‘Earnest students anxious to acquire a practical knowledge suited to the trade of the district’: the growth and development of the mechanics' institute movement with particular reference to Huddersfield 1824–1890

Abstract

The mechanics' institute movement of the British Isles has been underrated by some historians, who have argued that many of the institutes were attended by the middle and upper classes. In any case, they state that by the 1850s, they were declining in both popularity and usefulness. This paper questions these assumptions, concentrating on the developments at the Huddersfield Mechanics' Institute and comparing with other institutes both locally and nationally its responsiveness to local and national developments with regard to its contribution to education. Like many other institutes, Huddersfield provided a foundation on which twentieth-century further education was firmly established. Britain was not the only country to establish a mechanics' institute movement as similar developments were also taking place in other countries, particularly in Australia.

Keywords:

• mechanics' institutes
• nineteenth-century adult education
• Huddersfield
• Society of Arts
• working class

Notes on contributor

Martyn Walker is a teacher educator and researcher at the University of Huddersfield. He is a member of the Centre for Research in Post-Compulsory Education at the university. His work, based on the history of adult education and its contribution to present-day developments, has been widely published in scholarly journals. He is a co-author, with Mike Cook and Roy Fisher, of Teacher education at Huddersfield 1947 to 2007: from technical teacher training college to university school of education published by the University of Huddersfield.