The Mechanics' Institutes of the East and North Ridings and of York, 1837–1887

Abstract

Summary The economy of the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire, based on agriculture, was virtually unaffected by the changing technology of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Moreover, the social framework of these sparsely-populated areas retained its former rigidity. A man's lease could be lost on the evidence of his vote, and a clergyman's living on his interest in the ‘lower orders’. The macrocosm, for most people, was limited to the distance they could walk. The science of agriculture had not yet wholly permeated the upper classes, so it was little use establishing institutes to extend a knowledge of the arts practised by mere agricultural labourers. Craftsmen in the market towns often desired to implement their practical knowledge, but without funds, and dependent on their fellow-townsmen for their livelihood, they had to tread warily. Where institutes were established in the 1820's, the severe depression of the later years of the decade ended the movement in many districts. When l...