ABSTRACT
Many modern historians subscribe to the view that 'Language is Power'. When this concept is applied to the 1830s and 1840s, it tends to be interpreted as the imposition of middle-class moral and cultural assumptions on to the newly-literate, and hence vulnerable, working classes. Charles Knight was a man of independent outlook and opinions. It would be misleading to endow a man of his generation with a blanket acceptance of 'Victorian Values'. Knight's rash proclivity for plunging into the thick of the fray inclines one to suspect that, in his most controversial ventures, it was he who led and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge which followed, despite their nominal 'superintendence'. Knight encouraged the aspirations of those who were often struggling against great opposition to achieve their aims. Mechanics' Institutes, public libraries, book clubs; Knight advocated these and other solutions to assist the would-be readers gain access to the world of learning.
