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The Religion of the Child in Edwardian Methodism: Institutional Reform and Pedagogical Reappraisal in the West Riding of Yorkshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2014

S. J. D. Green
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Extract

Much has been written in recent years about the history of childhood in Edwardian Britain. To some extent, that concentration of scholarly effort reflects a profound shift in academic concerns away from the superficially extraordinary and noteworthy to the apparently mundane and neglected that has characterized much of the so-called new social history, and from which redirection of academic attention the history of childhood in modern Britain has been only one of many beneficiaries. But perhaps to a greater extent, the outpourings of recent historiography on the changing nature and changing significance of childhood in Britain during the first decade of the twentieth century and in the years immediately leading up to the outbreak of the Great War reflect an intellectual preoccupation that would have been perfectly comprehensible to the Edwardians themselves: a preoccupation, during the first decade of the twentieth century, with the discovery of “child life,” that is, with a form of mental, emotional, and psychological life peculiar to the child.

Precisely what that life consisted in, how it was discovered, and what, having unearthed it, the Edwardians made of it, is a subject too vast to be explored here. This article draws attention to only one aspect of that life and of the Edwardian discovery of and uses of it that has been largely neglected in modern historical writing. This is the religious life, religious education, and religious development of the child, particularly of that life as it was lived, nurtured, and brought (or not brought) to fruition in the Sunday schools of Edwardian England.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , October 1991 , pp. 377 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1991

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References

1 The literature on this subject is voluminous. Only a hint of its riches can be suggested here. A start can be made in Pinchbeck, Ivy and Hewitt, Margaret, Children in English Society, 2 vols. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969, 1973), esp. vol. 2Google Scholar. Some of the themes in this book are also discussed in Walvin, James, A Child's World: A Social History of English Childhood, 1800–1914 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982)Google Scholar. On the Edwardian period particularly, Thompson, Paul (The Edwardians: The Remaking of British Society [London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1975])Google Scholar is useful as a source of oral anecdote, esp. chap. 4. See also Vigne's, TheaEdwardian Childhoods (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1977)Google Scholar, passim. On the question of youth as opposed to child-hood, a stimulating introduction is Musgrave, F., Youth and Social Order (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1964), esp. chap. 4Google Scholar. On childhood and the Edwardian family, an introduction can be found in Buckley, Suzan, “The Family and the Role of Women,” in The Edwardian Age: Conflict and Stability, 1900–1914, ed. O'Day, Alan (London: Macmillan, 1979), pp. 133–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On the theme of childhood in Edwardian life and literature, a number of arresting suggestions can be found in Rose, Jonathan, The Edwardian Temperament, 1895–1918 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1986), esp. pp. 178–89Google Scholar.

2 Or, in the by now almost legendary words of Peter N. Stearns, “When the history of the menarche is widely recognised as equal in importance to the history of the monarchy, we will have arrived.” See his “Coming of Age,” Journal of Social History 10, no. 2 (Winter 1976/1977): 246–55, esp. p. 250Google Scholar. This pursuit and the mentality that underlies it have been elegantly dissected by Gertrude Himmelfarb in her essay, “History with the Politics Left Out,” in The New History and the Old (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987), pp. 13–32, passimGoogle Scholar.

3 One way to measure the extent of that preoccupation is to count the number of statutes passed on matters affecting children in the years between 1900 and 1914: it was nearly twice the number for the period 1880–1900; see Walvin, pp. 200–203, for a list of statutes relating to children from 1780-1914. Another way is to trace the emergence of this preoccupation in the lives and thought of representative intellectual figures of the time; see, e.g., Morris, A. J. A. (C. P. Trevelyan, 1870–1958: Portrait of a Radical [Belfast: Blackstaff, 1977], pp. 26 ff.)Google Scholar or Masterman, Lucy (C. F. G. Masterman: A Biography [London: Frank Cass, 1968], pp. 26–29)Google Scholar or even Hobman, J. B., ed. (David Eder: Memoirs of a Modern Pioneer [London: Gollancz, 1945], esp. pp. 74–80, 89–100)Google Scholar as well as the more obvious accounts in the lives, works, diaries, and ephemera of the Fabians. Another way still is to trace the growth of child-centered educational psychology and allied sciences in this period, for which see esp. Adrian Wooldridge (Measuring the Mind: Psychological Theory and Educational Controversy [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992], passim)Google Scholar.

