‘Operations and cooperations’
John Thelwall, George Birkbeck, and the Movement for Public Education in Britain
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21790709 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Judith Thompson (0000-0002-2118-1889, Dalhousie University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 2024 |
| Issue | 36 |
| Publication date | 2024-11-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | 19 Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1755-1560 • E-ISSN: 1755-1560 |
| Publisher | Open Library of the Humanities (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.16995/ntn.10608 |
| OpenAlex | W4385873509 |
| Language | EN |
Drawn from new research towards the first full biography of the radical Romantic polymath John Thelwall, this article explores his ‘operations and cooperations’ with his friend George Birkbeck, leading up to the founding of the London Mechanics’ Institution, Birkbeck College, and the University of London. Manifesting his lifelong preoccupation with democratic education, Thelwall’s heretofore unknown contribution is rooted in the extensive, transnational lectures and educational institutions, both political and elocutionary, that he delivered and operated for mechanics (defined in relation to social class, science, language, and the body politic). They in turn were founded in eighteenth-century debating societies, and the long-neglected ‘universal academy’ of ‘Orator Henley’. The article concludes that Thelwall too, so far ahead of his time and so long forgotten, still has much to teach us
Art history · Biography · Democracy · Political science · Politics · Polymath · Professionalization · Psychoanalysis · Romance · Social science · Sociology · Classics · Computer Science · Historical Philosophy and Science · History · History and Theory of Mathematics · Law · Psychology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |