1 Fred Edwards, Paper Sir? The Autobiography of an Old News Boy ( London: Drane's. Danegeld House , 1912), 54-56. Edwards was born in Leicestershire. He attended day school briefly but benefited from evening and Sunday school, especially enjoying chemistry classes.
2.
2 Edwards, Paper Sir?, p. 56.
3.
3 Edwards, Paper Sir?, pp. 58-59. This was the only formal training noted in Edward's autobiography.
4.
4 Edwards, Paper Sir?, pp. 8-9. Edwards suffered from a cleft palate.
5.
5 Edwards, Paper Sir?, pp. 49, 59-61.
6.
For more on gentlemen and artisan scientific practice, see Anne Secord, `Corresponding interests: artisans and gentlemen in nineteenth-century natural history,' British Journal for the History of Science27 (1994): 383-408 .
7.
7 John Burnett, David Mayall, and David Vincent, The Autobiography of the Working Class: An Annotated, Critical Bibliography, vol. 1 ( New York: New York University Press , 1984).
8.
8 See Stephen Pumfrey and Roger Cooter, `Separate spheres and public places: reflections on the history of science popularization and science in popular culture,' History of Sciencexxxii (1994): 237-267 .
9.
For the late-century proletarian assault on liberal scientific naturalism, see McLaughlin-Jenkins, `Common Knowledge: The Victorian Working Class and the Low Road to Science, 1870-1900,' Chapters 1, 5.
10.
10 For more on the press, secularism, and socialism, see McLaughlin-Jenkins, `Common Knowledge: The Victorian Working Class and the Low Road to Science, 1870-1900,' Chapters 2, 4-5.
11.
See also, David Vincent, Literacy and Popular Culture, England 1750-1914 ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1989), 53-87.
12.
James A. Secord, Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation ( Chicago and London: Chicago University Press , 2000).
13.
13 Desmond, Huxley: Evolution's High Priest, 2 vols. ( London: Michael Joseph , 1997), 2:12-15.
14.
14 T. A. Jackson, Solo Trumpet: Some Memories of a Socialist Agitator and Propagandist ( London: Lawrence & Wishart , 1953), 42, 49. Jackson's father was a printing house foreman.
15.
Huxley wrote two articles in 1890 against socialism: `Capitalism, The Mother of Labour' and `The Natural Inequality of Men.'
16.
16 Altick, English Common Reader, p. 426.
17.
17 David Vincent, Literacy, p. 54.
18.
18 David Vincent, Bread, Knowledge, and Freedom: A Study of Nineteenth-Century Working-class Autobiography ( London: Europa , 1981), 106.
19.
19 Edward Royle, Modern Britain: A Social History, 1750-1997, 2nd ed. ( London: Arnold , 1997), 356.
20.
Thomas Laqueur, Religion and Respectability: Sunday Schools and Working-Class Culture, 1780-1850 ( New Haven: Yale University Press , 1976), 151.
21.
John Laurent, `Science Education, Evolution Theory, and the British Labour Movement, 1860-1910, Ph.D. diss., Griffith University, 1984.
22.
22 Susan Sheets-Pyenson, `Popular science periodicals in Paris and London: the emergence of a low scientific culture, 1820-1875,' Annals of Science42 (1985): 549-572 .
23.
23 See McLaughlin-Jenkins, `Common Knowledge: The Victorian Working Class and the Low Road to Science,' Chapter 2.
24.
and Bread, Chapters 6-8.
25.
Joseph Keating, My Struggle for Life ( London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Company , 1916), 84.
26.
26 A. J. Meadows, `Access to the Results of Scientific Research: Developments in Victorian Britain,' in The Development of Science Publishing in Europe ( Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishing , 1980), 59.
27.
27 See Erin McLaughlin-Jenkins, `Common knowledge: science and the late Victorian working-class press,' History of Sciencexxxix (2001): 445-465 .
28.
28 Partitioning the artisans from the rest of the laboring sector may be accurate for the early nineteenth century, but it is a mistake to extend this to the final decades of the Victorian period when information flowed abundantly and cheaply along the low road.
29.
29 Edwin Grey, Cottage Life in a Hertfordshire Village ( St. Albans, Fisher, Knight and Company , 1935), 30.
30.
30 Thomas Bell, Pioneering Days ( London: Lawrence & Wishart , 1941), 16.
31.
31 Frank Hodges, My Adventures of a Labour Leader ( London: George Newnes , 1924), 73.
32.
See also Bell, Pioneering Days, p. 16.
33.
John Burnett, Destiny Obscure: Autobiographies of Childhood, Family, and Education from the 1820s to the 1920s ( London: Allen Lane , 1982), 135-136.
34.
34 Flora Thompson, Lark Rise to Candleford, A Trilogy, 1939-45 ( London: Penguin , 1973), 80.
35.
35 Thompson, Lark Rise, pp. 44, 109-110.
36.
Literacy, pp. 174-179, 200-227.
37.
37 Keating, My Struggle, p. 65. Keating was born in 1871 and died in 1934.
38.
