Skip to main content

Full text of "Working life of women in the seventeenth century"

See other formats 


STUDIES  IN  ECONOMICS  AND  POLITICAL  SCIENCE 

Edited  by 
The  Director  of  the  London  School  of  Economics  and  Political  Science 

No.  56  in  the  series  of  Monographs  by  writers  connected 
With  the  London  School  of  Economics  and  Political  Science 


THE   WORKING    LIFE   OF    WOMEN 

IN      THE 

SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 


WORKING  LIFE  OF  WOMEN 


IN      THE 


SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 


BY 

ALICE    CLARK 

Shaw  Research  Student  of  the  London  School  of  Economics 
and  Political  Science 


LONDON : 

GEORGE  ROUTLEDGE  &  SONS,  LTD. 
NEW  YORK  :   E.  P.  BUTTON  &  CO. 

1919 


DEDICATED 

TO  MY 
FATHER   AND   MOTHER 


PREFACE 

THE  investigation,  whose  conclusions  are  partly  described  in  the 
following  treatise,  was  undertaken  with  a  view  to  discovering  the 
actual  circumstances  of  women's  lives  in  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

It  is  perhaps  impossible  to  divest  historical  enquiry  from  all 
personal  bias,  but  in  this  case  the  bias  has  simply  consisted  in  a 
conviction  that  the  conditions  under  which  the  obscure  mass  of 
women  live  and  fulfil  their  duties  as  human  beings,  have  a  vital 
influence  upon  the  destinies  of  the  human  race,  and  that  a  little 
knowledge  of  what  these  conditions  have  actually  been  in  the  past 
will  be  of  more  value  to  the  sociologist  than  many  volumes  of  carefully 
elaborated  theory  based  on  abstract  ideas. 

The  theories  with  which  I  began  this  work  of  investigation  as  to 
the  position  occupied  by  women  in  a  former  social  organisation  have 
been  abandoned,  and  have  been  replaced  by  others,  which  though  still 
only  held  tentatively  have  at  least  the  merit  of  resting  solely  on 
ascertained  fact.  If  these  theories  should  in  turn  have  to  be  dis- 
carded when  a  deeper  understanding  of  history  becomes  possible, 
yet  the  picture  of  human  life  presented  in  the  following  pages  will 
not  entirely  lose  its  value. 

The  picture  cannot  pretend  to  be  complete.  The  Seventeenth 
Century  provides  such  a  wealth  of  historical  material  that  only  a  small 
fraction  could  be  examined,  and  though  the  selection  has  been  as 
representative  as  possible,  much  that  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
from  the  point  of  view  from  which  the  enquiry  has  been  made,  is  not 
yet  available.  Many  records  of  Gilds,  Companies,  Quarter 
Sessions  and  Boroughs  which  must  be  studied  in  extenso  before  a 
just  idea  can  be  formed  of  women's  position,  have  up  to  the  present 
been  published  only  in  an  abbreviated  form,  if  at  all. 

Another  difficulty  has  been  the  absence  of  knowledge  regarding 
women's  position  in  the  years  preceding  the  Seventeenth  Century. 
This  want  has  to  some  extent  been  supplied  through  the  kindness  of 
Miss  Eileen  Power,  who  has  permitted  me  to  use  some  of  the  material 
collected  by  her  on  this  subject,  but  not  yet  published. 

The  Seventeenth  Century  itself  forms  a  sort  of  watershed  between 
two  very  widely  differing  eras  in  the  history  of  Englishwomen — the 
Elizabethan  and  the  Eighteenth  Century.  Thus  characteristics  of 


6  PREFACE 

both  can  be  studied  in  the  women  who  move  through  its  varied 
scenes,  either  in  the  pages  of  dramatists  or  as  revealed  by  domestic 
papers  or  in  more  public  records. 

Only  one  aspect  of  their  lives  has  been  described  in  the  present 
volume,  namely  their  place  in  the  economic  organisation  of  society. 
This  has  its  own  special  bearing  on  the  industrial  problems  of  modern 
times ;  but  Life  is  a  whole  and  cannot  safely  be  separated  into 
watertight  departments. 

The  productive  activity  which  is  here  described  was  not  the  work 
of  women  who  were  separated  from  the  companionship  of  married 
life  and  the  joys  and  responsibilities  of  motherhood.  These  aspects 
of  their  life  have  not  been  forgotten,  and  will,  I  hope,  be  dealt  with 
in  a  later  volume,  along  with  the  whole  question  of  girls'  education. 

How  inseparably  intertwined  are  these  different  threads  of  life 
will  be  shown  by  the  fact  that  apprenticeship  and  service  are  left  to 
be  dealt  with  in  the  later  volume  as  links  in  the  educational  chain, 
although  in  many  respects  they  were  essential  features  of  women's 
economic  position. 

The  conception  of  the  sociological  importance  of  past  economic 
conditions  for  women  I  owe  to  Olive  Schreiner,  whose  epoch-making 
book  "  Women  and  Labour  "  first  drew  the  attention  of  many 
workers  in  the  emancipation  of  women  to  the  difference  between 
reality  and  the  commonly  received  generalisations  as  to  women's 
productive  capacity.  From  my  friend,  Dr.  K.  A.  Gerlach  came  the 
suggestion  that  I,  myself,  should  attempt  to  supply  further  evidence 
along  the  lines  so  imaginatively  outlined  by  Mrs.  Schreiner.  To 
Dr.  Lilian  Know!es  I  am  indebted  for  the  unwearied  patience  with 
which  she  has  watched  and  directed  my  researches,  and  to  Mrs. 
Bernard  Shaw  for  the  generous  scholarship  with  which  she  assists 
those  who  wish  to  devote  themselves  to  the  investigation  of  women's 
historic  past. 

I  should  like  here  to  express  the  deep  sense  of  gratitude  which  I 
feel  to  those  who  have  helped  my  work  in  these  different  ways,  and 
to  Mrs.  George,  whose  understanding  of  Seventeenth  Century 
conditions  has  rendered  the  material  she  collected  for  me  particularly 
valuable.  My  thanks  are  also  due  to  many  other  friends  whose 
sympathy  and  interest  have  played  a  larger  part  than  they  know  in 
the  production  of  this  book. 

Mill  Field, 

Street,  Somerset. 


CONTENTS 

I      INTRODUCTORY  l 

II.     CAPITALISTS  14 

III.  AGRICULTURE    -  42 

IV.  TEXTILES  -  93 

V.  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  150 
VI.     PROFESSIONS  -        «36 

VII.     CONCLUSION       -  -        290 

LIST   OF   AUTHORITIES  -        3°9 

LIST  OF   WAGES  ASSESSMENTS  320 

INDEX 3" 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTORY 

Effect  of  environment  on  Women's  development.  Possible  reaction  on  men's  devel- 
opment— Importance  of  seventeenth  century  in  historic  development  of  English 
women — Influence  of  economic  position — Division  of  Women's  productive 
powers  into  Domestic,  Industrial,  and  Professional — Three  systems  of  Industrial 
Organisation — Domestic  Industry — Family  Industry — Capitalistic  Industry 
or  Industrialism — Definition  of  these  terms — Historic  sequence.  Effect  of 
Industrial  Revolution  on  Women — in  capitalistic  class — in  agriculture — in 
textile  industries — in  crafts  and  other  trades.  Transference  of  productive 
industry  from  married  women  to  unmarried  women — with  consequent  increase 
of  economic  independence  for  the  latter  and  its  loss  for  the  former.  Similar 
evolution  in  professions  shows  this  was  not  due  wholly  to  effect  of  capitalism. 

HITHERTO  the  historian  has  paid  little  attention  to 
the  circumstances  of  women's  lives,  for  women  have 
been  regarded  as  a  static  factor  in  social  developments, 
a  factor  which,  remaining  itself  essentially  the  same, 
might  be  expected  to  exercise  a  constant  and 
unvarying  influence  on  Society.  ' 

This  assumption  has  however  no  basis  in  fact,  for 
the  most  superficial  consideration  will  show  how 
profoundly  women  can  be  changed  by  their  environ- 
ment. Not  only  do  the  women  of  the  same  race 
exhibit  great  differences  from  time  to  time  in  regard 
to  the  complex  social  instincts  and  virtues,  but  even 
their  more  elemental  sexual  and  maternal  instincts 
are  subject  to  modification.  While  in  extreme  cases 
the  sexual  impulses  are  liable  to  perversion,  it  some- 
times happens  that  the  maternal  instinct  disappears 
altogether,  and  women  neglect  or,  like  a  tigress  in 
captivity,  may  even  destroy  their  young. 

These  variations  deserve  the  most  careful  exam- 
ination, for,  owing  to  the  indissoluble  bond  uniting 
the  sexes,  and  the  emotional  power  which  women 
exert  over  men,  the  character  of  men's  development 


2  INTRODUCTORY 

is  determined  in  some  sort  by  the  development  which 
is  achieved  by  women.  In  a  society  where  women 
are  highly  developed  men's  characters  are  insensibly 
modified  by  association  with  them,  and  in  a  society 
where  women  are  secluded  and  immature,  men  lack 
that  stimulus  which  can  only  be  supplied  by  the  other 
sex. 

It  may  be  true,  as  Goethe  said,  that  the  eternal 
feminine  leadeth  us  onwards,  but  whether  this  be 
upwards  or  downwards  depends  upon  the  characters 
of  individual  women. 

Owing  to  the  subtle  reactions  which  exist  between 
men  and  women  and  between  the  individual  and  the 
social  organism  in  which  he  or  she  lives,  accurate  and 
detailed  knowledge  of  the  historic  circumstances 
of  human  life  becomes  essential  for  the  sciences  of 
Sociology  and  Psychology.  The  investigation,  of  which 
the  results  are  described  in  the  following  chapters,  was 
undertaken  with  the  object  of  discovering  these 
circumstances  as  regards  women  in  a  limited  field 
and  during  a  short  period. 

The  economic  field  has  been  chosen  because,  though 
woman  no  more  than  man  lives  by  bread  alone,  yet 
without  bread  assuredly  she  cannot  live  at  all,  and 
without  an  abundant  supply  of  it  she  cannot  worthily 
perform  her  maternal  and  spiritual  functions.  These 
latter  are  therefore  dependent  upon  the  source  of  her 
food  supply.  The  economic  position  has  a  further 
attraction  to  the  student  because  it  rests  upon  facts 
which  can  be  elucidated  with  some  degree  of  cer- 
tainty. When  these  have  once  been  made  clear  the 
way  will  have  been  prepared  for  the  consideration 
of  other  aspects  of  women's  lives. 

The  period  under  review,  namely  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, forms  an  important  crisis  in  the  historic  develop- 
ment of  Englishwomen.  The  gulf  which  separates  the 
women  of  the  Restoration  period  from  those  of  the 
Elizabethan  era  can  be  perceived  by  the  most  casual 


INTRODUCTORY  3 

reader  of  contemporary  drama.  To  the  objection 
that  the  hejroines  of  Shakespeare  on  the  one  hand 
and  of  Congreve  and  Wycherley  on  the  other  are 
creations  of  the  imagination,  it  must  be  replied  that  the 
dramatic  poet  can  only  present  life  as  he  knows  it. 
It  was  part  of  Shakespeare's  good  fortune  to  live  in  a 
period  so  rich  and  vivid  in  its  social  life  as  was  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth ;  and  the  objective  character  of  his 
portraits  can  be  proved  by  the  study  of  contemporary 
letters  and  domestic  papers.  Similarly  the  characters 
of  the  Restoration  ladies  described  in  the  diary  of 
Samuel  Pepys  and  by  other  writers,  confirm  the  picture 
of  Society  drawn  by  Congreve. 

So  profound  a  change  occurring  in  the  character  of 
women  indicates  the  seventeenth  century  as  a  period  of 
special  interest  for  social  investigation,  and  conse- 
quently the  economic  position  has  been  approached 
less  from  its  direct  effect  upon  the  production  of 
wealth  than  from  its  influence  upon  women's  devel- 
opment. The  mechanical  aspect  has  in  fact  only 
been  touched  incidentally  ;  an  attempt  being  rather 
made  to  discover  how  far  the  extent  of  women's 
productive  capacity  and  the  conditions  under  which  it 
was  exercised  affected  their  maternal  functions  and 
reacted  upon  their  social  influence  both  within  and 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  family. 

Generalisations  are  of  little  service  for  this  purpose. 
Spinoza  has  said  that  the  objects  of  God's  knowledge 
are  not  universals  but  particulars,  and  it  is  in  harmony 
with  this  idea  that  the  following  chapters  consist 
chiefly  of  the  record  of  small  details  in  individual  lives 
which  indicate  the  actual  relation  of  women  to  business 
and  production,  whether  on  a  large  scale  or  a  small. 
The  pictures  given  are  widely  representative,  includ- 
ing not  only  the  women  of  the  upper  classes,  but  still 
more  important,  those  of  the  "  common  people," 
the  husbandmen  and  tradesmen  who  formed  the 
backbone  of  the  English  people,  and  also  those  of  the 


4  INTRODUCTORY 

tragic  class  of  wage  earners,  who,  though  comparatively- 
few  in  numbers,  already  constituted  a  serious  problem 
in  the  seventeenth  century. 

In  the  course  of  the  investigation,  comparison  is 
frequently  made  with  the  economic  position  of  medi- 
aeval women  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  women's 
position  under  modern  industrial  conditions,  on  the 
other.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  compar- 
isons with  the  middle  ages  rest  chiefly  on  conjecture. 

Owing  to  the  greater  complexity  of  a  woman's  life 
her  productive  capacity  must  be  classified  on  different 
lines  from  those  which  are  generally  followed  in 
dealing  with  the  economic  life  of  men. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  essay,  the  highest,  most 
intense  forms  to  which  women's  productive  energy 
is  directed  have  been  excluded  ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
spiritual  creaton  of  the  home  and  the  physical  creation 
of  the  child.  Though  essentially  productive,  such 
achievements  of  creative  power  transcend  the  limi- 
tations of  economics  and  one  instinctvely  feels 
that  there  would  be  something  almost  degrading 
in  any  attempt  to  weigh  them  in  the  balance  with 
productions  that  are  bought  and  sold  in  the  market  or 
even  with  professional  services.  Nevertheless  it  must 
never  be  forgotten  that  the  productive  energy  which 
is  described  in  the  ensuing  chapters  was  in  no  sense 
alternative  to  the  exercise  of  these  higher  forms  of 
creative  power  but  was  employed  simultaneously  with 
them.  It  may  be  suspected  that  the  influences  of 
home  life'  were  stronger  in  the  social  life  of  the 
seventeenth  century  than  they  are  in  modern  England, 
and  certainly  the  birth-rate  was  much  higher  in  every 
class  of  the  community  except  perhaps  the  very  poorest. 

But,  leaving  these  two  forms  of  creative  power 
aside,  there  remains  another  special  factor  complicating 
women's  economic  position,  namely,  the  extent  of  her 
production  for  domestic  purposes — as  opposed  to 
industrial  and  professional  purposes.  The  domestic 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

category  includes  all  goods  and  services,  either  material 
or  spiritual,  which  are  produced  solely  for  the  benefit 
of  the  family,  while  the  industrial  and  professional 
are  those  which  are  produced  either  for  sale  or  exchange. 

In  modern  life  the  majority  of  Englishwomen  devote 
the  greater  part  of  their  lives  to  domestic  occupations, 
while  men  are  freed  from  domestic  occupations  of 
any  sort,  being  generally  engaged  in  industrial  or 
professional  pursuits  and  spending  their  leisure  over 
public  services  or  personal  pleasure  and  amusement. 

Under  modern  conditions  the  ordinary  domestic 
occupations  of  Englishwomen  consist  in  tending  babies 
and  young  children,  either  as  mothers  or  servants,  in 
preparing  household  meals,  and  in  keeping  the  house 
clean,  while  laundry  work,  preserving  fruit,  and  the 
making  of  children's  clothes  are  still  often  included  in 
the  domestic  category.  In  the  seventeenth  century  it 
embraced  a  much  wider  range  of  production  ;  for 
brewing,  dairy-work,  the  care  of  poultry  and  pigs,  the 
production  of  vegetables  and  fruit,  spinning  flax  and 
wool,  nursing  and  doctoring,  all  formed  part  of  domes- 
tic industry.  Therefore  the  part  which  women  played 
in  industrial  and  professional  life  was  in  addition  to  a 
much  greater  productive  activity  in  the  domestic  sphere 
than  is  required  of  them  under  modern  conditions. 

On  the  other  hand  it  may  be  urged  that,  if  women 
were  upon  the  whole  more  actively  engaged  in  indus- 
trial work  during  the  seventeenth  century  than  they 
were  in  the  first  decade  of  the  twentieth  century, 
men  were  much  more  occupied  with  domestic  affairs 
then  than  they  are  now.  Men  in  all  classes  gave  time 
and  care  to  the  education  of  their  children,  and  the 
young  unmarried  men  who  generally  occupied  positions 
as  apprentices  and  servants  were  partly  employed 
over  domestic  work.  Therefore,  though  now  it  is 
taken  for  granted  that  domestic  work  will  be  done  by 
women,  a  considerable  proportion  of  it  in  former  days 
fell  to  the  share  of  men. 


6  INTRODUCTORY 

These  circumstances  have  led  to  a  different  use  of 
terms  in  this  essay  from  that  which  has  generally  been 
adopted  ;  a  difference  rendered  necessary  from  the 
fact  that  other  writers  on  industrial  evolution  have 
considered  it  only  from  the  man's  point  of  view,  where- 
as this  investigation  is  concerned  primarily  with  its 
effect  upon  the  position  of  women. 

To  facilitate  the  enquiry,  organisation  for  produc- 
tion is  divided  into  three  types  : 

(a)  Domestic  Industry. 

(b)  Family  Industry. 

(c)  Capitalistic  Industry,  or  Industrialism. 

No  hard-and-fast  line  exists  in  practice  between 
these  three  systems,  which  merge  imperceptibly  into 
one  another.  In  the  seventeenth  century  all  three 
existed  side  by  side,  often  obtaining  at  the  same  time 
in  the  same  industries,  but  the  underlying  principles 
are  quite  distinct  and  may  be  defined  as  follows  : 

(a)  Domestic  Industry  is   the   form   of   production 
in  which  the  goods  produced  are  for  the  exclusive  use 
of  the  family  and  are  not  therefore  subject  to  an 
exchange  or  money  value. 

(b)  Family   Industry  is    the    form    in    which     the 
family  becomes  the  unit  for  the  production  of  goods 
to  be  sold  or  exchanged. 

The  family  consisted  of  father,  mother,  children, 
household  servants  and  apprentices ;  the  apprentices 

f  and  servants  being  children  and  young  people 
of  both  sexes  who  earned  their  keep  and  in  the 
latter  case  a  nominal  wage,  but  who  did  not  expect  to 
remain  permanently  as  wage-earners,  hoping  on  the 
contrary  in^due  course  to  marry  and  set  up  in  business 

»  on  their  own  account.  The  profits  of  family  industry 
belonged  to  the  family  and  not  to  individual  members 

t   of  it.     During  his  lifetime  they  were  vested  in  the 

,  father  who  was  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  family  ; 
he  was  expected  to  provide  from  them  marriage 
portions  for  his  children  as  they  reached  maturity. 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

and  on  his  death  the  mother  succeeded  to  his 
position  as  head  of  the  family,  his  right  of  bestowal 
by  will  being  strictly  limited  by  custom  and  public 
opinion. 

Two  features  are  the  main  characteristics  of  Family 
Industry  in  its  perfect  form  ; — first,  the  unity  of 
capital  and  labour,  for  the  family,  whether  that  of  a 
farmer  or  tradesman,  owned  stock  and  tools  and 
themselves  contributed  the  labour  :  second,  the  situ- 
ation of  the  workshop  within  the  precincts  of  the  home. 

These  two  conditions  were  rarely  completely  ful- 
filled in  the  seventeenth  century,  for  the  richer 
farmers  and  tradesmen  often  employed  permanent 
wage-earners  in  addition  to  the  members  of  their 
family,  and  in  other  cases  craftsmen  no  longer  owned 
their  stock,  but  made  goods  to  the  order  of  the  capi- 
talist who  supplied  them  with  the  necessary  material. 
Nevertheless,  the  character  of  Family  Industry  was 
retained  as  long  as  father,  mother,  and  children  worked 
together,  and  the  money  earned  was  regarded  as 
belonging  to  the  family,  not  to  the  individual  members 
of  it. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  economic  position 
of  women  a  system  can  be  classed  as  family  industry 
while  the  father  works  at  home,  but  when  he  leaves 
home  to  work  on  the  capitalist's  premises  the  last 
vestige  of  family  industry  disappears  and  industrialism 
takes  its  place. 

(c)  Capitalistic  Industry,  or  Industrialism,  is  the 
system  by  which  production  is  controlled  by  the 
owners  of  capital,  and  the  labourers  or  producers,  men, 
women  and  children  receive  individual  wages.1 


1The  term  "  individual  wages  "  is  used  here  to  denote  wages  paid  either  to  men 
or  women  as  individuals,  and  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  individual  person,  while 
"  family  wages  "  are  those  which  cover  the  services  of  the  whole  family  and  belong 
to  the  family  as  a  whole.  This  definition  differs  from  the  common  use  of  the  terms, 
but  is  necessary  for  the  explanation  of  some  important  points.  In  ordinary  conver- 
sation "  individual  wages  "  indicate  those  which  maintain  an  individual  only,  while 
"  family  wages  "  are  those  upon  which  a  family  lives.  This  does  not  imply  a  real 


8  INTRODUCTORY 

Domestic  and  family  industry  existed  side  by  side 
during  the  middle  ages ;  for  example,  brewing,  baking, 
spinning,  cheese  and  butter  making  were  conducted 
both  as  domestic  arts  and  for  industrial  purposes. 
Both  were  gradually  supplanted  by  capitalistic 
industry,  the  germ  of  which  was  apparently  intro- 
duced about  the  thirteenth  century,  and  gradually 
developed  strength  for  a  more  rapid  advance  in  the 
seventeenth  century. 

While  the  development  of  capitalistic  industry 
will  always  be  one  of  the  most  interesting  subjects  for 
the  student  of  political  economy,  its  effect  upon  the 
position  and  capacity  of  women  becomes  of  paramount 
importance  to  the  sociologist. 

This  effect  must  be  considered  from  three  stand- 
points : — 

(1)  Does  the  capitalistic  organisation  of  industry 
increase  or  diminish  women's  productive  capacity  ? 

(2)  Does  it  make  them  more  or  less  successful  in 
their  special  function  of  motherhood  ? 

(3)  Does    it    strengthen    or    weaken    their     in- 
fluence over  morals  and  their  position  in  the  general 
organisation  of  human  society  ? 

These  three  questions  were  not  asked  by  the  men 
who  were  actors  in  the  Industrial  Revolution,  and 
apparently  their  importance  has  hitherto  escaped  the 
notice  of  those  who  have  written  chapters  of  its 
history. 

Mankind,  lulled  by  its  faith  in  the  "  eternal  fem- 
inine "  has  reposed  in  the  belief  that  women  remain 
the  same,  however  completely  their  environment  may 
alter,  and  having  once  named  a  place  "  the  home  " 
thinks  it  makes  no  difference  whether  it  consists  of  a 
workshop  or  a  boudoir.  But  the  effect  of  the 

difference  in  the  wages,  as  the  same  amount  of  money  can  be  used  to  support  one 
individual  in  comfort  or  a  family  in  penury.  In  modern  times  the  law  recognises  a 
theoretic  obligation  on  the  part  of  a  man  to  support  his  children,  but  has  no  power 
to  divert  his  wages  to  that  purpose.  His  wages  are  in  fact  recognised  as  his  individual 
property.  The  position  of  the  family  was  very  different  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


INTRODUCTORY  9 

Industrial  Revolution  on  home  life,  and  through 
that  upon  the  development  and  characters  of 
women  and  upon  their  productive  capacity,  deeply 
concerns  the  sociologist,  for  the  increased  productive 
capacity  of  mankind  may  be  dearly  bought  by  the 
disintegration  of  social  organisation  and  a  lowering 
of  women's  capacity  for  motherhood. 

The  succeeding  chapters  will  show  how  the  spread 
of  capitalism  affected  the  productive  capacity  of 
women  : — 

(i)  In  the  capitalist  class  where  the  energy  and 
hardiness  of  Elizabethan  ladies  gave  way  before 
the  idleness  and  pleasure  which  characterised  the 
Restoration  period. 

(2)  In  agriculture,  where  the  wives  of  the  richer 
yeomen  were  withdrawing  from  farm  work  and  where 
there  already  existed  a  considerable  number  of  labourers 
dependent  entirely  on  wages,  whose  wives  having  no 
gardens  or  pastures  were  unable  to  supply  the  families' 
food  according  to  old  custom.  The  wages  of  such 
women  were  too  irregular  and  too  low  to  maintain 
them  and  their  children  in  a  state  of  efficiency,  and 
through  semi-starvation  their  productive  powers  and 
their  capacity  for  motherhood  were  greatly  reduced. 

(3)  In  the  Textile  Trades  where  the  demand 
for  thread  and  yarn  which  could  only  be?  pro- 
duced by  women  and  children  was  expanding. 
The  convenience  of  spinning  as  an  employment 
for  odd  minutes  and  the  mechanical  character  of  its 
movements  which  made  no  great  tax  on  eye  or  brain, 
rendered  it  the  most  adaptable  of  all  domestic  arts 
to  the  necessities  of  the  mother.  Spinning  became 
the  chief  resource  for  the  married  women  who 
were  losing  their  hold  on  other  industries,  but  its 
return  in  money  value  was  too  low  to  render  them 
independent  of  other  means  of  support.  There  is 
little  evidence  to  suggest  that  women  shared  in 
the  capitalistic  enterprises  of  the  clothiers  during 


io  INTRODUCTORY 

this  period,  and  they  had  lost  their  earlier  position 
as  monopolists  of  the  silk  trade. 

(4)  In  other  crafts  and  trades  where  a  tendency 
can  be  traced  for  women  to  withdraw  from  business 
as  this  developed  on  capitalistic  lines.  The  history 
of  the  gilds  shows  a  progressive  weakening  of  their 
positions  in  these  associations,  though  the  corporations 
of  the  seventeenth  century  still  regarded  the  wife  as 
her  husband's  partner.  In  these  corporations  the 
effect  of  capitalism  on  the  industrial  position  of  the 
wage-earner's  wife  becomes  visible. 

Under  family  industry  the  wife  of  every  master 
craftsman  became  free  of  his  gild  and  could  share  his 
work.  But  as  the  crafts  became  capitalised  many 
journeymen  never  qualified  as  masters,  remaining  in 
the  outer  courts  of  the  companies  all  their  lives,  and 
actually  forming  separate  organisations  to  protect  their 
interests  against  their  masters  and  to  secure  a  privileged 
position  for  themselves  by  restricting  the  number  of 
apprentices.  As  the  journeymen  worked  on  their 
masters'  premises  it  naturally  followed  that  their 
wives  were  not  associated  with  them  in  their  work, 
and  that  apprenticeship  became  the  only  entrance 
to  their  trade. 

Though  no  written  rules  existed  confining  appren- 
ticeship to  the  male  sex,  girls  were  seldom  if  ever 
admitted  as  apprentices  in  the  gild  trades,  and  there- 
fore women  were  excluded  from  the  ranks  of  journey- 
men. As  the  journeyman's  wife  could  not  work 
at  her  husband's  trade,  she  must,  if  need  be,  find 
employment  for  herself  as  an  individual.  In  some 
cases  the  journeyman's  organisations  were  powerful 
enough  to  keep  wages  on  a  level  which  sufficed  for 
the  maintenance  of  their  families  ;  then  the  wife 
became  completely  dependent  on  her  husband,  sinking 
to  the  position  of  his  unpaid  domestic  servant. 

In  the  Retail  and  Provision  Trades  which  in  some 
respects  were  peculiarly  favourable  for  women,  they 


INTRODUCTORY  11 

experienced  many  difficulties  owing  to  the  restrictive 
rules  of  companies  and  corporations  ;  but  where  a  man 
was  engaged  in  this  class  of  business,  his  wife  shared 
his  labours,  and  on  his  death  generally  retained  the 
direction  of  the  business  as  his  widow. 

The  history  of  brewing  is  one  of  the  most  curious 
examples  of  the  effect  of  capitalism  on  women's  position 
in  industry,  for  as  the  term  "  brewster "  shows, 
originally  it  was  a  woman's  trade  but  with  the  devel- 
opment of  Capitalism  it  passed  completely  from  the 
hands  of  women  to  those  of  men. 

The  tendency  of  capitalism  to  lessen  the  relative 
productive  capacity  of  women  might  be  overlooked 
if  our  understanding  of  the  "process  was  limited  to  the 
changes  which  had  actually  taken  place  by  the  end  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  No  doubt  the  majority  of 
the  population  at  that  time  was  still  living  under 
conditions  governed  by  the  traditions  and  habits  formed 
during  the  period  of  Family  and  Domestic  Industry. 
But  the  contrast  which  the  life  described  in  the  follow- 
ing chapters  presents  to  the  life  of  women  under 
modern  conditions  will  be  evident  even  to  readers 
who  have  not  closely  followed  the  later  historical 
developments  of  Capitalism. 

In  estimating  the  influence  of  economic  changes 
on  the  position  of  women  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Capitalism  has  not  merely  replaced  Family  Industry 
but  has  been  equally  destructive  of  Domestic  Industry. 

One  unexpected  effect  has  been  the  reversal  of  the 
parts  which  married  and  unmarried  women  play  in 
productive  enterprise.  In  the  earlier  stages  of 
economic  evolution  that  which  we  now  call  domestic 
work,  viz.,  cooking,  cleaning,  mending,  tending  of 
children,  etc.,  was  performed  by  unmarried  girls  under 
the  direction  of  the  housewife,  who  was  thus  enabled 
to  take  an  important  position  in  the  family  industry. 
Under  modern  conditions  this  domestic  work  falls 
upon  the  mothers,  who  remain  at  home  while  the 


12  INTRODUCTORY 

unmarried  girls  go  out  to  take  their  place  in  industrial 
or  professional  life.  The  young  girls  in  modern  life 
have  secured  a  position  of  economic  independence, 
while  the  mothers  remain  in  a  state  of  dependence 
and  subordination — an  order  of  things  which  would 
have  greatly  astonished  our  ancestors. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  idea  is  seldom  en- 
countered that  a  man  supports  his  wife  ;  husband  and 
wife  were  then  mutually  dependent  and  together 
supported  their  children.  At  the  back  of  people's 
minds  an  instinctive  feeling  prevailed  that  the  father 
furnished  rent,  shelter,  and  protection  while  the  mother 
provided  food  ;  an  instinct  surviving  from  a  remote 
past  when  the  villein  owed  to  his  lord  the  labour  of 
three  or  four  days  per  week  throughout  the  year  in 
addition  to  the  boon  work  at  harvest  or  any  other  time 
when  labour  was  most  wanted  for  his  own  crops ;  surely 
then  it  was  largely  the  labour  of  the  mother  and  the 
children  which  won  the  family's  food  from  the 
yard-land. 

The  reality  of  the  change  which  has  been  effected 
in  the  position  of  wife  and  mother  is  shown  by  a  letter 
to  The  Gentleman's  Magazine  in  1834  criticising  pro- 
posed alterations  in  the  Poor  Law.  The  writer  defends 
the  system  then  in  use  of  giving  allowances  from  the 
rates  to  labourers  according  to  the  number  of  their 
children.  He  says  that  the  people  who  animadvert 
on  the  allowance  system  "  never  observe  the  cause 
from  which  it  proceeds.  There  are,  we  will  say, 
twenty  able  single  labourers  in  a  parish ;  twenty 
equally  able  married,  with  large  families.  One  class 
wants  I2S.  a  week,  one  2os.  The  farmer,  who  has  his 
choice  of  course  takes  the  single."  The  allowance 
system  equalises  the  position  of  married  and  single. 
Formerly  this  inequality  did  not  exist  "  because  it  was 
of  no  importance  to  the  farmer  whether  he  employed  the 
single  or  married  labourer,  inasmuch  as  the  labourer's 
wife  and  family  could  provide  for  themselves.  They  are 


INTRODUCTORY  13 

now  dependent  on  the  man's  labour,  or  nearly  so  ; 
except  in  particular  cases,  as  when  women  go  out  to 
wash,  to  nurse,  or  take  in  needlework,  and  so  on.  The 
machinery  and  manufactures  have  destroyed  cottage 
labour — spinning,  the  only  resource  formerly  of  the 
female  poor,  who  thus  were  earning  their  bread  at  home, 
while  their  fathers  and  husbands  were  earning  theirs 
abroad.  ...  In  agricultural  parishes  the  men,  the 
labourers,  are  not  too  numerous  or  more  than  are 
wanted  ;  but  the  families  hang  as  a  dead  weight 
upon  the  rates  for  want  of  employment.  The  girls 
are  now  not  brought  up  to  spin — none  of  them  know 
the  art.  They  all  handle  when  required,  the  hoe,  and 
their  business  is  weeding.  Our  partial  remedy  for 
this  great  and  growing  evil  is  allotments  of  land, 
which  are  to  afford  the  occupation  that  the  distaff 
formerly  did  ;  and  so  the  wife  and  daughters  can  be 
cultivating  small  portions  of  ground  and  raising  po- 
tatoes and  esculents,  etc.,  the  while  the  labourer  is  at 
his  work."1 

These  far  reaching  changes  coincided  with  the 
triumph  of  capitalistic  organisation  but  they  may  not 
have  been  a  necessary  consequence  of  that  triumph. 
They  may  have  arisen  from  some  deep-lying  cause, 
some  tendency  in  human  evolution  which  was  merely 
hastened  by  the  economic  cataclysm. 

The  fact  that  the  evolution  of  women's  position  in 
the  professions  followed  a  course  closely  resembling 
that  which  was  taking  place  in  industry  suggests  the 
existence  of  an  ultimate  cause  influencing  the  direction 
in  each  case. 


1  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1834,  Vol.  I.,  p.  531.  A  Letter  to  Lord  Altborf  on  the  Poor 
Laws,  by  Equitas. 


CHAPTER  II 
CAPITALISTS 

Term  includes  aristocracy  and  nouveau-riche.  Tendency  of  these  two  classes  to 
approximate  in  manners — Activity  of  aristocratic  women  with  affairs  of  house- 
hold, estate  and  nation — Zeal  for  patents  and  monopolies — Money  lenders 
— Shipping  trade — Contractors — Joan  Dant — Dorothy  Petty — Association  of 
wives  in  husbands'  businesses — Decrease  of  women's  business  activity  in  upper 
classes — Contrast  of  Dutch  women — Growing  idleness  of  gentlewomen. 

PERHAPS  it  is  impossible  to  say  what  exactly  constitutes 
a  capitalist,  arid  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  define 
the  term,  which  is  used  here  to  include  the  aristocracy 
who  had  long  been  accustomed  to  the  control  of 
wealth,  and  also  those  families  whose  wealth  had  been 
newly  acquired  through  trade  or  commerce.  The 
second  group  conforms  more  nearly  to  the  ideas 
generally  understood  by  the  term  capitalist ;  but 
in  English  society  the  two  groups  are  closely  related. 

The  first  group  naturally  represents  the  older 
traditional  relation  of  women  to  affairs  in  the  upper 
classes,  while  the  second  responded  more  quickly  to  the 
new  spirit  which  was  being  manifested  in  English 
life.  No  rigid  line  of  demarcation  existed  between 
them,  because  while  the  younger  sons  of  the  gentry 
engaged  in  trade,  the  daughters  of  wealthy  tradesmen 
were  eagerly  sought  as  brides  by  an  impoverished 
aristocracy.  Therefore  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  two  groups  gradually  approximated  to  each  other. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  was 
usual  for  the  women  of  the  aristocracy  to  be  very  busy 
with  affairs — affairs  which  concerned  their  household, 
their  estates  and  even  the  Government. 

Thus  Lady  Barrymore  writes  she  is  "  a  cuntry 
lady  living  in  Ireland  and  convercing  with  none  but 

14 


CAPITALISTS  15 

masons  and  carpendors,  for  I  am  now  finishing  a 
house,  so  that  if  my  govenour  [Sir  Edmund  Verney] 
please  to  build  a  new  house,  that  may  be  well  seated 
and  have  a  good  prospect,  I  will  give  him  my  best 
advice  gratis."1 

Lady  Gardiner's  husband  apologises  for  her  not 
writing  personally  to  Sir  Ralph  Verney,  she  "  being 
almost  melted  with  the  double  heat  of  the  weather  and 
her  hotter  employment,  because  the  fruit  is  suddenly 
ripe  and  she  is  so  busy  preserving."2  Their  household 
consisted  of  thirty  persons. 

Among  the  nobility  the  management  of  the  estate 
was  often  left  for  months  in  the  wife's  care  while  the 
husband  was  detained  at  Court  for  business  or  pleasure. 
It  was  during  her  husband's  absence  that  Brilliana, 
Lady  Harley  defended  Brampton  Castle  from  an 
attack  by  the  Royalist  forces  who  laid  siege  to  it  for 
six  weeks,  when  her  defence  became  famous  for  its 
determination  and  success.  Her  difficulties  in  estate 
management  are  described  in  letters  to  her  son  : 

"  You  know  how  your  fathers  biusnes  is  neglected  ; 
and  alas !  it  is  not  speaking  will  sarue  turne,  wheare 
theare  is  not  abilltise  to  doo  other  ways ;  thearefore 
I  could  wisch,  that  your  father  had  one  of  more 
vnderstanding  to  intrust,  to  looke  to,  if  his  rents  are 
not  payed,  and  I  thinke  it  will  be  so.  I  could  desire, 
if  your  father  thought  well  of  it,  that  Mr.  Tomas 
Moore  weare  intrusted  with  it ;  he  knows  your  fathers 
estate,  and  is  an  honnest  man,  and  not  giuen  to  great 
expences,  and  thearefore  I  thinke  he  would  goo  the 
most  frugally  way.  I  knowe  it  would  be  some  charges 
to  haue  him  and  his  wife  in  the  howes  ;  but  I  thinke 
it  would  quite  the  chargess.  I  should  be  loth  to 
haue  a  stranger,  nowe  your  father  is  away."3 

1  Verney  Family,  Memoirs  during  the  Civil  War,  Vol.  I.,  p.  210. 

2  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  12. 

*  Harley,  Letters  of  Brilliana,  the  Lady,  pp.  146-7,  1641. 


1 6  CAPITALISTS 

"  I  loos  the  comfort  of  your  fathers  company,  and 
am  in  but  littell  safety,  but  that  my  trust  is  in  God  ; 
and  what  is  doun  to  your  fathers  estate  pleases  him 
not,  so  that  I  wisch  meselfe,  with  all  my  hart,  at 
Loundoun,  and  then  your  father  might  be  a  wittnes 
of  what  is  spent;  but  if  your  father  thinke  it  beest 
for  me  to  be  in  the  cuntry,  I  am  every  well  pleased 
with  what  he  shall  thinke  best."1 

One  gathers  from  these  letters  that  in  spite  of  her 
devotion  and  ability  and  his  constant  absence  Sir  E. 
Harley  never  gave  his  wife  full  control  of  the  estate, 
and  was  always  more  ready  to  censure  than  to  praise 
her  arrangements ;  but  other  men  who  were  immersed 
in  public  matters  thankfully  placed  the  whole  burthen 
of  family  affairs  in  the  capable  hands  of  their  wives. 

Lady  Murray  wrote  of  her  father,  Sir  George  Baillie, 
"  He  had  no  ambition  but  to  be  free  of  debt ;  yet  so 
great  trust  and  confidence  did  he  put  in  my  mother, 
and  so  absolutely  free  of  all  jealousy  and  suspicion,  that 
he  left  the  management  of  his  affairs  entirely  to  her, 
without  scarce  asking  a  question  about  them  ;  except 
sometimes  would  say  to  her,  '  Is  my  debt  paid  yet  ?  ' 
though  often  did  she  apply  to  him  for  direction  and 
advice  ;  since  he  knew  enough  of  the  law  for  the 
management  of  his  own  affairs,  when  he  would  take 
the  time  or  trouble  or  to  prevent  his  being  imposed 
upon  by  others."2 

Mrs.  Alice  Thornton  wrote  of  her  mother  : 
"  Nor  was  she  awanting  to  make  a  fare  greatter  improve- 
ment [than  her  dowery  of  ^2000]  of  my  father's 
estate  through  her  wise  and  prudential  government  of 
his  family,  and  by  her  care  was  a  meanestogive  oppor- 
tunity of  increasing  his  patrimony."3 

1  Harley,  Letters  of  Brilliana,  The  Lady,  p.  167,  1642. 

1  Murray  (Lady),  Memoirs  of  Lady  Grisell  Baillie,  p.  13. 

*  Thornton  (Mrs.  Alice),  Autobiography,  p.  101,  (SurteeB'  Society  Vol.  bcii.) 


CAPITALISTS  17 

In  addition  to  the  Household  Accounts  those  of  the 
whole  of  Judge  Fell's  estate  at  Swarthmore,  Lancashire, 
were  kept  by  his  daughter  Sarah.  The  following 
entries  show  that  the  family  affairs  included  a  farm, 
a  forge,  mines,some  interest  in  shipping  and  something 
of  the  nature  of  a  Bank. 

July  n,  1676,  is  entered  :  "  To  m°  Recd.  of  Tho  : 
Greaves  wife  wch.  I  am  to  returne  to  London  for  her, 
&  is  to  bee  pd,  to  her  sonn  Jno.  ffellp  Waltr.  miers  in 
London,  ooi.  oo.  oo. 

Jan.,  14,  1676-7,  by  money  lent  Wilim  Wilson 
our  forge  Clarke  till  hee  gett  money  in  for  Ireon 
sold  10.  o.  o. 

Aug.  ye  9°  1677  ky  rn°  in  expence  at  adgarley  when 
wee  went  to  chuse  oare  to  send  father  ooo.  oo.  04." 

Other  payments  are  entered  for  horses  to  "  lead 
oare."1  &c.,  &c. 

In  addition  to  those  of  her  family  Sarah  Fell  kept 
the  accounts  for  the  local  "  Monthly  Meeting  "  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  making  the  payments  on  its  behalf 
to  various  poor  Friends. 

One  of  the  sisters  after  her  marriage  embarked  upon 
speculations  in  salt ;  of  her,  another  sister,  Margaret 
Rous,  writes  to  their  mother  :  "  She  kept  me  in  the 
dark  and  had  not  you  wrote  me  them  few  words  about 
her  I  had  not  known  she  had  been  so  bad.  But  I  had 
a  fear  before  how  she  would  prove  if  I  should  meddle  of 
her,  and  since  I  know  her  mind  wrote  to  her,  being  she 
was  so  wickedly  bent  and  resolved  in  her  mind,  I 
would  not  meddle  of  her  but  leave  her  to  her  husbands 
relations,  and  her  salt  concerns,  since  which  I  have 
heard  nothing  from  her.  But  I  understand  by  others 
she  is  still  in  the  salt  business.  I  know  not  what  it 
will  benefit  her  but  she  spends  her  time  about  it.  I 
have  left  her  at  present."2 

1  Fell  (Sarah),  Household  Account  Book. 

2  Crosfield  (H.  G.),  Life  of  Margaret  Fox,  of  Swarthmore  Hall,  p.  232,  1699. 

2 


1 8  CAPITALISTS 

A  granddaughter  of  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  wife  of 
Thos.  Bendish,  was  also  interested  in  the  salt  business, 
having  property  in  salt  works  at  Yarmouth  in  the  man- 
agement of  which  she  was  actively  concerned.  It  was 
said  of  her  that  "  Her  courage  and  presence  of  mind 
were  remarkable  in  one  of  her  sex,  .  .  .  she 
would  sometimes,  after  a  hard  day  of  drudgery  go  to  the 
assembly  at  Yarmouth,  and  appear  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  there."1 

Initiative  and  enterprise  were  shown  by  Lady 
Falkland  during  her  husband's  term  of  office  in 
Ireland  whither  she  accompanied  him. 

"  The  desire  of  the  benefit  and  commodity  of  that 
nation  set  her  upon  a  great  design  :  it  was  to  bring 
up  the  use  of  all  trades  in  that  country,  which  is  fain  to 
be  beholden  to  others  for  the  smallest  commodities ; 
to  this  end  she  procured  some  of  each  kind  to  come  from 
those  other  places  where  those  trades  are  exercised, 
as  several  sorts  of  linen  and  woollen  weavers,  dyers,  all 
sorts  of  spinners  and  knitters,  hatters,  lace-makers, 
and  many  other  trades  at  the  very  beginning." 

After  a  description  of  her  methods  for  instruction 
in  these  arts  the  biographer  continues  :  "  She  brought 
it  to  that  pass  that  they  there  made  broad-cloth  so 
fine  .  .  .  that  her  Lord  being  Deputy  wore  it. 
Yet  it  came  to  nothing  ;  which  she  imputed  to  a 
judgment  of  God  on  her,  because  the  overseers  made 
all  those  poor  children  go  to  church  ;  .  .  .  .  and  that 
therefore  her  business  did  not  succeed.  But  others 
thought  it  rather  that  she  was  better  at  contriving  than 
executing,  and  that  too  many  things  were  undertaken 
at  the  very  first ;  and  that  she  was  fain  (having  little 
choice)  to  employ  either  those  that  had  little  skill  in  the 
matters  they  dealt  in,  or  less  honesty  ;  and  so  she  was 
extremely  cozened  .  .  .  but  chiefly  the  ill  order 
she  took  for  paying  money  in  this  .  .  .  having  the 

1Coitello,  Eminent  Englishwomen,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  55. 


CAPITALISTS  19 

worst  memory  in  such  things  in  the  world  .  .  . 
and  never  keeping  any  account  of  what  she  did,  she 
was  most  subject  to  pay  the  same  things  often  (as 
she  hath  had  it  confessed  to  her  by  some  that  they  have 
in  a  small  matter  made  her  pay  them  the  same  thing 
five  times  in  five  days)."1 

Lady  Falkland  received  small  sympathy  from  her 
husband  in  her  dealings  with  affairs — and  though  her 
methods  may  have  been  exasperating,  their  unfortunate 
differences  were  not  wholly  due  to  her  temperament. 
He  had  married  her  for  her  fortune  and  when  this 
was  settled  on  their  son  and  not  placed  in  his  control, 
his  disappointment  was  so  great  that  his  affections 
were  alienated  from  her. 

Of  her  efforts  to  further  his  interests  Lord  Falkland 
wrote  to  Lord  Conway  : 

"  My  very  good  Lord, 

By  all  my  wife's  letters  I  understand  my  obli- 
gations to  your  Lordship  to  be  very  many  ;  and  she 
takes  upon  her  to  have  received  so  manifold  and  noble 
demonstrations  of  your  favour  to  herself,  that  she 
begins  to  conceive  herself  some  able  body  in  court, 
by  your  countenance  to  do  me  courtesies,  if  she  had  the 
wit  as  she  hath  the  will.  She  makes  it  appear  she  hath 
done  me  some  good  offices  in  removing  some  infusions 
which  my  great  adversary  here  (Loftus)  hath  made 
unto  you  ...  it  was  high  time  ;  for  many  evil 
consequences  of  the  contrary  have  befallen  me  since 
that  infusion  was  first  made,  which  I  fear  will  not  be 
removed  in  haste ;  and  must  thank  her  much  for 
her  careful  pains  in  it,  though  it  was  but  an  act  of  duty 
in  her  to  see  me  righted  when  she  knew  me  wronged 
:  .  and  beseech  your  Lordship  still  to  continue  that 
favour  to  us  both  ;  — to  her,  as  well  in  giving  her 
good  counsel  as  good  countenance  within  a  new  world 
and  court,  at  such  a  distance  from  her  husband  a  poor 

i  Falkland,  (The  Lady),  Her  Life,  pp.  18-20. 


20  CAPITALISTS 

weak  woman  stands  in  the  greatest  need  of  to  dispatch 
her  suits,"     .     .     .     etc.,  etc. 

"  Dublyn  Castle  this  26th  of  July,  1625 .m 

Later  he  continues  in  the  same  strain  : 

"  .  .  .  I  am  glad  your  Lordship  doth  approve  my 
wife's  good  affection  to  her  husband,  which  was  a  point  I 
never  doubted,  but  for  her  abilities  in  agency  of 
affairs,  as  I  was  never  taken  with  opinion  of  them,  so 
I  was  never  desirous  to  employ  them  if  she  had  them, 
for  I  conceive  women  to  be  no  fit  solicitors  of  state 
affairs  for  though  it  sometimes  happen  that  they  have 
good  wits,  it  then  commonly  falls  out  that  they  have 
over-busy  natures  withal.  For  my  part  I  should  take 
much  more  comfort  to  hear  that  she  were  quietly 
retired  to  her  mother's  in  the  country,  than  that  she 
had  obtained  a  great  suit  in  the  court."2 

The  sentiments  expressed  by  Lord  Falkland  were 
not  characteristic  of  his  time,  when  husbands  were 
generally  thankful  to  avail  themselves  of  their  wives' 
services  in  such  matters. 

While  Sir  Ralph  Verney  was  exiled  in  France,  he 
proposed  that  his  wife  should  return  to  England  to 
attend  to  some  urgent  business.  His  friend,  Dr. 
Denton  replied  to  the  suggestion : 

"...  not  to  touch  upon  inconveniences  of  y* 
comminge,  women  were  never  soe  usefull  as  now,  and 
though  yu  should  be  my  agent  and  sollicitour  of  all 
the  men  I  knowe  (and  therefore  much  more  to  be 
preferred  in  y*  own  cause)  yett  I  am  confident  if  yu 
were  here,  yu  would  doe  as  our  sages  doe,  instruct  y* 
wife,  and  leave  her  to  act  it  wth  committees,  their 
sexe  entitles  them  to  many  priviledges  and  we  find  the 
comfort  of  them  more  now  than  ever."8 

1  Falkland  (The  Lady),  Her  Life,  pp.  131-^. 

9  Ibid,  pp.  132-3. 

*  Verney  Family*  Vol.  II.,  p.  240,    646. 


CAPITALISTS  21 

There  are  innumerable  accounts  in  contemporary 
letters  and  papers  of  the  brave  and  often  successful 
efforts  of  women  to  stem  the  flood  of  misfortune  which 
threatened  ruin  to  their  families. 

Katharine  Lady  Bland  treated  with  Captain  Hotham 
in  1642  on  behalf  of  Lord  Savile  "  and  agreed  with 
him  for  the  preservation  of  my  lords  estate  and  pro- 
tection of  his  person  for  .£1,000,"  £320  of  which  had 
already  been  taken  "from  Lord  Savile's  trunk  at 
Kirkstall  Abbey  .  .  .  and  the  Captain  .  .  . 
promised  to  procure  a  protection  from  the  parlia- 
ment ....  for  his  lordships  person  and 
estate."1 

Lady  Mary  Heveningham,  through  her  efforts 
restored  the  estate  to  the  family  after  her  husband 
had  been  convicted  of  high  treason  at  the 
Restoration.2 

Of  Mrs.  Muriel  Lyttelton,  the  daughter  of  Lord 
Chancellor  Bromley,  it  was  said  that  she  "  may  be  called 
the  second  founder  of  the  family,  as  she  begged  the 
estate  of  King  James  when  it  was  forfeited  and  lived 
a  pattern  of  a  good  wife,  affectionate  widow,  and  care- 
ful parent  for  thirty  years,  with  the  utmost  prudence 
and  economy  at  Hagley  to  retrieve  the  estate  and  pay 
off  the  debts  ;  the  education  of  her  children  in  virtue 
and  the  protestant  religion  being  her  principal  employ. 
Her  husband,  Mr.  John  Lyttelton,  a  zealous  papist, 
was  condemned,  and  his  estates  forfeited,  for  being 
concern'd  in  Essex's  plot."3 

Charles  Parker  confessed,  "  Certainly  I  had  starved 
had  I  not  left  all  to  my  wife  to  manage,  who  gets 
something  by  living  there  and  haunting  some  of  her 
kindred  and  what  wayes  I  know  not  but  I  am  aiey 


1  Calendar  State  Papers,  Domestic,  April  8,  1646. 

z  Hunter  (Joseph),  History  and  Topography  of  Ketteringham,^\   sent    UD   his 

3  Nash,  Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  Worcester,  Vol.  I,,  p.  492 
in  the  Court  of  Chancery  that  she  paid  off  ,£25,00' 
estate,  and  only  sold  lands  to  the  value  of  ,£8,854. 


22  CAPITALISTS 

such  as  noe  way  entangle  me  in  conscience  or  loyalty 
nor  hinder  me  from  serving  the  King."1 

Lady  Fanshawe  said  her  husband  "  thought  it 
conveniente  to  send  me  into  England  again,  .... 
there  to  try  what  sums  I  could  raise,  both  for  his 
subsistence  abroad  and  mine  at  home.  ...  I 
.  .  .  .  embarked  myself  in  a  hoy  for  Dover,  with 
Mrs.  Waller,  and  my  sister  Margaret  Harrison  and  my 

little  girl  Nan, I  had 

the  good  fortune  as  I  then  thought  it,  to  sell  £300  a 
year  to  him  that  is  now  Judge  Archer  in  Essex,  for 
which  he  gave  me  .£4,000  which  at  that  time  I  thought 
a  vast  sum  ;  .  .  .  five  hundred  pounds  I 

carried  to  my  husband,  the  rest  I  left  in  my  father's 
agent's  hands  to  be  returned  as  we  needed  it."2 

The  Marquis  of  Ormonde  wrote  :  "  I  have  written 
2  seuerall  ways  of  late  to  my  wife  about  our  domestick 
affaires,  which  are  in  great  disorder  betweext  the  want 
of  meanes  to  keepe  my  sonnes  abroad  and  the  danger 
of  leaueing  them  at  home.  ...  I  thank  you  for 
your  continued  care  of  my  children.  I  haue  written 
twice  to  my  wife  to  the  effect  you  speake  of.  I  pray 
God  shee  be  able  to  put  it  in  execution  either  way."3 

This  letter  does  not  breathe  that  spirit  of  confidence 
in  the  wife's  ability  which  was  shown  in  some  of  the 
others  and  it  happened  sometimes  that  the  wife  was 
either  overwhelmed  by  procedure  beyond  her  under- 
standing, or  at  least  sought  for  special  consideration 
on  the  plea  of  her  sex's  weakness  and  ignorance. 

Sarah,  wife  of  Henry  Burton,  gives  an  account  of 
Burton's  trial  in  the  Star  Chamber,  his  sentence  and 
•^unishment  (fine,  pillory,  imprisonment  for  life) 

"  Ms  subsequent  transportation  to  Guernsey, "  where 


•  Vol.  I.,  p.  97.     Charles  Parker  to  Lord  Hatton. 

1  Falkland  (T  be  Lau  , 

'  -moirs  of,  pp.  80-8 1. 

*  Ibid>  PP-  J32-3«  no.  274-6.     Marquis  of  Ormonde  to  Sir  Ed.  Nicholas, 

8  Verney  Family,  Vol.  II.,  p.  24 


CAPITALISTS  23 

he  now  is  but  by  what  order  your  petitioner  knoweth 
not  and  is  kept  in  strict  durance  of  exile  and  imprison- 
ment, and  utterly  denied  the  society  of  your  peti- 
tioner contrary  to  the  liberties  and  privileges  of 
this  kingdome  .  .  .  debarred  of  the  accesse  of 
friends,  the  use  of  pen,  inck  and  paper  and  other 
means  to  make  knowne  his  just  complaintes,"  and 
she  petitions  the  House  of  Commons  "  to  take  her 
distressed  condition  into  your  serious  consideracion 
and  because  your  peticioner  is  a  woman  not  knowing 
how  to  prosecute  nor  manage  so  great  and  weighty 
busines "  begs  that  Burton  may  be  sent  over  to 
prosecute  his  just  complaint.1 

Similarly,  Bastwick's  wife  pleads  that  he  is  so  closely 
imprisoned  in  the  Isle  of  Scilly  "  that  your  petitioner 
is  not  permitted  to  have  any  access  unto  him,  so  that 
for  this  3  yeares  and  upward  hir  husband  hath 
been  exiled  from  hir,  and  she  in  all  this  time  could  not 
obtayne  leave,  although  she  hath  earnestly  sued  for 
it,  neither  to  live  with  him  nor  so  much  as  to  see  him, 
and  whereas  your  peticioner  hath  many  smale  children 
depending  uppon  hir  for  there  mauntenance,  and  she 
of  hir  selfe  being  every  way  unable  to  provide  for 
them,  she  being  thus  separated  from  her  deare  and 
loving  husband  and  hir  tender  babes  from  there 
carefull  father  (they  are  in)  great  straights  want  and 
miserie,"  and  she  begs  that  her  husband  may  be  sent 
to  England,"  your  Petitioner  being  a  woman  no  way 
able  to  follow  nor  manage  so  great  and  weighty  a 
cause  .  .  ."2 

The  above  efforts  were  all  made  in  defence  of 
family  estates,  but  at  this  time  women  were  also 
concerned  with  the  affairs  of  the  nation,  in  which  they 
took  an  active  part. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson  describes  how  "  When  the  Parlia- 
ment sat  again,  the  colonel  [Hutchinson]  sent  up  his 


1  o 


'tate  Papers,  Domestic,  cccclxxi.  36,  Nov.  7,  i6fo. 
ZS.P.D.,  cccclxxi.  37,  1640. 


24  CAPITALISTS 

wife  to  solicit  his  business  in  the  house,  that  the  Lord 
Lexington's  bill  might  not  pass  the  lower  house  .  . 
she  notwithstanding  many  other  discouragements 
waited  upon  the  business  every  day,  when  her 
adversaries  as  diligently  solicited  against  her  "  a 
friend  told  her  how  "  the  laste  statemen's  wives  came 
and  offered  them  all  the  information  they  had  gathered 
from  their  husbands,  and  how  she  could  not  but  know 
more  than  any  of  them  ;  and  if  yet  she  would  impart 
anything  that  might  show  her  gratitude,  she  might 
redeem  her  family  from  ruin,  .  .  .  but  she  dis- 
cerned his  drift  and  scorned  to  become  an  informer, 
and  made  him  believe  she  was  ignorant,  though  she 
could  have  enlightened  him  in  the  very  thing  he 
sought  for  ;  which  they  are  now  never  likely  to  know 
much  of,  it  being  locked  up  in  the  grave."1 

Herbert  Morley  wrote  to  Sir  William  Campion  in 
1645: 

"  I  could  impart  more,  but  letters  are  subject  to 
miscarriage,  therefore  I  reserve  myself  to  a  more  fit 
opportunity.  ...  If  a  conference  might  be  had, 
I  conceive  it  would  be  most  for  the  satisfaction  of  us 
both,  to  prevent  of  any  possible  hazard  of  your 
person.  If  you  please  to  let  your  lady  meet  me 
at  Watford  ...  or  come  hither,  I  will  procure 
her  a  pass."2 

Sir  William  replied  :  "  For  any  business  you  have  to 
impart  to  me,  I  have  that  confidence  in  you,  by  reason 
of  our  former  acquaintance,  that  I  should  not  make 
any  scruple  to  send  my  wife  to  the  places  mentioned  ; 
but  the  truth  is,  she  is  at  present  soe  neare  her  time 
for  lying  downe,  for  she  expects  to  be  brought  to  bed 
within  less  than  fourteen  days,  that  she  is  altogether 
unfit  to  take  soe  long  a  journey.  .  .  ."3 

1  Life  of  Colonel  Hutcbinson,  by  his  Wife,  pp.  334-336. 

1  Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.   x.,    p.   5.     To  Sir  William   Campion   from  Herbert 
Morley,  July  23rd,  1645. 

3  Ibid,  Vol.  x.,  p.  6. 


CAPITALISTS  25 

A  book  might  be  wholly  filled  with  a  story  of  the 
part  taken  by  women  in  the  political  and  religious 
struggles  of  this  period.  They  were  also  active  among 
the  crowd  who  perpetually  beseiged  the  Court  for 
grants  of  wardships  and  monopolies  or  patents. 

Ann  Wallwyn  writes  to  Salisbury  soliciting  the 
wardship  of  the  son  of  James  Tomkins  who  is  likely  to 
die.1  The  petition  of  Dame  Anne  Wigmore,  widow  of 
Sir  Richard  Wigmore,  states  that  she  has  found  out  a 
suit  which  will  rectify  many  abuses,  bring  in  a  yearly 
revenue  to  the  Crown  and  give  satisfaction  to  the 
Petitioner  for  the  great  losses  of  herself  and  her 
husband.  Details  follow  for  a  scheme  for  a  corpor- 
ation of  carriers  and  others.2 

Dorothy  Selkane  reminds  Salisbury  that  a  patent 
has  been  promised  her  for  the  digging  of  coals  upon 
a  royal  manor.  The  men  who  manage  the  business 
for  her  are  content  to  undertake  all  charges  for  the 
discovery  of  the  coal  and  to  compensate  the  tenants 
of  the  manor  according  to  impartial  arbitrators.  She 
begs  Salisbury  that  as  she  has  been  promised  a  patent 
the  matter  may  be  brought  to  a  final  conclusion  that 
she  may  not  be  forced  to  trouble  him  further 
"  having  alredie  bestowed  a  yeres  solicitinge  therein."8 
In  1610  the  same  lady  writes  again: — "  I  have  bene 
at  gte  toyle  and  charges  this  yere  and  a  halfe  past  as 
also  have  bene  put  to  extraordinarie  sollicitacion 
manie  and  sundry  waies  for  the  Dispatching  of  my 
suite  .  .  ."  and  begs  that  the  grant  may  pass 
without  delay.4 

A  grant  was  made  in  1614  to  Anne,  Roger  and 
James  Wright  of  a  licence  to  keep  a  tennis  court  at 
St.  Edmund's  Bury,  co.  Suffolk,  for  life.5  Bessy 

1  C.S.P.D.  Ixvii,  129,  1611. 

8  C.S.P.D.  clxii,  8.  March  2,  1630. 

9  S.P.D.,  xlviii.  119.  22nd  October.  1609. 
*S.P.D.  liii,  131,  April  1610. 

8  C.S.P.D.  Ixxvii,  5  April  5,  1614. 


26  CAPITALISTS 

Welling,  servant  to  the  late  Prince  Henry,  petitioned 
for  the  erecting  of  an  office  for  enrolling  the  Appren- 
tices of  Westminster,  etc.  As  this  was  not  granted, 
she  therefore  begs  for  a  lease  of  some  concealed  lands 
[manors  for  which  no  rent  has  been  paid  for  a  hundred 
years]  for  sixty-one  years.  The  Petitioner  hopes  to 
recover  them  for  the  King  at  her  own  charges.1 
Lady  Roxburgh  craves  a  licence  to  assay  all  gold 
and  silver  wire  "  finished  at  the  bar  "  before  it  is 
worked,  showing  that  it  is  no'  infringement  on  the 
Earl  of  Holland's  grant  which  is  for  assaying  and 
sealing  gold  and  silver  after  it  is  made.  This,  it  is 
pointed  out,  will  be  a  means  for  His  Majesty  to  pay  off 
the  debt  he  owes  to  Lady  Roxburgh  which  otherwise 
must  be  paid  some  other  way.2 

A  petition  from  Katharine  Elliot  "  wett  nurse  to  the 
Duke  of  Yorke"  shows  that  there  is  a  moor  waste  or 
common  in  Somersetshire  called  West  Sedge  Moor 
which  appears  to  be  the  King's  but  has  been  appro- 
priated and  encroached  upon  by  bordering  commoners. 
She  begs  for  a  grant  of  it  for  sixty  years ;  as  an  induce- 
ment the  Petitioner  offers  to  recover  it  at  her  own 
costs  and  charges  and  to  pay  a  rent  of  one  shilling 
per  acre,  the  King  never  previously  having  received 
benefit  therefrom.8  The  reference  by  Windebank 
notes  that  the  king  is  willing  to  gratify  the  Petitioner. 
Another  petition  was  received  from  this  same  lady 
declaring  that  "  Divers  persons  being  of  no  corpor- 
ation prefers  the  trade  of  buying  and  selling  silk  stock- 
ings and  silk  waistcoats  as  well  knit  as  woven  uttering 
the  Spanish  or  baser  sort  of  silk  at  as  dear  rates  as  the 
first  Naples  and  also  frequently  vending  the  woven  for 
the  knit,  though  in  price  and  goodness  there  is  almost 
half  in  half  difference."  She  prays  a  grant  for  thirty- 

1  S.P.D.cni,  121,  1619. 

2  S.P.D.  clxxx,  66,  1624. 

8  S.P.D.  cccxxiii,  109,  i8th  June,  1637. 


CAPITALISTS  27 

one  years  for  the  selling  of  silk  stockings,  half  stockings 
and  waistcoats,  to  distinguish  the  woven  from  the 
knit  receiving  from  the  salesmen  a  shilling  for  every 
waistcoat,  sixpence  per  pair  of  silk  stockings  and 
fourpence  for  every  half  pair.1 

Elizabeth,  Viscountess  Savage,  points  out  that  Free- 
men of  the  city  enter  into  bond  on  their  admittance  with 
two  sureties  of  a  hundred  marks  to  the  Chamberlain 
of  London  not  to  exercise  any  trade  other  than  that  of 
the  Company  they  were  admitted  into.  Of  late  years 
persons  having  used  other  trades  and  contrived  not 
to  have  their  bonds  forfeited,  and  the  penalty  belong- 
ing to  His.  Majesty,  she  begs  a  grant  of  such  penalties 
to  be  recovered  at  her  instance  and  charge.2 

The  petition  of  Margaret  Cary,  relict  of  Thomas  Cary 
Esquire,  one  of  the  Grooms  of  the  Chamber  to  the 
King  on  the  behalf  of  herself  and  her  daughters,  begs 
for  a  grant  to  compound  with  offenders  by  engrossering 
and  transporting  of  wool,  wool  fells,  fuller's  earth, 
lead,  leather,  corn  and  grain,  she  to  receive  a  Privy 
Seal  for  two  fourth-parts  of  the  fines  and  compositions. 
Her  reasons  for  desiring  this  grant  are  that  her  husband's 
expense  in  prosecuting  like  cases  has  reaped  no  benefit 
of  his  grant  of  seven-eighths  of  forfeited  bonds  for  the 
like  offences.  She  urges  the  usefulness  of  the  scheme 
and  the  existence  of  similar  grants.3 

Mistress  Dorothy  Seymour  petitions  for  a  grant  of 
the  fines  imposed  on  those  who  export  raw  hides  con- 
trary to  the  Proclamation  and  thereby  make  coaches, 
boots,  etc.,  dearer.  The  reference  to  the  Petition 
states :  "  It  is  His  Majesty's  gratious  pleasure  that 
the  petitioner  cause  impoundr.  to  be  given  to  the 
Attorney  General  touching  the  offences  above 
mencioned  .  •  .  and  as  proffyt  shall  arise  to  His 

1  S.P.D.  cccxxiii  ,  7.  Bk.  of  Petitioners,  Car.  I. 
*  S.P.D,  ccciii.,  65,  Dec.  6th,  1635. 
3  S.P.D.  cccvi.,  27,  1635. 


28  CAPITALISTS 

Majesty  ...     he   will  give  her  such  part  as  shall 
fully  satisfy  her  pains  and  good  endeavours. JJ1 

The  projecting  of  patents  and  monopolies  was  the 
favourite  pursuit  of  fashionable  people  of  both  sexes. 
Ben  Johnson  satirises  the  Projectress  in  the  person  of 
Lady  Tailebush,  of  whom  the  Projector,  Meercraft 
says : 

"  She  and  I  now 

Are  on  a  Project,  for  the  fact,  and  venting 
Of  a  new  kind  of  fucus  (paint  for  Ladies) 
To  serve  the  Kingdom  ;    wherein  she  herself 
Hath  travel'd  specially,  by  the  way  of  service 
Unto  her  sex,  and  hopes  to  get  the  monopoly, 
As  the  Reward  of  her  Invention."2 

When  Eitherside  assures  her  mistress 

"  I  do  hear 
You  ha'  cause  madam,  your  suit  goes  on  " 

Lady  Tailebush  replies  : 

"  Yes  faith,  there's  life  in't  now.     It  is  referr'd 
If  we  once  see  it  under  the  seals,  wench,  then, 
Have  with  'em,  for  the  great  caroch,  six  horses 
And  the  two  coachmen,  with  my  Ambler  bare, 
And  my  three  women  ;  we  will  live  i'  faith, 
The  examples  o'  the  Town,  and  govern  it. 
I'll  lead  the  fashion  still." 3 

From  the  women  who  begged  for  monopolies  which 
if  granted  must  have  involved  much  worry  and  labour 
if  they  were  to  be  made  profitable,  we  pass  naturally 
to  women  who  actually  owned  and  managed  businesses 
requiring  a  considerable  amount  of  capital.  They  not 
infrequently  acted  as  pawn-brokers  and  money- 
lenders. Thus,  complaint  is  made  that  Elizabeth 
Pennell  had  stolen  "  two  glazier's  vices  with  the 
screws  and  appurtenances "  and  pawned  them  to 

1  S.P.D.  cccxlvi,  2,  Feb.  ist,  1637. 

1  Jonson,  (Ben.)  The  Devil  it  an  A  u,  Act  III,  Scene  iv. 

8  (Ibid),  Act  IV.,  Scene  U. 


CAPITALISTS  29 

one  Ellianor  Troughton,  wife  of  Samuel  Troughton 
broker.1 

Richard  Braithwaite  tells  the  following  story  of 
a  "  Useresse "  as  though  this  occupation  were 
perfectly  usual  for  women.  "  Wee  reade  in  a  booke 
entituled  the  Gift  of '  Feare,  how  a  Religious  Divine 
comming  to  a  certaine  Vseresse  to  advise  her  of  the 
state  of  her  soule,  and  instruct  her  in  the  way  to 
salvation  at  such  time  as  she  lay  languishing  in  her 
bed  of  affliction  ;  told  her  how  there  were  three 
things  by  her  to  be  necessarily  performed,  if  ever  she 
hoped  to  be  saved  :  She  must  become  contrite  in 
heart  .  .  .  confesse  her  sins  ....  make 
restitution  according  to  her  meanes  whereto  shee  thus 
replyed,  Two  of  those  first  I  will  doe  willingly  :  but  to 
doe  the  last,  I  shall  hold  it  a  difficulty  ;  for  should  I 
make  restitution,  what  would  remaine  to  raise  my  chil- 
dren their  portion  ?  To  which  the  Divine  answered  ; 
Without  these  three  you  cannot  be  saved.  Tea  but, 
quoth  shee,  Doe  our  Learned  Men  and  Scriptures  say 
so  ?  Tes,  surely  said  the  Divine.  And  I  will  try, 
(quoth  shee)  whether  they  say  true  or  no,  for  I  will 
restore  nothing.  And  so  resolving,  fearefully  dyed 

.  .  .  for  preferring  the  care  of  her  posterity, 
before  the  honour  of  her  Maker."2 

The  names  of  women  often  occur  in  connection 
with  the  shipping  trade  and  with  contracts.  Some 
were  engaged  in  business  with  their  husbands  as  in  the 
case  of  a  fine  remitted  to  Thomas  Price  and  Collet 
his  wife  for  shipping  200  dozen  of  old  shoes,  with 
intention  to  transport  them  beyond  the  seas  contrary 
to  a  Statute  (5th  year  Edward  VI)  on  account  of  their 
poverty.3  Others  were  widows  like  Anne  Hodsall 
whose  husband,  a  London  merchant,  traded  for  many 

1  Middlesex  Co.  Rec.  Sess.  Books,  p.  18,  1690. 

2  Braithwaite,  (Richd.),  The  English  Gentleman,  p.  300,  1641. 

3  Overall  Remembrancia,  Analytical  Index  to,  p.  519,  1582. 


30  CAPITALISTS 

years  to  the  Canary  Islands,  the  greatest  part  of  his 
estate  being  there.  He  could  not  recover  it  in  his  life- 
time owing  to  the  war  with  Spain  and  therefore  his  wife 
was  left  in  great  distress  with  four  children.  Her 
estate  in  the  Canary  Islands  is  likely  to  be  confiscated, 
there  being  no  means  of  recovering  it  thence 
except  by  importing  wines,  and  it  would  be  necessan 
to  take  pipe-staves  over  there  to  make  casks  to 
bring  back  the  wines.  She  begs  the  council  there- 
fore "  in  commiseration  of  her  distressed  estate  to 
grant  a  licence  to  her  and  her  assignes  to  lade  one 
ship  here  with  woollen  commodities  for  Ireland, 
To  lade  Pipe  staves  in  Ireland  (notwithstanding  the 
prohibition)  and  to  send  the  same  to  the  Canary 
Islands."1  ' 

Joseph  Holroyd  employed  a  woman  as  his  shipping 
agent ;  in  a  letter  dated  1706  he  writes  re  certain  goods 
for  Holland  :  that  these  "  I  presume  must  be  marked 
as  usual  and  forward  to  Madam  Brown  at  Hull.  .  ." 
and  he  informs  Madam  Hannah  Browne,  that  "  By 
orders  of  Mr.  John  Whittle  I  have  sent  you  one  packe 
and  have  2  packes  more  to  send  as  undr.  You  are  to 
follow  Mr.  Whittle's  directions  in  shipping."2 

In  1630  Margrett  Greeneway,  widow  of  Thos. 
Greeneway,  baker,  begged  leave  to  finish  carrying  out 
a  contract  made  by  her  husband  notwithstanding  the 
present  restraint  on  the  bringing  of  corn  to  London. 
The  contract  was  to  supply  the  East  India  Company 
with  biscuit.  Margrett  Greeneway  petitions  to  bring 
five  hundred  quarters  of  wheat  to  London — some  are 
already  bought  and  she  asks  for  leave  to  buy  the  rest. 
The  petition  was  granted.3 

A  Petition  of  "  Emanuell  Fynche,  Wm.  Lewis 
Merchantes  and  Anne  Webber  Widow  on  the  behalf  e 

1  Council  Register,  8th  August,  1628. 

8  Holroyd,  Joseph  (Cloth  Factor)  and  Saml.  Hill  (clothier),  Letter  Bks.  of,  pp.  18-25. 

*  C.R.,  3rd  December,  1630, 


CAPITALISTS  31 

of  themselves  and  others  owners  of  the  shipp  called  the 
Benediction  was  presented  to  the  Privy  Council 
stating  that  the  ship  had  been  seized  and  detained  by 
the  French  and  kept  at  Dieppe  where  it  was  deterior- 
ating. They  asked  to  be  allowed  to  sell  her  there.1 
The  name  of  another  woman  ship-owner  occurs 
in  a  case  at  Grimsby  brought  against  Christopher 
Claton  who  "  In  the  behalfe  of  his  Mother  An  Alford, 
wid.,hath  bought  one  wessell  of  Raffe  of  one  Laurence 
Lamkey  of  Odwell  in  the  kingdome  of  Norway,  upon 
wch  private  bargane  there  appeares  a  breach  of  the 
priviledges  of  this  Corporation."2 

In  1636  upon  the  Petition  of  Susanna  Angell 
"  widowe,  and  Eliz.  her  daughter  (an  orphan)  of  the 
cittie  of  London  humbly  praying  that  they  might  by 
their  Lordshipps  warrant  bee  permitted  to  land  14 
barrels  of  powder  now  arrived  as  also  38  barrells  which  is 
daily  expected  in  the  Fortune  they  paying  custome 
and  to  sell  the  same  within  the  kingdome  or  otherwise 
to  give  leave  to  transport  it  back  againe  into  Holland 
from  whence  it  came  "  the  Officers  of  the  customs  were 
ordered  to  permit  the  Petitioners  to  export  the 
powder.3 

Women's  names  appear  also  in  lists  of  contractors 
to  the  Army  and  Navy.  Elizabeth  Bennett  and 
Thomas  Berry  contracted  with  the  Commissioners 
to  supply  one  hundred  suits  of  apparel  for  the  soldiers 
at  Plymouth.* 

Cuthbert  Farlowe,  Elizabeth  Harper  Widowe,  Edward 
Sheldon  and  John  Davis,"  pooreTradesmen  of  London  " 
petition  "  to  be  paid  the  £180  yet  unpaid  of  their 
accounts  for  furnishing  the  seamen  for  Rochelle  with 
clothes  and  shoes  "  att  the  rates  of  ready  money."5 

1  S.P.D.  ccxxxvi.,  45,  I2th,  April,  1633. 

*Hist.  MSS.  Com.,  14  Rep.,  VIII.,  p.  284,  1655. 

8  S.P.D.  ccxcii.,  24.   March  23,  1636/7.,  Proceedings  of  Gunpowder  Commissioners. 

4  S.P.D.  xx.,  62,  Feb.  gth,  1626. 

5  S.P.D.  cxcvii.,  64,  July,  1631. 


32  CAPITALISTS 

A  warrant  was  issued  "  to  pay  to  Alice  Bearden  £100 
for  certain  cutworks  furnished  to  the  Queen  for  her  own 
wearing."1 

Edward  Prince  brought  a  case  in  the  Star  Chamber,  v. 
Thomas  Woodward,  Ellenor  Woodward,  and  Georg. 
Helliar  defendants  being  Ironmongers  for  supposed 
selling  of  iron  at  false  weights  to  undersell  plaintiff. 
"  Defendants  respectively  prove  that  they  ever  bought 
and  sold  by  one  sort  of  weight."5 

For  her  tenancy  of  the  Spy-law  Paper  Mill,  Foulis 
"  receaved  from  Mre.  lithgow  by  Wm.  Douglas 
Hands  85  lib.  for  ye  1704  monie  rent.  She  owes  me 
3  rim  of  paper  for  that  yeir,  besydes  4  rim  she  owes 
me  for  former  yeirs."3 

Joan  Dant  was  one  of  the  few  women  "  capitalists  " 
whose  personal  story  is  known  in  any  detail.  Her 
husband  was  a  working  weaver,  living  in  New 
Paternoster  Row,  Spital  Fields.  On  his  death  she 
became  a  pedlar,  carrying  an  assortment  of  mercery, 
hosiery,  and  haberdashery  on  her  back  from  house  to 
house  in  the  vicinity  of  London.  Her  conduct  as  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends  was  consistent  and  her 
manners  agreeable,  so  that  her  periodic  visits  to  the 
houses  of  Friends  were  welcomed  and  she  was  frequently 
entertained  as  a  guest  at  their  tables.  After  some 
years,  her  expenses  being  small  and  her  diligence  great, 
she  had  saved  sufficient  capital  to  engage  in  a  more 
wholesale  trade,  debts  due  from  her  correspondents 
at  Paris  and  Brussels  appearing  in  her  executor's 
accounts.  In  spite  of  her  success  in  trade  Joan  Dant 
continued  to  live  in  her  old  frugal  manner,  and  when 
she  applied  to  a  Friend  for  assistance  in  making  her 
will,  he  was  astonished  to  find  her  worth  rather  more 
than  £9,000.  He  advised  her  to  obtain  the  assistance 

1  S.P.D.,  clix.,  27th  Jan.  1630. 
*S.P.D.t  dxxxi.,  138,  1630. 
*  Foulii,  Sir  John,  Account  Book,  5th  Jan.,  1705. 


CAPITALISTS  33 

of  other  Friends  more  experienced  in  such  matters. 
On  their  enquiring  how  she  wished  to  dispose  of  her 
property,  she  replied,  "  I  got  it  by  the  rich  and  I 
mean  to  leave  it  to  the  poor." 

Joan  Dant  died  in  1715  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 
In  a  letter  to  her  executors  she  wrote,  "  It  is  the 
Lord  that  creates  true  industry  in  his  people,  and  that 
blesseth  their  endeavours  in  obtaining  things  necessary 
and  convenient  for  them,  which  are  to  be  used  in 
moderation  by  all  his  flock  and  family  everywhere. 
.  .  And  I,  having  been  one  that  has  taken  pains 
to  live,  and  have  through  the  blessing  of  God,  with 
honesty  and  industrious  care,  improved  my  little  in 
the  world  to  a  pretty  good  degree  ;  find  my  heart 
open  in  that  charity  which  comes  from  the  Lord,  in 
which  the  true  disposal  of  all  things  ought  to  be,  to  do 
something  for  the  poor, — the  fatherless  and  the  widows 
in  the  Church  of  Christ,  according  to  the  utmost  of  my 
ability."1 

Another  venture  initiated  and  carried  on  by  a 
woman,  was  an  Insurance  Office  established  by  Dorothy 
Petty.  An  account  of  it  written  in  1710  states  that : — 
"  The  said  Dorothy  (who  is  the  Daughter  of  a  Divine 
of  the  Church  of  England,  now  deceas'd)  did  Set  up 
an  Insurance  Office  on  Births,  Marriages,  and  Services, 
in  order  thereby  to  serve  the  Publick,  and  get  an 

honest  Livelyhood  for  herself The  said 

Dorothy  had  such  Success  in  her  Undertaking,  that 
more  Claims  were  paid,  and  more  Stamps  us'd  for 
Policies  and  Certificates  in  her  Office  than  in  all  other 
the  like  Offices  in  London  besides ;  which  good 
Fortune  was  chiefly  owing  to  the  Fairness  and  Justice 
of  her  Proceedings  in  the  said  Business  :  for  all  the 
Money  paid  into  the  Office  was  Entered  in  one  Book, 
and  all  the  Money  paid  out  upon  Claims  was  set  down 
in  another  Book,  and  all  People  had  Liberty  to  peruse 

1  British  Friend,  II.,  p.  113. 


34  CAPITALISTS 

both,  so  that  there  could  not  possibly  be  the  least 
Fraud  in  the  Management  thereof."1 

In  1622  the  names  of  Mary  Hall,  450  coals,  Barbara 
Riddell,  450  coals,  Barbara  Milburne,  60  coals,  are 
included  without  comment  among  the  brothers  of  the 
fellowship  of  Hostmen  (coal  owners)  of  Newcastle 
who  have  coals  to  rent.2  The  name  of  Barbara 
Milburne,  widow,  is  given  in  the  Subsidy  Roll  for 
1621  as  owning  land.8  That  these  women  were  equal 
to  the  management  of  their  collieries  is  suggested  by 
the  fact  that  when  in  1623  Christopher  Mitford  left 
besides  property  which  he  bequeathed  direct  to  his 
nephews  and  nieces,  five  salt-pans  and  collieries  to  his 
sister  Jane  Legard  he  appointed  her  his  executrix,4 
which  he  would  hardly  have  done  unless  he  had  believed 
her  equal  to  the  management  of  a  complicated  business. 

The  frequency  with  which  widows  conducted 
capitalistic  enterprises  may  be  taken  as  evidence  of 
the  extent  to  which  wives  were  associated  with  their 
husbands  in  business.  The  wife's  part  is  sometimes 
shown  in  prosecutions,  as  in  a  case  which  was  brought 
in  the  Star  Chamber  against  Thomas  Hellyard, 
Elizabeth  his  wife  and  John  Goodenough  and  Hugh 
Nicholes  for  oppression  in  the  country  under  a  patent 
to  Hellyard  for  digging  saltpetre  ...  "in 
pursuance  of  his  direction  leave  and  authority.  .  . 
Nicholes  Powell,  Defendants  servant,  and  the  said 
Hellyard's  wife,  did  sell  divers  quantities  of  salt 
petre.  More  particularly  the  said  Hellyard's  wife 
did  sell  to  Parker  4oolbs.  at  Haden  Wells,  300  or  400 
Ibs.  at  Salisbury  and  300  or  400  Ibs.  at  Winchester 
at  .£9  the  hundred."  Hellyard  was  sentenced  to  a 
fine  of  .£1,000,  pillory,  whipping  and  imprisonment. 

1  Case  of  Dorothy  Petty,  1710. 

1  Newcastle  and  Gatesbead,  History  of,  Vol.  III.,  p.  242. 

3  Ibid,  p.  237. 

4  Ibid,  p.  252. 


CAPITALISTS  35 

"  As  touching  the  other  defendant  Elizabeth  Hellyard 
the  courte  was  fully  satisfyed  with  sufficient  matter 
whereupon  to  ground  a  sentence  against  the  defendant 
Eliz.  but  shee  being  a  wyfe  and  subject  to  obey  her 
husband  theyr  Lord  ships  did  forbeare  to  sentence 
her."1 

Three  men,  "  artificers  in  glass  making,"  beg  that 
Lady  Mansell  may  either  be  compelled  to  allow  them 
such  wages  as  they  formerly  received,  or  to  discharge 
them  from  her  service,  her  reduction  of  wages  disabling 
them  from  maintaining  their  families,  and  driving 
many  of  them  away.2  Lady  Mansell  submits  a 
financial  statement  and  account  of  the  rival  glass- 
makers'  attempts  to  ruin  her  husband's  business,  one 
of  whom  "  hath  in  open  audience  vowed  to  spend 
loooli,  to  ruine  your  petitioners  husband  joyninge 
with  the  Scottish  pattentie  taking  the  advantage  of 
your  petitioners  husbands  absence,  thinckinge  your 
petitioner  a  weake  woman  unable  to  followe  the 
busines  and  determininge  the  utter  ruine  of  your 
petitioner  and  her  husband  have  inticed  three  of  her 
workemen  for  windowe  glasse,  which  shee  had  longe 
kepte  att  a  weeklie  chardge  to  her  great  prejudice  to 
supplie  the  worke  yf  there  should  be  anie  necessitie  in 
the  Kingdome,"  etc.,  etc.,"  she  begs  justice  upon  the 
rivals,  "  your  petitioner  havinge  noe  other  meanes 
nowe  in  his  absence  (neither  hath  he  when  he  shall 
returne)  but  onelie  this  busines  wherein  he  hath 
engaged  his  whole  estate."3 

Able  business  women  might  be  found  in  every  class 
of  English  society  throughout  the  seventeenth  century, 
but  their  contact  with  affairs  became  less  habitual 
as  the  century  wore  away,  and  expressions  of  surprise 
occur  at  the  prowess  shown  by  Dutch  women  in 

1S.P.Z).,  cclx.,  21,  1634. 

2  S.P.D.,  cxlviii.,  52,  1623, 

8  S.P.D.;  dxxi.,  147.  Addenda  Charles  I.,  1625. 


36  CAPITALISTS 

business.  "  At  Ostend,  Newport,  and  Dunkirk, 
where,  and  when,  the  Holland  pinks  come  in,  there 
daily  the  Merchants,  that  be  but  Women  (but  not 
such  Women  as  the  Fishwives  of  Billingsgate  ;  for  these 
Netherland  Women  do  lade  many  Waggons  with  fresh 
Fish  daily,  some  for  Bruges,  and  some  for  Brussels, 
etc.,  etc.)  I  have  seen  these  Women-merchants 
I  say,  have  their  Aprons  full  of  nothing  but  English 
Jacobuses,  to  make  all  their  Payment  of."J 

Sir  J.  Child  mentions  "  the  Education  of  their 
Children  as  well  Daughters  as  Sons ;  all  which,  be  they 
of  never  so  great  quality  or  estate,  they  always  take  care 
to  bring  up  to  write  perfect  good  Hands,  and  to 
have  the  full  knowledge  and  use  of  Arithmetick  and 
Merchant  Accounts,"  as  one  of  the  advantages  which 
the  Dutch  possess  over  the  English ;  "  the  well 
understanding  and  practise  whereof  doth  strangely 
infuse  into  most  that  are  the  owners  of  that  Quality, 
of  either  Sex,  not  only  an  Ability  for  Commerce  of  all 
kinds,  but  a  strong  aptitude,  love  and  delight  in  it ; 
and  in  regard  the  women  are  as  knowing  therein  as 
the  Men,  it  doth  incourage  their  Husbands  to  hold  on 
in  their  Trades  to  their  dying  days,  knowing  the 
capacity  of  their  Wives  to  get  in  their  Estates,  and 
carry  on  their  Trades  after  their  Deaths :  Whereas  if 
a  Merchant  in  England  arrive  at  any  considerable 
Estate,  he  commonly  with-draws  his  Estate  from  Trade, 
before  he  comes  near  the  confines  of  Old  Age ; 
reckoning  that  if  God  should  call  him  out  of  the  World 
while  the  main  of  his  Estate  is  engaged  abroad  in 
Trade,  he  must  lose  one  third  of  it,  through  the  un- 
experience  and  unaptness  of  his  Wife  to  such  Affairs, 
and  so  it  usually  falls  out.  Besides  it  hath  been  ob- 
served in  the  nature  of  Arithmetick,  that  like  other  parts 
of  the  Mathematicks,  it  doth  not  only  improve  the 
Rational  Faculties,  but  inclines  those  that  are  expert 

1  England's  Way,  1614.     Harleian  Misc.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  383. 


CAPITALISTS  37 

in  it  to  Thriftiness  and  good  Husbandry,  and  prevents 
both  Husbands  and  Wives  in  some  measure  from 
running  out  of  their  estates."1 

This  account  is  confirmed  by  Howell  who  writes  of 
the  Dutch  in  1622  that  they  are  "  well  versed  in  all 
sorts  of  languages  .  .  .  Nor  are  the  Men  only  expert 
therein  but  the  Women  and  Maids  also  in  their  common 
Hostries ;  &  in  Holland  the  Wives  are  so  well  versed 
in  Bargaining,  Cyphering  &  Writing,  that  in  the 
Absence  of  their  Husbands  in  long  sea  voyages  they 
beat  the  Trade  at  home  &  their  Words  will  pass  in 
equal  Credit.  These  Women  are  wonderfully  sober, 
tho'  their  Husbands  make  commonly  their  Bargains 
in  Drink,  &  then  are  they  more  cautelous."2 

This  unnatural  reversing  of  the  positions  of  men  and 
women  was  censured  by  the  Spaniard  Vives  who  wrote 
"  In  Hollande,  women  do  exercise  marchandise  and 
the  men  do  geue  themselues  to  quafting,  the  which 
customes  and  maners  I  alowe  not,  for  thei  agre  not  with 
nature,  ye  which  hath  geuen  unto  man  a  noble,  a  high 
&  a  diligent  minde  to  be  busye  and  occupied  abroade, 
to  gayne  &  to  bring  home  to  their  wiues  &  families 
to  rule  them  and  their  children,  ....  and  to  ye 
woman  nature  hath  geuen  a  feareful,  a  couetous  &  an 
humble  mind  to  be  subject  unto  man,  &  to  kepe  y* 
he  doeth  gayne."3 

The  contrast  which  had  arisen  between  Dutch  and 
English  customs  in  this  respect  was  also  noticed  by 
Wycherley,  one  of  whose  characters,  Monsieur  Paris, 
a  Francophile  fop,  describes  his  tour  in  Holland  in  the 
following  terms  :  "  I  did  visit,  you  must  know,  one  of 
de  Principal  of  de  State  General  .  .  .  and  did  find  his 
Excellence  weighing  Sope,  jarnie  ha,  ha,  ha,  weighing 
sope,  ma  foy,  for  he  was  a  wholesale  Chandeleer  ;  and 

1  Child,  Sir  J.,  A  New  Discourse  of  Trade,  pp.  4-5.  1694, 

1  Howell,  (Jas.),  Familiar  Letters,  p.  103, 

8  Vives,  Office  and  Duties  of  a  Husband,  trans,  by  Thos.  Paynell. 


38  CAPITALISTS 

his  Lady  was  taking  de  Tale  of  Chandels  wid  her  own 
witer  Hands,  ma  foy  ;  and  de  young  Lady,  his  Excel- 
lence Daughter,  stringing  Hairing,  jarnie  ...  his 
Son,  (for  he  had  but  one)  was  making  the  Tour  of 
France,  etc.  in  a  Coach  and  six."1 

The  picture  is  obviously  intended  to  throw  ridicule 
on  the  neighbouring  state,  of  whose  navy  and  commer- 
cial progress  England  stood  at  that  time  in  consider- 
able fear. 

How  rapidly  the  active,  hardy  life  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan gentlewoman  was  being  transformed  into  the 
idleness  and  dependence  which  has  characterised 
the  lady  of  a  later  age  maybe  judged  by  MaryAstelPs 
comment  on  "  Ladies  of  Quality."  She  says, "  They  are 
placed  in  a  condition  which  makes  that  which  is  every- 
one's chief  business  to  be  their  only  employ.  They 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  glorify  God  and  to  benefit 
their  neighbours."2  After  a  study  of  the  Restor- 
ation Drama  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  ladies 
of  that  period  wished  to  employ  their  leisure  over 
these  praiseworthy  objects.  But  had  they  the  will, 
ignorance  of  life  and  inexperience  in  affairs  are 
qualifications  which  perhaps  would  not  have  increased 
the  effectiveness  of  their  efforts  in  either  direction. 

The  proof  of  the  change  which  was  taking  place 
in  the  scope  of  upper  class  women's  interests  does  not 
rest  only  upon  individual  examples  such  as  those 
which  have  been  quoted,  though  these  instances  have 
been  selected  for  the  most  part  on  account  of  their 
representative  character. 

It  is  quite  clear  that  the  occupation  of  ladies  with 
their  husband's  affairs  was  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course 
throughout  the  earlier  part  of  the  century,  and  it  is 
only  after  the  Restoration  that  a  change  of  fashion  in  this 
respect  becomes  evident.  Pepys,  whose  milieu  was 

1  Wycherley,  The  Gentleman  Dancing  Master,  p.  21. 

2  Astell,  (Mary),  A  Serious  Proposal,  p.  145,  1694. 


CAPITALISTS  39 

typical  of  the  new  social  order,  after  a  call  upon  Mr. 
Bland,  commented  with  surprised  pleasure  on  Mrs. 
Eland's  interest  in  her  husband's  affairs.  "Then  to  eat 
a  dish  of  anchovies,"  he  says  "  and  drink  wine  and  syder 
and  very  merry,  but  above  all  things,  pleased  to  hear  Mrs . 
Bland  talk  like  a  merchant  in  her  husband's  business 
very  well,  and  it  seems  she  do  understand  it  and 
perform  a  great  deal."1  The  capacity  of  a  woman 
to  understand  her  husband's  business  seldom  aroused 
comment  earlier  in  the  century,  and  would  have 
passed  unnoticed  even  by  many  of  Pepys'  contempo- 
raries who  lived  in  a  different  set.  Further  evidence 
of  women's  business  capacity  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
men  generally  expected  their  wives  would  prove  equal 
to  the  administration  of  their  estates  after  their  death, 
and  thus  the  wife  was  habitually  appointed  executrix 
often  even  the  sole  executrix  of  wills.  This  custom 
was  certainly  declining  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
century.  The  winding  up  of  a  complicated  estate  and 
still  more  the  prosecution  of  an  extensive  business, 
could  not  have  been  successfully  undertaken  by  per- 
sons who  hitherto  had  led  lives  of  idleness,  unacquainted 
with  the  direction  of  affairs. 

That  men  did  not  at  this  time  regard  marriage  as 
necessarily  involving  the  assumption  of  a  serious 
economic  burden,  but  on  the  contrary,  often  considered 
it  to  be  a  step  which  was  likely  to  strengthen  them  in 
life's  battles,  is  also  significant.  This  attitude  was 
partly  due  to  the  provision  of  a  dot  by  fathers  of 
brides,  but  there  were  other  ways  in  which  the  wife 
contributed  to  the  support  of  her  household.  Thus 
in  a  wedding  sermon  woman  is  likened  to  a  merchant's 
ship,  for  "  She  bringeth  her  food  from  far  "  .  .  . 
not  meaning  she  is  to  be  chosen  for  her  dowry,  "  for 
the  worst  wives  may  have  the  best  portions,  . 
a  good  wife  tho'  she  bring  nothing  in  with  her,  yet, 

1  Pepys,  (Sam.)  Diary,  Vol.  II.,  p.  113,  Dec.  31,  1662. 


40  CAPITALISTS 

thro'  her  Wisdom  and  Diligence  great  things  come  in 
by  her  ;  she  brings  in  with  her  hands,  for,  She  putteth  her 

hands  to  the  wheel If  she  be  too  high  to 

stain  her  Hands  with  bodily  Labour,  yet  she 
bringeth  in  with  her  Eye,  for,  She  overseeth  the 
Ways  of  her  Household,  .  .  .  and  eateth  not  the 
Bread  of  Idleness"  She  provides  the  necessities  of 
life.  "  If  she  will  have  Bread,  she  must  not  always 
buy  it,  but  she  must  sow  it,  and  reap  it  and  grind  it, 
.  .  .  She  must  knead  it,  and  make  it  into  bread. 
Or  if  she  will  have  Cloth,  she  must  not  always  run  to 
the  Shop  or  to  the  score  but  she  begins  at  the  seed, 
shecarrieth  her  seed  to  the  Ground,she  gathereth  Flax, 
of  her  Flax  she  spinneth  a  Thread,  of  her  Thread  she 
weaveth  Cloth,  and  so  she  comes  by  her  coat."1 

The  woman  here  described  was  the  mistress  of  a 
large  household,  who  found  scope  for  her  productive 
energy  within  the  limits  of  domestic  industry,  but  it 
has  been  shown  that  the  married  woman  often  went 
farther  than  this,  and  engaged  in  trade  either  as  her 
husband's  assistant  or  even  on  her  own  account. 

The  effect  of  such  work  on  the  development  of 
women's  characters  was  very  great,  for  any  sort  of 
productive,  that  is  to  say,  creative  work,  provides  a 
discipline  and  stimulus  to  growth  essentially  different 
from  any  which  can  be  acquired  in  a  life  devoted 
to  spending  money  and  the  cultivation  of  ornamental 
qualities. 

The  effect  on  social  relations  was  also  marked,  for 
their  work  implied  an  association  of  men  and  women 
through  a  wide  range  of  human  interests  and  a  conse- 
quent development  of  society  along  organic  rather  than 
mechanical  lines.  The  relation  between  husband  and 
wife  which  obtained  most  usually  among  the  upper 
classes  in  England  at  the  opening  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  appears  indeed  to  have  been  that  of  partner- 

1  Wilkinson,  (Robert),  Conjugal  Duty,  pp.  13-17. 


CAPITALISTS  41 

ship ;  the  chief  responsibility  for  the  care  of  children  and 
the  management  and  provisioning  of  her  household 
resting  on  the  wife's  shoulders,  while  in  business 
matters  she  was  her  husband's  lieutenant.  The  wife 
was  subject  to  her  husband,  her  life  was  generally  an 
arduous  one,  but  she  was  by  no  means  regarded  as 
his  servant.  A  comradeship  existed  between  them 
which  was  stimulating  and  inspiring  to  both.  The 
ladies  of  the  Elizabethan  period  possessed  courage, 
initiative,  resourcefulness  and  wit  in  a  high  degree. 
Society  expected  them  to  play  a  great  part  in  the 
national  life  and  they  rose  to  the  occasion  ;  perhaps 
it  was  partly  the  comradeship  with  their  husbands 
in  the  struggle  for  existence  which  developed  in  them 
qualities  which  had  otherwise  atrophied. 

Certainly  the  more  circumscribed  lives  of  the 
Restoration  ladies  show  a  marked  contrast  in 
this  respect,  for  they  appear  but  shadows  of  the 
vigorous  personalities  of  their  grandmothers.  Prom- 
inent amongst  the  many  influences  which  conspired 
together  to  produce  so  rapid  a  decline  in  the  physique, 
efficiency  and  morale  of  upper  class  women,  must  be 
reckoned  the  spread  of  the  capitalistic  organisation  of 
industry,  which  by  the  rapid  growth  of  wealth  made 
possible  the  idleness  of  growing  numbers  of  women. 
Simultaneously  the  gradual  perfecting  by  men  of  their 
separate  organisations  for  trade  purposes  rendered  them 
independent  of  the  services  of  their  wives  and  families 
for  the  prosecution  of  their  undertakings.  Though  the 
stern  hand  of  economic  necessity  was  thus  withdrawn 
from  the  control  of  women's  development  in  the 
upper  classes,  it  was  still  potent  in  determining  their 
destiny  amongst  the  "  common  people,"  whose  cir- 
cumstances will  be  examined  in  detail  in  the  following 
chapters. 


CHAPTER  III 
AGRICULTURE 

Agriculture  England's  leading  Industry — Has  provided  the  most  vigorous  itock   of 
English  race — Division  into  three  classes : — 

(A)  Farmers.     Portraits   of   Farmers'    Wives — Fitzherbert's   "  Prologue   for 
the  Wyves  Occupacyon."     Size  of  household — The  Wife  who  "doth  not  take 
the  pains  and  charge  upon  her."     Financial  aptitude — Market — Occupation 
of  gentlewomen  with  Dairy  and  Poultry — Expectation   of   the    wife's    ability 
to  work  and  do  service. 

(B)  Husbandmen.     Economy    of    their    Small    Holding — The    more    they 
worked  for  wages  the  greater  their  poverty — Strenuous  but  healthy  life  of  the 
women — Extent  to  which  they  worked  for  wages — Character  of  work — Best's 
account    of    Yorkshire    Farms — other    descriptions.      Spinning — The     wife'* 
industry  no  less  constant  when  not  working  for  wages,  but  more  profitable  to 
her  family,  whom  she  clothed  and  fed  by  domestic  industry. 

(C)  Wage-earners.     Maximum  rates  of  wages  fixed  at    Assizes    represent 
generally  those  actually  paid.      Common  labourers'  wage,  winter  and  summer 
— Women's  wages  seasonal — Not  expected  when  married  to  work  week  in,  week 
out.     Cost  of  living — Cost  of  labourers'  diet — Pensions  and  Allowances — Poor 
Relief — Cost  of  clothes  and  rent — Joint  wages  of  father  and  mother  insufficient 
to  rear  three  children — Recognised  insolvency  of  Labourers'  Family — Disputes 
concerning    labourers'    settlements.     Farmers'    need    for     more     labourers — 
Demoralisation — Demand  for  sureties  by  the  Parish.      Infant  mortality — Life 
history    of    labourers'    wife — Explanation  for    magistrates'    action    in    fixing 
maximum  wages  below  subsistence  level — Proportion   of   wage-earning  fam- 
ilies. 

ALTHOUGH  the  woollen  trade  loomed  very  large 
upon  the  political  horizon  because  it  was  a  chief 
source  of  revenue  to  the  Crown  and  because  rapidly 
acquired  wealth  gave  an  influence  to  clothiers  and 
wool  merchants  out  of  proportion  to  their  numbers, 
agriculture  was  still  England's  chief  industry  in 
the  seventeenth  century. 

The  town  population  has  had  a  tendency  to  wear  out 
and  must  be  recruited  from  rural  districts.  The 
village  communities  which  still  persisted  at  this  period 
in  England,  provided  a  vigorous  stock,  from  which  the 
men  whose  initiative,  energy  and  courage  have  made 
England  famous  during  the  last  two  centuries  were 
largely  descended.  Not  only  were  the  farming  fam- 


AGRICULTURE  43 

ilies  prolific  in  numbers  but  they  maintained  a  high 
standard  of  mental  and  moral  virtue.  It  must  be 
supposed  therefore  that  the  conditions  in  which  they 
lived  were  upon  the  whole  favourable  to  the  devel- 
opment of  their  women-folk,  but  investigation  will 
show  that  this  was  not  the  case  for  all  members  alike  of 
the  agricultural  community,  who  may  be  roughly 
divided  into  three  classes  : 
(a)  Farmers,  (b)  Husbandmen,  (c)  Wage-earners. 

(a)  Farmers  held  sufficient  land  for  the  complete 
maintenance  of  the  family.     Their  household   often 
included  hired  servants   and   their   methods   on   the 
larger  farms  were  becoming  capitalistic. 

(b)  Husbandmen  were  possessed  of  holdings  insuffi- 
cient for  the  complete  maintenance  of  the  family  and 
their  income  was  therefore  supplemented  by  working 
for  wages. 

(c)  Wage-earners  had  no  land,  not  even  a  garden, 
and  depended  therefore  completely  on  wages  for  the 
maintenance  of  their  families. 

In  addition  to  the  above,  for  whom  agriculture  was 
their  chief  business,  the  families  of  the  gentry,  profes- 
sional men  and  tradesmen  who  lived  in  the  country 
and  smaller  towns,  generally  grew  sufficient  dairy  and 
garden  produce  for  domestic  consumption. 

The  above  classification  is  arbitrary,  for  no  hard 
and  fast  division  existed.  Farmers  merged  imper- 
ceptibly into  husbandmen,  and  husbandmen  into 
wage  earners  and  yet  there  was  a  wide  gulf  separating 
their  positions.  As  will  be  shown,  it  was  the  women 
of  the  first  two  classes  who  bore  and  reared  the  chil- 
dren who  were  destined  to  be  the  makers  of  England, 
while  few  children  of  the  wage-earning  class  reached 
maturity. 
A.  Farmers. 

However  important  the  women  who  were  the  mothers 
of  the  race  may  appear  to  modern  eyes,  their  history 
was  unnoticed  by  their  contemporaries  and  no  analysis 


44  AGRICULTURE 

was  made  of  their  development.  The  existence  of 
vigorous,  able  matrons  was  accepted  as  a  matter  of 
course.  They  embodied  the  seventeenth  century 
idea  of  the  "  eternal  feminine  "  and  no  one  suspected 
that  they  might  change  with  a  changing  environment. 
They  themselves  were  too  busy,  too  much  absorbed 
in  the  lives  of  others,  to  keep  journals  and  they  were 
not  sufficiently  important  to  have  their  memoirs 
written  by  other  people. 

Perhaps  their  most  authentic  portraits  may  be 
found  in  the  writings  of  the  Quakers,  who  were  largely 
drawn  from  this  class  of  the  community.  They 
depict  women  with  an  exalted  devotion,  supporting 
their  families  and  strengthening  their  husbands 
through  the  storms  of  persecution  and  amidst 
the  exacting  claims  of  religion. 

John  Banks  wrote  from  Carlisle  Prison  in  1648 
to  his  wife,  "  No  greater  Joy  and  Comfort  I  have  in. 
this  world  .  .  .  than  to  know  that  thou  and  all 
thine  are  well  both  in  Body  and  Mind  .  . 
though  I  could  be  glad  to  see  thee  here,  but  do  not 
straiten  thyself  in  any  wise,  for  I  am  truly  content  to 
bear  it,  if  it  were  much  more,  considering  thy  Concerns 
in  this  Season  of  the  Year,  being  Harvest  time  and  the 
Journey  so  long."1  After  her  death  he  writes,  "  We 
Lived  Comfortably  together  many  Years,  and  she  was 
a  Careful  Industrious  Woman  in  bringing  up  of  her 
Children  in  good  order,  as  did  become  the  Truth,  in 
Speech,  Behaviour  and  Habit ;  a  Meet-Help  and  a 
good  Support  to  me,  upon  the  account  of  my  Travels, 
always  ready  and  willing  to  fit  me  with  Necessaries, 
.  .  .  and  was  never  known  to  murmur,  tho'  I  was 
often  Concerned,  to  leave  her  with  a  weak  Family, 
.  .  .  She  was  well  beloved  amongst  good  Friends  and 
of  her  Neighbours,  as  witness  the  several  hundreds  that 
were  at  her  Burial.  .  .  .  our  Separation  by  Death, 

1  Banks  (John),  Journal,  p.  101,  1684. 


AGRICULTURE  45 

was  the  greatest  Trial  that  ever  I  met  with,  above  any- 
thing here  below.  Now  if  any  shall  ask,  Why  I  have 
writ  so  many  Letters  at  large  to  be  Printed  .  .  . 
how  can  any  think  that  I  should  do  less  than  I  have 
done,  to  use  all  Endeavours  what  in  me  lay,  to  Streng- 
then and  Encourage  my  Dear  Wife,  whom  I  so  often, 
and  for  so  many  Years  was  made  to  leave  as  aforesaid, 
having  pretty  much  concerns  to  look  after."1 

Of  another  Quaker,  Mary  Batt,  her  father  writes  in 
her  testimony  that  she  was  "  Married  to  Phillip 
Tyler  of  Waldon  in  the  County  of  Somerset  before  she 
attained  the  age  of  twenty  years.  .  .  .  The  Lord 
blessed  her  with  Four  Children,  whereof  two  dyed 
in  their  Infancy,  and  two  yet  remain  alive  :  at  the 
Burial  of  her  Husband,  for  being  present,  she  had  two 
Cows  valued  at  Nine  Pounds  taken  from  her,  which, 
with  many  other  Tryals  during  her  Widowhood,  she 
bore  with  much  Patience,  .  .  .  After  she  had 
remained  a  Widow  about  four  Years,  the  Lord  drew 
the  affection  of  James  Taylor  ...  to  seek  her 
to  be  his  Wife,  and  there  being  an  answer  in  her,  the 
Lord  joyned  them  together.  To  her  Husband  her 
Love  and  Subjection  was  suitable  to  that  Relation, 
being  greatly  delighted  in  his  Company,  and  a  Meet- 
Help,  a  faithful  Yoak-fellow,  .  .  .  and  in  his 
Absence,  not  only  carefully  discharging  the  duty  as 
her  Place  as  a  Wife,  but  diligent  to  supply  his  Place 
in  those  affairs  that  more  immediately  concerned 
him."2  And  her  husband  adds  in  his  testimony,  "  My 
outward  Affairs  falling  all  under  her  charge  (I, 
being  absent,  a  Prisoner  for  my  Testimony  against 
Tythes)  she  did  manage  the  same  in  such  care  and 
patience  until  the  time  she  was  grown  big  with  Child, 
and  as  she  thought  near  the  time  of  her  Travail  (a 
condition  much  to  be  born  with  and  pittyed)  she  then 
desired  so  much  Liberty  as  to  have  my  Company  home 

1  Banks,  (John),  Journal,  pp.   129-30. 

2  Batt  (Mary),  Testimony  of  the  Life  and  Death  of,  pp.  1-3,  1683. 


46  AGRICULTURE 

two  Weeks,  and  went  herself  to  request  it,  which 
small  matter  she  could  not  obtain,  but  was  denyed  ; 
and  as  I  understood  by  her,  it  might  be  one  of  the 
greatest  occasions  of  her  grief  which  ever  happened 
unto  her,  yet  in  much  Meekness  and  true  Patience 
she  stooped  down,  and  quietly  took  up  this  her  last 
Cross  also,  and  is  gone  with  it  and  all  the  rest,  out  of  the 
reach  of  all  her  Enemies,  .  .  .  Three  Nights  and 
Two  Days  before  her  Death,  I  was  admitted  to  come 
to  her,  though  I  may  say  (with  grief)  too  late,  yet  it 
was  to  her  great  joy  to  see  me  once  more  whom  she 
so  dearly  loved  ;  and  would  not  willingly  suffer  me 
any  more  to  depart  out  of  her  sight  until  she  had 
finished  her  days,  .  .  .  Her  Sufferings  (in  the 
condition  she  was  in)  although  I  was  a  Prisoner,  were 
far  greater  then  mine,  for  the  whole  time  that  she 
became  my  Wife,  which  was  some  Weeks  above  Three, 
Years,  notwithstanding  there  was  never  yet  man, 
woman,  nor  child,  could  justly  say,  she  had  given  them 
any  offence  .  .  .  yet  must  .  .  .  unreasonable  men 
cleanse  our  Fields  of  Cattle,  rummage  our  House  of 
Goods,  and  make  such  havock  as  that  my  Dear  Wife 
had  not  wherewithal  to  dress  or  set  Food  before  me 
and  her  Children.1 

The  duties  of  a  Farmer's  wife  were  described  a 
hundred  years  earlier  by  Fitzherbert  in  the  "  Boke  of 
Husbandrie."  He  begins  the  "  Prologue  for  the 
wyves  occupacyon,"  thus,  "  Now  thou  husbande  that 
hast  done  thy  diligence  and  laboure  that  longeth  to  a 
husband  to  get  thy  liuing,  thy  wyues,  thy  children, 
and  thy  seruauntes,  yet  is  there  other  thynges  to  be 
doen  that  nedes  must  be  done,  or  els  thou  shalt  not 
thryue.  For  there  is  an  olde  common  saying,  that 
seldom  doth  ye  husbande  thriue  without  leue  of  his 
wyf .  By  thys  saying  it  shuld  seem  that  ther  be  other 
occupaci6s  and  labours  that  be  most  cQvenient 

1  Batt  (Mary),  Testimony  to  Life  and  Death  of,  pp.  5-7,  1683. 


AGRICULTURE  47 

for  the  wyfes  to  do,  and  how  be  it  that  I  haue  not  the 
experience  of  all  their  occupacyions  and  workes  as  I 
haue  of  husbandry,  yet  a  lytel  wil  I  speake  what  they 
ought  to  do  though  I  tel  the  not  how  they  should 
do  and  excersyse  their  labour  and  occupacions. 

A  lesson  for  the  wyfe  .  .  .  alway  be  doyng 
of  some  good  workes  that  the  deuil  may  fynde  the 
alway  occupied,  for  as  in  a  standyng  water  are  en- 
gendred  wormes,  right  so  in  an  idel  body  are  engendered 
ydel  thoughtes.  Here  maie  thou  see  yt  of  idelnes 
commeth  damnatio,  &  of  good  workes  and  labour 
commeth  saluacion.  Now  thou  art  at  thy  libertie  to 
chose  whither  waye  thou  wilte,  wherein  is  great 
diversite.  And  he  is  an  unhappye  man  or  woman  that 
god  hath  given  both  wit  &  reason  and  putteth  him  in 
choise  &  he  to  chose  the  worst  part.  Nowe  thou 
wife  I  trust  to  shewe  unto  the  diuers  occupacions, 
workes  and  labours  that  thou  shalt  not  nede  to  be 
ydel  no  tyme  of  ye  yere.  What  thinges  the  wife  is 
bounde  of  right  to  do.  Firste  and  principally  the  wyf  e 
is  bound  of  right  to  loue  her  husband  aboue  father 
and  mother  and  al  other  men  .  .  . 

What  workes  a  wyfe  should  do  in  generall.  First 
in  the  mornyng  when  thou  art  waked  and  purpose 
to  rise,  lift  up  thy  had  &  blis  the  &  make  a  signe  of 
the  holy  crosse  .  .  .  and  remembre  thy  maker 
and  thou  shake  spede  muche  the  better,  &  when  thou 
art  up  and  readye,  then  firste  swepe  thy  house ; 
dresse  up  thy  dyscheborde,  &  set  al  thynges  in  good 
order  within  thy  house,  milke  ye  kie,  socle  thy  calues, 
sile  up  thy  milke,  take  up  thy  children  &  aray  the, 
&  provide  for  thy  husbandes  breakefaste,  diner, 
souper,  &  for  thy  children  &  seruauntes,  &  take  thy 
parte  wyth  them.  And  to  ordeyne  corne  &  malt  to 
the  myll,  to  bake  and  brue  withall  whe  nede  is. 
And  mete  it  to  the  myll  and  fro  the  myll,  &  se  that 
thou  haue  thy  mesure  agayne  besides  the  tole  or  elles 
the  mylner  dealeth  not  truly  wyth  the,  or  els  thy  corne 


48  AGRICULTURE 

is  not  drye  as  it  should  be,  thou  must  make  butter  and 
chese  when  thou  may,  serue  thy  swine  both  mornyng 
and  eueninge,  and  giue  thy  polen  meate  in  the  morn- 
ynge,  and  when  tyme  of  yeare  cometh  thou  must  take 
hede  how  thy  henne,  duckes,  and  geese  do  ley,  and  to 
gather  up  their  egges  and  when  they  waxe  broudy  to  set 
them  there  as  no  beastes,  swyne,  nor  other  vermyne 
hurte  them,  and  thou  must  know  that  all  hole  foted 
foule  wil  syt  a  moneth  and  al  clouen  foted  foule  wyl 
syt  but  three  wekes  except  a  peyhen  and  suche  other 
great  foules  as  craynes,  bustardes,  and  suche  other. 
And  when  they  haue  brought  forth  theyr  birdes 
to  se  that  they  be  well  kepte  from  the  gleyd,  crowes, 
fully  martes  and  other  vermyn,  and  in  the  begynyng 
of  March,  of  a  lytle  before  is  time  for  a  wife  to  make 
her  garden  and  to  get  as  manye  good  sedes  and  herbes 
as  she  can,  and  specyally  such  as  be  good  for  the  pot 
and  for  to  eate  &  as  of te  as  nede  shall  require  it  muste 
be  weded,  for  els  the  wede  wyll  ouer  grow  the  herbes, 
and  also  in  Marche  is  time  to  sowe  flaxe  and  hempe, 
for  I  haue  heard  olde  huswyues  say,  that  better  is 
Marche  hurdes  then  Apryll  flaxe,  the  reason  appereth, 
but  howe  it  shoulde  be  sowen,  weded,  pulled,  repealed, 
watred,  washen,  dried,  beten,  braked,  tawed,  hecheled, 
spon,  wounden,  wrapped,  &  ouen.  It  nedeth  not  for 
me  to  shewe  for  they  be  wyse  ynough,  and  thereof  may 
they  make  shetes,  bord  clothes,  towels,  shertes,  smockes, 
and  suche  other  necessaryes,  and  therfore  lette  thy 
dystaffe  be  alwaye  redy  for  a  pastyme,  that  thou  be 
not  ydell.  And  undoubted  a  woman  cannot  get  her 
livinge  honestly  with  spinning  on  the  dystaffe,  but 
it  stoppeth  a  gap  and  must  nedes  be  had.  The 
bolles  of  flaxe  whan  they  be  rypled  of,  muste  be  rediled 
from  the  wedes  and  made  dry  with  the  sunne  to 
get  out  the  seedes.  How  be  it  one  maner  of 
linsede  called  lokensede  wyll  not  open  by  the  sunne, 
and  therefore  when  they  be  drye  they  must  be  sore 
bruien  and  broken  the  wyves  know  how,  &  then 


AGRICULTURE  49 

wynowed   and  kept   dry   til  peretime    cum    againe. 
Thy  femell  hempe  must   be  pulled  fro  the  chucle 
hepe  for  this  beareth  no  sede  &  thou  muste  doe  by  it 
as  thou  didest  by  the  flaxe.     The  chucle  hempe  doth 
beare  seed  &  thou  must  beware  that  birdes  eate  it  not 
as  it  groweth,  the  hempe  thereof  is  not  so  good  as 
the  femel  hepe,  but  yet  it  wil  do  good  seruice.     It 
may  fortune  sometime  y*  thou  shake   haue  so  many 
thinges  to  do  that  thou  shalte  not  wel  know  where  is 
best  to  begyn.     The  take  hede  whiche  thinge  should 
be  the  greatest  losse  if  it  were  not  done  &  in  what  space 
it  would  be  done,  and  then  thinke  what  is  the  greatest 
loss  &  there  begin.     ...     It   is    covenient   for    a 
husbande  to  haue  shepe  of  his  owne  for  many  causes, 
and  then  may  his  wife  have  part  of  the  wooll  to  make 
her  husbande  and  her  selfe  sum  clothes.     And  at  the 
least  waye  she  may  haue  ye  lockes  of  the  shepe  therwith 
to  make  clothes  or  blankets,  and  couerlets,  or  both. 
And  if  she  haue  no  wol  of  her  owne  she  maye  take  woll 
to  spynne  of  cloth  makers,  and  by  that  meanes  she 
may  have  a  conuenient  liuing,  and  many  tymes  to  do 
other  workes.     It  is    a  wiues  occupacion  to  winow  al 
maner  of  comes,  to  make  malte  wash  and  wring,  to 
make  hey,  to  shere  corne,  and  in  time  of  nede  to  helpe 
her  husbande  to  fyll  the  mucke  wayne  or  donge  carte, 
dryve  the  plough,  to  lode  hey,   corne  &  such  other. 
Also  to  go  or  ride  to  the  market  to  sell  butter,  chese, 
mylke,  egges,  chekens,  kapons,  hennes,  pygges,  gees, 
and  al  maner  of  corne.      And  also  to  bye  al  maner~of 
necessary  thinges   belonging  to   a  houshold,   and   to 
make  a   true  rekening  &  accompt   to   her    husband 
what  she  hath  receyued  and  what  she   hathe  payed. 
And  yf  the  husband  go  to  the  market  to  bye  or  sell 
as  they  ofte  do,  he  then  to  shew  his  wife  in  lyke  maner. 
For  if  one  of  them  should  use  to  disceiue  the  other, 
he  disceyveth  him  selfe,  and  he  is  not  lyke  to  thryve, 
&  therfore  they  must  be  true  ether  to  other.1 

1  Fitzherbert  (Sir    Anth.),   Boke  of  Husbandrye. 


50  AGRICULTURE 

Fitzherbert's  description  of  the  wife's  occupation 
probably  remained  true  in  many  districts  during  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  dairy,  poultry,  garden 
and  orchard  were  then  regarded  as  peculiarly  the 
domain  of  the  mistress,  but  upon  the  larger  farms  she 
did  not  herself  undertake  the  household  drudgery. 
Her  duty  was  to  organise  and  train  her  servants,  both 
men  and  women. 

The  wages  assessments  of  the  period  give  some  idea 
of  the  size  of  farmers'  households,  fixing  wages  for  the 
woman  servant  taking  charge  of  maulting  in  great 
farms,-  every  other  maulster,  the  best  mayde  servant 
that  can  brewe,  bake  and  dresse  meate,  the  second 
mayd  servant,  the  youngest  mayd  servant,  a  woman 
being  skilful  in  ordering  a  house,  dayry  mayd,  laundry 
mayd,  and  also  for  the  men-servants  living  in  the 
house,  the  bailiff  of  husbandry,  the  chief  hinde,  and 
the  common  man  servant,  the  shepherd,  and  the 
carter. 

That  some  women  already  aspired  to  a  life  of  leisure 
is  shown  in  an  assessment  for  the  East  Riding  of 
Yorkshire,  which  provides  a  special  rate  of  wages  for 
the  woman  servant  "  that  taketh  charge  of  brewing, 
baking,  kitching,  milk  house  or  malting,  that  is 
hired  with  a  gentleman  or  rich  yeoman,  whose  wife 
doth  not  take  the  pains  and  charge  upon  her. "] 

In  addition  to  the  management  of  the  dairy,  etc., 
the  farmer's  wife  often  undertook  the  financial  side 
of  the  business.  Thus  Josselin  notes  in  his  Diary  : 
"  This  day  was  good  wife  Day  with  mee  ;  I  perceive 
she  is  resolved  to  give  mee  my  price  for  my  farme  of 
Mallories,  and  I  intend  to  lett  it  goe."  A  few  days 
later  he  enters  "  This  day  I  surrendered  Mallories 
and  the  appurtenances  to  Day  of  Halsted  and  his 
daughter."2 

1  Rogers  (J.  E.  Thorold),  Hist.  Agric.  and  Prices,  Vol.  VI.,  pp.  686-9,  assess,  for 
Yorki,  East  Riding,  Ap.  26,  1593. 
1  Josselin  (R),  Diary,  p.  86,  April  gth,  and  3oth,  1650. 


AGRICULTURE  51 

The  farmer's  wife  attended  market  with  great 
regularity,  where  she  became  thoroughly  expert  in  the 
art  of  buying  and  selling.  The  journey  to  market 
often  involved  a  long  ride  on  horseback,  not  always 
free  from  adventure  as  is  shown  by  information  given 
to  the  Justices  by  Maud,  wife  of  Thomas  Collar  of 
Woolavington,  who  stated  that  as  she  was  returning 
home  by  herself  from  Bridgwater  market  on  or  about 
7th  July,  Adrian  Towes  of  Marke,  overtook  her  and 
calling  her  ugly  toad  demanded  her  name  ;  he  then 
knocked  her  down  and  demanded  her  purse,  to  which, 
hiding  her  purse,  she  replied  that  she  had  bestowed 
all  her  money  in  the  market.  He  then  said,  '  I  think 
you  are  a  Quaker/  &  she  denied  it,  he  compelled  her 
to  kneel  down  on  her  bare  knees  and  swear  by 
the  Lord's  blood  that  she  was  not,  which  to  save  her 
life  she  did.  Another  woman  then  came  up  and 
rebuked  the  said  Towes,  whereupon  he  struck  her  down 
'  atwhart '  her  saddle  into  one  of  her  panniers.1 

Market  was  doubtless  the  occasion  of  much  gossip, 
but  it  may  also  have  been  the  opportunity  for  a  wide 
interchange  of  views  and  opinions  on  subjects  impor- 
tant to  the  well-being  of  the  community.  While 
market  was  frequented  by  all  the  women  of  the 
neighbourhood  it  must  certainly  have  favoured 
the  formation  of  a  feminine  public  opinion  on  current 
events,  which  prevented  individual  women  from 
relying  exclusively  upon  their  husbands  for  infor- 
mation and  advice. 

The  names  of  married  women  constantly  appear  in 
money  transactions,  their  receipt  being  valid  for 
debts  due  to  their  husbands.  Thus  Sarah  Fell  enters 
in  her  Household  Book,  "  Pd.  Bridget  Pindr  in  full 
of  her  Husband's  bills  as  appeares  £3.  iys.  6d."2  by  m° 
pd  Anthony  Towers  wife  in  p*  for  manner  wee  are  to 
* 

1  Somerset  Quarter  Sessions  Records,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  370-1,1659. 
1  Fell  (Sarah)  Household  Accounts,  p,  317,  1676. 


52  AGRICULTURE 

have  of  her  i.oo1  to  m°  Recd.  of   Myles  Gouth  wife 
for  ploughing  for  her  1.04  "2 

Arithmetic  was  not  considered  a  necessary  item 
in  the  education  of  girls,  though  as  the  following 
incident  shows,  women  habitually  acted  in  financial 
matters. 

Samuel  Bownas  had  been  sent  to  gaol  ior  tithe,  but 
the  Parson  could  not  rest  and  let  him  out,  when  he 
went  to  Bristol  on  business  and  spent  two  weeks 
visiting  meetings  in  Wiltshire.  After  his  return,  while 
away  from  home  a  distant  relation  called  and 
asked  his  wife  to  lend  him  ten  pounds  as  he  was 
going  to  a  fair.  She  not  thinking  of  tithe  which  was 
much  more,  lent  it  and  he  gave  her  a  note,  which 
action  was  approved  by  her  husband  on  his  return  ; 
but  the  relation  returned  again  in  Samuel  Bownas's 
absence  to  repay,  and  tore  the  note  as  soon  as  he  re- 
ceived it,  giving  her  a  quittance  for  the  tithe  instead. 
She  was  indignant,  saying  it  would  destroy  her 
husband's  confidence  in  her.  The  relation  assured  her 
that  he  would  declare  her  innocence,  but  he  could 
not  have  persuaded  her  husband,  for  "he  would 
have  started  so  many  questions  that  I  could  not  possibly 
have  affected  it  any  other  way  than  by  ploughing 
with  his  heifer."3 

Women's  names  frequently  occur  in  presentments 
at  Quarter  Sessions  for  infringements  of  bye  laws. 
The  Salford  Portmote  "p'  sent  Isabell  the  wyef  of 
Edmunde  Howorthe  for  that  she  kept  her  swyne 
unlawfull,  and  did  trespas  to  the  corn  of  the  said 
Raphe  Byrom."4 

Katharine  Davie  was  presented  "  for  not  paving 
before  her  doore."  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Parkhurst  for 

1  Fell  (Sarah),  Household  Accounts,  p.  339,  1676. 

'Ibid,  p.  386,  1677. 

8  Bownas  (Samuel),  Life,  pp.  116-17. 

4  Salford  Portmote  Records,  Vol.  I,  p.  3,  1597. 


AGRICULTURE  ,    53 

"  layinge  a  dunghill  anenst  her  barne  and  not  makinge 
the  street  cleane."  Isabell  Dawson  and  Edmund 
Cowper  for  the  like  and  Mrs.  Byrom  and  some  men 
"  for  letting  swyne  go  unringed  and  trespassinge  into 
his  neighbors  corne  &  rescowinge  them  when  they 
havebeene  sent  to  the  fould."]  "  Charles  Gregorie's 
wife  complained  that  shee  is  distrained  for  35.  for  an 
amerciament  for  hoggs  goeing  in  the  Streete  where- 
upon, upon  her  tendring  of  35.  xijd  is  restored 
with  her  flaggon."2  The  owner  of  the  pig  appears 
very  often  to  be  a  married  woman.  At  Carlisle  in 
1619  :  ,'  We  amarye  the  wief  of  John  Barwicke  for 
keping  of  swine  troughes  in  the  hye  streyt  contrary 
the  paine  and  therefore  in  amercyment  according  to 
the  orders  of  this  cyttie,  xiid."3 

Such  women  may  often  not  have  been  farmers 
in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  but  merely  kept 
a  few  pigs  to  supplement  the  family  income.  Even  the 
gentry  were  not  too  proud  to  sell  farm  and  garden 
produce  not  needed  for  family  consumption,  and  are 
alluded  to  as  "  .  .  .  our  Country  Squires,  who 
sell  Calves  and  Runts,  and  their  Wives  perhaps  Cheese 
and  Apples."4 

Many  gentlewomen  were  proficient  in  dairy  manage- 
ment. Richard  Braithwaite  writes  of  his  wife  : 

"  Oft  have  I  seen  her  from  her  Dayrey  come 
Attended  by  her  maids,  and  hasting  home 
To  entertain  some  Guests  of  Quality 
Shee  would  assume  a  state  so  modestly 
Sance  affectation,  as  she  struck  the  eye 
With  admiration  of  the  stander-by." 

The  whole  management  of  the  milch  cows  belonged 
to  the  wife,  not  only  among  farming  people  but  also 

1  Salford  Portmote  Records,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  6-7,  1633. 

2  Guilding.  Reading  Records,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  512,  1653. 

3  Ferguson,  Municipal  Records  of  Carlisle,  p.  278. 

4  Howe'.l,  Familiar  Letters,  p.  290,  1644. 


54  AGRICULTURE 

among  the  gentry.  The  proceeds  were  regarded  as 
her  pin-money,  and  her  husband  generally  handed  over 
to  her  all  receipts  on  this  account,  Sir  John  Foulis 
for  example  entering  in  his  account  book  :  "  June  30 
1693.  To  my  wife  ye  pryce  of  ye  gaird  kowes 
Hyde,  £4  o  o."1 

Sometimes  when  the  husband  devoted  himself  to 
good  fellowship,  the  farm  depended  almost  entirely 
on  his  wife  ;  this  was  the  case  with  Adam  Eyre,  a 
retired  Captain,  who  enters  in  his  Dyurnall, 
Feb.  10,  1647,  "  This  morning  Godfrey  Bright 
bought  my  horse  of  my  wife,  and  gave  her  .£5,  and 
promised  to  give  her  zos.  more,  which  I  had  all  but 
2Os.  and  sheeis  to  take  in  the  corne  sale  ,£4."  May  18, 
1647,  "  I  came  home  with  Raph  Wordsworth  of  the 
Water  hall  who  came  to  buy  a  bull  on  my  wife,  who 
was  gone  into  Holmefrith."2 

The  business  capacity  of  married  women  was  even 
more  valuable  in  families  where  the  father  wished  to 
devote  his  talents  to  science,  politics,  or  religion,  unen- 
cumbered by  anxiety  for  his  children's  maintenance. 
It  is  said  in  Peter  Heylin's  Life  that  "  Being  deprived 
of  Ecclesiastical  preferments,  he  must  think  of  some 
honest  way  for  a  livelihood.  Yet  notwithstanding  he 
followed  his  studies,  in  which  was  his  chief  delight.  .  . 
.  .  In  which  pleasing  study  while  he  spent  his  time,  his 
good  wife,  a  discreet  and  active  lady,  looked  both  after 
her  Housewifery  within  doors,  and  the  Husbandry 
without ;  thereby  freeing  him  from  that  care  and 
trouble,  which  otherwise  would  have  hindered  his 
laborious  Pen  from  going  through  so  great  a  work  in 
that  short  time.  Aid  yet  he  had  several  divertise- 
ments  by  company,  which  continually  resorted  to  his 
house  ;  for  having  (God  be  thanked)  his  temporal 
Estate  cleared  from  Sequestration,  by  his  Composition 

1  Foulis  (Sir  John,  of  Ravelston),  Acct.  Bk,  p.  158. 

2  Eyre,  (Capt.  Adam),  A  Dyurttall,  p.  16,  p.  36. 


AGRICULTURE  55 

with  the  Commissioners  at  Goldsmith's  Hall,  and  this 
Estate  which  he  Farmed  besides,  he  was  able  to  keep  a 
good  House,  and  relieve  his  poor  brethren."1 

Gregory  King's  father  was  a  student  of  mathematics, 
"  and  practised  surveying  of  land,  and  dyalling,  as  a 
profession  ;  but  with  more  attention  to  good-fellow- 
ship, than  mathematical  studies  generally  allow  :  and, 
the  care  of  the  family  devolved  of  course  on  the 
mother,  who,  if  she  had  been  less  obscure,  had  emulated 
the  most  eminent  of  the  Roman  matrons."2 

Adam  Martindale's  wife  was  equally  successful.  He 
writes  "  about  Michaelmas,  1662,  I  removed  my  family 
from  the  Vicarage  to  a  little  house  at  Camp-greene, 
.  .  .  where  we  dwelt  above  three  years  and  half  .  .  . 
I  was  three  score  pounds  in  debt,  .  .  .  but  (God 
be  praised)  while  I  staid  there  I  paid  off  all  that  debt 
and  bestowed  .£40  upon  mareling  part  of  my  ground  in 
Tatton.  ...  If  any  aske  how  this  could  be 
without  a  Miracle,  he  may  thus  be  satisfied.  I  had 
sent  me  .  .  .  £41  .  .  .  and  the  £10  my  wife 
wrangled  out  of  my  successor,  together  with  a  table, 
formes  and  ceiling,  sold  him  for  about  .£4  more."3 
Later  on  he  adds  "  My  family  rinding  themselves 
straitened  for  roome,  and  my  wife  being  willing  to 
keep  a  little  stock  of  kine,  as  she  had  done  formerly, 
and  some  inconvenience  falling  out  (as  is  usual)  by 
two  families  under  a  roofe,  removed  to  a  new  house 
not  completely  furnished."4 

That  in  the  agricultural  community  women  were 
generally  supposed  to  be,  from  a  business  point  of 
view,  a  help  and  not  a  hindrance  to  their  husbands — 
that  in  fact  the  wife  was  not  "  kept  "  by  him  but  helped 
him  to  support  the  family  is  shown  by  terms  proposed 

1  Heylin,  (Peter),  pp.  18-19. 

2  King  (Gregory),  Natural  and  Political  Observations,  etc. 

3  Martindale,  (Adam,)  Life,  p.  172. 
.    *  Ibid,  p.  190. 


56  AGRICULTURE 

for  colonists  in  Virginia  by  the  Merchant  Taylors  who 
offer  "  one  hundred  acres  for  every  man's  person  that 
hath  a  trade,  or  a  body  able  to  endure  day  labour  as 
much  for  his  wief ,  as  much  for  his  child,  that  are  of 
yeres  to  doe  service  to  the  Colony."1 
B.  Husbandmen. 

Husbandmen  were  probably  the  most  numerous 
class  in  the  village  community.  Possessed  of  a  small 
holding  at  a  fixed  customary  rent  and  with  rights  of 
grazing  on  the  common,  they  could  maintain  a  position 
of  independence. 

5  Statute  31  Eliz.,  forbidding  the  erection  of  cottages 
without  four  acres  of  land  attached,  was  framed  with 
the  intention  of  protecting  the  husbandman  against 
the  encroachments  of  capitalists,  for  a  family  which 
could  grow  its  own  supply  of  food  on  four  acres  of 
land  would  be  largely  independent  of  the  farmer,  as  the 
father  could  earn  the  money  for  the  rent,  etc.,  by 
working  only  at  harvest  when  wages  were  highest.  As 
however  this  seasonal  labour  was  not  sufficient  for  the 
farmers'  demands,  such  independence  was  not  wholly 
to  their  mind,  and  they  complained  of  the  idleness 
of  husbandmen  who  would  not  work  for  the  wages 
offered.  Thus  it  was  said  that  "  In  all  or  most  towns, 
where  the  fields  lie  open  there  is  a  new  brood  of 
upstart  intruders  or  inmates  .  .  .  loiterers  who  will 
not  work  unless  they  may  have  such  excessive  wages 
as  they  themselves  desire."2  "  There  is  with  us  now 
rather  a  scarcity  than  a  superfluity  of  servants,  their 
wages  being  advanced  to  such  an  extraordinary  height, 
that  they  are  likely  ere  long  to  be  masters  and  their 
masters  servants,  many-  poor  husbandmen  being  forced 
to  pay  near  as  much  to  their  servants  for  wages  as  to 
their  landlords  for  rent."3 

1  Clode,  (C.M.)  Merchant  Taylors,  Vol.  I.,  p.  323. 

2  Pseudonismus,  Considerations  concerning  Common  Fields  and  Enclosures,  1654. 

3  Pseudonismus,  A  Vindication  of  the  Considerations  concerning  Common  Fields 
and  Enclosures,  1656. 


AGRICULTURE  57 

The  holdings  of  the  husbandmen  varied  fom  seven 
acres  or  more  to  half  an  acre  or  even  less  of  garden 
ground,  in  which  as  potatoes1  were  not  yet  grown  in 
England  the  crop  consisted  of  wheat,  barley,  rye,  oats, 
or  peas.  Very  likely  there  was  a  patch  of  hemp  or 
flax  and  an  apple-tree  or  two,  a  cherry  tree  and  some 
elder-berries  in  the  hedge,  with  a  hive  or  two  of  bees 
in  a  warm  corner.  Common  rights  made  it  possible 
to  keep  sheep  and  pigs  and  poultry,  and  the  possession 
of  a  cow  definitely  lifted  the  family  above  the  poverty 
line. 

Dorothy  Osborne  describing  her  own  day  to  her 
lover,  gives  an  idyllic  picture  of  the  maidens  tending 
cows  on  the  common  :  "  The  heat  of  the  day  is  spent 
in  reading  or  working,  and  about  six  or  seven  o'clock 
I  walk  out  into  a  common  that  lies  hard  by  the  house, 
where  a  great  many  young  wenches  keep  sheep  and 
cows,  and  sit  in  the  shade  singing  of  ballads.  I  go  to 
them  and  compare  their  voices  and  beauties  to  some 
ancient  shepherdesses  that  I  have  read  of,  and  find  a 
vast  difference  there  ;  but  trust  me,  I  think  these  are 
as  innocent  as  those  could  be.  I  talk  to  them  and  find 
they  want  nothing  to  make  them  the  happiest  people 
in  the  world  but  the  knowledge  that  they  are  so.  Most 
commonly,  when  we  are  in  the  midst  of  our  discourse, 
one  looks  about  her,  and  spies  her  cows  going  into  the 
corn,  and  then  away  they  all  run  as  if  they  had  wings 
at  their  heels.  I,  that  am  not  so  nimble,  stay  behind, 
and  when  I  see  them  driving  home  their  cattle,  I 
think  'tis  time  for  me  to  retire  too."2 

Husbandmen  have  been  defined  as  a  class  who 
could  not  subsist  entirely  upon  their  holdings,  but 
must  to  some  extent  work  for  wages.  Their  need  for 
wages  varied  according  to  the  size  of  their  holding 
and  according  to  the  rent.  For  copy-holders  the  rent 

1  Potatoes  were  already  in  use  in  Ireland,  but  are  scarcely  referred  to  during  this 
period  by  English  writers. 

2  Osborne  (Dorothy),  Letters,  pp.  103,4.  1652-1654. 


58  AGRICULTURE 

was  usually  nominal,1  but  in  other  cases  the 
husbandman  was  often  forced  to  pay  what  was 
virtually  a  rack  rent.  Few  other  money  payments 
were  necessary  and  if  the  holding  was  large  enough 
to  produce  sufficient  food,  the  family  had  little  cause 
to  fear  want. 

Randall  Taylor  wrote  complacently  in  1689  that  in 
comparison  with  the  French  peasants,  "  Our  English 
husbandmen  are  both  better  fed  and  taught,  and  the 
poorest  people  here  have  so  much  of  brown  Bread, 
and  the  Gospel,  that  by  the  Calculations  of  our  Bills 
of  Mortality  it  appears,  that  for  so  many  years  past 
but  One  of  Four  Thousand  is  starved."5 

The  woman  of  the  husbandman  class  was  muscular 
and  well  nourished.  Probably  she  had  passed  her 
girlhood  in  service  on  a  farm,  where  hard  work,  largely 
in  the  open  air,  had  sharpened  her  appetite  for  the 
abundant  diet  which  characterised  the  English 
farmer's  housekeeping.  After  marriage,  much  of  her 
work  was  still  out  of  doors,  cultivating  her  garden  and 
tending  pigs  or  cows,  while  her  husband  did  his  day's 
work  on  neighbouring  farms.  Frugal  and  to  the  last 
degree  laborious  were  her  days,  but  food  was  still 
sufficient  and  her  strength  enabled  her  to  bear  healthy 
children  and  to  suckle  them.  It  was  exactly  this 
class  of  woman  that  the  gentry  chose  as  wet  nurses 
for  their  babies.  Their  lives  would  seem  incredibly 

1  303.  Susanna  Suffolke  a  young  ma'd  holds  a  customary  cottage,     .     .     .     and 

renteth  per  annum  zd. 
£28  Eliz.   Filoll  (widdow)  holdeth  one  customary  tenement.     Rent  per  annum 

263.  8d. 
£z  Mary  Stanes   holdeth  one  customary    cottage  (late  of  Robert    Stanes)  and 

renteth  per  annum  yd. 
£12  Margaret  Dowe  (widdow)  holdeth  one    customary  tenement  (her  eldest  son 

the  next  heir)  rent  75.  8d. 

Among  freeholders.  Johan  Mathew  (widow)  holdeth  one  free  tenement  and  one 
croft  of  land  thereto  belonging  .  .  .  containing  three  acres  and  a  half  and 
renteth  3d. 

(Stones,  Jolley.  1628.  From  a  List  of  Copyholders  in  West  &  S.  Haning- 
field,  Essex.) 

1  Taylor.  (Randall),  Discourse  of  the  Growth  of  England,  etc.,  p.  96,  1689. 


AGRICULTURE  59 

hard  to  the  modern  suburban  woman,  but  they  had 
their  reward  in  the  respect  and  love  of  their  families 
and  in  the  sense  of  duties  worthily  fulfilled. 

The  more  prosperous  husbandmen  often  added  to 
their  households  an  apprentice  child,  but  in  other  cases 
the  holdings  were  too  small  to  occupy  even  the  family's 
whole  time. 

At  harvest  in  any  case  all  the  population  of  the 
village  turned  out  to  work ;  men,  women,  and  children, 
not  only  those  belonging  to  the  class  of  husbandmen, 
but  the  tradesmen  as  well,  did  their  bit  in  a  work  so 
urgent ;  for  in  those  days  each  district  depended 
on  its  own  supply  of  corn,  there  being  scarcely  any 
means  of  transport. 

Except  during  the  harvest,  wages  were  so  low  that  a 
man  who  had  a  holding  of  his  own  was  little  tempted 
to  work  for  them,  though  he  might  undertake  some 
special  and  better-paid  occupation,  such  as  that  of  a 
shepherd.  Pepys,  describing  a  visit  to  Epsom,  writes  : 
"  We  found  a  shepherd  and  his  little  boy  reading,  far 
from  any  houses  or  sight  of  people,  the  Bible  to  him, 
I  find  he  had  been  a  servant  in  my  Cozen  Pepys's 
house  .  .  .  the  most  like  one  of  the  old  patriarchs 
that  ever  I  saw  in  my  life  ...  he  values  his  dog 
mightily,  .  .  .  about  eighteen  score  sheep  in  his 
flock,  he  hath  four  shillings  a  week  the  year  round 
for  keeping  of  them."1 

Probably  this  picturesque  shepherd  belonged  to  the 
class  of  husbandmen,  for  the  wages  paid  are  higher 
than  those  of  a  household  servant.  Four  shillings  a 
week  comes  to  £10.  8.  o  by  the  year,  whereas  a  Wilt- 
shire wages  assessment  for  1685  provided  that  a  servant 
who  was  a  chief  shepherd  looking  after  1 ,500  sheep  or 
more  was  not  to  receive  more  than  .£5  by  the  year.2 
On  the  other  hand,  four  shillings  a  week  would  not 

1  Pepys,  Vol.  IV,  p.  428.  14  July,  1667. 

2  Hist.  MSS.  Miss.  Com.  Far.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.  .p.  170. 


60  AGRICULTURE 

maintain  completely  the  shepherd,  his  boy  and  a  dog, 
not  to  speak  of  a  wife  and  other  children.  Thus, 
while  the  shepherd  tended  his  sheep,  we  may 
imagine  his  wife  and  children  were  cultivating  their 
allotment. 

The  wages  for  the  harvest  work  of  women  as  well  as 
men,  were  fixed  by  the  Quarter  Sessions.1  References 
to  their  work  may  be  found  in  account  books  and 
diaries.  Thus  Dame  Nicholson  notes :  "  Aug.  13, 
1690,  I  began  to  sher  ye  barin  croft  about  II  o'clock, 
ther  was  Gordi  Bar  and  his  wife — also  Miler's  son 
James  and  his  sister  Margit  also  a  wife  called  Nieton — 
they  sher  17  threv  and  7  chivis."2 

Best  gives  a  detailed  account  of  the  division  of  work 
between  men  and  women  on  a  Yorkshire  farm  :  "  Wee 
have  allwayes  one  man,  or  else  one  of  the  ablest  of  the 
women,  to  abide  on  the  mowe,  besides  those  that  goe 
with  the  waines.8  The  best  sort  of  men-shearers 
have  usually  8d.  a  day  and  are  to  meate  themselves  ; 
the  best  sorte  of  women  shearers  have  (most  com- 
monly) 6d.  a  day.4  It  is  usuall  in  some  places  (wheare 
the  furres  of  the  landes  are  deepe  worne  with  raines) 

*A  comparison  of  the  assessments  which  have  been  preserved,  in  the  different 
counties  shows  that  men's  earnings  varied  in  the  hay  harvest  from  : — 

4d.  and  meat  and  drink,  or  Sd.  without,  to 

8d.  „         „      „      „      „  is.  4d.    „ 
and  in  the  corn  harvest  from  : — 

5d.  and  meat  and  drink,  or  lod.  without,  to 

18.  „  j,    ^     «,^         i-          ,,       2S.          ,, 

Women's  wages  varied  in  the  hay  harvest  from  : — 

id.  and  meat  and  drink,  or  ^.d.  without,  to 

6d.  „          „       „       „       „     is.       „ 
and  in  the  corn  harvest  from  : — 

zd.  and  meat  and  drink,  or  6d.  without,  to 

"**•  n          >»       )>      >»        »      "•     :•> 

The  variations  in  these  wages  correspond  with  the  price  of  corn  in  different  part* 
of  England  and  must  not  be  regarded  as  necessarily  representing  differences  in  the 
real  value  of  wage?. 

*  Society  of  Antiquarians  of  Scotland,  vol.  xxxiz,  p.  125.  Dame  Margaret 
Nicholson's  Account  Book. 

3  Best,  Rural Ecommy,  p.  36. 
4  Ibid,  p.  42. 


AGRICULTURE  61 

to  imploy  women,  with  wain-rakes,  to  gather  the  corne 
out  of  the  said  hollow  furres  after  that  the  sweath- 
rakes  have  done.1  .  .  We  use  meanes  allwayes  to  gett 
eyther  18  or  else  24  pease  pullers,  which  wee  sette 
allways  sixe  on  a  lande,  viz.,  a  woman  and  a  man,  a 
woman  and  a  man,  a  woman  or  boy  and  a  man,  etc., 
the  weakest  couple  in  the  fore  furre.  .  .  it  is  usuall 
in  most  places  after  they  gette  all  pease  pulled,  or  the 
last  graine  downe,  to  invite  all  the  worke-folkes  and 
wives  (that  helped  them  that  harvest)  to  supper,  and 
then  have  they  puddinges,  bacon,  or  boyled  beefe, 
flesh  or  apple  pyes,  and  then  creame  brought  in  platters, 
and  every  one  a  spoone  ;  then  after  all  they  have 
hotte  cakes  and  ale ;  some  will  cutte  theire  cake 
and  putte  into  the  creame  and  this  feaste  is  called  the 
creame-potte  or  creame-kitte  .  .  .  wee  send 
allwayes,  the  daye  before  wee  leade,  [pease]  two  of  our 
boys,  or  a  boy  and  one  of  our  mayds  with  each  of  them  a 
shorte  mowe  forke  to  turn  them."2 

For  thatching,  Best  continues  :  "  Wee  usually  provide 
two  women  for  helpes  in  this  kinde,  viz,  one  to  drawe 
thacke,  and  the  other  to  serve  the  thatcher  ;  she  that 
draweth  thacke  hath  3d.  a  day,  and  shee  that  serveth 
the  thatcher  4d.  a  day,  because  shee  also  is  to  temper 
the  morter,  and  to  carry  it  up  to  the  toppe  of  the 
howse  .  .  .  Shee  that  draweth  thatch  shoulde 
always  have  dry  wheate  strawe  .  .  .  whearewith 
to  make  her  bandes  for  her  bottles.  She  that  serveth 
will  usually  carry  up  4  bottles  at  a  time,  and  some- 
times but  3  if  the  thatch  bee  longe  and  very  wette."3 

1  Best,  Rural  Economy,  p-59- 
*  Ibid,  pp.  93-4. 

8  Ibid,  pp.  138-9.  "  The  thatchers,"  Best  says,  "  have  in  most  places  6d.  a  day 
&  theire  meate  in  Summer  time,  .  .  .  yett  we  neaver  use  to  give  them  above  4d  .  .  . 
.  because  their  dyett  is  not  as  in  other  places ;  for  they  are  to  have  three  meale 
a  day,  vi%.  theire  breakfaste  att  eight  of  the  clocke, .  .  .  theire  dinner  about  twelve  and 
theire  supper  about  seaven  or  after  when  they  leave  worke  ;  and  att  each  meale. 
fowcr  services,  viz.  butter,  milke,  cheese,  and  either  egges,  pyes,  or  bacon,  and  some- 
times porridge  insteade  of  milke  :  if  they  meate  themselves  they  have  usually  lod. 
a  day." 


62  AGRICULTURE 

"  Spreaders  of  mucke  and  molehills  are  (for  the 
most  parte)  women,  boyes  and  girles,  the  bigger  and 
abler  sorte  of  which  have  usually  3d.  a  day,  and  the 
lesser  sorte  of  them  2d.  a  day."1  "  Men  that  pull 
pease  have  8d.  women  6d.  a  day."2 

A  picture  of  hay-harvesting  in  the  West  of  England 
given  by  Celia  Fiennes  suggests  that  in  other  parts  of 
England  to  which  she  was  accustomed,  the  labour, 
especially  that  of  women,  was  not  quite  so  heavy. 
All  over  Devon  and  Cornwall  she  says,  hay  is  carried 
on  the  horses'  backs  and  the  people  "  are  forced  to 
support  it  wth  their  hands,  so  to  a  horse  they  have 
two  people,  and  the  women  leads  and  supports  them, 
as  well  as  ye  men  and  goe  through  thick  and  thinn. 
.  .  .  I  wondred  at  their  Labour  in  this  kind,  for 
the  men  and  the  women  themselves  toiled  Like  their 
horses."3 

There  was  hardly  any  kind  of  agricultural  work  from 
which  women  were  excluded.  Everenden  "  payed 
is.  zd.  to  the  wife  of  Geo.  Baker  for  shearing  28  sheep."* 
In  Norfolk  the  wages  for  a  "  woman  clipper  of  sheepe  " 
were  assessed  at  6d.  per  day  with  meat  and  drink,  is. 
without,  while  a  man  clipper  was  paid  /d.  and  I4d. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  only  4<i.  per  day  was  allowed  in  the 
same  assessment  for  the  diet  of  "  women  and  such 
impotent  persons  that  weed  corn  and  other  such  like 
Laborers  "  and  2d.  per  day  for  their  wages.5  Pepys 
on  his  visit  to  S^onehenge  "  gave  the  shepherd- 
woman,  for  leading  our  horses,  4d.,"6  while  Foulis 
enters,  "  Jan.  25,  1699  to  tonie  to  give  ye  women  at 

1  Best,  Rural  Economy,  p.  140. 
*  Ibid,  p.  142. 

3  Fiennes  (Celia),  Through  England  on  a  Side-saddle,  p.  225. 

4  Suss.  Arch.  Coll.  Vol.  IV.,  p.  24.    Everendon  Account  Book 

5  Tingye  (J.  C. )  Eng.  Hift.  Rev,  Vol.  XIII.,  pp.  525-6. 
•Pepys,  Vol.  V.,  p.  302.  (nth  June,  1668). 


AGRICULTURE  63 

restalrig  for  making  good  wailings  of  strae,  43.  (Scots 
money)."1 

But  the  wives  of  husbandmen  were  not  confined 
to  agricultural  work  as  is  shown  by  many  payments 
entered  to  them  in  account  books  :2  Thus  the  church 
wardens  at  Strood,  in  Kent,  paid  the  widow  Cable  for 
washing  the  surplices  is.3;  and  at  Barnsley  they  gave 
"  To  Ricard  Hodgaris  wife  for  whipping  dogs  "  (out 
of  the  Church)  2s.4  while  "  Eustace  Lowson  of  Salton 
(a  carrier  of  lettres  and  a  verie  forward,  wicked 
woman  in  that  folly)  and  Isabell  her  daughter  are 
included  in  a  Yorkshire  list  of  recusants.6 

No  doubt  the  mother  with  young  children  brought 
them  with  her  to  the  harvest  field,  where  they  played 
as  safely  through  the  long  summer  day  as  if  they  and  she 
had  been  at  home.  But  at  other  times  she  chose  work 
which  did  not  separate  her  from  her  children,  spinning 
being  her  unfailing  resource.  It  is  difficult  living  in 
the  age  of  machinery  to  imagine  the  labour  which 
clothing  a  family  by  hand-spinning  involved, 
though  the  hand-spun  thread  was  durable  and  fashions 
did  not  change. 

In  spite  of  the  large    demand    the    price    paid 
was  very  low,  but  when  not  obliged  to  spin  for  sale, 

1  Foulis  (Sir  John)  Acct.  Bk.,  p.  246. 

"  Aug.  7th.  1701  to  my  wife,  to  a  Bleicher  wife  at  bonaley  for  bleitching 
1 .  3.  4."  (Scots) 

"  Jan.  28th,  1703  to  my  good  douchter  Jennie  to  give  tibbie  tomsome  for  her 
attendance  on  my  wife  the  time  of  her  sickness  5.16.0  (Scots).  (Foulis  (Sir 
John]  Acct.  Bk.  p.  295,  314.) 

"  Sep.  nth,  1676,  pd.  her  (Mary  Taylor)  more  for  bakeing  four  days.  Mothers 
Acct.  8d.  (  Fell,  (Sarah*)  Household  Accts.  p.  309.) 

"  Pd.     Widow  Lewis  for  gathering  herbs  two  daies  6d.  (  Sussex,  Arch.  Coll.  xlviii. 
p.   120.     Extracts  from  the  Household  Account  Book  of  Herstmonceux  Castle.) 
•    Paidgto^goodwife  Stopinge  for  2  bundles  of  Rushes    at    Whitsuntide    for    the 
Church,  iiijd.  (Churchwarden's  Account  Book,  Strood,  p.  95,  1612. 

8  Churchwarden's  Account  Book,  Strood,  p.  197.  1666. 

*  Cox  (J.  C.)  Churchwarden's  Accts.,  p.  309. 

6  Torks.  North  Riding,  Q.  S.  Rec.,  Vol.  I,,  p.  62,  Jan.  8.  1606-7. 


64  AGRICULTURE 

time  was  well  spent  in  spinning  for  the  family. 
The  flax  or  hemp  grown  on  the  allotment,  was 
stored  up  for  shirts  and  house-linen.  If  the  husband- 
man had  no  sheep,  the  children  gathered  scraps  of 
wool  from  the  brambles  on  the  common,  and  thus 
the  only  money'  cost  of  the  stuff  worn  by  the 
husbandman's  household  was  the  price  paid  to  the 
weaver. 

The  more  prosperous  the  family,  the  less  the  mother 
went  outside  to  work,  but  this  did  not  mean,  as  under 
modern  conditions,  that  her  share  in  the  productive 
life  of  the  country  was  less.  Her  productive  energy 
remained  as  great,  but  was  directed  into  channels 
from  which  her  family  gained  the  whole  profit.  In 
her  humble  way  she  fed  and  clothed  them,  like  the 
wise  woman  described  by  Solomon. 

The  more  she  was  obliged  to  work  for  wages,  the 
poorer  was  her  family. 

C.     Wage-earners. 

In  some  respects  it  is  less  difficult  to  visualise  the 
lives  of  women  in  the  wage-earning  class  than  in  the 
class  of  farmers  and  husbandmen.  The  narrowness 
of  their  circumstances  and  the  fact  that  their  desti- 
tution brought  them  continually  under  the  notice 
of  the  magistrates  at  Quarter  Sessions  have  preserved 
data  in  greater  completeness  from  which  to  reconstruct 
the  picture.  Had  this  information  been  wanting 
such  a  reconstruction  would  have  demanded  no  vivid 
imagination,  because  the  results  of  the  semi- 
starvation  of  mothers  and  small  children  are  very 
similar  whether  it  takes  place  in  the  seventeenth  or 
the  twentieth  century ;  the  circumstances  of  the 
wives  of  casual  labourers  and  men  who  are  out  of  work 
and  "  unemployable "  in  modern  England  may 
be  taken  as  representing  those  of  almost  the  whole 
wage-earning  class  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

The  most  important  factors  governing  the  lives  of 
wage-earning  women  admit  of  no  dispute.  First 


AGRICULTURE  65 

among  these  was'  their  income,  for  wage-earners  have 
already  been  defined  as  the  class  of  persons  depend- 
ing wholly  upon  wages  for  the  support  of  their 
families. 

Throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  rate  of  wages  was  not  left  to  be  adjusted 
by  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand,  but  was  regulated 
for  each  locality  by  the  magistrates  at  Quarter  Sessions. 
Assessments  fixing  the  maximum  rates  were  published 
annually  and  were  supposed  to  vary  according  to  the 
price  of  corn.  Certainly  they  did  vary  from  district 
to  district  according  to  the  price  of  corn  in  that 
district,  but  they  were  not  often  changed  from  year  to 
year.  * 

Prosecutions  of  persons  for  offering  and  receiving 
wages  in  excess  of  the  maximum  rates  frequently 
occurred  in  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  but  it  is 
extremely  rare  to  find  a  presentment  for  this  in  other 
Quarter  Sessions.  The  Assessments  were  generally 
accepted  as  publishing  a  rate  that  public  opinion 
considered  fair  towards  master  and  man,  and  outside 
Yorkshire  steps  were  seldom  taken  to  prevent  masters 
from  paying  more  to  valued  servants.  That  upon  the 
whole  the  Assessments  represent  the  rate  ordinarily 
paid  can  be  shown  by  a  comparison  with  entries  in 
contemporary  account-books. 

The  Assessments  deal  largely  with  the  wages  of 
unmarried  farm  servants  and  with  special  wages  for 
the  seasons  of  harvest,  intended  for  the  occasional 
labour  of  husbandmen,  but  in  addition  there  are 
generally  rates  quoted  by  the  day  for  the  common 
labourer  in  the  summer  and  winter  months.  Even 
when  meat  and  drink  is  supplied,  the  day-rates  for 
these  common  labourers  are  higher  than  the  wages 
paid  to  servants  living  in  the  house  and  are  evidently 
intended  for  married  men  with  families. 

In  one  Assessment  different  rates  are  expressly 
given  for  the  married  and  unmarried  who  are  doing 


66  AGRICULTURE 

the  same  work,1  a  married  miller  receiving  with  his 
meat  and  drink,  4d.  a  day  which  after  deducting 
holidays  would  amount  to  .£5  o  o  by  the  year,  while 
the  unmarried  miller  has  only  463.  8d.  and  a  pair  of 
boots. 

Assessments  generally  show  a  similar  difference 
between  the  day-wages  of  a  common  labourer  and  the 
wages  of  the  best  man-servant  living  in  the  house, 
and  it  may  therefore  be  assumed  that  day  labourers 
were  generally  married  persons. 

Day  rates  were  only  quoted  for  women  on  seasonal 
jobs,  such  as  harvest  and  weeding.  It  was  not  expected 
that  married  women  would  work  all  the  year  round  for 
wages,  and  almost  all  single  women  were  employed  as 
servants. 

The  average  wage  of  the  common  agricultural 
labourer  as  assessed  at  Quarter  Sessions  was  3  id.  per 
day  in  winter,  and  4^d.  per  day  in  summer,  in  addition 
to  his  meat  and  drink.  Actual  wages  paid  confirm 

"  A  shoemaker  servant  of  the  best  sorte  being  married,  to  have  without  m~ate 
and  drinke  for  every  dosin  of  shoes  xxijd. 

ditto  unmarried  to  have  by  the  yeare  with  meat  and  drink  and  withowte  a  leverye 

liijs. 

Millers  and  drivers  of  horses  beinge  batchelors  then  with  meate  and  drinke  and 
without  a  liverye  and  a  payre  of  boots  xlvis  viijd. 

Millers  and  drivers  of  horses  beinge  married  men  shall  not  take  more  by  the  daye 
then  with  meate  and  drinke  ivd.  and  without  viijd. 

a  man  servant  of  the  best  sorte  shall  not  have  more  by  the  yeare  then  with  a 
levereye  xls.  and  without  xlvjs  viiid. 

the  same,  of  the  thirde  sorte  has  only  with  a  leverye 

xxvjs  viiid.  and  without  xxxiijs  iiijd. 

while  any  sort  of  labourer,  from  the  Annunciation  of  our  Ladye  until  Michellmas 
has  with  meat  and  drink  by  the  day  ivd.  and  without  viijd. 

From  Michellmas  to  the  Annunciation  iiid.  and  without  vijd. 

The  best  sorte  of  women  servants  shall  not  have  more  by  the  yeare  than  with  a 
liverye  xxjs.  and  without  xxvjs  viijd. 

while  "  a  woman  reaping  of  come  "  shall  not  have  "  more  by  the  daye  then  vd  with 
meat  and  drink." 

(Hertfordshire  Assessment,  1591). 

Every  man-servant  serving  with  any  person  as  a  Comber  of  Wooll  to  have  by  the 
yeare  40*. 

Every  such  servant  being  a  single  man  and  working  by  ye  pound  to  have  by  ye 
pound  id. 

Every  such  servant  being  a  marryed  man  and  having  served  as  an  apprentice 
thereto  according  to  the  statute  to  have  by  ye  pound  zd. 
(Assessment  for  Suffolk,  1630). 


AGRICULTURE  67 

the  truth  of  these  figures,  though  it  is  not  always 
clear  whether  the  payments  include  meat  and  drink.1 
If  we  accept  the  Assessments  as  representing  the 
actual  wages  earned  -by  the  ordinary  labourer  we  can 
estimate  with  approximate  accuracy  the  total 
income  of  a  labourer's  family,  for  we  have  defined  the 
wage  earner  as  a  person  who  depended  wholly  upon 
wages  and  excluded  from  this  class  families  who  pos- 
sessed gardens.  Taking  a  figure  considerably  higher 
then  the  one  at  which  the  Assessment  averages  work 
out,  namely  5d.  per  day  instead  of  ^.d.  per  day,  to  be 
the  actual  earnings  of  a  labouring  man  in  addition 
to  his  meat  and  drink,  and  doubling  that  figure  for  the 
three  months  which  include  the  hay  and  corn  harvests, 
his  average  weekly  earnings  will  amount  to  35.  2d. 

1  Paid  to  a  shovele  man  for  2  days  to  shovell  in  the  cart   rakes,  zs.  (Hertford  Co. 
Rec.,  Vol.  I,  p.  233,  1672.)     2$  days' work  of  a  labourer,  2s.  6d.  (ibid,  p.  130,  1659). 

For   one   daies   work   for  one  labourer,   is.    (Stror.d  Churchwarden's  Ace.   p.  182, 
1662.) 

Pd.  to  James  Smith  for  one  days'  work  thatching  about  Widow  Barber's  house, 
she  being  in  great  distress  by  reason  she  could  not  lie  down  in  her  bed  and  could  get 
no  help  to  do  the  same.  is.  2d.      (Cratford  Parish  Papers,  p.  152,  1622.)     Thatchers 
were  paid  more  than  ordinary  labourers,  being  generally  assessed  at  the  same  rate  as 
a  carpenter,  or  a  mower  in  the  harvest. 
July  15,  1676.     Tho.  Scott  for  workeinge  hay  2  dayes,  4d. 
Tho.  Greaves  younger  for  workeinge  hay  2   dayes,  4d. 
May  5,  1678,  Will  Braithw'  for  threshing  6  dayes  i.oo 
April  27,  1676,  by  m°.  pd.  him  for  thatching  2  days  at  Petties  Tenem1,  8d. 
August  2.  1676.  pd.  Marg'  Dodgson  for  workinge   at   hay  &  other   worke  5  weekes 
03.06. 

pd.  Mary  Ashbrner  for  workinge  at  hay  &  other  worke  4  weekes  &  3  dayes.  03.  o.o. 
Sept  4.  pd.  Will  Nicholson  wife  forweedinge  in  ye  garden  &  pullingehempe  12  dayes 
01.  o.  o. 

Oct.  2.  pd.  Issa.  Atkinson  for  her  daughf  Swingleinge  6  dayes  01.  o.  o. 
May  7,  1677.  pd. Will  Ashbrner  for  his  daughter  harrowing  here  2  weekes   01.  o.  o. 
(Fell  (Sarah],  House  Acct.) 

Labourers'  wages  4d.  per  day. 
(Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  Var.  Coll.  Vol.  IV.  133,  1686.     Sir  Jno.  Earl's  Inventory  of  goods. 

Weeks'  work  common  labourer,  33.  Thos.  West,  i  week's  haying  2s.  (Sussex  Arch. 
Coll.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  24,  Everendon  Ace.  Book,  1618.) 

Paid  for  a  labourer  3  dayes  to  hoult  the  alees  and  carrying  away  the  weedes,  is.  6d. 
(Cromwell  Family,  Bills  and  Receipts,  Vol.  II,  p.  233,  1635.) 

Jan.  26.  1649.     Payd.  to  John  Wainwright  for  5  days  worke  is.   8d.  [Yorkshire]. 
(Eyre  (Capt.  Adam)  Dyurnall,  p.  117.) 

Thos.  Hutton,  xiiij  days  work  ijs.  iiijd,  his  wyfe  xij  dayes  iiijs.  Thos.  Hutton  xiij 
dayes  at  hay  vid,  his  wyfe  4  dayes  xvjd.  Leonell  Bell,  xiij  dayes  about  hay,  vjs.  vjd. 
Tho.  Bullman  the  lyke.  iiijs.  iiijd,  Thos.  Hutton  4  dayes  at  mowing  corne,  xvjd. 
Howard  Household  Book,  p.  40-41). 


68  AGRICULTURE 

Except  in  exeptional  circumstances  his  wife's  earnings 
would  not  amount  to  more  than  is.  a  week  and  her 
meat  and  drink.  The  more  young  children  there  were, 
the  less  often  could  the  wife  work  for  wages,  and  when 
not  doing  so  her  food  as  well  as  the  chidren's  must  be 
paid  for  out  of  the  family  income. 

In  a  family  with  three  small  children  it  is  unlikely 
that  the  mother's  earnings  were  more  than  what 
would  balance  days  lost  by  the  father  for  holidays 
or  illness,  and  the  cost  of  his  food  on  Sundays,  but 
-allowing  for  a  small  margin  we  may  assume  that  33.  6d. 
was  the  weekly  income  of  a  labourer's  family,  and  that 
this  sum  must  provide  rent  and  clothing  for  the  whole 
family  and  food  for  the  mother  and  children. 

A  careful  investigation  of  the  cost  of  -living  is 
necessary  before  we  can  test  whether  this  amount  was 
adequate  for  the  family's  maintenance. 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  a  diet  inferior 
to  present  standards  could  maintain  efficiency  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  On  the  contrary,  the  English 
race  at  that  time  attributed  their  alleged  superiority 
over  other  nations  to  a  higher  standard  of  living.1 

1  The  dietary  in  charitable  institutions  gives  an  idea  of  what  was  considered  bare 
necessity. 

(Children's  Diet  in  Christ  Church  Hospital,  1704.) 

For  breakfast,  Bread  and  Beer.  For  dinner,  Sunday,  Tuesday,  and  Thursday, 
boiled  beef  and  pottage.  Monday,  milk  pottage,  Wednesday,  furmity.  Friday 
old  pease  &  pottage.  Saturday  water  gruel.  For  supper  bread  and  cheese  or 
butter  for  those  that  cannot  eat  cheese.  Sunday  supper,  legs  of  mutton.  Wednes- 
day and  Friday,  pudding  pies. 

(Stow,  London,  Book  I,  p.  182.) 
Diet  for  Workhouse,  Bishopsgate  Street,  London. 

They  have  Breakfasts,  dinners,  and  suppers  every  day  in  the  week.  For  each  mea 
4  oz.  bread,  !•§•  oz.  cheese,  i  oz.  butter,  i  pint  of  beer.  Breakfast,  four  days,  bread 
and  cheese  or  butter  and  beer.  Mondays  a  pint  of  Pease  Pottage,  with  Bread  and  Beer. 
Tuesdays  a  Plumb  Pudding  Pye  9  oz.  and  beer.  Wednesdays  a  pint  of  Furmity. 
On  Friday  a  pint  of  Barley  Broth  and  bread.  On  Saturdays,  a  plain  Flower  Sewct 
Dumpling  with  Beer.  Their  supper  always  the  same,  4  oz.  bread,  i  J  of  cheese  or  I  oz. 
of  butter,  and  beer  sufficient.  (Stow,  London,  Bock  I,  p.  199). 
Lady  Grisell  Baillie  gives  her  servant's  diet : 

Sunday  they  have  boild  beef  and  broth  made  in  the  great  pot,  and  always  the  broth 
made  to  serve  two  days.  Monday,  broth  made  on  Sunday,  and  a  Herring.  Tuesday, 
broth  and  beef.  Wednesday,  broth  and  two  eggs  each.  Thursday,  broth  and  beef. 
Friday,  Broth  and  herring.  Saturday,  broth  without  meat,  and  cheese,  or  a  pudden 


AGRICULTURE  69 

A  comparison  between  the  purchasing  power  of 
money  in  the  seventeenth  and  twentieth  centuries  is 
unsatisfactory  for  our  purpose,  because  the  relative 
values  of  goods  have  changed  so  enormously.  Thus, 
though  rent,  furniture  and  clothes  were  much  cheaper 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  there  was  less  difference  in 
the  price  of  food.  Sixpence  per"  day  is  often  given 
in  Assessments  as  the  cost  of  a  labourer's  meat 
and  drink  and  this  is  not  much  below  the  amount 
spent  per  head  on  these  items  in  wage-earners' 
families  during  the  first  decade  of  the  twentieth 
century. 

One  fact  alone  is  almost  sufficient  to  prove  the 
inadequacy  of  a  labourer's  wage  for  the  maintenance 
of  his  family.  His  money  wages  seldom  exceeded  the 
estimated  cost  of  his  own  meat  and  drink  as  supplied 
by  the  farmer,  and  yet  these  wages  were  to  supply 
all  the  necessaries  of  life  for  his  whole  family.  Some 
idea  of  the  bare  cost  of  living  in  a  humble  household 
may  be  gained  by  the  rates  fixed  for  pensions  and  by 
allowances  made  for  Poor  Relief.  From  these  it 
appears  that  four  shillings  to  five  shillings  a  week  was 
considered  necessary  for  an  adult's  maintenance. 

The  Cromwell  family  paid  four  shillings  weekly  "  to 
the  widd.  Bottom  for  her  bord."1  Pensions  for 
maimed  soldiers  and  widows  were  fixed  at  four  shillings 
per  week  "  or  else  work  to  be  provided  which  will 
make  their  income  up  to  43.  per  week.  Sick  and 
wounded  soldiers  under  cure  for  their  wounds  to 
have  43.  8d  per  week."2 


or  blood-pudens,  or  a  hagish,  or  what  is  most  convenient.     Breakfast  and  super,  ha 
an  oat  loaf  or  a  proportion  of  broun  bread,  but  better  set  down   the  loaf,   and  see 
non  is  taken  or  wasted,  and   a  muchkin  of  beer  or  milk  whenever  there  is  any.     At 
dinner  a   mutchkin   of    beer    for    each.       Baillie  (Lady  Grisell).  Household  Book 
pp.  277-8.    1743. 

1  Cromwell  Family,  Bills  and  Receipts,  Vol.  II.,  p.  233,  1635. 

2  Acts  and  Ordinances  of  the  Interregnum,  II.,  p.  556.    (For  Maimed  Soldiers  and 
Widows  of  Scotland  and  Ireland,  Sept  30,  1651. 


70  AGRICULTURE 

The  Justices  in  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire  drew 
up  a  scale  of  reasonable  prices  for  billeted  soldiers  by 
which  each  trooper  was  to  pay  for  his  own  meat  for 
each  night — 6d  ;  dragoon,  4id  ;  foot  soldier,  ^.d.1 

"  Edward  Malin,  blacksmith,  now  fourscore 
and  three  past  and  his  wife  fourscore,  wanting  a 
quarter  "  very  poor  and  unable  "  to  gett  anything 
whereby  to  live,"  complained  to  the  Hertfordshire 
Quarter  Sessions  that  they  receive  only  is.  6d.  a  week 
between  them  ;  "  others  have  eighteen  pence  apiece 
single  persons  "  and  desire  that  an  order  be  made  for 
them  to  have  35.  together  which  is  but  the  allowance 
made  to  other  persons.2 

In  cases  of  Poor  Relief  where  payments  were 
generally  intended  to  be  supplementary  to  other 
sources  of  income,  the  grants  to  widows  towards  the 
maintenance  of  their  children  were  often  absurdly 
small  ;  In  Yorkshire,  Parish  officers  were  ordered 
to  "  provide  convenient  habitation  for  a  poor 
woman  as  they  shall  think  fit  and  pay  her  4d. 
weekly  for  the  maintenance  of  herself  and  child."' 
In  another  case  to  pay  a  very  poor  widow  6d.  weekly 
for  the  maintenance  of  herself  and  her  three  children.4 
The  allowance  of  1 2d.  weekly  to  a  woman  and  her 
small  children  was  reduced  to  6d.,  "  because  the 
said  woman  is  of  able  body,  and  other  of  her  children  are 
able  to  work."5  On  the  other  hand  when  an  orphan 
child  was  given  to  strangers  to  bring  up,  amounts 
varying  from  is.  to  53.  per  week  were  paid  for  its 
maintenance.6 

1  Torks.  North  Riding,  Q.  S.  Rec.,  Vol.  VII.,  p.  106,  1690. 

*  Hertfordshire,  Co.  Rec.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  258,  1675. 
8  Torks.  N.R.  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  242,  1675. 
4  Ibid,  p.  217,  1674. 

8  Ibid,  p.  260,  1674 

*  Joane   Weekes     ..."  hadd  a  maide  childe  placed  to  her  to  bee   kept   & 
brought  upp,  the  mother  of  which  Childe  was  executed  at  the  Assizes,  six  pounds  per 
ann,   proporconed  toward  the    keepinge  of  the  said    childe     .     .     .     besides  she 


AGRICULTURE  71 

Thus  the  amount  paid  by  the  Justices  for  main- 
taining one  pauper  child  sometimes  exceeded  the 
total  earnings  of  a  labourer  and  his  wife.  Other 
pauper  children  were  maintained  in  institutions. 
The  girls  at  a  particularly  successful  Industrial  School 
in  Bristol  were  given  an  excellent  and  abundant  diet 

desireth  some  allowance  extraordinary  for  bringinge  the  said  Childe  to  bee  fitt  to 
gett  her  livinge."     (Somerset,  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  28-9,  1647). 

In  1663  a  woman  who  was  committed  to  the  Castle  of  Yorke  for  felony  and  after- 
wards executed,  was  while  there  delivered  of  a  male  child,  which  was  left  in  the  gaol, 
and  as  it  was  not  known  where  the  woman  was  last  an  inhabitant  the  child  could 
not  be  sent  to  the  place  of  her  settlement,  Sir  Tho.  Gower  was  desired  by  Justices 
of  Assize  to  take  a  course  for  present  maintenance  of  the  child.  He  caused  it  to  be 
put  unto  the  wife  of  John  Boswell  to  be  nursed  and  provided  for  with  other  necessaries. 
John  Boswell  and  his  wife  have  maintained  the  child  ever  since  and  have  hitherto 
received  no  manner  of  allowance  for  the  same.  Ordered  that  the  several  Ridings 
shall  pay  their  proportions  to  the  maintenance  past  and  present,  after  the  rate  of 
£5  per  annum.  (Torks.  N.R.  Q.S.Rec.,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  102-3,  1666.) 

Marmaduke  Vye  was  only  to  have  ,£4  a  year  for  keeping  the  child  born  in  the  gaol 
of  Ivelchester  whose  mother  was  hanged  for  cutting  of  purses.  (Somerset  Q.S.  Rec., 
Vol.  I,  p.  ioi.,  1613.) 

Item  payd  to  the  said  widowe  Elkyns  for  Dyett  and  keeping  of  a  poore  child  leaf te 
upon  the  chardge  of  the  parish  at  lid.  the  weecke  from  the  I4th  of  August,  1599,  till 
this  secound  of  Sept.,  1601,  every  Saturday,  being  two  yeres  and  three  weeckes, 
videlicet  107  weeckes  in  toto  v1'  vijs.  (Ch.  Aces.,  St.  Michael's  in  Bedwendine,  Wor- 
cester, p.  147.) 

Itm  pd.  to  Batrome's  wife  of  Linstead  for  keeping  of  Wright's  child  52  weeks 
£3.  os.  8d.  (Cratfield  Parish  Papers,  p.  129,  1602.) 

Pd  to  Geo.  Cole  to  take  and  bring  up  Eliz.  Wright,  the  daughter  of  Ann  Wright 
according  to   his   bond,  £4.  os.  od.     More  towards  her  apparell   58. 
(Ibid,  p.  137.  1609.) 

Item  paide  Chart's  Child's  keeping  by  the  week    £4.  us.  8d.     Item  for  apparrell 
£1.  i8s.  2d.     Item  paid  to  the  surgeon  for  her.     35.  6d. 
(Suss.  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  xx.,  p.  ioi,  Acct.  Bk  of  C 'ou den.   1627.) 
for  apparrelling  Wm.  Uridge  and  for  his  keeping  this  yeare  £5.  izs.  gd. 
(/  bid,  p.  103,  1632.) 

For  the  keep  of  William  Kemsing  14  weeks    ,£1.  zs.8d    and  23  weeks  at  2s  per 
week,     £2.  6s.  od.     and  for  apparrelling  of  him  ;   and  for  his  indentures  ;   and  for 
money  given  with  him  to  put  him  out  apprentice  ;  and  expended  in  placing  him  out 
£11.  i7s.9d. 
(Ibid,  p.  107,  1650.) 

John  Mercies  wief  for  keeping  Buckles  child,  weekly,  is.  6d. 

John  Albaes  wief  for  keeping  Partickes  child  is.  4d. 

{S.P.D.  cccxlvii,  67,  i.  Feb,  1637.     Answer  of  Churchwardens  to  Articles  given 
by  J.P's  for  St.  Albans). 

George  Arnold  and  Jas.  Michell  late  overseers  of  the  poore  of  the  parishe  of  Othery 
.  .  .  had  committed  a  poore  child  to  the  custody,  keepinge  and  maintenance  of 
.  .  .  Robert  Harris  promising  him  xijd.  weekly.  (Somersest,  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  i,  1646.)  Order  for  Thos.  Scott,  a  poor,  lame,  impotent  child,  to  be  placed  with 
Joanna  Brandon ;  She  to  be  paid  5$.  a  week  for  his  maintenance.  (Middlesex  Co. 
Rec.,  p.  180,  Sess.  Book,  1698). 


72  AGRICULTURE 

at  a  cost  of  is.  4<i.  per  head  per  week.1  At  Stepney, 
the  poor  were  maintained  at  2s.  lod  or  35.  r)er  week, 
including  all  incidental  expenses,  firing  and  lodging. 
At  Strood  in  Kent,  2s.  was  paid  for  children  boarded 
out  in  poor  families,  while  the  inmates  of  the  workhouse 
at  Hanstope,  Bucks,  were  supposed  not  to  cost  the 
parish  more  than  is.  6d.  a  week  per  head.2  At 
Reading  it  was  agreed  "  that  Clayton's  wief  shall  have 
xiiiid.  a  weeke  for  every  poore  childe  in  the  hospitall 
accomptinge  each  childe's  worke  in  parte  of  payment/' 

These  and  many  other  similar  figures  show  that  a 
child  must  have  cost  from  is.  to  is.  6d.  a  week  for  food 
alone,  the  amount  varying  according  to  age.  Above 
seven  years  of  age,  children  began  to  contribute 
towards  their  own  support,  but  they  were  not  com- 
pletely self-supporting  before  the  age  of  thirteen  or 
fourteen. 

According  to  the  wages  assessments,  a  f  woman's 
diet  was  reckoned  at  a  lower  figure  than  a  man's, 
but  whenever  they  are  engaged  on  heavy  work  such 
as  reaping  corn  or  shearing  sheep,  6d.  or  8d.  a  day  is 
allowed  for  their  "  meate  and  drinke."  On  other  work, 
such  as  weeding  or  spinning,  where  only  2d.  a  day  is 
reckoned  for  wages,  their  food  also  is  only  estimated  as 
costing  zd.  to  ^d.  As  in  such  cases  they  are  classed  with 
"  other  impotent  persons  "  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  2d.  or  3d.  represents  the  cost  of  the  food  needed 
by  a  young  active  woman  ;  it  may  even  have  been 
prolonged  semi-starvation  that  had  reduced  the 
woman  to  the  level  of  impotency.  Unfortunately, 
there  is  often  a  wide  difference  between  the  cost  of 
what  a  woman  actually  eats  and  what  is  necessary  to 

1  Gary,  Ace.  Proceedings  of  the  Corporation  of  Bristol.  1700.  "  Their  diets  were 
made  up  of  such  provisions  as  were  very  wholesome,  viz.  Beef,  Pease,  Potatoes, 
Broath,  Pease-porridge,  Milk-porridge,  Bread  and  Cheese,  good  Beer,  Cabage, 
Carrots,  Turnips,  etc.  it  stood  us  (with  soap  to  wash)  in  about  sixteen  pence  per  week 
for  each  of  the  one  hundred  girls." 

*  Account  Workhouses,  1725,  p.  13,  p.  37,  p.  79. 

8  Guilding,  Reading,  Vol.  II.,  p.  273,  Jan.  16,  1625-6. 


AGRICULTURE  73 

maintain  her  in  efficiency.  Probably  the  woman 
who  was  doing  ordinary  work  while  pregnant  or 
suckling  a  baby  may  have  needed  as  much  food  as  the 
woman  who  was  reaping  corn  ;  but  in  the  wage- 
earner's  family  she  certainly  did  not  get  it ;  thus 
when  a  writer1  alleges  that  a  man's  diet  costs  5d.  a  day 
and  a  woman's  is.  6d  per  week,  his  statement  may  be 
correct  as  to  fact,  though  the  babies  have  perished  for 
want  of  nourishment  and  the  mother  has  been  reduced 
to  invalidism. 

Another  writer  gives  2s.  as  being  sufficient  to 
"  keep  a  poor  man  or  woman  (with  good  husbandry) 
one  whole  week."5  Certainly  2s.  is  the  very  lowest 
figure  that  can  have  sufficed  to  keep  up  the  mother's 
strength.  The  bare  cost  of  food  for  a  mother  and 
three  children  must  have  amounted  to  at  least  55.  6d. 
per  week,  but  there  were  other  necessaries  to  be  pro- 
vided from  the  scanty  wages.  The  poorest  family 
required  some  clothes,  and  though  these  may  have  been 
given  by  charitable  persons,  rent  remained  to  be  paid. 
Building  was  cheap.  In  Scotland,  the  "  new  house  " 
with  windows  glazed  with  "  ches  losens  "  only  cost 
.£4  I2s,  3d.  to  build,  while  a  "  cothouse  "  built  for 
Liddas  "  the  merchant  "  cost  only  .£1  o  o  ; 3  other 
cots  were  built  for  43.,  us.  id,  53.  and  143.  4d.  These 
Scottish  dwellings  were  mud  hovels,  but  in  England 
the  labourers'  dwellings  were  not  much  better. 

Celia  Fiennes  describes  the  houses  at  the  Land's  End 
as  being  "  poor  Cottages,  Like  Barns  to  Look  on,  much 
Like  those  in  Scotland,  but  to  doe  my  own  country 
its  right  ye  Inside  of  their  Little  Cottages  are  Clean  and 
plaister'd  and  such  as  you  might  Comfortably  Eat  and 
drink  in,  and  for  curiosity  sake  I  dranck  there  and  met 
with  very  good  bottled  ale."* 

1  Dunning,  R.  Plain  andEasie  Method,  p.  5,  1686. 

*  Trade  of  England,  p.  10,  1681. 

8  Baillie  (Lady  Grisel),  House  Book,  Introd.  Ixiv. 

4  Fiennes  (Celia),  Through  England  on  a  Side-saddle,  p.  224. 


74  AGRICULTURE 

^In  some  places  the  labourers  made  themselves 
habitations  on  the  waste,  but  this  was  strictly  against 
the  law,  such  houses  being  only  allowed  for  the 
impotent  poor. 

Many  fines  are  entered  in  Quarter  Sessions  Records 
for  building  houses  without  the  necessary  quantity 
of  land.  By  39  Eliz.  churchwardens  and  overseers 
were  ordered,  for  the  relief  of  the  impotent  poor,  to 
build  convenient  houses  at  the  charges  of  the  Parish, 
but  only  with  the  consent  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manor. 
43  Eliz.  added  that  such  buildings  were  not  at  any 
time  after  to  be  used  for  other  inhabitants  but  only  for 
the  impotent  poor,  placed  there  by  churchwardens 
and  overseers. 

The  housing  problem  was  so  acute  that  many  orders 
were  made  by  the  justices  sanctioning  or  ordering  the 
erection  of  these  cottages.  "  Rob.  Thompson  of 
Brompton  and  Eliz.  Thompson  of  Aymonderby 
widow,  stand  indicted  for  building  a  cottage  in 
Aymonderby  against  the  statute,  etc.,  upon  a  piece  of 
ground,  parcel!  of  the  Rectorie  of  Appleton-on-the 
street,  and  in  which  the  said  Eliz.  doth  dwell  by  the 
permission  of  John  Heslerton,  fermour  of  the  said 
Rectorie,  and  that  the  same  was  so  erected  for  the 
habitation  of  the  said  Elizth.  being  a  poore  old  woman 
and  otherwise  destitute  of  harbour  and  succour  .  . 
ordered  that  the  said  cottage  shall  continue  .  . 
for  the  space  of  twelve  yeares,  if  the  said  Elizth.  live 
so  long,  or  that  the  said  Heslerton's  lease  do  so  long 
endure."1  In  another  case,  Nicholas  Russell,  the  wife 
of  Thomas  Waterton,  and  Robert  Arundell,  were 
presented  for  erecting  cottages  upon  the  Lord's  waste 
.  .  .  at  the  suit  of  parishioners  these  cottages  are 
allowed  by  Mr.  Coningsby,  lord  of  the  manor.1 

It  was  often  necessary  to  compel  unwilling  over- 

1  Torks.  N.R.  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  29.  1605-6. 
Hertfordshire  Co.  Rec.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  63,  1639, -41. 


AGRICULTURE  75 

seers  to  build  cottages  for  the  impotent  poor,  and  for, 
widows.  "  A  woman  with  three  children  prays  leave 
for  the  erection  of  a  cottage  in  East  Bedwyn,  she  having 
no  habitation,  but  depending  upon  alms ;  from  lying 
in  the  street  she  was  conveyed  into  the  church  where 
she  remained  some  small  time,  but  was  then  ejected  by 
the  parish."  The  overseers  are  ordered  to  provide  for 
her.1 

The  overseers  at  Shipley  were  ordered  to  build  a 
house  on  the  waste  there  for  Archelaus  Braylsford,  to 
contain  "  two  chambers  floored  fit  for  lodgings  "  or  in 
default  53.  a  week.  At  the  following  sessions  his  house 
was  further  ordered  to  be  "  a  convenient  habitation 
12  feet  high  upon  the  side  walls  soe  as  to  make  2 
convenient  chambers."2 

The  housing  problem  however  could  not  be  settled 
by  orders  instructing  the  overseers  to  build  cottages 

1  Hist.,  MSS.  Com.  Var.  Coll.,  Vol.  I,  p.  1 13,  Wilts.  Q.S.Rec.  1646. 

1  Cox.  Derbyshire  Annals,  Vol.  II,  p.  176,  1693. 

The  following  cases  are  representative  of  an  immense  number  of  petitions  from 
widows  and  the  impotent  poor  : 

1608.  Margaret  Johns  having  dwelt  in  Naunton  Beauchamp  for  55  years  has  now 
no  house  or  room  but  dwells  in  a  barn,  she  desires  to  have  house  room  and  will  not 
charge  the  parish  so  long  as  she  is  able  to  work. 

1620.  Eleanor  Williams  charged  with  keeping  of  young  child  is  now  unprovided 
with  house  room  for  herself  and  her  poor  child,  her  husband  having  left  the  soile 
where  they  lately  dwelled  and  is   gone  to  some   place  to    her   unknown.     She  is 
willing  "  to  relieve  her  child  by  her  painful  labour  but  wanteth  a  place  for  abode  " 
prays  to  be  provided  with  house  room. 

(Bund,  J.  W.  Willis,  Worcestershire  Co.  Records,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  116-7,  337)- 

1621.  Overseers  of  Uggliebarbie  to  provide  a  suitable  dwelling  for  2  women 
(sisters)  if  they  refuse  them  a  warrant,  etc.      (Torks.  North  Riding   Q.S.  Recs.,  Vol. 

III.,  p.  118.) 

1672.  Parish  Officers  of  Scruton  to  provide  a  convenient  habitation  for  Mary 
Hutchinson  and  to  set  her  on  work,  and  provide  for  her,  etc.,  until  she  shall  recover 
the  possession  of  certain  lands  in  Scruton.  (Ibid,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  175). 

1684.  MaryMarchant  .  .  .  livinge  in  good  estimation  And  repute  for  many'years 
together ;  being  very  Carefull  to  maintaine  herself  And  family  for  being  prejudice 
to  ye  sd.  Towne  ;  ye  petitioners  husbande  beinge  abroad  and  driven  Away ;  and 
returninge  not  backe  Againe  to  her  leaveinge  ye  petitioner  with  a  little  girle  ;  being 
In  want  was  put  into  a  little  cottage  by  &  with  ye  consent  of  ye  sd.  Towne  ;  ye  sd. 
Owner  of  ye  sd.  Tenement  comeinge  when  ye  petitioner  was  gon  forth  to  worke 
leavinge  her  little  girle  in  ye  sd.  house  ;  ye  sd.  Owner  get  a  locke  And  Key  upp  on  ye 
door,  where  as  your  petitioner  cannot  Injoy  her  habitation  wth  peace  and  quietness ; 
toe  yt  your  petitioner  is  likely  to  starve  for  want  of  A  habitation  and  child,  etc. 
(Cox.  J.  C.,  Derbyshire  Annals,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  175-6,  Q.S.  Recs.,  1684). 


76  AGRICULTURE 

for  the  impotent  poor  alone.  Petitions  were  received 
as  often  from  able-bodied  labourers  and  for  them  the 
law  forbade  the  erection  of  a  cottage  without  four 
acres  of  land  attached.  The  magistrates  had  no 
power  to  compel  the  provision  of  the  land  and  thus 
they  were  faced  with  the  alternatives  of  breaking  the 
law  and  sanctioning  the  erection  of  a  landless  cottage 
on  the  waste  or  else  leaving  the  labourer's  family  to 
lie  under  hedges.  The  following  petitions  illustrate 
the  way  in  which  this  situation  was  faced  : 

George  Grinham,  Norton-under-Hambton,  "  in 
ye  behalfe  of  himselfe,  his  poore  wife  and  famelye  " 
begged  for  permission  "  for  my  building  yer,  of  a 
little  poor  house  for  ye  comfort  of  my  selfe,  my  poore 
wife  and  children  betwixt  those  other  2  poore  houses 
erected  on  the  glebe  .  .  .  being  a  towne  borne 
childe  yer  myselfe."1 

Another  from  William  Dench,  "  a  very  poor  man 
and  having  a  wife  and  seven  children  all  born  at 
Longdon,"  who  was  destitute  of  any  habitation,  states 
that  he  was  given  by  William  Parsons  of  Longdon, 
yeoman,  in  charity,  "  a  little  sheep-cote  which  sheep 
cote  petitioner,  with  the  consent  of  the  church- 
wardens and  overseers  converted  to  a  dwelling.  After- 
wards he  having  no  licence  from  Quarter  Sessions, 
nor  under  the  hands  of  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  so  to  do, 
and  the  sheepcote  being  on  the  yeoman's  freehold  and 
not  on  the  waste  or  common,  contrary  to  Acts  43 
Eliz.  c.  2  and  31  Eliz.  c.  7  he  was  indicted  upon  the 
Statute  against  cottages  and  sued  to  an  outlawry.  He 
prays  the  benefit  of  the  King's  pardon  and  for  licence 
in  open  session  for  continuance  of  his  habitation." 

Eliz.  Shepperd  of  Windley  alleged  she  "  was  in 
possession  of  a  Certayne  cottage  situate  in  Chevin, 
which  was  pulled  downe  and  taken  away  by  the 

1  Somerset,  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  I  ^  p.  41,  1609. 

1  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Var.  Coll.,  \o'..  I.,  p.  296,  Worcestershire,  Q.S.  Rec.,  1617. 


AGRICULTURE  77 

Inhabitants  of  DooefKeld,  shee  left  without  habitation 
and  hath  soe  Continued  Twelve  months  at  the  least, 
shee  being  borne  in  Windley,  and  hath  two  small 
children  "  prayed  the  inhabitants  should  find  her  a 
homestead — the  case  was  adjourned  because  the  over- 
seers raised  a  technical  objection  ;  that  Eliz.  Shepherd 
was  married,  &  a  woman's  petition  could  only  proceed 
from  a  spinster  or  widow — meanwhile  another  child 
was  born,  and  at  the  Michaelmas  Sessions  a  joint 
petition  was  presented  by  Ralph  Shepherd  and  Eliz. 
his  wife,  with  the  result  that  "  the  overseers  are 
to  find  him  habitation  or  show  cause."1 

Joseph  Lange  of  Queene  Camell  "  being  an  honest 
poore  laborer  and  havinge  a  wife  and  2  smale 
Children  "  prayed  that  he  "  might  haue  libertie  to 
erect  a  Cottage  uppon  a  wast  ground "  ... 
This  was  assented  to  "  for  the  habitacon  of  himselfe 
for  his  wife  and  afterwards  the  same  shall  be  con- 
verted to  the  use  of  such  other  poore  people  etc." 

Order  that  Robert  Morris  of  Overstowey,  husband- 
man, a  very  poor  man  having  a  wife  and  children,  and  no 
place  of  habitation  "  soe  that  hee  is  like  to  fall  into 
greate  misery  for  want  thereof  "  may  erect  and  build 
him  a  cottage  on  some  part  of  the  "  wast  "  of  the  manor 
of  Overstowey  .  .  .  "(subject  to  the  approbation 
of  the  Lord  of  the  said  Manor)."2 

The  predicament  of  married  labourers  is  shown 
again  in  the  following  report  to  the  Hertfordshire 
Quarterly  Sessions  :  u  John  Hawkins  hath  erected  a 
cottage  on  the  waste  of  my  mannour  of  Benington, 
in  consideration  of  the  great  charge  of  his  wife  and 
children  that  the  said  Hawkins  is  to  provide  for,  I 
do  hereby  grant  and  give  leave  to  him  to  continue  the 
said  cottage  during  his  life  and  good  behaviour."3 

1  Cox,  J.  C.  Derbyshire  Annals,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  173-4,   I^9- 
1  Somerset  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  29,  58. 
8  Hertford  Co.  Rec.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  100,  1652. 


78  AGRICULTURE 

Labourers  naturally  were  unwilling  to  hire  cottages 
while  there  was  a  possibility  of  inducing  the  justices  to 
provide  one  on  the  waste  rent  free.  The  church- 
wardens of  Great  Wymondley  forwarded  a  certificate 
stating  "  that  the  poor  people  of  the  said  parish  that  are 
old  and  not  able  to  work  are  all  provided  for  and  none 
of  the  poor  people  of  the  said  parish  have  been  driven 
to  wander  into  other  unions  to  beg  or  ask  relief,  for  this 
thirty  years  last  past.  This  Nathaniel  Thrussel, 
which  now  complains,  is  a  lusty  young  man,  able  to 
work  and  always  brought  up  to  husbandry,  his  wife, 
a  young  woman,  always  brought  up  to  work,  and  know 
both  how  to  perform  their  work  they  are  hired  to 
do,  and  have  at  present  but  one  child,  but  did  not  care 
to  pay  rent  for  a  hired  house  when  he  had  one  nor 
endeavour  to  hire  a  house  for  himself  when  he  wants."1 

The  scarcity  of  cottages  resulted  in  extortionate 
rents  for  those  that  existed  ;  Best  noted  that  in  his 
district  "  Mary  Goodale  and  Richard  Miller  have  a 
cottage  betwixt  them  ;  Mary  Goodale  hath  two  roomes, 
and  the  orchard  and  payeth  6s.  per  annum  ;  and 
Richard  Miller,  hayth  one  roomestead  and  payeth  45. 
per  annum.  .  .  .  They  usually  lette  their  cottages 
hereaboutes,  for  los.  a  piece,  although  they  have  not 
soe  much  as  a  yard,  or  any  backe  side  belonging  to 
them."2 

The  rents  paid  elsewhere  are  shown  in  the  returns 
made  in  1635  by  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the 
Hundreds  of  Blofield  and  Walsham  in  Norfolk  con- 
cerning cottages  and  inmates  : 

Thos.  Waters  hath  3  inmates  : 

Wm.  Wyley  pays  .£1.  per  annum 
Anthony  Smith  ,,  £i.  per  annum 
Roger  Goat  „  izs.  per  annum 

"  which  are  all  poore  labourers  and  have  wifes  and 

1  Hertford  Co.  Rec.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  370,  1687. 

2  Best,  Rural  Econ.,  p.  125. 


AGRICULTURE  79 

severall  children  and  if  they  be  put  out  cannot  be 
provided  in  this  towne  and  by  reason  of  their  charge 
and  poverty  are  not   likely  to   be   taken   elsewhere." 
"  Wm.  Browne  hath  2  inmates  : 

Edmund  Pitt  143.  per  annum 

Wm.  Jostling  145.  per  annum 

that  are  very  poor  and  impotent  and  take  colleccion. 
Wm.  Reynoldes  hath  2  inmates  : 

Anthony  Durrant  .£1  i6s.  per  annum 

Wm.  Yurely  i6s.  per  annum 

both  are  very  poore  labourers  and  have  wif  es  and  small 
children.  Jas.  Candle  owner  of  a  cottage  [has]  Robert 
Fenn,  133.  a  poore  man.  Anne  Linckhorne  I  inmate 
Philip  Blunt  that  pay  .£1.17.0  that  is  a  poore  man  and 
hath  wife  and  children."1 

% 

Thus  it  appears  that  while  a  labourer  who  obtained 
a  cottage  on  the  waste  lived  rent  free,  twenty  or 
thirty  shillings  might  be  demanded  from  those  who 
were  less  fortunate. 

Whatever  money  was  extorted  for  rent  meant 
so  much  less  food  for  the  mother  and  children,  for  it 
has  been  shown  that  the  family  income  was  insuffi- 
cient for  food  alone,  and  left  no  margin  for  rent  or 
clothes. 

The  relation  of  wages  to  the  cost  of  living  is  seldom 
alluded  to  by  contemporary  writers,  but  a  pamphlet 
published  in  1 706  says  of  a  labourer's  family,  "  a  poor 
Man  and  his  Wife  may  have  4  or  5  children,  2  of  them 
able  to  work,  and  3  not  able,  and  the  Father  and  Mother 
not  able  to  maintain  themselves  and  Families  in 
Meat,  Drink,  Cl oaths  and  House  Rent  under  los. 
a  week."2 

A  similar  statement  is  made  by  Sir  Matthew  Hale, 
who  adds  "  and  so  much  they  might  probably  get  .if 
employed." 3  But  no  evidence  has  been  found  from 

1  S.P.D.,  cccx.,  104.  1635.     Returns  made  by  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

8  Haynes,  (John.),  Present  State  of  Clothing,  p.  5.  1706. 

8  Hale,  (Sir  Matt).  Discourse  touching  Provision  for  the  Poor,  p.  6,  1683 


8o  AGRICULTURE 

which  we  can  imagine  that  an  agricultural  labourer's 
family  could  possibly  earn  as  much  as  los.  a  week  in  the 
seventeenth  century.  Our  lower  estimate  is  confirmed 
by  a  report  made  by  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the 
half  hundred  of  Hitching  concerning  the  poor  in  their 
district  ;  "  when  they  have  worke  the  wages  geven  them 
is  soe  small  that  it  hardlye  sufficeth  to  buy  the  poore 
man  and  his  familye  breed,  for  they  pay  6s.  for  one 
bushell  of  mycelyn  grayne  and  receive  but  8d.  for  their 
days  work.  It  is  not  possible  to  procure  mayntenance 
for  all  these  poore  people  and  their  famylyes  by  almes 
tior  yet  by  taxes."1 

The  insolvency  of  the  wage-earning  class  is  recognized 
by  Gregory  King  in  his  calculations  of  the  income 
and  expense  of  the  several  Families  of  England,  for 
the  year  1680.  All  other  classes,  including  artisans 
and  handicrafts  show  a  balance  of  income  over  expen- 
diture but  the  families  of  seamen,  labourers  and  soldiers 
show  an  actual  yearly  deficit.2 

A  still  more  convincing  proof  of  the  universal 
destitution  of  wage  earners  is  shown  in  the  efforts  made 
by  churchwardens  and  overseers  in  every  county 
throughout  England  to  prevent  the  settlement  within 
the  borders  of  their  parish  of  families  which  depended 
solely  on  wages. 

Their  objection  is  not  based  generally  upon  the 
ground  that  the  labourer  or  his  wife  were  infirm,  or 
idle,  or  vicious  ;  they  merely  state  that  the  family  is 
likely  to  become  chargeable  to  the  parish.  Each 
parish  was  responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  its  own 

1  S.P.D.  ccclxxxv.,  43.  Mar.  8,  1638. 

8  King  (Gregory).     Nat.  and  Political  Observations,  pp.  48-9. 

NO.    OF   FAMILIES.  PERSONS.        YEARLY   INCOME  EXPENSE  LOSS 

PER    HEAD.  PER   HEAD.        PER    HEAD 

50,000  Common  Seamen  150,000               £7.  £j.  ios.  los. 
364,000  Labouring  people 

&  outservants  1,275,000            £4.  ios.  £4.  izs.  28. 
400,000  Cottagers  & 

Paupers  1,300,000  £i.  £z.  53.  •    58. 

^5,000  Common  soldiers  70,000  ^7.  ,£7.  ios.  109. 


AGRICULTURE  81 

poor,  and  thus  though  farmers  might  be  needing  more 
labourers,  the  parish  would  not  tolerate  the  settlement 
of  families  which  could  not  be  self-supporting. 

The  disputes  which  arose  concerning  these  settle- 
ments contain  many  pitiful  stones. 

"Anthony  addams  "  tells  the  justices  that  he  was 
born  in  Stockton  and  bred  up  in  the  same  Parish,  most 
of  his  time  in  service  and  has  "  taken  great  pains  for 
my  living  all  my  time  since  I  was  able  and  of  late  I  for- 
tuned to  marry  with  an  honest  young  woman,  and 
my  parishioners  not  willing  I  should  bring  her  in  the 
parish,  saying  we  should  breed  a  charge  amongst  them. 
Then  I  took  a  house  in  Bewdley  and  there  my  wife 
doth  yet  dwell  and  I  myself  do  work  in  Stockton 
.  .  .  and  send  or  bring  my  wife  the  best  relief  I  am 
able,  and  now  the  parish  of  Bewdley  will  not  suffer 
her  to  dwell  there  for  doubt  of  further  charge.  .  .  . 
I  most  humbly  crave  your  good  aid  and  help  in  this 
my  distress  or  else  my  poor  wife  and  child  are  like  to 
perish  without  the  doors  :  .  .  .  that  by  your  good 
help  and  order  to  the  parish  of  Stockton  I  may  have  a 
house  there  to  bring  my  wife  &  child  unto  that  I  may 
help  them  the  best  I  can."1 

Another  petition  was  brought  by  Josias  Stone  of 
Kilmington  ..."  shewinge  that  he  hath  binn 
an  Inhabitant  and  yet  is  in  Kilmington  aforesaid 
and  hath  there  continued  to  and  fro  these  five  yeares 
past  and  hath  donn  service  for  the  said  parishe  and 
hath  lately  married  a  wife  in  the  said  parish  intendinge 
there  to  Hue  and  reside  yet  since  his  marriage  is  by  the 
said  parishe  debarred  of  any  abidinge  for  him  and  his 
said  wife  there  in  any  howse  or  lodginge  for  his  mony."2 

Another  dispute  occurred  over  the  case  of  Zachary 
Wannell  and  his  wife  who  came  lately  from  Wilton 
"  into  the  towne  of  Taunton  where  they  haue  been 

1  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Var.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  298,  Worcestershire  Q.S.  Rec.,  1618. 
1  Somerset,  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  15,  1647. 

6 


82  AGRICULTURE 

denyed  a  residence  and  they  ly  upp  and  downe  in 
barnes  and  hay  lofts,  the  said  WannelPs  wife  being 
great  with  child  ;  the  said  Wannell  and  his  wife  to  be 
forthwith  set  to  Wilton  and  there  to  continue  until  the 
next  General  Sessions.  The  being  of  the  said  Wannell 
and  his  wife  at  Wilton  not  to  be  interpreted  as  a  settle- 
ment of  them  there."1 

There  were  endless  examples  of  these  conflicts  often 
attended  as  in  the  above  case  with  great  cruelty.2 

1  Somerset  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  246,  1654. 

2  One    Humfrey    Naysh,    a     poore    man  hath  ben  remayning    and    dwellinge 
within  the  pish  of  Newton  St.  Lowe  by  the  space  of  five  years  or  thereabouts  and  now 
being  maryed  and  like  to  haue  charge  of  children,    the  pishioners  Do  endeuor  to  put 
the  said  Naishe  out  of  their  pish  by  setting  of  amcents  and  paynes  in  their  Courts 
on  such  as  shall  give  him  house-roome,  or  suffer  him  to  Hue  in  their  houses  which  he 
doth  or  offereth  to  rent  for  his  money  which  the  court  conceiveth  to  be  vnjust  and 
not  accordinge  to  lawe."     Overseers  ordered  to  provide  him  a  house  for  his  money. 
Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  p.  19,  1626.) 

The  petition  of  the  "  overseer  of  the  poore  of  the  parishe  of  East  Quantoxhead 
.  .  .  that  one  Richard  Kamplyn  late  of  Kilve  with  his  wife  and  three  small 
children  are  late  come  as  Inmates  into  the  Parish  of  East  Quantoxhead  which  may 
hereafter  become  very  burdensome  and  chargeable  to  the  said  parish  if  tymley 
prevention  bee  not  taken  therein."  Ibid.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  9,  1646. 

"  John  Tankens,  his  wife  and  three  children  .  .  .  had  lived  twoe  yeares 
in  Chewstoake  undisturbed  and  from  thence  came  to  Chew  Magna  and  there 
took  part  of  a  Cottage  for  their  habitation  for  one  yeare  .  .  .  whereof 
the  parishe  of  Chew  Magna  taking  notice  found  themselves  aggrieved  thereatt,  and 
brought  the  same  in  question  both  before  the  next  Justice  of  the  peace  of  Chew  Magna 
and  att  the  Leete  or  Lawday,  and  yett  neither  the  said  Tankens,  his  wife  or  children, 
had  beene  actually  chardgeable  to  the  said  parishe  of  Chew  Magna.  This  Court  in  that 
respect  thinketh  not  fitt  to  disturbe  the  said  Tankens,  his  wife  or  children  duringe  the 
said  terme,  but  doth  leave  them  to  thend  of  the  same  terme  to  bee  settled  accordinge 
by  lawe  they  ought.  And  because  the  parishioners  of  Chew  Magna  haue  been  for 
the  most  parte  of  the  tyme  since  the  said  Tankens,  his  wife  and  Children  came  to  Chew 
Magna  complayninge  against  them,  This  court  doth  declare  that  the  beinge  of 
them  att  Chew  Magna  aforesaid  duringe  the  said  terme  shall  not  bee  interpreted  to 
bee  a  settlement  there.  (Ibid.,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  94-5,  1649). 

"  Pet.  of  Richard  Cookesley  of  Ashbrettle  shewing  that  he  is  married  in  the  said 
parish  and  the  said  parish  endeavour  to  haue  him  removed  from  thence  although  hee 
it  no  way  chargeable,  this  court  doth  see  noe  cause  but  that  the  said  Cookesley  may 
remaine  att  Ashbrittle  aforesaid ;  provided  that  his  being  there  shall  not  be  inter- 
pretted  to  bee  a  settlement  of  him  there."  (Ibid.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  248,  1654). 

James  Hurde  a  poor  labourer  stated  that  for  these  two  years  last  past  he  had  dwelt 
in  the  parish  of  Westernemore  "  In  a  house  wch  he  hired  for  his  monie  "  and  had  taken 
great  pains  to  maintain  himself,  his  wife  and  two  children,  wherewith  he  never  yet 
charged  the  said  parish  nor  hopeth  ever  to  do.  And  yet  the  parishioners  and  church- 
wardens there,  do  "  indeavour  "  and  threaten  to  turn  him  out  of  the  parish  unless  he 
will  put  in  sufficient  sureties  not  to  charge  the  said  parish  which  he  cannot  by  reason 
he  is  but  a  poor  labourer ;  he  humbly  requests  that  he  may  quietly  inhabit  in  the 
«aid  parish  so  long  as  he  doth  not  charge  the  same,  otherwise  he  and  his  family  are 
like  to  perish.  (Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  p.  94,  1612.) 


AGRICULTURE  83 

The  Justices  were  shocked  at  the  consequent 
demoralization  and  generally  supported  the  demands 
of  the  labourers  as  regards  their  settlement  and 
housing.  One  writes  to  the  clerk  of  the  Peace : 
"  I  have  sent  you  enclosed  the  recognizance  of  William 
Worster  and  William  Smith,of  Bovindon,  for  contempt 
of  an  order  of  sessions  ...  in  the  behalfe  of  one, 
John  Yorke,  formerly  a  vagrant,  but  now  parishionir 
of  Bovingdon.  Yet  I  believe  the  rest  of  the  inhab- 
itants will  doe  their  utmost  to  gett  him  thence  though 
they  force  him  to  turn  vagrant  againe.  Yorke  will  be 
with  you  to  prove  that  he  was  in  the  parish  halfe-a- 
year  or  more  before  they  gave  him  any  disturbance, 
and  that  not  privately,  for  he  worked  for  severall 
substantiall  men  and  was  at  church,  and  paid  rent."1 

But  the  Justices  never  suspected  that  the  rate  of  wages 
which  they  themselves  had  fixed  below  subsistence  level 
was  at  the  root  of  the  settlement  difficulty.  The  overseers 
believed  that  all  the  troubles  might  be  solved  if  only 
young  people  would  not  marry  imprudently,  and  they 
petitioned  the  Justices  begging  that  overseers  of 
parishes  might  not  be  compelled  to  provide  houses 
for  such  young  persons  "  as  will  marry  before  they 
have  provided  themselves  with  a  settling."2 

While  the  overseers  were  seeking  to  exclude  all  wage 
earners  from  the  parish,  individual  farmers,  perchance 
the  overseers  themselves  wanted  more  labourers.  To 
meet  this  difficulty,  the  overseers  discovered  an  ingenious 
device.  Before  granting  a  settlement,  they  required 
the  labourer  to  find  sureties  to  save  the  parish  harmless 
from  his  becoming  chargeable  to  it.  Obviously  a 
labourer  could  not  himself  find  sureties,  but  the  farmer 
who  wished  to  employ  him  was  in  a  position  to  do 
so,  and  thus  the  responsibility  for  the  wage-earner's 
family  would  be  laid  upon  the  person  who  profited 

1  Hertford  Co.Rec.,Vol.  I.,  p.  321.  1681.  Letter  from  Francis  Leigh  to  Clerk 
of  Peace. 

*  Hist.  MSS.  Com,  Var,  Coll.  Vol.  I.,  p.  322  Worcestershire  Q.  S.  Rec.,  1661. 


84  AGRICULTURE 

by  his  services.  Petitions  against  this  demand  for 
sureties  came  before  the  Quarter  Sessions.  One  from 
Robert  Vawter  stated  that  he  was  "  a  poore  Day 
labourer  about  a  quarter  of  a  yere  sithence  came  into 
the  said  parish  of  Glutton,  and  there  marryed  with  a 
poore  Almesmans  Daughter,  now  liveing  with  her  said 
father  in  the  Almeshouse  of  Glutton  aforesaid,  and 
would  there  settle  himselfe  with  his  said  wife."  He 
was  ordered  to  find  sureties  or  to  go  to  gaol.1 

It  was  reported  at  Salford  "  Whereas  Rich. 
Hudson  is  come  lately  into  the  towne  with  his  wife 
and  ffbure  children  to  Remaine  that  the  Burrow- 
reeve  and  Constables  of  this  towne  shall  give  notice 
unto  Henry  Wrigley,  Esq.,  upon  whose  land  he  still 
remaynes  that  hee  remove  him  and  his  wife  and  children 
out  of  this  Towne  within  this  moneth  unlesse 
hee  give  sufficient  security  upon  the  paine  of  ffive 
pounds."2 

Similar  orders  were  made  re  Nathan  Cauliffe,  his 
wife  and  three  children,  Robert  Billingham  with  wife 
and  two  children,  Peter  ffarrant  and  his  wife,  &  Roger 
Marland  and  wife.  Later  the  record  continues,  "  and 
yet  the  said  parties  are  not  removed "  order  was 
therefore  made  "  that  this  order  shalbee  put  in 
execution."3  Another  step  in  the  proceedings  is 
recorded  in  the  entry,  "  Whereas  James  Moores,  George 
Moores  and  Adam  Warmeingham  stand  bound  unto 
Henry  Wrigling  Esq.  in  £20  for  the  secureinge  the 
Towne  from  any  poverty  or  disability  which  should  or 
might  befall  unto  the  said  James,  his  wife,  children,  or 
family  or  any  of  them.  And  whereas  it  appeares  that 
the  said  James  Moores  hath  been  Chargeable  whereby 
the  said  bond  is  become  forfeit  yet  this  Jury  doth  give 
the  said  George  Moores  and  Adam  Warmeingham  this 

1  Somerset  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  292,  1637-8. 
*  Salford  Portmote  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  144,  1655. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  151,  1656. 


AGRICULTURE  85 

libtie  that  the  said  James  shall  remove  out  of  this  towne 
before  the  next  Court  Leet."1 

Fines  were  exacted  from  those  who  harboured 
unfortunate  strangers  without  having  first  given 
security  for  them,  and  no  exception  was  made  on  the 
score  of  relationship.  James  Meeke  of  Myddleton  was 
presented  "  for  keeping  of  his  daughter  Ellen  Meeke, 
having  a  husband  dwelling  in  another  place,  and  having 
two  children  borne  forth  of  the  parishe."' 

Rules  made  at  Steeple  Ashton  by  the  Churchwardens 
declare  :  "  There  hath  much  povertie  happened  unto 
this  p'ish  by  receiving  of  strangers  to  inhabit  there 
and  not  first  securing  them  ag'st  such  contingencies 
and  avoiding  the  like  occasions  in  tyme  to  come, 
It  is  ordered  by  this  vestrie  that  ev'ry  p'son  or  p'sons 
whatsoev'r  w'ch  shall  lett  or  sett  any  houseinge  or 
dwellinge  to  any  stranger  and  shall  not  first  give  good 
securite  for  defending  and  saving  harmeless  the  said 
inhabitants  from  the  future  charge  as  may  happen 
by  such  stranger  comeing  to  inhabite  w'thin  the  said 
p'ish  and  if  any  p'son  shall  doe  to  the  contrary  Its 
agreed  that  such  p'son  soe  receiving  such  stranger  shal 
be  rated  to  the  poor  to  zos.  monethlie  over  and  above 
his  monethlie  tax."3 

The  penalties  at  Reading  were  higher.  "  At  this 
daye  Wm.  Porter,  th'elder  was  questioned  for  harbor- 
inge  a  straunger  woman,  and  a  childe,  viz1,  the  wief  of 
John  Taplyn ;  he  worketh  at  Mr.  Ed.  Blagrave's 
in  Early  :  Confesseth.  The  woman  saith  she  hath 
byn  there  ever  syns  Michaellmas  last,  and  payed  rent 
to  goodman  Porter,  xxs  a  yeare  ;  her  kinsman  Faring- 
don  did  take  the  house  for  them.  Wm.  Porter  was 
required  to  paye  xs  a  weeke  accordinge  to  the  orders 
and  was  willed  to  ridd  his  tenant  with  all  speed  upon 

1  Salford  Portmote  Rec.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  150. 

2  Torks.  N.R.  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  170,  1609. 

*  Wilts.  Notes  and  Queries,  Vol.  VII.,  p.  281,  1664.     Churchwarden's  Acct.  Book. 
Steeple  Ashton. 


86  AGRICULTURE 

payne  of  xs  a  weeke  and  to  provide  suretyes  to  discharge 
the  towne  of  the  childe."1 

The  starvation  and  misery  described  in  Quarter 
Sessions  Records  were  not  exceptional  calamities,  but 
represent  the  ordinary  life  of  women  in  the  wage 
earning  class.  The  lives  of  men  were  drab  and 
monotonous,  lacking  pleasure  and  consumed  by 
unending  toil,  but  they  did  not  often  suffer  hunger. 
The  labourer  while  employed  was  well  fed,  for  the 
farmer  did  not  grudge  him  food,  though  he  did  not 
wish  to  feed  his  family.  There  was  seldom  want  of 
employment  for  agricultural  labourers,  and  when 
their  homes  sank  into  depths  of  wretchedness  and  the 
wife's  attractiveness  was  lost  through  slow  starvation, 
the  men  could  depart  and  begin  life  anew  elsewhere. 

The  full  misery  of  the  labourer's  lot  was  only  felt 
by  the  women  ;  if  unencumbered  they  could  have 
returned,  like  the  men,  to  the  comfortable  conditions 
of  service,  but  the  cases  of  mothers  who  deserted  their 
children  are  rare. 

The  hardships  suffered  by  the  women  of  the  wage- 
earning  class  proved  fatal  to  their  children.  Gregory 
King  estimated  that  there  were  on  an  average  only  3^- 
persons,  including  father  and  mother  in  a  labourer's 
family  though  he  gives  4.8  as  the  average  number  of 
children  for  each  family  in  villages  and  hamlets.2 
Another  writer  gives  3  persons  as  the  average 
number  for  a  labourer's  family.3  The  cases  of  disputed 
settlements  which  are  brought  before  Quarter  Sessions 
confirm  the  substantial  truth  of  these  estimates.  It 
is  remarkable  that  where  the  father  is  living  seldom 
more  than  two  or  three  children  are  mentioned,  often 
only  one,  though  in  cases  of  widows  where  the  poverty 
is  recent  and  caused  as  it  were  by  the  accidental  effect  of 

1  Guilding,  Reading  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.   181,   1624. 

1  King  (Gregory)  Natural  and  Political  Observations  and  Conclusions,  p.  44, 
pp.  48-9. 

*  Grasier's  Complaint,  p.  60. 


AGRICULTURE  87 

the  husband's  premature  death,  there  are  often  five  to 
ten  children.  In  Nottingham,  of  seventeen  families, 
who  had  recently  come  to  the  town  and  been  taken  in 
as  tenants,  and  which  the  Council  wanted  to  eject 
for  fear  of  overcrowding,  only  one  had  four  children, 
one  three,  and  the  rest  only  two  or  one  child  apiece.1 

In  fact,  however  large  the  birth  rate  may  have  been, 
and  this  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining,  few  children 
in  the  wage-earning  class  were  reared.  Of  those  who 
reached  maturity  many  were  crippled  in  mind  or 
body,  forming  a  large  class  of  unemployables  destined 
to  be  a  burthen  instead  of  strength  to  the  community. 

This  appalling  loss  and  suffering  was  not  due  to  the 
excessive  work  of  married  women  but  to  their  under- 
feeding and  bad  housing.  Probably  the  women 
of  the  wage-earning  class  actually  accomplished  less 
work  than  the  women  of  the  husbandman  class  ;  but 
the  latter  worked  under  better  conditions  and  were 
well  nourished,  with  the  result  that  their  sons  and 
daughters  have  been  the  backbone  of  the  English 
nation. 

The  sacrifice  of  the  wage-earners'  children  was 
caused  by  the  mother's  starvation  ;  vainly  she  gave 
her  own  food  to  the  children  for  then  she  was  unable 
to  suckle  the  baby  and  grew  too  feeble  for  her  former 
work.  Probably  she  had  herself  been  the  daughter 
of  a  husbandman  and  was  inured  to  labour  from  child 
hood.  "  Sent  abroad  into  service  and  hardship  when 
but  10  years  old  "  as  Oliver  Heywood  wrote  of  a 
faithful  servant,  she  met  the  chances  which  decide 
a  servant's  life.  The  work  on  farms  was  rough,  but 
generally  healthy.  At  first  the  child  herded  the  pigs 
or  the  geese  and  followed  the  harrow  and  as  she 
grew  older  the  poultry  yard  and  the  cows  divided  her 
attention  with  the  housework.  Sometimes  she  was 
brutally  treated  and  often  received  little  training  in 

1  Nottingham,  Records  of  the  Borough  of,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  312-5.  1613. 


88  AGRICULTURE 

her  work,  but  generosity  in  meat  and  drink  has  always 
been  characteristic  of  the  English  farmer,  and  during 
the  hungry  years  of  adolescence  the  average  girl  who 
was  a  servant  in  husbandry  was  amply  nourished.  Then 
came  marriage.  The  more  provident  waited  long  in 
the  hope  of  securing  independence,  and  one  of  those 
desirable  cottages  with  four  acres  of  land,  but  to 
some  the  prospect  seemed  endless  and  at  last  they 
married  hoping  something  would  turn  up  ;  or  perhaps 
they  were  carried  away  by  natural  impulses  and 
married  young  without  any  thought  for  the  future. 
Such  folly  was  the  despair  of  Churchwardens  and 
Overseers,  yet  the  folly  need  not  seem  so  surprising 
when  we  consider  that  delay  brought  the  young 
people  no  assurance  of  improvement  in  their  position. 
Church  and  State  alike  taught  that  it  was  the  duty 
of  men  and  women  to  marry  and  bring  forth  children, 
and  if  for  a  large  class  the  organisation  of  Society 
made  it  impossible  for  them  to  rear  their  children, 
who  is  to  blame  for  the  fate  of  those  children,  their 
parents  or  the  community  ? 

After  one  of  these  imprudent  marriages  the  husband 
sometimes  continued  to  work  on  a  farm  as  a  servant, 
visiting  his  wife  and  children  on  Sundays  and  holidays. 
By  this  means  he,  at  least,  was  well  fed  and  well 
housed.  The  woman  with  a  baby  to  care  for  and 
feed,  could  not  leave  her  home  every  day  to  work  and 
must  share  the  children's  food.  In  consequence 
she  soon  began  to  practise  starvation.  Her  settle- 
ment was  disputed,  and  therefore  her  dwelling  was 
precarious.  Nominally  she  was  transferred  on  marriage 
to  the  parish  where  her  husband  was  bound  as  servant 
for  the  term  of  one  year,  but  the  parish  objected  to 
the  settlement  of  a  married  man  lest  his  children 
became  a  burden  on  them. 

No  one  doubted  that  it  was  somebody's  duty  to 
care  for  the  poor,  but  arrangements  for  relief  were 
strictly  parochial  and  the  fear  of  incurring  unlimited 


AGRICULTURE  89 

future  responsibilities  led  English  parishioners  to 
strange  lengths  of  cruelty  and  callousness.  The  fact 
that  a  woman  was  soon  to  have  a  baby,  instead  of 
appealing  to  their  chivalry,  seemed  to  them  the  best 
reason  for  turning  her  out  of  her  house  and  driving  her 
from  the  village,  even  when  a  hedge  was  her  only 
refuge. 

The  once  lusty  young  woman  who  had  formerly  done 
a  hard  day's  work  with  the  men  at  harvesting  was 
broken  by  this  life.  It  is  said  of  an  army  that  it  fights 
upon  its  stomach.  These  women  faced  the  grim 
battle  of  life,  laden  with  the  heavy  burden  of  child- 
bearing,  seldom  knowing  what  it  meant  to  have 
enough  to  eat.  Is  it  surprising  that  courage  often 
failed  and  they  sank  into  the  spiritless,  dismal  ranks 
of  miserable  beings  met  in  the  pages  of  Quarter  Sessions 
Records,  who  are  constantly  being  forwarded  from 
one  parish  to  another. 

Such  women,  enfeebled  in  mind  and  body,  could  not 
hope  to  earn  more  than  the  twopence  a  day  and  their 
food  which  is  assessed  as  the  maximum  rate  for  women 
workers  in  the  hay  harvest.  On  the  contrary,  judging 
from  the  account  books  of  the  period,  they  often 
received  only  one  penny  a  day  for  their  labour.  Sig- 
nificant of  their  feebleness  is  the  Norfolk  assessment 
which  reads,  "  Women  and  such  impotent  persons 
that  weed  corne,  or  other  such  like  Labourers  2d  with 
meate  and  drinke,  6d  without."1  Such  wages  may 
have  sufficed  for  the  infirm  and  old,  but  they  meant 
starvation  for  the  woman  with  a  young  family  depend- 
ing on  her  for  food.  And  what  chance  of  health  and 
virtue  existed  for  the  children  of  these  enfeebled 
starving  women  ? 

On  the  death  or  desertion  of  her  husband  the 
labouring  woman  became  wholly  dependent  on  the 
Parish  for  support. 

1  Eng.  Hist.  Rev.,  Vol.  xiii.,  p.  522. 


9o  AGRICULTURE 

The  conduct  of  the  magistrates  in  fixing  maximum 
wages  at  a  rate  which  they  knew  to  be  below  subsis- 
tence level  seems  inexplicable  ;  is  in  fact  inexplicable 
until  it  is  understood  that  these  wages  were  never 
intended  to  be  sufficient  for  the  support  of  a  family. 
Statute  31  Eliz.  and  others,  show  that  the  whole 
influence  of  the  Government  and  administration  was 
directed  to  prevent  the  creation  of  a  class  of  wage-earners. 
It  was  an  essential  feature  of  Tudor  policy  to  foster 
the  Yeomanry,  from  whose  ranks  were  recruited  the 
defenders  of  the  realm.  Husbandmen  were  recog- 
nised as  "  the  body  and  stay  "  of  the  kingdom.1  They 
made  the  best  infantry  when  bred  "  not  in  a  servile 
or  indigent  fashion,  but  in  some  free  and  plentiful 
manner."2  If  the  depopulation  of  the  country-side 
went  on  unchecked,  there  would  come  to  pass  "  a 
mere  sollitude  and  vtter  desolation  to  the  whole  Realme, 
furnished  only  with  shepe  and  shepherdes  instead  of 
good  men  ;  wheareby  it  might  be  a  prey  to  oure 
enymies  that  first  would  sett  vppon  it."5 

Probably  the  consideration  of  whether  a  family 
could  be  fed  by  a  labourer's  wage,  seldom  entered  the 
Justices'  heads.  They  wished  the  family  to  win  its 
food  from  a  croft  and  regarded  the  wages  as  merely 
supplementary.  The  Justices  would  like  to  have 
exterminated  wage-earners,  who  were  an  undesirable 
class  in  the  community,  and  they  might  have  succeeded 
as  the  conditions  imposed  upon  the  women  made 
the  rearing  of  children  almost  impossible,  had  not 
economic  forces  constantly  recruited  the  ranks  of 
wage-earners  from  the  class  above  them. 

The  demands  of  capital  however  for  labour  already 
exceeded  the  supply  available  from  the  ranks  of 
husbandmen,  and  could  only  be  met  by  the  establish- 

1  Lipson,  Economic  Hist,  of  England,  p.  153. 

2  Bacon,  Works,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  95. 

8  Lamond  (Eliz.)  Discourse  of  the  Common  weal,  1581. 


AGRICULTURE  91 

ment  of  a  class  of  persons  depending  wholly  on  wages. 
The  strangest  feature  of  the  situation  was  the  fact  that 
the  magistrates  who  were  trying  to  exterminate  wage- 
earners  were  often  themselves  capitalists  creating  the 
demand. 

The  actual  proportion  of  wage-earners  in  the 
seventeenth  century  can  only  be  guessed  at.  The 
statement  of  a  contemporary1  that  Labourers  and 
Cottagers  numbered  2,000,000  persons,  out  of  a  pop- 
ulation of  only  5,000,000  must  be  regarded  as  an 
exaggeration  ;  in  any  case  their  distribution  was  uneven. 

Complaints  are  not  infrequently  brought  before 
Quarter  Sessions  from  parishes  which  say  they  are 
burdened  with  so  great  a  charge  of  poor  that  they  can- 
not support  it  ;  to  other  parishes  the  Justices  are  some- 
times driven  to  issue  orders  on  the  lines  of  a  warrant 
commanding  "  the  Churchwardens  of  the  townes  of 
Screwton  and  Aynderby  to  be  more  diligent  in  relieving 
their  poore,  that  the  court  be  not  troubled  with  any 
further  claymours  therein. "; 

On  the  other  hand  there  were  many  districts  where 
the  wage  earner  was  hardly  known  and  the  authorities, 
like  the  Tithing  men  of  Fisherton  Delamere  could 
report  that  they  "  have  (thanks  to  the  Almighty  God 
theirfor)  no  popish  recusants ;  no  occasion  to  levy 
twelvepence,  for  none  for  bear  to  repair  to  divine  service; 
no  inns  or  alehouses  licensed  or  unlicensed,  no  drunken 
person,  no  unlawful  weights  or  measures,  no  neglect  of 
hues  and  cries,  no  roads  out  of  repair,  no  wandering 
rogues  or  idle  persons,  and  no  inmates  of  whom  they 
desire  information."3  Or  the  Constable  of  Tredington 
who  declared  that  "  the  poor  are  weekly  relieved,  felons 
none  known.  Recusants  one  Bridget  Lyne,  the 

1  Grasier's  Complaint,  p.  60. 

2  Torks.  N.R.  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  22-3,  1605. 

8  Hist.  MSS.  Com.Var.  Coll., Vol.  I.,  p,  93;  Wilts  Q.S.  Rec.,  1621.  A  similar  detailed 
return  was  made  from  the  Hundred  of  Wilton  in  1691.  Many  often  return  '  omni». 
bene  '  and  the  like  in  brief. 


92  AGRICULTURE 

wife  of  Thos.  Lyne.  Tobacco  none  planted.  Vagrants 
Mary  How,  an  Irish  woman  and  her  sister  were  taken 
and  punished  according  to  the  Statute  and  sent  away 
by  pass  with  a  guide  towards  Ireland  in  the  County  of 
Cork."1,  or  as  in  another  report  "  We  have  no  bakers  or 
alehouses  within  our  parish.  We  cannot  find  by  our 
searches  at  night .  or  other  time  that  any  rogues  or 
vagabonds  are  harboured  saving  Mr.  Edward  Hall  who 
lodged  a  poor  woman  and  her  daughter.  We  do  not 
suffer  any  vagrants  which  we  see  begging  in  our  parish 
but  we  give  them  punishment  according  as  we  ought."5 
A  review  of  the  whole  position  of  women  in  Agri- 
culture at  this  time,  shows  the  existence  of  Family 
Industry  at  its  best,  and  of  Capitalism  at  its  worst. 
The  smaller  farmers  and  more  prosperous  husbandmen 
led  a  life  of  industry  and  independence  in  which  every 
capacity  of  the  women,  mental,  moral  and  physical 
had  scope  for  development  and  in  which  they  could 
secure  the  most  favourable  conditions  for  their  children 
— while  among  capitalistic  farmers  a  tendency  can 
already  be  perceived  for  the  women  to  withdraw  from 
the  management  of  business  and  devote  themselves 
to  pleasure.  At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  Capitalism 
fed  the  man  whom  it  needed  for  the  production  of 
wealth  but  made  no  provision  for  his  children ;  and 
the  married  woman,  handicapped  by  her  family  ties, 
when  she  lost  the  economic  position  which  enabled  her 
through  Family  Industry,  to  support  herself  and  her 
children,  became  virtually  a  pauper. 


1  Bund  (J.  W.  Willis)  Worcestershire  Co  Rec.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  564,  1634. 
*  Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  571,  1634. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
TEXTILES. 

(A)  Introductory.     Historical  importance  in  women's  economic  development 
— Predominance  of  women's  labour — Significance  in  development  of  Industrial- 
ism— Low  wages.  • 

(B)  Woollen  Trade.     His£prical  importance — Proportions  of  men  and  women 
employed — Early  experiments  in  factory  system  abandoned — Declining  employ- 
ment of  women  in  management  and  control — Women  Weavers — Burling — 
Spinning — Organization  of   spinning  industry — Women  who  bought  wool  and 
sold  yarn  made  more  profit    than  those  who   worked  for  wages — Methods  of 
spinning — Class   of  women  who  span  for  wages — Rates   of    wages — Disputes 
between  spinsters  and  employers — Demoralisation  of  seasons  of  depression — 
Association  of  men  and  women  in  trade  disputes. 

(C)  Linen.     Chiefly  a  domestic  industry — Introduction  of  Capitalism — In- 
creased demand  caused  by  printing  linens — Attempt  to  establish  a  company — 
Part    taken    by   women — weaving — bleaching — spinning — Wages   below    sub- 
sistence level—Encouragement  of  spinning  by  local  authorities  to   lessen  poor 
relief — Firmin. 

(D)  Silk.  Gold  and  Silver.     Silk  formerly  a  monopoly  of  gentlewomen — In 
seventeenth  century  virtually  one  of  the  pauper    trades.     Gold  and  Silver 
furnished  employment  to  the  poorest  class  of  women — Factory  system  already 
in  use. 

(E)   Conclusion. 

FROM  the  general  economic  standpoint,  the  textile 
industries  rank  second  in  importance  to  agriculture 
during  the  seventeenth  century,  but  in  the  history  of 
women's  economic  development  they  hold  a  position 
which  is  quite  unique.  If  the  food  supply  of  the 
country  depended  largely  on  the  work  of  women  in 
agriculture,  their  labour  was  absolutely  indispensable 
to  the  textile  industries,  for  in  all  ages  and  in  all 
countries  spinning  has  been  a  monopoly  of  women. 
This  monopoly  is  so  nearly  universal  that  we  may 
suspect  some  physiological  inability  on  the  part  of 
men  to  spin  a  fine  even  thread  at  the  requisite  speed, 
and  spinning  forms  the  greater  part  of  the  labour  in 
the  production  of  hand-made  textile  fabrics. 


94  TEXTILES 

It  requires  some  effort  of  the  imagination  in  this 
mechanical  age  to  realize  the  incessant  industry  which 
the  duty  of  clothing  her  own  family  imposed  on  every 
woman,  to  say  nothing  of  the  yarn  required  for  the 
famous  Woollen  Trade.  The  service  rendered  by 
women  in  spinning  for  the  community  was  compared 
by  contemporaries  to  the  service  rendered  by  the 
men  who  ploughed.  "  Like  men  that  would  lay  no 
hand  to  the  plough,  and  women  that  would  set  no 
hand  to  the  wheele,  deserving  the  censure  of  wise 
Solomon,  Hee  that  would  not  labour  should  not  eat."1 

Textile  industries  fall  into  three  groups :  Woollen, 
Linen,  and  Miscellaneous,  comprising  silk,  etc.  Cotton 
is  seldom  mentioned  although  imported  at  this  time 
in  small  quantities  for  mixture  with  linen. 

The  predominance  of  women's  labour  in  the  textile 
trades  makes  their  history  specially  significant  in 
tracing  the  evolution  of  women's  industrial  position 
under  the  influences  of  capitalism  ;  for  the  woollen 
trade  was  one  of  the  first  fields  in  which  capitalistic 
organization  achieved  conspicuous  success. 

The  importance  of  the  woollen  trade  as  a  source  of 
revenue  to  the  Crown  drew  to  it  so  much  attention  that 
many  details  have  been  preserved  concerning  its 
development  ;  showing  with  a  greater  distinctness 
than  in  other  and  more  obscure  trades,  the  steps  by 
which  Capitalistic  Organization  ousted  Family  Industry 
and  the  Domestic  Arts.  It  is  surely  not  altogether 
accidental  that  Industrialism  developed  so  remarkably 
in  two  trades  where  the  labour  of  women  predominated 
— in  the  woollen  trade  which  in  the  seventeenth 
century  was  already  organized  on  capitalistic  lines,  and, 
one  hundred  years  later,  in  the  cotton  trade. 

Some  characteristic  features  of  modern  Industrialism 
were  absent  from  the  woollen  trade  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  work  of  men  and  women  alike  was  carried 

1  Declaration  of  the  Estate  of  Clothing,  p.  2,  1613. 


TEXTILES  95 

on  chiefly  at  home,  and  thus  the  employment  of  married 
women  and  children  was  unimpeded  ;  nor  are  there  any 
signs  of  industrial  jealousy  between  men  and  women, 
who  on  the  contrary,  stand  by  each  other  during  this 
period  in  all  trade  disputes.  Nevertheless,  the  position 
of  the  woman  wage-earner  in  the  textile  trades  was 
extraordinarily  bad,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
the  demand  for  her  labour  appears  nearly  always  to 
have  exceeded  the  supply.  The  evidence  contained  in 
the  following  chapter  shows  that  the  wages  paid  to 
women  in  the  seventeenth  century  for  spinning  linen 
were  insufficient,  and  those  paid  for  spinning  wool, 
barely  sufficient,  for  their  individual  maintenance,  and 
yet  out  of  them  women  were  expected  to  support,  or 
partly  support,  their  children. 

Possibly  the  persistence  of  such  low  wages  throughout 
the  country  was  due  in  a  measure  to  the  convenience 
of  spinning  as  a  tertiary  occupation  for  married 
women.  She  who  was  employed  by  day  in  the  inter- 
vals of  household  duties  with  her  husband's  business 
or  her  dairy  and  garden,  could  spin  through  the  long 
winter  evenings  when  the  light  was  too  bad  for  other 
work.  The  mechanical  character  of  the  movements, 
and  the  small  demand  they  make  on  eye  or  thought, 
renders  spinning  wonderfully  adapted  to  women  whose 
serious  attention  is  engrossed  by  the  care  or  training 
of  their  children.  A  comparison  of  spinster's  wages 
with  those  of  agricultural  labourers,  which  were  also 
below  subsistence  level,  will  show  however  that  such 
an  explanation  does  not  altogether  meet  the  cse. 

The  fact  is  that  far  from  underselling  the  spinsters1 
who  were  wholly  dependent  on  wages  for  their  living, 
it  seems  probable  that  the  women  who  only  span  for 
sale  after  the  needs  of  their  own  households  had  been 
supplied,  received  the  highest  rates  of  pay,  just  as  the 
husbandman,  who  only  worked  occasionally  for  wages, 

Spinster  in  the  seventeenth  century  is  used  in  its  technical  sense  and  refers 
equally  to  women  who  are  married,  unmarried  or  widow?, 


96  TEXTILES 

was  paid  better  than  the  labourer  who  worked  for 
them  all  the  year  round,  and  whose  family  depended 
exclusively  on  him.  Disorganization  and  lack  of  bar- 
gaining power,  coupled  with  traditions  founded  upon 
an  earlier  social  organization,  were  responsible  for  the 
low  wages  of  the  spinsters.  The  agricultural  labourer 
was  crippled  in  his  individual  efforts  for  a  decent  wage 
because  society  persisted  in  regarding  him  as  a  household 
servant.  The  spinster  was  handicapped  because  in  a 
society  which  began  to  assert  the  individual's  right  to 
freedom,  she  had  from  her  infancy  been  trained  to 
subjection. 

It  must  however  be  remembered  that  though  a  large 
part  of  the  ensuing  chapter  is  concerned  with  spinsters 
and  their  wages,  much,  perhaps  most,  of  the  thread 
spun  never  came  into  the  market,  but  was  produced  for 
domestic  consumption.  Thus  we  find  all  three  forms 
of  industrial  organisation  existing  simultaneously  in 
these  trades — Domestic  Industry,  Family  Industry, 
and  Capitalistic  Industry. 

Domestic  Industry  lingered  especially  in  the  Linen 
Trade  until  machinery  made  the  spinning  wheel 
obsolete,  and  Family  Industry  was  still  extensively 
practised  in  the  seventeenth  century ;  but  Capitalistic 
Industry,  already  established  in  the  Woollen  Trade, 
was  making  rapid  inroads  on  the  other  branches  of  the 
Textile  Trades. 

Although  Capitalism  undermined  the  position  of 
considerable  economic  independence  enjoyed  by 
married  women  and  widows  in  the  tradesman  and 
farming  classes,  possibly  its  intoduction  may  have 
improved  the  position  of  unmarried  women,  and 
others  who  were  already  dependent  on  wages ;  but 
such  improvements  belong  to  a  later  date.  Their 
only  indication  in  the  seventeenth  century  is  the  clearly 
proved  fact  that  wages  for  spinning  were  higher  in  the 
more  thoroughly  capitalistic  woollen  trade,  than  in  the 
linen  trade.  Further  evidence  is  a  suggestion  by  Defoe 


TEXTILES  97 

that  wages  for  spinning  in  the  woollen  trade  were 
doubled,  or  even  trebled,  in  the  first  decade  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  but  no  sign  of  this  advance  can 
be  detected  in  our  period. 

(B.)  Woollen  Trade. 

The  interest  of  the  Government  and  of  all  those  who 
studied  financial  and  economic  questions,  was  focussed 
upon  the  Woollen  Trade,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it 
formed  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  revenue  for  the 
Crown.  At  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century 
woollen  goods  formed  a  third  of  the  English  exports.1 

Historically  the  Woollen  Trade  has  a  further  im- 
portance, due  to  the  part  which  it  played  in  the  devel- 
opment of  capitalism.  The  manufacture  of  woollen 
materials  had  existed  in  the  remote  past  as  a  family 
industry,  and  even  in  the  twentieth  century  this  method 
still  survives  in  the  remoter  parts  of  the  British  Isles  ; 
but  the  manufacture  of  cloth  for  Foreign  trade  was 
from  its  beginning  organized  on  Capitalistic  lines,  and 
the  copious  records  which  have  been  preserved  of  its 
development,  illustrate  the  history  of  Capitalism 
itself. 

It  was  estimated  that  about  one  million  men,  women 
and  children  were  exclusively  employed  in  the  clothing 
trade, — "  all  have  their  dependence  solely  and  wholly 
upon  the  said  Manufacture,  without  intermixing 
themselves  in  the  labours  of  Hedging,  Ditching, 
Quicksetting,  and  others  the  works  belonging  to 
Husbandry."1 

In  1612  eight  thousand  persons,  men,  women  and 

1  Davenant  (Inspector-General  of  Exports  and  Imports).     An  account  of  the  trade 
between  Create  Britain,  France,  Holland,  Spain,  Portugal,  Italy,  Africa,  Newfoundland 
etc.,  with  the  importations  and  exportation;,  of  all  Commodities,  particularly  of  the 
Woollen  Manufactures,  delivered  in  his  reports  made  to  the  Commissioners  for  Publick 
Accounts.  1715,  p.  71.     Our  general  exports    for    the    year     1699    are    valued   at 
£6,  788,166,  175.  6|d.     Whereof  the  Woollen  Manufacture  for  the  same  year  are 
valued  at  ^2,932,292,  173.  6fd. 

2  Proverb  Crossed,  p.  8,  1677.    See  also  Case  of  the  Woollen  Manufacturers  of  Great 
Britain  which  states  that  they  are  "  the  subsistance  of  more  than  a  Million  of  Poor 
of  both  sexes,  who  are  employed  therein." 


98  TEXTILES 

children  were  said  to  be  employed  in  the  clothing 
trade  in  Tiverton  alone.1  While  giving  933,966  hands 
as  the  number  properly  employed  in  woollen  manu- 
facture, another  writer  says  that  women  and  children 
(girls  and  boys)  were  employed  in  the  proportion  of 
about  eight  to  one  man.2 

Sudh  figures  must  be  taken  with  reserve,  for  the 
proportions  of  men  and  women  employed  varied 
according  to  the  quality  of  the  stuff  woven,  and 
pamphleteers  of  the  seventeenth  century  handled 
figures  with  little  regard  to  scientific  accuracy.3  But 
the  uncertainty  only  refers  to  the  exact  proportion  ; 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Woollen  Trade  depended 
chiefly  upon  women  and  children  for  its  labour  supply. 

For  the  student  of  social  organization  it  is  note- 
worthy that  in  the  two  textile  trades  through  which 
capitalism  made  in  England  its  most  striking  advances 
—the  woollen  trade,  and  in  later  years,  the  cotton 
trade,  the  labour  of  women  predominated, — a  fact 
which  suggests  obscure  actions  and  reactions  between 
capitalism  and  the  economic  position  of  women,  worthy 
of  more  careful  investigation  than  they  have  as  yet 
received. 

The  woollen  trade  passed  through  a  period  of  rapid 
progress  and  development  in  the  sixteenth  century.  It 
was  then  that  the  Clothiers  of  Wiltshire  and  Somerset 
acquired  wealth  and  fame,  building  as  a  memorial 
for  posterity  the  Tudor  houses  and  churches  which 

1  Dunsford.  Hist.  Tiverton,  p.  408. 

2  Short  Essay  upon  Trade,  p.  18,  1741. 

8  The  following  estimates  were  made  by  different  writers  :  out  of  1187  persona 
supposed  to  be  employed  for  one  week  in  making  up  1200  Ibs.  weight  of  wool,  900 
are  given  as  spinners.  (Weavers  True  Case,  p.  42,  1714.) 

One  pack  of  short  wool  finds  employment  for  63  persons  for  one  week,  viz  :  28  men 
and  boys  :  35  women  and  girls  who  are  only  expected  to  do  the  carding  and  spinning. 

A  similar  pack  made  into  stockings  would  provide  work  for  82  men  and  102  spinners 
and  if  made  up  for  the  Spanish  trade,  a  pack  of  wool  would  employ  52  men  and  250 
women. 
(Haynes  (John)  Great  Britain's  Glory,  p.  6,  p.  8.  1715-) 


TEXTILES  99 

still  adorn  these  counties.  Leland,  writing  of  a  typical 
clothier  and  his  successful  enterprises  and  ambitions, 
describes  at  Malmesbury,  Wiltshire  "  a  litle  chirch 
joining  to  the  South  side  of  the  Transeptum  of  thabby 
chirch,  .  .  .  Wevers  hath  now  lomes  in  this  litle 
chirch,  but  it  stondith  .  .  .  the  hole  logginges 
of  thabbay  be  now  longging  to  one  Stumpe,  an  exceding 
riche  clothiar  that  boute  them  of  the  king.  This 
Stumpes  sunne  hath  maried  Sir  Edward  Baynton's 
doughter.  This  Stumpe  was  the  chef  causer  and 
contributer  to  have  thabbay  chirch  made  a  paroch 
chirch.  At  this  present  tyme  every  corner  of  the  vaste 
houses  of  office  that  belongid  to  thabbay  be  fulle 
oflumbestowevecloothyn,  and  this  Stumpe  entendith 
to  make  a  stret  or  2  for  clothier  in  the  bak  vacant 
ground  of  the  abbay  that  is  withyn  the  toune  waulles."1 
There  must  have  been  a  marked  tendency  at  this  time 
to  bring  the  wage-earners  of  the  woollen  industry 
under  factory  control,  for  a  description  which  is  given 
of  John  Winchcombe's  household  says  that 

"  Within  one  room  being  large  and  long 
There  stood  two  hundred  Looms  full  strong, 
Two  hundred  men  the  truth  is  so 
Wrought  in  these  looms  all  in  a  row, 
By  evry  one  a  pretty  boy 
Sate  making  quills  with  mickle  joy. 
And  in  another  place  hard  by, 
An  hundred  women  merrily, 
Were  carding  hard  with  joyful  cheer 
Who  singing  sate  with  voices  clear.   ,< 
And  in  a  chamber  close  beside, 
Two  hundred  maidens  did  abide, 
In  petticoats  of  Stammell  red, 
And  milk-white  kerchers  on  their  head."  * 

These  experiments  were  discontinued,  partly  because 
they  were  discountenanced  by  the  Government,  which 
considered  the  factory  system  rendered  the  wage-earners 
too  dependent  on  the  clothiers ;  and  also  because 
the  collection  of  large  numbers  of  workpeople  under  one 

1  Leland  (John)  Itinerary,  1535-1543  ;  Part  II,  pp.  131-2. 
8  Lipson,  Econ.  Hist,  of  England,  p.  420. 


TOO  TEXTILES 

roof  provided  them  with  the  opportunity  for  com- 
bination and  insubordination.1  Moreover  the  factory 
system  was  not  really  advantageous  to  the  manufacturer 
before  the  introduction  of  power,  because  he  could 
pay  lower  wages  to  the  women  who  worked  at  home 
than  to  those  who  left  their  families  in  order  to  work 
on  his  premises.  Thus  the  practice  was  dropped.  In 
1603  the  Wiltshire  Quarter  Sessions  published  regu- 
lations to  the  effect  that  "  Noe  Clotheman  shall 
keepe  above  one  lombe  in  his  house,  neither  any  weaver 
that  hath  a  ploughland  shall  keepe  more  than  one 
lombe  in  his  house.  Noe  person  or  persons  shall 
keepe  any  lombe  or  lombs  goeinge  in  any  other  house 
or  houses  beside  their  owne,  or  mayntayne  any  to  doe 
the  same."2 

Few  references  occur  to  the  wives  of  successful 
clothiers  or  wool-merchants  who  were  actively  inter- 
ested in  their  husband's  business,  though  no  doubt 
their  help  was  often  enlisted  in  the  smaller  or  more 
struggling  concerns.  Thus  the  names  of  three  widows 
are  given  in  a  list  of  eleven  persons  who  were  using 
handicrafts  at  Maidstone.  "  The  better  sorte  of  these 
we  take  to  bee  but  of  mean  e  ability  and  most  of  them 
poore  but  by  theire  trade  the  poore  both  of  the  towne 
and  country  adjoyning  are  ymploied  to  spynnyng."' 

A  pamphlet  published  in  1692  describes  how  in 
former  days  "  the  Clothier  that  made  the  cloth,  sold  it 
to  the  merchant,  and  heard  the  faults  of  his  own 
cloth  ;  and  forc'd  sometimes  not  only  to  promise 
amendment  himself,  but  to  go  home  and  tell  Joan,  to 
have  the  Wool  better  pick'd,  and  the  Yarn  better 
spun."4 

A  certain   Rachel  Thiery  applied  for  a  monopoly 

1  See  Weavers'  Act,  1555. 

*  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Var.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  75,  Wilts.  O.S.  Rec.,  1603. 

3  S.P.D.,  cxxix,  45,  Ap.  10,  1622,  Return  of  the  Mayor. 

1  Clothier's  Complaint,  etc.,  p.  7,  1692, 


TEXTILES  101 

in  Southampton  for  the  pressing  of  serges,  and  having 
heard  that  the  suit  had  been  referred  by  the  Queen 
to  Sir  J.  Caesar,  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  wrote, 
July  2,  1599,  to  let  him  know  how  inconvenient  the 
granting  of  the  suit  would  be  to  the  town  of  South- 
ampton. 

i .  Those  strangers  who  have  presses  already  would 
be  ruined. 

ii.  Many  of  their  men  servants  (English  and 
strangers)  bred  up  to  the  trade  would  be  idle. 

in.  "The  woeman  verie  poore  and  beggarlie, 
altogether  unable  to  performe  it  in  workmanshipp  or 
otherwise.  .  .  .  Againe  she  is  verie  idle,  a  prattling 
gossipp,  unfitt  to  undertake  a  matter  of  so  great  a 
charge,  her  husband  a  poore  man  being  departed 
from  her  and  comorant  in  Rochell  these  1 1  yeres  at  least. 
She  is  verie  untrustie  and  approoved  to  have  en- 
gaged mens  clothes  which  in  times  past  have  been 
putt  to  her  for  pressinge.  Verie  insufficient  to  answer 
of  herself  men's  goodes  and  unable  to  procure  anie  good 
Caution  to  render  the  owners  there  goodes  againe, 
havinge  not  so  much  as  a  howse  to  putt  her  head  in, 
insomuch  as  (marvellinge  under  what  coullour  she  doth 
seeke  to  attaine  to  a  matter  of  such  weight)  we  ... 
should  hold  them  worsse  than  madd  that  would  hazzard 
or  comitt  there  goodes  into  her  handes.  And  to 
conclude  she  is  generallie  held  amongest  us  an  unfitt 
woeman  to  dwell  in  a  well  governed  Commonwealth."1 

An  incident  showing  the  wife  as  virtual  manager  of 
her  husband's  business  is  described  in  a  letter  from 
Thomas  Cocks  of  Crowle  to  Sir  Robert  Berkely,  Kt.. 
in  1633.  Rewrites  complaining  of  a  certain  Careless 
who  obtained  a  licence  to  sell  ale  "  because  he  was  a 
surgeon  and  had  many  patients  come  to  him  for  help, 
and  found  it  a  great  inconvenience  for  them  to  go  to 
remote  places  for  their  diet  and  drink,  and  in  that 

1  Lansdowne,  161,  fo.  127,  2nd  July,  1599. 

' 


102  TEXTILES 

respect  obtained  a  licence  with  a  limitation  to  sell  ale 
to  none  but  his  patients.  .  .  but  now  of  late 
especially  he  far  exceeds  his  bounds.  ...  A  poor 
fellow  who  professed  himself  an  extraordinary  carder 
and  spinner  .  .  .  was  of  late  set  a  work  by  my 
wife  to  card  and  spin  coarse  wool  for  blankets  and  when 
he  had  gotten  some  money  for  his  work  to  Careless 
he  goes."  Having  got  drunk  there  and  coming  back  in 
the  early  hours  of  the  morning  he  made  such  a  noise 
in  the  churchyard  "  being  near  my  chamber  I  woke 
my  wife  who  called  up  all  my  men  to  go  into  the 
churchyard  and  see  what  the  matter  was."1 

That  Mrs.  Cocks  should  engage  and  direct  her  hus- 
band's workpeople  would  not  be  surprising  to  seven- 
teenth century  minds,  for  women  did  so  naturally  in 
family  industry ;  but  when  capitalized,  business  tended 
to  drift  away  beyond  the  wife's  sphere,  and  thus  even 
then  it  was  unusual  to  find  women  connected  with 
the  clothing  trade,  except  as  wage-earners. 

Of  the  processes  involved  in  making  cloth,  weaving 
was  generally  done  by  men,  while  the  spinning,  which 
was  equally  essential  to  its  production,  was  exclusively 
done  by  women  and  children. 

In  earlier  days  weaving  had  certainly  been  to  some 
extent  a  woman's  trade.  "  Webster  "  which  is  the 
feminine  form  of  the  old  term  "  Webber  "  is  used  in 
old  documents,  and  in  these  women  are  also  specifically 
named  as  following  this  trade  ;  thus  on  the  Suffolk  Poll 
Tax  Roll  are  entered  the  names  of 

"  John  Wros,  shepherd. 
Agneta  his  wife,  webster. 
Margery,  his  daughter,  webster. 
Thomas  his  servant  and 
Beatrice  his  servant." 

It  appears  also  that  there  were  women  among  the 
weavers  who  came  from  abroad  to  establish  the  cloth 
making  in  England,  for  a  Statute  in  1271  provides  that 

Bund  (J.  W.  W.)  Worcestershire  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p  530. 


TEXTILES  103 

"  all  workers  of  woollen  cloths,  male  and  female, 
as  well  of  Flanders  as  of  other  lands,  may  safely  come 
into  our  realm  there  to  make  cloths  .  .  .  upon  the 
understanding  that  those  who  shall  so  come  and  make 
such  cloths,  shall  be  quit  of  toll  and  tallage,  and  of 
payment  of  other  customs  for  their  work  until  the  end 
of  five  years."1 

Later  however,  women  were  excluded  from  cloth 
weaving  on  the  ground  that  their  strength  was  insuffi- 
cient to  work  the  wide  and  heavy  looms  in  use  ;  thus 
orders  were  issued  for  Norwich  Worsted  Weavers  in 
1511  forbidding  women  and  maids  to  weave  worsteds 
because  "  thei  bee  nott  of  sufficient  powre  to  werke 
the  said  worsteddes  as  thei  owte  to  be  wrought."' 

Complaint  was  made  in  Bristol  in  1461  that  weavers 
"  puttyn,  occupien,  and  hiren  ther  wyfes,  doughters, 
and  maidens,  some  to  weve  in  ther  owne  lombes  and 
some  to  hire  them  to  wirche  with  othour  persons  of 
the  said  crafte  by  the  which  many  and  divers  of  the 
king's  liege  people,  likely  men  to  do  the  king  service 
in  his  wars  and  in  defence  of  this  his  land,  and  suffi- 
ciently learned  in  the  said  craft,  goeth  vagrant  and 
unoccupied,  and  may  not  have  their  labour  to  their 
living."3 

At  Kingston  upon-Hull,' the  weavers  Composition 
in  1490,  ordained  that  "  ther  shall  no  woman  worke 
in  any  warke  concernyng  this  occupacon  wtin  the 
towne  of  Hull,  uppon  payn  of  xls.  to  be  devyded  in 
forme  by  fore  reherced."4 

A  prohibition  of  this  character  could  not  resist  the 
force  of  public  opinion  which  upheld  the  woman's 
claim  to  continue  in  her  husband's  trade.  Widow's 
rights  are  sustained  in  the  Weaver's  Ordinances 

1  Riley.     Chronicles  of  London,  p.  142. 

2  Tingye,  Norwich  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p,  378. 

3  Little  Red  Book  of  Bristol,  Vol.  II.,  p.  127. 

4  Lambert,  2000  years  of  Gild  Life,  p.  6. 


104  TEXTILES 

formulated  by  25  Charles  II.  which  declare  that  "  it 
shall  be  lawfull  for  the  Widow  of  any  Weaver  (who 
at  the  time  of  his  death  was  a  free  Burgesse  of  the 
said  Town,  and  a  free  Brother  of  the  said  Company) 
to  use  and  occupy  the  said  trade  by  herselfe,  her 
Apprentices  and  Servants,  so  long  as  shee  continues  a 
Widow  and  observeth  such  Orders  as  are  or  shalbe 
made  to  be  used  amongst  the  Company  of  Weavers 
within  this  Town  of  Kingston  upon  Hull.1 

Even  when  virtually  excluded  from  the  weaving  of 
"  cloaths  "  women  continued  to  be  habitually  em- 
ployed in  the  weaving  of  other  materials.  A  petition 
was  presented  on  their  behalf  against  an  invention 
which  threatened  a  number  with  unemployment  : 
"  Also  wee  most  humbly  desire  your  worship  that  you 
would  have  in  remembrance  that  same  develishe  inven- 
tion which  was  invented  by  strangers  and  brought  into 
this  land  by  them,  which  hath  beene  the  utter  over- 
throwe  of  many  poore  people  which  heretofore  have 
lived  very  well  by  their  handy  laboure  which  nowe  are 
forced  to  goe  a  begginge  and  wilbe  the  utter  Des- 
truccion  of  the  trade  of  weaving  if  some  speedy  course 
be  not  taken  therein.  Wee  meane  those  looms  with 
12,  15,  20,  1 8,  20,  24,  shuttles  which  make  tape,  ribbon, 
stript  garteringe  and  the  like,  which  heretofore  was 
made  by  poore  aged  woemen  and  children,  but  none 
nowe  to  be  scene."2 

The  Rules  of  the  Society  of  Weavers  of  the  "  Stuffs 
called  Kiddirminster  Stuffes"  required  that  care  should 
be  taken  to  have  apprentices  "  bound  according 
to  ye  Lawes  of  ye  Realme  .  .  .  for  which  they 
shall  be  allowed  2s.  6d  and  not  above,to  be  payd  by  him 
or  her  that  shall  procure  the  same  Apprentice  to  be 
bound  as  aforesayd."3 

1  Lambert,2ooo  Tears  of  Gild  Life,  p.  210. 

*  S.P.D.,  cxxi,  155,  1621. 

8  Burton,  J.  R.,  Hist,  of  Kidderminster.,  p.  175,  Borough  Ordinances,  1650. 


TEXTILES  105 

John  Grove  w  as  bound  about  the  year  1655  to  "  the 
said  George  and  Mary  to  bee  taught  and  instructed 
in  the  trade  of  a  serge-weaver,"  and  a  lamentable 
account  is  given  of  the  inordinate  manner  in  which 
the  said  Mary  did  beat  him.1 

It  is  impossible  from  the  scanty  information 
available  to  arrive  at  a  final  conclusion  concerning  the 
position  of  women  weavers.  Clearly  an  attempt  had 
been  made  to  exclude  them  from  the  more  highly 
skilled  branches  of  the  trade,  but  it  is  also  evident  that 
this  had  not  been  successful  in  depriving  widows  of 
their  rights  in  this  respect.  Nor  does  the  absence  of 
information  concerning  women  weavers  prove  that 
they  were  rarely  employed  in  such  work.  The  divi- 
sion of  work  between  women  and  men  was  a  question 
which  aroused  little  interest  at  this  time  and  therefore 
references  to  the  part  taken  by  women  are  accidental. 
They  may  have  been  extensively  engaged  in  weaving  for 
they  are  mentioned  as  still  numerous  among  the  hand- 
loom  weavers  of  the  nineteenth  century.2  Another 
process  in  the  manufacture  of  cloth  which  gave  employ- 
ment to  women  was  "  Burling."  The  minister  and 
Mayor  of  Westbury  presented  a  petition  to  the  Wilt- 
shire Quarter  Sessions  in  1657  on  behalf  of  certain  poor 

1  Somerset  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  268-9.     1655. 

1  Report  of  the  Commissioners  on  the  condition  of  the  Handloom  Weavers,  1841.  x 
p.  323,  Mr.  Chapman's  report. 

"  The  young  weaver  just  out  of  his  apprenticeship  is  perhaps  as  well  able  to  earn 
as  he  will  be  at  any  future  period  setting  aside  the  domestic  comforts  incidental  to  the 
married  state,  his  pecuniary  condition  is  in  the  first  instance  improved  by  uniting 
himself  with  a  woman  capable  of  earning  perhaps  nearly  as  much  as  himself,  and 
performing  for  him  various  offices  involving  an  actual  pecuniary  saving.  A 
married  man  with  an  income,  the  result  of  the  earnings  of  himself  and  wife  of  2os. 
will  enjoy  more  substantial  comfort  in  every  way  than  he  alone  would  enjoy  with  an 
income  of  153.  a  week.  This  alone  is  an  inducement  to  early  marriage.  In  obedi- 
ence to  this  primary  inducement  the  weaver  almost  invariably  marries  soon  after  he  is 
out  of  his  apprenticeship.  But  the  improvement  of  comfort  which  marriage  brings 
is  of  short  duration  ;  .  .  About  the  tenth  year  the  labour  of  the  eldest  child 
becomes  available.  .  .  .  Many  men  have  depended  on  their  wives  &  their 
children  to  support  themselves  by  their  own  earnings,  independent  of  his  wages. 
The  wives  and  children  consequently  took  to  the  loom,  or  sought  work  in  the 
factories  ;  and  now  that  there  is  little  or  no  work  in  the  district,  the  evil  is  felt, 
and  the  husband  is  obliged  to  maintain  them  out  of  his  wages." 


106  TEXTILES 

people  who  had  obtained  their  living  by  the  "  Burling 
of  broad  medley  clothes,"  three  of  whose  daughters 
had  now  been  indicted  by  certain  persons  desirous 
to  appropriate  the  said  employment  to  themselves  ; 
they  show  "  that  the  said  employment  of  Burling 
hath  not  been  known  to  be  practised  among  us 
as  any  prentice  trade,  neither  hath  any  been  appren- 
tice to  it  as  to  such,  but  clothiers  have  ever  putt  theyr 
clothes  to  Burling  to  any  who  would  undertake  the 
same,  as  they  doe  theyr  woolles  to  spinning.  Also  that 
the  said  imployment  of  Burling  is  a  common  good  to 
this  poore  town  and  parish,  conducing  to  the  reliefe 
of  many  poore  families  therein  and  the  setting  of 
many  poore  children  on  work.  And  if  the  said  imploy- 
ment of  Burling  should  be  appropriated  by  any  partic- 
ular persons  to  themselves  it  would  redound  much  to 
the  hurt  of  clothing,  and  to  the  undoing  of  many 
poore  families  there  whoe  have  theyre  cheife  main- 
teynance  therefrom."^ 

It  was  not  however  the  uncertain  part  they  played 
in  the  processes  of  weaving,  burling  or  carding,  which 
constituted  the  importance  of  the  woollen  trade  in 
regard  to  women's  industrial  position.  Their  employ- 
ment in  these  directions  was  insignificant  compared 
with  the  unceasing  and  never  satisfied  demand  which 
the  production  of  yarn  made  upon  their  labour.  It  is 
impossible  to  give  any  estimate  of  the  quantity  of  wool 
spun  for  domestic  purposes.  That  this  was  considerable 
is  shown  by  a  recommendation  from  the  Commission 
appointed  to  enquire  into  the  decay  of  the 
Cloth  Trade  in  1622,  who  advise  "  that  huswyves 
may  not  make  cloth  to  sell  agayne,  but  for  the  provision 
of  themselves  and  their  famylie  that  the  clothiers 
and  Drapers  be  not  dis-coraged."5 

The  housewife  span  both  wool  and  flax  for  domestic 

1  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Far.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  135,  Wilts.  Q.S.  Rec.,  1657. 

*  Report  of  Commission  of  Decay  of  Clothing  Trade,  1622,  Stowe,  554,  fo.  48!). 


TEXTILES  107 

use,  but  this  aspect  of  her  industry  will  be  considered 
more  fully  in  connection  with  the  linen  trade,  attention 
here  being  concentrated  on  the  condition  of  the 
spinsters  in  the  woollen  trade.  Their  organization 
varied  widely  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  Some- 
times the  spinster  bought  the  wool,  span  it,  and  then 
sold  the  yarn,  thus  securing  all  the  profit  of  the  tran- 
saction for  herself.  In  other  cases  she  was  supplied 
with  the  wool  by  the  clothier,  or  a  "  market  spinner  " 
and  only  received  piece  wages  for  her  labour.  The 
system  in  vogue  was  partly  decided  by  the  custom 
of  the  locality,  but  there  was  everywhere  a 
tendency  to  substitute  the  latter  for  the  former 
method. 

Statute  I.  Edward  VI.  chap.  6  recites  that  "  the 
greatest  and  almost  the  whole  number  of  the 
poor  inhabitants  of  the  county  of  Norfolk  and  the 
city  of  Norwich  be,  and  have  been  heretofore  for  a 
great  time  maintained  and  gotten  their  living,  by 
spinning  of  the  wool  growing  in  the  said  county  of 
Norfolk,  upon  the  rock  [distaff]  into  yarn,  and  by  all 
the  said  time  have  used  to  have  their  access  to  common 
markets  within  the  said  county  and  city,  to  buy  their 
wools,  there  to  be  spun  as  is  aforesaid,  of  certain  persons 
called  retailers  of  the  said  wool  by  eight  penny  worth 
and  twelve  penny  worth  at  one  time,  or  thereabouts, 
and  selling  the  same  again  in  yarn,  and  have  not  used  to 
buy,  ne  can  buy  the  said  wools  of  the  breeders  of  the 
said  wools  by  such  small  parcels,  as  well  as  for  that 
the  said  breeders  of  the  said  wools  will  not  sell  their 
said  wools  by  such  small  parcels,  as  also  for  that  the 
most  part  of  the  said  poor  persons  dwell  far  off  from 
the  said  breeders  of  the  said  wools."1 

During  a  scarcity  of  wool  the  Corporation  at  Nor- 
wich compelled  the  butchers  to  offer  their  wool  fells 
exclusively  to  the  spinsters  during  the  morning  hours 

1  Jamet  (John)  Hist,  of  Worsted,  p.  98. 


io8  TEXTILES 

until  the  next  sheep-shearing  season,  so  that  the  tawers 
and  others  might  not  be  able  to  outbid  them.1 

It  is  suggested  that  nearly  half  the  yarn  used  in  the 
great  clothing  counties  at  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  was  produced  in  this  way  :  "  Yarn  is 
weekly  broughte  into  the  market  by  a  great  number  of 
poor  people  that  will  not  spin  to  the  clothier  for  small 
wages,  but  have  stock  enough  to  set  themselves  on 
work,  and  do  weekly  buy  their  wool  in  the  market  by 
very  small  parcels  according  to  their  use,  and  weekly 
return  it  in  yarn  and  make  good  profit,  having  the 
benefit  both  of  their  labour  and  of  their  mer- 
chandize and  live  exceeding  well.  ...  So  many 
that  it  is  supposed  that  more  than  half  the  cloth  of 
Wilts.,  Gloucester  and  Somersetshire  is  made  by 
means  of  these  yarnmakers  and  poor  clothiers  that 
depend  wholly  on  the  wool  chapman  which  serves  them 
weekly  for  wools  either  for  money  or  credit."5 

Apparently  this  custom  by  which  the  spinsters 
retained  in  their  own  hands  the  merchandize  of  their 
goods  still  prevailed  in  some  counties  at  the  beginning 
of  the  following  century,  for  it  is  said  in  a  pamphlet 
which  was  published  in  1741  "  that  poor  People,  chiefly 
Day  Labourers,  ....  whilst  they  are  employed 
abroad  themselves,  get  forty  or  fifty  Pounds  of  Wool 
at  a  Time,  to  employ  their  Wives  and  Children  at  home 
in  Carding  and  Spinning,  of  which  when  they  have 
10  or  20  pounds  ready  for  the  Clothier,  they  go  to 
Market  with  it  and  there  sell  it,  and  so  return  home 
as  fast  as  they  can.  .  .  the  common  way  the  poor 
women  in  Hampshire,  Wiltshire,  and  Dorsetshire,  and 
I  believe  in  other  counties,  have  of  getting  to  Market 
(especially  in  the  Winter-time)  is,  by  the  Help  of  some 
Farmers'  Waggons,  which  carry  them  and  their 
yarn  ;  and  as  soon  as  the  Farmers  have  set  down  their 

1Tingye.     Norwich,  Vol  II.  xcvii,  1532. 

*  S.P.D.  Ixxx.,  13.,  Jan.    1615.    General  Conditions  of  Wool  and  Cloth  Trade, 


TEXTILES  109 

corn  in  the  Market,  and  baited  their  Horses,  they  return 
home.  .  .  .  During  the  Time  the  waggons  stop, 
the  poor  Women  carry  their  Yarn  to  the  Clothiers  for 
whom  they  work  ;  then  they  get  the  few  Things  they 
want,  and  return  to  the  Inn  to  be  carried  home  again. 
.  .  .  Many  of  them  ten  or  twelve  miles 
there  will  be  in  Market  time  3  or  400  poor  People 
(chiefly  Women)  who  will  sell  their  Goods  in  about  an 
Hour."1 

According  to  this  writer  other  women  worked  for  the 
"  rich  clothier"  who  "  makes  his  whole  year's  provision  ' 
of  wool  beforehand  ...  in  the  winter  time  has 
it  spun  by  his  own  spinsters  ...  at  the  lowest 
rate  for  wages,"  or  they  worked  for  the  "  market 
spinner "  or  middleman  who  supplied  them  with 
wool  mixed  in  the  right  proportions  and  sold  their 
yarn  to  the  clothiers.  In  either  case  the  return  for 
their  labour  was  less  than  that  secured  by  the  spinsters 
who  had  sufficient  capital  to  buy  their  wool  and  sell 
the  yarn  in  the  dearest  market.  When  the  Staplers 
tried  to  secure  a  monopoly  for  selling  wool,the  Growers 
of  wool,  or  Chapmen  petitioned  in  self-defence 
explaining  "  that  the  clothier's  poor  are  all  servants 
working  for  small  wages  that  doth  but  keepe  them 
alive,  whereas  the  number  of  people  required  to  work 
up  the  same  amount  of  wool  in  the  new  Drapery  is 
much  larger.  Moreover,  all  sorts  of  these  people 
are  masters  in  their  trade  and  work  for  themselves, 
they  buy  and  sell  their  materials  that  they  work  upon, 
so  that  by  their  merchandize  and  honest  labour  they 
live  very  well.  These  are  served  of  their  wools  weekly 
by  the  wool-buyer."2 

Opinion  was  divided  as  to  whether  the  spinster 
found  it  more  advantageous  to  work  direct  for  the 
Clothier  or  for  the  Market  Spinner.  A  proposal  in 

1  Remarks  upon  Mr.  Webber's  scheme,  pp.  21-2,  1741. 
1  5.P.D.,  kxx.,-i5-i6.,  Jan,  1615. 


i  io  TEXTILES 

1693  to  put  down  the  middle  man,  was  advised  against 
by  the  Justices  -of  Assize  for  Wiltshire,  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  "  likely  to  cause  great  reduction  of  wages 
and  employment  to  the  spinners  and  the  poor,  and  a 
loss  to  the  growers  of  wool,  and  no  advantage  in  the 
quality  of  the  yarn." 