4 It is, perhaps, significant that none of the sources cited in n. 1 above contain even so much as a passing reference to the religion of the child in Edwardian England. That neglect is not limited to secular historians. It is fairly common to historians of religion in nineteenth- and twentieth-century England, too; for a notable exception, see the remarks in Cox, Jeffrey, The English Churches in a Secular Society: Lambeth, 1870–1930 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1982), pp. 248–53Google Scholar.

5 For a fuller account, see Green, S. J. D., “Religion and the Industrial Town, with Special Reference to the West Riding of Yorkshire, c. 1870–1920” (D.Phil, thesis, University of Oxford, 1989), esp. chaps. 2, 5Google Scholar.

6 For specific histories see, among others, Dingsdale, Alan, “Yorkshire Mill Town: A Study of the Spatial Patterns and Processes of Urban Industrial Growth and the Evolution of Spatial Structure in Halifax, 1801–1901” (Ph.D. thesis, University of Leeds, 1974)Google Scholar, passim; Harry Bancroft, Asa Briggs, and Treacy, Eric, One Hundred Years: The Parish of Keighley (Keighley, 1948), esp. chap. 1Google Scholar; and Industrial Advantages of Denholme (London, n.d.), pp. 1–11Google Scholar; for a collective history, see Green, chap. 2.

7 For a general account of the phenomenon, see Joyce, Patrick [Work, Society and Politics: The Culture of the Factory in Later-Victorian England [Brighton, 1980], esp. chap. 2)Google Scholar or the later chapters of Hudson, Pat (The Genesis of Industrial Capital: A Study of the West Riding Wool Textile Industry, c. 1750–1850 [Cambridge, 1986])CrossRefGoogle Scholar. A contemporary work of unambiguous importance, and a pioneering study in business history is Hodgson, John, Textile Manufacture and Other Industries in Keighley, (Keighley, 1879), esp. pp. 9–173Google Scholar.

8 Dewhirst, Ian, A History of Keighley (Keighley, 1974), p. 92Google Scholar.

9 Harwood, H. W., Centenary Story, 1848–1948 (Halifax, 1948), p. 38Google Scholar.

10 On the genesis, and significance, of this shift in local economic power, see Keighley, William, Keighley, Past and Present; an Historical, Topographical and Statistical Sketch of the Town, Parish and Environs of Keighley, rev. ed. (Keighley, 1879), pp. 118–19Google Scholar; also Harwood, pp. 19–21; on Bradford, see Reynolds, Jack, The Great Paternalist: Titus Salt and the Growth of Nineteenth-Century Bradford (London: Temple Smith, 1983), chap. 1Google Scholar; for Leeds, see Connell, E. T. and Ward, M., “Industrial Development, 1780–1914,” in A History of Modern Leeds, ed. Fraser, Derek (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980), pp. 142–76Google Scholar.

11 For instance, as late as 1948, Halifax boasted “the largest carpet factories in the world, the largest building society in the world, and the largest toffee factory in the world.” See Brendan, J. M., “John Mackintosh,” in Story of the Town That Bred Us, ed. Mulroy, J. J. (Halifax, 1948), pp. 70–81Google Scholar.

