Samuel Kettle's Argumentative Essay

Samuel Kettle was a forty one year old married man from Liverpool, England when he was convicted at the Lancaster Assises for Forgery - Uttering a forged order for payment of money. His occupation at the time of the offence was Timber Merchant Clerk. Throughout his life he declared his occupation as Clerk, Timber Merchant and Carpenter, most likely applying himself to all three as the need arose. Comparing Samuel’s attributes and experiences of literacy, occupation, and crime to those surveyed, his literacy was typical as occupations of convicts transported required some degree of literacy. In contrast, Samuel’s occupation was atypical as clerks were not amongst the majority in England and his crime was atypical as it was an occupational related crime. This essay will consider why and

Samuel’s literacy was typical to the majority of convicts. His Prison Hulk records indicate he could read and write. As a clerk, his occupation required him to read and write to a high level and have sound numeracy skills. From the student survey, of the known first stated occupation, approximately half of the convicts were skilled in some way; requiring them to have some level of occupational literacy. If the majority of convicts had occupational literacy then you would expect the majority to have some literacy skills as shown in the survey. The correlation between literacy and occupation is explored by J.M. Gratton who states, “Literacy is measured by the ability to sign ones name, and it must be viewed in the context of social class, economic environments, and occupational literacy”. Schooling on the prison hulks would have improved literacy and those who had the highest education