The  Justices  say  in  their  report :  "  We  finde  the 
markett  spinner  who  setts  many  spinners  on  worke 
spinnes  not  the  fake  yarn,  but  the  poorer  sorte  of 
people  (who  spinne  theyr  wool  in  theyr  owne  howses) 
for  if  the  markett  spinners  who  spinne  greate  quantitys 
and  sell  it  in  the  markett  should  make  bad  yarne, 
they  should  thereby  disable  themselves  to  maynetayne 
theyre  creditt  and  livelyhood.  And  that  the  more 
spinners  there  are,  the  more  cloth  will  be  made  and  the 
better  vent  for  Woolls  (which  is  the  staple  commodity 
of  the  kingdome)  and  more  poor  will  be  set  on  worke. 
The  markett  spinners  (as  is  conceived)  are  as  well  to  be 
regulated  by  the  lawe,  for  any  falcity  in  mixing  of 
theyr  woolles  as  the  Clothier  is,  who  is  a  great  markett 
spinner  himselfe  and  doth  both  make  and  sell  as  falce 
yarne  as  any  market  spinner  .  .  .  We  finde  the 
markett  spinner  gives  better  wages  than  the  Clothier, 
not  for  that  reason  the  Clothier  gives  for  the  falcity 
of  the  yarne,  but  rather  in  that  the  markett  spinners 
vent  much  of  their  yarne  to  those  that  make  the 
dyed  and  dressed  clothes  who  give  greater  prizes  than 
the  white  men  do."1 

The  fine  yarn  used  by  the  Clothiers  required 
considerable  skill  in  spinning,  and  the  demand  for  it 
was  so  great  in  years  of  expansion  that  large  sums 
of  money  were  paid  to  persons  able  to  teach  the  mys- 
teries of  the  craft  in  a  new  district.  Thus  the  Earl  of 
Salisbury  made  an  agreement  in  1 608  with  Walter 
Morrell  that  he  should-  instruct  fifty  persons  of  the 
parish  of  Hatfield,  chosen  by  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  in 

1 S.?.£>.,ccxliii.,  23,  July  23,^1633. 


TEXTILES  in 

the  art  of  clothing,  weaving,  etc.  He  will  provide 
work  for  all  these  persons  to  avoid  idleness  and  for  the 
teaching  of  skill  and  knowledge  in  clothing  will  pay 
for  the  work  at  the  current  rates,  except  those  who  are 
apprentices.  The  Earl  of  Salisbury  on  his  part  will 
allow  Walter  Morrell  a  house  rent  free  and  will  pay 
him  .£100  per  annum  "for  instructing  the  fifty  persons, 
to  be  employed  in : — the  buying  of  wool,  sorting  it, 
picking  it,  dying  it,  combing  it,  both  white  and 
mingle  colour  worsted,  weaving  and  warping  and 
quilling  both  worsted  of  all  sorts,  dressing  both 
woollen  and  stuffes,  spinning  woollen  (wofe  and 
warpe),  spinning  all  sortes  of  Kersey  both  high 
wheel  and  low  wheel,  knitting  both  woollen  and 
worsted."1 

A  similar  agreement  is  recorded  in  1661-2  between 
the  Bailiffs  and  Burgesses  of  Aldeburgh  and  "  Edmund 
Buxton  of  Stowmarket,  for  his  coming  to  set  up  his 
trade  of  spinning  wool  in  the  town  and  to  employ  the 
poor  therein,  paying  him  .£50 — for  5  years  and  £12 — 
for  expense  of  removing,  with  a  house  rent  free  and  the 
freedom  of  the  town."2 

The  finest  thread  was  produced  on  the  distaff,  but 
this  was  a  slow  process,  and  for  commoner  work 
spinning  wheels  were  in  habitual  use  — 

'  There  are,  to  speed  their  labor,  who  prefer  . 

•  Wheels  double  spol'd,  which  yield  to  either  hand 

*  A  sev'ral  line  ;  and  many,  yet  adhere 

'  To  th'  ancient  distaff,  at  the  bosom  fix'd, 
'  Casting  the  whirling  spindle  as  they  walk."3 

The  demands  made  on  spinning  by  this  ever  expanding 
trade  were  supplied  from  three  sources  :  (i)  the  wives 
of  farmers  and  other  well  to  do  people,  (b)  the  wives  of 
husbandmen  and  (c)  women  who  depended  wholly 

1S.P.Z).,  xxxviii.,  72,  73,  Dec.  1608. 

*  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Far.  Coll.,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  311. 

8  Dyer  John.,  The  Fleece,  1757, 


ii2  TEXTILES 

/ 

on  spinning  for  their  living,  and  who  are  therefore 
called  here  spinsters.  The  first  care  of  the  farmers' 
wives  was  to  provide  woollen  stuffs  for  the  use  of 
their  families,  but  a  certain  proportion  of  their  yarn 
found  its  way  to  the  market.  The  clothiers  at  Salisbury 
who  made  the  better  grades  of  cloth  were  said  to 
"  buy  their  yarn  of  the  finer  kinds  that  come  to  the 
market  at  from  iyd  the  Ib.  to  2s.  4d,  made  all  of  the 
finer  sortes  of  our  owne  Welshire  wool,  and  is  spun  by 
farmers'  wives  and  other  of  the  better  sorte  of  people 
within  their  owne  houses,  of  whose  names  wee  keep 
due  Register  and  do  write  down  with  what  cardes  they 
promise  us  their  several  bundles  of  yarne  are  carded,  and 
do  find  such  people  just  in  what  they.tell  us,  or  can 
otherwise  controule  them  when  wee  see  the  proofe 
of  our  cloth  in  the  mill,  .  .  .  and  also  some  very 
few  farmers'  wives  who  maie  peradventure  spinne 
sometimes  a  little  of  those  sortes  in  their  own  houses 
and  sell  the  same  in  the  markett  and  is  verie  current 
without  mixture  of  false  wooll  grease,  etc."1 

Probably  a  larger  supply  of  yarn  came  from  the 
families  of  husbandmen  where  wife  and  children 
devoted  themselves  to  spinning  through  the  long 
winter  evenings.  Children  became  proficient  in  the 
art  at  an  early  age,  and  could  often  spin  a  good  thread 
when  seven  or  eight  years  old.  This  subsidiary  em- 
ployment was  not  sufficient  to  supply  the  demand  for 
yarn,  and  in  the  clothing  counties  numbers  of  women 
were  withdrawn  from  agricultural  occupations  to 
depend  wholly  upon  their  earnings  as  spinsters. 

The  demand  made  by  the  woollen  trade  on  the  labour 
of  children  is  shown  by  a  report  from  the  Justices 
of  the  Peace  of  the  Boulton  Division  of  the  Hundred 
of  Salford,  .  .  .  "for  apprentices  there  hath 
beene  few  found  since  our  last  certificate  by  reason 
of  the  greate  tradeing  of  fustians  and  woollen  cloth 

1S.P.D.,  cclxvii.,  17,  May  2,  1634.  Certificate  from  Anthony  Wither,  Commissioner 
or  reformation  of  clothing. 


TEXTILES  113 

within  the  said  division,  by  reason  whereof  the  inhabi- 
tants have  continuall  employment  for  their  children 
in  spinning  and  other  necessary  labour  about  the 
same."1 

Those  who  gave  out  the  wool  and  collected  the  yarn 
were  called  market  spinners,  but  the  qualifying  term 
"  market  "  is  sometimes  omitted,  and  when  men  are 
referred  to  as  spinners  it  may  be  assumed  that  they  are 
organising  the  work  of  the  spinsters,  and  not  engaged 
themselves  in  the  process  of  spinning.2  Though  the 
demand  for  yarn  generally  exceeded  the  supply,  wages 
for  spinning  remained  low  throughout  the  seventeenth 
century.  A  writer  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  who  urges  the  establishment  of  a  nursery 
of  spinners  on  the  estate  of  an  Irish  landlord  admits 
that  their  labour  is  "  of  all  labour  on  wools  the  most 
sparingly  paid  for."3 

Wages  for  spinning  are  mentioned  in  only  three  of 
the   extant    Quarter    Sessions'   Assessments,    and    it 
is  not   specified    whether    the    material  is   wool   or 
flax: 
1654.  Devon.     6d.  per  week  with  meat  and    drink, 

or  is.  4d.  without  them. 
1688.  Bucks.     Spinners  shall  not  have  by  the  day  more 

than  4d.  without  meat  and  drink. 
1714.  Devon,     is.   per  week  with  meat   and   drink, 
2s.  6d.  without  them. 

These   rates  are   confirmed  by   entries   in   account 

1  S.P.D.,  ccclxiv.,  122,  July,  1637. 

*  Somerset  Q.S.Rec.,  Vol.  HI.,  p.  $6, 1648.  Complaint  .  .  .  by  .  ,  .  Ibos 
Chambers,  Randall  Carde,  Dorothy  Palmer,  Stephen  Hodges  and  Wm.  Hurman,  persons 
ymployed  by  Henry  Denmeade  servant  to  Mr.  Tbos.  Cooke,  Clothier  for  the  spinning  of 
certen  wool  and  convertinge  it  into  yarne  and  twistinge  it  thereof  for  the  benefitt  of  the  said 
Mr.  Cooke  that  theire  wages  for  the  same  spinninge  and  twistinge  had  been  deteynedfrom 
them  by  the  said  Mr  Cooke  .  .  .  it  is  ordered  that  the  said  Mr.  C.  doe  forthwith 
pay  to  the  said  Thos.  Chambers  the  some  of  fiowerteene  shillings  to  the  said  Randall 
Carde  the  some  of  nyne  shillings  and  fower  pence;  to  the  said  Dorothy  Palmer  the  some  of 
eighteen  shillings  and  one  penny  to  the  said  Stephen  Hodges  the  some  of  nyne  shillings 
and  four  pence  and  to  the  said  Wm.  Hurman  the  some  of  nyne  shillings. 

8  Scheme  to  prevent  the  running  of  Irish  wools  to  France,  p.  19. 


n4  TEXTILES 

books,1  but  it  was  more  usual  to  pay  by  the  piece. 
Though  it  is  always  more  difficult  to  discover  the 
possible  earnings  per  day  of  women  who  are  working 
by  a  piece  rate  in  their  own  homes,  it  so  happens  that 
several  of  the  writers  who  discuss  labour  questions 
in  the  woollen  trade  specially  state  that  their  estimates 
of  the  wages  of  spinners  are  based  on  full  time. 
John  Haynes  quoted  figures  in  1715  which  work  out  at 
nearly  is.  6d.  per  week  for  the  spinners  ofwool  into  stuffs 
for  the  Spanish  Trade,  and  about  2s.  1 1  d.  for  stockings,2 
another  pamphlet  gives  243.  as  the  wages  of 
9  spinsters  for  a  week,3  while  in  1763  the  author  of 
the  "  Golden  Fleece "  quotes  2s.  jd.  a  week  for 
Spanish  wools.4  Another  pamphlet  says  that  the 
wages  in  the  fine  woollen  trade  "  being  chiefly 
women  and  children,  may  amount,  one  with  another 
to  £6  per  annum."5  A  petition  from  the  weavers, 
undated,  but  evidently  presented  during  a  season  of 
bad  trade,  declares  that  "  there  are  not  less  than  a 
Million  of  poor  unhappy  objects,  women  and  children 
only,  who  .  .  .  are  employed  in  Spinning  Yarn 
for  the  Woollen  Manufacturers ;  Thousands  of  these 
have  now  no  work  at  all,  and  all  of  them  have  suffered 
an  Abatement  of  Wages  ;  so  that  now  a  Poor  Woman, 
perhaps  a  Mother  of  many  Children,  must  work  very 
hard  to  gain  Three  Pence  or  Three'Pence  Farthing  per 
Day."6 


\Howard  Household  Book,  p.  63,  1613.)  "  Widow  Grame  for  spinning  ij  stone  and 
5' of  wooll  vjs.  To  the  wench  that  brought  it  iijd.  To  Ellen  for  winding  yarn  iij 
weekes  xviijd. 

(Fell,  Sarah;  Household  Accounts,  Nov.  28,  1677,  p.  439.)  Pd.  Agnes  Holme  of 
Hawxhead  for  spininge  woole  here  7  weeks  02.04 

1  Haynes,  Great  Britain's  Glory,  pp.  8,  9. 

8  Weavers'  True  Case,  p.  43,   1719. 

4  James,  John,  Hist  of  the  Worsted  Manufacture,  p.  239. 

8  Further  considerations  for  encouraging  the  Woollen  Manufactures. 

9  Second  Humble  Address  from  the  Poor  Weavers. 


TEXTILES  115 

Though  these  wages  provided  no  margin  for  the 
support  of  children,  or  other  dependants,  it  was 
possible  for  a  woman  who  could  spin  the  better  quality 
yarns  to  maintain  herself  in  independence. 

John  Evelyn  describes  "  a  maiden  of  primitive 
life,  the  daughter  of  a  poore  labouring  man,  who  had 
sustain'd  her  parents  (some  time  since  dead)  by  her 
labour,  and  has  for  many  years  refus'd  marriage,  or  to 
receive  any  assistance  from  the  parish,  besides  ye  little 
hermitage  my  lady  gives  her  rent  free  :  she  lives  on 
f ourepence  a  day,  which  she"  gets  by  spinning ;  says  she 
abounds  and  can  give  almes  to  others,  living  in  greate 
humility  and  content,  without  any  apparent  affectation 
or  singularity  ;  she  is  continualy  working,  praying, 
or  reading,  gives  a  good  account  of  her  knowledge  in 
religion,  visites  the  sick  ;  is  not  in  the  least  given  to 
talke  ;  very  modest,  of  a  simple  not  unseemly  be- 
haviour, of  a  comely  countenance,  clad  very  plaine, 
but  cleane  and  tight.  In  sum  she  appeares  a  saint 
of  an  extraordinary  sort,  in  so  religious  a  life  as  is 
seldom  met  with  in  villages  now-a-daies."1 

It  is  probable  that  the  wages  for  spinning  were 
advanced  soon  after  this  date,  for  Defoe  writes  in 
1728  that "  the  rate  for  spinning,  weaving  and  all  other 
Manufactory-work,  I  mean  in  Wool,  is  so  risen,  that 
the  Poor  all  over  England  can  now  earn  or  gain  near 
twice  as  much  in  a  Day,  and  in  some  Places,  more 
than  twice  as  much  as  they  could  get  for  the  same  work 
two  or  three  Years  ago  .  .  .  the  poor  women  now 
get  I2d.  to  I5d.  a  Day  for  spinning,  the  men  more  in 
proportion,  and  are  full  of  work."2  "  The  Wenches 
.  .  .  .  wont  go  to  service  at  I2d.  or  i8d.  a  week 
while  they  can  get  75.  to  8s.  a  Week  at  spinning  ;  the 
Men  won't  drudge  at  the  Plow  and  Cart  &c.,  and  per- 
haps get  .£6  a  year  ....  when  they  can  sit 

1  Evelyn  (John)  Diary,  Vol.  III.,  p.  7,  1685 

2  Defoe,  Behaviour,  p.  83. 


n6  TEXTILES 

still  and  dry  within  Doors,  and  get  93.  or  IDS.  a 
Week  at  Wool-combing  or  at  Carding.1  "  WTould 
the  poor  Maid-Servants  who  choose  rather  to  spin, 
while  they  can  gain  93.  per  Week  by  their  Labour 
than  go  to  Service  at  I2d.  a  week  to  the  Farmers  Houses 
as  before  ;  I  say  would  they  sit  close  to  their  work, 
live  near  and  close,  as  labouring  and  poor  People  ought 
to  do,  and  by  their  Frugality  lay  up  six  or  seven 
shillings  per  Week,  none  could  object  or  blame  them 
for  their  Choice."2  Defoe's  statement  as  to  the  high 
rate  of  wages  for  spinning  is  supported  by  an  account 
of  the  workhouse  at  Colchester  where  the  children's 
"  Work  is  Carding  &  Spinning  Wool  for  the  Bay- 
makers  ;  some  of  them  will  earn  6d.  or  yd.  a  Day."7 
But  there  is  no  sign  of  these  higher  wages  in  the 
seventeenth  century. 

Continual  recriminations  took  place  between 
clothiers  and  spinsters,  who  accused  one  another 
of  dishonesty  in  their  dealings.  A  petition  of  the 
Worsted  Weavers  of  Norwich  and  Norfolk,  and  the 
Bayes  and  Saves  makers  of  Essex  and  Suffolk,  to  the 
Council  proposes :  "  That  no  spinster  shall  winde  or 
reele  theire  yarne  upon  shorter  reeles  (nor  fewer 
thriddes)  than  have  bene  accustomed,  nor  ymbessell 
away  their  masters'  goodes  to  be  punished  by  the 
next  Justices  of  the  Peace."4 

And  again  in  1622  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  of 
Essex  inform  the  Council :  "  Moreover  wee  under- 
stand that  the  clothiers  who  put  forthe  their  woolle 
to  spinne  doe  much  complaine  of  the  spinsters 
that  they  use  great  deceit  by  reason  they  doe  wynde  their 
yarne  into  knottes  upon  shorter  reeles  and  fewer 
threedes  by  a  fifth  part  than  hath  beene  accustomed. 

1  Defoe,  Behaviour,  pp.  84-5. 

*  Ibid,  p.  88. 

8  Ace.  of  several  Workhouses,  p.  59,  1725. 

*  S.P.D.,  civ.  97,  1618.  Petition  for  regulation. 


TEXTILES  117 

The  which  reeles  ought  to  be  two  yardes  about  and 
the  knottes  to  containe  fowerscore  threedes  apeece."] 

On  the  other  hand  in  Wiltshire  the  weavers,  spinners 
and  others  complained  that  they  "  are  not  able  by 
their  diligent  labours  to  gett  their  livinges,  by  reason 
that  the  Clothiers  at  their  will  have  made  their  workes 
extreme  hard,  and  abated  wages  what  they  please.  And 
some  of  them  make  such  their  workfolkes  to  doe  their 
houshold  businesses,  to  trudge  in  their  errands,  spoole 
their  chains,  twist  their  list,  doe  every  command 
without  giving  them  bread,  drinke  or  money  for  many 
days  labours."2 

Report  was  made  to  the  Council  in  1631-2  that  the 
reele-staffe  in  the  Eastern  Counties  "  was  enlarged  by 
a  fift  or  sixt  part  longer  than  have  bene  accustomed  and 
the  poores  wages  never  the  more  encreased."  Where- 
upon the  magistrates  in  Cambridge  agreed  "  that  all 
spinsters  shall  have  for  the  spinning  and  reeling  of  six 
duble  knots  on  the  duble  reele  or  12  on  the  single 
reele,  a  penny,  which  is  more  by  2d.  in  the  shilling  than 
they  have  had,  and  all  labourers  and  other  artificers 
have  the  like  increase.  Essex  and  Suffolk  are  ready 
to  make  the  same  increase  provided  that  the  same 
reel  and  rate  of  increase  is  used  in  all  other  counties 
where  the  trade  of  clothing  and  yarn-making  is  made, 
otherwise  one  county  will  undersell  another  to  the 
ruin  of  the  clothiers  and  the  poor  dependent  on  them. 
Therefore  the  Council  order  that  a  proportional 
increase  of  wages  is  paid  according  to  the  increase  of 
the  reel  and  the  officers  employed  for  keeping  a 
constant  reel  to  give  their  accounts  to  the  Justices  of 
the  Assize."3 

Other  complaints  were  made  of  clothiers  who 
forced  their  work-people  to  take  goods  instead  of 

1  S.P.D.,  cxxx.,  65,  May  13,  1662. 

*  Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Far.  Coll.,  Vol.,  I.,  p.  94,  Wilts.  Q.S.  Rec.,  1623. 
^Council  Register,  2nd  March,  1631-2. 


ii8  TEXTILES 

money  in  payment  of  wages.  At  Southampton  in 
1666 .  thirty- two  clothiers,  beginning  with  Joseph 
Delamot,  Alderman,  were  presented  for  forcing  their 
spinners  "  to  take  goods  for  their  work  whereby  the 
poor  were  much  wronged,  being  contrary  to  the  statute, 
for  all  which  they  were  amerced  severally."  The 
records  however  do  not  state  that  the  fine  was  exacted.1 

Low  as  were  the  spinster's  wages  even  in  seasons  of 
prosperity,  they,  in  common  with  the  better  paid 
weavers  endured  the  seasons  of  depression,  which  were 
characteristic  of  the  woollen  industry.  The  English 
community  was  as  helpless  before  a  period  of  trade 
depression  as  before  a  season  of  drought  or  flood. 
Employment  ceased,  the  masters  who  had  no  sale  for 
their  goods,  gave  out  no  material  to  their  workers, 
and  men  and  women  alike,  who  were  without  land  as  a 
resource  in  this  time  of  need,  were  faced  with  star- 
vation and  despair.2  The  utmost  social  demoralis- 
ation ensued,  and  family  life  with  all  its  valuable 
traditions  was  in  many  cases  destroyed. 

Complaints  from  the  clothing  counties  state 
"  That  the  Poor's  Rates  are  doubled,  and  in  some 
Places  trebbled  by  the  Multitude  of  Poor  Perishing  and 
Starving  Women  and  Children  being  come  to  the 
Parishes,  while  their  Husbands  and  Fathers  not  able 
to  bear  the  cries  which  they  could  not  relieve,  are  fled 
into  France  ...  to  seek  their  Bread."8 

These    conditions    caused    grave    anxiety    to    the 

1  Davies  (J.  S.)  Southampton,  p.  272. 

*  A  report  to  the  council  from  the  High  Sheriff  of  Somerset  says :  "  Yet  I  thincke 
it  my  duty  to  acquaynt  your  Lordshipps  that  there  are  such  a  multytude  of  poore 
cottages  builte  upon  the  highwaies  and  odd  corners  in  every  countrie  parishe 
within  this  countye,  and  soe  stufte  with  poore  people  that  in  many  of  those  parishes 
there  are  three  or  fower  hundred  poore  of  men  and  women  and  children  that  did  gett 
most  of  their  lyvinge  by  spinnyng,  carding  and  such  imployments  aboute  wooll  and 
cloath.  And  the  deadness  of  that  trade  and  want  of  money  is  such  that  they  are  for 
the  most  parte  without  worke,  and  knowe  not  how  to  live.  This  is  a  great  grievance 
amongst  us  and  tendeth  much  to  mutinye." 

(S.P.D.,  cxxx.,  73,  May  14,  1622,  High  Sheriff  of  Somergershire  to  the  Council.) 

8  Stcond  Humble  Address  from  the  poor  Weavers. 


TEXTILES  119 

Government  who  attempted  to  force  the  clothiers 
to  provide  for  their  work-people.1 

Locke  reported  to  Carleton,  Feb.  i6th,  1622  :  "  In 
the  cloathing  counties  there  have  bin  lately  some 
poore  people  (such  chieflie  as  gott  their  living  by- 
working  to  Clothiers)  that  have  gathered  themselves 
together  by  Fourty  or  Fifty  in  a  company  and  gone 
to  the  houses  of  those  they  thought  fittest  to  relieve 
them  for  meate  and  money  which  hath  bin  given  more 
of  feare  than  charitie.  And  they  have  taken  meate 
openly  in  the  markett  without  paying  for  it.  The 
Lords  have  written  letters  to  ten  Counties  where 
cloathing  is  most  used,  that  the  Clothier  shall  not  put 
off  his  workemen  without  acquainting  the  Councill, 
signifying  that  order  is  taken  for  the  buying  off  their 
cloathes,  and  that  the  wooll  grower  shall  afford  them 
his  wooll  better  cheape  but  yet  the  cloathiers  still 
complaine  that  they  can  not  sell  their  cloath  in  Black- 
well  Hall.  .  .  ."2 

The  Justices  of  Assize  for  Gloucester  reported 
March  13,  1622,  that  they  have  interviewed  the 
Clothiers  who  have  been  forced  to  put  down  looms 
through  the  want  of  sale  for  their  cloth.  The  Clothiers 
maintain  that  this  is  due  to  the  regulations  and  practices 
of  the  Company  of  Merchant  Adventurers.  They 
say  that  they,  the  Clothiers,  have  been  working  at  a 
loss  since  the  deadness.  of  trade  about  a  year  ago, 
"  their  stocks  and  credits  are  out  in  cloth  lying  upon 
their  hands  unsold,  and  that  albeit  they  have  bought 
their  wcolles  at  very  moderate  prices,  being  such  as  do 
very  much  impoverish  the  grower,  yet  they  cannot  sell 

1  The  Council  ordered  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the  counties  of  Wilts,  Somerset 
Dorset,    Devon,   Glocester,   Worcester,   Oxford,   Kent  and   Suffolk,    to    summon 
clothiers  and  "  deale  effectually  w'th  them  for  the  employment  of  such  weavers, 

spinners  anh  other  persons,  r,s  nre  now  out  of  work We  may  not  incinre 

that  the  cloathiers     .     .  .  should  att  their  pleasure,  and  without  giving  knowledge 
thereof  unto  this  Boarde,  dismisse  their  workefolkes,  who  being  many  in  number 
and  most  -A  them  of  the  poorer  sort  are  in  such  cases  likely  by  their  clamo'.;r  to  disturb 
the  quiet  and  government  of  those  partes  wheiein  they  live."  (C.R.,  gth  Feb.,  1621-2.) 

2  S.f.D  ,  cxxvii.;  102,  Feb.  16,  1622. 


120  TEXTILES 

the  cloth  made  thereof  but  to  their  intolerable  losses, 
and  are  enforced  to  pawne  theire  clothes  to  keepe 
theire  people  in  work,  which  they  are  not  able  to 
indure.  .  .  .  that  there  are  at  the  least  1500 
loomes  within  the  County  of  Gloucester  and  in  . 
.  the  Citie  and  that  xxs.  in  money  and  sixteene 
working  persons  and  upwards  doe  but  weekly  main- 
teyne  one  loome,  which  doe  require  1 500!!.  in  money, 
by  the  weeke  to  mainteyne  in  that  trade  24000  working 
people  besides  all  others  that  are  releeved  thereby, 
and  so  the  wages  of  a  labouring  person  is  little  above 
xiid.  the  week  being  much  too  little."1 

In  June  of  the  same  year  the  Justices  of  Gloucester 
wrote  to  the  Council :  "  The  distress  of  those  depending 
on  the  Cloth  trade  grows  worse  and  worse.  Our 
County  is  thereby  and  through  want  of  money  and 
means  in  these  late  tymes  growne  poore,  and  unable 
to  releeve  the  infynite  nomber  of  poore  people 
residinge  within  the  same  (drawne  hither  by  meanes 
of  clothing)  .  .  .  therefore  very  many  of  them 
doe  wander,  begg  and  steale  and  are  in  case  to  starve 
as  their  faces  (to  our  great  greef es)  doe  manifest.  .  .  . 
The  peace  is  in  danger  of  being  broken."2 

The  distress  was  not  limited  to  the  rural  districts ; 
the  records  of  the  Borough  of  Reading  describe  efforts 
made  there  for  its  alleviation.  "  At  this  daye  the 
complainte  of  the  poore  Spynners  and  Carders  was 
agayne  heard  etc.  The  Overseers  and  Clothiers 
apoynted  to  provide  and  assigne  them  worke  apeared 
and  shewed  their  dilligence  therein,  yett  the  complaint 
for  lacke  of  worke  increaseth  ;  for  a  remedye  is  agreed 
to  be  thus,  viz  :  every  Clothier  according  to  his  pro- 
portion of  .  .  .shall  weekly  assigne  and  put  to  spyn- 
ning  in  the  towne  his  ordinarye  and  course  wooffe 
wooll,  and  shall  not  send  it  unto  the  country  and  if 


1  S.P.D.,  cxxviL  ,  49,  March  13,  1622. 
*  S.P.D.,  cxxxi.,  4.,  June  I,  1612. 


TEXTILES  121 

sufficient  be  in  the  towne  to  doe  it1."  At  another 
time  it  is  recorded  that  "  In  regard  of  the  great 
clamour  of  divers  poore  people  lackinge  worke  and 
employment  in  spynninge  and  cardinge  in  this  Towne, 
yt  was  this  daye  thought  fitt  to  convent  all  the  under- 
takers of  the  stocke  given  by  Mr.  Kendricke,  and  uppon 
their  appearaunce  it  was  ordered,  and  by  themselves 
agreed,  that  every  undertaker,  for  every  300!!.  shall 
put  a  woowf  a  weeke  to  spyninge  within  the  Towne, 
as  Mr.  Mayour  shall  apoynt,  and  to  such  spynners  as 
Mr.  Mayour  shall  send  to  them2  .  .  ." 

In  these  times  of  distress  and  in  all  disputes  con- 
cerning wages  and  the  exactions  of  the  employers, 
men  and  women  stood  together,  supporting  each  other 
in  their  efforts  for  the  improvement  of  their  lot. 
Thus  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  of  Devonshire  reported 
that  "  complaints  were  made  by  the  most  parte  of 
the  clothiers  weavers,  spinsters  and  fullers  between 
Plymouth  and  Teignmouth."2  and  the  Council  is 
informed  that  at  the  last  Quarter  Sessions  in  Wilts, 
many  "  weavers,  spinners,  and  fullers  for  themselves 
and  for  manie  hundreds  mpre  .  .  .  complained 
of  distress  by  increasing  want  of  work.  .  . 
Clothiers  giving  up  their  trade,  etc."4 

Sometimes  the  petitions,  though  presented  on  behalf 
of  spinners  as  well  as  weavers,  were  actually  signed 
only  by  men.  This  was  the  case  with  the  Weavers, 
Fullers  and  Spinners  of  Leonard  Stanley  and  King 
Stanley  in  Gloucestershire,  who  petitioned  on  behaK 
of  themselves  and  others,  800  at  the  least,  young  and 
old,  of  the  said  parishes,  "  Whereas  your  poore  peti- 
tioners have  heretofore  bene  well  wrought  and  im- 
ployed  in  our  sayd  occupations  belonging  to  the  trade  of 

1Guilding,  Reading,  Vol.  II.,  p.  159,  1623. 

8  Ibid,  Vol.  III.,  p.  7,  Mar.  3,  1629-30. 

3  S.P.D.,  xcvii.,  85,  May  25, 1618.  J.P.s  of  Devonshire  to  Council. 

*  Ibid,  cxv.,  20,  May  n,  1620.     J.P.s  of  Wiltshire  to  Council. 


122  TEXTILES 

clothing  whereby  we  were  able  in  some  poore  measure 
and  at  a  very  lowe  rate  to  maintaine  ourselves  and 
families  soe  as  hitherto  they  have  not  suffered  any 
extreme  want.  But  now  soe  it  is  that  we  are 
likely  for  the  time  to  come  never  to  be  imployed 
againe  in  our  callinges  and  to  have  our  trades  become 
noe  trades,  whereunto  we  have  bene  trained  up  and 
served  as  apprentices  according  to  the  lawe,  and 
wherein  we  have  always  spent  our  whole  time  and  are 
now  unfitt  for  .  .  .  other  occupations,  neither 
can  we  be  received  into  worke  by  any  clothiers  in  the 
whole  countrey."1 

At  other  times  women  took  the  lead  in  demanding 
the  redress  of  grievances  from  which  all  were  suffering. 
When  the  case  of  the  say-makers  abating  the  wages  of 
the  spinsters,  weavers  and  combers  of  Sudbury  was 
examined  by  the  Justices,  the  Saymakers  alleged  that 
all  others  did  the  same,  but  that  they  were  content  to 
give  the  wages  paid  by  them  if  these  were  extended  by 
proclamation  or  otherwise  throughout  the  kingdom. 
"  But  if  the  order  is  not  general  it  will  be  their 
undoing  .  .  ."  Whereupon  the  Justices  ordered 
the  Saymakers  to  pay  spinsters  "  for  every  seaven 
knottes  one  penny,  the  reel  whereon  the  yarne  is 
reeled  to  be  a  yard  in  length — no  longer,"  and  to  pay 
weavers  "  I2d.  a  Ib.  for  weaving  thereof  for  white 
sayes  under  5  Ibs.  weight."2 

Shortly  afterwards  the  Council  received  a  petition 
from  the  Mayor  asking  to  be  heard  by  the  Council 
or  Commissioners  to  answer  the  complaint  made 
against  them.  "  by  Silvia  Harber  widow  set  on  worke 
by  Richard  Skinnir  of  Sudbury  gent  .  .  .  for 
abridging  and  wronging  of  the  spinsters  and  weavers 
of  the  said  borough  in  their  wages  and  for  some  other 
wrongs  supposed  to  bee  done  to  the  said  Silvia  Harber," 

1  S.P.D.,  ccxliv.,  i.  Aug.  i,  1633. 

1  S.P.D.,  clxxxix.,  40,  Ap.  27,  1631.  J.P.s  of  Essex  to  Council. 


TEXTILES  123 

followed  by  an  an  affidavit  stating  "  Wee  whose 
names  are  hereunder  written  doe  testifye  as  followeth 
with  our  severell  handes  to  our  testification. 

1 .  That  one  Silvia  Harber  of  our  Towne  of  Sudbury 
comonly  called  Luce  Harbor  did  say  that  shee  had  never 
undertaken   to   peticion  the  Lordes  of  the  Counsell 
in  the  Behalfe  of  the  Spinsters  of  Sudbury  aforesaid 
but  by  the  inducement  of  Richard  Skinner  gentleman 
of  the  Towne  aforesaid  who  sent  for  her  twoe  or  three 
times    before    shee    would    goe    unto    him  for   that 
purpose,  and  when  shee  came  to  him  hee  sent  her  to 
London  and  bare  her  charges.     Witness,  Daniel  Biat 
Clement  Shelley. 

2.  That  having  conference  with  Richard  Skinner 
aforesaid  Gentleman,  hee  did  confesse  that  hee  would 
never  have  made  any  stir  of  complaint   against  the 
saymakers  in  behalf  of  weavers  and  spinsters,  but  that 
one  Thomas  Woodes  of  the    towne   abovesaid    had 
given  him  Distaystfull  wordes."      Witness,  Vincent 
Cocke.1 

No  organisation  appears  to  have  been  formed  by 
the  wage-earners  in  the  woollen  Trade.  Their 
demonstrations  against  employers  were  as  yet  local 
and  sporadic.  The  very  nature  of  their  industry 
and  the  requirements  of  its  capitalistic  organisation 
would  have  rendered  abortive  on  their  part  the  attempt 
to  raise  wages  by  restricting  the  numbers  of  persons 
admitted  into  the  trade;  but  the  co-operation  in  trade 
disputes  between  the  men  and  women  engaged  in  this 
industry,  forms  a  marked  contrast  to  the  conditions 
which  were  now  beginning  to  prevail  in  the  apprentice 
trades  and  which  will  be  described  later.  Though 
without  immediate  result  in  the  woollen  trade,  it  may 
be  assumed  that  it  was  this  habit  of  standing  shoulder 
to  shoulder,  regardless  of  sex  jealousy,  which  ensured 
that  when  Industrialism  attained  a  further  development 

1  S.P.D.y  cxcvii.,  72,  July,  1631.  Affidavit  about  Saymakers  in  County  of  Suffolk. 


124  TEXTILES 

in  the  closely  allied  cotton  trade,  the  union  which  was 
then  called  into  being  embraced  men  and  women  on 
almost  equal  terms. 

The  broad  outline  of  the  position  of  women  in  the 
woollen  trade  as  it  was  established  in  the  seventeenth 
century  shows  them  taking  little,  if  any,  part  in  the 
management  of  the  large  and  profitable  undertakings 
of  Clothiers  and  Wool-merchants.  Their  industrial 
position  was  that  of  wage-earners,  and  though  the 
demand  for  their  labour  generally  exceeded  the  supply, 
yet  the  wages  they  received  were  barely  sufficient  for 
their  individual  maintenance,  regardless  of  the  fact  that 
in  most  cases  they  were  wholly  or  partly  supporting 
children  or  other  dependants. 

The  higher  rates  of  pay  for  spinning  appear  to  have 
been  secured  by  the  women  who  did  not  depend 
wholly  upon  it  for  their  living,  but  could  buy 
wool,  spin  it  at  their  leisure,  and  sell  the  yarn  in  the 
dearest  market ;  while  those  who  worked  all  the 
year  round  for  clothiers  or  middlemen,  were  often 
beaten  down  in  their  wages  and  were  subject  to 
exactions  and  oppression. 
C.  Linen. 

While  the  woollen  trade  had  for  centuries  been  de- 
veloping under  the  direction  of  capitalism,  it  was  only 
in  the  seventeenth  century  that  this  influence  begins 
to  show  itself  in  the  production  of  linen.  Following  the 
example  of  the  clothiers,  attempts  were  then  made  to 
manufacture  linen  on  a  large  scale.  For  example, 
Celia  Fiennes  describes  Malton  as  a  "  pretty  large 
town  built  of  Stone  but  poor ;  .  .  .  there  was  one 
Mr.  Paumes  that  marry'd  a  relation  of  mine,  Lord 
Ewers'  Coeheiress  who  is  landlady  of  almost  all  ye 
town.  She  has  a  pretty  house  in  the  place.  There  is 
the  ruins  of  a  very  great  house  whch  belonged  to  ye 
family  but  they  not  agreeing  about  it  Caused  ye  def ace- 
ing  of  it.  She  now  makes  use  of  ye  roomes  off  ye 
out-buildings  and  gate  house  for  weaving  and  Linning 


TEXTILES  125 

Cloth,  haveing  set  up  a  manufactory  for  Linnen  whch 
does  Employ  many  poor  people."1 

In  spite  of  such  innovations  the  production  of  linen 
retained  for  the  most  part  its  character  as  one  of  the 
crafts  "  yet  left  of  that  innocent  old  world."  The 
housewife,  assisted  by  servants  and  children  span  flax 
and  hemp  for  household  linen,  underclothes,  children's 
frocks  and  other  purposes,  and  then  took  her  thread 
to  the  local  weaver  who  wove  it  to  her  order.  Thus 
Richard  Stapley,  Gent.,  enters  in  his  Diary :  "  A 
weaver  fetched  n  pounds  of  flaxen  yarn  to  make  a 
bedticke  ;  and  he  brought  me  ten  yds  of  ticking  for 
ye  bed,  3  yds  and  f  of  narrow  ticking  for  ye  bolster 
&  for  ye  weaving  of  which  I  paid  him  los.  and  ye 
flax  cost  8d.  per  pound.  My  mother  spun  it  for  me, 
and  I  had  it  made  into  a  bed  by  John  Dennit,  a  tailor, 
of  Twineham  for  8d.  on  Wednesday,  July  1 8th,  and  it 
was  filled  on  Saturday,  August  4th  by  Jonas  Humphrey 
of  Twineham  for  6d.  The  weaver  brought  it  home 
July  6th.2  Similarly  Sarah  Fell  enters  in  her  Household 
book:  "Nov.  i8th,  1675,  by  m°.  pd.  Geo.  ffell 
weaver  for  workeinge  32  :  ells  of  hempe  tow  cloth  of 
Mothrs.  at  Idi  ell.  000.04.00  "3 

By  the  industry  and  foresight  of  its  female  members 
the  ordinary  household  was  supplied  with  all  its 
necessary  linen  without  any  need  for  entering  the 
market,  the  expenses  of  middlemen  and  salesmen  being 
so  avoided.  Nevertheless,  it  is  evident  that  a  consider- 
able sale  for  linen  had  always  existed,  for  the  linen 
drapers  were  an  important  corporation  in  many 
towns.  This  sale  was  increased  through  an  invention 
made  about  the  middle  of  the  century  :  By  printing 
patterns  on  linen  a  material  was  produced  which 

1  Fiennes  (Celia)  p.  74.     Through  England  on  a  Side-saddle. 

3  Suss.  Arch.  Coll., Vol.  II.,  p.  121.  Extracts  from  the  Diary  of  Richard  Stapley,  Gent., 
1682-1724, 

8  Fell  (Sarah)  Household  Accts.,  p.  233. 


126  TEXTILES 

closely  imitated  the  costly  muslins,  or  calicoes  as 
they  were  then  called,  imported  from  India  ;  but  at 
so  reasonable  a  price  that  they  were  within  the  reach  of 
a  servant's  purse.  Servants  were  therefore  able  to  go 
out  in  dresses  scarcely  distinguishable  from  their 
mistresses',  and  the  sale  of  woollen  and  silk  goods  was 
seriously  affected.  The  woollen  trade  became  alarmed ; 
riots  took  place  ;  weavers  assaulted  women  who  were 
wearing  printed  linens  in  the  streets,  and  finally, 
Parliament,  always  tender  to  the  woollen  trade, 
which  furnished  so  large  a  part  of  the  national  revenue, 
prohibited  their  use  altogether.  The  linen  printers 
recognising  that  "  the  Reason  why  the  English  Manu- 
facture of  linnen  is  not  so  much  taken  notice  of  as  the 
Scotch  or  Irish,  is  this,  the  English  is  mostly  consumed 
in  the  Country,  .  .  .  whereas  the  Scotch  and  Irish 
must  come  by  sea  and  make  a  Figure  at  our  custom's 
house,"1  urged  in  their  defence  that  "  the  linens 
printed  are  chiefly  the  Growth  and  Manufacture  of 
North  Britain  pay  3d.  per  Yard  to  the  Crown,  .  .  . 
and  Employ  so  many  Thousands  of  British  poor,  as 
will  undoubtedly  entitle  them  to  the  Care  of  a  British 
Parliament."2 

But  even  this  argument  was  unavailing  against  the 
political  influence  of  the  woollen  trade.  The  spirit 
of  the  time  favouring  the  spread  of  capitalistic  enter- 
prise from  the  woollen  trade  into  other  fields  of  action, 
an  attempt  was  now  made  to  form  a  Linen  Company. 
Pamphlets  written  for  and  against  this  project  furnish 
many  details  of  the  conditions  then  prevailing 
in  the  manufacture  of  linen.  "  How,"  it  was  said, 
will  the  establishment  of  a  Linnen  Company  "  affect 
the  Kingdom  in  the  two  Pillars  that  support  it,  that 
of  the  Rents  of  Land  and  the  imploying  our  Ships 
and  Men  at  Sea,  which  are  thought  the  Walls  of  the 

1  Cote  of  British  and  Irish  Manufacture  of  Linnen. 
*  Case  of  the  Linen  Drapers. 


TEXTILES  127 

Nation.  For  the  Rents  of  Land  they  must  certainly 
fall,  for  that  one  Acre  of  Flax  will  imploy  as  many 
Hands  the  year  round,  as  the  Wooll  of  Sheep  that 
graze  twenty  Acres  of  Ground.  The  Linnen  Manu- 
factory imploys  few  men,  the  Woollen  most,  Weaving, 
Combing,  Dressing,  Shearing,  Dying,  etc.  These  Eat 
and  Drink  more  than  Women  and  Children  ;  and  so 
as  the  Land  that  the  Sheep  graze  on  raiseth  the  Rent, 
so  will  the  Arable  and  Pasture  that  bears  Corn,  and 
breeds  Cattle  for  their  Subsistence.  Then  for  the 
Employment  of  our  Shipping,  it  will  never  be  preten- 
dedthat  we  can  arrive  to  Exportation  of  Linnen  ;  there 
are  others  and  too  many  before  us  in  that.  .  .  .  That 
Projectors  and  Courtiers  should  be  inspired  with 
New  Lights,  and  out  of  love  to  the  Nation,  create 
new  Methods  in  Trades,  that  none  before  found  out ; 
and  by  inclosing  Commons  the  Liberty  of  Trade  into 
Shares,  in  the  first  place  for  themselves,  and  then  for 
such  others  as  will  pay  for  both,,  is,  I  must  confess, 
to  me,  a  Mystery  I  desire  to  be  a  Stranger  unto  .  .  . 
The  very  Name  of  a  Company  and  Joint-Stock  in 
Trade,  is  a  spell  to  drive  away,  and  keep  out  of  that 
place  where  they  reside,  all  men  of  Industry.  .  .  . 
The  great  motive  to  Labour  and  Incouragement  of 
Trade,  is  an  equal  Freedom,  and  that  none  may  be 
secluded  from  the  delightful  Walks  of  Liberty  .  .  . 
a  Subjection  in  Manufactories  where  a  People  are 
obliged  to  one  Master,  tho'  they  have  the  full  Value 
of  their  Labour,  is  not  pleasing,  they  think  themselves 
in  perpetual  Servitude,  and  so  it  is  observed  in  Ireland, 
where  the  Irish  made  a  Trade  of  Linnen  Yarn,  no 
Man  could  ingage  them,  but  they  would  go  to  the 
Market  and  be  better  satisfied  with  a  less  price,  than 
to  be  obliged  to  one  master.  .  .  .  There  was 
much  more  Reason  for  a  Company  and  Joint-stock 
to  set  up  the  Woollen  Manufactory,  in  that  ignorant 
Age,  than  there  is  for,  this  of c  the  Linnen  Manufactory  ; 
that  of  the  Woollen  was  a  new  Art  not  known  in  this 


128  TEXTILES 

Kingdom,  it  required  a  great  Stock  to  manage,  there 
was  required  Foreign  as  well  as  Native  Commodities 
to  carry  it  on.  .  .  .  and  when  the  Manufactory- 
was  made,  there  must  be  Skill  and  Interest  abroad  to 
introduce  the  Commodity  where  others  had  the  Trade 
before  them  ;  but  there  is  nothing  of  all  this  in  the 
Linnen  Manufactory ;  Nature  seems  to  design  it 
for  the  weaker  Sex.  The  best  of  Linnen  for  Service 
is  called  House  Wife's  Cloth,  here  then  is  no  need 
of  the  Broad  Seal,  or  Joint-Stock  to  establish  the 
Methods  for  the  good  Wife's  weeding  her  Flax-garden, 
or  how  soon  her  Maid  shall  sit  to  her  Wheel  after 
washing  her  Dishes  ;  the  good  Woman  is  Lady  of 
the  Soil,  and  holds  a  Court  within  herself,  throws 
the  Seed  into  the  Ground,  and  works  it  till  she  brings 
it  there  again,  I  mean  her  Web  to  the  bleaching 
Ground.  .  .  .  To  appropriate  this  which  the 
poorest  Family  may  by  Labour  arrive  unto,  that  is, 
finish  and  bring  to  Market  a  Piece  of  Cloth,  to  me 
seems  an  irlallible  Expedient  to  discourage  universal 

Industry The  Linnen  Manufactory  above 

any  Trade  I  know,  if  (which  I  must  confess  I  doubt) 
it  be  for  the  Good  of  the  Nation,  requires  more  Charity 
than  Grandeur  to  carry  it  on,  the  poor  Spinner  comes 
as  often  to  her  Master  for  Charity  to  a  sick  Child,  or 
a  Plaister  for  a  Sore,  as  for  Wages  ;  and  this  she  cannot 
have  of  a  Company,  but  rather  less  for  her  labour, 
when  they  have  beat  all  private  Undertakers  out. 
These  poor  Spinners  can  now  come  to  their  Master's 
Doors  at  a  good  time,  and  eat  of  their  good  tho'  poor 
master's  Chear  ;  they  can  reason  with  him,  if  any 
mistake,  or  hardship  be  put  upon  them,  and  this 
poor  People  love  to  do,  and  not  be  at  the  Dispose  of 
Servants,  as  they  must  be  where  their  Access  can  only 
be  by  Doorkeepers,  Clerks,  etc.,  to  the  Governors 
of  the  Company."* 

*  Linnen  and  Woollen  Manufactory,  p.  4-8,1691. 


TEXTILES  129 

On  the  other  side  it  was  urged  that  "  All  the  Argu- 
ments that  can  be  offer'd  for  Encouraging  the  woollen 
manufacture  in  England  conclude  as  strongly  in  propor- 
tion for  Encouraging  the  linnen  manufacture  in 
Scotland.  'Tis  the  ancient  Staple  Commodity  there, 
as  the  Woollen  is  here."1 

The  part  taken  by  women  in  the  production  of 
linen  resembled  their  share  in  woollen  manufactures. 
Some  were  weavers  ;  thus  Oliver  Heywood  says  that 
his  brother-in-law,  who  afterwards  traded  in  fustians, 
was  brought  up  in  Halifax  with  Elizabeth  Roberts, 
a  linen  weaver.2  Entries  in  the  Foulis  Account  Book 
show  that  they  were  sometimes  employed  in  bleaching 
but  spinning  was  the  only  process  which  depended 
exclusively  on  their  labour. 

The  rates  of  pay  for  spinning  flax  and  hemp  were 
even  lower  than  those  for  spinning  wool.  Fitzherbert 
expressly  says  that  in  his  time  no  woman  could 
get  her  living  by  spinning  linen.3  The  market 
price  was  of  little  moment  to  well-to-do  women 
who  span  thread  for  their  family's  use  and  who 
valued  the  product  of  their  labour  by  its  utility 
and  not  by  its  return  in  money  value  ;  but  the  women 
who  depended  on  spinning  for  their  living  were 
virtually  paupers,  as  is  shown  by  the  terms  in  which 
reference  is  made  to  them  : — "  shee  beeinge  very  poore, 
gettinge  her  livinge  by  spinninge  and  in  the  nature 
of  a  widowe,  her  husband  beeinge  in  the  service  of 
His  Majesty."4 

Yet  the  demand  for  yarn  and  thread  was  so  great 
that  if  spinners  had  been  paid  a  living  wage  there 
would  have  been  scarcely  any  need  for  poor  relief. 

The  relation  between  low  wages  and  pauperism  was 
hardly  even  suspected  at  this  time,  and  though  the 

1  True  case  of  the  Scots  Linen  Manufacture. 

2  Heywood  (Rev.  Oliver)  Autobiography,  Vol.  I.,  p.  36. 

3  Ante,  p.  48. 

4  S.P.D.,  cccclvii.,  3.  June  13,  1640. 


130  TEXTILES 

spinsters'  maximum  wages  were  settled  at  Quarter 
Sessions,  no  effort  was  made  to  raise  them  to  a  sub- 
sistence level  Instead  of  attempting  to  do  so  Parish 
Authorities  accepted  pauperism  as  "the  act  of  God,"and 
concentrated  their  attention  on  the  task  of  reducing 
rates  as  far  as  possible  by  forcing  the  pauper  women 
and  children,  who  had  become  impotent  or  vicious 
through  neglect  and  underfeeding,  to  spin  the  thread 
needed  by  the  community.  Schemes  for  this 
purpose  were  started  all  over  the  country;  a  few 
examples  will  show  their  general  scope.  At  Nottingham 
it  was  arranged  for  Robert  Hassard  to  "Receave  pore 
children  to  the  number  of  viij.  or  more,  .  .  and  to 
haue  the  benefitt  of  theire  workes  and  labours  for 
the  first  Moneth,  and  the  towne  to  allowe  him  towards 
their  dyett,  for  everie  one  xijd.  a  Weeke,  and  theire 
parents  to  fynde  them  lodginge  ;  and  Robert  Hassard 
to  be  carefull  to  teache  and  instructe  them  speedyly 
in  the  spyninge  and  workinge  heare,  to  be  fitt  to  make 
heare-cloth,  and  allsoe  in  cardinge  and  spyninge  of 
hards  to  make  candle  weeke,  and  hee  to  geue  them 
correccion,  when  need  ys,  and  the  greate  wheeles 
to  be  called  in,  and  to  be  delivered  for  the  vse  of 
these  ymployments.1 

A  few  years  later  in  the  scheme  "  for  setting  the 
poore  on  worke  "  the  following  rates  of  pay  were 
established  : — 

6d.  per  pound  for  cardinge  and  spinning  finest  wool. 

5d.    „      „     for  ye  second  sort. 

4d.ob.  (=  oholus,id.)  for  ye  third  sorte. 

id.  per  Ley  [skein]  for  ye  onely  spinninge  all  sortes 
of  linen,  the  reele  beeing  4  yards. 

ob  per  pound  for  cardinge  candleweake. 

id.  „  „  for  pulling  midling  [coarser  part]  out 
of  it. 

id.     „       „       for  spininge  candleweake.2 

1  Nottingham  Records,  Vol.  V.,  pp.  174-5,  1636. 
pp.  259-60,  1649. 


TEXTILES  131 

Orders  for  the  Workhouse  at  Westminster  in  1560, 
read  that  "  old  Women  or  middle-Aged  that  might 
work,  and  went  a  Gooding,  should  be  Hatchilers  of 
the  Flax ;  and  one  Matron  over  them.  That  common 
Hedges,  and  such-like  lusty  naughty  Packs,  should  be 
set  to  spinning  ;  and  one  according  to  be  set  over 
them.  Children  that  were  above  Six  and  not  twelve 
Years  of  Age  should  be  sent  to  winde  Quills  to 
the  Weavers."1 

At  a  later  date  in  London  "  Besides  the  relieving 
and  educating  of  poor  friendless  harborless  children 
in  Learning  and  in  Arts,  many  hundreds  of  poor 
Families  are  imployed  and  relieved  by  the  said  Corpor- 
ation in  the  Manufactory  of  Spinning  and  Weaving  : 
and  whosoever  doth  repair  either  to  the  Wardrobe 
near  Black-friars,  or  to  Heiden-house  in  the  Minories, 
may  have  materials  of  Flax,  Hemp,  or  Towe  to  spin 
at  their  own  houses.  .  .  .  leaving  so  much  money 
as  the  said  materials  cost,  until  it  be  brought  again 
in  Yarn  ;  at  which  time  they  shall  receive  money  for 
their  work.  .  .  .  every  one  is  paid  according  to 
the  fineness  or  coarseness  of  the  Yarn  they  spin.  .  . 
so  that  none  are  necessitated  to  live  idly  that  are 
desirous  orywilling  to  work.  And  it  is  to  be  wished 
and  desired,  that  the  Magistrates  of  this  city  would 
assist  this  Corporation.  ...  in  supressing  of 
Vagrants  and  common  Beggars  .  .  .  that  so  abound 
to  the  hindrance  of  the  Charity  of  many  pious  people 
towards  this  good  work."2 

The  Cowden  overseers  carried  out  a  scheme  of 
work  for  the  poor  from  1600  to  1627,  buying  flax 
and  having  it  spun  and  woven  into  canvas.  The  work 
generally  paid  for  itself  ;  only  one  year  is  a  loss  of 
75.  8d.  entered,  and  during  the  first  seventeen  years 
the  amount  expended  yearly  in  cash  and  relief  did 

1  Stow,  London,  Book  VI.,  p.  60. 

'Poor  Out-cast  Children's  Song  and  Cry. 


132  TEXTILES 

not  exceed.£6  us.  rising  then  in  1620  to  .£2855.  iod., 
after  which  it  fell  again.  The  scheme  was  finally 
abandoned  in  1627,  the  relief  immediately  rising  to 
£43  7s.  6(1.* 

Richard  Dunning  describes  how  in  Devon  "  for 
Employing  Women,  .  .  .  We  agreed  with  one  Person, 
who  usually  Employed  several  Spinsters,  ...  he 
was  to  employ  in  Spinning,  Carding,  etc.,  all  such 
Women  as  by  direction  of  the  Overseers  should  apply 
to  him  for  Work,  to  pay  them  such  Wages  as  they 
should  deserve."2 

"  Mary  Harrison,  daughter  of  Henry  Harrison,  was 
comited  to  the  hospitall  at  Reading  to  be  taught  to 
spyn  and  earne  her  livinge."3  Similarly  at  Dor- 
chester "  Sarah  Handcock  of  this  Borough  having 
this  day  been  complayned  of  for  her  disorderly 
carriage  and  scolding  in  the  work  house  .... 
.  .  .  .  among  the  spinsters,  is  now  ordered  to 
come  no  more  to  the  work  house  to  work  there, 
but  is  to  work  elsewhere  and  follow  her  work,  or 
to  be  *  further  delt  withall  according  to  the 
lawe."4 

At  Dorchester  a  school  was  maintained  for  some 
years  in  which  poor  children  were  taught  spinning  : 
"  This  day  John  Tarrenton  ....  is  agreed 
withall  to  vndertake  charge  and  to  be  master  of  the 
Hospitall  to  employ  halfe  the  children  at  present 
at  burlinge,5  and  afterwards  the  others  as  they  are 
willing  and  able,  To  have  the  howse  and  Tenne  per 
annum  :  wages  for  the  presente,  and  yf  all  the  Children 
come  into  burlinge,  and  ther  be  no  need  of  the  women 
that  doe  now  teach  them  to  spinne,  then  the  Towne 

1  Suss.  Arch.  Call.,  Vol.*xx.,  pp.  99-100,  Acct.  Book  of  Cowdon. 

2  Dunning,  Plain  and  Easie  Method,  p.  8,  1686. 

3  Guilding,  Reading,  Vol.  II.,  p.  294. 

4  Mayo  (C.H)  Municipal  Records  of  Dorchester,  p.  667,  1635. 
6  To  burl,  "  to  dress  cloth  as  fullers  do." 


TEXTILES  133 

to  consyder  of  Tarrington  to  giue  him  either  part 
or  all,  that  is  ix  pownd,  the  women  now  hath.1  .  .  . 

Another  entry,  February  3rd,  1644-5,  records  that 
"  Mr.  Speering  doth  agree  to  provide  spinning  work 
for  such  poore  persons  that  shall  spin  with  those 
turnes  as  are  now  there  [in  the  hospital  house]  .  .  . 
and  to  pay  the  poore  for  their  spinning  after  the  vsual 
rates  for  the  worke  they  doe.2 

In  1649  it  is  entered  "  This  day  Thos.  Clench 
was  here,  and  demanded  10  It.  per  ann.  more 
than  the  stocke  of  the  Hospital,  which  is  150  It. 
lent  him  for  the  furnishing  of  the  house  with  worke 
for  spinners,  and  for  the  overlooking  to  the  children 
.  .  .  the  spinners  shall  have  all  the  yeare  3*d.  a  li. 
for  yearne  ....  and  that  there  be  as  many 
children  kept  aworke  as  the  roomes  will  hold  .  .  . 
wee  shall  take  into  consideracion  the  setting  of  the 
poore  on  worke  in  spinning  of  worsted,  and  knitting 
of  stockins,  and  also  of  setting  vp  a  trade  of  making 
sackcloth.8 

Schemes  for  teaching  spinning  were  welcomed 
with  enthusiasm  by  the  economists  of  the  period, 
because  in  many  districts  the  poor  rates  had  risen  to 
an  alarming  height.  They  believed  that  if  only 
the  poor  would  work  all  would  be  well.  One  writer 
urged  "  That  if  the  Poor  of  the  Place  do  not  know  how 
to  spin,  or  to  do  the  Manufacture  of  that  Place,  that 
then  there  be  Dames  hired  at  the  Parish-Charge  to 
teach  them  ;  and  Men  may  learn  to  spin  as  well  as 
Women,  and  Earn  as  much  money  at  it  as  they  can 
at  many  other  employments."4  Another  writer  calcu- 
lated that  if  so  employed  "  ixcl  children  whch  daielie 
was  ydle  may  earne  one  w*  another  vjd.  a  weke  wh' 

1  Mayo  (C.  H.),  Municipal  Records  of  Dorchester,  p.  515,  1638. 
a  Ibid,  p.  521. 

3  Ibid,  pp.  517-8. 

4  Trade  of  England,  p.  lo,  i68t. 


ch 


i34  TEXTILES 

a  mownte  in  the  yere  t  o  jMiijcxxxvu.  Also  that 
jciiijxx  women  .  .  ar  hable  to  earne  at  lest  some 
xijd.,  some  xxd.,  and  some  ijs.  vjd.  a  weeke."1 

This  zest  for  teaching  spinning  was  partly  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  clothiers  were  represented  on  the 
local  authorities,  and  often  the  extending  of  their 
business  was  hampered  by  the  shortage  of  spinsters. 
But  the  flaw  in  all  these  arrangements  was  the  fact 
that  spinning  remained  in  most  cases  a  grant  in  aid, 
and  could  not,  owing  to  the  low  wages  paid,  maintain 
a  family,  scarcely  even  an  individual,  on  the  level 
of  independence. 

Children  could  not  live  on  6d.  a  week,  or  grown 
women  on  is.  or  is.  8d.  a  week.  And  so  the  women, 
when  they  depended  wholly  upon  spinning  flax  for 
their  living,  became  paupers,  suffering  the  degradation 
and  loss  of  power  by  malnutrition  which  that  condition 
implies. 

In  a  few  cases  this  unsatisfactory  aspect  of  spinning 
was  perceived  by  those  who  were  charged  with  relieving 
the  poor.  Thus,  when  a  workhouse  was  opened  in 
Bristol  in  1654,  the  spinning  scheme  was  soon  aban- 
doned as  unprofitable.2  Later,  when  girls  were  again 
taught  spinning,  the  managers  of  the  school  "  soon 
found  that  the  great  cause  of  begging  did  proceed 
from  the  low  wages  for  Labour ;  for  after  about 
eight  months  time  our  children  could  not  get  half 
so  much  as  we  expended  in  their  provisions.  The 
manufacturers  ....  were  always  complaining 
the  Yarn  was  spun  couarse,  but  would  not  advance 
above  eightpence  per  pound  for  spinning,  and  we  must 
either  take  this  or  have  no  work."  Finally  the  Gover- 
nor took  pains  therefore  to  teach  them  to  produce 
a  finer  yarn  at  2s.  to  33.  6d.  per  pound.  This  paid 
better,  and  would  have  been  more  profitable  still  if 

1  Tingey,  Norwich,  Vol.  II,  p.  355. 
1  La  timer,  Annals  of  Bristol,  p.  249. 


TEXTILES  135 

the  girls  as  they  grew  older  had  not  been  sent  to 
service  or  put  into  the  kitchen.1 

Thomas  Firmin,  after  a  prolonged  effort  to  help 
the  poor  in  London,  came  to  a  similar  conclusion. 
He  explains  that  "  the  Poor  of  this  Parish,  tho'  many, 
are  yet  not  so  many  as  in  some  others  ;  yet,  even 
here  there  are  many  poor  people,  who  receive  Flax 
to  spin,  tho'  thev  are  not  all  Pensioners  to  the  Parish, 
nor,  I  hope,  ever  will  be,  it  being  my  design  to  prevent 
that  as  much  as  may  be  ;  ....  there  are  above 
500  more  out  of  other  Parishes  in  and  about  the 
City  of  London  ;  some  of  which  do  constantly  follow 
this  Employment,  and  others  only  when  they  have 
no  better  ;  As,  suppose  a  poor  Woman  that  goes 
three  dayes  a  Week  to  Wash  or  Secure  abroad,  or  one 
that  is  employed  in  Nurse-keeping  three  or  four 
Months  in  a  Year,  or  a  poor  Market-woman,  who 
attends  three  or  four  Mornings  in  a  Week  with  her 
Basket,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  time  these  folks 
have  little  or  nothing  to  do  ;  but  by  means  of  this 
spinning  are  not  only  kept  within  doors  .... 
but  made  much  more  happy  and  chearful."2 

Firmin  began  his  benevolent  work  in  an  optimistic 
spirit,  "  had  you  seen,  as  I  have  done  many  a  time, 
with  what  joy  and  satisfaction,  many  Poor  People 
have  brought  home  their  Work,  and  received  their 
money  for  it,  you  would  think  no  Charity  in  the  World 
like  unto  it.  Do  not  imagine  that  all  the  Poor  People 
in  England,  are  like  unto  those  Vagrants  you  find  up 
and  down  in  the  Streets.  No,  there  are  many  Thous- 
ands whose  necessities  are  very  great,  and  yet  do  what 
they  can  by  their  Honest  Labour  to  help  themselves ; 
and  many  times  they  would  do  more  than  they  do 
but  for  want  of  Employment.  Several  that  I  have 
now  working  to  me  do  spin,  some  fifteen,  some  sixteen, 

1  Cary,(John)  Proceedings  of  Corporation  of  Bristol,  p.  13,  1700. 
1  Firmin,  Some  Proposals,  p.  19,  1678. 


136  TEXTILES 

hours  in  four  and  twenty,  and  had  much  rather    do 
it  than  be  idle.1 

The  work  developed  until  "  He  employed  in  this 
manufacture  some  times  1600,  some  times  1700 
Spinners,  besides  Dressers  of  flax,  Weavers  and  others. 
Because  he  found  that  his  Poor  must  work  sixteen 
hours  in  the  day  to  earn  sixpence,  and  thought  their 
necessities  and  labour  were  not  sufficiently  supplied 
or  recompensed  by  these  earnings ;  therefore  he  was 
wont  to  distribute  Charity  among  them  .  .  . 
without  which  Charity  some  of  them  had  perished 
for  want,  when  either  they  or  their  children  fell  ill 
.  .  .  .  Whoever  of  the  Spinners  brought  in  two 
pound  of  Yarn  might  take  away  with  'em  a  Peck 
of  Coals.  Because  they  soiled  themselves  by  carrying 
away  Coals  in  their  Aprons  or  Skirts  ....  he 
gave  'em  canvass  bags.  By  the  assistance  and  order 
of  his  Friends  he  gave  to  Men,  Women  and  Children 
3,000  Shirts  and  Shifts  in  two  years."2 

"  In  above  £4000,  laid  out  the  last  Year,  reckning 
House-rent,  Servants  wages,  Loss  by  Learners,  with 
the  interest  of  the  Money,  there  was  not  above  ^200 
lost,  one  chief  reason  of  which  was  the  kindness  of 
several  Persons,  who  took  off  good  quantities  . 
at  the  price  they  cost  me  to  spin  and  weave  .... 
and  ....  the  East  India  Co.,  gave  en- 
couragement to  make  their  bags."  But  the  loss 
increased  as  time  went  on  .  ..."  In  1690  his 
design  of  employing  the  poor  to  spin  flax  was  taken 
up  by  the  Patentees  of  the  Linen  Manufacture, 
who  made  the  Poor  and  others,  whom  they  employed, 
to  work  cheaper ;  yet  that  was  not  sufficient  to 
encourage  them  to  continue  the  manufacture  .  .  . 
The  poor  spinners,  being  thus  deserted,  Mr.  Firmin 
returned  to  'em  again  ;  and  managed  that  trade  as 

1  Firmin,  Thomas,  Life,  pp.  31-32,  1698. 
8  Ibid,  pp   31-2,  1698. 


TEXTILES  137 

he  was  wont ;  But  so,  that  he  made  it  bear  almost 
its  own  Charges.  But  that  their  smaller  Wages 
might  be  comfortable  to  them  he  was  more  Charitable 
to  'em,  and  begged  for  'em  of  almost  all  Persons  of 
Rank  with  whom  he  had  intimacy,  or  so  much  as 
Friendship.  He  would  also  carry  his  Cloth  to  divers, 
with  whom  he  scarce  had  any  acquaintance,  telling 
'em  it  was  the  Poor's  cloth,  which  in  conscience  they 
ought  to  buy  at  the  Price  it  could  be  afforded"1  .  .  . 
Finally,  "  he  was  persuaded  by  some,  to  make  trial 
of  the  Woollen  Manufacture  ;  because  at  this,  the  Poor 
might  make  better  wages,  than  at  Linen- work. 
But  the  price  of  wool  advancing  very  much,  and  the 
London-Spinsters  being  almost  wholly  unskilful  at 
Drawing  a  Woollen-Thread,  after  a  considerable 
loss  ....  and  29  months  trial  he  gave  off 
the  project."2 

Firmin's  experiment,  corroborating  as  it  does  the 
results  of  other  efforts  at  poor  relief,  shows  that  at 
this  time  women  could  not  maintain  themselves  by 
the  wages  of  flax  spinning ;  still  less  could  they, 
when  widows,  provide  for  their  children  by  this 
means. 

But  though  the  spinster,  when  working  for  wages 
received  so  small  a  return  for  her  labour,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  flax  spinning  was  chiefly  a  domestic 
art,  in  which  the  whole  value  of  the  woman's  labour 
was  secured  to  her  family,  unaffected  by  the  rate 
of  wages.  Therefore  the  value  of  women's  labour 
in  spinning  flax  must  not  be  judged  only  according 
to  the  wages  which  they  received,  but  was  more  truly 
represented  by  the  quantity  of  linen  which  they 
produced  for  household  use. 


1  Firmin  (Thomas)  Life,  pp.  33-6. 
*  Ibid,  pp.  39-40. 


138  TEXTILES 

D.  Silk,  and  Gold  and  Silver. 

THE  history  of  the  Silk  Trade  differs  widely  from 
that  of  either  the  Woollen  or  Linen  Trades.  The  con- 
ditions of  its  manufacture  during  the  fifteenth  century 
are  described  with  great  clearness  in  a  petition  presented 
to  Henry  VI.  by  the  silk  weavers  in  1455,  which 
"  Sheweth  unto  youre  grete  wisdoms,  and  also  prayen 
and  besechen  the  Silkewymmen  and  Throwestres  of 
the  Craftes  and  occupation  of  Silkewerk  within  the 
Citee  of  London,  which  be  and  have  been  Craftes 
of  wymmen  within  the  same  Citee  of  tyme  that  noo 
mynde  renneth  unto  the  contrarie.  That  where 
it  is  pleasyng  to  God  that  all  his  Creatures  be  set  in 
vertueux  occupation  and  labour  accordyng  to  their 
degrees,  and  convenient  for  thoo  places  where  their 
abode  is,  to  the  nourishing  of  virtue  and  eschewyng 
of  vices  and  ydelness.  And  where  upon  the  same  Craftes, 
before  this  tyme,  many  a  wurshipfull  woman  within 
the  seid  Citee  have  lyved  f  ull  hounourably,  and  therwith 
many  good  Housholdes  kept,  and  many  Gentilwymmen 
and  other  in  grete  noumbre  like  as  there  nowe  be 
moo  than  a  M.,  have  been  drawen  under  theym  in 
lernyngthe  same  Craftes  and  occupation  f  ull  vertueusly, 
unto  the  plesaunce  of  God,  whereby  afterward  they 
have  growe  to  grete  wurship,  and  never  any  thing 
of  Silke  brought  into  yis  lande  concerning  the  same 
Craftes  and  occupation  in  eny  wise  wrought,  but  in 
rawe  Silk  allone  unwrought "  ;  but  now  wrought  goods 
are  introduced  and  it  is  impossible  any  longer  to  obtain 
rawe  material  except  of  the  worst  quality  .... 
"  the  sufferaunce  whereof,  hath  caused  and  is  like  to 
cause,  grete  ydelness  amongs  yonge  Gentilwymmen 
and  oyer  apprentices  of  the  same  Craftes  within  ye 
said  Citee,  and  also  leying  doun  of  many  good  and  not- 
able Housholdes  of  them  that  have  occupied  the  same 
Craftes,  which  be  convenient,  worshipf ull  and  accordyng 
for  Gentilwymmen,  and  oyer  wymmen  of  wurship,  aswele 


TEXTILES  139 

within  ye  same  Citee  as  all  oyer  places  within  this 
Reaume."  The  petitioners  assumed  that  "  Every 
wele  disposed  persone  of  this  land,  by  reason  and  naturall 
favour,  wold  rather  that  wymmen  of  their  nation  born 
and  owen  blode  hadde  the  occupation  thereof,  than 
strange  people  of  oyer  landes."1 

The  petition  received  due  attention,  Statute  33, 
Henry  VI  enacting  that  "  Whereas  it  is  shewed  to 
our  Sovereign  Lord  the  King  in  his  said  parliament, 
by  the  grevous  complaint  of  the  silk  women  and 
spinners  of  the  mystery  and  occupation  of  silk- 
working,  within  the  city  of  London,  how  that  divers 
Lombards  and  other  strangers,  imagining  to  destroy 
the  said  mystery,  and  all  such  virtuous  occupations 
of  women  in  the  said  Realm,  to  enrich  themselves 
.  .  .  .  have  brought  ....  such  silk  so 
made,  wrought,  twined,  ribbands,  and  chains  falsely 
and  deceitfully  wrought,  all  manner  girdels  and  other 
things  concerning  the  said  mystery  and  occupation, 
in  no  manner  wise  bringing  any  good  silk  unwrought, 
as  they  were  wont."  Therefore  the  importation  of 

"  any  merchandise touching  or 

concerning  the  mystery  of  silk  women,  (girdels 
which  come  from  Genoa  only  excepted,)"  is 
forbidden.2 

This  statute  was  re-enacted  in  succeeding  reigns 
with  the  further  explanation  that  "  as  well  men  as 
women  "  gained  their  living  by  this  trade. 

Few  incidents  reveal  more  clearly  than  do  these 
petitions  the  gulf  separating  the  conception  of  women's 
sphere  in  life  which  prevailed  in  mediaeval  London,  from 
that  which  governed  society  in  the  first  decade  of 
the  twentieth  century.  The  contrast  is  so  great  that  it 
becomes  difficult  to  adjust  one's  vision  to  the  implica- 
tions which  the  former  contains.  Other  incidents 

1  Rolls  of  Parliament,  V.,  325.  A  Petition  of  Silk  Weavers,  34  Henry  VI.,  c.  55. 
*  Statutes,  II.,  p.  374,  33  Henry  VI.,  c.  5. 


I4o  TEXTILES 

can  be  quoted  of  the  Independence,  enterprise,  and 
capacity  manifested  by  the  prosperous  women  of 
the  merchant  class  in  London  during  the  Middle 
Ages.  Thus  Rose  de  Burford,  the  wife  of  a  wealthy 
London  merchant,  engaged  in  trading  transactions 
on  a  large  scale  both  before  and  after  her  husband's 
death.  She  lent  money  to  the  Bishop  in  1318,  and 
received  100  Marks  for  a  cope  embroidered  with  coral. 
She  petitioned  for  the  repayment  of  a  loan  made  by 
her  husband  for  the  Scottish  wars,  finally  proposing 
that  this  should  be  allowed  her  off  the  customs  which 
she  would  be  liable  to  pay  on  account  of  wool  about 
to  be  shipped  from  the  Port  of  London.1 

It  is,  however,  a  long  cry  from  the  days  of  Rose 
de  Burford  to  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
"  gentilwymmen  and  other  wymmen  of  worship  "  no 
longer  made  an  honourable  living  by  the  silk 
trade;  which  trade,  in  spite  of  protecting  statutes, 
had  become  the  refuge  of  paupers.  To  obviate  the 
difficulties  of  an  exclusive  reliance  on  foreign  supplies 
for  the  raw  material  of  the  silk  trade,  James  I.  ordered 
the  planting  of  10,000  mulberry  trees  so  that  "  mul- 
titudes of  persons  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages,  such 
as  in  regard  of  impotence  are  unfitted  for  other 
labour,  may  bee  set  on  worke,  comforted  and 
releved."2 

The  unsatisfactory  state  of  the  trade  is  shown  in 
a  petition  from  the  merchants,  silk  men,  and  others 
trading  for  silk,  asking  for  a  charter  of  incorporation 
because  "  the  trade  of  silke  is  now  become  great 
whereby  ....  customes  are  increased  and 
many  thousands  of  poore  men,  women  and  children 
sett  on  worke  and  mayntayned.  And  forasmuch 
as  the  first  beginning  of  this  trade  did  take  its  being 
from  women  then  called  silkwomen  who  brought 

1  By  kind  permission  of  Miss  Eileen  Power. 
*  S.P.D.,  xxvi.,  6.     Jan.  1607. 


TEXTILES  141 

upp  men  servants,  that  since  have  become  free  of 
all  or  moste  of  the  severall  guilds  and  corporacions 
of  London,  whose  ordinances  beeing  for  other  partic- 
ular trades,  meet  not  with,  nor  have  power  to  reprove 
such  abuses  and  deceipts  as  either  have  or  are  likely 
still  to  growe  upon  the  silk  trade."1 

A  petition  from  the  Master,  Wardens  and  Assist- 
ants of  the  Company  of  Silk  Throwers,  shows  that  by 
this  "  Trade  between  Forty  and  Fifty  thousand  poor 
Men,  Women  and  Children,  are  constantly  Imployed 
and  Relieved,  in  and  about  the  City  of  London 
.  .  .  .  divers  unskilful  Persons,  who  never  were 
bred  as  Apprentices  to  the  said  Trade  of  Silk-throwing, 
have  of  Late  years  intruded  into  the  said  Trade,  and 
have  Set  up  the  same  ;  and  dwelling  in  Places  beyond 
the  Bounds  and  Circuit  of  the  Petitioners  Search  by 
their  Charter,  do  use  Divers  Deceits  in  the  Throwing 
and  Working  of  the  Manufacture  of  Silk,  to  the  great 
Wrong  and  Injury  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  the 
great  Discouragement  of  the  Artists  of  the  said  Trade."2 

An  act  of  Charles  II.  provided  that  men,  women  and 
children,  if  native  subjects,  though  not  apprentices, 
might  be  employed  to  turn  the  mill,  tie  threads,  and 
double  and  wind  silk,  "  as  formerly."3 

"  There  are  here  and  there,"  it  was  said,  "  a  Silk 
Weaver  or  two  (of  late  years)  crept  into  some  cities 
and  Market  Towns  in  England,  who  do  employ 
such  people  that  were  never  bound  to  the  Trade  .  . 
.  .  in  all  other  Trades  that  do  employ  the  poor, 
they  cannot  effect  their  business  without  employing 
such  as  were  never  apprentice  to  the  Trade  .  .  . 
the  Clothier  must  employ  the  Spinner  and  Stock- 
carder,  that  peradventure  were  never  apprentices 
to  any  trade,  else  they  could  never  accomplish  their 


1  S.P.D.,  clxxv.,  102,  Nov.  25,  1630. 

Humble  Petition  of  the  Master,  h 
rowers. 

Statutes  13  and  14,  Charles  II.,  c.  15. 


2  Humble  Petition  of  the  Master,  Wardens  and  Assistants  of  the  Company  of  Silk 
Throwers. 


142 


TEXTILES 


end.  And  it  is  the  same  in  making  of  Buttons  and 
Bone  lace,  and  the  like.  But  it  is  not  so  in  this  Trade  ; 
for  they  that  have  been  apprentices  to  the  Silk- weaving 
Trade,  are  able  to  make  more  commodities  than  can 
be  easily  disposed  of  ....  because  there  hath 
not  been  for  a  long  time  any  other  but  this,  to  place 
forth  poor  men's  Children,  and  Parish  Boyes  unto  ; 
by  which  means  the  poor  of  this  Trade  have  been 
very  numerous."1 

During  this  period  all  the  references  to  silk- 
spinning  confirm  the  impression  that  it  had  become 
a  pauper  trade.  A  pamphlet  calling  for  the  impo- 
sition of  a  duty  on  the  importation  of  wrought  silks 
explains  that  "  The  Throwsters,  by  reason  of  this 
extraordinary  Importation  of  raw  Silk,  will  employ 
several  hundred  persons  more  than  they  did  before, 
as  Winders,  Doublers,  and  others  belonging  to  the 
throwing  Trade,  who  for  the  greatest  part  are 
poor  Seamen  and  Soldier's  wives,  which  by  this 
Increase  of  Work  will  find  a  comfortable  Subsistence 
for  themselves  and  Families,  and  thereby  take  off  a 
Burthen  that  now  lies  upon  several  Parishes,  which 
are  at  a  great  charge  for  their  Support."*  The 
"  comfortable  subsistence "  of  these  poor  seamen's 
wives  amounted  to  no  more  than  is.  6d.  or  is.  8d. 
per  week.3 

There  seems  here  no  clue  to  explain  the  transition 
from  a  monopoly  of  gentlewomen  conducting  a 
profitable  business  on  the  lines  of  Family  Industry 
to  a  disorganised  Capitalistic  Trade,  resting  on  the 
basis  of  women's  sweated  labour.  The  earlier  mon- 
opoly was,  however,  probably  favoured  by  the  ex- 
pensive nature  of  the  materials  used,  and  the  necessity 

1  Trade  of  England,  p.  18. 

*  Answer  to  a  Paper  of  Reflections,  on  the  Project  for  laying  a  Dnty  on  English 
Wrought  Silks. 

1  Cast  of  the  Manufactures  of  Gilt  and  Silver  Wire,  1714. 


TEXTILES  143 

for  keeping  in  touch  with  the  merchants  who  imported 
them,  while  social  customs  secured  an  equitable 
distribution  of  the  profits.  With  the  destruction 
of  these  social  customs  and  traditions,  compet- 
ition asserted  its  sway  unchecked,  till  it  appeared  as 
though  there  might  even  be  a  relation  between 
the  costliness  of  the  material  and  the  wretchedness 
of  the  women  employed  in  its  manufacture  ;  for  the 
women  who  span  gold  and  silver  thread  were  in 
the  same  stage  of  misery. 

Formerly  women  had  been  mistresses  in  this  class 
of  business  as  well  as  in  the  Silk  Trade,  but  a  Proclam- 
ation of  June  nth,  1622,  forbade  the  exercise  of 
the  craft  by  all  except  members  of  the  Company  of 
Gold  Wire  Drawers. 

Under  this  proclamation  the  Silver  thread  of  one 
Anne  Twiseltor  was  confiscated  by  Thomas  Stockwood, 
a  constable,  who  entered  her  house  and  found  her 
and  others  spinning  gold  and  silver  thread.  "  The 
said  Anne  being  since  married  to  one  John  Bagshawe 
hath  arrested  Stockwood  for  the  said  silver  upon  an 
action  of  £10,  on  the  Saboth  day  going  from  Church, 
and  still  prosecuteth  the  suite  against  him  in  Guild 
Hall  with  much  clamor."1  Bagshawe  and  his  wife 
maintained  that  the  silver  was  sterling,  and  therefore 
not  contrary  to  the  Proclamation.  Stockwood  refused 
to  return  it  unless  he  might  have  some  of  it.  There- 
fore they  commenced  the  suit  against  him. 

Probably  few,  if  any,  women  became  members  of  the 
Company  of  Gold  Wire  Drawers,  and  henceforward  they 
were  employed  only  as  spinners.  Their  poverty  is  shown 
by  the  frequency  with  which  they  are  mentioned 
as  inmates  of  tenement  houses,  which  through  over- 
crowding became  dangerous  to  the  public  health. 
It  was  reported  to  the  Council  for  example,  that 
Katherine  Barnaby  "  entertayns  in  her  house  in  Great 

1  C.R.,  June  16,  1624. 


144  TEXTILES 

Wood  Streate,  divers  women  kinde  silver  spinners."1 
These  poor  women  worked  in  the  spinning  sheds 
of  their  masters,  and  thus  the  factory  system 
prevailed  already  in  this  branch  of  the  textile 
industry ;  the  costliness  of  the  fabrics  produced  for- 
bade any  great  expansion  of  the  trade,  and  therefore 
the  Masters  were  not  obliged  to  seek  for  labour 
outside  the  pauper  class. 

The  Curate,  Churchwardens,  Overseers  and  Vestry- 
men of  the  parish  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate,  drew  up 
the  following  statement :  "  There  are  in  the  said 
Parish,  eighty  five  sheds  for  the  spinning  Gilt  and 
Silver  Thread,  in  which  are  255  pair  of  wheels. 

The  Masters  with  their  Families  amount  unto  581 
These  imploy  poor  Parish-Boys  and  Girls  to  the 
number  of  1275 

There  are  1 1 8  master  Wire-Drawers,  who  with 
their  wives,  Children  and  Apprentices,  make  826 

Master  weavers  of  Gold  and  Silver  Lace  and  Fringes  106 
Their  Wives,  Children,  Apprentices  and  Journey 
Men  amount  unto  2120 

Silver  and  Gold  Bone-Lace  makers,  and  Silver  and 
Gold  Button  makers  with  their  Families  1000 

Windsters,  Flatters  of  Gold  and  Silver  and  Engine 
Spinners  with  their  Families  300 

Total  6208 

They  continue  :  "  The  Poor's  Rate  of  the  Parish 
amounts  to  near  Four  Thousand  Pounds  per 
annum.  .  .  .  The  Parish  ....  at  this 
present  are  indebted  One  Thousand  Six  Hundred  and 
Fifty  Pounds.  Persons  are  daily  removing  out  of 
the  Parish,  by  Reason  of  this  heavy  Burthen,  empty 
Houses  increasing.  If  a  Duty  be  laid  on  the  manu- 
facture of  Gold  and  Silver  wyres  the  Poor  must 
necessarily  be  increased."2 


1  S.P.D.,  ccclix.,  Returns  to  Council     ...     of  houses,  etc,  1637. 
1  Case  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Giles,  Cr  iff  legate. 


TEXTILES  145 

Such  a  statement  is  in  itself  proof  that  Gold  and 
Silver  Thread  making  ranked  among  the  pauper 
trades  in  which  the  wages  paid  must  needs  be  sup- 
lemented  out  of  the  poor  rates. 

E.  CONCLUSION. 

IT  has  been  shown  that  in  textile  industries  all  spinning 
was  done  exclusively  by  women  and  children,  while 
they  were  also  engaged  to  some  extent  in  other  pro- 
cesses, such  as  weaving,  burling,  bleaching,  fulling, 
etc.  The  fact  that  the  nation  depended  entirely 
upon  women  for  the  thread  from  which  its  clothing 
and  household  linen  was  made  must  be  remembered 
in  estimating  their  economic  position.  Even  if  no 
other  work  had  fallen  to  their  share,  they  can  hardly 
have  been  regarded  as  mere  dependants  on  their 
husbands  when  the  clothing  for  the  whole  family 
was  spun  by  their  hands ;  but  it  has  been  explained 
in  the  previous  chapter  that  in  many  cases  the  mother, 
in  addition  to  spinning,  provided  a  large  proportion 
of  the  food  consumed  by  her  family.  If  the  father 
earned  enough  money  to  pay  the  rent  and  a  few 
other  necessary  expenses,  the  mother  could  and  did, 
feed  and  clothe  herself  and  her  children  by  her 
own  labours  when  she  possessed  enough  capital  to 
confine  herself  wholly  to  domestic  industry.  The 
value  of  a  woman's  productive  capacity  to  her  family 
was,  however,  greatly  reduced  when,  through  poverty, 
she  was  obliged  to  work  for  wages,  because  then,  far 
from  being  able  to  feed  and  clothe  her  family,  her 
wages  were  barely  adequate  to  feed  herself. 

This  fact  indicates  the  weakness  of  women's  position 
in  the  labour  market,  into  which  they  were  being 
forced  in  increasing  numbers  by  the  capitalistic  organis- 
ation of  industry.  In  consequence  of  this  weakness, 
a  large  proportion  of  the  produce  of  a  woman's  labour 
was  diverted  from  her  family  to  the  profit  of  the 
capitalist  or  the  consumer ;  except  in  the  most  skilled 

10 


146  TEXTILES 

branches  of  the  woollen  industry,  spinning  was  a 
pauper  trade,  a  "  sweated  industry,"  which  did  not 
provide  its  workers  with  the  means  for  keeping 
themselves  and  their  families  in  a  state  of  efficiency, 
but  left  them  to  some  extent  dependent  on  other 
sources  for  their  maintenance. 

Comparing  the  various  branches  of  textile  in- 
dustry together,  an  interesting  light  is  thrown  upon 
the  reactions  between  capitalistic  organisation  of 
labour  and  womer's  economic  position. 

Upper  class  women  had  lost  their  unique  position 
in  the  silk  trade,  and  the  wives  of  wealthy  clothiers 
and  wool  merchants  appear  to  have  seldom  taken 
an  active  interest  in  business  matters.  Thus  it  was 
only  as  wage-earners  that  women  were  extensively 
employed  in  the  textile  trades. 

Their  wages  were  lowest  in  the  luxury  trades 
i.e.,  silk,  silver  and  gold,  and  in  the  linen  trade.  The 
former  were  now  wholly  capitalistic,  but  the  demand 
for  luxuries  being  limited  and  capable  of  little  ex- 
pansion, the  labour  available  in  the  pauper  classes 
was  sufficient  to  satisfy  it.  The  situation  was  different 
in  the  linen  and  allied  trades,  where  the  demand  for 
thread,  either  of  flax  or  hemp,  appears  generally  to 
have  been  in  excess  of  the  supply.  Although  the 
larger  part  of  the  linen  manufactured  in  England  was 
still  produced  under  the  conditions  of  domestic 
industry,  the  demand  for  thread  for  trade  purposes 
was  steady  enough  to  suggest  to  Parish  Author- 
ities the  value  of  spinning  as  a  means  of  reducing 
the  poor  rates.  It  did  not  occur  to  them,  however, 
that  if  the  wages  paid  for  spinning  were  higher 
the  poor  would  have  been  as  eager  to  learn  spinning 
as  to  gain  apprenticeship  in  the  skilled  trades, 
and  thus  the  problem  of  an  adequate  supply  of 
yarn  might  have  been  solved  at  one  stroke  with  the 
problem  of  poverty  itself ;  no  attempt  was  made,  to 
raise  the  -wages,  and  the  production  of  thread  for 


TEXTILES  147 

trade  purposes  continued  to  be  subsidised  out  of 
the  poor  rates.  The  consequent  pauperisation 
of  large  numbers  of  women  was  a  greater  disaster 
than  even  the  burthen  of  the  poor  rates.  Instead 
of  the  independence  and  self-reliance  which  might 
have  been  secured  through  adequate  wages,  mothers 
were  not  only  humiliated  and  degraded,  but  their 
physical  efficiency  and  that  of  their  children  was 
lowered  owing  to  the  inadequacy  of  the  grudg- 
ing assistance  given  by  the  Churchwardens  and 
Overseers. 

The  woollen  trade,  in  which  capitalistic  organ- 
isation had  attained  its  largest  development,  presents 
a  more  favourable  aspect  as  regards  women's  wages. 
Already  in  the  seventeenth  century  a  spinster  could 
earn  sufficient  money  to  maintain  her  individual  self. 
In  spite  of  periodic  seasons  of  depression,  the  woollen 
trade  was  rapidly  expanding  ;  often  the  scope  of 
the  clothiers  was  limited  by  the  quantity  of  yarn 
available,  and  so  perforce  they  must  seek  for  labour 
outside  the  pauper  class.  Possibly  a  rise  was  already 
taking  place  in  the  spinsters'  wages  at  the  close  of 
the  century,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
during  this  period  the  highest  wages  were  earned, 
not  by  the  women  whose  need  for  them  was  greatest, 
that  is  to  say  the  women  who  had  children  depending 
exclusively  on  their  wages,  but  rather  by  the  well-to- 
do  women  who  could  afford  to  buy  the  wool  for  their 
spinning,  and  hold  the  yarn  over  till  an  advantageous 
opportunity  arose  for  selling  it. 

Spinning  did  not  present  itself  to  such  women 
as  a  means  of  filling  up  vacant  hours  which  they  would 
otherwise  have  spent  in  idleness,  but  as  an  alternative 
to  some  other  profitable  occupation,  so  numerous 
were  the  opportunities  offered  to  women  for  produc- 
tive industry  within  the  precincts  of  the  home. 
Therefore  to  induce  women  of  independent  position 
to  work  for  him,  the  Clothier  was  obliged  to  offer 


148  TEXTILES 

higher   wages    than   would   have   been    accepted    by 
those  whose  children  were  suffering  from  hunger. 

Somewhat  apart  from  economics  and  the  rate 
of  wages,  is  the  influence  which  the  developments 
of  the  woollen  trade  exercised  on  women's  social 
position,  through  the  disintegration  of  the  social 
organisation  known  as  the  village  community.  The 
English  village  had  formed  a  social  unit  almost 
self-contained,  embracing  considerable  varieties  of 
wealth,  culture  and  occupation,  and  finding  self- 
expression  in  a  public  opinion  which  provided  ade- 
quate sanction  for  its  customs,  and  determined  all 
the  details  of  manners  and  morals.  In  the  formation 
of  this  public  opinion  women  took  an  active 
part. 

