have had a wide "nib" to accommodate the writer.

Back in the 1950s - 1960s I used to see men who worked on the land try to hold a pen.  In those days and certainly in the 1820s, the work meant hands were calloused and very difficult to bend sufficiently to hold a  narrow pen with ease.

P.S.  The church in Manchester became a cathedral in 1847, when the Diocese of Manchester was created.

[Footo]

Totally off the topic of this post, but one photograph of register entries has
Rev Jos Brooke .
Date 1805 .
There was a very well known
Cleric of that name at Manchester Cathedral that date.
Quite a fierce but down to earth man,mentioned at length in a book written about the time of Peterloo,” The Manchester Man, “.
There is a statue of him in Manchester Cathedral.
Not all churches were licensed for marriages or Christenings, so people would go to have babies Christened ,or adults married in The Cathedral ,which was.
He often refused to give babies their parents’ choice of name, !
I was very pleased and interested to see his name.
Viktoria.

A friend of mine went to see a play about Joshua Brookes at the Cathedral quite a few years ago - something about missing grooms - wished I’d gone too. I couldn’t believe what I heard when she said if a groom was late for the wedding Joshua Brookes would get another male from the congregation as a stand in for the groom and continue with the marriage…

Barbara

[Andrew Tarr]

A friend of mine went to see a play about Joshua Brookes at the Cathedral quite a few years ago - something about missing grooms - wished I’d gone too. I couldn’t believe what I heard when she said if a groom was late for the wedding Joshua Brookes would get another male from the congregation as a stand in for the groom and continue with the marriage…

I wonder what he did if a bride was late - which by present-day custom is much more common ? 

[Maiden Stone]

  And I suspect most children would learn to write on a slate rather than with pen and ink.  I wonder if left-handedness was suppressed in the 18th century as it certainly was later. 

  But I still believe that even if many children learnt to write their names, the need for most of them to actually do that after leaving school (usually quite young) would mean that the skill would become rusty by the time they married.

A report on a Catholic elementary school in Preston, Lancashire around 1820 remarked that writing ability of pupils was satisfactory on slates but poor on paper. The school charged a fee for penmanship to cover cost of writing materials (may have been an extra penny a week). Some parents may not have been able or willing to pay the extra weekly penny. Some pupils wouldn't have stayed long enough at school to advance to penmanship. 
There was an illegal Catholic school in the small town of Lytham, Lancashire in C.18th. Between a quarter and a third of the population of the town were Catholic. It's noticeable that the majority of bridegrooms, brides and witnesses signed their names. A stable-lad and a maidservant at the hall both signed their names. Owner of the hall, the lord of the manor, was R.C. as were many of his staff, so it's a fair bet that the stable-lad and the maid were.
My 5xGGF in nearby Kirkham wrote his name when he married in 1788. He was an ag, lab. The name was carefully printed in a round hand, like a child would write. He didn't use capital letters for initials.
A 5xGGM wrote A for Alice when she married in 1760. Her husband signed his name. I have a copy of his signed will 50 years later. He was a stonemason and probably made inscriptions on tombstones and new buildings. He witnessed a few weddings, perhaps while he was working in the church or churchyard.