Welsh Journals

language for much of the Victorian age involved integration and the extension of centralized state control and administration. It has been argued by Michael Hechter that Anglicization of the Celtic periphery in the nineteenth century, which rested on the premise of the superiority of English culture, and involved neglect of the Welsh language and culture, epitomizes the hallmarks of an internal colonial model. The corollary of this vision of Britain as an English national state might be uniformity in educational policies and practices. State-supported education may be viewed as an instrument for removing cultural differences and promoting cultural and ideological uniformity.6 Her Majesty's Inspectors were powerful agents in implementing such educational policies of the state that neglected the native language of Wales. The Inspectorate was established in 1839 at a time which witnessed in Wales the social turmoil of the Merthyr rising, the Rebecca riots and the Chartist disturbances. The Welsh language was widely regarded as an impediment in an industrial society to the effective acculturization, socialization and ideological control of the 'lower orders' through an English- medium system of elementary education of which deference and discipline were as much a part as learning the basic skills.7 The Victorian elementary school was intended to teach the essential lingua franca of industrial Britain, and to be the agent of social control. It has been suggested that this was a time when the Welsh language and Welsh nonconformity were associated with a possible counter-ideology and viewed by the state as possessing a dangerous revolutionary potential.8 H. S. Tremenheere was one of the first two school inspectors appointed in December 1839. His first report­‘An Inquiry into the State of Elementary Education in the Mining Districts of South Wales'— was commissioned shortly after the outbreak of the Chartist Riots at Newport. In his report in 1840, it was noted that only a limited amount of English was taught in the elementary schools in the areas where there had been Chartist disturbances.9 The Rev. H. W. Bellairs, H.M.I., also highlighted the danger to society of 'an ill-educated and undisciplined 5 Michael Hechter, Internal Colonialism: The Celtic fringe in British national development, 1536-1966 (London, 1975); D. T. Lloyd, Drych o Genedl (Swansea, 1987). 'G. Williams and C. Roberts, 'Language and Social Structure in Welsh education', in World Yearbook of Education: Education of Minorities (London, 1981); V. E. Durkacz, The Decline of the Celtic Languages (Edinburgh, 1983). 7 J M. Goldstrom, The Social Content of Education, 1808-1870 (Shannon, 1972); D. G. Paz, The politics Of working-class education in Britain, 1830-50 (Manchester, 1980). 8 Minutes of the Committee of Council (1839-40); Glyn Williams and Catrin Roberts, op. cit., pp. 151-54. "Minutes of the Committee of Council (1839-40), pp. 155-71.