The  seasons  of  depression  in  the  Woollen  Trade 
brought  to  such  communities  in  the  "  Clothing 
Counties  "  a  desolation  which  could  only  be  rivalled 
by  Pestilence  or  Famine.  Work  came  to  a  standstill, 
and  wholesale  migrations  followed.  Many  fathers 
left  their  starving  families,  in  search  of  work  elsewhere 
and  were  never  heard  of  again.  The  traditions  of 
family  life  and  the  customs  which  ruled  the  affairs 
of  the  village  were  lost,  never  to  be  again  restored, 
and  with  them  disappeared,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
recognised  importance  of  women  in  the  life  of  the 
community. 

The  social  problems  introduced  by  the  wages 
system  in  its  early  days  are  described  in  a  contem- 
porary pamphlet.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
term  "  the  poor  "  as  used  at  this  time  signified  the 
pauper  class,  hard-working,  industrious  families  who 
were  independent  of  charity  or  assistance  from  the 
poor  rates  being  all  included  among  the  "  common 
people."  "  I  cannot  acknowledge,"  the  writer  says, 
"  that  a  Manufacture  maketh  fewer  poor,  but  rather 
the  contrary.  For  tho'  it  sets  the  poor  on  work 
where  it  ^  finds  them,  yet  it  draws  still  more  to 


TEXTILES  149 

the  place ;  and  their  Masters  allow  wages  so  mean, 
that  they  are  only  preserved  from  starving  whilst 
they  can  work ;  when  Age,  Sickness,  or  Death 
comes,  themselves,  their  wives  or  their  children  are 
most  commonly  left  upon  the  Parish;  which  is  the 
reason  why  those  Towns  (as  in  the  Weald  of  Kent) 
whence  the  clothing  is  departed,  have  fewer  poor 
than  they  had  before."1 


1  Reasons  for  a  Limited  Exportation  ofWooll,  1677. 


CHAPTER    V. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES. 


(A)  Crafts.    Influence  of  Gilds — Inclusion  of  women — Position  of  craftsman's 
wife — Purposes  of  Gilds — The  share  of  women  in  religious,  social  and  trading 
privileges — Admission  chiefly  by  marriage — Stationer's  Company — Carpenter's 
Company — Rules  of  other  Gilds  and  Companies — Apprenticeship  to  women — 
Exclusion  of  women  did  not  originate  in  sex  jealousy — Position  of  women  in  open 
trades — Women's  trades. 

(B)  Retail  Trades.     Want  of  technical  training  inclined  women    towards 
retailing — Impediments  in  their  way — Apprenticeship  of  girls  to  shopkeepers — 
Prosecution    of    unauthorised  traders — Street    and    market    trading — Pedlars, 
Regraters,  Badgers — Opposition  of  shopkeepers. 

(C)  Provision  Trades. 

1.  Bakers.     Never    specially    a    woman's    trade — Widows — Share    of 

married  women. 

2.  Millers.     Occasionally  followed  by  women. 

3.  Butchers.     Carried  on  by  women  as  widows  and  by  married  women — 

also  independently — Regrating. 

4.  Fishwives.     Generally  very  poor. 

5.  Brewers.     Originally  a  special  women's  trade — Use  of  feminine  form 

Brewster — Creation  of  monopoly — Exclusion  of  women  by  the  trade 
when  capitalised — retailing  still  largely  in  hands  of  women. 

6.  Vintners. 

AGRICULTURE  and  the  textile  industries  having  been 
considered  separately,  owing  to  their  importance  and 
the  very  special  conditions  obtaining  in  both,  the  other 
forms  of  industry  in  which  women  were  employed 
may  be  roughly  divided  into  three  classes,  according 
to  certain  influences  which  made  them  more  or  less 
suitable  for  women's  employment. — (a)  Skilled  Trades. 
(&)  Retail  Trades,  (c)  Provision  Trades. 

(a)  The  Skilled  Trades.  Most  characteristic  of 
the  skilled  trades  are  those  crafts  which  became  more 
or  less  highly  organised  and  specialised  by  means 
of  Gilds ;  though  girls  were  seldom  apprenticed  to 
the  gild  trades,  yet  her  marriage  to  a  member  of  the 
Gild  conferred  upon  a  woman  her  husband's  rights 
and  privileges ;  and  as  she  retained  these  after  his 

150 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  151 

death,  she  could,  as  a  widow,  continue  to  control 
and  direct  the  business  which  she  inherited  from 
her  husband.  In  many  trades  the  gild  organisation 
broke  down,  and  though  the  form  of  apprenticeship 
was  retained  its  observance  secured  few,  if  any, 
privileges.  Some  skilled  trades  were  chiefly  if  not 
wholly,  in  the  hands  of  women,  and  these  appear 
never  to  have  been  organised,  though  long  appren- 
ticeships were  served  by  the  girls  who  entered  them. 

(b)  The  Retail  Trades.     The  classification  of  retail 
trades  as  a  group  distinct  from  the  Skilled  Trades  and 
the  Provision  Trades  is  somewhat  arbitrary,  because 
under  the  system  of  Family  Industry,  the  maker  of 
the  goods  was  often  his  own  salesman,  or  the  middle- 
men who  sold  the    goods    to    the    consumers    were 
themselves  organised  into  gilds.     Nevertheless,  from 
the  woman's  point  of  view  retailing  deserves  separate 
consideration,  because,  whether  as  a  branch  of  Family 
Industry  or  as  a  trade  in  itself,  the   employment    of 
selling  was  so  singularly  adapted  to  the  circumstances 
of  women,  that  among  their  resources  it  may  almost 
take  rank  with  agriculture  and  spinning. 

(c)  Ike  Provision   Trades   also,  whether  concerned 
with  the  production  or  only  with  the  sale  of  Provisions, 
occupy  a  special  position,   because  the  provisioning 
of   their   households   has   been   regarded   from   time 
immemorial  as  one  of  the  elementary  duties  falling 
to  the  share  of  women,  and  it  is  interesting  to  note 
how  far  skill  acquired  by  women  in  such  domestic 
work  was  useful  to  them  in  trade. 

In  all  three  classes  of  industry  women  were  employed 
as  their  husbands'  assistants  or  partners,  but  in  the 
middle  ages  married  women  also  engaged  in  business 
frequently  on  their  own  account.  This  was  so 
usual  that  almost  all  the  early  Customs  of  the  Boroughs 
enable  a  woman,  when  so  trading,  to  go  to  law 
as  though  though  she  were  a  femme  sole,  and  provide 
that  her  husband  shall  not  be  responsible  for  her 


152  CRAFTS  AND   TRADES 

debts.  For  example,  the  Customs  of  the  City  of 
London  declare  that :  "  Where  a  woman  coverte 
de  baron  follows  any  craft  within  the  said  city  by 
herself  apart,  with  which  the  husband  in  no  way 
intermeddles,  such  woman  shall  be  bound  as  a  single 
woman  in  all  that  concerns  her  said  craft.  And  if 
the  wife  shall  plead  as  a  single  woman  in  a  Court  of 
Record,  she  shall  have  her  law  and  other  advantages 
by  way  of  plea  just  as  a  single  woman.  And  if  she 
is  condemned  she  shall  be  committed  to  prison  until 
she  shall  have  made  satisfaction ;  and  neither  the 
husband  nor  his  goods  shall  in  such  case  be  charged 
or  interfered  with.  If  a  wife,  as  though  a  single 
woman,  rents  any  house  or  shop  within  the  said  city, 
she  shall  be  bound  to  pay  the  rent  of  the  said  house  or 
shop,  and  shall  be  impleaded  and  sued  as  a  single 
woman,  by  way  of  debt  if  necessary,  notwithstanding 
that  she  was  coverte  de  baron,  at  the  time  of  such 
letting,  supposing  that  the  lessor  did  not  know  there- 
of. ...  Where  plaint  of  debt  is  made  against 
the  husband,  and  the  plaintiff  declares  that  the  husband 
made  the  contract  with  the  plaintiff  by  the  hand  of 
the  wife  of  such  defendant,  in  such  case  the  said 
defendant  shall  have  the  aid  of  his  wife,  and  shall 
have  a  day  until  the  next  Court,  for  taking  counsel 
with  his  wife."1 

The  Customal  of  the  Town  and  Port  of  Sandwich 
provides  that  "  if  a  woman  who  deals  publickly  in 
fish,  fruit,  cloth  or  the  like,  be  sued  to  the  amount  of 
goods  delivered  to  her,  she  ought  to  answer  either 
with  or  without  her  husband,  as  the  plaintiff  pleases. 
But  in  every  personal  plea  of  trespass,  she  can  neither 
recover  nor  plead  against  any  body,  without  her 
husband.  If  she  be  not  a  public  dealer,  she  cannot 
answer,  being  a  covert  baron."5  Similarly  at  Rye, 

1  Liber  Albus,  pp.  181-2.     1419- 
*  Lyon.     Dover,  Vol.  II.,  p.  295. 


CRAFTS  AND   TRADES  153 

"  if  any  woman  that  is  covert  baron  be  impleaded 
in  plea  of  debt,  covenant  broken,  or  chattels  with- 
held, and  she  be  known  for  sole  merchant,  she  ought 
to  answer  without  the  presence  of  her  baron."1 

In  Carlisle  it  was  said  that  "  where  a  wife  that 
haith  a  husband  use  any  craft  within  this  citie  or  the 
liberties  of  the  same  besides  her  husband  crafte  or 
occupation  and  that  he  mel  not  wth  her  sayd 
craft  this  wife  shalbe  charged  as  woman  sole.  And 
if  the  husband  and  the  wife  be  impledit  in  such  case 
the  wife  shall  plead  as  woman  sole.  And  if  she  be 
condempned  she  shall  goe  to  ward  unto  she  haue 
mayd  agrement.  And  the  husband  nor  his  guds 
shal  not  in  this  case  be  charged.  And  if  the  woman 
refuse  to  appeare  and  answere  the  husband  or  servand 
to  bryng  her  in  to  answer."2 

Though  examples  of  the  separate  trading  of  women 
occur  frequently  in  the  seventeenth  century,  no  doubt 
the  more  usual  course  was  for  her  to  assist  her  husband 
in  his  business.  When  this  was  transacted  at  home 
her  knowledge  of  it  was  so  intimate  that  she  could 
successfully  carry  on  the  management  during  her 
husband's  absence.  How  complete  was  the  reliance 
which  men  placed  upon  their  wives  under  tRese 
circumstances  is  illustrated  by  the  story  of  John 
Adams,  a  Quaker  from  Yorkshire,  who  took  a  long 
journey  "  in  the  service  of  Truth  "  to  Holland  and 
Germany.  He  describes  how  a  fearful  being  visited 
him  by  night  in  a  vision,  telling  him  that  he  had  been 
deceived,  and  not  for  the  first  time,  in  undertaking 
this  service,  and  that  all  was  in  confusion  at  home. 
"  The  main  reason  why  things  are  so  is,  thy  wife, 
that  used  to  be  at  the  helm  in  thy  business,  is  dead." 
Thoroughly  alarmed,  he  was  preparing  to  hurry 
home  when  a  letter  arrived,  saying  that  all  was  well, 


1  Lyon,  Dover,  Vol.  II.,  p.  359. 

8  Ferguson,  Carlisle  p.  79  ;  from  Dormant  Book. 


154  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

"  whereby  I  was  relieved  in  mind,  and  confirmed  I 
was  in  my  place,  and  that  it  was  Satan,  by  his  trans- 
formation, who  had  deceived  and  disturbed  me."1 

The  understanding  and  good  sense  which  enabled 
women  to  assume  control  during  the  temporary 
absence  of  their  husbands,  fitted  them  also  to  bear 
the  burden  alone  when  widowed.  Her  capacity 
was  so  much  taken  for  granted  that  public  opinion 
regarded  the  wife  as  being  virtually  her  husband's 
partner,  leases  or  indentures  were  made  out  in  their 
joint  names,  and  on  the  husband's  death  the  wife 
was  left  in  undisturbed  possession  of  the  stock, 
apprentices  and  goodwill  of  the  business. 

A.     Skilled  Trades  or  Crafts. 

The  origin  of  the  Craft  Gilds  is  obscure.  They 
were  preceded  by  Religious  Gilds  in  which  men 
and  women  who  were  associated  in  certain  trades 
united  for  religious  and  social  purposes.  Whether 
these  Religious  Gilds  developed  naturally  into  organ- 
isations concerned  with  the  purpose  of  trade,or  whether 
they  were  superseded  by  new  associations  whose 
first  object  was  the  regulation  and  improvement 
of  the  craft  and  with  whom  the  religious  and  social  cere- 
monies were  of  secondary  importance  is  a  disputed 
point,  which,  if  elucidated,  might  throw  some  light 
on  the  industrial  history  of  women.  In  the  obscurity 
which  envelopes  this  subject  one  certain  fact  emerges; 
the  earlier  Gilds  included  sisters  as  well  as  brothers, 
the  two  sexes  being  equally  concerned  with  the 
religious  and  social  observances  which  constituted 
their  chief  functions. 

As  the  Gilds  become  more  definitely  trade  organ- 
isations the  importance  of  the  sisters  diminishes, 
and  in  some,  the  Carpenters  for  example,  they  appear 
to  be  virtually  excluded  from  membership  though 

1  Irish  Friend,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  150. 


CRAFTS  AND   TRADES  155 

this  exclusion  is  only  tacitly  arrived  at  by  custom, 
and  is  not  enforced  by  rules.  In  other  Gilds,  such 
as  the  Girdlers  and  Pewterers,  it  is  evident  that 
though  women's  names  do  not  occur  in  lists  of  wardens 
or  assistants,  yet  they  were  actively  engaged  in  these 
crafts  and,  like  men,  were  subject  to  and  protected 
by  the  regulations  of  their  Gild  or  Company. 

Very  little  is  yet  known  of  the  industrial  position 
of  Englishwomen  in  the  middle  ages.  Poll-tax  returns 
show,  however,  that  they  were  engaged  in  many 
miscellaneous  occupations.  Thus  the  return  for  Oxford 
in  1380  mentions  six  trades  followed  by  women, 
viz. — 37  spinsters,  n  shapesters  (tailors),  9  tapsters 
(inn  keepers),  3  sutrices  (shoemakers,)  3  hucksters, 
5  washerwomen,  while  in  six  others  both  men  and 
women  were  employed,  namely  butchers,  brewers, 
chandlers,  ironmongers,  netmakers  and  kempsters 
(wool  combers).  148  women  were  enrolled  as  ancillse 
or  servants,  and  81  trades  were  followed  by  only  men. 

A  similar  return  for  the  West  Riding  of  Yorks 
in  1379  declares  the  women  employed  in  different 
trades  to  be  as  follows  : — 6  chapmen,  n  inn  keepers, 
I  farrier,  I  shoemaker,  2  nurses,  39  brewsters,  2  farmers, 
I  smith,  i  merchant,  114  domestic  servants  and  farm 
labourers,  66  websters,  (30  with  that  surname),  2 
listers  or  dyers,  2  fullers  or  walkers,  and  22  seam- 
stresses.1 In  every  case  these  would  be  women  who 
were  carrying  on  their  trade  separately  from  their 
husbands,  or  as  widows.  During  the  following 
centuries  women's  names  are  given  in  the  returns 
made  of  the  tradesmen  working  in  different  Boroughs, 
occurring  sometimes  in  trades  which  would  seem  to 
modern  ideas  most  unlikely  for  them.  Thus  5 
widows  and  35  men's  names  are  given  in  a  list  of  the 
smiths  at  Chester  for  the  year  I574-2 

1  By  kind  permission  of  Miss  Eileen  Power. 

*  Harl,  MSS.,  2054.  fo.  22.,  The  Sm  itbs  Book  of  Accts.     Chester,  1 574. 


156  CRAFTS  AND   TRADES 

It  must  be  remembered  that,  except  those  who  are 
classed  as  servants,  all  grown-up  women  were  either 
married  or  widows.  It  was  quite  usual  for  a  married 
woman  to  carry  on  a  separate  business  from  her 
husband  as  sole  merchant,  but  it  was  still  more  custom- 
ary for  her  to  share  in  his  enterprise,  and  only  after 
his  death  for  the  whole  burden  to  fall  upon  her 
shoulders.  How  natural  it  was  for  a  woman  to  regard 
herself  as  her  husband's  partner  will  be  seen  when 
the  conditions  of  family  industry  are  considered. 
Before  the  encroachments  of  capitalism  the  members 
of  the  Craft  Gilds  were  masters,  not  of  other  men, 
but  of  their  craft.  The  workshop  was  part  of  the 
home,  and  in  it,  the  master,  who  in  the  course  of  a 
long  apprenticeship  had  acquired  the  technical  mastery 
of  his  trade,  worked  with  his  apprentices,  one  or  two 
journeymen  and  his  wife  and  children.  The  number 
of  journeymen  and  apprentices  was  strictly  limited 
by  the  Gild  rules ;  the  men  did  not  expect  to  remain 
permanently  in  the  position  of  wage-earners,  but 
hoped  in  course  of  time  to  marry  and  establish  them- 
selves as  masters  in  their  craft.  Apart  from  the 
apprentices  and  journeymen  no  labour  might  be 
employed,  except  that  of  the  master's  wife  and  children ; 
but  there  are  in  every  trade  processes  which  do  not 
require  a  long  technical  training  for  their  performance, 
and  thus  the  assistance  of  the  mistress  became  im- 
portant to  her  husband,  whether  she  was  skilled  in 
the  trade  or  not,  for  the  work  if  not  done  by  her 
must  fall  upon  him.  Sometimes  her  part  was  manual, 
but  more  often  she  appears  to  have  taken  charge  of 
the  financial  side  of  the  business,  and  is  seen  in  the 
role  of  salesman,  receiving  payments  for  which  her 
receipt  was  always  accepted  as  valid,  or  even  acting 
as  buyer.  In  either  case  her  services  were  so  essen- 
tial to  the  business  that  she  usually  engaged  a  servant 
for  household  matters,  and  was  thus  freed  from  the 
routine  of  domestic  drudgery.  Defoe,  writing  in 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  157 

the  first  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century,  notes  that 
"  women  servants  are  now  so  scarce  that  from  thirty 
and  forty  shillings  a  Year,  their  Wages  are  increased 
of  late  to  six,  seven  and  eight  pounds  per  Annum, 
and  upwards.  ...  an  ordinary  Tradesman  cannot 
well  keep  one  ;  but  his  Wife,  who  might  be  useful 
in  his  Shop,  or  Business,  must  do  the  Drudgery  of 
Household  Affairs ;  And  all  this,  because  our 
Servant  Wenches  are  so  puff'd  up  with  Pride 
now-a-Days  that  they  never  think  they  go  fine 
enough."1 

The  position  of  a  married  woman  in  the  tradesman 
class  was  far  removed  from  that  of  her  husband's 
domestic  servant.  She  was  in  very  truth  mistress  of 
the  household  in  that  which  related  to  trade  as  well  as 
in  domestic  matters,  and  the  more  menial  domestic 
duties  were  performed  by  young  unmarried  persons 
of  either  sex.  To  quote  Defoe  again,  "  it  is  but 
few  Years  ago,  and  in  the  Memory  of  many  now  living, 
that  all  the  Apprentices  of  the  Shop-keepers  and  Ware- 
house-keepers. .  .  .  submitted  to  the  most  servile 
Employments  of  the  Families  in  which  they  serv'd  ; 
such  as  the  young  Gentry,  their  Successors  in  the 
same  Station,  scorn  so  much  as  the  Name  of  now ; 
such  as  cleaning  their  Masters'  Shoes,  bringing  Water 
into  the  Houses  from  the  Conduits  in  the  Street, 
which  they  carried  on  their  Shoulders  in  long  Vessels 
call'd  Tankards ;  also  waiting  at  Table, ....  but 
their  Masters  are  oblig'd  to  keep  Porters  or  Footmen 
to  wait  upon  the  apprentices."2 

The  rules  of  the  early  Gilds  furnish  abundant 
evidence  that  women  then  took  an  active  part  in 
their  husbands's  trades ;  thus  in  1297  the  Craft  of 
Fullers  at  Lincoln  ordered  that  "  none  [of  the  craft] 
shall  work, at  the  wooden  bar  with  a  woman,  unless 

1  Defoe,  Everybody's  Business  is  No-Body's  Business,  p.  6,  1725. 

2  Defoe,  Bebavionr  of  Servants,  p.  12, .  1724. 


158  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

with  the  wife  of  a  master  or  her  handmaid,"1  and 
in  1372,  when  articles  were  drawn  up  for  the  Leather- 
sellers  and  Pouch-makers  of  London,  and  for  Dyers 
serving  those  trades,  the  wives  of  the  dyers  of 
leather  were  sworn  together  with  their  husbands 
"to  do  their  calling,  and,  to  the  best  of  their  power, 
faithfully  to  observe  the  things  in  the  said  petition 
contained ;  namely  John  Blakthorne,  and  Agnes, 
his  wife  ;  John  Whitynge,  and  Lucy,  his  wife  ;  and 
Richard  Westone,  dier,  and  Katherine,  his  wife."2 

The  craft  Gilds  had  either  disappeared  before  the 
seventeenth  century  or  had  developed  into  Companies, 
wealthy  corporations  differing  widely  from  the  earlier 
associations  of  craftsmen.  But  though  the  Companies 
were  capitalistic  in  their  tendencies,  they  retained 
many  traditions  and  customs  which  were  character- 
istic of  the  Gilds.  The  master's  place  of  business 
was  still  in  many  instances  within  the  precincts  of 
his  home,  and  when  this  was  the  case  his  wife  retained 
her  position  as  mistress.  Incidental  references  often 
show  the  wife  by  her  husband's  side  in  his  shop. 
Thus  Thomas  Symonds,  Stationer,  when  called  as  a 
witness  to  an  inquest  in  1514  describes  how  "  within 
a  quarter  of  an  hower  after  VII.  a  clock  in  the  morning, 
Charles  Joseph  came  before  him  at  his  stall  and  said 
*  good  morow,  goship  Simondes,'  and  the  said  Simonds 
said  *  good  morow '  to  hym  againe,  and  the  wife  of 
the  said  Simons  was  by  him,  and  because  of  the 
deadly  countenance  and  hasty  goinge  of  Charles, 
the  said  Thomas  bad  his  wife  looke  whether  Charles 
goeth,  and  as  she  could  perceue,  Charles  went  into 
an  ale  house."8 

Decker  describes  a  craftsman's  household  in  "  A 
Shoemaker's  Holiday."  The  mistress  goes  in  and  out 

1  Smith  (Toulmin),  English  Gilds,  p.  180. 

*  Riley  (H.  T.),  Memorials  of  London,  p.  365. 

*  Arber,  Stationers,  Vol.  III.,  Intro,  p.  19. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  159 

of  the  workshop,  giving  advice,  whether  it  is  wanted 
or  not. 

Firk  :     "  Mum,  here  comes  my  dame  and  my  master. 
She'll   scold,   on   my   life,   for   loitering   this 
Monday  ;     .     .     .     .  ' 
Hodge : "  Master,    I   hope   you   will   not   suffer    my 

dame  to  take  down  your  journeyman.  .  . 
Eyre  :  "  Peace,  Firk  ;  not  I,  Hodge  ;  ...  she 
shall  not  meddle  with  you  .  .  .  away, 
queen  of  clubs ;  quarrel  not  with  me  and 
my  men,  with  me  and  my  fine  Firk  ;  I'll 
firk  you,  if  you  do."1 

But  the  meddling  continues  to  the  end  of  the  play. 
The  same  sort  of  scene  is  again  described  in  "  The 
Honest  Whore,"  where  Viola,  the  Linen  Draper's 
wife,  comes  into  his  shop,  and  says  to  the  two  Prentices 
and  George  the  servant,  who  are  at  work, 

"  Come,  you  put  up  your  wares  in  good  order, 
here,   do  you   not,   think  you  r     One   piece 
cast  this  way,  another  that  way  !     You  had 
need  have  a  patient  master  indeed." 
George    replies  (aside)     "  Ay,  I'll  be    sworn,  for    we 

have   a   curst   mistress."2 

Comedy  is  concerned  with  the  foibles  of  humanity, 
and  so  here  the  faults  of  the  mistress  are  reflected, 
but  in  real  life  she  is  often  alluded  to  as  her  husband's 
invaluable  lieutenant.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
admission  to  the  world  of  business  and  the  responsi- 
bilities which  rested  on  their  shoulders,  often  developed 
qualities  in  seventeenth  century  women  which  the 
narrower  opportunities  afforded  them  in  modern  society 
have  left  dormant.  The  wide  knowledge  of  life 
acquired  by  close  association  with  their  husbands'  affairs, 
qualified  mothers  for  the  task  of  training  their  children  ; 
but  it  was  not  only  the  mother  who  benefited  by  the 

1  Decker  (Thos.),  Best  Plays,  p.  49. 
*  Ibid,  p.  108. 


160  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

incorporation  of  business  with  domestic  affairs,  for 
while  she  shared  her  husband's  experiences  he  became 
acquainted  with  family  life  in  a  way  which  is  impossible 
for  men  under  modern  conditions.  The  father  was 
not  separated  from  his  children,  but  they  played  around 
him  while  he  worked,  and  his  spare  moments  could  be 
devoted  to  their  education.  Thus  the  association 
of  husband  and  wife  brought  to  each  a  wider,  deeper 
understanding  of  human  life. 

Returning  to  the  position  of  women  in  the  Craft 
Gilds  and  the  later  Companies,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  originally  these  associations  had  a  three-fold 
purpose,  (a)  the  performance  of  religious  ceremonies, 
(b)  social  functions,  (c)  the  protection  of  trade  in- 
terests and  the  maintenance  of  a  high  standard  of 
technical  efficiency. 

Women  are  not  excluded  from  membership  by 
any  of  the  earlier  charters,  which,  in  most  cases 
expressly  mention  sisters  as  well  as  brothers,  but  refer- 
ences to  them  are  more  frequent  in  the  provisions 
relating  to  the  social  and  religious  functions  of  the 
Gild  than  in  those  concerning  technical  matters. 
Though  after  the  Reformation  the  performance 
of  religious  ceremonies  fell  into  abeyance,  social 
functions  continued  to  be  an  important  feature  of 
the  Companies. 

Entrance  was  obtained  by  apprenticeship,  patrimony, 
redemption  or,  in  the  case  of  women,  by  marriage. 
The  three  former  methods  though  open  to  women, 
were  seldom  used  by  them,  and  the  vast  majority 
of  the  sisters  obtained  their  freedom  through  marriage. 
During  the  husband's  life  time  their  position  is  not 
very  evident,  but  on  his  death  they  were  possessed 
of  all  his  trade  privileges.  The  extent  to  which 
widows  availed  themselves  of  these  privileges  varied 
in  different  trades,  but  custom  appears  always  to 
have  secured  to  the  widow,  rather  than  to  the  son 
the  possession  of  her  husband's  business. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  161 

Hitherto  few  records  of  the  Gilds  and  Companies 
have  been  printed  in  extenso  ;  possibly  when  others 
are  published  more  light  may  be  shed  on  the  position 
which  they  accorded  to  women.  The  Stationers 
and  the  Carpenters  are  selected  here,  not  because 
they  are  typical  in  their  dealings  with  women,  but 
merely  because  their  records  are  available  in  a  more 
complete  form  than  the  others. 

The  Stationers'  Company  included  Stationers, 
Booksellers,  Binders  and  Printers ;  apprenticeship 
to  either  of  these  trades  conferred  the  right  of  freedom 
in  the  company,  but  the  position  of  printer  was  a 
prize  which  could  not  be  attained  purely  by  appren- 
ticeship ;  before  the  Long  Parliament  this  privi- 
lege was  confined  to  twenty-two  Printing  Houses 
only  besides  the  Royal  Printers,  vacancies  being  filled 
up  by  the  Court  ,of  Assistants,  with  the  approval 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Any  stationer 
who  had  been  made  free  of  his  Company  might 
publish  books,  but  printing  was  strictly  limited 
to  these  twenty-two  houses.  A  vacancy  seldom 
occurred,  because,  according  to  the  old  English  custom, 
on  the  printer's  death  his  rights  were  retained  by  his 
widow,  and  in  this  Company  they  were  not  even 
alienated  when  she  married  again,  but  were  shared 
by  her  second  husband;  thus  a  printer's  widow, 
whatever  her  age  might  be,  was  regarded  as  a  most 
desirable  "  partie."  The  widow  Francis  Simson 
married  in  succession  Richard  Read  and  George 
Elde,  the  business  following  her,  and  Anne  Barton 
married  a  second,  third  and  fourth  time,1  none  of 
the  later  husbands  being  printers. 

Though  amongst  the  printers  the  line  of  descent 
appears  to  have  been  more  often  from  husband  to 
wife  and  wife  to  husband  than  from  father  to  son, 
a  list,  giving  the  names  of  the  master  printers  as  they 

1  Arber,  Stationers,  Vol.  V.,  Intro,  xxix-xxx. 

11 


1 62  CRAFTS   AND  TRADES 

succeeded  each  other  from  1575  to  1635  shows  that 
the  business  was  acquired  by  marrying  the  printer's 
widow,  by  purchase  from  her,  and  also  by  descent. 
Four  women  are  mentioned  : — William  Ellis  bound 
to  Mrs.  East,  a  printer's  widow  who,  having  left  the 
trade  many  years  was  brought  up  in  the  art  of  printing 
by  Mr.  Fletcher  upon  composition.  Mrs.  Griffyn 
had  two  apprentices,  Mrs.  Dawson  had  three  appren- 
tices and  Mrs.  Purslow  two  apprentices.1  Another 
list  made  in  1630  of  the  names  of  the  Master  Printers 
of  London  gives  twenty-one  men  and  three  women, 
namely — Widdow  Aide,  Widdow  Grifrin,and  "  Widdow 
Sherleaker  lives  by  printing  of  pictures."5  In  1634 
the  names  of  twenty-two  printers  are  given,  among 
whom  are  the  following  women — "  Mr.  William 
Jones  succeeded  Rafe  Blore  and  paies  a  stipend  to 
his  wife  ....  neuer  admitted. 

Mistris  [  ]  Aide,  widdowe  of  Edward  Aide 
[who]  deceased  about  10  yeeres  since,  (but  she 
keepes  her  trade  by  her  sonne  who  was  Ra[lph] 
joyners  sonne)  neuer  Admitted,  neither  capable  of 
Admittance. 

Mistris  [  ]  Dawson  widow  of  John  Dawson 
deceased  about  a  yeere  since  [he]  succeeded  his  vnkle 
Thomas  Dawson  about  26  yeers  since  .  .  .  never 
admitted  neither  capeable,  (she  hath  a  sonne  about 
19  yeares  old,  bredd  to  ye  trade). 

Mistris  [  ]  Pursloe  widdow  of  George  Pursloe 
who  succeeded  Simon  Stafford  about  5  yeeres  since 
[she  was]  never  admitted  neither  capeable.  (haviland, 
Yo[u]ng  and  fletcher  haue  this.) 

Mistris  [  ]  Griffin  widdow  of  Edward  Griffin 
£who]  succeeded  Master  [Melchisedeck]  Bradwood 
.about  1 8  yeeres  since  [she  was]  never  admitted  neither 

1  S.P.D.,  cccxiv.,   127.,  Feb.   1636. 
*  Ibid,  cbucv.,  45.,  Nov.  12,  1630. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  163 

capable,  (she  hath  a  sonne.)  (haviland,  Yo[u]ng 
and  fletcher  have  this  yet).1 

Men  as  well  as  women  in  the  list  are  noted  as 
"  never  admitted  neither  capable  of  admittance." 

Whether  these  women  took  an  active  part  in  the 
management  of  the  business  which  they  thus  acquired 
or  whether  they  merely  drew  the  profits,  leaving  the 
management  to  others,  is  not  clear.  From  the  notes 
to  the  above  list  it  would  appear  that  they  often 
followed  the  latter  course,  but  elsewhere  women  are 
mentioned  who  are  evidently  taking  an  active  part 
in  the  printing  business.  For  example,  an  entry 
in  the  Stationers  Register  states  at  a  time  when  Marsh 
and  Vautrollier  had  the  sole  printing  of  school  books 
"  It  is  agreed  that  Thomas  Vautrollier  his  wife  shall 
finish  this  present  impression  which  shee  is  in  hand 
withall  in  her  husband's  absence,  of  Tullie's  Epistles 
with  Lambini's  annotations."2 

After  his  death  Vautrollier's  widow  printed  one  book 
but  immediately  after,  on  March  4th,  1587-8,  the 
Court  of  Assistants  ordered  that  "  Mrs.  Vautrollier, 
late  wife  of  Thomas  Vautrollier  deceased,  shall  not 
hereafter  print  any  manner  of  book  or  books  what- 
soever, as  well  by  reason  that  her  husband  was  noe 
printer  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  as  alsoe  by  the  decrees 
sette  downe  in  the  Starre  Chamber  she  is  debarred 
from  the  same."  This  order  is  inexplicable,  as  other 
printers'  widows  exercised  their  husbands'  business, 
and  Thomas  Vautrollier's  name  is  duly  given  in  the 
order  of  succession  from  Master  Printers.  Possibly 
the  business  had  been  transferred  to  her  daughter, 
who  married  Field,  their  apprentice.  Field  died 
.in  1625,  his  widow  continuing  the  business.3 

1Arber,  Transcript,  Vol.  Ill,  add,  701. 

2  Slopes  (Mrs.  C.  C.)  Shakespeare's  Warwickshire  Contemporaries,  p.  7. 

8  Ibid,  p.  8.     (Some  authorities  state  that  Field  married  the  widow,  others  the 
daughter  of  Vautrollier.) 


1 64  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

Among  thirty-nine  printing  patents  issued  by 
James  I.  and  Charles  II.  is  one  to  "  Hester  Ogden, 
als  ffulke  Henr.  Sibbald  et  Tho.  Kenithorpe  for 
printing  a  book  called  The  Sincire  and  True  Trans- 
lation of  the  Holy  Scripture  into  the  Englishe  tounge." 
It  appears  as  though  Hester  Ogden  was  no  mere 
figure  head,  for  His  Majesty's  Printers  appealed 
against  this  licence  on  the  grounds  that  it  infringed 
their  rights,  protesting  that  "  Mistris  Ogden  a  maried 
woman  one  of  Dr.  Fulkes  daughters  did  lately  [sue] 
his  Majesie  to  haue  ye  printing  of  her  fathers  workes, 
which  his  [Majestic]  not  knowing  ye  premises 
granted,  and  ye  same  being  first  referred  [to  the] 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  .  .  .  their  lordships 
.  .  .  .  deliuered  their  opinion  against  her, 
since  which  she  hath  gotten  a  new  reference  to 
the  Lord  Chancellor  and  Master  Secretary  Nanton, 
who  not  examining  ye  title  vpon  oath  and  the  Stationers 
being  not  then  able  to  produce  those  materiall  proofes 
which  now  they  can  their  honors  certified  for  her, 
wherevpon  her  friends  hath  his  Majestie's  grant 
for  ye  printing  and  selling  of  the  sayed  book  for 
xxi.  years  to  her  vse  ....  Mistris  Ogden 
hath  gotten  by  begging  from  ye  clergy  and  others 
diuers  great  somes  of  money  towards  ye  printing 
of  her  fathers  workes.  Master  Norton  and  myself 
haue  for  many  £1000  bought  ye  office  of  his 
Majesties  printer  to  which  ye  printing  of  ye  translacons 
of  the  Bible  or  any  parts  thereof  sett  furth  by  the 
State  belongs.  Now  the  greatest  parte  of  Dr. 
Fulkes  worke  is  the  new  testament  in  English  sett 
forth  by  authentic."1 

Another  patent  was  granted  to  Helen  Mason 
for  "  printing  and  selling  the  abridgment  of 
the  book  of  martyres, 'n  while  Jane,  wife 
of  Sir  Thomas  Bludder,  petitions  Archbishop 

1  Arber,  Transcript,  Vol.  III.,  p.  39. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  165 

Laud,  showing  that  "  She  with  John  Bill  an  infant 
have  by  grant  from  the  King  the  moiety  of  the  office 
of  King's  Printer  and  amongst  other  things  the  printing 
of  Bibles.  This  is  infringed  by  a  printer  in  Scotland, 
who  printed  many  Bibles  there  and  imported  them 
into  England  ....  she  prays  the  Archbishop 
to  hear  the  case  himself."2 

Many  of  the  books  printed  at  this  time  bear  the 
names  of  women  printers,3  but  though  women  might 
own  and  direct  the  printing  houses,  there  is  no  indi- 
cation that  they  were  ever  engaged  in  the  manual 
processes  of  printing.  The  printers'  trade  does  in 
fact  furnish  rather  a  good  example  of  the  effect  upon 
women's  economic  position  of  the  transition  from 
family  industry  to  capitalistic  organisation.  It  is  true 
that  many  links  in  the  evolution  must  be  supplied 
by  the  imagination.  We  can  imagine  the  master 
printer  with  his  press,  working  at  home  with  the 
help  of  his  apprentice,  his  wife  and  children  ;  then 
as  his  trade  prospered  he  employed  journeymen 
printers  who  were  the  real  craftsmen,  and  it  became 
possible  for  the  owner  of  the  business  to  be  a  man  or 
woman  who  had  never  been  bred  up  to  the 
trade. 

Apprenticeship  was  still  exacted  for  the  journey- 
men. A  Star  Chamber  decree  in  1637  provides 
that  no  "  master  printer  shall  imploy  either  to  worke 
at  the  Case,  or  the  Presse,  or  otherwise  about  his 
printing,  any  other  person  or  persons,  then  such 
only  as  are  Free-men,  or  Apprentices  to  the  Trade 
or  mystery  of  Printing."1  While  in  1 676  the  Stationers' 
Company  ordained  that  "  no  master-printer,  or 

1  Arber,  Transcript,  Vol.  V.,  Iviii. 
*  S.P.D.,  cccxxxix.,  p.  89. 

3  e.g.  An  Essay  of  Drapery  ...  by  William  Scott,  printed  by  Eliz.  Aide 
for  S.  Pennell,  London,  1635.  Calvin,  Institution  of  Christian  Religion.  Printed 
by  the  widowe  of  R.  Wolfe,  London,  1574.  The  fourthe  edition  of  Porta  Linguarum 
is  printed  by  E.  Griffin  for  M.  Sparke.  London,  1639. 


1 66  CRAFTS   AND  TRADES 

other  printer  or  workman  ....  shall  teach, 
direct  or  instruct  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever, 
other  than  his  or  their  own  legitimate  son  or  sons, 
in  this  Art  or  Mystery  of  Printing,  who  is  not  actually 
bound  as  an  Apprentice  to  some  lawful  authorised 
Printer."2 

From  the  omission  here  of  any  mention  of 
daughters  it  is  clear  that  the  Master  Printers' 
women  folk  did  not  concern  themselves  with  the 
technical  side  of  his  trade  ;  but  some  attempt  was 
evidently  made  to  use  other  girls  in  the  unskilled 
processes,  for  on  a  petition  being  presented  in  1635 
by  the  younger  printers,  concerning  abuses  which 
they  wished  removed,  the  Stationers'  Company 
adopted  the  following  recommendation,  "  That  no 
Master  Printer  shall  hereafter  permit  or  suffer  by 
themselves  or  their  journeyman  any  Girles,  Boyes, 
or  others  to  take  off  anie  sheets  from  the  tinpin  of 
the  presse,  but  hee  that  pulleth  at  the  presse  shall 
take  off  every  sheete  himself."3 

The  young  printers  were  successful  in  their  efforts 
to  preserve  the  monopoly  value  of  their  position, 
and  formed  an  organisation  amongst  themselves  to 
protect  their  interests  against  the  masters;  but  in 
this  association  the  wives  of  the  young  printers 
found  no  place.  They  could  no  longer  help 
their  husbands  who  were  working,  not  at  home, 
but  on  the  master's  premises ;  and  as  girls  were  not 
usually  apprenticed  to  the  printing  trade  women  were 
now  virtually  excluded  from  it. 

Some  imagination  is  needed  to  realise  the  social 
results  of  the  change  tjius  effected  by  capitalistic 
organisation  on  the  economic  position  of  married 
women,  for  no  details  have  been  discovered  of  the 

1  Arber,  Transcript,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  534. 

*lbid,  Vol.  I,  p.  16. 

8  S.P.D.,  ccci.,  105,  Nov.  16,  1635. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  167 

printers'  domestic  circumstances ;  but  as  the  wife 
was  clearly  unable  to  occupy  herself  with  her  husband's 
trade,  neither  she  nor  her  daughters  could  share 
the  economic  privileges  which  he  won  for  himself 
and  his  fellows  by  his  organising  ability.  If  his 
wages  were  sufficiently  high  for  her  to  devote 
herself  to  household  affairs,  she  became  his  un- 
paid domestic  servant,  depending  entirely  on  his 
goodwill  for  the  living  of  herself  and  her  children ; 
otherwise  she  must  have  conducted  a  business  on  her  own 
account,  or  obtained  work  as  a  wage  earner,  in  neither 
case  receiving  any  protection  from  her  husband  in  the 
competition  of  the  labour  market. 

The  wives  and  widows  of  the  Masters  were  mean- 
while actively  engaged  in  other  branches  of  the 
Stationers'  Company.  In  a  list  of  Publishers  covering 
the  years  1553-1640,  nearly  ten  per  cent,  of  the  names 
given  are  those  of  women,  probably  all  of  whom  were 
widows.1  One  of  these,  the  widow  of  Francis  Coldock, 
married  in  1603  Isaac  Binge,  the  Master  of  the  Com- 
pany. "  She  had  three  husbands,  all  Bachelors  and 
Stationers,  and  died  1616,  and  is  buried  in  St.  Andrew 
Undershaft  in  a  vault  with  Symon  Burton  her  father.2 
The  names  of  these  women  can  be  found  also  in  the 
books  they  published.  For  example  "  The  True 
Watch  and  Rule  of  Life  "  by  John  Brinsley  the  elder, 
printed  by  H.  Lownes  for  Joyce  Macham,  Jth  ed. 
1615,  the  eighth  edition  being  printed  for  her 
by  T.  Beale  in  1619,  and  "  an  Epistle  ....  upon 
the  present  pestilence "  by  Henoch  Clapham,  was 
printed  by  T.C.  for  the  Widow  Newbery,  London, 
1603.  A  woman  who  was  a  Binder  is  referred  to 
in  an  order  made  by  the  Bishop  of  London  in  1685 
"  to  damask  ....  counterfeit  Primmirs' 
seized  at  Mrs.  Harris's  Binder,  "x  and  Women  are 

1  Arber,  Transcript,  Vol.  V.,  p.  Ixxxi-cxi. 

2  Ibid,  Vol.  V.,  p.  Ixiii. 


i68  CRAFTS   AND  TRADES 

also  met  with  as  booksellers.  Anne  Bowler 
sold  the  book  "  Catoes  Morall  Distichs  "  .  .  .  . 
printed  by  Annes  Griffin.  The  Quakers  at  Horsley 
Down  paid  to  Eliz.  ffoulkes  35.  for  their  minute  book,2 
while  Pepys'  bookseller  was  a  certain  Mrs.  Nicholls.8 
The  death  of  Edward  Croft,  Bookseller,  is  recorded 
in  Smyth's  Obituary,  "  his  relict,  remarried  since 
to  Mr.  Blagrave,  an  honest  bookseller,  who  live 
hapily  in  her  house  in  Little  Britain."4 

The  trade  of  a  bookseller  was  followed  by  women 
in  the  provinces  as  well  as  in  London,  the  Howards 
paying  "  For  books  bought  of  Eliz.  Sturton  iijs. 5 
and  Sir  John  Foulis  enters  in  his  account  book 
"  To  Ard.  Hissops  relict  and  hir  husband  for  3  paper 
bookes  at  10  gr.  p.  peice  and  binding  other  4  bookes, 
1 8.  14.  o  [Scots  money],  to  them  for  a  gramer  and 
a  salust  to  the  bairns,  1.2.0.  She  owes  me  6/8.  of 
change."6 

Presumably  all  the  women  who  were  engaged 
in  either  of  these  allied  trades  in  London  were  free 
of  the  Stationers'  Company,  and  in  most  cases  they 
were  widows.  Many  apprentices  were  made  free 
on  the  testimony  of  a  woman,7  and  though  these 

1  Arber,  Transcript,  Vol.  V.,  p.  Iv. 

1  Monthly  Meeting  Minutes.     Howleydown,  13  imo  167^. 

8  Pepys,  Diary,  Vol.  I.,  p.  26. 

*  Smyth's  Obituary,  p.  77. 

8  Howard,  Household  Books,  p.  161,  1622. 

*  Foulis,  Sir  John,  Acet.  Book,  p.  22,  1680. 

"  Mistres  Gosson.  Stephan  Coxe,  Sworne  and  Admytted  a  Freeman  of  this 
Companie  iijs,  iiijd.  Note  that  master  Warden  White  Dothe  Reporte,  for  mistret 
Gosson's  Consent  to  the  makinge  of  this  prentice  free.  (Arbers,  Transcript,  Vol.  II., 
p.  727,  1600.)  Alice  Gosson  Late  wyfe  of  Thomas  Gosson.  Henry  Gosson  sworne  and 
admitted  A  ffreeman  of  this  company  per  patrimonium  iijs.  iiijd,  ( Ibid,  p.  730,  1601.) 
Mistries  Woolff.  John  Barnes  sworne  and  admitted  A  freeman  (Ibid,  p.  730, 
1601.  Jane  proctor,  Wydowe  of  William  proctor.  Humfrey  Lympenny  sworne 
and  admitted  A  ffreeman  of  this  Companye  iijs.  iiijd.  (Ibid,  p.  730, 
1601.)  My»tris  Conneway  Nicholas  Davyes  sworn  and  admitted  A  freeman  of, 
this  company  per  patrimonium  iijs.  iiijd,  (Ibid,  p.  732,  1602.) 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  169 

in  some  cases  may  have  almost  completed  their  servi- 
tude before  the  death  of  their  master,  "  Mistris 
Woolff  "  gives  testimony  for  one  apprentice  in  1601, 
and  for  another  in  1603,  showing  that  she  at  least 
continued  the  management  of  her  husband's  business 
for  some  years,  and  as  she  received  a  new  apprentice 
during  this  time,1  it  is  evident  that  she  had  no 
intention  of  relinquishing  it. 

When  on  her  husband's  death  the  widow  transferred 
an  apprentice  to  some  other  master  we  may  infer 
that  she  felt  unable  to  take  the  charge  of  business 
upon  her.  This  happened  not  infrequently,  "  Robert 
Jackson  late  apprentise  with  Raffe  Jackson  is  putt 
ouer  by  consent  of  his  mystres  unto  master  Burby  to 
serve  out  the  Residue  of  his  terms  of  apprentishood 
with  him,  the  Last  yere  excepted.  .  .  .  Anthony 
Tomson  ....  hath  putt  him  self  an  apprentice 
to  master  Gregorie  Seton  ....  for  8  yeres 

Eliz.    Hawes    shall    haue    the    services 

and  benefit  of  this  Apprentise  during  her  wydohed 
or  marrying  one  of  the  Company  capable  of  him."2 
1  John  leonard  apprentise  to  Edmond  Bolifant 
deceased  is  putt  ouer  by  the  consent  of  the  said  mary 
Bolyfant  unto  Richard  Bradocke  ....  to  serue 
out  the  residue  of  his  apprentiship."3  But  whether 
the  widow  wished  to  continue  the  business  as  a  "  going 
concern  "  or  not,  she,  and  she  only,  was  in  possession 
of  the  privileges  connected  therewith,  for  she  was 
virtually  her  husband's  partner,  and  his  death  did 
not  disturb  her  possession.  The  old  rule  of  copyright 
recognised  her  position,  providing  "  that  copies 

1  Johne  Adams  of  London  (stationer's  son)  apprenticed  to  Alice  Woolff  of  citie  of 
London  widowe  for  8  years  zs.  6d.  (Arber,  Transcript,  Vol.11,  p.  253,  1601.)  Other 
instances  of  apprentices  being  bound  to  women  occur  as  for  example     "  Wm.  Walle 
apprenticed  to  Elizabeth  Hawes  Widow  for  8  years  (Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  287,   1604.) 
"  Thomas  Richardson  of  York  apprenticed   to  Alice   Gosson,   of  citie   of   London 
wydowe  for  7  years,  2s.  6d.  (Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  249,  1600). 

2  Ibid,  p.  260,  1602.) 

3  Ibid,  p.  262, 1602. 


170  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

peculiar  for  life  to  any  person  should  not  be  granted 
to  any  other  but  the  Widow  of  the  deceased,  she 
certifying  the  title  of  the  book  to  the  Master  and 
Wardens,  -md  entering  the  book  in  the  "  bookes 
of  thys  Company."1 

The  history  of  the  Carpenters'  Company  resembles 
that  of  the  Stationers'  in  some  respects,  though 
the  character  of  a  carpenter's  employment,  which  was 
so  often  concerned  with  building  operations,  carried 
on  away  from  his  shop,  did  not  favour  the  continuance 
of  his  wife  in  the  business  after  his  death.  The 
"  Boke  "  of  the  ordinances  of  the  Brotherhood  of  the 
Carpenters  of  London,  dated  1333,  shows  the  Society 
to  have  been  at  that  time  a  Brotherhood  formed  "  of 
good  men  carpenters  of  men  and  women"  for  common 
religious  observances  and  mutual  help  in  poverty 
and  sickness,  partaking  of  the  nature  of  a  Benefit 
Society  rather  than  a  Trade  Union.  The  Brother- 
hood was  at  the  same  time  a  Sisterhood,  and  Brethren 
and  Sisters  are  mentioned  together  in  all  but  two  of 
its  articles.  In  the  later  code  of  ordinances,  of  which 
a  copy  has  been  preserved  dated  1487,  sisters  are  but 
twice  mentioned,  when  tapers  are  prescribed  at  the 
burying  of  their  bodies  and  prayers  for  the  resting 
of  their  souls.2  Women's  names  seldom  occur  in 
the  Records,  apart  from  entries  connected  with  those 
who  were  tenants,  or  charitable  grants  to  widows 
fallen  into  poverty,  or  with  payments  to  the  Bedell's 
wife  for  washing  tablecloths  and  napkins.3  In  one 
instance  considerable  trouble  was  experienced  because 
the  Bedell's  wife  would  not  turn  out  of  their  house  after 


1  Arber  Transcript,  Vol.  V.,  p.  1 1,  1560.    • 

*  Records  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  II.,  Intro.,  p.  ix. 

*  For  example  "  Itm  payd  to  the  bedells  wyffe  for  kepyng   of   the  gardyn    vijs. 
Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  2.  Warden's  Acct.   Book,  1546.     She   had  besides  iiijs.  "for  her 
hole  yeres  wasschyng  the  clothes  "  (p.  1 1)  and  iiijd.   "  for  skoryng  of  the  vessell," 
(p.  1 3)  this  payment  was  later  increased  to  xijd.  and  she  had    "for  bromes  for  Or 
Hall  every  quarter  a  jd.  (p.  33)  in  Reward  for  her  attendance  ijs,  (p.  114).    Burdoni 
wyffe  for  dressing  your  dinner  xiiijd.  (p.  129). 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  171 

the  Bedell's  death.  In  September,  1567,  "it  is  agreed 
and  fullie  determined  by  the  Mr  wardeins  &  assystaunce 
of  this  company  that  Syslie  burdon  wydowe  late  wife 
of  Richard  burdon  dwelling  wthin  this  house  at  the 
will  &  pleasure  of  the  foresaid  Mr  &  wardeins  shall 
quyetlye  &  peaceablye  dept  out  of  &  from  her  now 
dwellinge  at  Xpistmas  next  or  before  &  at  her  departure 
to  have  the  some  of  Twentie  six  shillinges  &  eight 
pence  of  Lawfull  money  of  England  in  reward."1 
Syslie  Burdon  however  did  not  wish  to  move,  and  in 
the  following  February  another  entry  occurs  "  at 
this  courte  it  is  agreed  further  that  Cysley  burdon 
wydowe  at  the  feast  daye  of  thannunciacon  of  cf* 
Ladie  S*  marye  the  virgin  next  ensueng  the  date 
abovesayd  shall  dept.  &  goe  from  her  nowe  dwellinge 
house  wherein  she  now  dwelleth  wth  in  this  hall  &  at 
the  same  tyme  shall  have  at  her  deptur  if  she  doethe 
of  her  owne  voyd  wthout  anye  further  troublynge 
of  the  Mr  and  wardeins  of  this  house  at  that 
p'sent  tyme  the  some  of  Twentie  six  shillinges  eight- 
pense  in  reward."2  Cyslie  Burdon  may  have  believed 
that  as  a  widow  she  had  a  just  claim  to  the  house, 
for  leases  granted  by  the  Company  at  this  time  were 
usually  for  the  life  of  the  tenant  and  his  wife.3 

Women  accompanied  their  husbands  to  the  Com- 
pany dinners  as  a  matter  of  course.  In  1556  "  the 
clothyng "  are  ordered  to  pay  for  "  ther  dynner  at 


1  Records  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  III.,  Court  Book,  p.  97. 

2  Ibid,  p.  103. 

a  Ibid,  Vol.  Ill:,  pp.  10-11,  March  15,  1544-5.  "  agreyed  and  codyssendyd  thatt 
frances  pope  and  hys  wyffe  schall  have  and  hold  a  gardyn  plott  lycng  be  oure  hall  in 
the  prysche  of  alhallouns  at  london  Wall  for  the  tyme  of  the  longer  lever  of  them 
bothe  puyeing  viijs;  be  the  yere  .  .  .  the  sayd  [  Jpope  nor  hys  wyfl'e  schall  not  take 
dowene  no  pallcs  nor  pale  postes  nor  Raylles  In  the  garden  nor  no  tres  nor  bussches 
schall  nott  plucke  upe  be  the  Rootes  nor  cutte  theme  downe  nor  no  maner  of  erbys 
.  .  .  wfowt  the  lyccns  of  the  Master  and  Wardyns  of  the  mystery  of  Carpenters 
Aug.  10,  1564,  "agreed  and  condissendid  that  Robart  masckall  and  Elyzabeth  his 
wiffe  shall  have  and  hold  the  Howse  which  He  now  occupieth  duryng  his  lyffe  and 
after  the  desecse  of  the  said  Robart  to  Remayne  to  Elizabeth  his  wyfle  duryng  her 
wyddohed  paying  yerlye  xJs  of  lawf  ull  mony  of  England  "  etc,  Ibid,  Vol.  III.,  p.  78. 


172  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

the  Dynner  day  ijs.  vjd.  a  man  whether  ther  wyffes 
or  they  themselves  come  or  no."1  But  the  entries 
do  not  suggest  that  the  position  of  equal  sisters  which 
they  held  in  the  days  of  the  old  "  Boke  "  was  main- 
tained. Women  made  presents  to  the  Company. 
"  Mistrys  ellis,"  the  wife  of  one  of  the  masters  of 
the  Company,  presented  "  a  sylv  pott  psell  gylt 
the  qter  daye  at  candylmas  wayeing  viij  ozes  & 
a  qter."2  This  apparently  was  in  memory  of  her 
deceased  husband,  for  in  the  same  year  she  "turned  over" 
an  apprentice,  and  in  1564  a  fine  was  paid  by  Richard 
Smarte  "  for  not  comyng  at  ye  owre  appoynted  to 
mistris  Ellis  beriall — xijd."3  Neither  the  existence 
of  these  two  instances,  which  show  a  lively  interest 
in  the  Company,  nor  the  absence  of  other  references 
can  be  taken  as  conclusive  evidence  one  way  or  another 
concerning  the  social  position  of  the  sisters  in  the 
Company.  Among  the  many  judgments  passed 
on  brothers  for  reviling  each  other,  using  "  ondecent 
words,"  etc.,  etc.,  only  once  is  a  woman  fined  for  this 
offence,  when  in  1556  the  warden  enters  in  his  account 
book  "  Resd  of  frances  stelecrag  a  fyne  for  yll  wordes 
that  his  wyffe  gave  to  John  Dorrant  ijs — Resd  of  John 
Dorrant  for  yll  wordes  that  he  gave  to  Mystris  frances 
xv jd — Resd  of  Wyllam  Mortym  a  fyne  for  callyng 
of  Mystris  frances  best  ijs  ."* 

It  is  certain  that  the  wives  of  carpenters,  like  the 
wives  of  other  tradesmen,  shared  the  business 
anxieties  of  their  husbands,  the  help  they  rendered 
being  most  often  in  buying  and  selling.  This 
activity  is  reflected  in  some  rules  drawn  up  to  regulate 

1  Records  of  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  III.,  p.  58. 
*  Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  99,  Wardens  Acct.  Book,  1558. 

3  In  1563   xxs.  was  "  Resd  of  Wyllym  barnevvell  at  ye  buryall  of  his  wiffe  7*  she 
dyd  wyll  to  be  gyven  to  ye  Copany.  (Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  147)  Payd  at  the  buryall  of 
barnewell's  wyffe  at  ye  kyges  hedd.  xiiijs.  iiijd.     Paid  to  the  bedle  for  Redyng  of  ye 
wyll  viijd.     (Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  149.  ) 

4  Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  84. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  173 

the  purchase  of  timber.  In  1554  "  yi  was  agreyd 
be  the  Master  &  wardyns  and  the  moste  parte  of  the 
assestens  that  no  woman  shall  come  to  the  waters 
to  by  tymber  bourde  lath  qters  ponchons  gystes  & 
Raffters  ther  husbandes  beyng  in  the  town  uppon 
payne  to  forfyt  at  evry  tyme  so  fownd."1  The 
Company's  decision  was  not  readily  obeyed,  for 
on  March  8th,  1547,  "  the  Master  and  the  Wardyns 
w*  partt  of  the  Assestens  went  to  the  gyldehall  to 
have  had  a  Redresse  for  the  women  that  came  to  the 
watersyde  to  by  stufTe,"2  and  on  March  loth  "  was 
called  in  John  Armestrong,  Wyllyam  boner,  Wyllyam 
Watson,  John  Gryffyn  and  Henry  Wrest  there  having 
amonyssion  to  warne  ther  wyffes  that  they  schulde 
not  by  no  stuffe  at  the  waters  syd  upone  payne 
of  a  fyne."3 

On  her  husband's  death  the  carpenter's  wife  generally 
retired  from  business,  transferring  her  apprentices  for 
a  consideration  to  another  master.  That  this 
practice  was  not  universal  is  shown  in  the  case  of 
a  boy  who  had  been  apprenticed  to  Joseph 
Hutchinson  and  was  "  turned  over  to  Anne  Hayward, 
widow,  relict  of  Richard  Hayward  Carpentar."4 
Mrs.  Hayward  must  clearly  have  been  actively  pro- 
secuting her  late  husband's  business.  The  women 
who  "  make  free "  apprentices  seem  generally  to 
have  done  so  within  a  few  months  of  their  husband's 
deaths.  That  the  Company  recognised  the  right 
of  women  to  retain  apprentices  if  they  chose  is  shown 
by  the  following  provision  in  Statutes  dated  November 
loth,  1607.  "  If  any  Apprentice  or  Apprentices 
Marry  or  Absent  themselves  from  their  Master  or 
Mistress  During  their  Apprenticehood,  then  within 

1  Records  of  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  III.,  p.  15,  Court  Book, 

2  Ibid,  Vol.  III.,  p.  30. 
8  Ibid,  Vol.  III.,  p.  31. 
4  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  136. 


i74  CRAFTS  AND   TRADES 

one  month  the  Master  or  Mistress  is  to  Bring  their 
Indentures  to  the  hall  to  be  Registered  and  Entered, 
etc  "  "  None  to  Receive  or  take  into  their  service 
'or  house  any  Man  or  Woman's  Apprentice  Covenant 
Servant  or  Journeyman  within  the  limits  aforesaid, 


etc."1 


When  a  carpenter's  widow  could  keep  her  husband's 
business  together,  no  one  disputed  her  right  to 
receive  apprentices.  Several  instances  of  their  doing 
so  are  recorded  towards  the  end  of  the  century.2  The 
right  to  succeed  her  husband  in  his  position  as  carpenter 
and  member  of  the  worshipful  company  was  immedi- 
ately allowed  when  claimed  by  a  widow  ;  thus  the 
court  "  agreed  ....  that  Johan  burton  wydowe 
late  wife  of  [  ]  burton  cite/.ein  and  Carpenter  of 
London  for  that  warninge  hathe  not  ben  goven  unto 
her  from  tyme  to  tyme  at  the  Quarterdaies  heretofore 
From  henseforthe  shall  have  due  warninge  goven  unto 
her  everye  Quarterdaye  and  at  the  next  Quarterdaie 


1  Records  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  1.,  Intro,  vii-viii. 

2  Ibid,  p.   137,    May   2,    1671.    Richardus  Read  filius   Thome   Read   de    Chart 
Magnain  Com.  Kane.  Shoemaker  po  :  se  appren  Josepho  Hutchinson  Bedello  Hujus 
Societal  pro  Septem  Ann  a  die  dat  Indre  Dat  die  et  ann  ult  pred  (Assign  immediate 
Susanne  Catlin  vid  nuper  uxor.    Johannis  Catlin  nuper  Civis  et  Carpenter  London 
defunct  uten  etc). 

Ibid,  p.  153.  Dec.  5,  1676.  Johannes  Keyes  filius  Willi.  Keyes  nuper  de 
Hampsted  in  Com.  Middx.  Milwright  ed  Elizabethan!  Davis  vid.  willi  Davis  nuper 
Civi  &  Carpentar  de  London  a  die  date  pred  etc  (sic1) 

Ibid,  p.  158.  July  i,  1679.  Samuell  Goodfellow  filius  Johanni  of  Rowell  in 
Com.  Northton  Corwayner  pon  se  Martha  Wildey  relict  of  Robert  pro  septem  annis 
a  dat  etc. 

Ibid,  p.  161.  Ap.  5,  1681.  Georg  Thomas  filius  Thome  nuper  de  Carlyon  in  Com 
Monmouth  gent  pon  se  Apprenticum  Elizabeth  Whitehorne  of  Aldermanbury 
vid.  Johis.  pro  septem  Annis  a  dat. 

Ibid,  p.  164.  Oct.  4,  1 68 1.  Richard  Lynn  sonn  of  William  Lynn  deed,  pon  se 
Apprenticum  Marie  Lynn  widdow  Relict  of  the  said  William  C  :  C:  pro  septem 
annis  a  dat. 

Ibid,  p.  165.  March  7,  1681-2.  John  Whitehorne  son  of  John  Whitehorne  C  :  C  : 
Ld,  pon  se  apprenticum  Elizabethe  Relict,  ejusdem  Joh's  Whitehorne  pro  septem 
annis  a  dat. 

Ibid,  p.  171.  Apr.  5.  1686.  Richard  S'evenson  sonne  of  Rob'  Stevenson  late  of 
Dublin  in  the  Kingedome  of  Ireland  Pavier  bound  to  Anne  Nicholson  Widowe  the 
Relict  of  Anthony  Nicholson,  for  eight  yeares. 

Ibid,  p.  189.  June  7,  1692.  Robert  Harper  sonne  of  William  Harper  of 
Notchford  in  the  county  of  Chesheire,  bound  to  Abigail  Taylor  for  Seaven  Yeares. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  175 

she  shall  paye  in  discharge  of  tharrerages  behind  Twelve 
pence  &  so  shall  paye  her  Quateridge  (pd  xijd.)  m  ; 
a.  year  later  "burtons  widow"  makes  free  an 
apprentice  Mighell  Pattinson.2 

Curiously  enough,  during  the  period  1654  to  1670, 
twenty-one  girls  were  bound  apprentice  at  Carpenters' 
Hall.  Probably  none  of  these  expected  to  learn  the 
trade  of  a  carpenter.3  Nine  were  apprenticed  to 
Richard  Hill  and  his  wife,  who  lived  first  near  St. 
Michael's,  Cornehill,4  and  afterwards  against  Trinity 
Minories.5  They  were  apprenticed  for  seven  years 
to  learn  the  trade  of  a  sempstress,  and  probably  in 
each  case  a  heavy  premium  was  paid,  a  note  being 
made  against  the  name  of  Prudentia  Cooper,  who  was 
bound  in  1664  "  (obligatur  Pater  in  50'  pro  ventute. 
apprenticij)."6 

Richard  Hill's  wife's  name  is  included  in  the  Inden- 
tures three  times,  and  in  1672  a  boy  was  apprenticed 
to  "  Ric.  Hill  Civi  ct  Carpenter  London  necnon  de 
little  Minories  Silk  Winder."7  We  may  infer  that 
Mrs.  Hill  had  founded  the  business  before  or  after 
her  marriage  with  the  carpenter,  and  that  hers  proving 
profitable  the  husband  had  been  satisfied  with  working 
for  wages,  wrhile  retaining  the  freedom  of  the  Company, 
or  had  transferred  his  services  to  his  wife's  business, 
adding  that  of  a  Silk  winder  to  it.  One  girl  originally 
apprenticed  to  Henry  Joyse  was  "  turned  over  to 
Anne  Joyse  sempstress  &  sole  merchant  without 
Thomas  Joyse  her  husband,"8  five  were  apprenticed 


1  Records  of  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  III.,  p.  102,  Court  Book,  1567. 

2  Ibid,  Vol.  III.,  p.  zoo. 

8  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  Intro,  p.  x-xi.  Apprentice  Entry  Book. 

4  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  62. 

5  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  125. 

6  Ibid,Vo\.  I.,  p.  78. 

7  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  145- 

8  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  136 


176  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

to  Henry  Joyce  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  milliner.  No 
mention  is  made  of  his  wife,  but  as  he  received  boy 
apprentices  also,1  it  may  be  supposed  that  in  fact 
the  two  trades  of  a  carpenter  and  a  milliner  were 
carried  on  in  this  case  simultaneously  by  him  and  his 
wife.  The  blending  of  these  two  trades  is  noted 
again  in  the  case  of  Samuel  Joyce  ;  2  the  trade  the 
other  girls  were  to  learn  is  not  generally  specified, 
but  Rebecca  Perry  was  definitely  apprenticed  to 
William  Addington  "  to  learne  the  Art  of  a  Sempstress 
of  his  wife."3  Two  girls  were  apprenticed  to  "  Thome 
Clarke  ....  London  Civi  et  Carpenter  ad 
discend  artem  de  Child's  Coate  seller  existen.  art. 
uxoris  sue  pro  septem  annis."4 

Elizabeth  Lambert,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Lam- 
bert, formerly  of  London,  silkeman,  was  apprenticed 
in  1678  to  Rebecca  Cooper,  Vvidow  of  Thomas  Cooper, 
"  Civis  Carpenter  London,"  for  seven  years.5  Another 
girl  who  had  been  apprenticed  to  this  same  woman 
in  1668  applied  for  her  freedom  in  1679,  which  was 
granted,  though  apparently  her  request  was  an  un- 
usual one,  the  records  stating  that  "  Certaine  In- 
dentures of  Apprentiship  were  made  whereby  Rebecca 
Gyles,  daughter  of  James  Gyles  of  Staines,  .... 
was  bound  Apprentice  to  Rebecca  Cooper  of  the 
parish  of  St.  Buttolph  without  Aldgate  widdow  for 
seaven  yeares  ....  this  day  att  a  Court  of 
assistants  then  holden  for  this  Company  came  Rebecca 
Gylles  Spinster  sometime  servant  to  Rebecca  Cooper 
a  free  servant  of  this  Company,  and  complained  that 

1  Records  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  1.,  p.  65,  e.g.  Brewin 
Radford  (obligatur  Maria  Radford  de  Perpole  in  Com  Dorsett  vid.  in  loo1  pro 
ventut  apprentice). 

2  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  149,  1674.  "  Edmundus  Wilslead  filius  Henrici  Wilstead  de  Thet- 
f ord  in  Com  Norfolcie  yeoman  po  :  se  appren.  Samueli  Joyse  Civi  et  Carpentei  Lon- 
don necnon  de  Exarnbia  Regali  London  miliner  pro  septem  annis  "  etc. 

8  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  162. 
*  Ibid,  Vol.  1.,  p.  148. 
6  Ibid,  Vol.1.,  p.  156. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  177 

haveing  served  her  said  Mistres  faithfully  a  Terme 
of  seaven  years  wh*  expired  the  twenty-fourth  day 
of  June,  1675,  and  often  desired  of  her  said  Mistris 
Testimony  of  her  service  to  the  end  shee  might  bee 
made  free,  her  said  Mistres  had  hitherto  denyed  the 
same ;  &  then  presented  credible  persons  within 
this  Citty  to  testifie  the  truth  of  her  said  service, 
desireing  to  bee  admitted  to  the  freedome  of  this 
Company,  which  this  Table  thought  reasonable,vnlesse 
the  said  Rebecca  Cooper,  her  said  Mistres  on  notice 
hereof  to  bee  given,  shall  shew  reasonable  cause  to 
the  contrary,  etc."1  Encouraged  by  the  success  of 
this  application,  two  other  girls  followed  Rebecca 
Gyles'  example,  one  being  presented  for  her  freedom 
at  Carpenters'  Hall  by  Thomas  Clarke  in  1683  and 
another  by  Henry  Curtis  in  i684.2 

Thus  it  may  be  presumed  that  apprenticeship 
to  a  brother  or  sister  of  the  Carpenters'  Company 
conferred  the  right  of  freedom  upon  any  girls  who 
chose  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege,  even  when 
the  trade  actually  learnt  was  not  that  of  carpentry. 
Amongst  the  girl  apprentices  only  one  other  was 
directly  bound  to  a  woman,  namely  "  Elizabetha 
filia  Hester  Eitchus  ux.  Geo.  Eitchus  nuper  Civi 
et  Carpentar.  pon  se  diet  Hester  matri  pro  septem 
ann  a  dat  etc."3  Although  Hester  Eitchus  is  here 
called  "  uxor  "  she  must  really  have  been  a  widow,  for 
her  name  would  not  have  appeared  alone  on  the 
indenture  during  her  husband's  lifetime  ;  boy  appren- 
tices had  previously  been  bound  to  him,  and  no  doubt 
as  in  the  other  cases  husband  and  wife  had  been 
prosecuting  their  several  trades  simultaneously,  the 
wife  retaining  her  membership  in  the  Carpenters' 
Company  when  left  a  widow.  An  independent 

1Jupp.     Carpenters,  p.  161,  1679. 

2  Records  of  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  198. 

8  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  App.  Entry  Book,  p.  159,  Feb.  3,  1679. 

12 


1 78  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

business  must  have  been  very  necessary  for  the  wife 
in  cases  where  the  husband  worked  for  wages,  and  not 
on  his  own  account,  for  in  1563  carpenter's  wages 
were  fixed  "  be  my  lorde  mayors  commandement .  .  . 
yf  they  dyd  fynde  themselves  meat  and  drynke 
at  xiiijdtheday  and  their  servants  xijd.  Itm  otherwises 
the  sayd  carpynters  to  have  viijd  the  day  wayges 
meat&  drynke  &  their  servants  vjd  meat  &  drynke."1 
These  wages  would  have  been  inadequate  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  family  in  London,  and  therefore 
unless  the  carpenter  was  in  a  position  to  employ 
apprentices  and  enter  into  contracts,  in  which  case 
he  could  find  employment  also  for  his  wife,  she  must 
have  traded  in  some  way  on  her  own  account. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  how  far  the  position  of  women 
in  the  Stationers'  and  Carpenters'  Companies  was 
typical  of  their  position  in  the  other  great  London 
Companies  and  in  the  Gilds  and  Companies  which 
flourished  or  decayed  in  the  provinces.  All  these 
organisations  resembled  each  other  in  certain  broad 
outlines,  but  varied  considerably  in  details.  All 
seem  to  have  agreed  in  the  early  association  of  brothers 
and  sisters  on  equal  terms  for  social  and  religious 
purposes.  Thus  the  Carpenters'  was  "  established 
one  perpetual  brotherhood,  or  guild  ....  to 
consist  of  one  master,  three  wardens,  and  commonalty 
of  freemen,  of  the  Mystery  of  Carpentry  .... 
and  of  the  brethren  and  sisters  of  freemen  of  the 
said  mystery."2  The  charter  granted  by  Henry  VI. 
to  the  Armourers  and  Braziers  provided  "  that  the 
brethren  and  sisters  of  that  ffraternity  or  guild,  .  .  . 
should  be  of  itself  one  perpetual  community  .... 
and  have  perpetual  sucession.  And  that  the  brothers 
and  sisters  of  the  same  ffraternity  or  guild,  .... 
might  choose  and  make  one  Master  and  two  Wardens 

1  Records  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  III.,  p.  75,  Court  Book. 
2Jupp.  Carpenters,  p.  12. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  179 

from  among  themselves ;  and  also  elect  and  make  another 
Master  and  other  Wardens  into  the  office  aforesaid, 
according  to  the  ordinances  of  the  better  and  worthier 

part  of  the  same  brethren  and  sisters "-In 

this  case  the  sisters  were  regarded  as  active  and 
responsible  members  but  of  the  Merchant  Taylors 
Clode  says  "  It  is  clear  that  women  were  originally 
admitted  as  members  and  took  apprentices ;  that  it 
was  customary  in  later  years  for  women  to  dine  or  be 
present  at  the  quarterly  meetings  is  evidenced  by  a 
notice  of  their  absence  in  1603, '  the  upper  table  near 
to  the  garden,  commonly  called  the  Mistris  Table, 
was  furnished  with  sword  bearer  and  gentlemen 
strangers,  there  being  no  gentlewomen  at  this  Quarter 
Day.'  In  many  of  the  wills  of  early  benefactors, 
sisters  as  well  as  brethren  are  named  as  '  devisees.' 
Thus  in  Sibsay's  (1404)  the  devise  is  '  to  the  Master 

and  Wardens  and  brethren  and  sisters ' 

When  an  Almsman  of  the  Livery  married  with  the 
Company's  consent  his  widow  remained  during  her 
life  an  almswoman,  and  was  buried  by  the  Company. 
In  that  sense  she  was  treated  as  a  sister  of  the 
fraternity,  but  she  probably  exercised  no  rights  as  a 
member  of  it."5 

The  sisters  are  often  referred  to  in  the  rules  relating  to 
the  dinners,  which  were  such  an  important  feature 
"of  gild  life.  The  "  Grocers  "  provided  that  "  Every 
one  of  the  Fraternity  from  thenceforward,  that  has 
a  wife  or  companion,  shall  come  to  the  feast,  and  bring 
with  him  a  lady  if  he  pleases  ;  [et  ameyne  avec  luy 
une  demoiselle  si  luy  plest]  if  they  cannot  come,  for 
the  reasons  hereafter  named,  that  is  to  say,  sick, 
big  with  child,  and  near  deliverance,  without  any 
other  exception  ;  and  that  every  man  shall  pay  for 
his  wife  2od.  ;  also,  that  each  shall  pay  53.,  that  is 

1  Armourers  and  Braziers.     Charter  and  By-lams  of  the  Company,  p.  4. 

2  Clode.  History  of  the  Merchant  Taylors,  London,  Vol.  I.,  p.  4.2. 


i8o  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

to  say,  2od.  for  himself,  2od.  for  his  companion,  and 
2od.  for  the  priest.  And  that  all  women  who  are 
not  of  the  Fraternity,  and  afterwards  should  be 
married  to  any  of  the  Fraternity,  shall  be  entered  and 
looked  upon  as  of  the  Fraternity  for  ever,  and  shall 
be  assisted  and  made  as  one  of  us ;  and  after  the  death 
of  her  husband,  the  widow  shall  come  to  the  dinner, 
and  pay  4od.  if  she  is  able.  And  if  the  said  widow 
marries  any  one  not  of  the  Fraternity,  she  shall  not 
be  admitted  to  the  said  feast,  nor  have  any  assistance 
given  her,  as  long  as  she  remains  so  married,  be  whom 
she  will ;  nor  none  of  us  ought  to  meddle  or  interfere 
in  anything  with  her  on  account  of  the  Fraternity, 
as  long  as  she  remains  unmarried."1 

The  Wardens  of  the  Merchant  Gild  at  Beverley 
were  directed  to  make  in  turn  yearly  "  one  dinner 
for  all  his  bretherne  and  theire  wieves."5  The  Pew- 
terers  decided  that  "  every  man  and  wif  that  comyth 
to  the  yemandries  dynner  sholde  paye  xvjd.  And 
every  Jorneyman  that  hath  a  wif  ....  xvjd. 
And  every  lone  man  beinge  a  howsholder  that 
comyth  to  dynner  shall  paye  xijd.  and  every 
Jorneyman  having  no  wif  and  comyth  to  dynner 

shall    paye    viijd every    man   that  hath 

bynne  maryed  wthin  the  same  ij  years  shall  geve  his 
cocke  or  efie  paye  xijd  .  .  .  .  Provided  always 
that  none  bringe  his  gest  wth  him  wthowt  he  paye  for 
his  dynner  as  moch  as  he  paith  for  hymself  and  that 
they  bring  no  childerne  wth  them  passing  one  &  no 
more."3  In  1605  it  was  agreed  that  "  ther  shalbe 
called  all  the  whole  clothyng  and  ther  wyves  and 
the  wydowes  whose  husbandes  have  byne  of  the 
clothynge  and  that  shalbe  payed  ijs.  man&wyffeand 
the  wydowes  xijd.  a  peece."4  In  1672,  the  expense 

1  Heath,  Acct.  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of  Grocers,  p.  53,  memo.  1348. 

2  Leach,  Beverley  Town  Document},  p.  95,  1582. 

8  Welch,  History  of  Pewterers  Company,  Vol.  I.,  p.  201,  1559. 
*  Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  47. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  181 

of  entertaining  becoming  irksome,  "  an  order  of 
Cort  for  ye  abateing  extraordinary  Feasting "  was 
made,  requiring  the  "  Master  &  Wardens  .... 
to  deposit  each  izli  &  spend  ye  one  half  thereof  upon 
the  Masters  &  Wardens  ffeast  this  day  held,  and  the 
Other  moyety  to  be  and  remain  to  ye  Compa  use. 
Now  this  day  the  sd  Feast  was  kept  but  by  reason  of 
the  women  being  invited  ye  Charge  of  ye  Feast  was 
soe  extream  that  nothing  could  be  cleered  to  ye 
house  according  to  ye  sd  order.  There  being  Spent 
near  9oli.'n 

Sisters  are  also  remembered  in  the  provisions 
made  for  religious  observances  and  assistance  in  times 
of  sickness.  The  ordinances  of  the  Craft  of  the 
Glovers  at  Kingston-upon-Hull  required  that  "  every 
brother  and  syster  of  ye  same  craff"  be  at  every 
oiferyng  within  the  sayd  town  with  every  brother 
or  syster  of  the  same  crafTtt  as  well  at  weddynges 
as  at  beryalles."  Brethren  and  sisters  were  to  have 
lights  at  their  decease,  and  if  in  poverty  to  have  them 
freely.2  The  "  yoman  taillours  "  made  application 
"  that  they  and  others  of  their  fraternity  of  yomen 
yearly  may  assemble  ....  near  to  Smithfield 
and  make  offerings  for  the  souls  of  brethren  and  sister 
etc."3  In  the  city  of  Chester,  when  a  charter  wa 
given  to  joiners,  carvers  and  turners  to  become  a 
separate  Company,  not  part  of  the  Carpenters' 
as  formerly,  to  be  called  the  Company  of  the  Joiners, 
it  is  said  "  Every  brother  of  the  said  occupacions 
shall  bee  ready  att  all  times  ....  to  come 
unto  ....  the  burial  of  every  brother  and 
sister  of  the  said  occupacions."4 

Sisters  must  have  played  an  important  part  in  the 

1  Welch,  Hist,  of  Pewtereri Company,  Vol.  II.,  p.   145. 

2  Lambert,  Two  Thousand  Tears  of  Gild  Life,  p.  217,  1499. 
8  Ibid,  p.  229,  1415. 

*Harl.  MSS.,  2054,  £0.5.  Charter  of  the  Joiner's  Co. 


1 82  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

functions  of  the  Merchant  Taylors  of  Bristol,  for  an 
order  was  made  in  1401  that  "  the  said  maister  and 
iiii  wardeyns  schall  ordeyne  every  yere  good  and 
convenient  cloth  of  oon  suyt  for  all  brothers  and  sisters 
of  the  said  fraternity  .  .  .  ."]  The  Charter 
of  this  Company  provided  that  "  ne  man  ne  woman 
be  underfange  into  the  fraternite  abovesaid  withoute 

assent  of  the  Keper  and  maister  etc and 

also  that  hit  be  a  man  or  woman  y  knowe  of  good 
conversation  and  honeste  ....  Also  yf  eny 
brother  other  soster  of  thys  fraternite  above  sayde 
that  have  trewly  y  payed  hys  deutes  yat  longeth  to 
ye  fraternite  falle  into  poverte  other  into  myschef 
and  maie  note  travalle  for  to  he  be  releved,  he  schal 
have  of  ye  comune  goodes  every  weke  xxid  of  monei 
....  and  yf  he  be  a  man  yat  hath  wyfe  and  chylde 
he  schal  trewly  departe  alle  hys  goodes  bytwyne 
heir  and  hys  wyfe  and  children ;  and  ye  partie  that 
falleth  to  hym  he  schal  trewly  yeld  up  to  ye  mayster  and 
to  ye  wardynes  of  the  fraternite  obove  sayde,  in  ye 

maner  to  fore  seide The  brothers  and 

sisters  shall  share  in  the  funeral  ceremonies,  etc., 
"  also  gif  eny  soster  chyde  with  other  openly  in  the 
strete,  yat  eyther  schalle  paye  a  pounde  wex  to  ye 
lighte  of  the  fraternite ;  and  gif  they  feygte  eyther 
schall  paie  twenty  pounde  wex  to  ye  same  lyte  upon 
perryle  of  hir  oth  gif  thei  be  in  power.  And  gif 
eny  soster  by  y  proved  a  commune  chider  among  her 
neygbourys  after  ones  warnyng  other  tweies  at  the 
(dellt)  ye  thridde  tyme  ye  maister  and  ye  wardeynes 
of  ye  fraternite  schulle  pute  her  out  of  ye  compaynye 
for  ever  more."2 

Chiding  and  reviling  were  failings  common  to  all 
gilds,  and  were  by  no  means  confined  to  the 
sisters.  The  punishments  appointed  by  the  Merchant 

1  Fox  (F.  F.)  Merchant  Taylors,  Bristol,  p.  31. 
*  Ibid,  p.  26-9. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  183 

Gild  at  Beverley  for  those  "  who  set  up  detractions, 
or  rehearse  past  disputes,  or  unduly  abuse  m  are  for 
brothers  only.  And  though  it  was  "  Agreed  by  the 
Mr  Wardens  and  Assystaunce  "  of  the  Pewterers  that 
"  Robert  west  sholde  bringe  in  his  wif  vpon  ffrydaye 
next  to  reconsile  her  self  to  Mr  Cacher  and  others 
of  the  Company  for  her  naughty  mysdemeanor  of 
her  tonge  towarde  them,  "2  the  quarrelling  among 
the  Carpenters  seems  to  have  been  almost  confined  to 
the  men. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  sisters  shared  fully 
in  the  social  and  religious  life  of  the  Gilds ;  it  is  also 
perfectly  clear  that  the  wife  was  regarded  by  the 
Gild  or  Company  as  her  husband's  partner,  and  that, 
after  his  death  she  was  confirmed  in  the  possession 
of  his  business  with  his  leases  and  apprentices  at  least 
during  the  term  of  her  widowhood. 

But  the  extent  to  which  she  really  worked  with 
him  in  his  trade  and  was  qualified  to  carry  it  on  as 
a  going  concern  after  his  death  is  much  more  difficult 
to  determine,  varying  as  it  did  from  trade  to  trade 
and  depending  so  largely  in  each  case  upon  the  natural 
capacity  of  the  individual  woman  concerned.  The 
extent  to  which  a  married  woman  could  work  with 
her  husband  depended  partly  upon  whether  his 
trade  was  carried  on  at  home  or  abroad.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  the  carpenters  who  often  were 
engaged  in  building  operations  could  not  profit 
much  by  their  wives'  assistance,  but  many  trades 
which  in  later  times  have  become  entirely  closed  to 
women  were  then  so  dependent  on  their  labour  that 
sisters  are  mentioned  specifically  in  rules  concerning 
the  conditions  of  manufacture.  Thus  the  charter 
of  the  Armourers  and  Brasiers  was  granted  in  the 
seventeenth  year  of  James  I.  "  to  the  Master  and 

1  Leaeh,  Btverley  Town  Documents,  p.  78,  1494. 

2  Welch,  Charles,  Hist,  of  Pewterers  Company,  Vol.  I.,  p.  200,  1558. 


1 84  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

Wardens  and  Brothers  and  Sisters  of  the  ffraternity 
.  .  .  .  that  from  thenceforth  All  &  all  manner 
of  brass  and  copper  works  ....  edged  tools 
.  .  .  .  small  guns  ....  wrought  by  any 
person  or  persons  being  of  the  same  ffraternity  . 
should  be  searched  and  approved  ....  by 
skilful  Artificers  of  the  said  ffraternity."1  Rules 
which  were  drawn  up  at  Salisbury  in  1612  provide  that 
no  free  brother  or  sister  shall  "  rack,  set,  or  cause 
to  be  racked  or  set,  any  cloth  upon  any  tenter,  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  under  the  forfeiture  of  2s."  The  Wardens 
of  the  Company  of  Merchants,  Mercers,  Grocers, 
Apothecaries,  Goldsmiths,  Drapers,  Upholsterers,  and 
Embroiderers  were  ordered  to  search  the  wares, 
merchandise,  weights  and  measures  of  sisters  as  well 
as  brothers.2  "  No  free  brother  or  sister  is  at  any  time 
to  put  any  horse  leather  into  boots  or  shoes  or  any 
liquored  calves  leather  into  boots  or  shoes,  to  be 
sold  between  the  feast  of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Apostle 
and  the  Annunciation  of  the  Virgin  Mary  .... 
No  free  brother  or  sister  is  to  keep  or  set  up  any  stand- 
ing in  the  market  place,  except  in  fair  times.  No 
brother  or  sister  is  to  set  open  his  or  her  shop,  or  to 
do  any  work,  in  making  or  mending  of  boots  and 
shoes  on  the  Sabbath  day,  on  pain  of  twelve  pence 
forfeit."3 

Rules  which  specifically  permit  the  employment 
of  the  master's  wife  or  daughter  in  his  trade  while 
excluding  other  unapprenticed  persons,  are  in  them- 
selves evidence  that  they  were  often  so  employed. 

1  Armourers  and  Brasiers,  Charter  and  Bye  laws  of  Company  of.  p.  5.  Sec  also 
Johnson,  Ordinances  of  the  Drapers  of  London,  Vol.  I.,  p.  z8o,  1524). 

"  (it  shall  not  be  lawful  unto  any  brother  or  sister  freed  in  this  fellyship 
to  take  rao.  apprentices  than  may  stand  in  good  order  for  their  degree)  .  .  . 
every  brother  being  in  the  master's  li very  shall  pay  6s.  8d.  and  every  sister  whose 
husband  has  been  of  the  aforesaid  livery  shall  pay  for  every  apprentice  6s.  8d.  and 
every  other  brother  or  sister  not  being  of  the  master's  livery  shall  pay  for  every 
apprentice  35.  4d. 

1  Hoare,  Sir  R.  C.,  Hist,  of  Modern  Wilts,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  340. 
3  Ibid,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  343. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  185 

Thus  the  Glovers  allowed  "  noe  brother  of  this 
ffraternity  "  to  "  take  an  apprentice  vnder  the  full 
end  and  tearme  of  seaven  years  ffuly  to  be  compleat 
.  .  .  .  excepting  brothers  son  or  daughter  .  . m 
No  leatherseller  might  "  put  man,  child  or  woman  to 
work  in  the  same  mistery,  if  they  be  not  bound 
apprentice,  and  inrolled  in  the  same  mistery  ;  except- 
ing their  wives  and  children."2  Similarly  the  Girdlers 
in  1344  ordered  that  "  no  one  of  the  trade  shall  get 
any  woman  to  work  other  than  his  wedded  wife  or 
daughter  "3  while  by  a  rule  of  the  Merchant  Taylors, 
Bristol  "  no  person  .  .  .  shall  cutt  make  or  sell 
any  kynde  of  garment,  garments,  hose  or  breeches 
within  ye  saide  cittie  .  .  .  unles  he  be  franchised 
and  made  free  of  the  saide  crafte  (widdowes  whose 
husbandes  were  free  of  ye  saide  crafte  duringe 
the  tyme  of  their  wyddowhedd  vsinge  ye  same 
with  one  Jorneyman  and  one  apprentice  only 
excepted)  "* 

The  association  of  women  with  their  husbands  in 
business  matters  is  often  suggested  by  the  presence 
of  both  their  names  on  indentures.  Walter  Beemer, 
for  example,  was  apprenticed  to  John  Castle  of  Marke 
and  Johane  his  wife  to  be  instructed  and  brought 
up  in  the  trade  of  a  tanner. 6  Sometimes  it  is 
shown  by  the  indifference  with  which  money 
transactions  are  conducted  either  with  husband  or 
with  wife.  When  the  Corporation  at  Dorchester 
purchased  a  new  mace  in  1660,  Mr.  Sam  White's 
wife  appears  to  have  acted  throughout  in  the  matter. 
An  entry  in  the  records  for  1660  states  that  "  the  silver 

1  Ferguson,  Carlisle,  p.  212,  Glover's  Gild,  1665. 

2  Black,  W.  H.,  Articles  of  tbe  Leathersellers,  p.  21,  1398. 

8  Smythe,  W.  D.,  Hist,  of  Worshipful  Co.  of  Girdlers,  London,  p.  63. 

4  Fox,  F.  F.,  Merchant  Taylors,  Bristol,  pp.  64-65. 

6  Somerset  Quarter  Sessions  Records,  Vol.  III.,  p.  165,  1652. 


1 86  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

upon  the  old  maces  ....  comes  unto  iij".  xviij3.  iijd, 
which  was  intended  to  bee  delivered  to  Mr.  Sam: 
White's  wife  towards  payment  for  the  new  Maces 
.  .  .  .  Mr.  White  hath  it  the  i8th  of  January, 
1660.  (Inserted  later). 
July  3rd,  1661. — pd.  Mrs.  White  as  appeareth 

forward  500 

October    4th,    1661. — pd.    Mrs.    White    more    as 

appeareth  forward  4  10     o 

About  Michaelmas,   Mr.    Sauage  pd   Mrs.   White 

in  dollers  77° 

April  26th,   1661. — It  is  ordered  and  agreed  that 

twenty  shillings  a  man,  which  shall  be  lent  and 

advanced  to  Mr.   Samuel  White's  wife  by  any 

of  this  Company  towards  payment  for  the  Maces 

shall  be  repayed  back  to  them."1 
An  equal  indifference  is  shown  by  the  Carpenters' 
Company  in  making  payments  for  their  ale.  •  Sometimes 
these  are  entered  to  William  Whytte,  but  quite  as 
often  to  "his  wyffe."  For  example  in  1556  "  Itm 
payd  for  Yest  to  Whytte's  wyffe  iiijd"2  "  Resd  of 
Whytte's  wyffe  her  hole  yere's  Rent  in  ale  xxixs  iiijd  ; 
"  Itm  payd  to  whytte's  wyffe  for  ale  above  the  rent 
of  hyr  howsse  iijs.vjd."  "  Itm  payd  to  whytte's 
wyff  for  hopyng  of  tobbis  xvjd."4  Finally,  in  1559, 
when  perhaps  William  Whytte  had  departed  this 
life,  it  is  entered  "  Resd  of  Mother  whytte  hole 
yeres  rent  xxixs.vijd."5 

The  Pewterers,  in  order  to  check  stealing,  ordered 
that  "  none  of  the  sayde  Crafte  shall  bye  anye  Leade  of 
Tylers,  Laborers,  Masons,  boyes,  nor  of  women  Nor  of 
none  such  as  shall  seme  to  be  a  Suspect  pson,"  adding 

1  Mayo,  G.  H.,  Municipal  Records,  Dorchester,  p.  466. 

z  Rec.  of  Worshipful  Co.  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  56,  Warden's  Acct.  Book,  1556. 

» Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  86. 

4  Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  88. 

8  Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  101. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  187 

"that  none  of  thesayde  companye  shalbeexcusyd  by  his 
wif  or  servannte  nor  none  other  suche  lyk  excuse."1 

Gild  rules  recognise  the  authority  of  the  mistress 
over  apprentices,  the  Clockmakers  ordaining  that 
"  no  servant  or  apprentice  that  ....  hath 
without  just  and  reasonable  cause,  departed  from  his 
master,  mistress  or  dame,  ....  shall  be  admitted 
to  work  for  himself,"2  while  the  charter  of  the 
Glass-sellers  provides  suitable  punishment  "  if  any 
apprentice  .  .  .  .  shall  misbehave  himself  to- 
wards his  master  or  mistress  ....  or  shall 
lie  out  of  his  master  or  mistress's  house  without 
his  or  her  privity."3 

When  a  man  who  belonged  to  Gild  or  Company 
died,  his  wife  was  free  to  continue  his  business 
under  her  own  management,  retaining  her  position 
as  a  free  sister,  or  she  might  withdraw  from 
trade  and  transfer  her  apprentices  to  another  brother. 
In  the  Carpenters'  and  some  other  trades  the  latter 
was  the  more  usual  course  to  follow ;  thus  Thomas 
Mycock,  a  cutler,  on  taking  over  an  apprentice  who 
had  served  John  Kay,  deceased,  six  years,  covenanted 
to  pay  Kay's  widow  2os.  a  year  for  the  three  remaining 
years,4  but  on  the  other  hand  the  widow  Poynton 
was  paid  155.  jd.  "  for  glass  worke  "  by  the  Burgery 
of  Sheffield  ;5  showing  that  she  had  not  withdrawn 
from  business  on  her  husband's  death.  It  is  clear 
that  widows  often  lost  their  rights  as  sisters,  if  they 
took,  as  a  second  husband,  a  man  who  was  not  and  did 
not  become  a  brother  of  the  same  Gild.  Thus  there 
is  an  entry  in  the  "Pewterers'  Records,"  1678, 
concerning  "  Mrs.  Sicily  Moore,  formerly  the  wife  of 

1  Welch,  Hist,  of  Pewterers'  Company,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  180-181. 

2  Overall,   Company  of  Clockmakers,  London,  p.  43,  1632. 

3  Ramsay,  Wm.,  Hist,  of  the  Glass-Sellers,  p.  125. 

4  Leader,  Hist,  of  Company  of  Cutlers,  Vol.  I.,  p.  47,  1696. 

5  Leader,  Records  of  the  Burgery  of  Sheffield,  p.  227,  1685. 


1 88  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

Edward  Fish,  late  member  of  this  Compa  deed,  and 
since  marryed  to  one  Moore,  a  fforeignir,  now  also 
deed,  desired  to  be  admitted  into  the  ffreedome  of 
this  Compa.  After  some  debate  the  Court  agreed 
and  soe  Ordered  that  she  shall  be  received  into  the 
ffreedom  of  the  Compa  Gratis,  onely  paying  usuall 
ffees  and  this  Condition  that  she  shall  not  bind  any 
app'ntice  by  virtue  of  the  sd  Freedom."1 

Instances  occur  in  which  an  apprentice  was  discharged 
because  "  the  wife,  after  the  death  of  her  Husband, 
taught  him  not."2  The  apprentice  naturally  brought 
forward  this  claim  if  by  so  doing  there  was  a  chance 
of  shortening  the  term  of  his  service,  but  he  was  not 
always  successful.  The  Justices  dismissed  a  case 
brought  by  Edward  Steel,  ordering  him  to  serve 
Elizabeth  Apprice,  widow,  the  remainder  of  his 
term.  He  was  apprenticed  in  1684  to  John  Apprice 
Painter-Stainer  for  nine  years  ;  he  had  served  seven 
years  when  his  master  died,  and  he  now  declares  that 
Elizabeth,  the  widow,  refuses  to  instruct  him.  She 
insists  that  since  her  husband's  death  she  has  provided 
able  workmen  to  instruct  this  apprentice,  and 
that  he  was  now  capable  of  doing  her  good  service.3 
When  the  "  widowe  Holton  prayed  that  she 
[being  executor  to  her  husband]  maye  have  the  benefitt 
of  the  service  of  Roger  Jakes,  her  husband's  apprentice 
by  Indenture,  for  the  residue  of  the  years  to  come, 
which  he  denyeth  to  performe,  it  was  ordered  that 
th'apprentice  shall  dwell  and  serve  his  dame  duringe 
the  residue  of  his  terme,  she  providing  for  him  as 
well  work  as  other  things  fitt  for  him."  *  The 
Girdlers  having  accused  Richard  Northy  of  having 
more  than  the  just  number  of  apprentices,  he  stated 

1  Welch,  Hist,  of  Pewterers'  Company,  Vol.  II.,  p.  153. 

2  Stow,  London,  Book  V.,  p.  335. 

3  Middlesex  Sessions  Book,  p.  47,  1691. 

4  Guilding,  Reading  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  362. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  189 

in  his  defence  that  the  apprentice  "  was  not  any 
that  was  taken  or  bound  by  him,  but  was  left  unto 
him  by  express  words  in  the  will  of  his  deceased 
mother-in-law  whch  will,  wth  the  probate  thereof, 
he  now  produced  in  court."1 

The  occurrence  of  widows'  names  among  the  cases 
which  came  before  the  Courts  for  infringements 
of  the  Company's  rules  is  further  evidence  that  they 
were  actively  engaged  in  business.  "  Two  bundles 
of  unmade  girdles  were  taken  from  widows  Maybury 
and  Bliss,  young  widows  '  they  were  ordered  to 
pay  55.  each  by  way  of  fine  for  making  and  selling  un- 
lawful wares."2  Richard  Hewatt,  of  Northover  in 
Glastonbury,  fuller,  when  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  Somerset  Quarter  Sessions  as  a  witness,  refers 
to  his  dame  Ursula  Lance  who  had  "  lost  2  larrows 
worth  five  shillings  and  that  Robert  Marsh,  one  of 
the  constables  of  Somerton  Hundred,  found  in  the 
house  of  William  Wilmat  the  Larrows  cloven  in  pieces 
and  put  in  the  oven,  and  the  Rack-hookes  that  were 
in  the  larrows  were  found  in  the  fire  in  the  said  house."5 

Widows  were  very  dependent  upon  the  assistance 
of  journeymen,  and  often  chose  a  relation  for  this 
responsible  position.  At  Reading  "  All  the  freman 
Blacksmiths  in  this  Towne  complayne  that  one  Edward 
Nitingale,  a  smith,  beinge  a  f orreynour,  useth  the  trade 
of  a  blacksmith  in  this  Corporacion  to  the  great 
dammage  of  the  freemen  :  it  was  answered  that  he  is  a 
journey-man  to  the  Widowe  Parker,  late  wife  to 
Humfrey  Parker,  a  blacksmith,  deceassed,  and  worketh 
as  her  servant  at  55.  a  weeke,  she  being  his  aunt,  and 
was  advised  to  worke  in  noe  other  manner  but  as  a 
journey-man."4  The  connection  often  ended  in 

1  Smythe,  Company  of  Girdlers,  p.  133,  1635. 

2  I  bid,  p.  87,  1627. 

3  Somerset  Q.S.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  365-6,  1659. 

*  Guilding,  Reading  Records,  Vol.  III.,  p.  502,  1640. 


i9o  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

marriage  ;  it  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  one  of 
the  Quaker's  Meetings  in  London  that  one  of  their 
Members,  "  Will  Townsend  .  .  .  card  maker  pro- 
poses to  take  to  wife  Elizabeth  Doshell  of  ye  same 
place  to  be  his  wife,  and  ye  same  Elizabeth  doth 
propose  to  take  ye  said  Will  to  be  her  husband,  the 
yonge  man  liveing  with  her  as  a  journey-man  had 
thought  and  a  beliefe  that  she  would  come  to  owne 
ye  truth  and  did  propose  to  her  his  Intentions 
towards  her  as  to  marige  before  she  did  come  to 
owne  the  truth  which  thinge  being  minded  to  him 
by  ffriends.  ...  he  has  acknowledged  it  soe  and 
sayes  it  had  been  beter  that  he  had  waited  till  he 
had  had  his  hope  in  some  measure  answered."1 

Such  marriages,  though  obviously  offering  many 
advantages,  were  not  always  satisfactory.  A  lament- 
able picture  of  an  unfortunate  one  is  given  in  the 
petition  of  Sarah  Westwood,  wife  of  Robert  Westwood, 
Feltmaker,  presented  to  Laud  in  1639,  showing  that 
"your  petitioner  was  (formerly)  the  wife  of  one  John 
Davys,  alsoe  a  Feltmaker,  who  dying  left  her  a  howse 
furnished  with  goodes  sufficient  for  her  use  therein 
and  charged  with  one  childe,  as  yet  but  an  infant, 
and  two  apprentices,  who,  for  the  residue  of  their 
termes  .  .  .  could  well  have  atchieved  sufficient 
for  the  maynetenance  of  themselves  and  alsoe  of 
your  petitioner  and  her  child.  That  being  thus  left 
in  good  estate  for  livelyhood,  her  nowe  husband 
became  a  suitor  unto  her  in  the  way  of  marriage, 
being  then  a  journeyman  feltmaker.  .  .  ." 

Soon  after  their  marriage,  "Westwood  following 
lewde  courses,  often  beate  and  abused  your  petitioner, 
sold  and  consumed  what  her  former  husband  left  her, 
threatened  to  kill  her  and  her  child,  turned  them 
out  of  dores,  refusing  to  afford  them  any  means  of 
subsistance,  but  on  the  contrary  seekes  the  utter 
ruin  of  them  both  and  most  scandelously  has  traduced 

1  Horsleydown  Monthly  Meeting  Minute  Book,  19  nmo.,  1675. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  191 

your  petitioner  giving  out  in  speeches  that  she  would 
have  poysoned  him  thereby  to  bring  a  generall 
disgrace  upon  her,  .  .  .  and  forbiddes  all  people 
where  she  resortes  to  afford  her  entertaignment,  and 
will  not  suffer  her  to  worke  for  the  livelyhood  of 
her  and  her  child,  but  will  have  accompt  of  the 
same.  .  .  .  Albeit  he  can  get  by  his  labour 
2O/-  a  weeke,  yet  he  consumes  the  same  in  idle 
company  .  .  .  having  lewdlie  spent  all  he  had 
with  your  petitioner."1 

Though  their  entrance  to  the  Gilds  and  Companies 
was  most  often  obtained  by  women  through  marriage, 
it  has  already  been  shown  that  their  admission  by 
apprenticeship  was  not  unknown,  and  they  also 
occasionally  acquired  freedom  by  patrimony ;  thus 
"  Katherine  Wetwood,  daughter  of  Humphrey  Wet- 
wood,  of  London,  Pewterer,  was  sworn  and  made  free 
by  the  Testimony  of  the  Master  and  Wardens  of 
the  Merchant  Taylors'  Co.,  and  of  two  Silk  Weavers, 
that  she  was  a  virgin  and  twenty-one  years  of  age. 
She  paid  the  usual  patrimony  fine  of  93. 2d."2  More 
than  one  hundred  years  later  Mary  Temple  was  made 
free  of  the  Girdlers'  Company  by  patrimony. 3  No 
jealousy  is  expressed  of  the  women  who  were  members  of 
the  Companies,  but  all  others  were  rigorously  excluded 
from  employment.  Complaints  were  brought  before  the 
Girdlers'  that  certain  Girdlers  in  London  "  set  on 
worke  such  as  had  not  served  7  years  at  the  art, 
and  also  for  setting  forreigners  and  maids  on  worke."4 
Rules  were  made  in  Bristol  in  1606,  forbidding  women 
to  work  at  the  trades  of  the  whitawers  (white  leather 
dressers),  Point  makers  and  Glovers.5 

1  S.P.D.,  ccccxxxv.  42,  Dec;  6,  1639. 

2  Welch,  Pewterers,  Vol.  II.,  p.  92,  1633-4. 

3  Smythe,  Company  of  Girdlers,  p.  128,  1747. 

*  Ibid,  p.  88,  1628. 

*  Latimer,  Annals  of  Bristol,  p.  26,  1606.  ^ 


i92  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

In  the  unprotected  trades  where  the  Gild  organ- 
isation had  broken  down,  and  the  profits  of  the  small 
tradesmen  had  been  reduced  to  a  minimum  by  un- 
limited competition,  the  family  depended  upon  the 
labour  of  mother  and  children  as  well  as  the  father  for 
its  support.  Petitions  presented  to  the  King  concern- 
ing grievances  under  which  they  suffer,  generally 
include  wives  and  children  in  the  number  of  those 
engaged  in  the  trade  in  question.  On  a  proposal 
to  tax  tobacco  pipes,  the  makers  show  "  that  all 
the  poorer  sort  of  the  Trade  must  be  compelled  to 
lay  it  down,  for  want  of  Stock  or  Credit  to  carry  it 
on  ;  and  so  their  Wives  and  Children,  who  help  to 
get  their  Bread,  must  of  necessity  perish,  or  become 
a  Charge  to  their  respective  Parishes.  That  when 
a  Gross  of  Pipes  are  made,  they  sell  them  for  is.  6d. 
and  is.  iod.,  out  of  which  zd.  or  3d.  is  their  greatest 
Profit.  And  they  not  already  having  Stock,  or  can 
make  Pipes  fast  enough  to  maintain  their  Families, 
how  much  less  can  they  be  capable,  when  half  the 
Stock  they  have,  must  be  paid  down  to  pay  the 
King  his  Duty  ?  m 

The  Glovers  prepared  a  memorandum  showing 
the  great  grievances  there  would  be  if  a  Duty  be  laid 
on  Sheep  and  Lamb  Skins,  Drest  in  Oyl  etc.  "  The 
Glovers,"  they  say,  "are many  Thousands  in  Number, 
in  the  Counties  of  England,  City  of  London  and 
Liberties  thereof,  and  generally  so  Poor  (the  said 
Trade  being  so  bad  and  Gloves  so  plenty)  that  mear 
Necessity  doth  compel  them  to  Sell  their  Goods  daily 
to  the  Glove-sellers,  and  to  take  what  Prises  they  will 
give  them,  to  keep  them  and  their  Children  and  Fam- 
ilies at  Work  to  maintain  them,  or  else  they  must 
perrish  for  want  of  Bred."5 


1  Humble  Petition  and  Case  of  the  Tobacco  Pifle  Makers  of  the  Citys  of  London  and 
Westminster,  1695. 

1  Reasons  humbly  offered  by  the  Leather-Dressers  and  Glovers,  &c. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  193 

The  Pin-makers  say  that  their  company  "consists 
for  the  most  part  of  poor  and  indigent  People,  who 
have  neither  Credit  nor  Money  to  purchase  Wyre  of 
the  Merchant  at  the  best  hand,  but  are  forced  for  want 
thereof,  to  buy  only  small  Parcels  of  the  second  or 
third  Buyer,  as  they  have  occasion  to  use  it,  and  to 
sell  off  the  Pins  they  make  of  the  same  from  Week 
to  Week,  as  soon  as  they  are  made,  for  ready  money, 
to  feed  themselves,  their  Wives,  and  Children,  whom 
they  are  constrained  to  imploy  to  go  up  and  down 
every  Saturday  Night  from  Shop  to  Shop  to  offer  their 
Pins  for  Sale,  otherwise  cannot  have  mony  to  buy 
bread."2 

A  similar  picture  is  given  in  the  "  Mournfull  Cryes 
of  many  thousand  Poore  tradesmen,  who  are  ready 
to  famish  through  decay  of  Trade."  "  Oh  that  the 
cravings  of  our  Stomacks  could  bee  heard  by  the 
Parliament  and  City !  Oh  that  the  Teares  of  our  poore 
famishing  Babes  were  botled  !  Oh  that  their  tender 
Mothers  Cryes  for  bread  to  feed  them  were  in- 
graven  in  brasse  .  .  .  .  O  you  Members  of 
Parliament  and  rich  men  in  the  City,  that  are  at 
ease,  and  drink  Wine  in  Bowles  ....  you  that 
grind  our  faces  and  Flay  off  our  skins  .  .  .  .  is 
there  none  to  Pity  ....  Its  your  Taxes 
Customes  and  Excize,  that  compels  the  Country  to 
raise  the  price  of  Food  and  to  buy  nothing  from 
us  but  meere  absolute  necessaries ;  and  then  you 
of  the  City  that  buy  our  Worke,  must  have  your 
Tables  furnished  ....  and  therefore  will 
give  us  little  or  nothing  for  our  Worke,  even  what  you 
please,  because  you  know  wee  must  sell  for  Monyes 
to  set  our  Families  on  worke,  or  else  wee  famish 
.  .  .  .  and  since  the  late  Lord  Mayor  Adams, 
you  have  put  into  execution  an  illegall,  wicked 
Decree  of  the  Common  Counsel! ;  whereby  you  have 

2  Case  or  Petition  of  the  Corporation  of  Pin-makers. 

13 


i94  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

taken  our  goods  from  us,  if  we  have  gone  to  the  Innes 
to  sell  them  to  the  Countrimen ;  and  you  have  mur- 
dered some  of  our  poor  wives,  that  have  gone  to  Innes 
to  find  countrimen  to  buie  them."1 

In  each  case  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  wife's 
activity  is  specially  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  sale  of  the  goods.  Women  were  so  closely  connec- 
ted with  industrial  life  in  London  that  when  the  Queen 
proposed  to  leave  London  in  1641  it  was  the  women 
who  petitioned  Parliament,  declaring,  "  that  your 
Petitioners,  their  Husbands,  their  Children  and  their 
Families,  amounting  to  many  thousand  soules ;  have 
lived  in  plentifull  and  good  fashion,  by  the  exercise 
of  severall  Trades  and  venting  of  divers  workes  .  .  . 
.All  depending  wholly  for  the  sale  of  their  commodities, 
(which  is  the  maintenance  and  very  existence  and 
beeing  of  themselves,  their  husbands,  and  families) 
upon  the  splendour  and  glory  of  the  English  Court, 
and  principally  upon  that  of  the  Queenes  Majesty."' 

In  addition  to  these  Trades,  skilled  and  semi- 
skilled, in  which  men  and  women  worked  together, 
certain  skilled  women's  trades  existed  in  London  which 
were  sufficiently  profitable  for  considerable  premiums 
to  be  paid  with  the  girls  who  were  apprenticed  to 
them.3  These  girls  probably  continued  to  exercise 
their  own  trade  after  marriage,  their  skill  serving  them 
instead  of  dowry,  the  Customs  of  London  providing 
that  "  married  women  who  practise  certain  crafts 
in  the  city  alone  and  without  their  husbands,  may 
take  girls  as  apprentices  to  serve  them  and  learn  their 
trade,  and  these  apprentices  shall  be  bound  by  their 
indentures  of  apprenticeship  to  both  husband  and 
wife,  to  learn  the  wife's  trade  as  is  aforesaid,  and  such 

1  Mournfull  Cryes  of  many  Thousand  Poore  Tradesmen,    1647. 

2  Humble  Petition  of  many  thousands   of   Courtiers,  Citizens,  Gentlemens    and 
Tradesmen}  Wives,  &c. 

'Ante.  p.  175. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  195 

indentures  shall  be  enrolled  as  well  for  women  as 
for  men."1  The  girls  who  were  apprenticed  to 
Carpenters  were  evidently  on  this  footing. 

References  in  contemporary  documents  to  women 
who  were  following  skilled  or  semi-skilled  trades 
in  London  are  very  frequent.  Thus  Thomas 
Swan  is  reported  to  have  committed  thefts  "  on  his 
mistress  Alice  Fox,  Wax-chandler  of  Old  Bailey."' 
Mrs.  Cellier  speaks  of  "  one  Mrs.  Phillips,  an  uphol- 
sterer,"3 while  the  Rev.  Giles  Moore  notes  in  his 
diary  "  payed  Mistress  Cooke,  in  Shoe  Lane,  for  a  new 
trusse,  and  for  mending  the  old  one  and  altering  the 
plate  thereof,  .£150;  should  shee  dye,  I  am  in  future 
to  inquire  for  her  daughter  Barbara,  who  may  do  the 
like  for  mee."4  Isaac  Derston  was  "put  an  app. 
to  Anthony  Watts  for  the  term  of  seven  years,  but 
turned  over  to  the  widow — dwelling  near  :  palls :  who 
bottoms  cane  chaires,  £210  o."5  That  the  bottoming 
of  cane  chairs  was  a  poor  trade  is  witnessed  by  the 
meagreness  of  the  premium  paid  in  this  case. 

No  traces  can  be  found  of  any  organisation  existing 
in  the  skilled  women's  trades,  such  as  upholstery, 
millinery,  mantua-making,  but  a  Gild  existed 
among  the  women  who  sorted  and  packed  wool 
at  Southampton.  A  Sisterhood  consisting  of  twelve 
women  of  good  and  honest  demeanour  was  formed 
there  as  a  company  to  serve  the  merchants  in  the 
occupation  of  covering  pokes  or  baloes  [bales].  Two 
of  the  sisters  acted  as  wardens.  In  1554  a  court  was 
held  to  adjudicate  on  the  irregular  attendance  of 
some  of  the  sisters.  The  names  of  two  wardens 

1  Eileen  Power,  by  kind  permission,  14.19. 

1  C.S.P.D.  cv.  53,  Jan.  19,  1619. 

8  Cellier  (Mrs.)  Malice  Defeated,  p.  25. 

4  Suss.  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  123,  Journal  Rev.,  1676. 

6  Monthly  Meeting  Minute  Book,  Peele,  Nov.  24,  1687. 


196  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

and  eleven  sisters  are  given  ;  no  one  who  was  absent 
from  her  duties  for  more  than  three  months  was  per- 
mitted to  return  to  the  Sisterhood  without  the 
Mayor's  licence.  "  Item,  yi  is  ordered  by  the  sayde 
Maior  and  his  bretherne  that  all  suche  as  shall  be 
nomynated  and  appoynted  to  be  of  the  systeryd 
shall  make  a  brekefaste  at  their  entrye  for  a  knowlege 
and  shal  bestowe  at  the  least  xxd  or  ijs,  or  more  as 
they  lyste."1 

Possibly  when  more  records  of  the  Gilds  and  Com- 
panies have  been  published  in  a  complete  form,  some 
of  the  gaps  which  are  left  in  this  account  of  the  position 
of  women  in  the  skilled  and  semi-skilled  trades  may 
be  filled  in ;  but  the  extent  to  which  married  women 
were  engaged  in  them  must  always  remain  largely 
a  matter  of  conjecture,  and  unfortunately  it  is  precisely 
this  point  which  is  most  interesting  to  the  sociologist. 
Practically  all  adult  women  were  married,  and 
the  character  of  the  productive  work  which  an 
economic  organisation  allots  to  married  women  and 
the  conditions  of  their  labour  decide  very  largely 
the  position  of  the  mother  in  society,  and  therefore, 
ultimately,  the  fate  of  her  children.  The  fragmentary 
evidence  which  has  been  examined  shows  that,  while 
the  system  of  family  industry  lasted,  it  was  so  usual 
in  the  skilled  and  semi-skilled  trades  for  women  to 
share  in  the  business  life  of  their  husbands  that  they 
were  regarded  as  partners.  Though  the  wife  had 
rarely,  if  ever,  served  an  apprenticeship  to  his  trade, 
there  were  many  branches  in  which  her  assistance 
was  of  great  value,  and  husband  and  wife  naturally 
divided  the  industry  between  them  in  the  way  which 
was  most  advantageous  to  the  family,  while  unmarried 
servants,  either  men  or  women,  performed  the  domestic 
drudgery.  As  capitalistic  organisation  developed, 
many  avenues  of  industry  were,  however,  gradually 
closed  to  married  women.  The  masters  no  longer 

1  Davies.  (J. ,  S.)  Hist  of  Southampton,  p.  z/p. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  197 

depended  upon  the  assistance  of  their  wives,  while 
the  journeyman's  position  became  very  similar  to 
that  of  the  modern  artisan  ;  he  was  employed  on  the 
premises  of  his  master,  and  thus,  though  his  association 
with  his  fellows  gave  him  opportunity  for  combination, 
his  wife  and  daughters,  who  remained  at  home,  did 
not  share  in  the  improvements  which  he  effected  in 
his  own  economic  position.  The  alternatives  before 
the  women  of  this  class  were  either  to  withdraw 
altogether  from  productive  activity,  and  so  become 
entirely  dependent  upon  their  husband's  goodwill, 
or  else  to  enter  the  labour  market  independently  and 
fight  their  battles  alone,  in  competition  not  only  with 
other  women,  but  with  men. 

Probably  the  latter  alternative  was  atill  most  often 
followed  by  married  women,  although  at  this  time  the 
idea  that  men  "  keep  "  their  wives  begins  to  prevail : 
but  the  force  of  the  old  tradition  maintained  amongst 
women  a  desire  for  the  feeling  of  independence  which 
can  only  be  gained  through  productive  activity,  and 
thus  married  women,  even  when  unable  to  work  with 
their  husbands,  generally  occupied  themselves  with 
some  industry,  however  badly  it  might  be  paid. 

B.  Retail  Trades. 

The  want  of  technical  skill  and  knowledge  which  so 
often  hampered  the  position  of  women  in  the  Skilled 
Trades,  was  a  smaller  handicap  in  Retail  Trades, 
where  manual  dexterity  and  technical  knowledge 
are  less  important  than  general  intelligence  and  a 
lively  understanding  of  human  nature.  Quick  per- 
ception and  social  tact,  which  are  generally  supposed 
to  be  feminine  characteristics,  often  proved  useful 
even  to  the  craftsman,  when  his  wife  assumed  the 
charge  of  the  financial  side  of  his  business ;  it  is 
therefore  not  surprising  to  find  women  taking  a 
prominent  part  in  every  branch  of  Retail  Trade. 
In  fact  the  woman  who  was  left  without  other 


198  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

resources  turned  naturally  to  keeping  a  shop,  or  to  the 
sale  of  goods  in  the  street,  as  the  most  likely  means 
for  maintaining  her  children,  and  thus  the  woman 
shopkeeper  is  no  infrequent  figure  in  contemporary 
writings.  For  example,  in  one  of  the  many  pamphlets 
describing  the  incidents  of  the  Civil  War,  we  read  that 
"  Mistresse  Phillips  was  sent  for,  who  was  found 
playing  the  good  housewife  at  home  (a  thing  much 
out  of  fashion)  ....  and  committed  close 
prisoner  to  castle."  Her  husband  having  been  driven 
before  from  town,  "  She  was  to  care  for  ten  children, 
the  most  of  them  being  small,  one  whereof  she  at 
the  same  time  suckled,  her  shop  (which  enabled  her 
to  keep  all  those)  was  ransacked,"  .£14  was  taken,  and 
the  house  plundered,  horse  and  men  billetted  with  her 
when  she  could  scarce  get  bread  enough  for  herself 
and  her  family  without  charity.  She  was  tried,  and 
condemned  to  death,  when,  the  account  continues, 
"  Mistress  Phillips  not  knowing  but  her  turne  was 
next,  standing  all  the  while  with  a  halter  about  her 
neck  over  against  the  Gallowes,  a  Souldier  would  have 
put  the  halter  under  her  Handkerchief  e,  but  she  would 
not  suffer  him,  speaking  with  a  very  audible  voice, 
1 1  am  not  ashamed  to  suffer  reproach  and  shame  in 
this  cause,'  a  brave  resolution,  beseeming  a  nobler  sex, 
and  not  unfit  to  be  registered  in  the  Book  of  Martyrs." 

The  woman  shop-keeper  is  found  also  among  the 
stock  characters  of  the  drama.  In  "  The  Old  Batch- 
elor  "  Belinda  relates  that  "  a  Country  Squire,  with 
the  Equipage  of  a  Wife  and  two  Daughters,  came  to 
Mrg.  Snipwel's  Shop  while  I  was  there  ....  the 
Father  bought  a  Powder-Horn,  and  an  Almanack, 
and  a  Comb-Case  ;  the  Mother,  a  great  Fruz-Towr,  and 
a  fat  Amber-Necklace  ;  the  Daughters  only  tore  two 
Pair  of  Kid-leather  Gloves,  with  trying  'em  on."1 

Amongst  the  Quakers,  shop-keeping  was  a  usual 
employment  for  women.  Thomas  Chalkley,  soon 

1  Congreve  (Wm.)-     The  Old  Batchelor,  Act  iv.,  Sc.,  viii. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  199 

after  his  marriage  "  had  a  Concern  to  visit  Friends 
in  the  counties  of  Surrey,  Sussex  and  Kent,  which 
I  performed  in  about  two  Weeks  Time,  and  came 
home  -  and  followed  my  calling,  and  was  industrious 
therein  ;  and  when  I  had  gotten  something  to  bear 
my  expenses,  and  settled  my  Wife  in  some  little 
Business  I  found  an  Exercise  on  my  Spirit  to  go  over 
to  Ireland"1  Another  Quaker  describes  how  he 
applied  himself  "  to  assist  my  Wife  in  her  Business 
as  well  as  I  could,  attending  General,  Monthly 
and  other  Meetings  on  public  Occasions  for 
three  Years."2  The  provision  of  the  little  stock 
needed  for  a  shop  was  a  favourite  method  of  assisting 
widows. 

The  frequency  with  which  payments  to  women  are 
entered  in  account  books3  is  further  evidence  of  the 
extent  to  which  they  were  engaged  in  Retail  Trades,  but 
this  occupation  was  not  freely  open  to  all  and  any  who 
needed  it.  It  was,  on  the  contrary,  hedged  about  with 
almost  as  many  restrictions  as  the  gild  trades.  The 
craftsman  was  generally  free  to  dispose  of  his  own 
goods,  but  many  restrictions  hampered  the  Retailer, 
that  is  to  say  the  person  who  bought  to  sell  again. 
The  community  regarded  this  class  with  some 
jealousy,  and  limited  their  numbers.  Hence,  the  poor 
woman  who  sought  to  improve  her  position  by  opening 

1  Chalkley,  Journa1,  pp.  30-31,  1690. 

2  Bownas,  Samuel,  Life  of,  p.  135. 

3  The  Churchwardens  of  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  paid    6d.  to  "  Goodwyfe 
Wells  for  salt  to  destroy  the  fleas  in  the  Churchwarden's  pew."      (Cox.     Church- 
wardens Accts.,  p.  321,  1610.).     Among  the  Cromwell  family  receipts  is  one  in  1624 
"  from  ye  Right  worc  ye  Lady  Carr  by  the  hands  of  Henry  Hanby,  the  somme  of 
twenty  and  one  pounds  in  full  payment  of  all  Reckonings  from  the  beginninge  of 

the  world by  me  ellen  Sadler  X  (Cromwell  Family  Sills  and  Receipts, 

p.  it;.)      "  A  bill  for  Mrs.  Willie  of  Ramsie  the  14  of  April  1636 

for  material  and  making  your  daughter  petecoate 
„  ,,    your  silk  grogram  coate 

„  ,,    your  daughter's  gasson  shute 

„  „    your  daughter's  silke  moheare  wascote 

„  .,     your  damask  coate 

Total  7.   17.     9.     (Jbil,  p.  26?). 


200  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

a  little  shop,  did  not  always  find  her  course  clear. 
In  fact  there  were  many  towns  in  which  the 
barriers  between  her  and  an  honest  indepen- 
dence were  insurmountable.  Girls  were,  however, 
apprenticed  to  shop-keepers  oftener  than  to  the  gild 
trades,  and  licences  to  sell  were  granted  to  freewomen 
as  well  as  to  freemen.  At  Dorchester,  girls  who  had 
served  an  apprenticeship  to  shopkeepers  were  duly  ad- 
mitted to  the  freedom  of  the  Borough ;  we  find  entered 
in  the  Minute  Book  the  names  of  Celina  Hilson, 
apprenticed  to  Mat.  Hilson,  Governor,  haberdasher, 
and  Mary  Goodredge,  spinster,  haberdasher  of  small 
wares ;  also  of  James  Bun  (who  had  married  Eliz- 
abeth Williams  a  freewoman)  haberdasher  of  small 
wares ;  Elizabeth  Williams,  apprenticed  seven  years  to 
her  Mother,  Mary  W.,  tallow  chaundler,  and  of 
William  Weare,  apprenticed  to  Grace  Lacy,  widow, 
woolen  draper.1  An  order  was  granted  by  the 
Middlesex  Quarter  Sessions  to  discharge  Mary  Jemmett 
from  apprenticeship  to  Jane  Tyllard,  widow,  from 
whom  she  was  to  learn  "  the  trade  of  keeping  a  linen 
shop,"2  and  an  account  is  given  of  a  difference  between 
Susanna  Shippey,  of  Mile  End,  Stepney,  widow,  and 
Ann  Taylor,  her  apprentice,  touching  the  discharge 
of  the  said  apprentice.  It  appears  that  Ann  has 


The  Rev.  Giles  Moore  bought "  of  W'ddow  Langley  2  more  fine  sheets,  of  Goodwyfe 
Seamer  9  ells,  and  a  halfe  of  hempen  cloatb.  (Suss.  Ar^b  Coll.  Vol.,  I.  p.  68 
1656.  Rev.  Giles  Moore's  Journal). 

Foulis  paid,  in  Scots  money,  Jan.  22,  1692  "  to  Mrs.  Pouries  lad  for  aniseed, 
carthamums  &c.  us."  (p.  144.),  and  on  Aug.  3.  1696  he  "  received  from  Eli/.  Ludgate 
last  Whits  mail'  for  ye  shop  at  fosters  Wyndhead  -zclib."  (p.  191;).  Jan.  14,  1704 
"  to  my  douchter  Jean  be  Mrs.  Cuthbertsons  paym'  for  4  ell  &  *  flowered  calico  to 
lyne  my  n'ghtgowne  7.  13.  o.  (p.  339)  May  23, 1704  "  receaved  from  Agnes  philp 
Whitsun.  mail)  for  the  shop  at  fosters  wyndhead  and  ye  key  therof,  and  given  it  to 
the  Candlemakers  wife  who  has  taken  th?  shop  25  lib  (p.  346).  (Foulis  Acct  Book). 
Similar  entries  are  in  the  Howard  Household  Book,  1619.  To  Mrs.  Smith  for  lining 
Pinen]  for  my  Lord,  had  in  Easter  tnarm,  5''  xs.  Mrs.  Smith  for  napry  had  in  May 
vju  iis  (Howard  Household  Book,  pp.  105  and  161.). 

1  Mayo,  Municipal  Re cords  of  Dorchrster,  p.  428  -9. 
*  Middlesex  County  Records,  p.  180,  1698. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  201 

often  defrauded  her  mistress  of  her  goods  and  sold 
them  for  less  than  cost  price.1 

Little  mercy  was  shown  to  either  man  or  woman 
who  engaged  in  the  Retail  Trade  without  having  served 
an  apprenticeship.  A  warrant  was  only  issued  to 
release  "  Elizabeth  Beaseley  from  the  Hospital  of 
Bridewell  on  her  brother  John  Beaseley's  having  en- 
tered into  bond  that  she  shall  leave  off  selling  tobacco 
in  the  town  of  Wigan."2  Mary  Keeling  was  presented 
at  Nottingham  "  for  falowing  ye  Treaid  of  a  Grocer 
and  Mercer  and  kepping  open  shope  for  on  month 
last  past,  contra  Statum,  not  being  aprentife."*  At 
Carlisle  it  was  ordered  that  "  Isaack  Tully  shall 
submit  himself  to  pay  a  fine  to  this  trade  if  they 
shall  think  it  fitting  for  taking  his  sister  to  keep  & 
sell  waires  for  him  contrary  to  our  order,"4  and  when 
it  was  reported  that  "  Mrs.  Studholme  hath  employed 
James  Moorehead  Scotsman  to  vend  and  sell  goods 
in  her  shop  contrary  to  an  order  of  this  company 
wee  doe  order  that  the  wardens  of  our  company  shall 
fourthwith  acquaint  Mrs.  Studholme  yt.  she  must 
not  be  admitted  to  entertain  him  any  longr  in  her 
employmt  but  that  before  our  next  quarter  day  she 
take  some  other  course  for  keeping  her  shop  and  yt. 
he  be  noe  longer  employed  therein  till  yt.  time."5 
At  a  later  date  Mrs.  Sybil  Hetherington,  Mrs.  Mary 
Nixon,  Mrs.  Jane  Jackson,  widow,  and  four  men, 
were  dealt  with  for  having  shops  or  retailery  of  goods 
contrary  to  the  statute.6 


1  Middlesex  County  Records,  p.  2,  1690. 
1  C.  R.      1 8th,  Auguct,  1640. 

3  Nottingham  Records,  Vol.  V.,  p.  331,  1686. 

4  Ferguson,  Municipal  Records,  Carlisle,  p.  no,  1651. 
6  Ibid,  p.  112,     1668. 

6  Ibid,  p.  115,  1719. 


202  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

There  were  fewer  restrictions  on  retailing  in  London 
than  in  the  provinces,  and  trading  was  virtually  free 
in  the  streets  of  London.  An  act  of  the  Common 
Council,  passed  in  1631,  deals  with  abuses  rising  from 
this  freedom,  declaring  "  that  of  late  it  is  come  to 
passe  that  divers  unruly  people,  as  Butchers,  Bakers, 
Poulters,  Chandlers,  Fruiterers,  Sempsters,  sellers 
of  Grocery  wares,  Oyster  wives,  Herbe  wives,  Tripe 
wives,  and  the  like;  who  not  contented  to  enjoy  the 
benefit  and  common  right  of  Citizens,  by  holding 
their  market  and  continual  Trades  in  their  several 
Shops  &  houses  where  they  dwell,  doe  ....  by 
themselves,  wives,  children  and  seruants  enter  into, 
and  take  up  their  standings  in  the  said  streets  and 
places  appointed  for  the  common  Markets,  unto 
which  the  country  people  only  have  in  former  times 
used  to  resort  to  vend  and  utter  their  victuall  and 
other  commodities ;  in  which  Markets  the  said  Free- 
men doe  abide  for  the  most  part  of  the  day  and  that 
not  only  upon  Market  dayes,  but  all  the  weeke  long 
with  multitudes  of  Baskets,  Tubs,  Chaires,  Boards 
&  Stooles,  ....  the  common  Market  places 
by  these  disordered  people  be  so  taken  up,  that  coun- 
try people  when  they  come  with  victual  and  provision 
have  no  roome  left  them  to  set  down  their  .... 
baskets."1 

In  provincial  towns,  stalls  in  the  market  place 
were  leased  to  tradesmen  by  the  Corporation,  the 
rents  forming  a  valuable  revenue  for  the  town  ;  in- 
fringements of  the  monopoly  were  summarily  dealt 
with  and  often  the  privilege  was  reserved  for  "  free  " 
men  and  women.  Thus  at  St.  Albans  Richard 
Morton's  wife  was  presented  because  she  "  doth 
ordinarilie  sell  shirt  bands  and  cuffes,  hankerchers, 
coifes,  and  other  small  lynenn  wares  openlie  in  the 
markett,"2  not  being  free.  It  was  as  a  special  favour 

1  Act  of  Common  Council  for  reformation,  etc. 

2  Gibbs,  Corporation  Records  of  St.  Albans,  p.  62,  1613. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  203 

that  leave  was  given  to  a  poor  woman  to  sell  shoes 
in  Carlisle  market.  The  conditions  are  explained 
as  follows  : — "  Whereas  Ann  Barrow  the  wife  of 
Richard  Barrow  formerly  one  that  by  virtue  of  the 
Coldstream  Act  brought  shoes  and  exposed  them  to 
sell  in  Carlisle  market  he  being  long  abroad  and  his 
said  wife  poor  the  trade  is  willing  to  permit  the  said 
Ann  to  bring  and  sell  shoes  provided  always  they  be 
the  work  of  one  former  servant  and  noe  more  and  for 
this  permission  she  owns  the  trades  favour  and  is 
thankful  for  it  ....  agreed  and  ordered  that 
every  yeare  she  shall  pay  2J."1 

The  Corporation  at  Reading  was  occupied  for  a 
whole  year  with  the  case  of  the  "  Aperne  woman." 
The  first  entry  in  the  records  states  that  "  Steven 
Foord  of  Newbery  the  aperne  woman's  husband, 
exhibited  a  lettre  from  the  Lord  of  Wallingford  for 
his  sellerman  to  shewe  and  sell  aperninge  z  in  towne, 
in  Mr.  Mayor's  handes,  etc.  And  thereupon  tollerated 
to  doe  as  formerly  she  had  done,  payeing  yerely  los. 
to  the  Hall."3  Next  year  there  is  another  entry  to 
the  effect  that  "  it  was  agreed  that  Steven  Foorde's 
wief  shall  contynue  sellinge  of  aperninge,  as  heretofore, 
and  that  the  other  woman  usinge  to  sell  suche  stuffes 
at  William  Bagley's  dore  shalbe  forbidden,  and  shall 
not  hencefourth  be  permitted  to  sell  in  the  boroughe 
etc.,  and  William  Bagley  shall  be  warned."4  The  other 
woman  proving  recalcitrant,  "  at  Steven  Foorde's 
wive's  request  and  complaynte  it  was  grannted  that 
William  Bagley's  stranger,  selling  aperninge  in  con- 
tempt of  the  government,  shalbe  questioned."5  Finally 


1  Ferguson,  Carlisle,  p.  187,  1669. 

3  Stuff  for  Aprons. 

3  Guilding.  Reading  Rfcordt,  Vol.  II.,  p.  171,  1624. 

*  Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  240,  1625. 

5  Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  252. 


204  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

it  was  "  agreed  that  Steven  Foorde's  wife  shall  hence- 
forth keepe  Markett  and  sell  onely  linsey  woolsey 
of  their  own  making  in  this  markett,  according  to 
the  Lord  Wallingforde's  lettre,  she  payeing  xs.  per 
annum,  and  that  noe  other  stranger  shall  hence- 
forth keepe  markett  or  sell  lynsey  and  woolsey  in  this 
markett."1 

At  this  time,  when  most  roads  were  mere  bridle 
tracks,  and  few  conveniences  for  travel  existed,  when 
even  in  towns  the  streets  were  so  ill-paved  that  in 
bad  weather  the  goodwife  hesitated  before  going  to 
the  market,  the  dwellers  in  villages  and  hamlets  were 
often  fain  to  buy  from  pedlars  who  brought  goods 
to  their  door  and  to  sell  butter  and  eggs  to  anyone  who 
would  undertake  the  trouble  of  collection.  Their 
need  was  recognised  by  the  authorities,  who  granted 
a  certain  number  of  licences  to  Badgers,  Pedlars  and 
Regraters,  and  probably  many  others  succeeded  in 
trading  unlicensed.  This  class  of  Dealers  was 
naturally  regarded  with  suspicion  by  shopkeepers,  A 
pamphlet  demanding  their  suppression,  points  out  that 
"  the  poor  decaying  Shopkeeper  has  a  large  Rent  to 
pay,  and  Family  to  Support ;  he  maintains  not 
his  own  Children  only,  but  all  the  poor  Orphans  and 
Widows  in  his  Parish  ;  nay,  sometimes  the  Widows 
and  Orphans  of  the  very  Pedlar  or  Hawker,  who  has 
thus  fatally  laboured  to  starve  him."  As  for  the 
Hawkers,  "  we  know  they  pretend  they  are  shut  out 
of  the  great  Trading  Cities,  Towns  and  Corporations 
by  the  respective  Charters  and  all  other  settled  Privi- 
leges of  those  Places,  but  we  answer  that  tho'  for 
want  of  legal  Introduction  they  may  not  be  able  to  set 
up  in  Cities,  Corporations,  etc.,  yet  there  are  very  many 
Places  of  very  great  Trade,  where  no  Corporation 
Privileges  would  obstruct  them  ....  if  any 
of  them  should  be  reduc'd  and  ....  be  brought 
to  the  Parish  to  keep  ;  that  is  to  say,  their  Wives  and 

1  Guilding,  Reading  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  267. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  205 

Children,  the  Manufacturers,  the  Shopkeepers  who  con- 
fessedly make  up  the  principal  Numbers  of  those  cor- 
porations, and  are  the  chief  Supporters  of  the  Parishes, 
will  be  much  more  willing  to  maintain  them,  than 
to  be  ruin'd  by  them."1 

The  terms  Badging,  Peddling,  Hawking  and  Re- 
grating  are  not  very  clearly  defined,  and  were  used  in 
senses  which  somewhat  overlap  each  other  ;  but  the 
Badger  seems  to  have  been  a  person  who  "  dealt ' 
in  a  wholesale  way.  A  licence  was  granted  in  1630 
to  "  Edith  Doddington  of  Hilbishopps,  widdowe, 
to  be  a  badger  of  butter  and  cheese  and  to  carry  the 
same  into  the  Counties  of  Wiltes,  Hamsher,  Dors" 
and  Devon,  and  to  retourne  againe  with  corne  and 
to  sell  it  againe  in  any  faire  or  markett  within  this 
County  during  one  whole  yeare  now  next  ensueing  ; 
and  she  is  not  to  travell  with  above  three  horses, 
mares  or  geldings  at  the  most  part."2  The  author- 
ities, fearing  lest  corners  and  profiteering  should 
result  from  interference  with  the  supply  of  neces- 
saries, made  "  ingrossing  "  or  anything  resembling  an 
attempt  to  buy  up  the  supply  of  wheat,  salt,  etc.,  an 
offence.  Amongst  the  prosecutions  which  were  made 
on  this  account  are  presentments  of  "  John  Whaydon 
and  John  Preist  of  Watchett,  partners,  for  ingross 
of  salt,  Julia  Stone,  Richard  Miles,  Joane  Miles  als. 
Stone  of  Bridgwater  for  ingross  of  sake."  3  of  "  Johann 
Stedie  of  Fifehead,  widdow,  ....  for  in- 
grossinge  of  corne  contrary  etc,"4  of  "  Edith  Bruer 
and  Katherine  Bruer,  Spinsters,  of  Halse  .... 
for  ingrossinge  of  corne,"5  and  of  "  Johann  Thome 

1  Brief  State  of  the  Inland  and  Home  Trade,     pp.  59  and  63,  1730. 

2  Somerset  Q.  S.  Record*,  Vol.  II.,  p.  119,  1630. 
8  Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  153,  1631. 

4   Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  161. 
s  Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  165. 


206  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

widow  ....  for  ingrossinge  of 
wheate,  Barley,  Butter  and  Cheese."1 

Pedlars  and  hawkers  carried  on  an  extensive  trade 
all  over  the  country.  At  first  sight  this  would  seem 
a  business  ill  suited  to  women,  for  it  involved  carrying 
a  heavy  pack  of  goods  on  the  back  over  long  distances ; 
and  yet  it  appears  as  though  in  some  districts  the 
trade  was  almost  their  monopoly.  The  success  that 
attended  Joan  Dant's  efforts  as  a  pedlar  has  been  told 
elsewhere.2  How  complete  was  the  ascendency  which 
women  had  established  in  certain  districts  over  this 
class  of  trade  is  shown  by  the  following  definition 
of  the  term  "  Hawkers  "  : — "  those  that  prefer  their 
Wares  by  Wholesale  which  are  called  Hawkers,  and 
which  are  not  only  the  Manufacturers  themselves, 
but  others  besides  them,  vi/..  the  Women  in  London, 
in  Exceter  and  in  Manchester ',  who  do  not  only  Prefer 
Commodities  at  the  Shops  and  Ware  houses,  but 
also  at  Inns  to  Countrey-Chapmen.  Likewise  the 
Manchester-men,  the  Sberborn  —men,  and  many  others, 
that  do  Travel  from  one  Market-Town  to  another  ; 
and  there  at  some  Inn  do  profer  their  Wares  to  sell 
to  the  Shopkeepers  of  the  place."5 

Though  peddling  might  in  some  cases  be  developed 
into  a  large  and  profitable  concern,  more  often  it 
afforded  a  bare  subsistence.  The  character  of  a 
woman  engaged  in  it  is  given  in  a  certificate  brought 
before  the  Hertford  Quarter  Sessions  in  1683  by  the 
inhabitants  of  Epping,  which  states  that  "  Sarah, 
wife  of  Richard  Young,  of  Epping,  cooper,  who  was 
accused  of  pocket-picking  when  she  was  about  her 
lawfull  and  honest  imploy  of  buying  small  wares  and 
wallnuts  "  at  Sabridgworth  fair,  is  "  a.  very  honest 
and  well-behaved  woman,  not  given  to  pilfer  or 

1  Somerset  Q.  S.  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  223. 

*  Ante,  p.  33. 

8  Trad'  of  England  p.  21,  1681. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  207 

steale,"    and    that    they    believe    her    to    be    falsely 
accused.1 

While  the  Pedlar  dealt  chiefly  in  small  wares  and 
haberdashery,  Regraters  were  concerned  with  the 
more  perishable  articles  of  food.  In  this  they  were 
seriously  hampered  by  bye-laws  forbidding  the 
buying  and  selling  of  such  articles  in  one  day.  The 
laws  had  been  framed  with  the  object  of  preventing 
a  few  persons  buying  up  all  the  supplies  in  the  market 
and  selling  them  at  exorbitant  prices,  but  their  appli- 
cation seems  to  have  been  chiefly  directed  in  the 
interests  of  the  shopkeepers,  to  whom  the  compet- 
ition of  women  who  hawked  provisions  from  door  to 
door  was  a  serious  matter,  the  women  being  con- 
tented with  very  small  profits,  and  the  housewives 
finding  it  so  convenient  to  have  goods  brought  to 
their  very  doorstep.  The  injustice  of  the  persecution 
of  these  poor  women  is  protested  against  by  the 
writer  of  a  pamphlet,  who  points  out  that  "  We 
provide  Men  shall  not  be  cheated  in  buying  a  penny- 
worth of  Eggs,  but  make  no  provision  to  secure  them 
from  the  same  Abuse  in  a  hundred  pounds  laid  out 
in  Cloaths.  The  poor  Artizan  shall  not  be  oppressed 
in  laying  out  his  penny  to  one  poorer  than  himself, 
but  is  without  Remedy,  shortened  by  a  Company 
in  his  Penny  as  it  comes  in.  I  have  heard  Complaints 
of  this  Nature  in  greater  matters  of  the  publik  Sales 
of  the  East  India  Company,  perhaps  if  due  consider- 
ation were  had  of  these  great  Ingrossers,  there 
would  be  found  more  Reason  to  restrain  them,  than 
a  poor  Woman  that  travels  in  the  Country  to  buy  up 
and  sell  in  a  Market  a  few  Hens  and  Chickens."2 

Even  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  trade  of  Regrating  was 
almost  regarded  as  the  prerogative  of  women.  Gower 
wrote  "  But  to  say  the  truth  in  this  instance,  the  trade 
of  regratery  belongeth  by  right  rather  to  women. 

1  Hertfordshire  County  Records,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  347-8. 

2  Linnen  and  Woollen  Manufactory,  p.  7,  i68T. 


208  CRA'FTS  AND  TRADES 

But  if  a  woman  be  at  it  she  in  stinginess  useth  much 
more  machination  and  deceit  than  a  man  ;  for  she 
never  alloweth  the  profit  on  a  single  crumb  to  escape 
her,  nor  faileth  to  hold  her  neighbour  to  paying  his 
price  ;  all  who  beseech  her  do  but  lose  their  time,  for 
nothing  doth  she  by  courtesy,  as  anyone  who  drinketh 
in  her  house  knoweth  well."1 

In  later  times  the  feminine  form  of  the  word  is 
used  in  the  ordinances  of  the  City  of  London,  clearly 
showing  that  the  persons  who  were  then  carrying  on 
the  trade  were  women  ;  thus  it  was  said  "  Let  no 
Regrateress  pass  London  Bridge  towards  Suthwerk, 
nor  elsewhere,  to  buy  Bread,  to  carry  it  into  the 
City  of  London  to  sell ;  because  the  Bakers  of  Sutbffffrk, 
nor  of  any  other  Place,  are  not  subject  to  the  Justice 
of  the  City."  And  again  "  Whereas  it  is  common  for 
merchants  to  give  Credit,  and  especially  for  Bakers 
commonly  to  do  the  same  with  Regrateresses  .  .  .  . 
.  .  .  .  we  forbid,  that  no  Baker  make  the  benefit 
of  any  Credit  to  a  Regrateress,  as  long  as  he  shall 
know  her  to  be  involved  in  her  Neighbour's  Debt."5 
Moreover  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  prosecutions 
for  this  offence  were  against  women.  "  We  Amerce 
Thomas  Bardsley  for  his  wife  buyinge  Butter  Contrary 
to  the  orders  of  the  towne  in  xijd."'  "  Katherine 
Birch  for  buyinge  and  selling  pullen  [chicken]  both  of 
one  day  33.  Thos.  Ravald  wife  of  Assheton  of  Mercy 
bancke  for  sellinge  butter  short  of  waight."4  "  Thomas 
Massey  wife  for  buyinge  a  load  of  pease  and  sellinge 
them  the  same  day.  Amerced  in  is."5  "  Katharine 
Hall  for  buyinge  and  sellinge  Cheese  both  of  one  day 

1  Gower.     Le  mirour  de  I'omme  (trans,  from  French  verse  by  Eileen  Power). 

2  Stow,  London,  Book  V.,  p.  343.    Ass'ze  of  Bread. 
Manchester  Court  Lett  Records,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  no,  1653. 

*  Ibid,  p.  212,  1657. 
6  Ibid,  p.  244,   1658. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  209 

6d.     Anne   Rishton  for   buyinge   and  sellinge  butter 
the  same  day  Amercd  in  3.  o."1 

As  the  Regrater  dealt  chiefly  in  food,  her  business 
is  closely  connected  with  the  provision  trades,  but 
enough  has  been  said  here  to  indicate  that  of  all 
retailing  this  was  the  form  which  most  appealed  to 
poor  women,  who  were  excluded  from  skilled  trades 
and  whose  only  other  resource  was  spinning.  The 
number  of  women  in  this  unfortunate  position  was 
large,  including  as  it  did  not  only  widows,  whose 
families  depended  entirely  upon  their  exertions, 
but  also  the  wives  of  most  of  the  men  who  were  in 
receipt  of  day  wages  and  had  no  garden  or  grazing 
rights.  It  has  already  been  shown  that  wages,  except 
perhaps  in  some  skilled  trades,  were  insufficient  for 
the  maintenance  of  a  family.  Therefore,  when  the 
mother  of  a  young  family  could  neither  work  in  her 
husband's  trade  nor  provide  her  children  with  food 
by  cultivating  her  garden  or  tending  cows  and  poultry, 
she  must  find  some  other  means  to  earn  a  little  money. 
By  wages  she  could  seldom  earn  more  than  a  penny  or 
twopence  a  day  and  her  food.  Selling  perishable 
articles  of  food  from  door  to  door  presented  greater 
chances  of  profit,  and  to  this  expedient  poor  women 
most  often  turned.  In  proportion  as  the  trade  was 
a  convenience  to  the  busy  housewife,  it  became  an 
unwelcome  form  of  competition  to  the  established 
shopkeepers,  who,  being  influential  in  the  Boroughs, 
could  persecute  and  suppress  the  helpless,  disorganised 
women  who  undersold  them. 

(C)  Provision  Trade  a. 

Under  this  head  are  grouped  the  Bakers,  Millers, 
Butchers  and  Fishwives,  together  with  the  Brewers, 
Innkeepers  and  Vintners,  the  category  embracing  both 
those  who  produced  and  those  who  retailed  the 
provisions  in  question. 

1  Manchester  Court  Test  Records,  p.  Z43,  1658. 

U 


210  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

A  large  proportion  both  of  the  bread  and 
beer  consumed  at  this  time  was  produced  by 
women  in  domestic  industry.  The  wages  assessments 
show  that  on  the  larger  farms  the  chief  woman 
servant  was  expected  both  to  brew  and  to  bake,  but 
the  cottage  folk  in  many  cases  cannot  have  possessed 
the  necessary  capital  for  brewing,  and  perhaps 
were  wanting  ovens  in  which  to  bake.  Certainly  in 
the  towns  both  brewing  and  baking  existed  as  trades 
from  the  earliest  times.  Though  in  many  countries 
the  grinding  of  corn  has  been  one  of  the  domestic 
occupations  performed  by  women  and  slaves,  in  England 
women  were  saved  this  drudgery,  for  the  toll  of  corn 
ground  at  the  mill  was  an  important  item  in  the 
feudal  lord's  revenue,  and  severe  punishments  were 
inflicted  on  those  who  ground  corn  elsewhere.  The 
common  bakehouse  was  also  a  monopoly  of  the 
feudal  lord's,1  but  his  rights  in  this  case  were  not 
carried  so  far  as  to  penalize  baking  for  domestic 
purposes. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  industries  such  as  brewing 
and  baking,  which  were  so  closely  connected  with  the 
domestic  arts  pertaining  to  women,  would  be  more 
extensively  occupied  by  women  than  trades  such  as 
those  of  blacksmith  or  pewterer  or  butcher  ;  but  it 
will  be  shown  that  skill  acquired  domestically  was 
not  sufficient  to  establish  a  woman's  position  in 
the  world  of  trade,  and  that  actually  in  the  seventeenth 
century  it  was  as  difficult  for  her  to  become  a  baker 
as  a  butcher. 

Itaking. — After  the  decay  of  feudal  privileges  the 
trade  of  baking  was  controlled  on  lines  similar  to 
those  governing  other  trades,  but  subject  to  an  even 
closer  supervision  by  the  local  authorities,  owing  to  the 

1  Petronilla,  Countess  of  Leicester,  granted  to  Petronilla,  daughter  of  Richard 
Roger's  son  of  Leicester  and  her  heirs  "  all  the  suit  of  the  men  outside  the 
Southgate  aforesaid  to  bake  at  her  bakehouse  with  all  the  liberties  and  free  customs , 
saving  my  customary  tenants  who  are  bound  to  my  bakehouses  within  the  town-  of 
Leicester,"  Bateson,  (M.)  Records,  Leicester,  Vol.  I.,  p.  10. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  211 

fact  that  bread  is  a  prime  necessity  of  life.  On  this 
account  its  price  was  fixed  by  "  the  assize  of  bread." 
The  position  of  women  in  regard  to  the  trade  was 
also  somewhat  different,  because  while  in  other 
trades  they  possessed  fewer  facilities  than  men  for 
acquiring  technical  experience,  in  this  they  learnt 
the  art  of  baking  as  part  of  their  domestic  duties. 
Nevertheless,  in  the  returns  which  give  the  names  of 
authorised  bakers,  those  of  women  do  not  greatly 
exceed  in  number  the  names  which  are  given  for 
other  trades  ;  of  lists  for  the  City  of  Chester,  one 
gives  thirty  names  of  bakers,  six  being  women,  all 
widows,  while  another  gives  thirty-nine  men  and  no 
women,1  and  a  third  twenty-six  men  and  three  women. 
The  assistance  which  the  Baker's  wife  gave  to  her 
husband,  however,  was  taken  for  granted.  At  Carlisle, 
the  bye-laws  provide  that  "  noe  Persons  .... 
shall  brew  or  bayk  to  sell  but  only  freemen  and  thare 
wifes."2  and  a  rule  at  Beverley  laid  down  that  "  no 
common  baker  or  other  baker  called  boule  baker, 
their  wives,  servants,  or  apprentices,  shall  enter  the 
cornmarket  any  Saturday  for  the  future  before  I  p.m. 
to  buy  any  grain,  nor  buy  wheat  coming  on  Saturdays 
to  market  beyond  2  bushels  for  stock  for  their  own 
house  after  the  hour  aforesaid."" 

A  writer,  who  was  appealing  for  an  increase  in  the 
assize  of  bread,  includes  the  wife's  work  among  the 
necessary  costs  of  making  a  loaf  ;  "  Two  shillings  was 
allowed  by  the  assize  for  all  maner  of  charges  in  baking 
a  quarter  of  wheate  over  and  above  the  second  price 
of  wheate  in  the  market,"  but  the  writer  declares 

that  in  Henry  VII. 's  time  "  the  bakers 

might  farre  better  cheape  and  with  lesse  charge  of 
seruantes  haue  baked  a  quarter  of  Wheate,  then  now 

1  Harl.  MSS.,  2054,  fo.  44  and  45,  2105,  fo.  301. 
1  Ferguson,  Carlisle,  Dormant  Book,  p.  69,  1561. 
8  Beverley  Town  Documents,  pp.  39-40. 


212  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

they  can."  It  was  then  allowed  for  "  everie  quarter 
of  wheate  baking,  for  furnace  and  wood  vid.  the  Miller 
foure  pence,  for  two  journymen  and  two  pages  five- 
pence,  for  salt,  yest,  candle  &  sandbandes  two  pence, 
for  himselfe,  his  house,  his  wife,  his  dog  &  his  catte 
seven  pence,  and  the  branne  to  his  advantage."1 

The  baker's  wife  figures  also  in  account  books,  as 
transacting  business  for  her  husband.  Thus  the 
Carpenters'  Company  "  Resd  of  Lewes  davys  wyffe 
the  baker  a  fyne  for  a  license  for  John  Pasmore  the 
forren  to  sette  upe  a  lytyll  shed  on  his  backsyde."' 

Although  conforming  in  general  to  the  regulations 
for  other  trades,  certain  Boroughs  retained  the  rights 
over  baking  which  had  been  enjoyed  by  the  Feudal 
Lord,  the  Portmote  at  Salford  ordering  that "  Samell 
Mort  shall  surcease  from  beakinge  sale  bread  by  the 
first  of  May  next  upon  the  forfeit  of  5!$  except  hee 
beake  at  the  Comon  beakehouse  in  Salford."'  In 
other  towns  the  bakers  were  sufficiently  powerful 
to  enforce  their  own  terms  on  the  Borough.  In  York, 
for  instance,  the  Corporation  of  Bakers,  which  became 
very  rich,  succeeded  in  excluding  the  country,  or 
"  boule  bakers,  "  from  the  market,  undertaking  to 
sell  bread  at  the  same  rates  ;  but  the  monopoly  once 
secured  they  declared  it  was  impossible  to  produce 
bread  at  this  price,  and  the  magistrates  allowed  an 
advance.4  In  some  cases  bakers  were  required  to 
take  out  licences,  these  being  granted  only  to  freemen 
and  freewomen  ;  in  others  they  were  formed  into 
Companies,  with  rules  of  apprenticeship.  "  They 
shall  receive  no  man  into  their  saide  company  of 
bakeres,  nor  woman  unles  her  husband  have  bene 
a  free  burges,  and  compound  with  Mr.  Maior  and 

1  Powell.     Assize  of  Bread.     1600. 

2  Records  of  Worshipful  Company  of  Carpenters,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  69,  1554. 
8  Salford  Portmote  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  188. 

4  S.P.D.     cxxxiv.,  36.     November  27,  1622. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  213 

the  warden  of  the  company."1  At  Reading  in  1624, 
"  the  bakers,  vizt.,  William  Hill,  Abram  Paise,  Alex- 
ander Pether,  complayne  against  bakers  not  freemen, 
vizt.,  Izaak  Wracke  useth  the  trade  his  wief  did  use 
when  he  marryed.  Michaell  Ebson  saith  he  was 
an  apprentice  in  towne  ard  having  noe  worke  doth  a 
little  to  gett  bread.  James  Arnold  will  surceasse 
.  .  .  .  Wydowe  Bradbury  alwayes  hath  used 
to  bake."2 

That  women  were  members  of  the  Bakers'  Companies 
is  shown  by  rules  which  refer  to  sisters  as  well  as 
brothers.  In  1622  the  Corporation  at  Salisbury 
ordained  that  "  no  free  brother  or  free  sister  shall  at 
any  time  hereafter  make,  utter,  or  sell  bread,  made 
with  butter,  or  milk,  spice  cakes,  etc  ....  ex- 
cept it  be  before  spoken  for  funerals,  or  upon  the 
Friday  before  Easter,  or  at  Christmas  .  .  .  No 
free  brother  or  free  sister  shall  sell  any  bread  in  the 
market.  No  free  brother  or  free  sister  shall  hereafter 
lend  any  money  to  an  innholder  or  victualler,  to  the 
intent  or  purpose  of  getting  his  or  their  custom"3 
It  is  not  likely  that  many  women  served  an  appren- 
ticeship, but  the  frequency  with  which  they  are 
charged  with  offences  against  the  Bye-Laws  is  some 
clue  to  the  numbers  engaged  in  the  trade.  For 
instance,  in  Manchester,  Martha  Wrigley  and  nine 
men  were  presented  in  1648  "  for  makeinge  bread 
above  &  vnder  the  size  &  spice  bread."4  In  1650, 
twenty-five  men  and  no  women  were  charged  with 
a  similar  offence,5  in  1651  eleven  men  and  no  women6 

1  Lambert,  Two  Thousand   Tears  of  Gild.  Life,   p.  307.      Composition  of  Baker*, 
Hull.,  1598. 

2  Guilding,  Reading  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  181. 

3  Hoare,  (Sir.  R.  C.)-     Hist,  of  Wiltshire,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  342, 

4  Manchester  Court  Leet  Records,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  31. 
8  Ibid,  p.  47. 

r  Ibid,  p.  51. 


214  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

and  in  1652  are  entered  the  names  of  five  men  and 
ten  women1, 

The  constant  complaints  brought  against  people 
who  were  using  the  trade  "  unlawfully  "  show  how 
difficult  it  was  to  enforce  rules  of  apprenticeship  in 
a  trade  which  was  so  habitually  used  by  women  for 
domestic  purposes.  Information  was  brought  that 
"  divers  of  the  inhabts  of  Thirsk  do  use  the  trade  of 
baking,  not  having  been  apprentices  thereof,  but 
their  wives  being  brought  up  and  exercised  therein 
many  yeares  have  therefore  used  it  .  .  .  .  and 
the  matter  referred  to  the  Justices  in  Qr  Sessions 
to  limitt  a  certain  number  to  use  that  trade  without 
future  trouble  of  any  informers  and  that  such  as 
are  allowed  by  the  said  Justices,  to  have  a  tolleration 
to  take  apprentices  ....  the  eight  persons, 
viz.,  Jas.  Pibus,  Anth.  Gamble.  John  Harrison,  Widow 
Watson,  Jane  Skales,  Jane  Rutter,  Tho.  Carter  and 
John  Bell,  shall  onlie  use  and  occupie  the  said  trade 
of  baking,  and  the  rest  to  be  restrayned."5  The 
insistence  upon  apprenticeship  must  have  been 
singularly  exasperating  to  women  who  had  learnt  to 
bake  excellent  bread  from  their  mothers,  or  mistresses, 
and  it  was  natural  for  them  to  evade,  when  possible, 
a  rule  which  seemed  so  arbitrary  ;  but  they  could  not 
do  so  with  impunity.  Thus  the  Hertfordshire 
Quarter  Session  was  informed  "  One  Andrew  Tom- 
son's  wife  doth  bake,  and  William  Everite's  wife 
doth  bake  bread  to  sell  being  not  apprenticed  nor 
licensed."3  How  heavily  prosecutions  of  this  character 
weighed  upon  the  poor,  is  shown  by  a  certificate 
brought  to  the  same  Quarter  Sessions  nearly  a  hundred 
years  later,  stating  that  "  William  Pepper,  of  Sabridg- 
worth,  is  of  honest  and  industrious  behaviour,  but 

1  Manchester  Court  Leet  Records,  p.  70. 

*  Atkinson,  (J.  C.),  Torks.  N.  R.  Q.  S.  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  81.    July  8,  1607. 

*  Hert/ord  Co.  Records,  Vol.  I,  p,  y.,  1600. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  215 

in  a  poor  and  low  condition, and  so  not  able  to  support 
the  charge  of  defending  an  indictment  against  him 
for  baking  for  hire  (he  having  once  taken  a  halfpenny 
for  baking  a  neighbour's  loaf)  and  has  a  great  charge 
of  children  whom  he  has  hitherto  brought  up  to 
hard  work  and  industrious  labour,  who  otherwise 
might  have  been  a  charge  to  the  parish,  and  will 
be  forced  to  crave  the  relief  of  the  parish,  to  defray 
the  charge  that  may  ensue  upon  this  trouble  given  him 
by  a  presentment."1 

The  line  taken  by  the  authorities  was  evidently 
intended  to  keep  the  trade  of  baking  in  a  few 
hands.  The  object  may  have  been  partly  to  facilitate 
inspection  and  thereby  check  short  measure  and 
adulteration  ;  whatever  the  motive  the  effect  must 
certainly  have  tended  to  discourage  women  from 
developing  the  domestic  art  of  baking  into  a  trade. 
Consequently  in  this,  as  in  other  trades,  the  woman's 
contribution  to  the  industry  generally  took  the  form 
of  a  wife  helping  her  husband,  or  a  widow  carrying 
on  her  late  husband's  business. 

Millers : — It  was  probably  only  as  the  wife 
or  widow  of  a  miller  that  women  took  part  in  the 
business  of  milling.  An  entry  in  the  Carlisle  Records 
states  "  we  amercye  Archilles  Armstronge  for  keeping 
his  wief  to  play  the  Milner,  contrary  the  orders  of 
this  cyttie."5  But  it  is  not  unusual  to  come  across 
references  to  corn  mills  which  were  in  the  hands  of 
women  ;  a  place  in  Yorkshire  is  described  as  being 
"  near  to  Mistress  Lovell's  Milne."3  "  Margaret  Page, 
of  Hertingfordbury,  widow,"  was  indicted  for  "  erect- 
ing a  mill  house  in  the  common  way  there,"4  and 
at  Stockton  "  One  water  corne  milne  .  . 

1  Hertford  County  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  365,  1686. 
*  Ferguson,  Carlisle,     p.  278.     April  21,  1619. 
8  J.  C.  Atkinson,     Tories.  N.  R.  O.  S.  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  8,  1612. 
Hen  ord  County  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  25,    1698. 


216  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

is  lett  by  lease  unto  Alice  Armstrong  for  3 
lives."1 

Such  instances  are  merely  a  further  proof  of  the 
activity  shown  by  married  women  in  the  family 
business  whenever  this  was  carried  on  within  their 
reach. 

Butchers  : — The  position  which  women  took  in  the 
Butchers'  trade  resembled  very  closely  their  position 
as  bakers,  for,  as  has  been  shown,  the  special  advantages 
which  women,  by  virtue  of  their  domestic  training, 
might  have  enjoyed  when  trading  as  bakers,  were 
cancelled  by  the  statutes  and  bye-laws  limiting  the 
numbers  of  those  engaged  in  this  trade.  As  wife  or 
widow  women  were  able  to  enter  either  trade  equally. 
Both  trades  were  subject  to  minute  supervision  in 
the  interests  of  the  public,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
from  the  references  which  happen  to  have  been  pre- 
served, it  might  even  appear  that  the  wives  of  butchers 
were  more  often  interested  in  the  family  business 
than  the  wives  of  bakers.  An  Act  of  Henry  VIII. 
"  lycensyng  all  bochers  for  a  tyme  to  sell  vytell  in 
grosse  at  theyr  pleasure "  makes  it  lawful  for  any 
person  "  to  whom  any  complaynt  shuld  be  made  upon 
any  Boucher  his  wyfl  servaunte  or  other  his  mynysters 
refusing  to  sell  the  said  vitayles  by  true  and  lawfull 
weight  ....  to  comytt  evry  such  Boucher 
to  warde,"2  shows  an  expectation  that  the  wife 
would  act  as  her  husband's  agent.  But  the  wife's 
position  was  that  of  partner,  not  servant.  During  the 
first  half  of  the  century,  certainly,  leases  were  generally 
made  conjointly  to  husband  and  wife  ;  for  example, 
"  Phillip  Smith  and  Elizabeth,  his  wife"  appeared  before 
the  Corporation  at  Reading  "  desiringe  a  new  lease 
of  the  Butcher's  Shambles,  which  was  granted. "£ 

1  Brewster,  Stockton-on-Tees,  p.  42. 
1  Statutes  27  Henry  VIIT.  c.  o. 
3  Guilding,  Reading  Records,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  122. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  217 

Customs  at  Nottingham  secured  the  widow's  possession 
of  her  husband's  business  premises  even  without  a 
lease,  providing  that  "  when  anie  Butcher  shall  dye 
thatt  holds  a  stall  or  shopp  from  the  towne,  thatt 
then  his  wyefe  or  sonne  sl\all  hould  the  same  stall 
or  shopp,  they  vsinge  the  same  trade,  otherwaies 
the  towne  to  dispose  thereof  to  him  or  them  thatt 
will  give  moste  for  the  stall  or  shopp  :  this  order  to 
bee  lykewise  to  them  thatt  houlds  a  stall  in  the  Spice- 
chambers."1 

The  names  of  women  appear  in  lists  of  butchers 
in  very  similar  proportions  to  the  lists  of  bakers. 
Thus  one  for  Chester  gives  the  names  of  twenty  men 
followed  by  three  women,2  and  in  a  return  of  sixteen 
butchers  licensed  to  sell  meat  in  London  during  Lent, 
there  is  one  woman,  Mary  Wright^  and  her  partner, 
William  Woodfield.3  Bye-laws  which  control  the 
sale  of  meat  use  the  feminine  as  well  as  the  masculine 
pronouns,  showing  that  the  trade  was  habitually 
used  by  both  sexes.  The  "  Act  for  the  Settlement 
and  well  ordering  of  the  several  Public  Markets  within 
the  City  of  London  "  provides  that  "  all  and  every 
Country  butcher  ....  Poulterer  .... 
Country  Farmers,  Victuallers  Laders  or  Kidders 
.  .  .  .  may  there  sell,  utter  and  put  to  open 
shew  or  sale  his,  her  or  their  Beef,  Mutton,  etc.,  etc.4 
It  may  be  supposed  that  these  provisions  relate  only 
to  the  sale  of  meat,  and  that  women  would  not  often 
be  associated  with  the  businesses  which  included 
slaughtering  the  beasts,  but  this  is  not  the  case. 
Elizabeth  Clarke  is  mentioned  in  the  Dorchester 
Records  as  "  apprenticed  7  years  to  her  father  a 

1  Nottingham  Recwh,  Vol.  V.,  p.  284,  1654. 
1  Harl.  MSS.,  1105  fo.,  300  ^,1565. 
8  S.  P.  D.  cxix.  107.  February  24.  1621. 

*  Act  for  the  Settlement  and  well  Or3e-,-ing  of  tke  Several  Publick  Markets  within  the 
City  of  London,  1674, 


218  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

butcher,"1  and  other  references  occur  to  women  who 
were  clearly  engaged  in  the  genuine  butcher's  trade. 
For  example,  a  licence  was  granted  "  to  Jane  Fouches 
of  the  Parish  of  St.  Clement  Danes,  Butcher  to  kill 
and  sell  flesh  during  Lent,"2  and  among  eighteen 
persons  who  were  presented  at  the  Court  Leet, 
Manchester,  "  for  Cuttinge  &  gnashing  of  Rawhides 
for  their  seuerall  Gnashinge  of  evry  Hyde,"  two  were 
women,  "  Ellen  Jaques  of  Ratchdale,  one  hyde,  Widdow 
namely  Stott  of  Ratchdale,  two  hydes."3 

Beside  these  women,  who  by  marriage  or  apprentice- 
ship had  acquired  the  full  rights  of  butchers  and  were 
acknowledged  as  such  by  the  Corporation  under 
whose  governance  they  lived,  a  multitude  of  poor 
women  tried  to  keep  their  families  from  starvation 
by  hawking  meat  from  door  to  door.  They  are  often 
mentioned  in  the  Council  Records,  because  the 
very  nature  of  their  business  rendered  them  con- 
tinually liable  to  a  prosecution  for  regrating.  Thus 
at  the  Court  Leet,  Manchester,  Anne  Costerdyne 
was  fined  is.  "  for  buyinge  4  quarters  of  Mutton  of 
Wm.  Walmersley  &  i  Lamb  of  Thomas  Hulme  both  wch 
shee  shold  the  one  &  sime  day."4  Their  position  was 
the  more  difficult,  because  if  they  did  not  sell  the 
meat  the  same  day  sometimes  it  went  bad,  and  they 
were  then  prosecuted  on  another  score.  Elizabeth 
Chorlton,  a  butcher's  widow,  was  presented  in 
1648  "for  buieing  and  sellinge  both  on  one  day" 
and  was  fined  35.  ^d.5  She  was  again  fined  with 
Mary  Shalcross  and  various  men  in  1650  for  selling 
unlawful  meat  and  buying  and  selling  on  one  day.6 

1  Mayo,  Municipal  Record*  of  Dorchester,  p.  428,  1698. 

1  S  P.  D.  i.  clxxxviii.  James  I.,  undated. 

8  Mancbe&r  Court  faet  R-cnrds,  Vol.  V.,  p.  236,  '674. 

4  Ibid,  p.  221,  1674. 

6  Manchester  Court  l*tt  Records,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  31. 

6  Ibid,  p.  40. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  219 

She  was  presented  yet  again  in  1653  for  selling  "  stinking 
meate,"  and  fined  5s.1  Evidently  Elizabeth  Chorlton 
was  an  undesirable  character,  for  she  had  previously 
been  convicted  of  selling  by  false  weights  ;2  nevertheless 
it  seems  hard  that  when  it  was  illegal  to  sell  stinking 
meat  women  should  also  be  fined  for  selling  it  on  the 
same  day  they  bought  it,  and  though  this  particular 
woman  was  dishonest  no  fault  is  imputed  to  the  charac- 
ter of  many  of  the  others  who  were  similarly  presented 
for  regrating. 

There  remains  yet  another  class  of  women  who 
were  connected  with  the  Butchers'  trade,  namely 
the  wives  of  men  who  were  either  employed  by  the 
master  butchers,  or  who  perhaps  earned  a  precarious 
living  by  slaughtering  pigs  and  other  beasts  destined 
for  domestic  consumption.  In  such  work  there  was 
no  place  fcr  the  wife's  assistance,  and,  like  other  wage- 
earners,  in  spite  of  any  efforts  she  might  make  in  other 
directions,  the  family  remained  below  the  poverty 
line.  An  instance  may  be  quoted  from  the  Norwich 
Records  where,  in  a  census  of  the  poor  (i.e.  persons 
needing  Parish  Relief)  taken  in  1570,  are  given  the 
names  of  "  John  Hubbard  of  the  age  of  38  yeres, 
butcher,  that  occupie  slaughterie,  and  Margarit  his 
wyfe  of  the  age  of  30  yeres  that  sell  souce,  and  2  young 
children,  and  have  dwelt  here  ever."3 

Fishwives. — There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
women  were  often  engaged  in  the  larger  transactions 
of  fishmongers.  Indeed  an  English  writer,  describing 
the  Dutchwomen  who  were  merchants  of  fish,  ex- 
pressly says  that  they  were  a  very  different  class  from 
the  women  who  sold  fish  in  England,  and  who  were 
commonly  known  as  fisherwives.4  Nevertheless  that 

1  Manchester  Court  Leet  Records,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  68. 
'  Ibid,  p.  15,  1648. 

3  Tingey,  J.  C.,  Records  of  the  City  of  Norwich,  Vol.  II.,  p.  337. 
Ante.,  p.  36. 


220  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

in  this,  as  in  other  trades,  they  shared  to  some  extent 
in  their  husband's  enterprises,  is  shown  by  the  present- 
ment of  "  John  Frank  of  New  Malton,  and  Alice  his 
wife,  for  forestalling  the  markett  of  divers  paniers 
of  fishe,  buying  the  same  of  the  fishermen  of  Runs- 
wick  or  Whitbye.  .  .  .  before  it  came  into  the 
markett."1 

The  position  of  the  sisters  of  the  Fishmongers'  Com- 
pany, London,  was  recognised  to  the  extent  of  provid- 
ing them  with  a  livery,  an  ordinance  of  1426  ordaining 
that  every  year,  on  the  festival  of  St.  Peter,  "  alle  the 
brethren  and  sustern  of  the  same  fratrnite  "  should 
go  in  their  new  livery  to  St.  Peters'  Church,  Cornhill.2 
An  ordinance  dated  1499  however,  requires  that  no 
fishmonger  of  the  craft  shall  suffer  his  wife,  or  servant, 
to  stand  in  the  market  to  sell  fish,unless  in  his  absence.3 
An  entry  in  the  Middlesex  Quarter  Sessions  Records 
notes  the  "  discharge  of  Sarah,  daughter  of  Frances 
Hall.  Apprenticed  to  Rebecca  Osmond  of  the  Parish 
of  St.  Giles'  Without,  Cripplegate,  '  fishwoman  '  "4 
A  member  of  the  important  Fishmongers'  Company 
would  hardly  be  designated  in  this  way,  and  Rebecca 
Osmond  must  be  classed  among  the  "  Fishwives " 
who  are  so  often  alluded  to  in  accounts  of  London. 
Their  business  was  often  too  precarious  to  admit 
of  taking  apprentices,  and  their  credit  so  low  that  a 
writer  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  who  advocated  the 
establishment  of  "  Mounts  of  Piety  "  speaks  of  the 
high  rate  of  interest  taken  by  brokers  and  pawnbrokers 
"  above  400  in  the  hundred "  from  "  fishwives, 
oysterwomen  and  others  that  do  crye  thinges  up  and 
downe  the  streets."5  It  was  in  this  humble  class  of 

1  Atkinson,  J.  C.  Torks.  N.  R.  Q.  S.  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  121,  1698. 

2  Herbert,  Livery  Companies  of  London,  Vol.  II.,  p.  44. 
8  Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  35. 

4  Middlesex  County  Records,  p.  160,  1696. 

§  A  Project  for  Mounts  •;/  Pietj.     Lansdotene  AfSS.,  351  fo.,  i8b. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  221 

trade  rather  than  in  the  larger  transactions  of  fish- 
mongers, that  women  were  chiefly  engaged.  In 
London  no  impediments  seem  to  have  been  placed 
in  the  way  of  their  business,  but  in  the  provinces 
they,  like  the  women  who  hawked  meat,  were  per- 
secuted under  the  bye-laws  against  regrating.  At 
Manchester,  the  wife  of  John  Wilshawe  was  amerced 
"  for  buyinge  Sparlings  [smelts]  and  sellinge  them 
the  same  day  in  6d."1  while  at  the  same  court  others 
were  fined  for  selling  unmarketable  fish. 

Brewers  : — It  has  been  shown  that  the  position  which 
women  occupied  among  butchers  and  bakers  did  not 
differ  materially  from  their  position  in  other  trades ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  wife  generally  helped  her  husband 
in  his  business,  and  carried  it  on  after  his  death  ; 
but  the  history  of  brewing  possesses  a  peculiar  interest, 
for  apparently  the  art  of  brewing  was  at  one  time 
chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  in  the  hands  of  women.  This 
is  indicated  by  the  use  of  the  feminine  term  brewster. 
Possibly  the  use  of  the  masculine  or  feminine  forms 
may  never  have  strictly  denoted  the  sex  of  the  person 
indicated  in  words  such  as  brewer,  brewster,  spinner, 
spinster,  sempster,  sempstress,  webber,  webster,  and 
the  gradual  disuse  of  the  feminine  forms  may  have 
been  due  to  the  grammatical  tendencies  in  the  English 
language  rather  than  to  the  changes  which  were 
driving  women  from  their  place  in  productive  in- 
dustry ;  but  the  feminine  forms  would  never  have 
arisen  in  the  first  place  unless  women  had  been  engaged 
to  some  extent  in  the  trades  to  which  they  refer, 
and  it  often  happens  that  the  use  of  the  feminine 
pronoun  in  relation  to  the  term  "  brewster  "  and  even 
"  brewer  "  shows  decisively  that  female  persons  are 
indicated.  At  Beverley  a  bye-law  was  made  in 
1364  ordaining  that  "  if  any  of  the  community  abuse 
the  affeerers  of  Brewster-gild  for  their  afreering, 

1  Manchester  Court  Leet  Records,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  112,   1654. 


222  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

in  words  or  otherwise,  he  shall  pay  .  .  .  .  to  the 
commuunity  6s.  8d.'n  In  this  case  Brewster  might 
no  more  imply  a  woman's  trade  than  it  does  in  the 
modern  term  "  Brewster-Sessions,"  but  in  1371  a 
gallon  of  beer  was  ordered  to  "  be  sold  for  i*d. 
.  .  .  .  and  if  any  one  offer  lid.  for  a  gallon  of 
beer  anywhere  in  Beverley  and  the  ale-wife  will  not 
take  it,  that  the  purchaser  come  to  the  Gild  Hall 
and  complain  of  the  brewster,  and  a  remedy  shall 
be  found,"2  while  a  rule  made  in  1405  orders  that 
"  no  brewster  or  female  seller  called  tipeler  "  shall 
"  permit  strangers  to  remain  after  9  p.m."1  Similar 
references  occur  in  the  Records  of  other  Boroughs. 
At  Bury  the  Customs  provided  in  1327  that  "if  a 
woman  Brewer  (Braceresse)  can  acquit  herself  with 
her  sole  hand  that  she  has  not  sold  contrary  to  the 
assize  [of  ale]  she  shall  be  quit  " 4 ;  at  Torksey  "  when 
women  are  asked  whether  they  brew  and  sell  beer 
outside  their  houses  contrary  to  the  assize  or  no,  if 
they  say  no,  they  shall  have  a  day  at  the  next 
court  to  make  their  law  with  the  third  hand, 
with  women  who  live  next  door  on  either  side  or 
with  others."5 

It  was  ordered  at  Leicester  in  1335  that  "  no  brew- 
eress,  sworn  inn-keeper  or  other  shall  be  so  bold  as  to 
brew  except  (at  the  rate  of)  a  gallon  of  the  best  for 
id,"6  and  though  the  feminine  form  of  the  noun  has 
been  dropped,  the  feminine  pronoun  is  still  used 
in  1532  when  "  hytt  is  enacteyd  yat  no  brwar  yat  brwys 
to  sell,  sell  aboffe  iid  the  gallan  &  sche  schall  typill 

1  Beverley  Town  Documents,  p.  41. 
1  Ibid,  p.  41. 

3  Ibid,  p.  Iv. 

4  Bateson,  (M.),  Borough  Customs,  Vol.  I.,  p.  185 
8  Ibid,  VoL  L,  p.  185,  1345. 

*  Bateson,  (M.),  Records  of  Leicester,  Vol.  II.,  p.  21 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  223 

be  no  mesure  butt  to  sell  be  ye  dossyn  &  ye  halfe 
dossyn."1 

The  exclusive  use  of  the  feminine  in  these  bye- 
laws  differs  from  the  expressions  used  in  regard  to 
other  trades  when  both  the  masculine  and  feminine 
pronouns  are  habitually  employed,  suggesting  that 
the  trade  of  brewing  was  on  a-  different  basis. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  before  the  introduc- 
tion of  cheap  sugar,  beer  was  considered  almost 
equally  essential  for  human  existence  as  bread.  Beer 
was  drunk  at  every  meal,  and  formed  part  of  the 
ordinary  diet  of  even  small  children.  Large  house- 
holds brewed  for  their  own  use,  but  as  many  families 
could  not  afford  the  necessary  apparatus,  brewing  was 
not  only  practised  as  a  domestic  art,  but  became 
the  trade  of  certain  women  who  brewed  for  their 
neighbours.  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  steps  which 
led  to  their  ultimate  exclusion  from  the  trade,  though 
many  links  in  the  chain  of  evidence  are  unfor- 
tunately missing.  In  1532  brewers  in  Leicester  are 
referred  to  as  "  sche,"  but  an  Act  published  in 
1574  shows  that  the  trade  had  already  emerged  from 
petticoat  government.  It  declares  that  "  No  in- 
habitantes  what  soeuer  that  nowe  doe  or  hereafter 
shall  in  theire  howsses  vse  tiplinge  and  sellinge  of 
ale  or  beare,  shall  not  brewe  the  same  of  theare  owne, 
but  shall  tunne  in  the  same  of  the  common  brewars 
therfore  appoynted  ;  and  none  to  be  common  brewars 
but  such  as  nowe  doe  vse  the  same,  ....  and 
non  of  the  said  common  brewars  to  sell,  or  .... 
to  tipple  ale  or  beare  by  retayle  ....  the 
Brewars  shall  togeyther  become  a  felloweship.  etc."5 
This  separation  of  brewing  from  the  sale  of  beer  was 
a  policy  pursued  by  the  government  with  the  object 
of  simplifying  the  collection  of  excise,  but  it  was 

1  Bateson,  (M.),  Records  of  Leicester,  Vol.  III.,  p.  33. 
8  /hW,  Vol.  III.,  p.  153. 


224  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

also  defended  as  a  means  for  maintaining  the  quality 
of  the  beer  brewed.  It  was  ordayned  in  the  Assize  for 
Brewers,  Anno  23,  H.  8,  that  "  Forasmuch  as  the  mis- 
terie  of  brewing  as  a  thing  very  needfull  and  necessarie 
for  the  common  wealth,  hath  been  alwaies  by  auncient 
custom  &  good  orders  practised  &  maintained  within 
Citties,  Corporate  Boroughs  and  market  Townes 
of  this  Realm,  by  such  expert  and  skilfull  persons, 
as  eyther  were  traded  and  brought  up  therein,  by  the 
space  of  seuen  yeares,  and  as  prentizes  therin  accepted : 
accordingly  as  in  all  other  Trades  and  occupations, 
or  else  well  knowne  to  be  such  men  of  skill  and  honestie, 
in  that  misterie,  as  could  and  would  alwaie  yeeld  unto 
her  Maiesties  subiects  in  the  commonwealth,  such 
good  and  holsome  Ale  and  Beere,  as  both  in  the 
qualitie  &  for  the  quantitie  thereof,  did  euer  agree 
with  the  good  lawes  of  the  Realme.  And  especiallie 
to  the  comfort  of  the  poorer  sort  of  subiectes,  who 
most  need  it,  untill  of  late  yeares,  sondrie  persons 
.  .  .  .  rather  seeking  their  owne  private  gaine, 
then  the  publike  profile  of  their  countrie,  haue  not 
onelie  erected  and  set  uppe  small  brewhouses  at  their 
pleasures  :  but  also  brew  and  utter  such  Ales  and  Beere, 
for  want  of  skill  in  that  misterie  as  both  in  the  prices 
&  holesomnes  thereof,  doth  utte.Iie  disagree  with 
the  good  lawes  and  orders  of  this  Realm  ;  thereby 
also  ouerthrowing  the  greater  and  more  auncient 
brewhouses."  It  is  therefore  recommended  that 
these  modern  brewhouses  should  be  suppressed  in 
the  interest  of  the  old  and  better  ones.1 

The  argument  reads  curiously  when  one  reflects 
how  universal  had  been  the  small  brewhouses  in  former 
days.  The  advantages  from  the  excise  point  of 
view  which  would  be  gained  by  the  concentration 
of  the  trade  in  a  few  hands  is  discussed  in  a  pamphlet 
which  remarks  that  "  there  is  much  Mault  made  in 

Powell,  John.    The  Assize  of  Bread, 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  225 

private  Families,  in  some  Counties  half,  if  not  two 
thirds  of  the  Maults  spent,  are  privately  made,  and 
undoubtedly  as  soon  as  an  Imposition  is  laid  upon  it, 
much  more  will,  for  the  advantage  they  shall  gain 
by  saving  the  Excise  ....  if  Mault  could 
be  forbidden  upon  a  great  penalty  to  be  made  by  any 
persons,  but  by  certain  publick  Maulsters,  this  might 
be  of  availe  to  increase  the  Excise."1  The  actual 
conditions  prevailing  in  the  brewing  industry  at  this 
time  are  described  as  follows  in  another  pamphlet. 
Brewers  are  divided  into  two  classes,  "  The  Brewer 
who  brews  to  sell  by  great  measures,  and  wholly  serves 
other  Families  by  the  same  ;  which  sort  of  Brewers 
are  only  in  some  few  great  Cities  and  Towns,  not 
above  twenty  through  the  land  ....  The 
Brewers  who  brews  to  sell  by  retail  ....  this 
sort  of  Brewers  charges  almost  only  such  as  drink 
the  same  in  those  houses  where  the  same  is  brewed  and 
sold  ....  and  therefore  supplies  but  a  small 
proportion  of  the  rest  of  the  land,  being  that  in  almost 
all  Market  Towns,  Villages,  Hamlets,  and  private 
houses  in  the  Countrey  throughout  the  land,  all  the 
Inhabitants  brew  for  themselves,  at  least  by  much  the 
greatest  proportion  of  what  they  use."'' 

