What is the first recorded usage of the three Rs: Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic?

Question

There is a mnemonic device used by elementary school teachers and students, describing three Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic – for the literary arts and for mathematics. I’m interested to know if this was an American invention or a British one.

Answer 1

OED

I.3. the three R's: reading, (w)riting, and (a)rithmetic, regarded as the fundamentals of education. Also in extended use, with reference to watchwords, key concepts, etc., in other spheres.

[The phrase is said to have originated in a toast proposed c1807 by the English banker and politician Sir William Curtis (1752–1829).]

1825 It has been very much the fashion amongst a class of persons to attribute to Sir W. C. certain bulls... He is charged with having given, at public dinners, the following toasts:—‘The British tars of Old England’. ‘A speedy peace, and soon.’.. ‘The three R's—Reading, Writing, and Rithmetic’. Mirror of Literature, Amusement, & Instruction 29 January 75/1

Edit to add "bull"

OED:

"Bull" -> 2.a. A self-contradictory proposition; in modern use, an expression containing a manifest contradiction in terms or involving a ludicrous inconsistency unperceived by the speaker.

1651 It is no Bull, to speake of a Common Peace, in the place of Warre. N. Bacon, Continuation of Historicall Discourse Government of England xi. 106

1673 Whereas the Papist boasts himself to be a Roman Catholick, it is a meer contradiction, one of the Popes Bulls. J. Milton, True Religion 5

In this sense "bull" is a derogatory use of "bull" as in a papal bull. (It may well be the origins of "bullshit".)

Answer 2

Here is the lead paragraph of the Wikipedia article on William Curtis, 1st Baronet:

Sir William Curtis, 1st Baronet (25 January 1752 – 18 January 1829)[2] was an English merchant, banker, politician and slave trader. Although he had a long political and business career (the two significantly intertwined), he was probably best known for the banquets he hosted.

Curtis was made a baronet in 1802, was Lord Mayor of London in 1795–1796, and was a Tory MP from 1790 to 1818 and again from 1819 to 1826. According to Wikipedia, His family's wealth arose, in the first instance, from its role as a manufacturer of "ship's biscuit and other dry provisions for the Royal Navy."

The 1825 quotation reproduced in the OED (cited in Greybeard's answer) comes from "Reminiscences No. X," in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction (January 29, 1825). At greater length, the piece reads as follows:

It has been very much the fashion amongst a class of persons to attribute to Sir W. C. certain bulls (which would be more in place from an alderman of Dublin), and also a vulgarity and ignorance of speech which are by no means consistent with his character and conduct. The worthy and hospitable baronet has a rapid mode of speech, but it is always correct ; and although some eccentricities are mixed up in his composition, he is highly honourable, and has been a very useful member of society, particularly to his London constituents. Among other absurdities he is charged with having given, at public dinners, the following toasts :— "The British tars of Old England." "A speedy peace, and soon." "The three C's—Cox, King, and Curtis." "at a school dinner, "The three R's—Reading, Writing, and Rithmetic." "The female ladies of London." ...

It is, however, very certain, that at a city festival some years ago, having indulged very freely, he fell asleep, when some wag, choosing to consider him dead, wrote his epitaph, which was founds next morning pinned to the baronet's dress coat :—

"Here lies the great Curtis / Of London Lord May'r: / He's left this here world, / And gone to that there."

The Wikipedia article indicates that Curtis was still an MP in 1825, when the Mirror article appeared. Whether Curtis's mode of speech was, though rapid, "always correct" is not obviously true, given that it included "some eccentricities," by the Mirror's own account. Still the attribution of the "three R's" attribution to Curtis is by no means settled fact.

The earliest Google Books match for "the three R's" in the context of school instruction is from a brief item in "Correspondence," in The Monthly Mirror (November 1807):

We did not know that "her artless heart" was "alliteration." Cardenio reminds us of the toast given at a literary meeting, by a learned alderman and baronet—"Here's the three r's—reading, riting, and rithmetic."

"Cardenio" is a character in Don Quixote; his story, a romantic episode within the novel's much longer narrative, inspired a number of plays (in English) based on Cervantes's rendering of it. The excerpt above may be a jest at the expense of a speaker (perhaps an actor in a production of The Mountaineer or some other Cardenio-adjacent play or reading) who has pronounced "her artless heart" with inadvertent alliteration as "'er artless 'eart." In any event, the attribution of the "three R's" toast to an "alderman and baronet" (Curtis) appears in this earliest of recorded instances of the expression. It is unclear, however, whether the writer is alluding to a toast and anecdote that many people had already heard about or whether the writer is newly publicizing or inventing a toast not previously familiar to many people.

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'Reading, writing, and arithmetic' as a pedagogical trivium

Although "the three R's" in reference to "reading, writing, and arithmetic" appears to be a nineteenth-century invention, allusions to those three particular areas of study as keys to a practical education go back somewhat further.

George Fisher, The Instructor: Or, Young Man's Best Companion. Containing Spelling, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, in an easier way than any yet published. (1763) brings the three subjects (together with spelling) in what would become their familiar order. Fisher's textbook was hugely popular and appeared in subsequent editions at least as late as 1812. It also spawned copycat rivals such as The Expeditious Reader (1804), advertised as "Art of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, To be learned without a Master," and John Parkins, The Young Man's Best Companion; or, Self Instructor: Containing Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, in an easier way than any yet published.

References to "reading, writing, and arithmetic" (without spelling included as a fourth named topic) occur as early as 1758 in Google Books search results and seem to have proliferated in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

From "An Account of Somersetshire," in The Universal Magazine (February 1758):

A large school-house and dwelling-house in Temple-street, built and maintained by the said Mr. Colston, who purchased the ground for it in 1696. Here are forty boys taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, and cloathed in short grey habits, with caps and bands ; but the parents find other necessaries.

From Henry Chamberlain, A New and Compleat History and Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster, the Borough of Southwark, and Parts Adjacent (1770), which uses the phrase three times in discussing various locales—specifically, Vauxhall Gardens:

There are likewise two charity schools in this parish, one founded by Sir William Boreman, knt. for twenty boys, who are cloathed, boarded, and educated ; they wear green coats and caps : and the other by Mr. John Roan, who left his estate for teaching also twenty boys reading, writing, and arithmetic. and allowing two pounds per annum for each boy's cloaths. They wear grey coats.

and St. Clement Danes:

In the upper church-yard are three schools ; one for seventy boys, who are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, by the master, who is allowed 40l. per annum, and coals and candles. The boys are also instructed in the mathematics, and are taught to sing by masters who are paid for teaching them.

and Bencroft's Alms-house:

These ["a beautiful building, school and chapel"] were erected by the drapers company in the year 1735, pursuant to the will of Mr. Francis Bencroft, who bequeathed to that company upwards of twenty-eight thousand pounds, for purchasing a site, and building upon it an alms-house, with convenient apartments for twenty-four alms-men, a chapel and a school room for one hundred poor boys, and two dwelling houses for two school-masters, and also for endowing the same ; so that each alms-man should have eight pounds, and half a chaldron of coals yearly, and a gown of baize every third year ; that the school boys should be cloathed, and taught reading, writing, and arithmetic ; that each of the masters should have a salary of 30l. a year ; and that both should have the yearly sum of 20l. for coals and candles for their own use, and that of the school ; together with a sufficient allowance for books, paper, pen, and ink : every boy put out apprentice is entitled to four pounds, but only two pounds ten shillings if put out to service.

From "Particulars of the Trial of John Holt, John Davis, Andrew Carleton, and Alexander Carleton, for Burglary," in The Malefactor's Register; Or, the Newgate and Tyburn Calendar, volume 5 (1779):

At the charity-schools, children are instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; but, we are sorry to say, very little attention is employed to inspire them with just sentiments of religious and moral obligations. They are permitted to range the streets at all hours, and consequently are witnesses to scenes of infamy in all their horrid variety.

From "Historical Account of Milton Abbas School" in The Gentleman's Magazine: and Historical Chronicle (February 1786):

In a late suit between the lord of the manor of Milton and the foeffees of the school. it was insisted by the plaintiff, that the school was not intended for [Latin] grammar learning, but for teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, to the poor inhabitants of Milton. It will require no great strength of reasoning to refute so idle an hypothesis.

And from Joseph Lancaster, Improvements in Education, as it Respects the Industrious Classes of the Community, second edition (1803):

The institution, which a benevolent Providence has been pleased to make me the happy instrument of bringing into usefulness, was begun in the year 1798. The intention was to afford children of mechanics, &c. instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, at about half the usual price. As soon as the institution became known it was well attended by scholars, whose number soon exceeded eighty. In this situation, as master of the school, I have continued to this time.

These excerpts indicate that "reading, writing, and arithmetic" was a well-established trivium by the time Curtis invoked "the three R's" in 1807. In addition they strongly suggest that members of the middle and upper classes understood these subjects to represent a rudimentary education suitable for the impoverished or, at most "children of mechanics &c." This provides some insight into the implicit ludicrousness, from the perspective of Curtis's peers, of a baronet extolling "reading, writing, and arithmetic" as admirable educational attainments, quite apart from his seeming to imagine that each subject begins with an "R."

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Other "three R's" in the early nineteenth century

"Reading, writing, and arithmetic" was not the only sets of three things to be called "the three R's" by authors of the early nineteenth century. A Google Books search turns up three other applications of the phrase, although whether all of them arose independently of the pedagogical three R's is unclear.

From the entry for "Gerbert," in Adam Clarke, A Bibliographical Dictionary; Containing a Chronological Account, Alphabetically Arranged, of the Most Curious, Scarce, Useful, and Important Books, in All Departments of Literature (1803):

Transit ab R. Gerbertus ad R. fit Papa regens R. The three R's mark his three episcopal residences, Reims, Ravenna, and Rome. He was the first Frenchman that was honoured with S. Peter's chair. Gerbert was the most learned man of his time. He was a great lover and collector of books, cultivated all the arts and sciences, and was the first after Boethius, who applied himself to mathematical studies.

From "Oct. 24. Iron Chest.—Oscar and Malvina," in The Monthly Mirror (November 1809):

In future we shall waste no more good claret om worthless carp, that is, dress no more fools in birth-day suits, by which I mean to say, get up no more pageants. {Smiles of approbation.} Further, it is our fixed resolve to lower gradatim all your salaries. {Murmurs, loud and general—manager stares.} Indeed, you surprise me—I could not, under all the melancholy circumstances of the case, the three R's before you, the riot, the report, and our ruin, have expected this from the liberality, wisdom, and justice, of a great, generous, and enlightened green-room! {Heavy murmurs.}

And from "Vestigial Remarks on a Print of the Ancient Church of St. Michael-le-Quern," in The European Magazine and London Review (1815):

There were, it appears, three brothers of the name TRESWELL, Richard, Robert, and Ralph (the three R.*'*s), who were surveyors: but whether the print was a partnership effort or not it is impossible to say, or whether, as one of the Treswells was employed at St. Paul's, it is to be attributed solely to him : however the inquiry is of little importance.

Each of these three instances of "the three R's" is so context-specific as not to lend itself to aphoristic use, but coming as they do in the same approximate time frame as the "reading, writing, and arithmetic" version, they at least suggest a tendency in the early 1800s to recognize and play up combinations of consonant words. Indeed, we see the same awareness at play in a version of the Curtis anecdote as reported in The Kilmarnock Mirror, and Literary Gleaner (January 1819):

Toasts.—At an annual dinner of the sapient society, a wise head gave a toast for the three C's, which he called 'the Country—the King, and the Constitution.' Another learned wight, determined not to be left behind hand, very consequentially gave the three R's, that is, said he, 'Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic.

And similarly, in yet another rendition of the anecdote in The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Politics, etc. (December 12, 1818):

Anecdotes by Philarchon.

At a public dinner for the benefit of various schools instituted for the instruction of the lower orders, several toasts were given applicable to the occasion. "Church and King," too, were not forgotten; and at length some one proposed the three P's, "Peace, Plenty, and Prosperity," with reference to the country at large. An honest-hearted, plain-dealing man, however, thought this last pledge inapplicable to the present meeting, and, conscious of the value of education by the want of it himself, declared he could find a more appropriate one, and gave the following: "The three R's, Reading, Writing, and 'rithmetic!"

And again in a review of John Heywood, The Playe Called the Foure P. P., a Newe and a Verie Merie Interlude, of a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary, and a Pedler (circa 1530), in The Literary and Scientific Repository, and Critical Review (July 1821):

The four P's is a lively contest between a Palmer, who has just returned from a long pilgrimage quite sure of heaven—a Pardoner, whose employment is to sell pardons to those who cannot or will not seek them in person—a Pedlar, and a Poticary. This title reminds us of the worthy alderman's toast, "the three R's—Writing, reading, and arithmetic."