Life and times of Griffith Jones, sometime rector of Llanddowror

By D. Jones.
Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, Ireland, Tentmaker Publications (1995) 200 p. [ISBN: 1899003134]
[Reprint. Originally published: London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1902].

It is a general history of the movement, it doesn't mention specific locations of any of the schools.

Here is a brief extract contributed by David Pike (June 2003).

Circulating Schools in Wales  pp. 161-163.

The number of those who attended the day schools in his life-time amounted to over 150,000, while those who attended the night schools were twice as numerous, in many of those places where the schools were established. We are further told that many learnt at home. "It should also be kept in mind," writes Judges Johnes in his admirable essay on the Causes of Dissent in Wales, "that the number of scholars just given applies merely to those who frequented the schools in the day time; Griffith Jones informs us that those who received tuition by the night visits of the schoolmasters were twice as numerous a class as the regular day-scholars. Nor are these details in any respect a matter of vague conjecture, as one of the duties of the schoolmasters was to keep a minute account of the names, dispositions, and progress of their pupils." "This was certainly a degree of success which the most sanguine friends of the institution could hardly have anticipated; we can only justly appreciate its real extent when we recollect that the population of Wales during this period continued, on average, between 400,000 and 500,000." (Causes of Dissent in Wales) .

In Welsh Piety for 1777, the year in which Madam Bevan died, a statement is given "of the number of Schools established by Griffith Jones and Mrs. Bevan, and the number of scholars instructed in them from the commencement of 1737, til the death of that lady in 1777 (NB Griffith Jones died in 1763 - DP), a period of forty years." The total number of schools was 6,465 and of scholar 314,051(See table below) . It was a magnificent work. It is no exaggeration to say that in a little more than a generation, the great majority of the population of Wales was directly affected by these schools. And their beneficial results were unquestionable.
The Rev. Dr. Thomas Llewelyn, a learned non-conformist minister, in his Tracts, & Etc. printed first in 1769, says:

"Reading among the lower class of people, is become much more common and general in that country (ie Wales) now than formerly. Since the year 1737, 220,000 persons and upwards, we are informed, have been taught to read in one particular sort of schools, called Circulating Welsh Charity Schools, first set up by the late Rev. and truly pious Griffith Jones, and since his death, supported by the voluntary contributions of well-disposed persons."

 

(Gareth Hicks  9 Sept 2007)