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 |
|
|
1720s |
|
|
1730s |
|
|
1740s |
|
|
1750s |
|
|
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 |
|
|
Gentry |
|
|
Craft and Trade |
|
|
Yeoman and Tenant |
|
|
Laborer |
|
|
Source: Houston, Scottish Literacy and Scottish Identity, 41, 34.
8 Scott, A Westmorland Village, 70.