38 Thompson, Lark Rise, pp. 43, 352.
39.
39 Ben Turner, About Myself, p. 23.
40.
40 Turner, About Myself, p. 50.
41.
George Lansbury, My Life ( London: Constable and Co. , 1928), 19, 30. Lansbury (1859-1940), son of a railway timekeeper, recalled that he learned to read using his grandmother's weekly copy of Reynolds's Newspaper, and that by eleven he was using newspapers to study world events and politics.
42.
42 Bell, Pioneering Days, pp. 30-31.
43.
43 Percy Redfern, Journey to Understanding ( London: George Allen & Unwin , 1946), 23-24.
44.
44 Keating, My Struggle, pp. 82-83.
45.
45 Keating, My Struggle, p. 84.
46.
46 Severn, Life Story, p. 38.
47.
47 Tom Barclay, Memoirs and Medleys: The Autobiography of a Bottle Washer, 1934 ( Leicestershire: Coalville , 1995), 15. Barclay recalled that he dressed in his best clothes to make his first visit to a free library but he does not date the experience.
48.
48 Barclay, Memoirs, p. 41.
49.
T. A. Jackson, Solo Trumpet, pp. 60-61.
50.
50 See Annie Kenney's account of her Lancashire co-workers who studied at night schools, Memories of a Militant ( London: Edward Arnold , 1924), 18-21.
51.
51 See for example, Thomas Kelly, A History of Adult Education in Great Britain from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century ( Liverpool: Liverpool University Press , 1962).
52.
52 Jonathan Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes ( New Haven and London: Yale University Press , 2001).
53.
53 Laurent, `Science education,' passim.
54.
54 Kelly, History of Adult Education, p. 128.
55.
55 Laurent, `Science, society and politics in late nineteenth-century England: a further look at the mechanics' institutes,' Social Studies of Science14 (1984): 588 .
56.
56 Kelly, History of Adult Education, pp. 199, 211-213.
57.
57 This figure combines institutes with their affiliated reading rooms and village libraries.
58.
58 Laurent, `Science, society and politics,' pp. 589-591.
59.
59 Ian Inkster, ed., The Steam Intellect Societies ( Nottingham: Department of Adult Education , 1975), 3. The Steam Intellect Societies are described by Inkster as part of the same tradition as the mechanics' institutes.
60.
Laurent, `Science, society and politics,' pp. 590-593.
61.
61 Laurent, `Science, society and politics,' pp. 590-591.
62.
62 Tom Mann, Tom Mann's Memoirs, 1923 ( London: Macgibbon & Kee , 1967), 6.
63.
63 Thompson, Lark Rise, p. 415.
64.
64 Kelly, History of Adult Education, p. 200.
65.
65 Kelly, History of Adult Education, pp. 224-225. These numbers pertain to the extension courses in 1891.
66.
See also Brian Graham for mid-century debates over admitting women to reading rooms in Nineteenth-Century Self-Help in Education—Mutual Improvement Societies Case Study: The Carlisle Working Men's Reading Rooms ( Nottingham: Department of Adult Education, University of Nottingham , 1983), 39.
67.
67 Kelly, History of Adult Education, pp. 155-157, 197, 200, 225-226. Out of the 457 Extension courses provided by Oxford, Cambridge, and London in 1890-91, 191 were on science. The other main draw was political economy/history with 159. Lectures were sometimes offered for a shilling and these were very popular; lectures that were more expensive were sometimes beyond the range of struggling workmen.
68.
68 Annie Kenney, Militant, p. 18.
69.
69 Bell, Pioneering Days, p. 66.
70.
Laqueur argues that many of the local teachers were drawn from the ranks of the working-class. Tom Bell recalled in Pioneering Days that his village day school teacher was from a local mining family (p. 17).
71.
71 Ian Inkster, `Science and the mechanics' institutes, 1820-1850,' Annals of Science32 (1975): 465 .
72.
Dorothy M. Entwistle, `Children's Reward Books in Nonconformist Sunday Schools, 1870-1914: Occurrence, Nature, and Purpose,' Ph.D. diss., University of Lancaster, 1990, pp. 389, 398.
73.
and Lansbury, My Life, pp. 32, 77.
74.
74 Kelly, History of Adult Education, p. 117.
75.
75 Graham, Self-Help, p. 1.
76.
76 Graham, Self-Help, pp. 28-36.
77.
77 Graham, Self-Help, p. 3.
78.
and Severn, Life Story, p. 57.
79.
79 Stan Shipley, Club Life and Socialism in Mid-Victorian London, History Workshop Pamphlets No. 5 (Oxford: Ruskin College, 1971), 21, 27 .
80.
80 Shipley, Club Life, pp. 22-23.
81.
Shipley, Club Life, p. 23.
82.
82 Shipley, Club Life, pp. 23-24.
83.
83 McLaughlin-Jenkins, `Common Knowledge: The Victorian Working Class and the Low Road to Science,' Chapters 4-5.
84.
84 Shipley, Club Life, p. 22.
85.
85 Inkster, Steam, p. 3.
86.