12 On the demographic and administrative expression of Halifax in the nineteenth century, see Dingsdale, pp. 18–21.

13 On the demographic and administrative increase of Keighley, see Dewhirst, pp. 49, 79, 108.

14 Those ambitions and the bizarre spatial consequences they wrought on the modern town were best exemplified by the history of St. Paul, Church of England, Denholme Gate. See The Church of St. Paul in Denholme Gate, 1846–1946 (Denholme, 1946)Google Scholar: “A century ago Denholme Clough was a thriving industrial village, comparable to Denholme so the building site was chosen mid-way between the two … since that time, however, Denholme village has more than doubled its population … while the Clough remains … much the same as … in … [1846].”

15 On residential segregation in Halifax, see esp. Dingsdale, chap. 9; in Keighley, see Dewhirst, pp. 89–92; the phenomenon was insignificant in contemporary Denholme. For a comparative view, see Dennis, Richard, English Industrial Cities in the Nineteenth Century: A Social Geography (Cambridge, 1984), pp. 211–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Dingsdale (n. 6 above), pp. 345–47; Waddington, J. H., “Shops and Shop Keepers,” in his Essays and Addresses (Halifax, 1938), pp. 7–18Google Scholar.

17 See Hanson, T. W., The Story of Old Halifax, 2d rev. ed. (Halifax, 1968), pp. 266–67Google Scholar; Harwood, H. W., “The Making of Our Municipality,” in Mulroy, , ed. (n. 11 above), pp. 16–20Google Scholar; Linstrum, Derek, West Yorkshire: Architects and Architecture (Lund Humphries, 1978), pp. 224–27Google Scholar; Jowitt, J. A., “Parliamentary Politics in Halifax, 1832–1847,” Northern History 12 (1976): 172–201CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Joyce (n. 7 above), pp. 298–99; and Howell, David, British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888–1906 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1983), pp. 180–99Google Scholar.

18 On surviving “attenuated paternalism” and deference in Keighley, e.g., see Joyce, pp. 163–65, 175–76, and 321–22; for Denholme, see Industrial Advantages (n. 6 above), pp. 10–12.

19 Green (n. 5 above), pp. 54–55, and 61–62; for a comparative analysis, see Joyce, pp. 103–10.

20 For further discussion and a detailed breakdown of the evidence, see Dingsdale, pp. 19–24; and Green, p. 51.

21 Green, pp. 49–50.

22 Keighley Year Book, 1899 (Keighley, 1899), pp. 133–57 (author's calculations)Google Scholar.

23 Francis Pigou, D.D., Phases in My Life (London, 1898), p. 300Google Scholar.

24 Dingsdale, p. 21; Dewhirst (n. 8 above), p. 108.

25 Green, pp. 45–46.

26 Ibid., pp. 52–53; see also Dewhirst, p. 123.

27 Green, p. 52; Dingsdale (n. 6 above), pp. 21–23, details the evidence of Halifax; that for Keighley is complementary.

28 Green, pp. 50–53.

29 Teasdale, Christopher, Historical Sketch of Booth Congregational Church, Halifax (Halifax, 1919), p. 19Google Scholar.

30 Pigou, p. 343.

31 Green (n. 5 above), pp. 210–11; see Keighley Yearbook, 1900 (Keighley, 1900), pp. 137–51, for Keighley; Harwood (n. 9 above), pp. 33–39, for Halifax; and Industrial Advantages (n. 6 above), pp. 10–11, for Denholme.

32 Green, pp. 210–11; Keighley Yearbook, 1900, pp. 137–51; Harwood, pp. 33–39; Industrial Advantages, pp. 10–11. For additional, anecdotal evidence, on this question, see Parker, James, “Looking Back a Century,” in Mulroy, , ed. (n. 11 above), pp. 60–90Google Scholar; and Waddington, J. H., “Changes, 1866–1937,” in Essays (n. 16 above), pp. 21–34Google Scholar.

