] While searching for information on education, I found this extraordinary person ( and am thus filling a gap in my own education).

Glad you've found him: as you say, an extraordinary person. His radical paternalism was influential to several `good' capitalists, most notably the Cadbury family of chocolate makers: their Bournville industrial town is still around, rivalling New Lanark as the best of 19th century working class housing

While on the subject of educating the poor, here's a link to Joseph Lancaster: hope you find him interesting