Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge: 1826-1848

Founded by Henry Brougham- Scottish lawyer, politician, and reformer.

Lecture-Hall of the Greenwich Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge

The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was founded in London in 1826 by Henry Brougham. It aimed to provide affordable educational materials to the working and middle classes.¹

Publications included:

• Library of Useful Knowledge -a series of inexpensive books and treatises covering a wide range of subjects, designed to democratize knowledge and align with Brougham’s vision of universal education. Over 200 volumes published.²

• Penny Magazine (1832–1845) -one of the first affordable, mass-circulation magazines aimed at educating and enlightening the working and middle classes. (cost was one penny).³

The SDUK’s mission aligned with early 19th-century self-education movements, but by the 1840s, state-funded education was emerging.⁴ Schools and public libraries began providing free access to knowledge, reducing the need for SDUK publications.

By 1846, the SDUK was insolvent, with debts exceeding income. The Penny Magazine ended in 1845, and the Library of Useful Knowledge ceased new publications around the same time.

Henry Brougham

Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778 – 1868)

Henry Brougham, Lord High Chancellor of the United Kingdom, slave trade abolitionist, designer of the Brougham carriage, prominent lawyer, writer, scientist and radical orator. Founder of The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. He was also founder of the Edinburgh Review.⁵ Also founder of modern day Cannes.⁶

Brougham’s pivotal role in transforming Cannes, France from a small fishing village into a fashionable resort destination in the 19th century is discussed in “Henry Brougham and the Invention of Cannes.” ⁷

Original Brougham Carriage Prototype (1838) on display at the London Science Museum.

University College London - Special Collections, holds SDUK archives

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge Papers.

Description:

The collection consists mainly of minutes, financial records, manuscripts of unpublished texts and correspondence. Dates: 1826-1848

200 volumes, 121 boxes

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge Papers | The National Archives

1. Ashton, R. (2008, May 24). Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (act. 1826–1846). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Kinraide, Rebecca Brookfield, and University of Wisconsin--Madison. 2006. “The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and the Democratization of Learning in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain.” Dissertation Abstracts International.

2. “The Library of Useful Knowledge and the Origins of the Victorian Information Revolution” by Jonathan R. Topham in Victorian Periodicals Review, 34 (Summer 2001), pp. 103–133.

3. Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (Great Britain). The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. London: Charles Knight,

4. “The 1833 Education Grant and the Rise of State Involvement” in J.M. Goldstrom. The Social Content of Education, 1808–1870 (1972, Shannon: Irish University Press). Chapter covers the grant’s origins and Brougham’s role.

5. John Clive, Scotch Reviewers: The Edinburgh Review, 1802–1815, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1957, pp. 186–97.

6. All Things Brougham-website

7. “Henry Brougham and the Invention of Cannes” (Chapter 3) in Coastal Cultures of the Long Nineteenth Century," edited by Matthew Ingleby and Matthew P. M. Kerr (2018, Edinburgh University Press).