33 Calderdale District Library, Halifax, Stafford Square Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School, Minute Book, App. 1, Calderdale District Archive, (CDA) Misc. 191/84; Webber, J. Leonard, ed., Wesleyan Methodist Church (Halifax and Bradford District), Sunday Schools: Enquiry into the State of Sunday Schools in the District (Halifax, 1908)Google Scholar. This document contained the original questions, collective answers, and final report of the synod. It has been impossible to find out how it was compiled. Similar corroborating versions of its conclusions can, however, be found in the deposits of other Wesleyan Methodist Sunday schools in the district.

34 It will be evident and obvious that not all of these replies came from Sunday schools in Halifax, Keighley, or Denholme. In fact, at the time, there were probably twenty-five Wesleyan Methodist Sunday schools in Halifax, thirteen in Keighley, and one in Denholme. Whether or not every single one of these schools replied to the circular cannot be proved from the tabulated results that were eventually published. It is likely, however, that the vast majority of them did.

35 Stafford Square Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School, Minute Book, App. 1, CDA Misc. 191/84; Webber, ed.

36 Temple Street Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School, Minute Book, February 5, 1909, Keighley Public Library (KPL), 105D77/2/21/13/b/iii.

37 Rhodes Street Wesleyan Methodist Circuit, Halifax Quarterly Meeting, Minute Book, App. II, Report of the Committee Appointed by the Quarterly Meeting on the Sunday School Question (Halifax, 1910)Google Scholar, CDA MR 69.

38 Ibid., pp. 7–10.

39 Ibid., p. 4.

40 Ibid., p. 10.

41 Ibid., p. 7.

42 Ibid., p. 8.

43 Ibid., p. 10.

44 Dinsdale, W. S., “The Intermediate Department of the Sunday School,” Keighley Wesleyan Methodist Circuit Magazine (KWMCM) 120 (May 1919)Google Scholar.

45 Smith, E. T., “Boys of Ten to Fifteen,” KWMCM 122 (July 1919)Google Scholar.

46 Firth, Henry, ”The Scholar and the Church,” KWMCM 22 (March 1911)Google Scholar.

47 Dinsdale.

48 CDA MR 69, pp. 10–11.

49 “Our Young Men and Women,” KWMCM 122 (July 1919)Google Scholar.

50 Green (n. 5 above), chap. 5, esp. pp. 248–51.

51 CDA MR 69, p. 12.

52 “Our Young Men and Women.”

53 Green, chap. 5, esp. pp. 252–61.

54 See, e.g., McDougall, William, Introduction to Social Psychology (London, 1908)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and for remarks on this, see Rose (n. 1 above), p. 179.

55 Firth, Henry, “The School and the Church,” KWMCM 54 (November 1913)Google Scholar.

56 Firth, Henry, “The Scholar and the Church,” KWMCM 50 (July 1913)Google Scholar.

57 Butcher, J. Williams, “Children's Day,” KWMCM 17 (October 1910)Google Scholar.

58 “Missionary Education in the Sunday School,” KWMCM 25 (June 1911)Google Scholar.

59 Binns, J., “The School and the Church,” KWMCM 54 (November 1913)Google Scholar.

60 Butcher.

61 Myers, Arthur, “Sunday School Evangelism,” KWMCM 29 (October 1911)Google Scholar.

62 For this phenomenon, discussed in a wider context, see Cox (n. 4 above), pp. 248–50.

63 Myers.

64 Firth, Henry, “The Late Dr. Maggs and the Child's Religion,” KWMCM 70 (March 1915)Google Scholar.

65 Ibid.

66 See esp. the evidence in Keighley Yearbook, 1917 (Keighley, 1917), pp. 151–73Google Scholar, for Keighley; see the remarks in Harwood (n. 9 above), pp. 38–39; and Waddington, “Changes” (n. 32 above), pp. 33–34, for Halifax; see Industrial Advantages (n. 6 above), pp. 10–11, for Denholme.

67 Robson, Norman, “The Intermediate Age,” KWMCM 118 (March 1919)Google Scholar.

68 Ibid.

69 Smith, R. N., “Scholars and Church Membership,” KWMCM 43 (December 1912)Google Scholar.