In  order  to  extend  and  strengthen  their  monopoly 
the  "  Common  Brewers  "  brought  forward  a  scheme 
in  1620,  asking  for  a  certain  number  of  common 
brewers  to  be  licensed  throughout  the  kingdom,  to 
brew  according  to  assize.  All  other  inn-keepers, 
alehouse  keepers  and  victuallers  to  be  forbidden  to 
brew,  "  these  brew  irregularly  without  control,"  and 
"  offering  to  pay  the  King  4d.  on  every  quart  of 
malt  brewed."  The  scheme  was  referred  to  the  Council 
who  recommended  "  that  a  proclamation  be  issued 
forbidding  '  taverners,  innkeepers,  etc.  to  sell  any  beer 

1  Considerations  Touching  the  Excise,  p.  7. 
•'  Rockley,  Francis. 


15 


226  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

but  such  as  they  buy  from  the  brewers.' '  To  the 
objections  "  that  brewers  who  were  free  by  service 
or  otherwise  to  use  the  trade  of  brewing  would  refuse 
to  take  a  licence,  and  when  apprentices  had  served 
their  time  there  would  be  many  who  might  do  so," 
it  was  replied  that  it  was  "  not  usual  for  Brewers 
to  take  any  apprentices  but  hired  servants  and  the 
stock  necessary  for  the  trade  is  such  as  few  apprentices 
can  furnish."1  Thus  the  rise  of  the  "  common  brewer"' 
signalises  the  complete  victory  of  capitalistic  organ- 
isation in  the  brewing  trade.  In  1636  Commissioners 
were  appointed  to  "  compound  with  persons  who 
wished  to  follow  the  trade  of  common  Brewers  through- 
out the  Kingdom."5  The  next  year  returns  were 
received  by  the  Council,  giving  the  names  and  other 
particulars  of  those  concerned  in  various  districts. 
The  list  for  the  "  Fellowshipp  of  Brewers  now  living 
in  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  with  the  breath  and  depth 
of  their  severall  mash  tunns  "  gives  the  names  of  fifty- 
three  men  and  three  women,  widows.3  A  list  of 
such  brewers  in  the  County  of  Essex  "  as  have  paid 
their  fines  and  are  bound  to  pay  their  rent  accordingly  " 
(i.e.  were  licensed  by  the  King's  Commissioners  for 
brewing)  includes  sixty-three  men  and  four  women, 
while  the  names  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
men  and  eight  women  are  given  in  other  tables 
containing  the  amounts  due  from  brewers  and 
maultsters  in  certain  other  counties,5  showing 
that  the  predominance  of  women  in  the  brewing 
trade  had  then  disappeared,  the  few  names 
appearing  in  the  lists  being  no  doubt  those  of 
brewers'  widows. 

1  S.  P.  D.,  cxii.,  75.     February  9,  1620. 

*  C.  R.    November  9,  1636. 

*  S.  P.  D.    ccclxxvii.,  62,  1637. 
4  S.  P.  D.     ccclxxvii.,  64,  1637. 
6  S.  P.  D.    ccckxxvii.,  66. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  227 

The  creation  of  the  common  brewers'  monopoly 
was  very  unpopular.  At  Bury  St.  Edmunds  a  petition 
was  presented  by  "  a  great  no.  of  poor  people  "  to 
the  Justices  of  Assize,  saying  that  for  many  years 
they  had  been  relieved  "  by  those  inn-keepers  which 
had  the  liberty  to  brew  their  beer  in  their  own  houses, 
not  only  with  money  and  food,  but  also  at  the  several 
times  of  their  brewing  (being  moved  with  pity  and 
compassion,  knowing  our  great  extremities  and  ne- 
cessities) with  such  quantities  of  their  small  beer  as 
has  been  a  continual  help  and  comfort  to  us  with  our 
poor  wives  and  children  :  yet  of  late  the  common 
brewers,  whose  number  is  small  and  their  benefits  to 
us  the  poor  as  little  notwithstanding  in  their  estate 
they  are  wealthy  and  occupy  great  offices  of  malting, 
under  pretence  of  doing  good  to  the  common- 
wealth, have  for  their  own  lucre  and  gain  privately 
combined  themselves,  and  procured  orders  from 
the  Privy  Council  that  none  shall  brew  in  this  town 
but  they  and  their  adherents."1  At  Tiverton  the 
Council  was  obliged  to  make  a  concession  to  popular 
feeling  and  agreed  that  "  every  person  being  a  free- 
man of  the  town  and  not  prohibited  by  law  might  use 
the  trade  of  Common  Brewer  as  well  as  the  four 
persons  formerly  licensed  by  the  Commissioners,  " 
but  the  petition  that  the  ale-house  keepers  and  inn- 
keepers might  brew  as  formerly  they  used  was  refused, 
"  they  might  brew  for  their  own  and  families  use ; 
otherwise  to  buy  from  the  Common  Brewers."2 

The  monopoly  involved  the  closing  of  many  small 
businesses.  Sarah  Kemp  a  widow,  petitioned  the 
Council  because  she  had  "  been  forced  to  give  up 
brewing  in  Whitefriars,  and  had  been  at  g4  loss  both 
in  removing  her  implements  and  in  her  rents," 
asking  "  that  in  consideration  of  her  loss  she  might 

1  Hist.  MSS.  Com.,  14  Rep.  App.,  VIII.,  p.  142. 

1  C.  R.    June  12,  1640.     Order  concerning  the  Brewers  of  Tiverton. 


228  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

have  license  to  erect  brick  houses  on  her  messuage 
in  Whitef riars."  This  was  granted  on  conditions.1 
A  married  woman,  Mary  Arnold,  was  committed  to 
the  Fleet  on  March  3ist,  1639,  "  for  continuing  to 
brew  in  a  house  on  the  Millbank  in  Westminster, 
contrary  to  an  order  against  the  brewers  in  Westminster 
and  especially  against  Michael  Arnold."  The  Council 
ordered  her  to  be  discharged,  on  her  humble  admission 
to  brew  no  more  in  the  said  house,  but  to  remove 
within  ten  days ;  and  on  bond  from  her  husband 
that  neither  he  nor  she  nor  any  other  shall  brew  in 
the  said  house,  and  that  he  will  remove  his  brewing 
vessels  within  ten  days.2 

The  closing  of  the  trade  of  brewing  to  women 
must  have  seriously  reduced  their  opportunities 
for  earning  an  independance ;  that  they  had 
hitherto  been  extensively  engaged  in  it  is  shown 
by  frequent  references  to  women  who  were 
brewsters ;  for  example,  Mrs.  Putland  was  rated  53. 
on  her  brew-house  ;3  Jennet  Firbank,  wife  of 
Steph.  Firbank,  of  Awdbroughe,  a  recusant,  was  pre- 
sented at  Richmond  for  brewing,  a  side  note  adding 
"  she  to  be  put  down  from  brueing."4  Margaret, 
the  wife  of  Ambrose  Carleton  and  Marye  Barton  were 
presented  at  Carlisle  for  "  brewing  (being  foryners) 
and  therefore  we  doe  emercye  either  of  them  vis  8d."; 
At  Thirske,  Widow  Harrington,  of  Hewton,  Chr. 
Whitecake,  of  Bransbie,  Rob.  Goodricke,  of  the  same 
(for  his  wife's  offence)  were  presented,  all  for  brewing.6 
And  at  Malton,  a  few  years  later,  "  Rob.  Driffeld, 

1  C.  R.     22nd  March,  1638-9. 
8  C.  R.    May  8,  1639. 

8  Strood  Cburclnoardens'  Accounts,  Add.  MSS.,  36937,  p.  263.,  1683. 
*  Atkinson,  (J.  C.),  Torks.  N.  R.  O.  S.  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  95.,  1607. 
6  Ferguson,  Carlisle,  p.  280,  Court  Lett  Rol's.    October  21,  1625. 
Atkinson,  (J.  C.),  Torks.  N.  R.  Q.  -S.  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  159,  1609. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  229 

a  brewster  of  Easingwold,  was  presented  for  suffering 
unlawful  games  att  cardes  to  be  used  at  unlawful  times 

in  the  night  in  his  house and  the  wife 

of  the  said  Driffeld  for  that  she  will  not  sell  anie  of 
her  ale  forth  of  doores  except  it  be  to  those  whom 
she  likes  on  and  makes  her  ale  of  2  or  thre  sortes, 
nor  will  let  anie  of  her  poore  neighbours  have  anie 
of  her  drincke  called  small  ale,  but  she  saith  she  will 
rather  give  it  to  her  Swyne  then  play  it  for  them  " 
Isabell  Bagley  and  Janyt  Lynsley  "  both  of  Cowburne 
bruesters  "  were  fined  los.  each  "  for  suffering  play 
at  cardes  in  their  houses,  &c,"2  and  at  Norwich. 
Judith  Bowde,  brewer,  was  fined  2s.  9d.3 

Although  women  had  lost  their  position  in  the 
brewing  trade  by  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
they  were  still  often  employed  in  brewing  for  domestic 
purposes.  Sometimes  one  of  the  women — servants 
on  a  large  farm,  brewed  for  the  whole  family,  in- 
cluding all  the  farm  servants.4  In  other  cases  a 
woman  made  her  living  by  brewing  for  different 
families  in  their  own  houses.  Thus  in  the  account 
of  a  fire  on  the  premises  of  a  certain  Mr.  Reading 
it  is  described  how  his  "•  Family  were  Brewing  within 
this  Place  ....  The  Servants  who  were  in 
the  House  perceiving  a  great  smoak  rose  out  of  Bed, 
and  the  Maid  running  out  cried  Fire  and  said  Wo 
worth  this  Bookers  wife  (who  was  the  Person  whom 
Mr.  Reading  imployed  to  be  his  Brewer)  she  hath 
undone  us"5  Lady  Grizell  Baillie  enters  in  her 
Household  Account  Book,  "  For  Brewing  7  bolls 
Malt  by  Mrs.  Ainsly  ros.  For  a  ston  hopes  to 
the  said  Malt  out  of  which  I  had  a  puntion  very 

1  Atkinson,  (J.  C.),  forks  N.  R.  Q.  S.  Records,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  53-54,  1614. 

8  Ibid,  Vol.  I.,  p.  93,  1607. 

3  Thgey,  (J.  C.),  Records  of  City  of  Norwich,  Vol.  T.,  p.  388,  1676. 

*  Ante.,  p.  50. 

5  True  Account  how  Mr.  Reading's  House, 


230  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

strong  Ale  10  gallons  good  2nd  ale  and  four  puntions 
of  Beer.  14s."1 

i-  Naturally  the  women  who  brewed  vfor  domestic 
purposes  sometimes  wished  to  turn  an  honest  penny 
by  selling  beer  to  thirsty  neighbours  at  Fairs  and 
on  Holidays,  but  attempts  to  do  so  were  severely 
punished.  Annes  Nashe  of  Welling,  was  presented 
"  for  selling  beer  by  small  jugs  at  Woolmer  Grene 
and  for  laying  her  donng  in  the  highway  leading  from 
Stevenage  to  London."5  A  letter  to  a  Somerset 
Magistrate  pleads  for  another  offender  : — "  Good 
Mr.  Browne,  all  happiness  attend  you.  This  poor 
woman  is  arrested  with  Peace  proces  for  selling 
ale  without  lycense  and  will  assure  you  shee  hath 
reformed  it  and  that  upon  the  first  warning  of  our 
officers  ever  since  Easter  last,  which  is  our  f ayre  tyme, 
when  most  commonly  our  poore  people  doe 
offend  in  that  kinde  ;  I  pray  you  doe  her  what  lawful 
kindness  you  may,  and  hope  she  will  recompense  you 
for  your  paynes,  and  I  shall  be  ready  to  requite  it 
in  what  I  may,  for  if  she  be  committed  she  is  absolutely 
undone.  Thus  hoping  of  your  favour  I  leave  you  to 
God  and  to  this  charitable  work  towards  this  poor 
woman.  Your  unfeined  friend,  Hum.  Newman."5 

Though  with  the  growth  of  capitalism  and  the 
establishment  of  a  monopoly  for  "  Common  Brewers  " 
women  were  virtually  excluded  from  their  old  trade 
of  brewing,  they  still  maintained  their  position  in  the 
retail  trade,  their  hold  upon  which  was  favoured 
by  the  same  circumstances  which  turned  their  energies 
to  the  retail  side  of  other  businesses. 

A  tendency  was  shown  by  public  opinion  to  regard 
licences  as  suitable  provision  for  invalids  and  widows 
who  might  otherwise  require  assistance  from  the  rates. 

1  Baillie,  Lady  Gnzell,  Household  Book.  p.  91.     1714. 

1  Hertford  County  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  68.     1641. 

3  Somerset  Q.  S.  Records,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  40-1,   1627. 


Thus  an  attempt  made  at  Lincoln  in  1628  to 
reduce  the  numbers  of  licences  was  modified,  "  for 
that  it  appeareth  that  divers  poor  men  and  widows, 
not  freemen,  have  no  other  means  of  livelihood 
but  by  keeping  of  alehouses,  it  is  agreed  that  such  as 
shall  be  approved  by  the  justices  may  be  re-admitted, 
but  that  none  hereafter  be  newly  admitted  untill 
they  be  first  sworn  freemen."1  According  to  a  pam- 
phlet published  early  in  the  next  century,  "  Ale-houses 
were  originally  Accounted  Neusances  in  the  Parish's 
where  they  were,  as  tending  to  Debauch  the  Subject, 
and  make  the  People  idle,  and  therefore  Licences 
to  sell  Beer  and  Ale,  where  allow'd  to  none,  but  Ancient 
People  past  their  Labours,  and  Invalides  to  keep  them 
from  Starving,  there  being  then  no  Act  of  Parliament 
that  Parishes  should  Maintain  their  own  Poor.  But 
the  Primitive  Intention  in  granting  Licences  being 
now  perverted,  and  alL  sorts  of  People  Admitted 
to  this  priviledge,  it  is  but  reason  the  Publick  should 
have  some  Advantage  by  the  Priviledges  it  grants.  .  ."2 
Many  examples  of  this  attitude  of  mind  can  be  observed 
in  the  Quarter  Sessions  Records.  For  instance, 
Mary  Briggs  when  a  widow  was  licensed  by  the 
Hertfordshire  Quarter  Sessions  to  sell  drink,  and  by 
the  good  order  she  kept  in  her  house  and  the  goodness 
of  the  drink  she  uttered  and  sold  she  got  a  good  live- 
lihood, and  brought  up  three  children  she  had  by 
a  former  husband.  She  married  John  Briggs,  woodard 
and  servant  to  Lord  Ashton,  s"he  continuing  her  business 
and  he  his.  Her  husband  was  returned  as  a  papist 
recusant,  and  on  his  refusing  to  take  oaths  the  court 
suppressed  their  alehouse.  Mrs.  Briggs  appealed  on 
the  ground  that  her  business  was  carried  on  separately 
and  by  it  she  maintained  her  children  by  her  former 
husband.  Her  claim  was  supported  by  a  petition 

1  Hist.  MSS.  Com.,  14  Rep.,  app.  via.,  p.  99,  1629. 

1  Phipps,  (Thomas),  Proposal  for  raising  £1,000,000  Sterling  yearly. 


232  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

from  her  fellow  parishioners,  declaring  that  John 
Briggs  was  employed  by  Lord  Ashton  and  "  meddles 
not  with  his  wife's  trade  of  victualling  and  selling 
drink."1  Other  examples  may  be  found  in  an  order 
for  the  suppression  of  Wm.  Brightfoot's  licence  who 
had  "  by  surprize  "  obtained  one  for  selling  beer  .  . 
showing  that  he  was  a  young  man,  and  capable  to 
maintain  his  family  without  keeping  an  alehouse,2 
and  the  petition  of  John  Phips,  of  Stondon,  labourer, 
lately  fallen  into  great  need  for  want  of  work.  He 
can  get  very  little  to  do  among  his  neighbours, "  because 
they  have  little  for  him  to  do,  having  so  many  poore 
laborious  men  besides  within  the  said  parish."  He 
asks  for  a  licence  to  sell  beer  "  for  his  better  livelihood 
and  living  hereafter,  towards  the  mayntenance  of 
himself,  his  poor  wife  and  children."3  Licences  were 
refused  at  Bristol  to  "  John  Keemis,  Cooper,  not 
fit  to  sell  ale,  having  no  child  ;  he  keeps  a  tapster 
which  is  no  freeman  that  have  a  wife  and  child,"  and 
also  to  "  Richard  Rooke,  shipwright,  not  fit  to  sell 
ale,  having  no  child,  and  brews  themselves."  A  Barber 
Surgeon  was  disqualified,  having  no  child, <<r  and  also 
for  entertaining  a  strange  maid  which  is  sick."4 

Very  rarely  were  doubts  suggested  as  to  the  propriety 
of  the  trade  for  women,  though  a  bye-law  was  passed 
at  Chester  ordaining  that  "  no  woman  between  the 
age  of  xiii  &  xl  yeares  shall  kepe  any  taverne  or  ale- 
howse."5  At  times  complaints  were  made  of  the  con- 
duct of  alewives,  as  in  a  request  to  the  Justices  of 
Nottingham  "  that  your  Worshipps  wyll  take  some 
order  wythe  all  the  alewyfes  inthistowne,  for  we  thinke 
that  never  an  alewyfe  dothe  as  hir  husband  is  bownd 

1  Hertford  County  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  289,   1678. 

8  Middlesex  Sessions  Book,  p.  23,  1690. 

8  Hertford  County  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  174,  1665. 

*  Latimer,  Bristol,  p.  359.     1670.     Court  Leet  for  St.  Stephen's  Parish. 

6  Harl.  MSS.,  2054  (4),  fov  6. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  233 

to,"1  but  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  marked  difference 
in  the  character  of  the  alehouses  kept  by  men  and 
those  kept  by  women.  The  trade  included  women 
of  the  most  diverse  characters.  One,  who  received 
stolen  goods  at  the  sign  of  the  "  Leabord's  Head  "  in 
Ware,  had  there  a  "  priviye  place  "  for  hiding  stolen 
goods  and  suspicious  persons  "  at  the  press  for 
soldiers  she  hid  five  men  from  the  constables,  and 
can  convey  any  man  from  chamber  to  chamber  into 
the  backside.  There  is  not  such  a  house  for  the 
purpose  within  a  hundred  miles."'  In  contrast  to 
her  may  be  quoted  the  landlady  of  the  Inn  at  Truro, 
of  whom  Celia  Fiennes  wrote,  "  My  Greatest  pleasure 
was  the  good  Landlady  I  had,  she  was  but  an  ordinary 
plaine  woman  but  she  was  understanding  in  the  best 
things  as  most — ye  Experience  of  reall  religion  and  her 
quiet  submission  and  self-Resignation  to  ye  will  of 
God  in  all  things,  and  especially  in  ye  placeing  her  in 
a  remoteness  to  ye  best  advantages  of  hearing,  and  being 
in  such  a  publick  Employment  wch  she  desired  and 
aimed  at  ye  discharging  so  as  to  adorn  ye  Gospel  of 
her  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  the  Care  of  her  children."5 

Vintners  : — The  trade  of  the  Vintner  had  no  con- 
nection with  that  of  the  Brewer.  Wine  was  sold  in 
Taverns.  In  London  the  Vintners'  Company,  like 
the  other  London  Companies,  possessed  privileges 
which  were  continued  to  the  wife  upon  her  husband's 
death,  but  women  were  probably  not  concerned  in 
the  trade  on  their  own  account.  A  survey  of  all  the 
Taverns  in  London  made  in  1633  gives  a  total  of 
211,  whereof  six  are  licensed  by  His  Majesty,  203 
by  the  Vintners'  Company  and  two  are  licensed 
.by  neither,  one  is  unlicensed,  "  inhabited  by  An 
Tither,  whoe  lately  made  a  tavern  of  the  Starr  on 

1  Nottingham  Records,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  325,  1614. 

1  Hertford  County  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  59,  1626. 

*  Fiennes,  (Celia),  p.  zz6      Through  England  on  a  Side-Saddle. 


234  CRAFTS  AND  TRADES 

Tower  Hill  where  shee  also  keepes  a  victualling  house 
unlicensed."  One  licensed  by  the  Earl  of  Middlesex. 
Amongst  those  duly  licensed  are  the  names  of  a  few 
widows.  In  Cordwainer  Street  Ward,  there  was 
only  one  Tavern,  "  kept  by  a  widdowe  whose  deceased 
husband  was  bound  prentice  to  a  Vintener  and  so 
kept  his  taverne  by  vertue  of  his  freedome  of  that 
companye  after  his  termesof  apprentizhood  expired."1 

Conclusion. 

The  foregoing  examination  of  the  relation  of  women 
to  the  different  crafts  and  trades  has  shown  them 
occupying  an  assured  position  wherever  the  system 
of  family  industry  prevailed.  While  this  lasted  the 
detachment  of  married  women  from  business  is 
nowhere  assumed,  but  they  are  expected  to  assist 
their  husband,  and  during  his  absence  or  after  his 
death  to  take  his  place  as  head  of  the  family  and  manager 
of  the  business. 

The  economic  position  held  by  women  depended 
upon  whether  the  business  was  carried  on  at  home  or 
elsewhere,  and  upon  the  possession  of  a  small  amount 
of  capital.  The  wives  of  men  who  worked  as  journey- 
men on  their  masters'  premises  could  not  share  their 
husbands'  trade,  and  their  choice  of  independent 
occupations  was  very  limited.  The  skilled  women's 
trades,  such  as  millinery  and  mantua-making,  were 
open,  and  in  these,  though  apprenticeship  was  usual, 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  women  who  worked 
in  them  without  having  served  an  apprenticeship, 
were  prosecuted ;  but  as  has  been  shown  the 
apprenticeship  laws  were  strictly  enforced  in  other 
directions,  and  in  some  cases  prevented  women  from 
using  their  domestic  skill  to  earn  their  living. 

While  women  could  share  their  husbands' 
trades  they  suffered  little  from  these  restrictions, 

1  S.P.D.  ccl.,  22,  November  6,  1633.     Lord  Mayor  and  others  to  the  Council. 


CRAFTS  AND  TRADES  235 

but  with  the  development  of  capitalistic  organisation 
the  numbers  of  women  who  could  find  no  outlet  for 
their  productive  activity  in  partnership  with  their 
husbands  were  increasing  and  their  opportunities  for 
establishing  an  independent  industry  did  not  keep 
pace  ;  on  the  contrary,  such  industry  became  ever 
more  difficult.  The  immediate  result  is  obscure,  but 
it  seems  probable  that  the  wife  of  the  prosperous 
capitalist  tended  to  become  idle,  the  wife  of  the  skilled 
journeyman  lost  her  economic  independence  and 
became  his  unpaid  domestic  servant,  while  the  wives 
of  other  wage  earners  were  driven  into  the  sweated 
industries  of  that  period.  What  were  the  respective 
numbers  in  each  class  cannot  be  determined,  but  it 
is  probable  that  throughout  the  seventeenth  century 
they  were  still  outnumbered  by  the  women  who 
could  find  scope  for  productive  activity  in  their 
husbands'  business. 


CHAPTER   VI 
PROFESSIONS 

Introductory — Tendencies  similar  to  those  in  Industry. — Army — Church — Law 
closed  to  women.  Teaching — Nursing — Medicine  chiefly  practised  by  women 
as  domestic  arts.  Midwifery. 

(A).  Nursing.  The  sick  poor  nursed  in  lay  institutions — London 
Hospitals — Dublin — Supplied  by  low  class  women — Women  searchers  for 
the  plague — Nurses  for  small-pox  or  plague — Hired  nurses  in  private  families. 

(B)  Medicine.     Women's  skill  in  Middle  ages—  Medicine  practised  extensively 
by   women   in   seventeenth   century    in   their   families,  among    their   friends 
and  for  the  poor — Also  by  the  village  wise  woman  for   pay— Exclusiveness  of 
associations  of  physicians,  surgeons  and  apothecaries. 

(C)  Midwifery.     A    woman's      profession — Earlier      history     unknown — 
Raynold's    translation  of    "  the    byrthe  of   mankynd." — Relative    dangers    of 
child-birth  in  seventeenth  and  twentieth  centuries — Importance  of  midwives — 
Character  of  their  training — Jane  Sharp — Nicholas  Culpepper — Peter  Chamber- 
lain— Mrs.    Cellier's   scheme   for    training — Superiority  of    French  training — 
Licences   of   Midwives — Attitude   of    the    Church   to    them — Fees — Growing 
tendency  to  displace  midwives  by  Doctors. 

Conclusion.  Women's  position  in  the  arts  of  teaching  and  healing  lost  as  these 
arts  became  professional. 

Introductory. 

SI'MILAR  tendencies  to  those  which  affected  the 
industrial  position  of  women  can  be  traced  in  the 
professions  also,  showing  that,  important  as  was  the 
influence  of  capitalistic  organisation  in  the  history  of 
women's  evolution,  other  powerful  factors  were  work- 
ing in  the  same  direction. 

Three  professions  were  closed  to  women  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  Arms,  the  Church  and  the  Law. 

The  Law. — It  must  be  remembered  that  the  mass  of 
the  "  common  people  "  were  little  affected  by  "  the  law  " 
before  the  seventeenth  century.  "  Common  law  " 
was  the  law  of  the  nobles,1  while  farming  people  and 

1  Holdswortb,   Vol.  III.,  p.  408. 


PROFESSIONS  237 

artizans  alike  were  chiefly  regulated  in  their  dealings 
with  each  other  by  customs  depending  for  inter- 
pretation and  sanction  upon  a  public  opinion  which 
represented  women  as  well  as  men.  Therefore  the 
changes  which  during  the  seventeenth  century  were 
abrogating  customs  in  favour  of  common  law,  did 
in  effect  eliminate  women  from"  what  was  equivalent 
to  a  share  in  the  custody  and  interpretation  of  law, 
which  henceforward  remained  exclusively  in  the  hands 
of  men.  The  result  of  the  elimination  of  the  feminine 
influence  is  plainly  shown  in  a  succession  of  laws, 
which,  in  order  to  secure  complete  liberty  to  individual 
men,  destroyed  the  collective  idea  of  the  family,  and 
deprived  married  women  and  children  of  the  property 
rights  which  customs  had  hitherto  secured  to  them. 
From  this  time  also  the  administration  of  the  law 
becomes  increasingly  perfunctory  in  enforcing  the  ful- 
filment of  men's  responsibilities  to  their  wives  and 
children. 

Church. — According  to  modern  ideas,  religion 
pertains  more  to  women  than  to  men,  but  this  con- 
ception is  new,  dating  from  the  scientific  era. 

Science  has  solved  so  many  of  the  problems  which 
in  former  days  threatened  the  existence  of  mankind, 
that  the  "  man  in  the  street  "  instinctively  relegates 
religion  to  the  region  in  which  visible  beauty,  poetry 
and  music  are  still  permitted  to  linger  ;  to  the  orna- 
mental sphere  in  short,  whither  the  Victorian  gentle- 
man also  banished  his  wife  and  daughters.  This 
attitude  forms  a  singular  contrast  to  the  ideas  which 
prevailed  in  the  Middle  Ages,  when  men  believed 
that  supernatural  assistance  was  their  sole  protection 
against  the  "  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness " 
or  from  "  the  arrow  that  flieth  by  day."  Religion  was 
then  held  to  be  such  an  awful  power  that  there  were 
men  who  even  questioned  whether  women  could, 
properly  speaking,  be  considered  religious  at  all. 
Even  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  practice  of 


238  PROFESSIONS 

religion  and  the  holding  of  correct  ideas  concerning 
it  were  deemed  to  be  essential  for  the  maintenance 
of  human  existence,  and  no  suggestion  was  then 
made  that  religious  observances  could  be  adequately 
performed  by  women  alone. 

Ideas  as  to  the  respective  appropriateness  of 
religious  power  to  men  and  women  have  differed 
widely  ;  some  races  have  reserved  the  priesthood  for 
men,  while  others  have  recognised  a  special  power 
enduing  women  ;  in  the  history  of  others  again  no 
uniform  tendency  is  shown,  but  the  two  influences  can 
be  traced  acting  and  reacting  upon  each  other. 

This  has  been  the  case  with  the  Christian  religion, 
which  has  combined  the  wide-spread  worship  of  the 
Mother  and  Child  with  a  passionate  splitting  of  hairs 
by  celibate  priests  in  dogmatic  controversies  con- 
cerning intellectual  abstractions.  The  worship  of 
the  Mother  and  Child  had  been  extirpated  in  England 
before  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  ; 
pictures  of  this  subject  were  denounced  because  they 
showed  the  Divine  Son  under  the  domination  of  a 
woman.  One  writer  accuses  the  Jesuits  of  repre- 
senting Christ  always  "as  a  sucking  child  in  his 
mothers  armes  "— "  nay,  that  is  nothing  they  make 
him  an  underling  to  a  woman,"  alleging  that  "  the 
Jesuits  assert  (i)  no  man,  but  a  woman  did  helpe 
God  in  the  work  of  our  Redemption,  (2)  that  God 
made  Mary  partaker  and  fellow  with  him  of  his 
divine  Majesty  and  power,  (3)  that  God  hath  divided 
his  Kingdom  with  Mary,  keeping  Justice  to  himselfe, 
and  yielding  mercy  to  her."  He  complains  that 
"  She  is  always  set  forth  as  a  woman  and  a  mother, 
and  he  as  a  child  and  infant,  either  in  her  armes, 
or  in  her  hand,  that  so  the  common  people  might 
have  occasion  to  imagine  that  looke,  what  power  of 
overruling  and  commanding  the  mother  hath  over 
her  little  child,  the  same  hath  she  over  her  son  Jesus 
.  .  .  .  the  mother  is  compared  to  the  son,  not 


PROFESSIONS  239 

as  being  a  child  or  a  man,  but  as  the  saviour  and 
mediator,  and  the  paps  of  a  woman  equalled  with 
the  wounds  of  our  Lord,  and  her  milke  with  his 
blood  .  .  .  .  But  for  her  the  holy  scriptures 
speake  no  more  of  her,  but  as  of  a  creature,  a  woman 
....  saved  by  Faith  in  her  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ  ....  and  yet  now  after  1600  yeares 
she  must  still  be  a  commanding  mother  and  must 
show  her  authority  over  him  ....  she  must  be 
saluted  as  a  lady,  a  Queen,  a  goddesse  and  he  as  a  child."1 

The  ridicule  with  which  Peter  Heylin  treated  the 
worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  in  France  seems  to  have 
been  pointed  more  at  the  notion  of  honouring 
motherhood,  rather  than  at  the  distinction  given 
to  her  as  a  woman,  for  he  wrote  "  if  they  will  worship 
her  as  a  Nurse  with  her  Child  in  her  arms,  or  at  her 
breast,  let  them  array  her  in  such  apparel  as  might 
beseem  a  Carpenter's  Wife,  such  as  she  might  be 
supposed  to  have  worn  before  the  world  had  taken 
notice  that  she  was  the  Mother  of  her  Saviour. 
If  they  must  needs  have  her  in  her  state  of  glory 
as  at  Amiens;  or  of  honour  (being  now  publikely 
acknowledged  to  be  the  blessedness  among  Women) 
as  at  Paris:  let  them  disburden  her  of  her  Child. 
To  clap  them  thus  both  together,  is  a  folly  equally 
worthy  of  scorn  &  laughter."2 

The  reform  which  had  swept  away  the  worship 
of  divine  motherhood  had  also  abolished  the  enforced 
celibacy  of  the  priesthood  ;  but  the  priest's  wife 
was  given  no  position  in  the  Church,  and  a  tendency 
ma)  be  noted  towards  the  secularisation  of  all  women's 
functions.  Convents  and  nunneries  were  abolished, 
and  no  institutions  which  might  specially  assist 
women  in  the  performance  of  their  spiritual,  edu- 
cational or  charitable  duties  were  established  in 

1  C.  W.     1641.     The  Bespotted  Jesuite. 

1  Heylin  (Peter),  The  Voyage  of  Prance,    p.  29,  1673. 


240 


PROFESSIONS 


their  place.  There  was,  in  fact,  a  deep  jealousy 
of  any  influence  which  might  disturb  the  authority 
and  control  which  the  individual  husband  exercised 
over  his  wife,  and  probably  the  seventeenth  century 
Englishman  was  beginning  to  realise  that  nothing 
would  be  so  subversive  to  this  authority  as  the  associ- 
ation of  women  together  for  religious  purposes. 
If  a  recognised  position  was  given  to  women  in  the 
Church,  their  lives  must  inevitably  receive  an 
orientation  which  would  not  necessarily  be  identical 
with  their  husband's,  thus  creating  a  danger  of 
conflicting  loyalties.  Naturally,  therefore,  women 
were  excluded  from  any  office,  but  it  would  be  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  their  subordination  to  their 
husbands  in  religious  matters  was  rigidly  enforced 
throughout  this  period.  Certainly  in  the  first  half 
of  the  century  their  freedom  of  thought  in  religion 
was  usually  taken  for  granted,  and  possibly  amongst 
the  Baptists,  certainly  amongst  the  Quakers,  full 
spiritual  equality  was  accorded  to  them.  Women 
were  universally  admitted  to  the  sacraments,  and 
therefore  recognised  as  being,  in  some  sort,  members 
of  the  Church,  but  this  was  consistent  with  the  view 
of  their  position  to  which  Milton's  well  known 
lines  in  "  Paradise  Lost  "  give  perfect  expression, 
the  ideal  which,  in  all  subsequent  social  and  political 
changes,  was  destined  to  determine  women's  position 
in  Church  and  State  : — 

"  Whence  true  authoritie  in  men,  though  both 
Not  equal,  as  their  sex  not  equal  seem'd, 
For  contemplation  hee  and  valour  form'd 
For  softness  shee,  and  sweet  attractive  Grace, 
Hee  for  God  only,  shee  for  God  in  him  : 

To  whom  thus  Eve  with  perfect  beauty  adornd 
My  Author  and  Disposer,  what  thou  bidst 
Unargu'd  I  obey  ;  so  God  ordains, 
God  is  thy  Law,  thou  mine  ;  to  know  no  more 
woman's  happiest  knowledge  and  her  praise." 


PROFESSIONS  241 

Nevertheless,  though  excluded  from  any  position 
in  the  hierarchy  of  recognised  servants  of  the  Church, 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  Church  was  in- 
dependent of  women's  service.  To  their  hands 
necessity  rather  than  the  will  of  man  had  entrusted  a 
duty,  which  when  unfulfilled  makes  all  the  complicated 
organisation  of  the  Church  impotent  ;  namely,  the 
bending  of  the  infant  mind  and  soul  towards  religious 
ideals  and  emotions.  The  lives  of  the  reformers 
of  the  seventeenth  century  bear  witness  to  the 
faithfulness  with  which  women  accomplished  this 
task.  In  many  cases  their  religious  labours  were 
extended  beyond  the  care  of  their  children,  embracing 
the  whole  household  for  their  field  of  service.  The 
lif e  of  Lettice,  Viscountess  Falkland,  gives  an  example 
of  the  sense  of  responsibility  under  which 
many  religious  women  lived.  Lady  Falkland 
passed  about  an  hour  with  her  maids,  early  every 
morning  "  in  praying,  and  catechizing  and  instructing 
them  ;  to  these  secret  and  private  prayers,  the 
publick  morning  and  evening  prayers  of  the  Church, 
before  dinner  and  supper  ;  and  another  form  (together 
with  reading  Scriptures  and  singing  Psalms)  before 
bedtime,  were  daily  and  constantly  added  .... 
neither  were  these  holy  offices  appropriate  to  her 
menial  servants,  others  came  freely  to  joyn  with 
them,  and  her  Oratory  was  as  open  to  her  neighbours 
as  her  Hall  was  .  .  .  .  her  Servants  were  all 
moved  to  accompany  her  to  the  Sacrament,  and  they 
who  were  prevailed  with  gave  up  their  names  to  her, 
two  or  three  dayes  before,  and  from  thence,she  applied 
herself  to  the  instructing  of  them  .  .  .  and' 
after  the  Holy  Sacrament  she  called  them  together 
again  and  gave  them  such  exhortations  as  were 
proper  for  them."1 

The  quarrel  between  Church  and  State  over  the 
teaching  profession  is  an  old  story  which  does    not 

1  Falkland,  Lady  Letice,  Pi-countess,  Life  and  Death  of. 


16 


242  PROFESSIONS 

concern  this  investigation.  It  is  sufficient  to  note 
that  in  England  neither  Church  nor  State  considered 
that  the  work  of  women  in  training  the  young  entitled 
them  to  a  recognised  position  in  the  general  social 
organisation,  or  required  any  provision  apart  from  the 
casual  arrangements  of  family  life. 

Teaching.  — The  question  of  the  standard  and 
character  of  the  education  given  to  girls  is  too  large 
a  subject  to  be  entered  into  here  ;  it  can  only  be 
remarked  that  the  number  of  professional  paid  women 
teachers  was  small.  The  natural  aptitude  of  the 
average  woman  for  training  the  young,  however, 
enabled  mothers  to  provide  their  children,  both  boys 
and  girls,  with  a  very  useful  foundation  of  elementary 
education. 

The  professions  of  medicine,  midwifery  and  nursing 
are  very  closely  allied  to  each  other  ;  for  neither  was 
there  any  system  of  instruction  on  a  scientific  basis 
available  for  women,  whose  practice  was  thus  empirical ; 
but  as  yet  science  had  done  little  to  improve  the  skill 
even  of  the  male  practitioner. 

Nursing. — Nursing  was  almost  wholly  a  domestic  art. 

Medicine.  — Though  we  find  many  references  to 
women  who  practised  medicine  and  surgery  as  pro- 
fessions, in  the  majority  of  cases  their  skill  was  used 
only  for  the  assistance  of  their  family  and  neighbours. 

Midwifery. — Midwifery  was  upon  a  different  footing, 
standing  out  as  the  most  important  public  function 
exercised  by  women,  and  being  regarded  as  their 
inviolable  mystery  till  near  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  steady  process  through 
which  in  this  profession  women  were  then  supplanted 
by  men,  furnishes  an  example  of  the  way  in  which 
women  have  lost  their  hold  upon  all  branches  of 
skilled  responsible  work,  through  being  deprived 
of  opportunities  for  specialised  training. 

The  relative  deterioration  of  woman's  capacity 
in  comparison  with  the  standard  of  men's  efficiency 


PROFESSIONS  243 

cannot  be  more  clearly  shown  than  in  the  history  of 
midwifery.  Even  though  the  actual  skill  of  midwives 
may  not  have  declined  during  the  seventeenth 
century  men  were  rapidly  surpassing  them  in  scien- 
tific knowledge,  for  the  general  standard  of  women's 
education  was  declining,  and  they  were  debarred 
from  access  to  the  higher  branches  of  learning. 
As  the  absence  of  technical  training  kept  women  out 
of  the  skilled  trades,  so  did  the  lack  of  scientific  edu- 
cation drive  them  from  the  more  profitable  practice 
of  midwifery,  which  in  former  times  tradition  and 
prejudice  had  reserved  as  their  monopoly. 

A — Nursing. 

Whatever  arrangements  had  been  made  by  the 
religious  orders  in  England  for  the  care  of  the  sick 
poor  were  swept  away  by  the  Reformation.  The 
provision  which  existed  in  the  seventeenth  century 
for  this  purpose  rested  on  a  lay  basis,  quite  unconnected 
with  the  Church.  Amongst  the  most  famous  charit- 
able institutions  were  the  four  London  Hospitals ; 
Christ's  Hospital  for  children  under  the  age  of  sixteen, 
St.  Bartholomew's  and  St.  Thomas's  for  the  sick  and 
impotent  poor,  and  Bethlehem  for  the  insane. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  women  of  the  upper 
classes  took  any  part  in  the  management  of  these 
hospitals.  The  squalor  and  the  ugly  and  disgusting 
details  which  are  associated  with  nursing  the  diseased 
and  often  degraded  poor,  was  unredeemed  by  the 
radiance  with  which  a  mystic  realisation  of  the  Divine 
Presence  had  upheld  the  Catholic  faints,  or  by  the 
passionate  desire  for  the  service  of  humanity  which 
inspired  Florence  Nightingale.  Thus  it  was  only 
the  necessity  for  earning  their  daily  bread  which 
induced  any  women  to  enter  the  profession  of  nursing 
during  this  period,  and  as  the  salaries  offered  were 
considerably  lower  than  the  wages  earned  by  a  com- 
petent servant  in  London,  it  may  be  supposed  that 


244  PROFESSIONS 

the  class  attracted  did  not  represent  the  most  efficient 
type  of  women. 

The  rules  appointed  for  the  governance  of  nurses 
show  that  the  renunciations  of  a  nun's  life  were  required 
of  them,  but  social  opinion  in  Protestant  England  set 
no  seal  of  excellence  upon  their  work,  however  faith- 
fully performed,  and  the  sacrifices  demanded  from  the 
nurses  were  unrewarded  by  the  crown  of  victory. 

During  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  there  were  a 
matron  and  twelve  sisters  at  St.  Bartholomew's  who 
received  in  wages  £26  6s.  8d.  In  addition  the  matron 
received  is.  6d,  per  week  for  board  wages  and  the 
sisters  is.  4d.  per  week,  and  between  them  £6  per  year 
for  livery,  while  the  matron  received  135.  4d.  for  this 
purpose.1  The  rules  for  the  governance  of  the  sisters 
were  as  follows  : — "  Your  charge  is,  in  all  Things  to 
declare  and  shew  yourselves  gentle,  diligent,  and 
obedient  to  the  Matron  of  this  House,  who  is  appointed 
and  authorised  to  be  your  chief  Governess  and  Ruler. 
Ye  shall  also  faithfully  and  charitably  serve  and 
help  the  Poor  in  all  their  Griefs  and  Diseases,  as  well 
by  keeping  them  sweet  and  clean,  as  in  giving  them 
their  Meats  and  Drinks,  after  the  most  honest  and 
comfortable  Manner.  Also  ye  shall  use  unto  them 
good  and  honest  Talk,  such  as  may  comfort  and  amend 
them  ;  and  utterly  to  avoid  all  light,  wanton,  and 
foolish  Words,  Gestures,  and  Manners,  using  yourselves 
unto  them  with  all  Sobriety  and  Discretion,  and  above 
all  Things,  see  that  ye  avoid,  abhor,  and  detest  Scolding 
and  Drunkenness  as  most  pestilent  and  filthy  Vices. 
Ye  shall  not  haunt  or  resort  to  any  manner  of  Person 
out  of  this  House,  except  ye  be  licensed  by  the  Matron  ; 
neither  shall  ye  suffer  any  light  Person  to  haunt  or 
use  unto  you,  neither  any  dishonest  Person,  Man  or 
Woman  ;  and  so  much  as  in  you  shall  lie,  ye  shall  avoid 
and  shun  the  Conversation  and  Company  of  all  Men. 

1  Stow,  London,  I.,  pp.,  185-186. 


PROFESSIONS  245 

Ye  shall  not  be  out  of  the  Woman's  Ward  after  the 
Hour  of  seven  of  the  Clock  in  the  Night,  in  the  Winter, 
Time,  nor  after  Nine  of  the  Clock  in  the  Night  in  the 
Summer  :  except  ye  shall  be  appointed  and  commanded 
by  the  Matron  so  to  be,  for  some  great  and  special 
cause  that  shall  concern  the  Poor,  (as  the  present 
Danger  of  Death  or  extreme  Sickness),  and  yet  so 
being  commanded,  ye  shall  remain  no  longer  with 
such  diseased  Person  than  just  Cause  shall  require. 
Also,  if  any  just  Cause  of  Grief  shall  fortune  unto  any 
of  you,  or  that  ye  shall  see  Lewdness  in  any  Officer, 
of  other  Person  of  this  House,  which  may  sound  or 
grow  to  the  Hurt  or  Slander  thereof,  ye  shall  declare 
the  same  to  the  Matron,  or  unto  one  or  two  of  the 
Govenours  of  this  House,  that  speedy  Remedy  therein 
may  be  had;  and  to  no  other  Person  neither  shall  ye 
talk  or  meddle  therein  any  farther.  This  is  your 
Charge,  and  with  any  other  Thing  you  are  not 
charged."1 

The  Matron  was  instructed  to  "  receive  of  the 
Hospitaler  of  this  House  all  such  sick  and  diseased 
Persons  as  he  ....  shall  present  unto  you," 
and  to  "  have  also  Charge,  Governance  &  Order  of  all  the 
Sisters  of  this  House.  .  .  .that  every  of  them.  .  .  . 
do  their  Duty  unto  the  Poor,  as  well  in  making  of 
their  Beds,  and  keeping  their  Wards,  as  also  in  washing 
and  purging  their  unclean  Cloaths,  and  other  Things. 
And  that  the  same  Sisters  every  night  after  the  Hour 
of  seven  of  the  Clock  in  the  Winter,  and  nine  of  the 
Clock  in  the  Summer,  come  not  out  of  the  Woman's 
War4,  except  some  great  and  special  Cause  (as  the 
present  Danger  of  Death,  or  needful  Succour  of  some 
poor  Person).  And  yet  at  such  a  special  time  it  shall 
not  be  lawful  for  every  Sister  to  go  forth  to  any  Person  or 
Persons  (no  tho'it  be  in  her  Ward)  but  only  for  such  as 
you  shall  think  virtuous,  godly,  and  discreet.  And  the 

1  Stow,  London,  app.,  p.  58. 


246  PROFESSIONS 

same  Sister  to  remain  no  longer  with  the  same  sick 
Person  then  needful  Cause  shall  require.  Also  at 
such  times  as  the  Sisters  shall  not  be  occupied  about 
the  Poor,  ye  shall  set  them  to  spinning  or  doing  some 
other  Manner  of  Work,  that  may  avoid  Idleness,  and 
be  profitable  to  the  Poor  of  this  House.  Also  ye 
shall  receive  the  Flax  ....  the  same  being 
spun  by  the  Sisters,  ye  shall  commit  to  the  said  Gov- 
ernors ....  You  shall  also  ....  have 
special  Regard  to  the  good  ordering  &  keeping  of  all 
the  Sheets,  Coverlets,  Blankets,  Beds,  and  other 
Implements  committed  to  your  Charge,  .... 
Also  ye  shall  suffer  no  poor  Person  of  this  House  to 
sit  and  drink  within  your  House  at  no  Time,  neither 
shall  ye  so  send  them  drink  into  their  Wards,  that 
thereby  Drunkenness  might  be  used  and  continued 
among  them."1 

In  Christ's  Hospital  there  were  two  Matrons 
with  salaries  of  £2  135.  4d.  per  annum  and  forty- two 
women  keepers  with  salaries  of  403.  per  annum. 
Board  wages  were  allowed  at  the  rate  of  is.  4d. 
per  week  for  the  "  keepers "  and  is.  6d.  for  the 
Matrons.  There  was  one  keeper  for  fifteen  persons.2 
The  Matron  was  advised  "  Your  office  is  an  office  of 
great  charge  and  credite.  For  to  yow  is  committed 
the  Governance  and  oversight  of  all  the  women  and 
children  within  this  Hospital.  And  also  to  yow  is 
given  Authoritie  to  commaunde,  reprove,  and  rebuke 
them  or  any  of  them  ....  Your  charge  is 
also  to  searche  and  enquire  whether  the  women  do 
their  Dutie,  in  washing  of  the  children's  sheets  and 
shirts,  and  in  kepeing  clean  and  sweet  those  that  are 
committed  to  their  Charge  ;  and  also  in  the  Beddes. 
Sheets,  Coverlets,  and  Apparails  (with  kepeing  clean 
Wards  and  Chambers)  mending  of  such  as  shall  be 

1  Stow,  London,  App.  pp.  57-58. 
1  Ibid,  I.  pp.  17$  6. 


PROFESSIONS  247 

broken  from  Time  to  Time.  And  specially  yow  shall 
give  diligent  Hede,  that  the  said  Washers  and  Nurses 
of  this  Howse  be  alwaies  well  occupied  and  not  idle  ; 
.  .  .  .  you  shal  also  once  every  Quarter  of  the 
Year  examine  the  Inventoried'1 

The  nurses  were  instructed  that  they  must  "  care- 
fully and  diligently  oversee,  kepe,  and  governe  all 
those  tender  Babes  &  yonglings  that  shal  be  committed 
to  your  Charge,  and  the  same  holesomely,  cleanely 
and  swetely  nourishe  and  bring  up  ....  kepe 
your  Wardes  and  every  Part  thereof  &wete  and  cleane 
.  .  .  .  avoid  all  Idleness  when  your  Charge  and 
Care  of  keping  the  Children  is  past,  occupie  your- 
selves in  Spinning,  Sewing,  mending  of  Sheets  and 
Shirts,  or  some  other  vertuous  Exercise,  such  as  you 
shal  be  appointed  unto.  Ye  shal  not  resort  or  suffer 
any  Man  to  resort  to  you,  before  ye  have  declared 
the  same  to  the  almoners  or  Matron  of  this  Howse 
and  obtained  their  Lycense  and  Favour,  so  to  do 
.  .  .  .  see  that  all  your  children,  before  they  be 
brought  to  Bed,  be  washed  and  cleane,  and  immed- 
iately after,  every  one  of  yow  quietly  shal  go  to  your 
Bed,  and  not  to  sit  up  any  longer  ;  and  once  every 
night  arise,  and  see  that  the  Children  be  covered,  for 
taking  of  Colde."2 

Some  idea  of  the  class  of  women  who  actually 
undertook  the  important  duties  of  Matron  for  the 
London  Hospitals  may  be  gathered  from  a  petition 
presented  by  Joane  Darvole,  Matron  of  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital,  Southwark,  to  Laud.  She  alleged  "  that 
she  was  dragged  out  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Hospital 
at  service  and  dragged  along  the  streets  to  prison  for 
debt,  to  the  hazard  of  her  life,  "  she  being  a  "  very  weak 
sickly  and  aged  woman,"  clothes  torn  from  her  back 
and  cast  into  a  swoon.  She  petitions  against  the 

1  Stow,  London,  app.,  p.  42. 
*  Stow  London,  app.,  p.  43. 


248  PROFESSIONS 

profanation  of  God's  house  and  the  scandal  to  the 
congregation.1 

Sick  and  wounded  soldiers  were  tended  at  the 
Savoy,  where  there  were  thirteen  Sisters,  whose 
joint  salaries  amounted  to  .£52  i6s.  8d.  per  annum.2 
Among  the  orders  for  the  patients,  nurses  and  widows 
in  the  Savoy  and  other  hospitals  in  and  about  London 
occur  the  following  regulations : — 4thly  "  That  every 
soldier  or  nurse  ....  that  shall  profanely 
sweare  "  to  pay  I2d.  for  the  first  offence,  I2d.  for  the 
second,  and  be  expelled  for  the  third.  8thly  "  That 
if  any  souldier  shall  marye  any  of  the  nurses  of  the 
said  houses  whilst  hee  is  there  for  care  or  (recov)ery 
they  both  shall  be  turned  forth  of  the  House.  nthly 
No  soldier  under  cure  to  have  their  (wiv)es  lodge 
with  them  there  except  by  the  approbation  of  the 
Phisicion.  i2thly  No  nurse  to  be  dismissed  without 
the  approval  of  2  of  the  Treasurers  for  the  relief  of 
maimed  soldiers  at  least.  Nurses  to  be  chosen  from 
among  the  widows  of  soldiers  if  there  are  among 
them  those  that  be  fit,  and  those  to  have  55.  per 
weeke  as  others  usually  have  had  for  the  service. 
1 4thly  soldiers,  wounded  and  sick,  outside  the  hospitals 
not  to  have  more  than  45.  per  week.  Those  in  St. 
Thomas's  and  Bartholomew's  hospital  2s.  a  week, 
those  in  their  parents',  masters'  or  friends'  houses, 
according  to  their  necessities,  but  not  more  than 
43.  per  week.  iijthly  Soldiers'  widows  to  receive 
according  to  their  necessities,  but  not  more  than 

43.  a  week.     I9thly  If  any  of  the  nurses 

shalbee  negligent  in  their  duties  or  in  giving  due 
attendance  to  the  ....  sicke  souldiers  by  daye 
or  night  or  shall  by  scoulding,  brawlinge  or  chidinge 
make  any  disturbance  in  the  said  hospitall,  she  shall 
forfeite  I2d.  for  ist  offence,  week's  pay  for  second, 

1  S.P.D.,  cccdv.,  87.     May  3oth,  1640. 
a  Stow,  Tendon  I.,  p.  211. 


PROFESSIONS  249 

be  dismissed  for  the  third.  2Othly  If  any  widow 
after  marriage  shall  come  and  receive  weekly  pensions 
as  a  soldier's  widow  contrary  to  the  ordinance  of 
parl1  he  which  hath  married  her  to  repay  it,  &  if  he 
is  unable  she  shall  be  complained  of  to  the  nearest 
J.P.  and  be  punished  as  a  de(ceiver)."] 

There  was  one  nurse  for  every  ten  patients  in  the 
Dublin  hospitals,  and  the  salary  was  .£10  per  annum, 
out  of  which  she  had  to  find  her  board.2 

The  opportunity  which  the  hospitals  afforded  for 
training  in  the  art  of  nursing  was  entirely  wasted. 
The  idea  that  the  personal  tending  of  the  sick  and 
forlorn  poor  would  be  a  religious  service  of  special 
value  in  the  sight  of  God  had  vanished,  and  their 
care,  no  longer  transformed  by  the  devotion  of  relig- 
ious enthusiasm,  appeared  a  sordid  duty,  only  fit  for 
the  lowest  class  in  the  community.  Well-to-do  men 
relieved  their  consciences  by  bequeathing  money  for 
the  endowment  of  hospitals,  but  the  sense  of  social 
responsibility  was  not  fostered  in  girls,  and  the  ex- 
pression of  charitable  instincts  was  almost  confined 
in  the  case  of  women  to  their  personal  relations. 

Outside  the  hospitals  employment  was  given  to  a 
considerable  number  of  women  in  the  tending  of 
persons  stricken  with  small-pox  or  the  plague,  and 
in  searching  corpses  for  signs  of  the  plague.  London 
constables  and  churchwardens  were  ordered  in  1570 
"  to  provide  to  have  in  readiness  Women  to  be  Provy- 
ders  &  Deliverers  of  necessaries  to  infected  Howses, 
and  to  attend  the  infected  Persons,  and  they  to  bear 
reed  Wandes,  so  that  the  sick  maie  be  kept  from  the 
whole,  as  nere  as  maie  be,  needful  attendance  weyed."8 

In  the  town  records  of  Reading  it  is  noted  "at 
this  daye  Marye  Jerome  Wydowe  was  sworn  to  be 

S.  P.  D.,  dxxxix,  231.     November  15,  1644. 
1  S.  Pi  />.,  Interreg  :   I.  62,  p.  633.     17  Aug.,  1649. 
Stow,  London,  V.,  p.  433. 


250  PROFESSIONS 

a  viewer  and  searcher  of  all  the  bodyes  that  shall 
dye  within  this  boroughe,  and  truly  to  report  and 
certifye  to  her  knowledge  of  what  disease  they  dyed, 
etc.  ;  and  Anne  Lovejoy  widowe,  jurata,  4*  a  weeke 
a  peice,  allowing  iiijs.  a  moneth  after."1  "  Mary 
Holte  was  sworne  to  be  a  searcher  of  the  dead  bodyes 
hencefovrth  dyeinge  within  the  boroughe  (being 
thereunto  required)  having  iiijs.  a  weeke  for  her 
wages,  and  iiid  a  corps  carry eing  to  buryall,  and  iiijs 
a  weeke  a  moneth  after  the  ceassinge  of  the  plague."5 
In  1637  it  was  "  agreed  ....  with  old 
Frewyn  and  his  wief,  that  she  shall  presentlye  goe 
into  the  house  of  Henry  Merrifeild  and  be  aidinge 
&  helpinge  to  the  said  Merrifeild  and  his  wief,  during 
the  time  of  their  visitacion  [plague]  ....  She 
shall  have  dyett  with  them,  and  six  weekes  after  their 
visitacion  ended.  And  old  Frewin  to  have  2s.  a  week 
duringe  all  that  tyme  paid  him,  and  2s.  in  hand. 
And  she  shall  have  2s  a  weeke  kept  for  her  &  paid 
her  in  th'end  of  the  sixe  weekes  after."*  Later  "  it 
was  thought  fitt  the  Woman  keeper  and  Merifielde's 
wenche  in  the  Pest-house,  it  beinge  above  vj  weekes 
past  since  any  one  dyed  there,  should  be  at  libertie 
and  goe  hence  to  her  husbande's  house,  she  havinge 
done  her  best  endevour  to  ayre  and  cleanse  all  the 
beddes  &  beddinge  &  other  things  in  both  the  houses. 
.  .  .  for  her  mayntenance  vj  weekes  after  the 
ceassinge  of  the  sicknes,  she  keepinge  the  wenche 
with  her,  they  shalbe  paid  33.  a  weeke  for  and  towardes 
their  mayntenance  duringe  the  vj  weekes."4  In 
1639 tne  Council  "Agree  to  gevethe  Widowe  Lovejoye 
in  full  satisfaccion  for  all  her  paynes  taken  in  and 
about  the  visited  people  in  this  Towne  in  this  last 

1  Guildine,  Reading  Records,  Vol.  II.,  p.  241,  1625. 
8  Ibid,  Vol.  II.,  p.  244,  1625. 

3  Ibid,  Vol.  III.,  p.  371. 

4  Ibid,  Vol.  III.,  p.  384,  1637. 


PROFESSIONS  251 

visitacion  xls.  in  money,  and  cloth  to  make  her  a 
kirtle  and  a  wascote,  and  their  favour  towards  her 
two  sonnes-in-lawe  (beinge  forreynours)  about  their 
fredome."1  On  a  petition  in  1641  from  Widow 
Lovejcy  "  for  better  allowance  &  satisfaction  for  her 
paines  aboute  the  visited  people  ;  ....  it  was 
agreed  that  she  shall  have  xxxs.  soe  soone  as  the  taxe 
for  the  visited  people  is  made  uppe."2 

In  rural  districts  where  hospitals  were  seldom  within 
reach,  entries  are  not  infrequently  found  in  the  parish 
account  books  of  payments  made  to  women  for 
nursing  the  poor.  "  Item.  To  Mother  Middleton 
for  twoe  nights  watchinge  with  Widow  Coxe's  child 
being  sick."3  "  To  Goody  Halliday,  for  nursing 
him  &  his  family  5  weeks  £15;  to  Goody  Nye, 
for  assisting  in  nursing,  2s.  6d.4  ....  to  Goody 
Peckham  for  nursing  a  beggar,  55.  For  nursing 
Wickham's  boy  with  the  small  pocks  I2s."6  A 
Hertfordshire  parish  paid  a  woman  153.  for  her 
attendance  during  three  weeks  on  a  woman  and  her 
illegitimate  child.6  A  Morton  man  was  ordered  to 
pay  out  of  his  next  half-year's  rent  for  the  grounds 
he  farmed  of  Isabelle  Squire  "  2os  to  Margt.  Squire, 
who  attended  and  looked  to  her  half  a  year  during 
the  time  of  her  distraction."7 

Sometimes  nurses  were  provided  for  the  poor  by 
religious  and  charitable  ladies,  who,  like  Lettice, 
Viscountess  Falkland,  "  hired  nurses  to  serve  them."8 
Sick  nurses  were  also  engaged  by  well-to-do  people  to 
attend  upon  themselves  or  their  servants.  Thus  the  Rev. 

1  Guilding,  Reading  Records,  Vol.  III.,  p.  459. 

2  Ibid,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  8. 

3  Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  XXIII.,  p.  90.     Hastings  Documents.     1601. 

4  Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  XX.,  p.  117.     Ace.  Book  of  Coviden.     1704. 

6  Ihid,     p.  1 1 8. 

'  Hertford  County  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  435,  1698. 

7  Atkinson,  J.  C.,  Tartu.  N.  R   Q.  S.  Records,  Vol.  VII.,  p.  91.     1688. 

8  Falkland,  Lady  Letice,  Fi-countess,  Life  and  Death  of. 


252  PROFESSIONS 

Giles  Moore  enters  in  his  journal  "  My  mayde  being 
sicke  I  payd  for  opening  her  veine  4d.  to  the  Widdow 
Rugglesford,  for  looking  to  her ,  I  gave  is.  and  to  old 
Bess  for  tending  her  3  days  and  2  nights  I  gave  Is ;  in 
all  2s  4d.m  A  little  later,  when  the  writer  himself 
'was  "  in  an  ague.  Paid  Goodwyfe  Ward  for  being 
necessary  to  me  is."2  Though  his  daughter  was 
with  him,  a  nurse  watched  in  the  chamber  when 
Colonel  Hutchinson  died  in  the  prison  at  Dover.3 

A  few  extracts  from  account  books  will  supply 
further  details  as  to  the  usual  scale  of  remuneration 
for  nurses  ;  no  doubt  in  each  case  the  money  given 
was  in  addition  to  meat  and  drink.  Sarah  Fell  enters 
"  by  m°  given  Ann  Daniell  for  her  paines  about 
Rachell  Yeamans  when  she  died  05. oo."4  Timothy 
Burrell  "  pd.  Gosmark  for  tending  Mary  3  weeks 
6s."5  Lady  Grisell  Baillie  engaged  a  special  nurse 
for  her  daughter  Rachy  at  a  fee  of  5s.6  At  Herst- 
monceux  Castle  they  "  pd  Hawkin's  wife  for  tending 
the  sick  maiden  10  days  35.  Pd.  Widdow  Wrecks 
for  tending  sick  seruants  a  fortnight  45. "7  Sir  John 
Foulis  in  Scotland  paid  "  to  Ketherin  in  p*  paym* 
&  till  account  for  her  attendance  on  me  the  time  of 
my  sickness  12.  o.  o  "  [scots].8  "  To  Katherine  tueddie 
in  compleat  paym*  for  her  attendance  on  me  wn  I 
was  sick  20.  o.  o."  [scots].9  "  To  my  good  douchter 
Jennie  to  give  tibbie  tomsone  for  her  attendance 
onjny  wife  the  time  of  her  sickness  5.  16.  o.  [scots]." ] 

Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  72.     Rev.  Giles  Moore's  Journal. 

Ibid,  Vol.  1.,  p.  too.     1667. 

Memoirs  of  Col.  Hutcbinson,  p.  377. 

Fell  (Sarah),  Household  Accounts,  p.  285.     June  20,  1676. 

Sussex  Arch.  Coll,  Vol.  III.,  p.  123.    Journal  of  Timothy  Burrell.     1688. 

Baillie,  Lady  Grisell,  Household  Book.     Intro.  Ixvii. 

Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  XLVIII.,  p.  121.     1643-1649. 

Foulis,  Sir  John,  Account  Book,  p.  346.     May  23,  1704. 

Ibid,  p.  396.     August  22,  1705. 

1  Ibid,  p.  314.    January  28,  1703. 


PROFESSIONS  253 

All  the  above  instances  refer  to  professional  nursing  ; 
that  is  to  say  to  the  tending  of  the  sick  for  wages,  but 
nursing  was  more  of  ten  of  an  unprofessional  character. 
Sickness  was  rife  in  all  classes,  and  for  the  most  part 
the  sick  were  tended  by  the  women  of  their  household 
or  family.  The  claim  for  such  assistance  was  felt 
beyond  the  limits  of  kinship,  and  in  the  village  com- 
munity each  woman  would  render  it  to  her  neighbour 
without  thought  of  reward.  The  solidarity  of  the 
community  was  a  vital  tradition  to  the  village  matron 
of  the  early  seventeenth  century,  and  it  was  only 
in  cases  of  exceptional  isolation  or  difficulty,  or  where 
the  sick  person  was  a  stranger  or  an  outcast  that  the 
services  of  a  paid  nurse  were  called  in.  Probably 
the  standard  of  efficiency  was  higher  in  domestic 
than  in  professional  nursing,  because  professional 
nurses  received  no  systematic  training.  Their  rate 
of  remuneration  was  low,  the  essential  painfulness  of 
their  calling  was  not  concealed  by  the  glamour  of 
a  religious  vocation,  still  less  was  it  rewarded  by  any 
social  distinction.  Therefore  the  women  who  took 
up  nursing  for  their  livelihood  did  so  from  necessity, 
and  were  drawn  from  the  lower  classes. 

Illness  was  so  frequent  in  the  seventeenth  century 
that  few  girls  can  have  reached  maturity  without  the 
opportunity  of  practising  the  art  of  nursing  at  home  ; 
but  amongst  the  "  common  people,"  that  is  to  say 
all  the  class  of  independent  farmers  and  tradesmen, 
the  housewife  can  hardly  have  found  time  to  perfect 
her  skill  in  nursing  to  a  fine  art.  Probably  the  highest 
level  was  reached  in  the  households  of  the  gentry, 
where  idleness  was  not  yet  the  accepted  hall-mark  of 
a  lady,  and  the  mistress  felt  herself  to  be  responsible 
for  the  training  of  her  children  and  servants  in 
every  branch  of  the  domestic  arts,  amongst  which 
were  reckoned  both  medicine  and  nursing. 
(B).  Surgery  and  Medicine. 

The  position  held  by  mediaeval  women  in  the  arts 


254  PROFESSIONS 

of  healing  is  shown  in  such  books  as  Mallory's  "  Morte 
d'Arthur."  \Vhen  wounds  proved  intractable  to 
the  treatment  of  the  rough  and  ready  surgeons  who 
attended  in  the  vicinity  of  tourneys,  knights  sought 
help  from  some  high-born  lady  renowned  for  her 
skill  in  medicine.  It  is  true  that  popular  belief 
assigned  her  success  to  witchcraft  rather  than  to  the 
knowledge  and  understanding  acquired  by  diligent 
study  and  experience,  but  a  tendency  to  faith  in  the 
occult  was  universal,  and  the  reputation  of  the  ladies 
probably  bore  some  relation  to  their  success  in  the 
cures  attempted,  for,  according  to  the  author  of 
'  The  Golden  Bough,"  science  is  the  lineal  descendant 
of  witchcraft.  The  position  of  pre-eminence  as  con- 
sultants was  no  longer  retained  by  women  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Schools  and  Universities  had  been 
founded,  where  men  could  study  medicine  and 
anatomy,  and  thus  secure  for  themselves  a  higher 
standard  of  knowledge  and  efficiency ;  but,  though 
women  were  excluded  from  these  privileges  they  were 
not  yet  completely  ousted  from  the  medical  profession, 
and  as  a  domestic  art  medicine  was  still  extensively 
practised  by  them. 

Every  housewife  was  expected  to  understand  the 
treatment  of  the  minor  ailments  at  least  of  her  house- 
hold, and  to  prepare  her  own  drugs.  Commonplace 
books  of  this  period  contain  recipes  for  making  mulberry 
syrup,  preserving  fruit  and  preparing  meats,  mingled 
with,  for  example,  prescriptions  for  plague  water, 
which  is  "  very  good  against  the  plague,  the 
smallpox,  the  measles,  surfeitts  ....  and  is 
of  a  sovereign  nature  to  be  given  in  any  sickness " 
"  An  oyle  good  for  any  ach — and  ointments  for 
sore  eyes  or  breasts,  or  stone  in  the  kidney  or  bladder." 
And  in  addition,  "  my  brother  Jones  his  way  of  making 
inks."1  "  The  Ladies  Dispensatory  "  contains  "  the 
Natures,  Vertues  and  Qualities  of  all  Herbs,  and  Simples 

1  Add.  MSS.    36308. 


PROFESSIONS  255 

usefull  in  Physick.  Reduced  into  a  Methodical  Order," 
the  diseases  to  be  treated  including  those  of  men, 
as  well  as  women  and  children.1 

As  was  the  case  in  other  domestic  arts,  girls  depended  for 
their  training  in  medicine  chiefly  on  the  tradition  they 
received  from  their  mothers,  but  this  was  reinforced 
from  other  sources  as  occasion  offered.  "  The  Ladies 
Dispensatory  "  was  not  the  only  handbook  published 
for  their  use  ;  sometimes,  though  schools  were  closed 
to  women,  an  opportunity  occurred  for  private  coach- 
ing. Thus  Sarah  Fell  entered  in  her  account  book, 

'  July  ye  5°  1674  by  m°  to  Bro  :  Lower  yl  hee  gave 
Thomas  Lawson  for  comeinge  over  hither  to  Instruct 
him  &  sistrs,  in  the  knowledge  of  herbs.  lo.oo,"2 
and  when  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  husband  was  Governor 
of  the  Tower  she  allowed  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  and  Mr. 
Ruthin  during  their  imprisonment  to  make  experiments 
in  chemistry  "  at  her  cost,  partly  to  comfort  and  divert 
the  poor  prisoners,  and  partly  to  gain  the  knowledge 
of  their  experiments,  and  the  medicines  to  help  such 
poor  people  as  were  not  able  to  seek  physicians. 
By  these  means  she  acquired  a  great  deal  of  skill, 
which  was  very  profitable  to  many  all  her  life."3 

Neither  did  ladies  confine  their  services  to  their 
own  household,  but  extended  their  benefits  to  all 
their  suffering  neighbours.  The  care  of  the  sick  poor 
was  considered  to  be  one  of  the  duties  of  a  "  Person  of 
Quality,"  whose  housekeepers  were  expected  "  to  have 
a  competent  knowledge  in  Physick  and  Chyrurgery, 
that  they  may  be  able  to  help  their  maimed,  sick  and 
indigent  Neighbours ;  for  Commonly,  all  good  and 
charitable  Ladies  make  this  a  part  ef  their  House- 
keepers business."4  The  "  Good  Woman "  is  des- 

1  Sowerby  (Leonard)     The  Ladies'  Dispensatory.     1651. 
1  Fell,  (Sarah).     Household  Accounts,  p.  95.     July  5,  1674. 

3  Memoirs  of  Col.  Hutcbinwn,  p.  12. 

4  Comfleat  Servant-maid,  p.  46, 


256  PROFESSIONS 

cribed  as  one  who  "  distributes  among  the  Indigent, 
Money  and  Books,  and  Cloaths,  and  Physick,  as 
their  several!  Circumstances  may  require,"  to 
relieve  "  her  poorer  Neighbours  in  sudden  Distress, 
when  a  Doctor  is  not  at  Hand,  or  when  they  have 
no  Money  to  buy  what  may  be  necessary  for  them ; 
and  the  charitableness  of  her  Physick  is  often  attended 
by  some  cure  or  other  that  is  remarkable.  God  gives 
a  peculiar  Blessing  to  the  Practice  of  those  Women 
who  have  no  other  design  in  this  Matter,  but  the 
doing  Good  :  that  neither  prescribe  where  they 
may  have  the  Advice  of  the  Learned,  nor  at  any  time 
give  or  recommend  any  thing  to  try  Experiments, 
but  what  they  are  assured  from  former  Tryals  is  safe 
and  innocent ;  and  if  it  do  not  help  cannot  hurt."1 

The  provision  made  by  Lady  Falkland  of  "  antidotes 
against  infection  and  of  Cordials,  and  other  several 
sorts  of  Physick  for  such  of  her  Neighbours  as  should 
need  them,  amounted  yearly  to  very  considerable 
summes  .  .  .  her  skil  indeed  was  more  than 
ordinary,  and  her  wariness  too  ....  Bookes 
of  spiritual  exhortations,  she  carried  in  her  hand  to 
these  sick  persons."2  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Bedell  "  was 
very  famous  and  expert  in  Chirurgery,  which  she 
continually  practised  upon  multitudes  that  flock'd 
to  her,  and  still  gratis,  without  respect  of  persons, 
poor  or  rich.  It  hapned  occasionally  that  some 
would  return  like  the  heald  Samaritan,  with  some 
token  of  thankfulness  ;  though  this  was  seldom. 
But  God  did  not  fail  to  reward  them  with  (that 
which  in  Scripture  is  most  properly  call'd  his  reward) 
children,  and  the  fruit  of  the  womb.  3  sons  and  4 
daughters."3 

Expressions  of  gratitude  to  women  for  these  medical 
services  occur  in  letters  and  diaries  of  the  time.  The 

1  Rogers,  Timothy.     Character  oj  a  Good  Woman,  p.  42  43. 
1  Falkland,  Lady  Lettice^  Vi-countess,  The  Life  and  Death  of. 
3  Pedsll,  (Wm.),  Life  and  Death  of,  p.  3,. 


PROFESSIONS  257 

Rev.  R.  Josselin  enters  January  27th,  1672,  "  My 
L.  Honeywood  sent  her  coach  for  me  :  yr  I  stayd 
to  March  10,  in  wch  time  my  Lady  was  my  nurse  & 
Phisitian  &  I  hope  for  much  good  :  .  .  .  .  they 
considered  ye  scurvy.  I  tooke  purge  &  other  things 
for  it ;  m  Marmaduke  Rawdon  met  with  a  carriage 
accident,  in  which  he  strained  his  "  arme,  but  comminge 
to  Hodsden  his  good  cossen  Mrs.  Williams,  with  hir 
arte  and  care,  quickly  cured  itt,  and  in  ten  dayes 
was  well  againe.'2 

Nor  was  the  practice  of  medicine  confined  to  Gentle- 
women ;  many  a  humble  woman  in  the  country, 
the  wife  of  farmer  or  husbandman,  used  her  skill  for 
the  benefit  of  her  neighbours.  In  their  case,  though 
many  were  prompted  purely  by  motives  of  kindness 
and  goodwill,  others  received  payment  for  their 
services.  How  much  the  dependence  of  the  common 
people  on  the  skill  of  these  "  wise  women  "  was  taken 
for  granted  is  suggested  by  some  lines  in  "  The 
Alchemist,"  where  Mammon  assures  Dol  Common 

"  This  nook,  here,  of  the  Friers  is  no  Climate 
For  her  to  live  obscurely  in,  to  learne 
Physick,  and  Surgery,  for  the  Constable's  wife 
Of  some  odde  Hundred  in  Essex."3 

Though  their  work  was  entirely  unscientific,  ex- 
perience and  common  sense,  or  perhaps  mere  luck, 
often  gave  to  their  treatment  an  appearance  of  success 
which  was  denied  to  their  more  learned  rivals.  Thus 
Adam  Martindale  describing  his  illness  says  that 
it  was  "  a  vehement  fermentation  in  my  body 
.  .  ugly  dry  scurfe,  eating  deep  and  spread- 
ing broad.  Some  skilfull  men,  or  so  esteemed,  being 
consulted  and  differing  much  in  their  opinions,  we  were 
left  to  these  three  bad  choices  ....  in  this  greate 

1  Josselin,  (R.),  Diary,  pp.  163-4. 

2  Rawdon,  (Marmaduke),  Life  of,  p.  85. 

3  jonson,  (Ben.).     The  Alchemist,  Act  IV..  So.  I. 

17 


258  PROFESSIONS 

straite  God  sent  us  in  much  mercie  a  poore  woman, 
who  by  a  salve  made  of  nothing  but  Celandine  and 
a  little  of  the  Mosse  of  an  ashe  root,  shred  and  boyled 
in  May-butter,  tooke  it  cleare  away  in  a  short  time, 
and  though  after  a  space  there  was  some  new  breakings 
out,  yet  these  being  annointed  with  the  same  salve 
were  absolutely  cleared  away."! 

The  general  standard  of  efficiency  among  the 
men  who  professed  medicine  and  surgery  was  very 
low,  the  chief  work  of  the  ordinary  country  practi- 
tioner being  the  letting  of  blood,  and  the  wise  woman 
of  the  village  may  easily  have  been  his  superior  in 
other  forms  of  treatment.  Sir  Ralph  Verney,  writing 
to  his  wife  advises  her  to  "  give  the  child  no  phisick  but 
such  as  midwives  and  old  women,  with  the  doctors 
approbation,  doe  prescribe ;  for  assure  yourselfe 
they  by  experience  know  better  than  any  phisition 
how  to  treate  such  infants."2  Of  Hobbes  it  was  said 
that  he  took  little  physick  and  preferred  "  an  ex- 
perienced old  woman  "  to  the  "  most  learned  and 
inexperienced  physician."5 

Dr.  Turbeville,  a  noted  oculist  in  the  West 
Country,  was  sent  for  to  cure  the  Princess  of 
Denmark,  who  had  a  dangerous  inflammation 
of  the  eyes.  On  his  return  he  is  reported  to  have 
said  that  "  he  expected  to  learn  something  of  these 
Court  doctors,  but,  to  his  amazement  he  found  them 
only  spies  upon  his  practice,  and  wholly  ignorant 
as  to  the  lady's  case  ;  nay,  farther,  he  knew  several 
midwives  and  old  women,  whose  advice  he  would 
rather  follow  than  theirs."4  He  died  at  Sarum 
in  1696,  and  his  sister,  Mrs.  Mary  Turbeville, 
practised  afterwards  in  London  "  with  good 

1  Martindale  (Adam%  Life  of,  p.  21.     1632. 

*  Verney  Family,  Vol.  2,  p.  270.     1647. 
8  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

•  Hoare,  Sir  R.  C.,  History  of  Modern  Wiltt.  Vol.  Vl.:  p  465 


PROFESSIONS  259 

reputation  and  success.  She  has  all  her  brother's 
receipts,  and  having  seen  his  practice,  during  many- 
years,  knows  how  to  use  them.  For  my  part,  I  have 
so  good  an  opinion  of  her  skill  that  should  I  again  be 
afflicted  with  sore  eyes,  which  God  forbid  !  I  would 
rely  upon  her  advice  rather  than  upon  any  pretenders 
or  professors  in  London  or  elsewhere."1 

Events,  however,  were  taking  place  which  would  soon 
curtail  the  practice  of  women  whose  training  was  con- 
fined to  personal  experience,  tradition  and  casual 
study.  The  established  associations  of  physicians, 
surgeons  and  apothecaries,  although  of  recent  growth, 
demanded  and  obtained,  like  other  companies,  ex- 
clusive privileges.  Their  policy  fell  in  with  the 
Government's  desire  to  control  the  practice  of  medicine, 
in  order  to  check  witchcraft.  Statute  3,  Henry  VIII. , 
enacted  that  "  none  should  exercise  the  Faculty  of 
Physick  or  Surgery  within  the  City  of  London  or  within 
Seven  Miles  of  the  same,  unless  first  he  were  examined, 
approved  and  admitted  by  the  Bishop  of  London, 
or  the  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  calling  to  him  or  them 
Four  Doctors  of  Physick,  and  for  Surgery  other 
expert  Persons  in  that  Faculty,  upon  pain  of  For- 
feiture of  .£5  for  every  Month  they  should  occupy 
Physick  or  Surgery,  not  thus  admitted "  because 
"  that  common  Artificers,  as  Smiths,  Weavers, 
and  Women,  boldly  and  accustomably  took  upon  them 
great  Cures,  and  Things  of  great  Difficulty,  in  the 
which  they  partly  used  Sorceries  and  Witchcraft, 
and  partly  applied  such  Medicines  unto  the  Diseased, 
as  were  very  noyous,  and  nothing  meet  therefore."2 
The  restrictions  were  extended  to  the  provinces. 
A  Charter  given  to  the  Company  of  Barber-Surgeons 
at  Salisbury  in  1614  declared  that  "  No  surgeon  or 
barber  is  to  practise  any  surgery  or  barbery,  unless 

1  Hoare,  Sir  R.  C.,  History  of  Modern  Wilts,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  467. 
2  Stow,  London  I.,  p.  132. 


26b  PROFESSIONS 

first  made  a  free  citizen,  and  then  a  free  brother  of 
the  company.  Whereas,  also,  there  are  divers  women 
and  others  within  this  city,  altogether  unskilled  in 
the  art  of  chirurgery,  who  do  oftentimes  take  cures 
on  them,  to  the  great  danger  of  the  patient,  it  is 
therefore  ordered,  that  no  such  woman,  or  any  other, 
shall  take  or  meddle  with  any  cure  of  chirurgery, 
wherefore  they,  or  any  of  them  shall  have  or  take 
any  money,  benefit  or  other  reward  for  the  same, 
upon  pain  that  every  delinquent  shall  for  every  cure 
to  be  taken  in  hand,  or  meddled  with,  contrary  to 
this  order,  unless  she  or  they  shall  be  first  allowed  by 
this  Company,  forfeit  and  lose  to  the  use  of  this 
Company  the  sum  of  ten  shillings."1 

The  Apothecaries  were  separated  from  the  Grocers 
in  1617,  the  charter  of  their  company  providing  that 
"  No  person  or  persons  whatsoever  may  have,  hold, 
or  keep  an  Apothecaries  Shop  or  Warehouse,  or  that 
may  exercise  or  use  the  Art  or  Mystery  of  Apothe- 
caries, or  make,  mingle,  work,  compound,  prepare, 
give,  apply,  or  administer,  any  Medicines,  or  that  may 
sell,  set  on  sale,  utter,  set  forth,  or  lend  any  Compound 
or  Composition  to  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever 
within  the  City  of  London,  and  the  Liberties  thereof, 
or  within  Seven  Miles  of  the  said  city,  unless  such 
person  or  persons  as  have  been  brought  up,  instructed, 
and  taught  by  the  space  of  Seven  Years  at  the  least, 
as  Apprentice  or  Apprentices,  with  some  Apothecary 
or  Apothecaries  exercising  the  same  Art,  and  being  a 
Freeman  of  the  said  Mystery."  Any  persons  wishing 
to  become  an  Apothecary  must  be  examined  and 
approved  after  his  apprenticeship.2 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  little  in  their 
charters  to  distinguish  the  medical  from  other 
city  Companies,  and  while  the  examination  required 

•  Hoare,  Sir  R.  C.,  History  of  Modem  Wilts,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  341. 
1  Barrett,  History  of  Apothecarirs,  Intro.,  p.  xxxii. 


PROFESSIONS  261 

by  the  Faculties  of  Medicine  and  Surgery  in  the  City 
of  London  excluded  women  altogether,  the  Apothe- 
caries still  admitted  them  by  marriage  or  apprentice- 
ship. "  Mns  Lammeere  Godfrey  Villebranke  her  son 
both  Dutch  Pothecarys  "  are  included  in  a  certi- 
ficate made  by  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  to  the  Privy 
Council,  of  the  foreigners  residing  in  the  Liberty  of 
Westminster.1  A  journeyman  who  applied  for  the 
freedom  of  the  company,  stated  that  he  was  serving 
the  widow  of  an  apothecary.  His  application  was 
refused  time  after  time  through  difficulties  owing  to 
a  clause  in  the  Charter.  Counsel's  opinion  was 
taken,  and  finally  he  was  admitted  provided  he  kept 
a  journeyman  and  entered  into  a  bond  of  ^100  to 
perform  the  same,  that  he  gave  .£10  and  a  spoon  to 
the  Company,  took  the  oaths  and  paid  Counsel's 
fees.2  He  subsequently  married  the  widow.  Similar 
rules  obtained  in  the  provinces,  as  is  shown  by  the 
admittance  of  Thomas  Serne  in  1698-9  to  the  freedom 
of  the  City  of  Dorchester  on  payment  of  405.  because 
he  had  "  married  a  wife  who  had  lived  as  apprentice 
for  20  years  to  an  apothecary."3 

The  jurisdiction  of  companies  was  local,  and  where 
no  company  existed  boys  were  apprenticed  to  surgery 
for  the  sake  of  training,  though  such  an  appren- 
ticeship conferred  no  monopoly  privilege.  Surgery 
was  sometimes  combined  with  another  trade.  John 
Croker  describes  in  his  memoir  how  he  was  bound 
apprentice  in  1686  to  one  John  Shilson  "  by  trade 
a  serge-maker,  but  who  also  professed  surgery ;  with 
whom  I  went  to  be  instructed  in  the  art  of  surgery."4 
The  operation  of  these  various  Statutes  and  Charters 
being  local  and  their  enforcement  depending  upon 

1  S.  P.  D.,  ccc.,  75.     October  1635. 

*  Barrett,  History  of  Apothecaries,  pp.,  28-9. 

Mayo,  C.  H.,  Municipal  Records  of  Dorchester,  p.  428. 

Croker,  (John"),  Brief  Memoirs,  p.  5. 


262  PROFESSIONS 

the  energy  of  the  parties  interested,  it  is  difficult  to 
determine  what  was  their  actual  and  immediate  effect 
on  the  medical  practice  of  women.  Statute  3,  Henry 
VIII. ,  must  have  been  enforced  with  some  severity, 
for  a  later  one  declares  "  Sithence  the  making  of  which 
said  Act  the  companie  &  felowship  of  surgeons  of 
London,  minding  oonly  their  own  lucres,  and  nothing 
the  profit  or  ease  of  the  diseased  or  patient,  have  sued, 
troubled  and  vexed  divers  honest  persons  as  well  men 
as  women,  whom  God  hath  endued  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  nature,  kind,  and  operation  of  certain  herbes, 
roots  and  waters,  and  the  using  &  ministering  of 
them  to  such  as  been  pained  with  customable  diseases, 
as  women's  breasts  being  sore,  a  pin  and  the  web  in  the 
eye,  &c.,  &c.,  and  yet  the  said  persons  have  not  taken 
any  thing  for  their  pains  or  cunning."1 

Not  only  the  Surgeons  but  the  Apothecaries  also, 
enforced  observance  of  the  privileges  which  the  King 
had  granted  to  them,  and  in  consequence  a  Petition 
of  many  thousands  of  citizens  and  inhabitants  in  and 
about  London  was  presented  on  behalf  of  Mr.  William 
Trigg,  Practitioner  of  Physick,  saying  that  he  "  did 
abundance  of  good  to  all  sorts  of  people  in  and  about 
this  City:  when  most  of  the  Colledge  Doctors 
deserted  us,  since  which  time  your  Petitioners  have 
for  above  twenty  yeares,  in  their  severall  times  of 
Sicknesses,  and  infirmities  taken  Physick  from  him 
.  .  .  .  in  which  time,  we  doe  verily  believe  in 
our  consciences,  that  he  hath  done  good  to  above 
thirty  thousand  Persons ;  and  that  he  maketh  all 
his  Compositions  himselfe,  not  taking  anything 
for  his  Physick  from  poor  people  ;  but  rather 
releiving  their  necessities,  nor  any  money  from  any 
of  us  for  his  advice  ;  and  but  moderately  for  his 
Physick  :  his  custome  being  to  take  from  the  middle 
sort  of  Patients  I2d.,  i8d.,  2s.,  2s.  6d.  as  they  please 
to  give,  very  seldom  five  shillngs  unlesse  from  such  as  take 

'  Statutes  at  Large.     34  Henry  VIII.     C.8. 


PROFESSIONS  263 

much  Physick  with  them  together  into  the  Countrey. 
there  is  a  good  and  wholesome  law  made 
in  the  34th  year  of  King  Henry  8  C.  8.  Permitting 
every  man  that  hath  knowledge  and  experience  in 
the  nature  of  Herbs,  Roots  and  waters,  to  improve 
his  Talent  for  the  common  good  and  health  of  the 
people,"  and  concluding  that  unless  Dr.  Trigg  is 
allowed  to  continue  his  practice  "  many  poore 

people  must  of  necessity  perish  to  death 

for  they  are  not  able  to  pay  great  fees  to  Doctors 
and  Apothecaries  bills  which  cost  more  then  his 
advice  and  Physick  ;  nor  can  we  have  accesse  unto 
them  when  we  desire,  which  we  familiarly  have  to 
Dr.  Trigg  to  our  great  ease  and  comfort. "] 

Prudence  Ludford,  wife  of  William  Ludford  of 
Little  Barkhampton,  was  presented  in  1683  "  for 
practising  the  profession  of  a  chyrurgeon  contrary 
to  law,"2  but  many  women  at  this  time  continued 
their  practice  as  doctors  undisturbed  ;  for  example, 
Mrs.  Lucy  Hutchinson  casually  mentions  that  one 
of  her  maids  went  to  Colson,  to  have  a  sore  eye  cured 
by  a  woman  of  the  town.3  While  Mrs.  D'ewes  was 
travelling  from  Axminster  to  London  by  coach,  her 
baby  boy  cried  so  violently  all  the  way,  on  account 
of  the  roughness  of  the  road  that  he  ruptured  him- 
self, and  was  left  behind  at  Dorchester  under  the  care 
of  Mrs.  Margaret  Waltham,  "  a  female  practitioner."^ 

The  account  books  of  Boroughs  and  Parishes  show 
that  the  poor  received  medical  treatment  from  men 
and  women  indiscriminately.  A  whole  series  of  such 
payments  occur  in  the  minute  book  of  the  Dorchester 
Corporation.  "  It  is  ordered  that  the  V11  to 
be  paid  to  Peter  Salanova  for  cutting  of  Giles 

1  Humble  Petition  of  many  thousands   of    Citizens,  and  Inhabitants  in  and  about 
London 

1  Hertford  Co.  Records,  Vol.  I.  p.  328. 
3  Memoirs  of  Col.  Hutchinson,  p.  4.27. 
*  Yonge.  Walter,  Diary,  Intro.,  xxii. 


264  PROFESSIONS 

Garrett's  leg  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  Xh  yearly  paiable 
out  of  the  Hospital!  for  pious  vses  ....  to 
have  the  one  halfe  having  cutt  of  his  leg  already, 
and  the  other  halfe  when  he  is  thoroughly  cured.1 
.  .  .  .  Unto  the  Widdow  Foote  xs.  for  the 
curing  of  the  Widow  Huchins'  lame  leg  at  present ; 
and  xs.  more  when  the  cure  is  finished2.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Losse  should  be  payed  by  the  Steward  of  the  Hospital 
the  somme  of  viij  li  for  his  paynes  and  fee  as  Phisitian 
in  taking  care  of  the  poore  of  the  Towne  for  the 
last  yeare  ....  as  it  hath  bin  formerly  ac- 
customed ....  Vnto  Mr.  Mullens  the  somme 
of  thirty  shillings  for  curing  Hugh  Rogers  of  a 
dangerous  fistula."'  Three  pounds  more  (three  having 
already  been  paid)  was  ordered  to  be  given  to 
"  Cassander  Haggard  for  finishing  the  great  cure  on 
John  Drayton  otherwise  Keuse."4  In  another  case 
the  Council  tendered  to  Mr.  Mullens,  "  the  chirurgeon, 
the  some  of  xxxs  for  curing  of  Thomas  Hobbs,  but  he 
answered  hee  would  consider  of  it  next  weeke  [He 
declined]."5 

At  Cowden  the  overseers  paid  to  Dr.  Willett 
for  "  reducing  the  arm  of  Elizth  Skinner,  and  for 
ointment,  cerecloths  and  journeys,  £2  ;  three  years 
later  a  further  sum  of  ros.  was  given  "  to  Goodwife 
Wells  for  curing  Eliz  Skinner's  hand."6  "  Mary 
Olyve  was  paid  6s.  8d.  "  for  curing  a  boye  that  was 
lame"  at  Mayfield,7  and  155.  was  given  to  "  Widow 
Thurston  for  healing  of  Stannard's  son,"  by  the 
churchwardens  at  Cratfield.8  In  Somerset  .£5  was 

Mayo,  C.  H.,  Municipal  Records  of  Dorcbuter,  p.  516,  1640. 

