Men, Women and Property in England, 1780–1870: A Social and Economic History of Family Strategies amongst the Leeds Middle Class

by R. J. Morris

• ISBN13: 9780521838085
• ISBN10: 0521838088
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-02-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is an innovative study of middle-class behaviour and property relations in English towns in Georgian and Victorian Britain. Through the lens of wills, family papers, property deeds, account books and letters, the author offers a reading of the ways in which middle-class families survived and surmounted the economic difficulties of early industrial society. He argues that these were essentially 'networked' families created and affirmed by a 'gift' network of material goods, finance, services and support, with property very much at the centre of middle-class survival strategies. His approach combines microhistorical studies of individual families with a broader analysis of the national and even international networks within which these families operated. The result is a significant contribution to the history, and to debates about the place of structural and cultural analysis in historical understanding.

Table of Contents

List of figures	vii
List of tables	ix
Acknowledgements	xiii
1 Joseph Henry Oates: a world of madeira and honey	1	(19)
2 In search of the British middle class	20	(59)
Labels, languages and discourses	20	(13)
Structures of material resource	33	(25)
Stories, narratives and histories	58	(21)
3 Reading the wills: a window on family and property	79	(63)
The Leeds probate cohort, 1830-34	79	(8)
Law, custom and practice	87	(22)
Men and children	109	(33)
4 The property cycle	142	(36)
Robert Jowitt, woolstapler	142	(16)
William Hey, surgeon: human capital and real estate	158	(3)
Choices	161	(5)
The mortgage men	166	(2)
John Jowitt's story	168	(2)
The property cycle and the middle classes	170	(8)
5 Strategies and the urban landscape	178	(55)
6 Women and things and trusts	233	(31)
Women	233	(14)
Things	247	(7)
Trusts	254	(6)
Sole and separate use	260	(4)
7 Life after death	264	(54)
Nathan Rider's children	265	(10)
The widowhood of William Lupton's Ann	275	(9)
The Black Horse and Schedule E	284	(12)
The rescue of Sarah Stocks	296	(4)
Networked families	300	(7)
The story of Mrs Jane Hey	307	(11)
8 Networks and place	318	(29)
How stands the sense of place?	339	(8)
9 The economic history of the British middle class, 1816-70	347	(20)
Appendix	364	(1)
Legacy duty, 1816-70	364	(1)
Probate duty and Income Tax, 1840-70	364	(2)
Legacy and Probate duty, 1801-16	366	(1)
10 Conclusion and Epilogue	367	(50)
Bibliography	417	(22)
Index	439