Keele Research Repository

This study aims to investigate the nature and extent of education in so far as it concerned Shropshire children in the period between the Restoration and the first Treasury grant to education. A vide variety of hitherto largely unexploited sources, both local and more centrally-based, has been employed.
The whole falls into two main sections. In the first of these, the material is treated statistically. Parish provision is quantified in both 1660 and 1833, and the intervening period surveyed to determine the rate at which any development is likely to have proceeded. Figures are given for those of school age and the number of places provided for them. Conclusions are then drawn as to how effective the schools were in meeting the needs of the community.
The second section, which is thematic, opens by discussing the relationships between education and the social and economic theory of the time. The approach is fundamentally individualistic in the subsequent two chapters which deal with the origins and motives of the funders and purveyors of this education. The children, too, are studied as individuals, with their background, progress and eventual employment each receiving attention. A concluding chapter synthesises a number of findings for other counties during the same,period and thereby highlights similarities and contrasts between Shropshire and elsewhere.