Introduction
The Newcastle Commission of 1859 was in large measure a response to allegations of educational malpractice in Charles Dickens’s novel ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ (1838). The Assistant Commissioner for Yorkshire, Mr J. G. Fitch, submitted a wide-ranging and often critical report, but he could not let Dickens’s allegations pass without comment.
THERE is a visible improvement in the character of private schools. Bad as many of them are, charlatanry is on the decline.
For example, I have wholly failed to discover any examples of the typical Yorkshire boarding-school with which Nicholas Nickleby has made us familiar.* I have seen schools in which board and education were furnished for 20l, and even 18l per annum,* but have been unable to find evidences of bad feeding or physical neglect.
As a rule, the children in the cheap boarding-schools are in good health, and are sufficiently though coarsely fed.* The accommodations in the houses are mean, and the sleeping arrangements often bad; but the domestic comfort obtainable is little, if at all, inferior to that which the boys would probably enjoy in the homes from which they come.
See Brimstone and Treacle. Fitch proposed many changes to the way schools were run, but had no enthusiasm for one-size-fits-all State intervention. “Nothing has become clearer to me during this investigation,” he wrote, “than the fact that any sweeping or Procrustean measure will do great injustice.” On Procrustes, see .
According to the calculators used at Measuring Worth, the equivalent value today in terms of income or wealth would be £1,839 and £1,655 respectively. Fitch wrote that “it is in the education that the pinching is felt. The starvation of the mind is less likely to be detected at home than that of the body, and good food is often paid for at the price of insufficient teaching.”
Fitch described the meals as “monotonous and unsavoury, and yet wasteful”, a criticism later made of Government workhouses by Emmeline Pankhurst: see A Woman’s Logic. He also added that the survey forms asking teachers about school meals too often came back blank or with evasive replies like “Good Yorkshire cheer” scrawled into the box.
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Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 All. Domestic. We.
2 Feeding. Many. Which.
3 Find. If. There.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding dis-.
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Physical. 2 Familiar. 3 Worst. 4 Domestic. 5 Coarse. 6 Whole. 7 Visible. 8 Sufficient. 9 Mean.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
ppl (6+1)
appal. appeal. apple. papal. people. pupil.
pupal.
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