The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge ( SDUK ) was founded in London in 1826, mainly at the instigation of Whig MP Henry Brougham , with the object of publishing information to people who were unable to obtain a formal education or who preferred self-education . It was a largely Whig organisation, and published inexpensive texts intended to adapt scientific and similarly high-minded material for the rapidly-expanding reading public over twenty years until it was disbanded in 1846.
29-496: Henry Brougham considered that mass education was an essential prerequisite for political reform. In October 1824 he contributed an article on "scientific education of the people" to the Whig Edinburgh Review , in which he argued that popular education would be greatly enhanced by the encouragement of cheap publications to complement the numerous recently founded provincial mechanics' institutes . The following year
58-749: A Society for the Diffusion of Useful Ignorance. The archives of the Society are held by University College London, having been deposited by the Society after it closed in 1848. The archive spans 200 volumes and 121 boxes. It includes minutes, financial records, unpublished manuscripts, and correspondence. University College London also holds the papers of the Society's founder, Henry Brougham . The papers consist primarily of Brougham's incoming correspondence, totalling around 50,000 items, and material relating to his legal and political career. Edinburgh Review Too Many Requests If you report this error to
87-403: A decade of reform and railway, the idea of progress became something of a Victorian truism. Continuing concerns related more to ameliorating its effects than turning back the clock – philosophers fearing over-education would reduce moral and physical fibre, poets seeking to preserve individuality in the face of the utilitarian march. See also Magee, D, 'Popular periodicals, common readers and
116-406: A giant automaton sweeps away quacks , delayed parliamentary bills and court cases, can be seen as apocalyptic in its attempt to improve society. The March of Intellect remained ambivalent throughout satire, but recurrently criticised the ambition of educating the working class. In Peacock 's 1831 novel Crotchet Castle , one character, Dr. Folliott, satirised the "Steam Intellect Society" and linked
145-420: A new focus on applied knowledge, particularly regarding natural philosophy (later science) and its various fields. ‘Useful knowledge’ was believed to be the way forward by liberal Whigs, but the definition of this term remained fluid. The increase in periodicals, encyclopaedias and printed literature from the late eighteenth century began to raise questions about the newfound availability of knowledge. Advances in
174-409: A peak in the development of the idea and possession of knowledge. The concept of knowledge as a result of the industrial revolution had changed from the end of the eighteenth century. ‘Polite learning’ practiced by the upper and middle classes through the study of ancient cultures was criticised for being ornamental in its uses by commentators such as Jeremy Bentham . The industrial revolution created
203-654: A version of this article was issued as a pamphlet entitled Practical Observations upon the Education of the People Addressed to the Working Classes and Their Employers , selling at least 19 editions. In April 1825 Brougham set about trying to found a society to produce cheap educational books, although it was not until November 1826 that the SDUK was formally founded. One of those present at the first meeting
232-461: The Penny Magazine (1832–1845), a lavishly illustrated weekly that achieved unprecedented success, with sales in excess of 200,000 copies in the first year. The scope and scale of the Society's activities expanded further over the following decade, and included the production of a Penny Cyclopaedia (1833–1843) in 27 volumes. Although sales of these publications may have been more among
261-508: The Library of Useful Knowledge imbued different scientific fields with concepts of progress: uniformitarianism in geology, the nebular hypothesis in astronomy, and the scala naturae in the life sciences. According to historian James A. Secord , such works met a demand for "general concepts and simple laws", and in the process helped establish the authority of professional science and specialised scientific disciplines. The first volume of
290-489: The Library of Useful Knowledge , an introduction to the series by Brougham on the "objects, advantages and pleasures of science" , sold over 33,000 copies by the end of 1829. Despite the initial success of the series, however, it soon became clear that it was too demanding for many readers, and the Society began to offer more varied and attractive publications, starting with the Library of Entertaining Knowledge (1829–38) and
319-655: The Philosophic Whigs , spearheaded by Brougham , offered a new vision of a society progressing into the future: Thackeray would write of "the three cant terms of the Radical spouters...'the March of Intellect', 'the intelligence of the working classes', and 'the schoolmaster abroad'". Brougham's foundation of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge , and of University College, London , seemed to epitomise
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#1732780442855348-495: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 221657728 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:54:03 GMT March of Intellect The March of Intellect , or the 'March of mind', was the subject of heated debate in early nineteenth-century England, one side welcoming
377-406: The advances in everyday life such as faster travel due to the extension of the railway and the rise in exchanging letters. These and other satirical works from the period recognised that a transformation within society was already in motion, but were ambiguous as to whether reform would be progressive or damaging. For example, Robert Seymour's cartoon entitled 'The March of Intellect' (c.1828) in which
406-601: The book trade, supported by publications such as the Royal Lady's Magazine , who complained in the early 1830s that: Few persons are aware that the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge have done, and are still doing, more to ruin the Book trade than all the change of times, the want of money, the weight of taxes, and even the law of Libel have accomplished; yet they – a committee of Noblemen and pretended Patriots – are permitted to go on in their unfeeling, nay, considering