86 Thompson, Lark Rise, pp. 64-68.
87.
87 Turner, About Myself, p. 59.
88.
88 Anne Secord, `Science in the pub: artisan botanists in early nineteenth-century Lancashire,' History of Sciencexxxii (1994): 269-315 .
89.
89 Secord, `Science in the pub,' pp. 291-293.
90.
Museums may have been rare in working-class communities, but the example of Anne Secord's artisans and their herbarium suggests that local collections on display could be an alternative form of museum. Tom Barclay's `local museum' contained specimens collected by a co-worker from `Cooper and Corah's Hoisery Factory' (pp. 41-42).
91.
91 Secord, `Science in the pub,' pp. 280-281, 297.
92.
92 See also McLaughlin-Jenkins, `Common Knowledge: The Victorian Working Class and the Low Road to Science,' Chapter 2, for similar findings for the Bolton Cooperative Society .
93.
George Jacob Holyoake, The History of the Rochdale Pioneers ( London: Swan Sonnenschein , 1907).
94.
Phil Barnard, `Professor James Stuart and the Rochdale pioneers, or how astronomy as food for thought became a co-op dividend,' Lyra Winter(1992): 10-11 .
95.
95 Eric Hopkins, Working-Class Self-Help in Nineteenth-Century England ( London: University College London Press , 1995), 221. Hopkins cautions that the co-operative movement catered to mainly skilled workers and not the `lumpenproletariat.' From other evidence, I take this to mean a broad array of regularly employed workers and intellectuals as opposed to vagrants and hooligans.
96.
96 A. Greenwood, Catalogue of the Library of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers' Society (Rochdale: 1868) and The Educational Department of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers' Society Ltd.: Its Origin and Development ( Manchester: Central Co-operative Boards , 1877), 9.
97.
97 Catalogue of The Library of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers' Society Ltd. , passim.
98.
98 Hopkins, Working-Class Self-Help, p. 206.
99.
99 Hopkins, Working-Class Self-Help, pp. 213-214. The society had 11,647 members at the time.
100.
100 Greenwood, The Educational Department, p. 11.
101.
101 The symbol for a penny was d.
102.
102 Graham, Self-Help, pp. 32-34.
103.
103 Laurent, `Science, society and politics,' pp. 595-597.
104.
104 Kelly, History of Adult Education, p. 175.
105.
Annie Kenney described the Lancashire libraries of the 1880s as a `credit to the people' (p. 18).
106.
106 Bell, Pioneering Days, pp. 15-16.
107.
107 Mann, Tom Mann's Memoirs, pp. 9-10.
108.
108 Redfern, Journey, p. 14.
109.
109 Edward Royle, Radicals, Secularists, and Republicans: Popular Freethought in Britain, 1866-1915 ( Manchester: Manchester University Press , 1980), 1-4, 149.
110.
110 Royle, Radicals, pp. 167-174.
111.
111 Is Socialism Sound? A Verbatim Report of A Four Night's Debate between Annie Besant and G.W. Foote at the Hall of Science, Old St., London on February 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd ( London: Freethought Publishing Company , 1887), 4, 16-19, 23.
112.
112 Royle, Radicals, pp. 154-155. Crowds varied depending on the speaker and the location .
113.
113 Royle, Radicals, pp. 132-133
114.
See Susan Budd, `The British Humanist Movement: 1860-1966,' Ph. D. diss., Oxford, 1968.
115.
115 Bell, Pioneering Days, p. 31.
116.
116 Mann, Tom Mann's Memoirs, p. 8.
117.
117 Redfern, Journey, p. 23.
118.
118 Reynolds's Newspaper, 20 May 1888, p. 8.
119.
119 Virginia Berridge, `Content analysis and historical research on newspapers,' in The Press in English Society from the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries, eds. Michael Harris and Alan J. Lee ( London: Associated University Presses , 1986), 201-218, 208.
120.
120 Reynolds's Newspaper, 10 February 1889, n.p.
121.
121 Reynolds's Newspaper, 3 January 1892, p. 6. The likelihood of `Is there a Moral Governor of the Universe' being related to science is high because it was a Secularist lecture. Another lecture from this group, `An Oration on the Heavenly Bodies,' may have been astronomical rather than spiritual.
122.
122 Reynolds's Newspaper, 10 January 1892, p. 6.
123.
123 For a discussion of science and the Victorian Left, see McLaughlin-Jenkins, `Common Knowledge: The Victorian Working-Class and the Low Road to Science,' Chapter 6.
124.
and `Sounding the trumpet: Thomas Alfred Jackson on Darwin, Marx, and human existence' in Evolution, Economics, and Human Nature, ed. John Laurent ( UK: Edward Elgar, December 2002).
125.
125 The early-century autobiographies emphasized self-study and evening classes, but by the second half of the century, autobiographers also noted secularist lectures, discussion groups, socialist classes, and lectures by popularizers of science such as Richard A. Proctor.
126.
126 This issue is taken up in McLaughlin-Jenkins, `Common Knowledge: The Victorian Working Class and the Low Road to Science.'
