Joseph Lancaster

Tom Duggett (Xi'an Jiaotong Liverpool University, China)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

Born 25 Nov 1778
Died 23 Oct 1838
Activity 1798-1838

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Educationalist

Resources

Joseph Lancaster was the inventor of a system of mass instruction that was central to the education debate in the early nineteenth century. The so-called “Lancasterian” system broke new ground in its use of pupil-tutors, in its cultivation of “public spirit” in school, and in its ecumenical approach to religious instruction (Lancaster, Improvements in Education, 34, 94-6, 162). Lancaster’s system was adopted as the basis of a planned national education system by the Grenville ministry of 1806-7, and it was subsequently backed by a diverse group of philanthropists who constituted themselves as the Royal Lancasterian Association in 1810 and as the British and Foreign School Society in 1814.

Lancaster opened …

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989 words

Citation: Duggett, Tom. "Joseph Lancaster". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 October 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2604, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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