An Address, Delivered to the Members of the New Mechanics’ Institution, Manchester, on Friday Evening, March 25, 1831: On the Necessity of an Extension of Moral and Political Instruction Among the Working Classes (Manchester: W. Strange, 1831)

The adopted son of a Manchester tailor, Rowland Detrosier was an active member of the Lancashire co-operative movement. As an autodidact, he was particularly keen on furthering the cause of working-class education. In keeping with Robert Owen’s views on character formation, Detrosier stated that only comprehensive moral and intellectual training would emancipate the poorer echelons of society. Detrosier’s views on popular education were outlined in his 1831 pamphlet, On the Necessity of an Extension of Moral and Political Instruction among the Working Classes. Two years earlier, he had broken away from the Manchester Mechanics’ Institute and had founded a competing organisation, the New Mechanics’ Institute, which had strong ties with the local Owenite co-operators, and which would later be integrated into the Manchester Hall of Science. Detrosier’s diatribe targeted the Institutes’ curriculum, which focused on the technical subjects and the lacked intellectual and the political insight.