ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on classical presences in the major adult education initiatives offering opportunities to the working classes in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These included, most importantly, Mutual Improvement Societies, Adult Schools, Mechanics Institutes, University Extension schemes, the Workers’ Educational Association and the Labour Colleges. The presence of classical material in adult education therefore changes substantially during the period under investigation. In the 18th century, little education for the worker existed, and then in anomalous clusters surrounding a religious enterprise or the opportunities encountered by workers in specific trades. The demand for workers’ education was met sluggishly by state legislation. It was not until the Elementary Education Acts of 1870 and 1880 that more evenly distributed educational provision was achieved. ‘Classics’ as an educational discipline remained out of reach, since their curriculum rarely extended beyond basic literacy and numeracy to embrace cultural or historical subjects.
