Quote:
Originally Posted by Less
Wow, all our yesterday's tied up in a few paragraphs. Haven't we moved on a little since 1572? No hanging, drawing and quartering, no workhouses, no debtor's prisons?
The church provided education to a privalaged few. Farmers and mill owners provided accommodation because they needed workers, a few of them (mainly it seems quakers) provided adequate accomodation the rest rode rough shod over all that they could.
Local benefactors? More like men of power that reached an age were they hoped making amends by supplying amenities might get their God to forgive them for the way they used to treat their fellow man.
|
Wow - what a lot of generalisation.
My reference to 1572 was specifically pertinent to local "benefits". As for the church, presumably you refer to the schools attached to the parish churches, which were either built by public subscription or by the local benefactor. It depended on the parish whether the parents had to pay. You'll notice most have got a 19th century date above the doorway. Basic knowlege is knowing how to read and prior to the era mentioned above vicars would give each household a bible and some records still survive today, this is how I know my ancestors consisting of a shepherd, his wife and 5 children were all able to read. Parents certainly had to pay if a private individual opened a school. My grandmother born in the 1880s and her several siblings each had to take tuppence to school to pay for their tuition. Those were the days when household rates or poll tax weren't so exorbitant.
You were correct in your assumption of Quakers but I think you'll find many benefactors in the 19th century were Liberals in their thinking.