| Abstract: | Although the literacy of miners lagged behind county and national averages, there was educational progress in the Northern coalfield before 1870. Progress came partly from the private adventure schools and the Sunday schools, which originated in the colliery communities and which have been underestimated by historians. Evidence from parish registers shows that the private adventure schools that proliferated in the collieries, especially from the 1820s, helped to maintain and raise literacy rates in some villages, but were unjustly criticized by educators who favoured state public elementary schools. The colliery Sunday schools, particularly those of the Methodists, were also important in developing the ability to read. The spread of Methodism amongst miners gave an important stimulus to literacy, which resulted in greater support for adult education in the coalfield. The growth of mechanics’ institutes, reading rooms and mutual improvement societies testified to a growing enthusiasm amongst miners for education before 1870. Despite the extraordinary population growth, especially in Durham, and extensive migration of workers in the coal industry, educational progress in the coalfield is evident particularly in the late 1850s and 1860s. |
