Joseph Lancaster

For the American judge, see Joseph B. Lancaster.

Joseph Lancaster
Joseph Lancaster, by John Hazlitt, c. 1818
Born(1778-11-25)25 November 1778
Southwark, London, England
Died23 October 1838(1838-10-23) (aged 59)
New York City, New York, US
NationalityBritish
Lancaster's name on the Reformers Monument, Kensal Green Cemetery

Joseph Lancaster (25 November 1778 – 23 October 1838) was an English Quaker and public education innovator. He developed, and propagated on the grounds both of economy and efficacy, a monitorial system of primary education. In the first decades of the 19th century his ideas found application in new schools established in growing industrial centres.