5 The most detailed study, which radically revises previous estimates, concludes that the “levels and the profile of illiteracy in Lowland Scotland [were] extremely close to those for northern England … literacy over Lowland Scotland as a whole was not particularly high compared to northern England.” R. A. Houston, Scottish Literacy and the Scottish Identity (Cambridge, 1985), 41, 34; idem, “Illiteracy in the Diocese of Durham, 1663-89 and 1750-62: The Evidence of Marriage Bonds,” NH 18 (1982), 229-51.

6 Houston finds the following rates of occupational illiteracy for craftsmen and traders in the borderlands during the period of emigration:

Decade

Northern England

Lowland Scotland

1710s

n.a.

22%

1720s

44%

14%

1730s

23%

15%

1740s

22%

17%

1750s

31%

21%

Source: Houston, Scottish Literacy and Scottish Identity, 40.

7 Houston’s research yields the following levels of illiteracy by occupation for the period 1700-1770:

Occupation

England

Scotland

Professional

0%

1%

Gentry

0%

3%

Craft and Trade

26%

18%

Yeoman and Tenant

26%

32%

Laborer

64%

68%

Source: Houston, Scottish Literacy and Scottish Identity, 41, 34.

8 Scott, A Westmorland Village, 70.