Manx History; childhood in the eighteenth century; a WI talk.
On Saturday I went to a fascinating talk organised by the WI. The subject was Childhood on the Isle of Man in the Eighteenth Century. I am writing some of it down here so that I remember it.
A bit of background of things I already knew; the island's legal system was for many years based on the Viking system. When the Scottish kings also became Kings of Mann they were content, in the large part to leave well enough alone. Only when the Kingship of Mann passed to the Stanleys did they try to impose major changes. They were not, however, often on the island themselves. One effect of this was that the Ecclesiastical Courts and Ecclesiastical Law became at least as powerful here as in the rest of the British Isles, probably more so.
Around the middle of the seventeenth century the Stanley of the time had his stewards write a report on the state of the island where we learn that;
"There were no people living on the island who could be described as rich. Most of the population lived in the countryside in 'one room hovels' constructed of stone and plaster, thatched with broom. Within this dwelled the parents and children, with ducks and geese to be found under the beds, and chickens often roosting in the rafters and the cow or a goat to be found stabled at the foot of the bed.
The staple diet was of salt fish, and oatcakes made very thin at the size of the griddle they were cooked upon. This diet seemed adequate as the children grew well on it. It could be said that whilst the population are, in the large part, poor, no-one lives in abject poverty."
So this was the population. At around this time Bishop Barrow decided that the only way to ensure that everyone was able to understand their catechism, and read the Bible for themselves, was to teach all the children to read and write.
He decreed that a school for this purpose should be set up in each of the 17 parishes, and also in each of the 4 towns. This would generally be in the churches, and taught by the vicar. All children, both boys and girls, were to attend once they were old enough to receive instruction until they could both read and write. There was a complication; Manx was purely a spoken language, it was not written. So the children were also taught English so that they could read and write in what was, to them, a foreign language!
This therefore began the process of using English on the island. Although Bishop Barrow also began to devise a written version of Manx for future use. You can see why he is one of the major figures in our history.
Any parent who did not send their children to be schooled would be fined 10d (ten old pence) at the quarterly court - whilst any vicar who failed to provide regular lessons was fined 10 shillings and 6 pence per quarter.
In effect compulsory primary education in the middle of the seventeenth century, a couple of centuries before our English neighbours.
By around 1700 Bishop Wilson decided the lessons should take place in separate school rooms, rather than within the church, and each of the 21 schools would have a teacher, rather than the vicar being responsible. Records show that around 1/4 of these teachers were women.
The success of the system can be measured by noting that in 1650 only around 3% of those who appeared in legal document, such as wills, or as witnesses etc, could sign their name. The rest simply made their mark. By the time the children who had first gone to Bishop Barrow's schools were writing their own wills in the early 1700s, over 50% were confident enough to sign for themselves. This compared with around 4% on similar records in England, and 7% in Scotland.
By around 1720 or so there were the original 21 primary schools, plus grammar schools in Douglas, Ramsey and Castletown, and 'mathematical schools' where boys learn maths and navigation in Douglas and Peel. Also an 'Academical School' for boys which taught to the same level as Oxford and Cambridge! The island had a population of around 14,000 at the time.
However, childhood was not all about schooling. As well as time being allowed from lessons for farm work at certain times, children and young people did have their own leisure pursuits. We can learn about these from the Ecclesiastical Court records too, as they were regularly fined for breaking the Sabbath - and it can be assumed that if they were swimming in the river, playing games of chance, playing football in the churchyard, and so on on a Sunday, these would also be their leisure pursuits at other times.
One group of young lads were fined and given penance for not only playing football in the churchyard but managing to break 3 small panes of glass in one of the church windows!
My favourite case we learnt about was of a youth who was found guilty of "making water, that is pissing, through the open window in where the younger children were learning their catechism." !!
Being a WI event, we also spent a sociable half hour or so after the talk being plied with home-made cakes, wonderful cheese scones, and copious amounts of tea and coffee.
A bit of background of things I already knew; the island's legal system was for many years based on the Viking system. When the Scottish kings also became Kings of Mann they were content, in the large part to leave well enough alone. Only when the Kingship of Mann passed to the Stanleys did they try to impose major changes. They were not, however, often on the island themselves. One effect of this was that the Ecclesiastical Courts and Ecclesiastical Law became at least as powerful here as in the rest of the British Isles, probably more so.
Around the middle of the seventeenth century the Stanley of the time had his stewards write a report on the state of the island where we learn that;
"There were no people living on the island who could be described as rich. Most of the population lived in the countryside in 'one room hovels' constructed of stone and plaster, thatched with broom. Within this dwelled the parents and children, with ducks and geese to be found under the beds, and chickens often roosting in the rafters and the cow or a goat to be found stabled at the foot of the bed.
The staple diet was of salt fish, and oatcakes made very thin at the size of the griddle they were cooked upon. This diet seemed adequate as the children grew well on it. It could be said that whilst the population are, in the large part, poor, no-one lives in abject poverty."
So this was the population. At around this time Bishop Barrow decided that the only way to ensure that everyone was able to understand their catechism, and read the Bible for themselves, was to teach all the children to read and write.
He decreed that a school for this purpose should be set up in each of the 17 parishes, and also in each of the 4 towns. This would generally be in the churches, and taught by the vicar. All children, both boys and girls, were to attend once they were old enough to receive instruction until they could both read and write. There was a complication; Manx was purely a spoken language, it was not written. So the children were also taught English so that they could read and write in what was, to them, a foreign language!
This therefore began the process of using English on the island. Although Bishop Barrow also began to devise a written version of Manx for future use. You can see why he is one of the major figures in our history.
Any parent who did not send their children to be schooled would be fined 10d (ten old pence) at the quarterly court - whilst any vicar who failed to provide regular lessons was fined 10 shillings and 6 pence per quarter.
In effect compulsory primary education in the middle of the seventeenth century, a couple of centuries before our English neighbours.
By around 1700 Bishop Wilson decided the lessons should take place in separate school rooms, rather than within the church, and each of the 21 schools would have a teacher, rather than the vicar being responsible. Records show that around 1/4 of these teachers were women.
The success of the system can be measured by noting that in 1650 only around 3% of those who appeared in legal document, such as wills, or as witnesses etc, could sign their name. The rest simply made their mark. By the time the children who had first gone to Bishop Barrow's schools were writing their own wills in the early 1700s, over 50% were confident enough to sign for themselves. This compared with around 4% on similar records in England, and 7% in Scotland.
By around 1720 or so there were the original 21 primary schools, plus grammar schools in Douglas, Ramsey and Castletown, and 'mathematical schools' where boys learn maths and navigation in Douglas and Peel. Also an 'Academical School' for boys which taught to the same level as Oxford and Cambridge! The island had a population of around 14,000 at the time.
However, childhood was not all about schooling. As well as time being allowed from lessons for farm work at certain times, children and young people did have their own leisure pursuits. We can learn about these from the Ecclesiastical Court records too, as they were regularly fined for breaking the Sabbath - and it can be assumed that if they were swimming in the river, playing games of chance, playing football in the churchyard, and so on on a Sunday, these would also be their leisure pursuits at other times.
One group of young lads were fined and given penance for not only playing football in the churchyard but managing to break 3 small panes of glass in one of the church windows!
My favourite case we learnt about was of a youth who was found guilty of "making water, that is pissing, through the open window in where the younger children were learning their catechism." !!
Being a WI event, we also spent a sociable half hour or so after the talk being plied with home-made cakes, wonderful cheese scones, and copious amounts of tea and coffee.