I wonder if it means competent and competent small might mean a small understanding of reading / writing... >________________________________ > From: B&A Smith <[email protected]> >To: [email protected] >Sent: Friday, September 6, 2013 3:03 AM >Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] Language & Literacy in Scotland and the Gaelic language > > >'Compt' seems likely to be an abbreviation for 'communicant', hence the >Episcopalians and Baptists being noted separately.  It's unclear what the >meaning of 'compt small' might be. > >Alison > >On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 4:56 AM, Gaye Ruru <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> Hello Listers, >> >> Have been following this thread with interest.  Not directly to do with >> Aberdeenshire [where my YOUNGSON line is from] but in my Perthshire FORBES >> line my great grandfather who emigrated to New Zealand in 1861 was >> definitely a fluent Gaelic speaker, and his brother, the Rev Daniel FORBES, >> Minister in the Free Church of Scotland in  Edderton, Rosshire, travelled >> as far as London preaching in Gaelic during the right up until shortly >> before his death in May 1900. >> >> Also I have copied of the1806-7 and 1820-21 Census compiled by the >> Minister of Moulin Parish in Perthshire.  In the 1806-7 Census parishioners >> are judged as "Good, Indifferent, or None' as to their knowledge of the >> bible and in the 1820-21 Census there are two headings, e.g. Comt - which I >> understand is something to do with their knowledge of the bible again, with >> most adults having "Comt', or 'comt small'  or 'Episcopalian' or 'Baptist' >> or no entry at all in that column and under a second column, 'Read or ?' it >> identifies if they 'can't read' with all other adults being able to >> 'read'[whatever that means at that time].  It is interesting to note that >> some of the few who are noted as 'can't read' are also noted as 'comt' i.e. >> have knowledge of the bible but can't read. >> >> As a general comment I would also say that standards of literacy and >> schooling appear to have been better in Scotland than that of my English >> ancestors of the same period and all my ancestors who signed with their >> 'mark' have been English - but that may well be completely incidental to >> this discussion. >> >> Gaye in New Zealand >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > >

I had checked my father's school records from Old Aberdeen earlier today as the abbrevation sounded familiar. He was the top student of his year when he graduated, and all through school all but one of his courses were marked "sup." for superior. HIs penmanship, however, was consistently "comt" (and I think that was generous -- "chicken scratches" would have been more apt :-) .) As others have mentioned, handwriting by even the working classes was often a thing of beauty. My father's father attended school in Old Deer until he was fourteen, and his letters home from the trenches of WW1 as an ordinary Private are models of copperplate penmanship. My father (b 1905) attended university and was an engineer, clever with his hands, so I don't know why his writing was so awful. Further to comments about the reputed superiority of Scottish education in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, my paternal grandparents had emigrated to Canada c1900 and my father and his two younger brothers were born here. When my father was coming up to school age, however, his parents packed up the family and returned to Aberdeen, where they were convinced their bright oldest son would receive a better education. I don't know if it was true or not, but that was their conviction. Certainly, looking at his yearly report cards, the subjects he studied in school were more difficult (Trigonometry, Latin/Greek/Hebrew -- and this was in an ordinary city-run school, not a "private" grammar school) and begun at a younger age than what my Scottish-born mother was studying in Canadian schools at the same time, from c1910-1922. Margaret Gibbs On 06/09/2013 5:49 PM, Ronald and Laura wrote: > I wonder if it means competent and competent small might mean a small understanding of reading / writing... > > > >> ________________________________ >> From: B&A Smith <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected] >> Sent: Friday, September 6, 2013 3:03 AM >> Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] Language & Literacy in Scotland and the Gaelic language >> >> >> 'Compt' seems likely to be an abbreviation for 'communicant', hence the >> Episcopalians and Baptists being noted separately. It's unclear what the >> meaning of 'compt small' might be. >> >> Alison >> >> On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 4:56 AM, Gaye Ruru <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> Hello Listers, >>> >>> Have been following this thread with interest. Not directly to do with >>> Aberdeenshire [where my YOUNGSON line is from] but in my Perthshire FORBES >>> line my great grandfather who emigrated to New Zealand in 1861 was >>> definitely a fluent Gaelic speaker, and his brother, the Rev Daniel FORBES, >>> Minister in the Free Church of Scotland in Edderton, Rosshire, travelled >>> as far as London preaching in Gaelic during the right up until shortly >>> before his death in May 1900. >>> >>> Also I have copied of the1806-7 and 1820-21 Census compiled by the >>> Minister of Moulin Parish in Perthshire. In the 1806-7 Census parishioners >>> are judged as "Good, Indifferent, or None' as to their knowledge of the >>> bible and in the 1820-21 Census there are two headings, e.g. Comt - which I >>> understand is something to do with their knowledge of the bible again, with >>> most adults having "Comt', or 'comt small' or 'Episcopalian' or 'Baptist' >>> or no entry at all in that column and under a second column, 'Read or ?' it >>> identifies if they 'can't read' with all other adults being able to >>> 'read'[whatever that means at that time]. It is interesting to note that >>> some of the few who are noted as 'can't read' are also noted as 'comt' i.e. >>> have knowledge of the bible but can't read. >>> >>> As a general comment I would also say that standards of literacy and >>> schooling appear to have been better in Scotland than that of my English >>> ancestors of the same period and all my ancestors who signed with their >>> 'mark' have been English - but that may well be completely incidental to >>> this discussion. >>> >>> Gaye in New Zealand >>> >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >>> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >