Talk:Sir William Curtis, 1st Baronet

In reading a book recently (yes, people do still read books), the author mentioned Curtis as the coiner of phrase "the 3 R's, Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic", blaming Curtis's illiteracy as the reason. Why is this not mentioned in his Wikipedia page? Is it not true? Did the heirs of Curtis sue or donate to Wikipedia to remove mention of his illiteracy? If it is true, either that he coined the phrase, was illiterate, or both, this deserves to be mentioned, for multiple reasons, one of which is the many positions of power he held in society during his life. If he was indeed illiterate, this means none of his decisions while wielding power were made with knowledge gained from reading, and thus making his decisions likely wrought with error, gossip and heresay, as he could never discern truth from fiction without an ability to read or write. Or was he somehow able to discern without that ability? So, was he illiterate? To what degree? How did this impact his life and the lives of others due to decisions he made while wielding business and political power? How did he mitigate this problem? Someone who knows more about him should address these questions. Spirited Truth 797 (talk) 20:12, 31 January 2026 (UTC) Reply

@Spirited Truth 797: What book did you read? We go on what reliable sources say. DuncanHill (talk) 20:28, 31 January 2026 (UTC) Reply