435-710: The controversy over the March of intellect can be traced back to the spread of education to two new groups in England after 1800 – children and the working-class. 1814 saw the first use of the term the 'march of Mind' as a poem written by Mary Russell Mitford for the Lancastrian Society , and the latter's work in bringing education to children was soon rivalled by the efforts of the Established Church. The March of Intellect forms part of nineteenth-century debates over science communication , marking
464-413: The growth of Literary and Philosophical Societies , meant something of a revolution in adult reading habits. The working classes had limited access to knowledge owing to poor literacy rates and the expensive cost of printed materials relative to wages. The Spa Fields Riots and Peterloo Massacre raised concerns about revolution and the violent unrest created resistance among the elite towards educating
493-545: The hundreds of thousands engaged in the Book trade, we may add brutal, career, without interruption. The SDUK publishing programme began with the Library of Useful Knowledge . Sold for sixpence and published fortnightly, its books focused on scientific topics. Like many other works in the new genre of popular science—such as the Bridgewater Treatises and Humphry Davy 's Consolations in Travel —the books of
522-458: The lower classes. Other conservative commentators supported educating the working class as a means of control. The Edinburgh Review commented in 1813 on the hopes of 'a universal system of education' that would 'encourage foresight and self-respect among the lower orders.' Through education, the working class would know their economic position in life and this would prevent further outbreaks of political unrest. Liberal Whig supporters of educating
551-594: The march explicitly to folly, rural protest and the rise in crime: "the march of mind...marched in through my back-parlour shutters, and out again with my silver spoons". Peacock had earlier parodied the Utilitarian take on the role of the modern poet: "The march of his intellect is like that of a crab, backward" The March of Mind was used by the Whigs as one argument for the Great Reform Act ; and after
580-435: The middle- than the working-classes, the Society had a significant role in pioneering "the idea of cheap, improving publications, freely and easily available, well produced and distributed on a scale hitherto unknown," and became iconic of the " March of Intellect ". The publisher Charles Knight bears much of the credit for the success that SDUK publications had; he engaged in extensive promotional campaigns, and worked to improve
609-432: The new progress of the age. But the same phenomenon of the March of Intellect was equally hailed by conservatives as epitomising everything they rejected about the new age: liberalism, machinery, education, social unrest – all became the focus of a critique under the guise of the 'March'. The March of Intellect was repeatedly satirised in written print and visual media, such as cartoons . Cartoons were frequently used in
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#1732780442855638-650: The nineteenth century to explore current affairs and were becoming increasingly accessible during the peak of the March of Intellect. William Heath’s collection of prints published between 1825 and 1829 have become central representations of the debate. Heath used machines, steam-powered vehicles and other forms of technology in his work to mock liberal Whiggish ambitions that problems in society could be solved through widespread education. The scenes present futuristic visions of society whereby issues such as travel, emigration and postal delivery had been conquered by technological innovation through knowledge. They represent some of
667-481: The printers, and finally distributed the publications; profits were used to continue the Society's work. By using the new technologies of mass production, such as steam presses and stereotype , the Society and its printers kept costs low and were able to sell the books at much cheaper prices than was usual. The Society was not without opposition, and the Literary Gazette mounted a campaign on behalf of
696-415: The production of books further extended knowledge to the middle classes and owning printed literature became a desirable commodity. Where a volume would cost around 10 shillings at the beginning of the nineteenth century, by the 1820s a reprint of a volume could be half this value. At the same time, the spread of print culture, artisan coffee houses, and, from 1823 onwards, Mechanics' Institutes , as well as
725-473: The progress of society towards greater, and more widespread, knowledge and understanding, the other deprecating the modern mania for progress and for new-fangled ideas. The 'March' debate was seen by Mary Dorothy George as a public reflection of the changes in British society associated with industrialisation, democracy and shifting social statuses – changes welcomed by some and not by others. The roots of
754-430: The readability of the sometimes abstruse material. The Society's continuing commitment to the high intellectual standards with which it was conceived probably contributed to its ultimate decline, as subscribers and sale of publications fell away. The Biographical Dictionary begun in 1842 was immensely ambitious and contributed to the Society's demise. An independent Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
783-406: The working classes, such as Henry Brougham , believed in 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number' outlined by Bentham's utilitarian philosophy. The sciences were seen by these supporters as valuable knowledge for the working classes and debates on the best means of diffusing knowledge was debated. Interest in the so-called March of Intellect came to a peak in the 1820s. On the one hand,
812-557: Was founded as part of the Lyceum movement in the United States in 1829. It sponsored lectures by such speakers as Ralph Waldo Emerson and was active from 1829 to 1947. Later, an independent American Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was founded, which published a fifty-volume set of books called The American School Library . Henry David Thoreau cites the Society in his essay "Walking" in which he jestingly proposes
841-696: Was the philosopher James Mill , and the founding committee included many Fellows of the Royal Society and Members of Parliament, as well as twelve founding committee members of the newly formed University College London . SDUK publications were intended for the working class and the middle class, as an antidote to the more radical output of the pauper presses. The Society set out to achieve this by acting as an intermediary between authors and publishers by launching several series of publications. Its printers included Baldwin & Cradock, later succeeded by Charles Knight . The SDUK commissioned work and dealt with
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