Ibid,  p.  518.    1651 

Ibid,  p.  518,    1649-50. 

Ibid,  pp.  518-9.    1652-1654. 

Ibid,  p.  519. 

Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  XX.,  p.  114.     Account  Book  of  Cowden,  1690. 

7  Ibid,  Vol.  XVIII.,  p.  196.  Accounts  of  Parish  of  Mayfield. 

8  Cratfield  Parish  Papers,  p.  179.     1640. 


PROFESSIONS  265 

paid  to  "  Johane  Shorley  towards  the  cure  of  Thomas 
Dudderidge.  Further  satisfaction  when  cure  is  don."1 
Such  entries  show  that  though  women  may  have 
practised  surgery  and  medicine  chiefly  as  domestic  arts, 
nevertheless  their  skill  was  also  used  professionally,  their 
natural  aptitude  in  this  direction  enabling  them  to  main- 
tain their  position  throughout  the  seventeenth  century 
even  when  deprived  of  all  opportunities  for  systematic 
study  and  scientific  experiments,  and  in  spite  of  the 
determined  attacks  by  the  Corporations  of  physicians 
and  surgeons ;  but  their  success  was  owing  to  the  fact 
that  Science  had  as  yet  achieved  small  results  in  the 
standard  of  medical  efficiency. 

( C) .     Midwifery . 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  employment  of  women 
in  the  arts  of  medicine,  nursing  and  teaching  was 
chiefly,  though  not  entirely,  confined  to  the  domestic 
sphere ;  midwifery,  on  the  other  hand,  though 
occasionally  practised  by  amateurs,  was,  in  the  majority 
of  cases,  carried  on  by  women  who,  whether  skilled 
or  unskilled,  regarded  it  as  the  chief  business  of  their 
lives,  and  depended  upon  it  for  their  maintenance. 
Not  only  did  midwifery  exist  on  a  professional 
basis  from  immemorial  days,  but  it  was  formerly 
regarded  as  a  mystery  inviolably  reserved  for  women  ; 
and  though  by  the  seventeenth  century  the  barrier 
which  excluded  men  had  broken  down,  the  extent 
to  which  the  profession  had  in  the  past  been  a  woman's 
monopoly  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  men  who 
now  began  to  practise  the  art  were  known  as  men- 
midwives. 

The  midwife  held  a  recognised  position  in  Society 
and  was  sometimes  well-educated  and  well-paid. 
Nothing  is  known  as  to  the  mediaeval  history  of  mid- 
wifery in  England  ;  and  possibly  nothing  ever  will  be 

*  Somerset  Q.  S.  Records,  Vol.  III.,  p.  212.     1653. 


266  PROFESSIONS 

known  concerning  it,  for  the  Englishwoman  of  that 
period  had  no  impulse  to  commit  her  experience 
and  ideas  to  writing.  All  the  wisdom  which  touched 
her  special  sphere  in  life  was  transmitted  orally  from 
mother  to  daughter,  and  thus  at  any  change,  like 
the  Industrial  Revolution,  which  silently  undermined 
the  foundations  of  society,  the  traditional  womanly 
wisdom  could  vanish,  leaving  no  trace  behind  it. 
Even  in  the  Elizabethan  period  and  during  the  seven- 
teenth century,  when  most  women  could  read  and 
many  could  write,  they  show  little  tendency  to  record 
information  concerning  their  own  affairs.  But  the 
profession  of  midwifery  was  then  no  longer  reserved  ex- 
clusively for  women.  The  first  treatise  on  the  subject 
published  in  England  was  a  translation  by  Raynold 
of  "  The  Byrth  of  Mankynd."  He  says  in  his  preface 
that  the  book  had  already  been  translated  into  "  Dutche 
Frenche,  Spanyshe  and  dyvers  other  languages.  In 
the  which  Countries  there  be  fewe  women  that  can 
reade,  but  they  wyll  haue  one  of  these  bookes  alwayes 
in  readinesse  .  .  .  .it  beinge  lykewyse  sette  f  oorth 
in  our  Englyshe  speeche  ....  it  may  supply 
the  roome  and  place  of  a  good  Mydwyfe,  .  .  .  . 
and  truly  ....  there  be  syth  the  fyrst 
settynge  forth  of  this  booke,  right  many  honourable 
Ladyes,  &  other  Worshypfull  Gentlewomen,  which 
have  not  disdayned  the  oftener  by  the  occasion  of 
this  booke  to  frequent  and  haunt  women  in  theyr 
labours,  caryinge  with  them  this  booke  in  theyr 
handes,  and  causyng  such  part  of  it  as  doth  chiefely 
concerne  the  same  pourpose,  to  be  read  before  the 
mydwyfe,  and  the  rest  of  the  women  then  beyng 
present ;  whereby  ofttymes,  then  all  haue  been 
put  in  remembraunce  of  that,  wherewith  the  laboryng 
woman  hath  bene  greatly  comforted,  and  alleuiated 
of  her  thronges  and  travayle  ....  But  here 
now  let  not  the  good  Mydwyves  be  offended  with  that, 
that  is  spoken  of  the  badde.  For  verily  there  is  no 


PROFESSIONS  267 

science,  but  that  it  hath  his  Apes,  Owles,  Beares  and 
Asses  ....  at  the  fyrst  commyng  abroade 
of  this  present  booke,  many  of  this  sorte  of  mydwyves, 
meuyd  eyther  of  envie,  or  els  of  mallice,  or  both, 
diligented  ....  to  fynde  the  meanes  to  sup- 
presse  ....  the  same ;  makyng  all  wemen  of 
theyr  acquayntaunce  .  .  .  .  to  beleeue,  that 
it  was  nothyng  woorth  :  and  that  it  shoulde  be  a 
slaunder  to  women,  forso  muche  as  therein  was  descried 
and  set  foorth  the  secretes  and  priuities  of  women, 
and  that  euery  boy  and  knaue  hadd  of  these  bookes, 
readyng  them  as  openly  as  the  tales  of  Robinhood  &c.'51 

It  is  sometimes  supposed  that  childbirth  was  an 
easier  process  in  former  generations  than  it  has  become 
since  the  developments  of  modern  civilisation.  The 
question  has  a  direct  bearing  on  the  profession  of 
midwifery,  but  it  cannot  be  answered  here,  nor 
could  it  receive  a  simple  answer  of  yes  or  no,  for  it 
embraces  two  problems  for  the  midwife,  the  ease  and 
safety  of  a  normal  delivery  and  her  resources  in  face 
of  the  abnormal. 

No  one  can  read  the  domestic  records  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  without  realising  that  the  dangers  of 
childbed  were  much  greater  then  than  now;  neverthe- 
less the  travail  of  the  average  woman  at  that  time  may 
have  been  easier.  There  was  clearly  a  great  difference 
in  this  respect  between  the  country  woman,  inured 
to  hard  muscular  labour,  and  the  high  born  lady  or 
city  dame.  The  difference  is  pointed  out  by  con- 
temporary writers.  McMath  dedicated  "  the  Expert 
Midwife  "  to  the  Lady  Marquies  of  Douglas  because 
"  as  it  concerns  all  Bearing  Women  ....  so 
chiefly  the  more  Noble  and  Honourable,  as  being  more 
Excellent,  more  Tender,  and  Delicate,  and  readily 
more  opprest  with  the  symptoms."  Jane  Sharp  con- 
firms this,  saying  that  "  the  poor  Country  people, 

*  Raynold,  The  Byrth  of  Mankynd,  Prologue. 


268  PROFESSIONS 

where  there  are  none  but  women  to  assist  (unless  it 
be  those  that  are  exceeding  poor  and  in  a  starving 
condition,  and  then  they  have  more  need  of  meat 
than  Midwives)  ....  are  as  fruitful  and  as 
safe  and  well  delivered,  if  not  much  more  fruitful, 
and  better  commonly  in  Childbed  than  the  greatest 
Ladies  of  the  Land."1 

Rich  and  poor  alike  depended  upon  the  midwife  to 
bring  them  safely  through  the  perils  of  childbirth, 
and  it  is  certain  that  women  of  a  high  level  of  intel- 
ligence and  possessing  considerable  skill  belonged  to  the 
profession.  The  fees  charged  by  successful  midwives 
were  very  high,  and  during  the  first  half  of  the  century 
they  were  considered  in  no  way  inferior  to  doctors 
in  skill.  It  was  natural  that  Queen  Henrietta  Maria 
should  send  for  one  of  her  own  country  women  to 
attend  her,  French  midwives  enjoying  an  extra- 
ordinarily high  reputation  for  their  skill  at  this  time. 
The  payment  in  1630  of  ^100  to  Frances  Monnhadice, 
Nurse  to  the  Queen,  "  for  the  diet  &  entertainment 
of  Madame  Peron,.  midwife  to  the  Queen,"  and  further 
of  a  "Warrant  to  pay  Madame  Peron  ^300  of  the 
King's  gift  "2  shows  the  high  value  attached  to  her 
services. 

That  English  midwives  were  often  possessed  of 
ample  means  is  shown  by  a  deposition  made  by 
"  Abraham  Perrot,  of  Barking  parish,  Gentleman," 
who  "  maketh  oath  that  a  month  before  the  fire 
.  .  .  .  he  ....  paid  unto  Hester  Shaw 
Widow,  ....  the  summe  of  £953.6.  8. "3  the  said 
Mrs.  Shaw  being  described  as  a  midwife ;  but 
relations  who  were  members  of  this  profession 
are  never  alluded  to  in  letters,  diaries  or  memoirs. 
From  this  absence  of  any  social  reference  it  is  difficult 

1  Sharp  (Jane),  The  Midwives  Bock,  p.  3. 

2  S.  P.  D.     1630.     Sign  Manual  Car.  I.,  Vol.  VII.     No.  u. 
8  Mrs.  Shaw's  Innocency  Restored.     1653. 


PROFESSIONS  269 

to  determine  from  what  class  of  the  community 
they  were  drawn,  or  what  were  the  circumstances 
which  led  women  to  take  up  this  responsible  and 
arduous  profession.  No  doubt  necessity  led  many 
ignorant  women  to  drift  into  the  work  when  they  were 
too  old  to  receive  new  ideas  and  too  wanting  in  am- 
bition to  make  any  serious  effort  to  improve  their 
skill,  but  the  writings  of  Mrs.  Cellier  and  Mrs.  Jane 
Sharp  prove  that  there  were  others  who  regarded 
their  profession  with  enthusiasm,  and  who  possessed 
an  intelligence  acute  enough  to  profit  by  all  the 
experience  and  instruction  which  was  within  their 
reach. 

The  only  training  available  for  women  who  wished 
to  acquire  a  sound  knowledge  of  midwifery  was  by 
apprenticeship  ;  this,  if  the  mistress  was  skilled  in 
her  art,  was  valuable  up  to  a  certain  point,  but  as  no 
organisation  existed  among  midwives  it  was  not  poss- 
ible to  insist  upon  any  general  standard  of  efficiency, 
and  many  midwives  were  ignorant  of  the  most  element- 
ary circumstances  connected  with  their  profession. 
In  any  case  such  an  apprenticeship  could  not  supply 
the  place  of  the  more  speculative  side  of  training, 
which  can  only  be  given  in  connection  with  schools 
of  anatomy  where  research  work  is  possible,  and  from 
these  all  women  were  excluded. 

As  has  been  said,  many  women  who  entered  the 
profession  did  not  even  go  through  a  form  of  appren- 
ticeship, but  acquired  their  experience  solely,  to 
use  Raynold's  words,  "  by  haunting  women  in  their 
labours."  In  rural  England  it  was  customary  when 
travail  began,  to  send  for  all  the  neighbours  who  were 
responsible  women,  partly  with  the  object  of  securing 
enough  witnesses  to  the  child's  birth,  partly  because 
it  was  important  to  spread  the  understanding  of 
midwifery  as  widely  as  possible,  because  any  woman 
might  be  called  upon  to  render  assistance  in  an 
emergency. 


270  PROFESSIONS 

Several  handbooks  on  Midwifery  were  written  in 
response  to  the  demand  for  opportunities  for  scientific 
training  by  the  more  intelligent  members  of  the  pro- 
fession. One  of  the  most  popular  of  these  books, 
which  passed  through  many  editions,  was  published 
in  1671  by  Jane  Sharp  "  Practitioner  in  the  art  of 
Midwifery  above  30  years."  The  preface  to  the  fourth 
edition  says  that  "  the  constant  and  unwearied 
Industry  of  this  ingenious  and  well-skill'd  midwife, 
Mrs.  Jane  Sharp,  together  with  her  great  Experience 
of  Anatomy  &  Physick,  by  the  many  years  of  her 

Practice  in  the  art  of  Midwifery  hath 

made  them  ....  much  desired  by  all  that 
either  knew  her  Person  ....  or  ever  read  this 
book,  which  of  late,  by  its  Scarceness  hath  been  so 
much  enquired  after  ....  as  to  have  many 
after  impressions."  The  author  says  that  she  has 
"  often  sate  down  sad  in  the  Consideration  of  the 
many  Miseries  Women  endure  in  the  Hands  of  un- 
skilful Midwives ;  many  professing  the  Art  (without 
any  skill  in  anatomy,  which  is  the  Principal  part 
effectually  necessary  for  a  Midwife)  meerly  for  Lucres 
sake.  I  have  been  at  Great  Cost  in  Translations 
for  all  Books,  either  French,  Dutch  or  Italian  of  this 
kind.  All  which  I  offer  with  my  own  Experience."1 

Jane  Sharp  points  out  that  midwives  must  be  both 
speculative  and  practical,  for  "  she  that  wants  the 
knowledge  of  Speculation,  is  like  one  that  is  blind 
or  wants  her  sight  :  she  that  wants  the  Practice,  is 

like  one  that  is  lame  &  wants  her  legs, 

Some  perhaps  may  think,  that  then  it  is  not  proper 
for  women  to  be  of  this  profession,  because  they  cannot 
attain  so  rarely  to  the  knowledge  of  things  as  men  may, 
who  are  bred  up  in  Universities,  Schools  of  Learning, 
or  serve  their  Apprenticeship  for  that  end  and  purpose, 
where  anatomy  Lectures  being  frequently  read  the 

1  Sharp,    Mrs.    Jane,    The    Midwives    Book,    or    the    whole   Art    of    Miduiifery 
discovered. 


PROFESSIONS  271 

situation  of  the  parts  both  of  men  and  women  .  .  . 
are  often  made  plain  to  them.  But  that  objection  is 
easily  answered,  by  the  former  example  of  the  Mid- 
wives  amongst  the  Israelites,  for,  though  we  women 
cannot  deny  that  men  in  some  things  may  come  to  a 
greater  perfection  of  knowledge  than  women  ordin- 
arily can,  by  reason  of  the  former  helps  that  women 
want ;  yet  the  Holy  Scriptures  hath  recorded  Mid- 
wives  to  the  perpetual  honour  of  the  female  Sex. 
There  not  being  so  much  as  one  word  concerning  men 
midwives  mentioned  there  ....  it  being  the 
natural  propriety  of  women  to  be  much  seeing  into 
that  art ;  and  though  nature  be  not  alone  sufficient 
to  the  perfection  of  it,  yet 'further  knowledge  may  be 
gain'd  by  a  long  and  diligent  practice,  and  be  com- 
municated to  others  of  our  own  sex.  I  cannot  deny 
the  honour  due  to  able  Physicians  and  Chyrurgions, 
when  occasion  is,  Yet  ....  where  there  is 
no  Men  of  Learning,  the  women  are  sufficient  to 
perform  this  duty  ....  It  is  not  hard  words 
that  perform  the  work,  as  if  none  understood  the  Art 
that  cannot  understand  Greek.  Words  are  but 
the  shell,  that  we  oftimes  break  our  Teeth  with  them 
to  come  at  the  kernel,  I  mean  our  brains  to  know  what 
is  the  meaning  of  them  ;  but  to  have  the  same  in  our 
mother  tongue  would  save  us  a  great  deal  of  needless 
labour.  It  is  commendable  for  men  to  employ  their 
spare  time  in  some  things  of  deeper  Speculation  than 
is  required  of  the  female  sex  ;  but  the  art  of  Mid- 
wifery chiefly  concerns  us."1 

Though  the  schools  of  Medicine  and  Anatomy  were 
closed  to  women,  individual  doctors  were  willing  to 
teach  the  more  progressive  midwives  some  of  the 
science  necessary  for  their  art ;  thus  Culpeper 
dedicated  his  "  Directory  "  to  the  midwives  of  England 
in  the  following  words : — "  Worthy  Matrons,  You  are  of 

1  Sharp,  Mrs.  Jane  .The  Midwives  Book,  pp.  2-4. 


272  PROFESSIONS.  ^ 

the  number  of  those  whom  mysoulloveth,  and  of  whom 
I  make  daily  mention  in  my  Prayers  :  ....  If  you 
please  to  make  experience  of  my  Rules,  they  are  very 
plain,  and  easie  enough ;  ....  If  you  make 
use  of  them,  you  wil  find  your  work  easie,  you  need 
not  call  for  the  help  of  a  Man-Midwife,  which  is  a 
disparagement,  not  only  to  yourselves,  but  also  to 
your  Profession  :  .  .  .  .  All  the  Perfections  that 
can  be  in  a  Woman,  ought  to  be  in  a  Midwife  ;  the 
first  step  to  which  is,  To  know  your  ignorance  in  that 
part  of  Physick  which  is  the  Basis  of  your  Act  .... 
If  any  want  Wisdom,  let  him  ask  it  of  God  (not  of 
the  Colledg  of  Physitians,  for  if  they  do,  they  may 
hap  to  go  without  their  Errand,  unless  they  bring 
Money  with  them)."1 

Efforts  made  by  Peter  Chamberlain  to  secure  some 
systematic  training  for  midwives  drew  upon  himself 
the  abuse,  if  not  persecution,  of  his  jealous  contem- 
poraries. In  justifying  the  course  he  had.  taken  he 
pleads  "  Because  I  am  pretended  to  be  Ignorant  or 
Covetous,  or  both,  therefore  some  ignorant  Women, 
whom  either  extream  Povertie  hath  necessitated,  or 
Hard-heartedness  presumed,  or  the  Game  of  Venus  in- 
truded into  the  calling  of  Midwifry  (to  have  the  issues 
of  Life  &  Death  of  two  or  three  at  one  time  in  their 
hands,  beside  the  consequence  of  Health  and  Strength 
of  the  Whole  Nation)  should  neither  be  sufficiently 
instructed  in  doing  Good,  nor  restrained  from  doing 

Evil  ? The  objection  infers  thus  much. 

Because  there  was  never  any  Order  for  instructing  and 
governing  of  Midwives,  therefore  there  never  must 
be  ....  It  may  be  when  Bishops  are  restored 
again,  their  Ordinaries  will  come  in  to  plead  their 
care.  Of  what  ?  Truly  that  none  shall  do  good 
without  their  leave.  That  none  shall  have  leave, 
but  such  as  will  take  their  Oath  and  pay  Money.  That 

1  Culpeper,    Nich.,    Gent.,    Student  in    Physick   and    Astrologie,    Directory 'for 
Midwives. 


PROFESSIONS  273 

taking  this  Oath  and  paying  their  Money  with  the 
testimonie  of  two  or  three  Gossips,  any  may  have  leave 
to  be  as  ignorant,  if  not  as  cruel  as  themselves,  .... 
but  of  Instruction  or  Order  amongst  the  Midwives, 
not  one  word."1 

The  danger  which  threatened  midwives  by  the 
exclusion  of  women  from  the  scientific  training 
available  for  men,  did  not  pass  unnoticed  by  the  leading 
members  of  the  Profession.  They  realised  that  the 
question  at  stake  did  not  concern  only  the  honour 
of  their  Profession,  but  involved  the  suffering,  and  in 
many  cases  even  the  death,  of  vast  numbers  of  women 
and  babies  who  must  always  depend  on  the  skill  of  mid- 
wives  and  urged  that  steps  should  be  taken  to  raise  the 
standard  of  their  efficiency.  Mrs.  Cellier2  pointed  out 

1  Chamberlain  (Peter),  A  Voice  in  Rbama,  or  the  Crie  of  Women  and  Children.  1 646. 

1  Cellier  (Mrs.).  A  scheme  for  the  foundation  of  a  Royal  Hospital,  Harleian 
Miscellany,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  142-147. 

The  scheme  was  well  thought  out,  and  some  details  from  it  may  be  given  here 
as  showing  the  aspirations  of  an  able  woman  for  the  development  of  her  profession. 
Mrs.  Cellier  proposed  that  the  number  of  midwives  admitted  to  the  first  rank  should 
be  limited  to  1000,  and  that  these  should  pay  a  fee  of  £5  on  admittance  and  the  like 
sum  annually.  All  the  midwives  entering  this  first  rank  should  be  eligible  for  the 
position  of  Matron,  or  assistant  to  the  Govenment. 

Other  midwives  may  be  admitted  to  the  second  thousand  on  payment  of  half  the 
above  fees. 

The  money  raised  bv  these  fees  is  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  "  one  good, 
large  and  convenient  House,  or  Hospital,"  ....  for  the  Receiving  and  Taking 
in  of  exposed  Children,  to  be  subject  to  the  Care,  Conduct  and  Management  of  one 
Governess,  one  female  Secretary,  and  twelve  Matron  Assistants,  subject  to  the 
visitation  of  such  Persons,  as  to  your  Majesty's  Wisdom  shall  be  thought  necessary 
.  .  .  .  the  children  to  be  afterwards  educated  in  proper  Learning,  Arts  and 
Mysteries  according  to  their  several  capacities.  As  a  further  endowment  for  this 
institution,  Mrs.  Cellier  asks  for  one  fifth  part  of  the  voluntary  charity  collected 
in  the  Parishes  comprised  within  the  Limits  of  the  weekly  Bills  of  Mortality,  and  that 
in  addition  collecting  Boxes  may  be  placed  in  every  Church,  Chapel,  or  publick  Place 
of  Divine  Service  of  any  Religion  whatsoever  within  their  limits.  The  scheme 
further  provides  "  that  such  Hospital  may  be  allowed  to  establish  twelve  lesser 
convenient  houses,  in  twelve  of  the  greatest  parishes,  each  to  be  governed  by  one  of 
the  twelve  Matrons,  Assistants  to  the  Corporation  of  the  Midwives,  which  Houses 
may  be  for  the  taking  in,  delivery  and  month's  Maintenance,  at  a  price  certain  of 
any  woman,  that  any  of  the  parishes  within  the  limits  aforesaid,  shall  by  the  overseers 
of  the  poor  place  in  them ;  such  women  being  to  be  subject,  with  the  Children  born, 
of  them,  to  the  future  care  of  that  parish,  whose  overseers  place  them  there  to  be 
delivered,  notwithstanding  such  House  shall  not  happen  to  stand  in  the  proper 
Parish."  .  ,  .  , 

18 


274  PROFESSIONS 

"  That,  within  the  Space  of  twenty  years  last  past, 
above  six  thousand  women  have  died  in  child-bed, 
more  than  thirteen  thousand  children  have  been  born 
abortive,  and  above  five  thousand  chrysome  infants 
have  been  buried,  within  the  weekly  bills  of  mortality  ; 
above  two-thirds  of  which,  amounting  to  sixteen 
thousand  souls,  have  in  all  probability  perished,  for 
want  of  due  skill  and  care,  in  those  women  who  practise 
the  art  of  midwifery  ....  To  remedy  which, 
it  is  humbly  proposed,  that  your  Majesty  will  be 
graciously  pleased  to  unite  the  whole  number  of 
skilful  midwives,  now  practising  within  the  limits 
of  the  weekly  bills  of  mortality,  into  a  corporation, 
under  the  government  of  a  certain  number  of  the  most 
able  and  matron-like  women  among  them,  subject  to 
the  visitation  of  such  person  or  persons,  as  your  Majesty 
shall  appoint ;  and  such  Rules  for  their  good  govern- 
ment, instruction,  direction,  and  administration  as 
are  hereunto  annexed." 

Then  follow  proposals  for  the  care  of  the  children,  requiring  that  they  may  be  priv- 
ileged to  take  to  themselves  Sirnames  and  to  be  made  capable,  by  such  names,  of  any 
honour  or  employment,  without  being  liable  to  reproach,  for  their  innocent  mis- 
fortune, and  that  the  children  so  educated  may  be  free  members  of  every  city  and 
corporation. 

After  the  first  settlement,  no  married  woman  shall  "  be  admitted  to  be  either 
governess,  secretary,  or  any  of  the  twelve  principal  assistants  to  the  Government 
and  that  no  married  person  of  either  sex  shall  be  suffered  to  inhabit  within  the  said 
Hospital,  to  avoid  such  inconveniences  as  may  arise,  as  the  children  grow  to  mat- 
urity ;  ....  if  any  of  these  Persons  do  marry  afterwards,  then  to  clear  their 
accounts  and  depart  the  house,  by  being  expelled  the  society." 

Among  many  interesting  rules  for  governing  the  Hospital,  Mrs.  Cellier  appoints 
"  That  a  woman,  sufficiently  skilled  in  writing  and  accounts,  be  appointed  secretary 
to  the  governess  and  company  of  midwives,  to  be  present  at  all  controversies  about 
the  art  of  midwifery,  to  register  all  the  extraordinary  accidents  happening  in  the 
practise,  which  all  licensed  midwives  are,  from  time  to  time,  to  report  to  the  society  ; 
that  the  female  secretary  be  reckoned  an  assistant  to  the  government,  next  to  the 
governess  and  capable  of  succeeding  in  her  stead." 

"  That  the  principal  physician  or  man-midwife,  examine  all  extraordinary  accidents 
and,  once  a  month  at  least,  read  a  publick  Lecture  to  the  whole  society  of  licensed  mid- 
wives,  who  are  all  to  be  obliged  to  be  present  at  it,  if  not  employed  in  their  practise." 
The  lectures  to  be  kept  for  future  reference  by  the  midwives. 

"  That  no  men  shall  be  present  at  such  public  lectures,  on  any  pretence  what- 
soever, except  such  able  doctors  and  surgeons,  as  shall  enter  themselves  students 
in  the  said  art,  and  pay,  for  such  their  admittance,  ten  pounds,  and  ten  pounds  a 
year."  The  physicians  and  surgeons  so  admitted  were  to  be  "  of  Council  with 
the  principle  man-midwife  and  be  capable  of  succeeding  him,  by  election  of  the 
governess,  her  secretary,  twelve  assistants,  and  the  twenty-four  lower  assistants," 


PROFESSIONS  275 

Mrs.  Cellier  succeeded  with  her  proposal,  in  so  far 
that  His  Majesty  agreed  to  unite  the  midwives  into 
a  Corporation  by  Royal  Charter,  but  there  the  matter 
rested."1 

In  France  women  were  more  fortunate,  for  a  noted 
school  of  midwifery  had  already  been  established 
at  the  Hotel  Dieu  in  Paris,  at  which  every  six  weeks 
dissections  and  anatomies  were  especially  made  for  the 
apprentices  of  the  institution,  both  past  and  present.2 
Before  entering  on  their  profession  the  French  mid- 
wives  were  required  to  pass  an  examination  before  the 
chirurgeons.  Their  professional  reputation  stood  so 
high  that  Pechey  alludes  to  one  of  them  as  "  that 
most  Famous  Woman  of  the  World,  Madam  Louise 
Burgeois,  late  Midwife  to  the  Queen  of  France.  The 
praises  that  we  read  of  all  those  that  ever  heard  of  her 
are  not-  so  much  a  flourish  as  truth  ;  for  her  reasons  are 
solid  experiences,  and  her  witnesses  have  been  all 
of  the  most  eminent  Persons  of  France  ;  and  not  only 
of  her,  but  as  we  have  already  exprest,  of  the  most 
excellent  known  Men  and  Women  of  this  Art  of 
other  Countries."5 

According  to  Mrs.  Cellier,  English  midwives  were 
for  a  time  examined  by  the  College  of  Surgeons,  but 
as  their  records  for  the  years  in  question  are  missing 
there  is  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  numbers  of  those 
who  presented  themselves  for  examination.  She 
says  that  Bishops  did  not  "  pretend  to  License  Mid- 
wives  till  Bp.  Banner's  time,  who  drew  up  the 
Form  of  the  first  License,  which  continued  in  full 
force  till  1642,  and  then  the  Physicians  and  Chir- 
urgeons contending  about  it,  it  was  adjudged  a  Chy- 
rurgical  operation,  and  the  Midwives  were  Licensed 
at  Chirurgions-Hall,  but  not  till  they  had  passed  three 

1  Cellier,   (Eliz.).     To  Dr.  ,   an  answer  to    bis     Queries    concerning    the 

Colledg  of  Midwives,  p.  7. 

1  Carrier  (Henriette.)     Origine  de  la  Materniti  de  Paris. 
3  Pechey,  Corn-pleat  Midwife,  Preface. 


276  PROFESSIONS 

examinations,  before  six  skilful  Midwives,  and,  as 
many  Cbiruigions  expert  in  the  Art  of  Midwifery. 
Thus  it  continued  until  the  Act  of  Uniformity  passed, 
which  sent  the  Midwives  back  to  Doctors  Commons, 
where  they  pay  their  money  (take  an  oath  which  it 
is  impossible  for  them  to  keep}  and  return  home  as  skil- 
ful as  they  went  thither.  I  make  no  reflections  on  those 
learned  Gentlemen,  the  Licensers,  but  refer  the 
curious  for  their  further  satisfaction  to  the  Yearly 
Bills  of  Mortality,  from  42  to  62  ;  Collections  of  which 
they  may  find  at  Clerkshall.  Which  if  they  please 
to  compare  with  these  of  late  Years,  they  will  find  there 
did  not  then  happen  the  eight  part  of  the  Casualities 
either  to  Women  or  Children,  as  do  now."1 

In  granting  licences  to  midwives  the  Bishops  were 
supposed  to  make  some  enquiry  as  to  their  professional 
attainments.  Among  the  "  articles  to  be  enquired 
of  "  during  Diocesan  visits  was  one  "  whether  any  man 
or  woman  within  your  Parish,  hath  professed  or  prac- 
tised Physick  or  Chyrurgery  ;  by  what  name  or  names 
are  they  called,  and  whether  are  they  licensed  by  the 
Bishop  of  the  Diocesse,  or  his  Vicar  Generall,  and  upon 
whom  have  they  practised,  and  what  good  or  harm 
have  they  done  ?  >:  And  again,  "  whether  any  in 
your  Parish  do  practise  Physicke  or  chirurgery,  or  that 
there  be  any  mid-wife  there,  or  by  what  authority 
any  of  them  do  practise,  or  exercise  that  profession."3 
But  the  interest  of  the  Bishops  was  concerned  more 
with  the  orthodoxy  of  the  midwife  than  with  her 
professional  skill. 

A  midwife's  licence  was  drawn  up  as  follows  : 
beginning : — "  Thomas  Exton,  knight,  doctor  of 
laws,  commisary  general,  lawfully  constituted  of 
the  right  worshipful  the  dean  &  chapter  of  St. 

1  Cellier  (Eliz.).     to  Dr. an  answer  to  bis  Queries   concerning   the   Colledg 

of  Midwives,  p.  6. 

1  Exeter,  Articles  to  be  enquired  of  by  the  Churchwardens.    1646. 
8  Canterbury,  Articles  to  be  enquired.     1636. 


PROFESSIONS  277 

Paul's  in  London  ;  to  our  beloved  in  Christ,  Anne 
Voule,  the  wife  of  Jacob  Voule,  of  the  parish  of  St 
Gile's  Cripplegat,  sendeth  greeting  in  our  Lord  God 
everlasting  :  Whereas,  by  due  examination  of  diverse, 
honest,  and  discreet  women,  we  have  found  you  apt 
and  able,  cunning  and  experte,  to  occupy  &  exercise 
the  office,  business  &  occupation  of  midwife,"  and 
continuing  after  many  wise  and  humane  rules  for  her 
guidance  with  an  exhortation  "  to  be  diligent,  faithful 
and  ready  to  help  every  woman  travelling  of  child, 
as  well  the  poor  as  the  rich,  and  you  shall  not  forsake 
the  poor  woman  and  leave  her  to  go  to  the  rich  ; 
you  shall  in  no  wise  exercise  any  manner  of  witchcraft, 
charms,  sorcery,  invocation,  or  other  prayers,  than 
such  as  may  stand  with  God's  laws,  and  the  king's," 
concluding  thus  : — "  Item,  you  shall  not  be  privy 
to  or  consent  that  any  priest  or  other  party  shall  in 
your  absence,  or  your  company,  or  of  your  knowledge 
or  sufferance,  baptize  any  child  by  any  mass,  Latin 
service,  or  prayers  than  such  as  are  appointed  by  the 
laws  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  neither  shall  you 
consent  that  any  child  borne  by  any  woman,  who  shall 
be  delivered  by  you,  shall  be  carried  away  without 
being  baptized  in  the  parish  by  the  ordinary  minister 
where  the  said  child  is  born."1 

The  Bishops'  interest  in  midwives  may  have  been 
caused  partly  by  a  praiseworthy  desire  to  secure  an 
adequate  supply  for  the  assistance  of  women  in  each 
parish.  But  from  the  Church's  point  of  view,  the 
midwife's  chief  importance  was  not  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  life  of  mother  and  child  might  depend  on 
her  skill,  but  to  her  capacity  for  performing  the  rites 
of  baptism.  The  reasons  for  granting  her  this  author- 
ity are  explained  as  follows  : — "  in  hard  Labours 
the  Head  of  the  Infant  was  sometimes  baptized 
before  the  whole  delivery.  This  Office  of  Baptizing 

1  Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.,  249-50.     Extracts  from  Pari«h  Register!. 


278  PROFESSIONS 

in  such  Cases  of  Necessity  was  commonly  performed 
by  the  Midwife  ;  and  'tis  very  probable,  this^gave 
first  Occasion  to  Midwives  being  licensed  by  the 
Bishop,  because  they  were  to  be  first  examined  by  the 
Bishop  or  his  delegated  Officer,  whether  they  could 
repeat  the  Form  of  Baptism,  which  they  were  in 
Haste  to  administer  in  such  extraordinary  Occasion. 
But  we  thank  God  our  times  are  reformed  in  Sense, 
and  in  Religion."1  Though  the  midwife  was  only 
expected  to  baptize  in  urgent  cases  she  might  strain 
her  privilege,  and  baptize  even  a  healthy  infant 
into  the  Roman  Church.  Her  power  in  this  respect 
was  regarded  with  suspicion  and  jealousy  by  English 
Protestants,  not  only  because  she  might  inadvertently 
admit  the  infant  to  the  wrong  fold,  but  because  it 
resembled  the  conferring  of  office  in  the  Church  upon 
women  ;  however,  as  no  man  was  usually  present  at 
the  birth  of  a  child,  and  it  was  fully  believed  that  delay 
might  involve  the  perpetual  damnation  of  the  dying 
infant's  soul,  no  alternative  remained.  Peter  Heylyn, 
in  writing  of  Baptism,  comments  on  the  difficulty, 
saying  that  "  the  first  Reformers  did  not  only  allow 
the  administration  of  this  Sacrament  [Baptism]  in 
private  houses,  but  permitted  it  to  private  persons, 
even  to  women  also."  He  continues  that  when  King 
James,  in  the  Conference  at  Hampton  Court,  seemed 
offended  because  of  this  liberty  to  women  and 
laicks,  Dr.  Whitgift,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  denied 
that  the  words  gave  this  liberty,  and  Dr.  Babington 
alledged  "  that  the  words  were  purposely  made 
ambiguous  as  otherwise  the  Book  might  not  have 
passed  Parliament.  To  whom  it  was  replied  by  the 
Bishop  of  London  that  there  was  no  intent  to  deceive 
any,  but  the  words  did  indeed  "  intend  a  permission 
of  private  persons  to  Baptize  in  case  of  necessity"'' 
The  fear  of  secret  baptisms  into  the  Catholic 

1  Watson,  Clergyman's  Law,  p.  318. 

*  Heylyn  (Peter),  Cypriantu  Anglicus,  p,  27. 


PROFESSIONS  279 

Church  is  shown  in  a  letter  which  states  that  "  the 
wief  of  Frances  Lovell  esqr  of  West  Derhm  is  noted  for 
a  recusant.  And  the  said  Frances  had  a  childe  about 
three  yeares  past  christianed  by  a  midwief  sent  thither 
by  the  La.  Lovell,  and  the  midwief 's  name  cannot 
be  learned."1 

It  was  this  danger  which  led  to  the  prosecution  of 
women  who  practised  without  licences.  The  Church- 
wardens at  Lee  presented  "  the  Widow  Goney  and  the 
wife  of  Thomas  Gronge  being  midwives  &  not  sworne." 
In  Hadingham  they  report  "  We  have  two  poore 
women  exercising  the  office  of  midwives,  one  Avice 
Rax  and  the  wife  of  one  John  Sallerie,"2  and  elsewhere 
"  Dorothye  Holding  wief  of  Jo.  Holding  &  Dorothye 
Parkins  wief  of  Wm  Parkins "  were  presented  "  for 
exercising  the  office  of  midwives  without  License."3 

The  fees  charged  by  midwives  varied  from  ^300  in 
the  case  of  the  French  Midwife  who  attended  the 
Queen,  to  the  sum  of  is.  6d.  paid  by  the  Parish  of 
Aspenden  to  the  midwife  who  delivered  a  woman 
"  received  by  virtue  of  a  warrant  from  the  justices."4 
In  most  cases  the  amount  paid  by  the  parents  was 
supplemented  by  gifts  from  the  friends  and  relations 
who  attended  the  christening.5  Thus  the  baby's 

Bacon,  (Sir  Nat.).     Official  Papers,  p.  176.     1591. 

S.  P.  Z>.,  ccxcvi.,  17.  August  21,  1635.  Visitation  presentments  by  the 
Churchwardens. 

S.  P.  D.,  ccxcv.,  6.    August  19,  1636. 
Hertford  County  Records,  Vol.  I.,  p.  435.     1698. 

The  Rev.  Giles  Moore  "  gave  Mat  [his  adopted  daughter]  then  answering  for 
Edwd.  Cripps  young  daughter  53.  whereof  shee  gave  to  the  mydwyfe  2s  &  is.  to  the 
Nurse.  Myself  gave  to  the  mydwyfe  in  the  drinking  bowle  is.  (Sussex  Arch.  Coll., 
Vol.  I.,  p.  113.  Rev.  Giles  Moore,  Journal.) 

Later  is  entered  in  the  Journal,  he  being  god-father  "  1674.  Mat  was  brought  to 
bed  of  a  daughter.  Gave  the  mydwyfe,  goodwyfe  &  Nurse  53.  each."  (Ihid,  p.  119.) 

After  Lady  Darce's  confinement  at  Herstmonceux  Castle,  is  entered  in  the  account* 
"  paid  my  Lord's  benevolence  to  Widdow  Craddock  the  midwife  of  Battle  £5.  o.  o. 
(Sussex  Arch.  Coll.,  Vol.  xlviii.  1643-1649.) 

Entries  in  a  similar  book  of  the  Howard  family  give  "  To  my  young  ladye'i  mid- 
wyfe  xxs  (p.  227-8)  To  Mrs.  Fairfax  her  Midwife  by  my  Lord  xxs  ....  by 
my  Ladie  xxs.  More  to  Mrs.  Fairefax  her  midwife  by  my  Ladie't  commaund  iiju  " 
(Howard  Household  Book,  p.  263.  1629.) 


280  PROFESSIONS 

death  "meant  a  considerable  pecuniary  loss  to  the 
midwife.  An  example  of  her  payment  in  such  a  case 
is  given  in  Nicholas  Assheton's  diary  ;  he  enters  on 
Feb.  1 6,  1617.  "  My  wife  in  labour  of  childbirth. 
Her  delivery  was  with  such  violence  as  the  child 
dyed  within  half  an  hour,  and,  but  for  God's  wonderful 
mercie,  more  than  human  reason  could  expect,  shee 
had  dyed,  ....  divers  mett  and  went  with 
us  to  Downham  ;  and  ther  the  child  was  buried  .  .  . 
my  mother  wth  me  laid  the  child  in  the  grave  .  .  . 
Feb.  24,  the  midwyfe  went  from  my  wyffe  to  Cooz 
Braddyll's  wyffe.  She  had  given  by  my  wyffe  xxs 
and  by  me  vs."1 

The  Churchwardens  at  Cowden  entered  in  their 
account  book  1627  "  Item,  paide  for  a  poore  woman's 
lying  in  3.  o."  1638.  "  to  John  Weller's  wife  for  her 
attendance  on  the  widow  Smithe  when  she  lay  in  2.  o."2 

The  account  book  of  Sir  John  Foulis  of  Ravelstone 
gives  many  details  of  the  expenses  incurred  at  confine- 
ments in  Scotland.  His  wife  appears  to  have  been 
attended  by  a  doctor,  as  well  as  a  midwife,  and  the 
latter's  fee  was  the  higher  of  the  two.  The  payments 
are  in  Scots  money.3  "  Mar.  26  1680,  to  the  doctor 
Steinsone  for  waiting  on  my  wife  in  her  labour  2 
guines  at  33  P.  sterl.  p.piece,  27.  16.  o,  to  Elspie 
dicksone,  midwife,  40.  12.  o,  to  her  woman  2.  18.  o." 
On  November  26,  1692  there  is  another  payment 


Sarah  Fell  records  the  presents  given  to  her  sisters  midwife  — fan  y6  ist  1675 
by  m°  Lent  Bro.  Lower  to  give  Jane  Chorley  his  wifes  midwife  i.  oo.oo 

by  m°  Motber  gave  to  sd  midwife  5.  oo 

by  m°  Sisf  Sus  :  sistr  Rach  :  &  I  gave  her  5.  oo 

(Dec.  6.  1676.  By  M°  Given  ffran.  Lake  Sister  Lowers  middwife  by  ffather  & 
Mother  58.  by  sistr  Sus:  zs.  by  sistr  Rach:  28.  myself e  48.  Dec.  10,  1677 
by  m°  Mother  gave  ffrances  Layte  when  she  was  middwife  to  Sisf  Lower  of  litle 
Love-day  Lower  02.06,  by  m°  sisf  Susannah  gave  her  then  01.00  by  m°  sister  Rachell 
gave  her  then  01.00  (Fell,  Sarah,  Household  Accounts). 

1  Assheton  (Nicholas),  Journal,  p.  81. 

*  Sussex  Arch,  Coll.,  Vol.  XX.,  p.  101  and  p.  104.     Account  Book  of  Cowden.. 

9  One  pound  Scots — 2od.  sterling. 


PROFESSIONS  281 

"  to  my  wife  to  give  doctor  Sibbald  for  his  attendance 
on  her  in  childbed  and  since  to  this  day  5  guineas 
66.  o.  o."  Jan.  31,  1704  "  to  my  son  Wm  to  give  the 
midwife  when  his  wife  was  brought  to  bed  of  her 
sone  J°n  3  guineas  42.  12.  o.  to  my  douchter 
Crichtoune  to  give  the  midwife  for  me  halfe  a 
guinie.y.  2.  o. 

The  size  of  the  gratuities  given  to  the  midwife  by 
the  friends  and  acquaintances  who  gathered  at  a 
society  christening  in  London  may  be  judged  from 
Pepys,  who  enters  in  his  diary  when  he  was  Godfather 
with  Sir  W.  Pen  to  Mrs.  Browne's  child  "  I  did  give 
the  midwife  los."1  His  gratuities  to  people  of  lower 
rank  were  smaller,  and  of  course  the  gifts  made  by 
the  "  common  people  "  and  those  of  the  gentry  in  the 
provinces  were  much  more  modest. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  century  there  are  indications 
of  a  growing  tendency  among  the  upper  classes  to 
replace  the  midwife  by  the  doctor.  The  doctors 
encouraged  the  tendency.  Their  treatises  on  mid- 
wifery, of  which  several  were  published  during  this 
time,  deprecate  any  attempt  on  the  midwife's  part 
to  cope  with  difficult  cases.  Dr.  Hugh  Chamber- 
lain points  out  "  nor  can  it  be  so  great  a  discredit 
to  a  Midwife  ....  to  have  a  Woman  or  Child 
saved  by  a  Man's  assistance,  as  to  suffer  either  to  die 
under  her  own  hand."2  In  making  this  translation 
of  Maurice's  work  on  Midwifery,  Chamberlain  omitted 
the  anatomical  drawings,  "  there  being  already  severall 
in  English  ;  as  also  here  and  there  a  passage  that 
might  offend  a  chast  English  eye  ;  and  being  not 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  purpose  ;  the  rest  I  have, 
•as  carefully  as  I  could,  rendered  into  English  for  the 
benefit  of  our  midwives."3  This  line  of  thought  is 


1  Pepy's  Diary,  Vol.  I.,  p.  308.     1661. 

1  Chamberlain  (Dr.  Hugh).     Accomplish  Midwife  :   Epistle  to  the  Reader. 

8  Ibid. 


282  PROFESSIONS 

carried  yet  further  by  McMath,  who  says  in  the  preface 
to  "  The  Expert  Midwife  "  that  he  has  "  of  purpose 
omitted  a  Description  of  the  parts  in  a  woman  destined 
to  Generation,  not  being  absolutely  necessary  to  this 
purpose,  and  lest  it  mightjseem  execrable  to  the 
more  chast  and  shamfaced  through  Baudiness  and 
Impurity  of  words ;  and  have  also  endeavoured  to  keep 
all  Modesty,  and  a  due  Reverence  to  Nature :  nor  am 
I  of  the  mind  with  some,  as  to  think  there  is  no 
Debauchery  in  the  thing,  except  it  may  be  in  the 
abuse."1 

The  notion  that  it  was  indecent  for  a  woman  to 
understand  the  structure  and  functions  of  her  own 
body  fitted  in  with  the  doctors'  policy  of  circum- 
scribing the  midwife's  sphere ;  McMath  continues 
"  Natural  Labour,  where  all  goes  right  and  naturally, 
is  theproper  work  of  the  Midwife,  and  which  she  alone 
most  easily  performs  aright,  being  only  to  sit  and  attend 
Nature's  pace  and  progress  ....  and  perform 
some  other  things  of  smaller  moment,  which  Phys- 
icians gave  Midwifes  to  do,  as  unnecessary  &  indicent 
for  them,  and  for  the  Matronal  chastity  (tho  some 
of  Old  absurdly  assigned  them  more,  and  made  it 
also  their  office  to  help  the  Delivery,  and  not  by 
Medicaments  only  and  others,  but  Inchantments 
also.)."2 

Clearly  in  a  profession  which  often  holds  in  its 
hands  the  balance  between  life  and  death,  those 
members  who  are  debarred  from  systematic  study  and 
training  must  inevitably  give  way  sooner  or  later 
to  those  who  have  access  to  all  the  sources  of  learning, 
but  the  influences  which  were  prejudicing  women's 
position  in  midwifery  during  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury were  not  wholly  founded  on  such  reasonable 
grounds ;  they  were  also  affected  by  much  more 

1  McMath  (Mr.  James,  M.D.).     The  Expert  Mid-wife. 

2  Ibid. 


PROFESSIONS  283 

general,  undefined  and  subtle  causes.  It  may  even 
be  doubted  whether  the  superior  knowledge  of  the 
seventeenth  century  doctor  actually  secured  a  larger 
measure  of  safety  to  the  mother  who  entrusted  herself 
to  his  management  than  was  attained  by  those  who 
confided  in  the  skill  of  an  experienced  and  intelligent 
midwife.  Chamberlain  admits  that  the  practice  of 
doctors  "  not  onely  in  England  but  thoughout 
Europe ;  hath  very  much  caused  the 

report,  that  where  a  man  comes,  one  or  both  [mother 
or  child]  must  necessarily  dye  ;  and  makes  many  for 
that  reason  forbear  sending,  untill  either  be  dead  or 
dying."*  He  continues  "  my  Father,  Brothers  and 
myself  (though  none  else  in  Europe  that  I  know)  have 
by  God's  blessing,  and  our  industry,  attained  to, 
and  long  practised  a  way  to  deliver  a  woman  in  this 
case  without  any  prejudice  to  her  or  her  Infant." 

The  discovery  to  which  Chamberlain  refers  was 
the  use  of  forceps,  which  he  and  his  family  retained 
as  a  profound  secret.  Therefore  this  invention  did 
not  rank  among  the  advantages  which  other  doctors 
possessed  over  midwives  at  this  period.  Even  when, 
a  century  later,  the  use  of  forceps  became  generally 
understood,  the  death  rate  in  childbed  was  not 
materially  reduced,  for  it  was  only  with  the  discovery 
of  the  value  of  asepsis  that  this  heavy  sacrifice  was 
diminished.  We  must  therefore  look  for  the  explan- 
ation of  the  growing  ascendancy  of  male  practitioners 
to  other  causes  beside  the  hypothetical  standard 
of  their  greater  efficiency.  IfcTheir  prestige  rested 
partly  on  an  ability  to  use  long  words  which  con- 
vinced patients  of  their  superior  wisdom ;  it  was 
defended  by  what  was  fast  becoming  a  powerful 
corporation ;  and  more  potent  in  its  effect  was 
the  general  deterioration  in  the  position  of  women 
which  took  place  during  the  century.  A  lessening 


1  Chamberlain  (Hugh).     Accomplish  Midwife ;    Epistle  to  Reader. 


284  PROFESSIONS 

of  confidence  in  womanly  resourcefulness  and  capac- 
ity in  other  walks  of  life,  could  not  fail  to  affect  popular 
estimation  of  their  value  here  too  ;  and  added  to  this 
were  the  morbid  tendencies  of  the  increasing  numbers 
of  oversexed  society  women  who  were  devoted  to 
a  life  of  pleasure.  The  fact  that  similar  tendencies 
were  visible  in  France,  where  an  excellent  scientific 
training  was  open  to  women,  shows  that  the  capture 
of  the  profession  by  men  was  not  only  due  to  superior 
skill. 

The  famous  French  Midwife,  Madame  Bourgeois, 
told  her  daughter  "  There  is  a  great  deal  of  artifice 
to  be  used  in  the  pleasing  of  our  Women,  especially 
the  young  ones,  who  many  times  do  make  election  of 
Men  to  bring  them  to  bed.  I  blush  to  speak  of  them, 
for  I  take  it  to  be  a  great  peice  of  impudence  to  have 
any  recourse  unto  them,  unless  it  be  a  case  of 
very  great  danger.  I  do  approve,  I  have  approved 
of  it,  and  know  that  it  ought  to  be  done,  so  that  it 
be  concealed  from  the  Woman  all  her  life  long ; 
nor  that  she  see  the  surgeon  any  more."1 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  explanation,  midwifery 
had  ceased  to  be  a  monopoly  for  women  when  the 
"  man-midwife  "  made  his  appearance  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  but  it  is  only  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  that  the  profession  passes  definitely 
under  the  control  of  men.  The  doctors  who  then 
secured  all  the  more  profitable  class  of  work,  were  united 
in  a  corporation  which  was  often  directed  by  men 
possessed  of  a  disinterested  enthusiasm  for  truth, 
and  considerable  proficiency  in  their  art,  even  though 
many  in  their  ranks  might  regard  their  profession 
merely  as  a  means  for  acquiring  personal  fame  or  wealth. 
But  the  interest  of  the  corporations  of  physicians 
and  surgeons  was  centred  more  upon  their  profession 
than  upon  the  general  well-being  of  the  community, 

1  Pechey,   Compleat  Midwife,   p.   349.      Secrets  of  Madame   Louyse   Bourgeois, 
midwife  to  the  Queen  of  France,  which  she  left  to  her  Daughter  as  a  guide  for  her. 


PROFESSIONS  285 

and  they  did  not  regard  it  as  part  of  their  duty  to 
secure  competent  assistance  in  childbirth  for  every 
woman  in  the  community.  They  took  a  keen 
professional  interest  in  the  problems  of  midwifery, 
but  the  benefits  of  their  research  were  only  available 
for  the  wives  or  mistresses  of  rich  men  who  could  afford 
to  pay  high  fees.  Far  from  making  any  effort  to 
provide  the  same  assistance  for  the  poor,  the  policy 
of  the  doctors,  with  some  exceptions,  was  to  withold 
instruction  from  the  midwives  on  whom  the  poor 
depended,  lest  their  skill  should  enable  them  to 
compete  with  themselves  in  practice  among  the 
wealthy. 

Conclusion. 

The  foregoing  examination  of  the  character  and 
extent  of  women's  professional  services  has  brought 
several  interesting  points  to  light.  It  has  been  shown 
that  when  social  organisation  rested  upon  the  basis 
of  the  family,  as  it  chiefly  did  up  to  the  close  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  many  of  the  services  which  are  now 
ranked  as  professional  were  thought  to  be  specially 
suited  to  the  genius  of  women,  and  were  accordingly 
allotted  to  them  in  the  natural  division  of  labour 
within  the  family.  The  suggestions  as  to  the  character 
and  conditions  of  these  services  during  the  Middle 
Ages, rest  upon  conjectures  drawn  from  the  comparison 
of  a  few  generally  accepted  statements  concerning 
the  past,  with  what  appears  at  the  opening  of  the 
seventeenth  century  to  be  a  traditional  attitude 
to  women,  an  attitude  which  was  then  undergoing 
rapid  modifications.  A  more  thorough  and  detailed 
examination  of  their  position  in  the  preceding  centuries 
may  show  that  it  was  far  less  stable  than  is  generally 
supposed,  but  such  a  discovery  need  not  disturb  the 
explanation  which  is  here  given  of  the  tendencies 
deciding  the  scope  of  women's  professional  activity 
within  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


286  PROFESSIONS 

First  among  these  was  the  gradual  emergence  of 
the  arts  of  teaching  and  healing,  from  the  domestic  or 
family  sphere  to  a  professional  organisation.  Within 
the  domestic  sphere,  as  women  and  men  are  equally 
members  of  the  family,  no  artificial  impediment 
could  hinder  women  from  rendering  the  services 
which  nature  had  fitted  them  to  perform  ;  moreover, 
the  experience  and  training  which  family  life  provided 
for  boys,  were  to  a  large  extent  available  for  girls 
also.  Coincident  with  a  gradual  curtailment  of 
domestic  activities  may  be  observed  a  marked  tendency 
towards  the  exclusion  of  women  from  all  interests 
external  to  the  family.  The  political  theories  of 
the  seventeenth  century  regarded  the  State  as  an 
organisation  of  individual  men  only  or  groups  of  men,  not 
as  a  commonwealth  of  families ;  in  harmony  with 
this  idea  we  find  that  none  of  the  associations  which 
were  formed  during  this  period  for  public  purposes, 
either  educational,  economic,  scientific  or  political, 
include  women  in  their  membership.  The  orient- 
ation of  ideas  in  the  seventeenth  century  was  drawing 
a  rigid  line  between  the  State,  in  which  the  individual 
man  had  his  being,  and  family  matters.  The  third 
tendency  was  towards  the  deterioration  of  women's 
intellectual  and  moral  capacity,  owing  to  the  narrowing 
of  family  life  and  the  consequent  impoverishment 
of  women's  education.  The  fourth  tendency  was 
towards  an  increasing  belief  in  the  essential  inferiority 
of  women  to  men. 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  tendencies  were  interdepen- 
dent. Their  united  effect  was  revolutionary,  gradually 
excluding  women  from  work  for  which  in  former  days, 
nature,  it  was  supposed,  had  specially  designed  them. 
Thus  the  "teaching  of  young  children,  both  girls  and 
boys,  had  been  generally  entrusted  to  women,  many 
men  acknowledging  in  later  life  the  excellence  of  the 
training  which  they  had  received  from  their  mothers, 
and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  women  were  upon  the 


PROFESSIONS  287 

whole  successful  in  transmitting  to  their  children  the 
benefit  of  the  education  and  experience  which  they  had 
themselves  received.  But  no  amount  of  didactic  skill 
can  enable  persons  to  teach  what  they  do  not  them- 
selves possess,  and  so  the  scope  of  the  training  given 
by  women  depended  upon  the  development  of  their 
own  personalities.  When  family  traditions  and  family 
organisation  were  disturbed,  as  perhaps  they  would 
have  been  in  any  case  sooner  or  later,  but  as  they  were  to 
a  more  marked  extent  during  the  Civil  War,  the  sources 
from  which  women  derived  their  mental  and  spiritual 
nourishment  were  dried  up,  and  without  access  to 
external  supplies  their  personality  gradually^  became 
stunted. 

Women  were  virtually  refused  access  to  sources 
of  knowledge  which  were  external  to  th  family, 
and  hence,  with  a  few  exceptions  they  were 
confined  in  the  teaching  profession  to  the  most 
elementary  subjects.  Women  were  employed  in 
the  "  dames  schools "  attended  by  the  common 
people,  or,  when  they  could  read  and  write  themselves, 
mothers  often  instructed  their  children  in  these  arts ; 
but  the  governesses  employed  by  gentlefolks,  or  the 
schoolmistresses  to  whom  they  sent  their  daughters 
for  the  acquisition  of  the  accomplishments  appropriate 
to  young  ladies,  were  seldom  competent  to  undertake 
the  actual  teaching  themselves  ;  for  this  masters  were 
generally  engaged,  because  few  women  had  gone 
through  the  training  necessary  to  give  them  a  sound 
understanding  of  the  arts  in  question.  Women  were 
not  incapable  of  teaching,  but  as  knowledge  became 
more  specialized  and  technical,  the  opportunities  which 
home  life  provided  for  acquiring  such  knowledge 
proved  inadequate  ;  and  consequently  women  were 
soon  excluded Jrom^the^higherj-anks  of  the  teaching 
profession. 

The  history  of  their  relation  to  the  arts  of  Healing 
js  very  similar,     Other  things  being  equal,  as  to  some 


288  PROFESSIONS 

extent  they  were  when  the  greater  part  of  human 
life  was  included  within  the  family  circle,  the  psychic 
and  emotional  female  development  appears  to  make 
women  more  fitted  than  men  to  deal  with  preven- 
tive and  remedial  medicine.  The  explanation  of 
this  fact  offers  a  fascinating  field  for  speculation, 
but  involves  too  wide  a  digression  for  discussion  here, 
and  in  its  support  we  will  only  point  out  the  fact 
that  in  the  old  days,  when  no  professional  services 
were  available,  it  was  to  the  women  of  the  family, 
rather  than  to  the  men,  that  the  sick  and  wounded 
turned  for  medicine  and  healing.  Yet  in  spite  of  this 
natural  affinity  for  the  care  of  suffering  humanity, 
women  were  excluded  from  the  sources  of  learning 
which  were  being  slowly  organised  outside  the  family 
circle,  and  were  thus  unable  to  remain  in  professions 
for  which  they  were  so  eminently  suited. 

The  suspicion  that  the  inferior  position  which  women 
occupied  in  the  teaching  profession  and  their  exclusion 
from  the  medical  profession,  was  caused  rather  by  the 
absence  of  educational  opportunities  than  by  a  phys- 
iological incapacity  for  the  practice  of  these  arts,  is 
strengthened  by  the  remarkable  history  of  Midwifery ; 
which  from  being  reserved  exclusively  for  women  and 
practised  by  them  on  a  professional  basis  from  time 
immemorial,  passed  in  its  more  lucrative  branches  into 
the  hands  of  men,  when  sources  of  instruction  were 
opened  to  them  which  were  closed  to  women.  Just 
as  the  amateur  woman  teacher  was  less  competent 
than  the  man  who  had  made  art  or  the  learned  lan- 
guages his  profession,  so  did  the  woman  who  treated 
her  family  and  neighbours  by  rule  of  thumb,  appear  less 
skilful  than  the  professional  doctor,  and  the  unedu- 
cated midwives  brought  their  profession  into  disrepute. 
The  exclusion  of  women  from  all  the  sources  of 
specialised  training  was  bound  to  re-act  unfavour- 
ably upon  their  characters,  because  as  family  life 
depended  more  .and  more  upon  professional  services  for 


PROFESSIONS  289 

education  and  medical  assistance,  fewer  opportunities 
were  offered  to  women  for  exerting  their  faculties 
within  the  domestic  sphere  and  the  general  incom- 
petence of  upper  class  women  did  in  fact  become 
more  pronounced. 


19 


CHAPTER  VII 
CONCLUSION 

Great  productive  capacity  of  women  under  conditions  of  Family  and  Domestic 
Industry — no  difference  between  efficiency  of  labour  when  applied  for  domestic 
purposes  or  for  trade. 

Rate  of  wages  no  guide  to  real  value  of  goods  produced — married  women 
unlikely  to  work  for  wages  when  possessing  capital  for  domestic  industry — 
Women's  productiveness  in  textile  industries — Agriculture — Other  industries 
— Professional  services. 

Capitalism  effected  economic  revolution  in  women's  position — By  (a)  sub- 
stitution of  individual  for  family  wages — (i)  employment  of  wage-earners  on 
master's  premises — (c)  rapid  increase  of  master's  wealth. 

Exclusion  of  women  from  skilled  trades  not  originally  due  to  sex  jealousy 
— Women's  lack  of  specialised  training  due,  (a)  to  its  being  unnecessary ;  (A) 
the  desire  to  keep  wife  in  subjection  to  husband — Reduction  in  the  value 
to  her  family  of  woman's  productive  capacity  by  substitution  of 
wage-earning  for  domestic  industry — Effect  of  her  productive  energy  on 
her  maternal  functions  and  her  social  influence. 

THE  preceding  chapters  have  demonstrated  the  great 
productive  capacity  which  women  possessed  when 
society  was  organised  on  the  basis  of  Family  and 
Domestic  Industry.  There  was  then  no  hard  and 
fast  line  dividing  domestic  occupations  from  other 
branches  of  industry,  and  thus  it  has  not  been  possible 
to  discover  how  much  of  women's  labour  was  given 
to  purposes  of  trade  and  how  much  was  confined  to 
the  service  of  their  families ;  but  as  labour  was  at  this 
time  equally  productive,  whether  it  was  employed 
for  domestic  purposes  or  in  Trade,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  discriminate  between  these  two  classes  of  production 
in  estimating  the  extent  to  which  the  community 
depended  upon  women's  services.  The  goods  produced 
and  the  services  rendered  to  their  families  by  wives 
and  daughters,  must  if  they  had  been  idle  have 
employed  labour  otherwise  available  for  Trade  ;  or 
to  put  the  position  in  another  way,  if  the  labour  of 
women  had  been  withdrawn  from  the  domestic 


CONCLUSION  291 

industries  and  applied  to  Trade,more  goods  would  have 
been  produced  for  the  market,  which  goods  the  said 
women's  families  would  then  have  obtained  by  purchase ; 
but  while  by  this  means  the  trade  of  the  country 
would  be  greatly  increased,  unless  the  efficiency  of 
women's  labour  had  been  raised  by  its  transference 
from  domestic  to  other  forms  of  industry,  the  wealth 
of  the  community  would  remain  precisely  the  same. 

Nevertheless,  in  estimating  a  country's  prosperity 
domestic  production  is  generally  overlooked,  because, 
as  the  labour  devoted  to  it  receives  no  wages  and  its 
results  do  not  enter  the  market,  there  is  no  mechanical 
standard  for  estimating  its  value.  For  similar 
reasons  Home  Trade  is  commonly  considered  to  be 
of  less  importance  than  Foreign  Trade,  because, 
as  the  latter  passes  through  the  Customs,  its  money 
value  can  be  much  more  readily  computed,  and  because 
the  man  in  the  street,  like  King  Midas,  has  imagined 
that  gold  is  wealth.  But  we  are  here  considering 
the  production  of  goods  and  services,  not  of  gold, 
and  from  this  point  of  view,  the  woman  who  spins 
thread  to  clothe  her  family,  and  she  who  furnishes 
by  her  industry  milk  and  cheese,  eggs  and  pork, 
fruit  and  vegetables  for  the  consumption  of  her 
family,  has  produced  exactly  the  same  goods,  no 
more  and  no  less,  than  if  she  had  produced  them 
for  the  market,  and  whether  these  goods  are 
consumed  by  her  own  family  or  by  strangers  makes 
absolutely  no  difference  to  their  real  value.  =  a**-  i**'  <c 

Neither  can  the  value  of  a   woman's   productive  ^xc^ 
activity  be  judged  by  the  wages  she  receives,  because  / 

the  value  of  a  pair  of  sheets  is  the  same,  whether 
the  flax  has  been  spun  by  a  well-to-do  farmers'  wife 
who  meanwhile  lives  in  affluence,  or  by  a  poor  woman 
earning  wages  which  are  insufficient  to  keep  body 
and  soul  together.  The  labour  required  for  spinning 
the  flax  was  the  same  in  either  case,  for  there  was 
no  difference  in  the  type  of  spinning  wheel  she  used, 


292  CONCLUSION 

or  in  her  other  facilities  for  work ;  it  was  only  later, 
when  organisations  for  trading  purposes  had  enor- 
mously increased  productive  capacity  by  the  intro- 
duction of  power  and  the  sub-division  of  labour, 
that  the  same  productive  capacity,  devoted  to  domestic 
purposes,  became  relatively  inferior  in  results.  This 
change  between  the  relative  efficiency  of  domestic  and 
industrial  labour  could  not  fail,  when  it  took  place,  to 
exert  a  marked  influence  on  the  economic  position 
of  married  women,  because  while  their  husbands 
earned  sufficient  money  to  pay  rent  and  a  few  out- 
going expenses,  they  had  no  inducement  to  work  for 
wages,  their  labour  being  more  productive  at 
home.  Women  who  fed  and  clothed  themselves 
and  their  children  by  means  of  domestic  industry 
gratified  in  this  way  their  sense  of  independence 
as  effectively  as  if  they  had  earned  the  equivalent 
money  by  trade  or  wages.  Considering  the  low  rates 
paid  to  women,  it  may  be  supposed  that  few  worked 
for  wages  when  possessed  of  sufficient  stock  to  employ 
themselves  fully  in  domestic  industries ;  on  the  other 
hand  there  were  a  considerable  number  who  were  in 
a  position  to  hire  servants,  and  who,  having  learnt 
a  skilled  trade,  devoted  themselves  to  business, 
either  on  their  own  account  or  jointly  with  their 
husbands. 

If  the  general  position  of  women  in  the  whole 
field  of  industry  is  reviewed,  it  will  be  seen  that, 
beyond  question,  all  the  textile  fabrics  used  at  this 
time,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  luxuries,  were  made 
from  the  thread  which  was  spun  by  women  and  children, 
the  export  trade  in  cloth  also  depending  entirely  on 
their  labour  for  spinning  and  to  some  extent  for 
the  other  processes.  In  agriculture  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  milch  cows,  the  dairy,  poultry,  pigs, 
orchard  and  garden,  was  undertaken  by  the  women, 
and  though  the  mistress  employed  in  her  department 
men  as  well  as  women  servants,  the  balance  was  re- 


CONCLUSION  293 

dressed  by  the  fact  that  women  and  girls  were  largely 
employed  in  field  work.  The  woman's  contribution 
to  farming  is  also  shown  by  the  fact  that  twice  as 
much  land  was  allowed  to  the  colonists  who  were 
married  as  to  those  who  were  single.  The  expect- 
ation that  the  women  and  children  in  the  husbandman 
class  would  produce  the  greater  part  of  their  own  food 
is  proved  by  the  very  low  rate  of  wages  which 
Quarter  Sessions  fixed  for  agricultural  labour,  and  by 
the  fact  that  when  no  land  was  available  it  was  recog- 
nised that  the  wage  earner's  family  must  be  dependent 
on  the  poor  rate. 

Though  the  part  which  women  played  in  agricul- 
ture and  the  textile  industries  is  fairly  clear,  a  great 
obscurity  still  shrouds  their  position  in  other  directions. 
One  fact  however  emerges  with  some  distinctness ; 
women  of  the  tradesman  class  were  sufficiently  capable 
in  business,  and  were  as  a  rule  so  well  acquainted  with 
the  details  of  their  husband's  concerns,  that  a  man 
generally  appointed  his  wife  as  his  executrix,  while 
custom  universally  secured  to  her  the  possession  of 
his  stock,  apprentices  and  goodwill  in  the  event  of 
his  death.  That  she  was  often  able  to  carry  on  his 
business  with  success,  is  shown  by  incidental  references, 
and  also  by  the  frequency  with  which  widow's  names 
occur  in  the  lists  of  persons  occupying  various  trades. 

How  much  time  the  wives  of  these  tradesmen 
actually  spent  over  their  husband's  business  is  a  point 
on  which  practically  no  evidence  is  forthcoming, 
but  it  seems  probable  that  in  the  skilled  trades  they 
were  seldom  employed  in  manual  processes  for  which 
they  had  received  no  training,  but  were  occupied 
in  general  supervision,  buying  and  selling.  It  is  not 
therefore  surprising  to  find  women  specially  active 
in  all  branches  of  the  Retail  Trade,  and  girls 
were  apprenticed  as  often  to  shop-keepers  as  to 
the  recognised  women's  trades  such  as  millinery  and 
mantua-making. 


294 


CONCLUSION 


The  assistance  of  the  wife  was  often  so  im- 
portant in  her  husband's  business,  that  she  engaged 
servants  to  free  her  from  household  drudgery,  her  own 
productive  capacity  being  greater  than  the  cost  of  a 
servant's  wages.  Apart  from  exceptional  cases  of 
illness  or  incompetence,  the  share  which  the  wife 
took  in  her  husband's  business,  was  determined  rather 
by  the  question  whether  he  carried  it  on  at  home  or 
abroad  than  by  any  special  appropriateness  of  the  said 
business  to  the  feminine  disposition.  Thus,  though 
women  were  seldom  carpenters  or  masons,  they  figure 
as  pewterers  and  smiths.  In  every  business  there  are 
certain  operations  which  can  conveniently  be  performed 
by  womer,  and  when  carried  on  at  home  within  the 
compass  of  the  family  life,  the  work  of  a  trade  was 
as  naturally  sorted  out  between  husband  and  wife, 
as  the  work  on  a  farm.  No  question  arose  as  to  the 
relative  value  of  their  work,  because  the  proceeds 
became  the  joint  property  of  the  family,  instead  of 
being  divided  between  individuals. 

With  regard  to  the  services  which  are  now  classed 
as  professional,  those  of  healing  and  teaching  were 
included  among  the  domestic  duties  of  women. 
Illness  was  rife  in  the  seventeenth  century,  for  the 
country  was  devastated  by  recurrent  epidemics  of 
small-pox  and  the  plague,  besides  a  constant  liability 
to  ague  and  the  other  ordinary  ailments  of  mankind ; 
thus  the  need  for  nursing  must  have  been  very  great. 
The  sick  depended  for  their  tending  chiefly  upon  the 
women  of  their  own  households,  and  probably  the 
majority  of  English  people  at  this  time,  received 
medical  advice  and  drugs  from  the  same  source. 
Women's  skill  in  such  matters  was  acquired  by  ex- 
perience and  tradition,  seldom  resting  upon  a  scientific 
basis,  for  they  were  excluded  from  schools  and  uni- 
versities. Acquired  primarily  with  a  view  to  domestic 
use,  such  skill  was  extended  beyond  the  family 
circle,  and  women  who  were  wise  in  these  matters 


CONCLUSION  29$ 

sometimes  received  payment  for  their  services. 
Midwifery  alone  was  really  conducted  on  professional 
lines,  and  though  practised  in  former  days  exclusively 
by  women,  it  was  now  passing  from  their  hands 
owing  to  their  exclusion  from  the  sources  of  advanced 
instruction. 

It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  respective  shares  taken 
by  men  and  women  in  the  art  of  teaching,  for  while 
the  young  were  dependent  on  home  training,  they 
received  attention  from  both  father  and  mother, 
and  when  the  age  for  apprenticeship  arrived  the  task 
was  transferred  to  the  joint  care  of  master  and  mistress. 
With  regard  to  learning  of  a  scholastic  character, 
reading  was  usually  taught  by  women  to  both  boys 
and  girls,  who  learnt  it  at  home  from  their  mothers,  or 
at  a  dame's  school ;  but  the  teaching  of  more  advanced 
subjects  was  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  men, 
although  a  few  highly  educated  women  were  engaged 
as  governesses  in  certain  noble  families  where  the 
Tudor  tradition  still  lingered.  Generally  speaking, 
however,  when  a  girl's  curriculum  included  such 
subjects  as  Latin  and  Arithmetic  her  instruction, 
like  her  brothers,  was  received  from  masters,  and  this 
was  equally  true  in  the  case  of  accomplishments  which 
were  considered  more  appropriate  to  the  understanding 
of  young  ladies.  Women  rarely,  if  ever,  undertook 
the  teaching  of  music,  painting  or  dancing.  From 
these  branches  of  the  teaching  profession  they  were 
debarred  by  lack  of  specialised  training. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  tha"  the  history  of  women's 
position  in  the  professions,  follows  a  very  similar  course 
to  that  of  the  developments  in  the  world  of  Industry ; 
work,  for  which  they  appeared  peculiarly  fitted  by 
disposition  or  natural  gifts,  while  it  was  included 
within  the  domestic  sphere,  gradually  passed  out  of 
their  hands  when  the  scene  of  their  labour  was 
transferred  to  the  wider  domains  of  human  life. 

Capitalism  was  the  means  by  which  the  revolution 


296  CONCLUSION 

in  women's  economic  position  was  effected  in  the 
industrial  world.  The  three  developments  which 
were  most  instrumental  to  this  end  being: — 

(a)  the  substitution  of  an  individual  for  a  family 
wage,  enabling  men  to  organise  themselves  in  the 
competition  which  ruled  the  labour  market,  without 
sharing  with  the  women  of  their  families  all  the 
benefits  derived  through  their  combination. 

(£)  the  withdrawal  of  wage-earners  from  home-life 
to  work  upon  the  premises  of  the  masters,  which 
prevented  the  employment  of  the  wage-earner's 
wife  in  her  husband's  occupation. 

(c)  the  rapid  increase  of  wealth,  which  permitted 
the  women  of  the  upper  classes  to  withdraw  from  all 
connection  with  business. 

Once  the  strong  hand  of  necessity  is  relaxed  there 
has  been  a  marked  tendency  in  English  life  for  the  with- 
drawal of  married  women  from  all  productive  activity, 
and  their  consequent  devotion  to  the  cultivation  of  idle 
graces ;  the  parasitic  life  of  its  women  has  been  in  fact 
one  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  parvenu  class. 
The  limitations  which  surrounded  the  lives  of  the 
women  belonging  to  this  class  are  most  vividly  described 
in  Pepys'  Journal,  where  they  form  a  curious 
contrast  to  the  vigour  and  independence  of  the  women 
who  were  actively  engaged  in  industry.  The  whole 
Diary  should  be  read  to  gain  a  complete  idea  of  the 
relations  of  married  life  under  these  new  circumstances, 
but  a  few  extracts  will  illustrate  the  poverty  of  Mrs. 
Pepys'  interests  and  her  abject  dependence  on  her 
husband.  Most  curious  of  all  is  Pepys'  naive  admission 
that  he  was  trying  to  "  make  "  work  for  his  wife, 
which  furnishes  an  illustration  of  the  saying  "  coming 
events  cast  their  shadows  before  them." 

"  Nov.  12,  1662.  much  talke  and  difference 
between  us  about  my  wife's  having  a  woman,  which  I 
seemed  much  angry  at  that  she  should  go  so  far  in  it 
without  ....  my  being  consulted.  1 3th.  Our 


CONCLUSION  297 

discontent  again  and  sorely  angered  my  wife,  who 
indeed  do  live  very  lonely,  but  I  do  perceive  that  it 
is  want  of  worke  that  do  make  her  and  all  other 
people  think  of  ways  of  spending  their  time  worse. 
June  8.  1664.  Her  spirit  is  lately  come  to  be  other 
than  it  used  to  be,  and  now  depends  upon  her  having 
Ashwell  by  her,  before  whom  she  thinks  I  shall  not 
say  nor  do  anything  of  force  to  her,  which  vexes  me, 
and  makes  me  wish  that  I  had  better  considered  all  that 
I  have  done  concerning  my  bringing  my  wife  to  this 
condition  of  heat.  Aug.  20.  I  see  that  she  is  confirmed 
in  it  that  all  I  do  is  by  design,  and  that  my  very  keeping 
of  the  house  in  dirt,  and  the  doing  this  and  anything 
else  in  the  house,  is  but  to  find  her  employment 
to  keep  her  within,  and  from  minding  of  her  pleasure, 
which  though  I  am  sorry  to  see  she  minds  it,  is  true 
enough  in  a  great  degree.  Jan.  14.  1667-8.  I  do 
find  she  do  keep  very  bad  remembrance  of  my  former 
unkindness  to  her  and  do  mightily  complain  of  her 
want  of  money  and  liberty,  which  will  rather  hear 
and  bear  the  complaint  of  than  grant  the  contrary 

Feb.  1 8.    a  ring  which  I  am  to  give  her 

as  a  valentine.  It  will  cost  me  near  £$  she  costing 
me  but  little  in  comparison  with  other  wives,  and  I 
have  not  many  occasions  to  spend  money  on  her. 
Feb.  23.  with  this  and  what  she  had  she  reckons 
that  she  hath  above  ^150  worth  of  jewels  of  one  kind 
or  another  ;  and  I  am  glad  of  it,  for  it  is  fit  the  wretch 
should  have  something  to  content  herself  with." 

While  the  capitalistic  organisation  of  industry 
increased  the  wealth  of  the  masters,  it  condemned 
a  large  proportion  of  the  craftsmen  to  remain  perman- 
ently in  the  position  of  journeymen  or  wage-earners 
with  the  incidental  result  that  women  were  excluded 
from  their  ranks  in  the  more  highly  skilled  trades. 
Under  the  old  system  of  Family  Industry,  labour  and 
capital  had  been  united  in  one  person  or  family  group 
of  persons-,  but  capitalism  brought  them  into  conflict ; 


298  CONCLUSION 

and  the  competition  which  had  previously-  only  existed 
between  rival  families  was  introduced  into  the 
labour  market,  where  men  and  women  struggled 
with  each  other  to  secure  work  and  wages  from  the 
capitalist.  The  keystone  of  the  journeymen's  position 
in  their  conflict  with  capital,  lay  in  their  ability 
to  restrict  their  own  numbers  by  the  enforcement 
of  a  long  apprenticeship  and  the  limitation  of  the 
number  of  apprentices.  On  gaining  this  point  the 
journeymen  in  any  trade  secured  a  monopoly  which 
enabled  them  to  bargain  advantageously  with  the 
masters.  Their  success  raised  them  into  the  position 
of  a  privileged  class  in  the  world  of  labour,  but  did 
nothing  to  improve  the  position  of  the  other  wage- 
earners  in  unskilled  or  unorganised  trades. 

When  their  organisation  was  strong  enough  the 
journeymen  allowed  no  unapprenticed  person  to  be 
employed  upon  any  process  of  their  trade,  however 
simple  or  mechanical;  a  policy  which  resulted  in  the 
complete  exclusion  of  women,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
girls  were  seldom,  if  ever,  apprenticed  to  these  trades. 
It  has  been  shown  that  under  the  old  system,  crafts- 
men had  been  free  to  employ  their  wives  and 
daughters  in  any  way  that  was  convenient,  the  widow 
retaining  her  membership  in  her  husband's  gild  or 
company  with  full  trading  privileges,  and  the  daughters 
able,  if  they  wished,  to  obtain  their  freedom  by 
patrimony.  Journeymen  however  now  worked  on 
their  masters'  premises,  their  traditions  dating  from 
a  time  when  they  were  all  unmarried  men ;  and 
though  the  majority  of  them  had  renounced  the  expect- 
ation of  rising  above  this  position  of  dependence, 
the  idea  that  they  should  extend  their  hardly  won 
privileges  to  wife  or  daughter  never  occurred  to 
them. 

Thus  came  about  the  exclusion  of  women  from  the 
skilled  trades,  for  the  wives  of  the  men  who  became 
capitalists  withdrew  from  productive  activity,  and  the 


CONCLUSION  299 

wives  of  journeymen  confined  themselves  to  domestic 
work,  or  entered  the  labour  market  as  individuals, 
being  henceforward  entirely  unprotected  in  the  con- 
flict by  their  male  relations.  Capitalistic  organisation 
tended  therefore  to  deprive  women  of  opportunities 
for  sharing  in  the  more  profitable  forms  of  production, 
confining  them  as  wage-earners  to  the  unprotected 
trades.  It  would  be  an  anachronism  to  ascribe  this 
tendency  to  sex- jealousy  in  the  economic  world. 
The  idea  of  individual  property  in  wages  had 
hardly  arisen,  for  prevailing  habits  of  thought  still 
regarded  the  earnings  of  father,  mother  and  children 
as  the  joint  property  of  the  family,  though  controlled 
by  the  father  ;  and  thus  the  notion  that  it  could  be 
to  men's  advantage  to  debar  women  from  well-paid 
work  would  have  seemed  ridiculous  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  Though  the  payment  of  individual  wages 
was  actually  in  force,  their  implication  was  hardly 
understood, and  motives  of  sex- j  ealousy  do  not  dominate 
the  economic  world  till  a  later  period.  While  the 
family  formed  the  social  unit  the  interests  of  husband 
and  wife  were  bound  so  closely  together,  that  neither 
could  gain  or  suffer  without  the  other  immediately 
sharing  the  loss  or  advantage. 

The  momentous  influence  which  some  phases  of 
Capitalism  were  destined  to  exert  upon  the  economic 
position  of  women,  were  unforeseen  by  the  men  who 
played  a  leading  part  in  its  development,  and  passed 
unnoticed  by  the  speculative  thinkers  who  wrote 
long  treatises  on  Theories  of  State  Organisation. 
The  revolution  did  not  involve  a  conscious  demar- 
cation of  the  respective  spheres  of  men  and  women 
in  industry  ;  its  results  were  accidental,  due  to  the 
fact  that  women  were  forgotten,  and  so  no  attempt 
was  made  to  adjust  their  training  and  social  status 
to  the  necessities  of  the  new  economic  organisation. 
The  oversight  is  not  surprising,  for  women's  relation 
to  the  "  Home "  was  regarded  as  an  immutable 


300  CONCLUSION 

law  of  Nature,  inviolable  by  any  upheaval  in 
external  social  arrangements. 

Thus  the  idea  that  the  revolution  in  women's 
economic  position  was  due  to  deliberate  policy  may 
be  dismisssed.  Capitalism  is  a  term  denoting  a  force 
rather  than  a  system  ;  a  force  that  is  no  more  interested 
in  human  relations  than  is  the  force  of  gravitation; 
nevertheless  its  sphere  of  action  lies  in  the  social 
relations  of  men  and  women,  and  its  effects  are  mod- 
ified and  directed  by  human  passions,  prejudices 
and  ideals.  The  continuance  of  human  existence 
and  its  emancipation  from  the  trammels  that  hamper 
its  progress,  must  depend  upon  the  successful  mastery 
of  this  as  of  the  other  forces  of  Nature. 

If  we  would  understand  the  effect  of  the 
introduction  of  Capitalism  on  the  social  organism, 
we  must  remember  that  the  subjection  of  women 
to  their  husbands  was  the  foundation  stone  of 
the  structure  of  the  community  in  which  Capitalism 
first  made  its  appearance.  Regarded  as  being  equally 
the  law  of  Nature  and  the  Law  of  God,  no 
one  questioned  the  necessity  of  the  wife's 
obedience,  lip  service  being  rendered  to  the  doctrine 
of  subjection,  even  in  those  households  where  it  was 
least  enforced.  Traditional  ideas  regarded  the  common 
wealth,  or  social  organisation,  as  an  association  of 
families,  each  family  being  a  community  which  was 
largely  autonomous,  and  was  self-contained  for  most 
of  life's  purposes;  hence  the  order  and  health  of 
the  commonwealth  depended  upon  the  order  and 
efficiency  of  the  families  comprised  within  it.  Before 
the  seventeenth  century  the  English  mind  could  not 
imagine  order  existing  without  an  acknowledged 
head.  No  one  therefore  questioned  the  father's 
right  to  his  position  as  head  of  the  family,  but  in  his 
temporary  absence,  or  when  he  was  removed  by  death, 
the  public  interest  required  his  family's  preservation, 
and  the  mother  quite  naturally  stepped  into  his 


CONCLUSION  301 

place,  with  all  its  attendant  responsibilities  and 
privileges.  In  this  family  organisation  all  that  the 
father  gained  was  shared  by  the  mother  and  children, 
because  his  whole  life,  or  almost  his  whole  life,  was 
shared  by  them.  This  is  specially  marked  in  the 
economic  side  of  existence,  where  the  father  did  not 
merely  earn  money  and  hand  it  to  the  mother  to 
spend,  but  secured  for  her  also,  access  to  the  means 
of  production ;  the  specialised  training  acquired 
by  the  man  through  apprenticeship  did  not  merely 
enable  him  to  earn  higher  wages,  but  conferred  upon 
his  wife  the  right  to  work,  as  far  as  she  was  able,  in 
that  trade. 

Capitalism,  however,  broke  away  from  the  family 
system,  and  dealt  direct  with  individuals,  the  first 
fruit  of  individualism  being  shown  by  the  exclusion 
of  women  from  the  journeymen's  associations ;  and 
yet  their  exclusion  was  caused  in  the  first  place  by 
want  of  specialised  training,  and  was  not  the  necessary 
result  of  Capitalism,  for  the  history  of  the  Cotton 
Trade  shows,  in  later  years,  that  where  the  labour  of 
women  was  essential  to  an  industry,  an  effective 
combination  of  wage-earners  could  be  formed  which 
would  include  both  sexes. 

Two  explanations  may  be  given  for  women's  lack 
of  specialised  training.  The  first,  and,  given  the  prevail- 
ing conditions  of  Family  Industry,  probably  the  most 
potent  reason  lay  in  the  belief  that  it  was  unnecessary. 
A  specialised  training,  whether  in  Science,  Art  or 
Industry,  is  inevitably  costly  in  time  and  money; 
and  as  in  every  trade  there  is  much  work  of  a  character 
which  needs  no  prolonged  specialised  training,  and 
as  in  the  ordinary  course  of  a  woman's  life  a  certain 
proportion  of  her  time  and  energy  must  be  devoted 
to  bearing  and  rearing  children,  it  seemed  a  wise 
economy  to  spend  the  cost  of  specialised  training 
on  boys,  employing  women  over  those  processes  which 
chiefly  required  general  intelligence  and  common-sense. 


302  CONCLUSION 

It  has  been  shown  that  this  policy  answered  well 
enough  in  the  days  of  Domestic  and  Family  Industry 
when  the  husband  and  wife  worked  together,  and 
the  wife  therefore  reaped  the  advantages  of  the 
trading  privileges  and  social  position  won  by  her 
husband.  It  was  only  when  Capitalism  re- 
organised industry  on  an  individual  basis,  that  the 
wife  was  driven  to  fight  her  economic  battles 
single  handed,  and  women,  hampered  by  the  want 
of  specialised  training,  were  beaten  down  into 
sweated  trades. 

The  second  explanation  for  women's  lack  of  special- 
ised training  is  the  doctrine  of  the  subjection  of  women 
to  their  husbands.  While  the  first  reason  was  more 
influential  during  the  days  of  Family  and  Domestic 
Industry,  the  second  gains  in  force  with  the  develop- 
ment of  Capitalism.  If  women's  want  of  specialised 
training  had  been  prejudicial  to  their  capacity  for 
work  in  former  times,  such  training  would  not  have 
been  withheld  from  them  merely  through  fear  of 
its  weakening  the  husband's  power,  because  the  husband 
was  so  dependent  upon  his  wife's  assistance.  There 
was  little  talk  then  of  men  "  keeping  "  their  wives ; 
neither  husband  nor  wife  could  prosper  without 
the  other's  help.  But  the  introduction  of  Capitalism, 
organising  industry  on  an  individual  basis,  freed  men 
to  some  extent  from  this  economic  dependence  on 
their  wives,  and  from  henceforward  the  ideal  of  the 
subjection  of  women  to  their  husbands  could  be 
pursued,  unhampered  by  fear  of  the  dangers  resulting 
to  the  said  husbands  by  a  lessening  of  the  wife's 
economic  efficiency. 

A  sense  of  inferiority  is  one  of  the  prime  requisites 
for  a  continued  state  of  subjection,  and  nothing 
contributes  to  this  sense  so  much,  as  a  marked 
inferiority  of  education  and  training  in  a  society 
accustomed  to  rate  ^everything  according  to  its 
money  value.  The  difference,  in  earning  capacity 


CONCLUSION  303 

which     the    want     of     education    produces,    is     in 
itself   sufficient  to  stamp    a   class    as    inferior. 

There  is  yet  another  influence  which  contributed 
to  the  decline  in  the  standard  of  women's  education 
and  in  their  social  and  economic  position,  which  is  so 
noticeable  in  the  seventeenth  century.  This  period 
marks  the  emergence  of  the  political  idea  of  the 
"  mechanical  state "  and  its  substitution  for  the 
traditional  view  of  the  nation  as  a  commonwealth  of 
families.  Within  the  family,  women  had  their  position, 
but  neither  Locke,  nor  Hobbes,  nor  the  obscure  writers 
on  political  theory  and  philosophy  who  crowd  the  last 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  contemplate  the  inclu- 
sion of  women  in  the  State  of  their  imagination.  For 
them  the  line  is  sharply  drawn  between  the  spheres  of 
men  and  women ;  women  are  confined  within  the  circle 
of  their  domestic  responsibilities,  while  men  should 
explore  the  ever  widening  regions  of  the  State.  The 
really  significant  aspect  of  this  changed  orientation 
of  social  ideas,  is  the  separation  which  it  introduces 
between  the  lives  of  women  and  those  of  men,  because 
hitherto  men  as  well  as  women  lived  in  the  Home. 

The  mechanical  State  qud  State  did  not  yet  exist 
in  fact,  for  the  functions  of  the  Government  did  not 
extend  much  beyond  the  enforcement  of  Justice  and 
the  maintenance  of  Defence.  Englishmen  were 
struggling  to  a  realisation  of  the  other  aspects 
of  national  life  by  means  of  voluntary  associations 
for  the  pursuit  of  Science,  of  Trade,  of  Education,  or 
other  objects,  and  it  is  in  these  associations  that  the  trend 
of  their  ideas  is  manifested,  for  one  and  all  exclude 
women  from  their  membership  ;  to  foster  the  charming 
dependence  of  women  upon  their  husbands,  all  inde- 
pendent sources  of  information  were,  as  far  as  possible, 
closed  to  them.  Any  association  or  combination  of 
women  outside  the  limits  of  their  own  families  was 
discouraged,  and  the  benefits  whichjiad  been  extended 
to  them  in  this  respect  by  the  ^Catholic  Religion 


304  CONCLUSION 

were  specially  deprecated.  Milton's  statement  sums 
up  very  fairly  the  ideas  of  this  school  of  thought 
regarding  the  relations  that  should  exist  between 
husband  and  wife  in  the  general  scheme  of  things. 
They  were  to  exist  "  He  for  God  only,  she  for  God 
in  him."  The  general  standard  of  education  resulting 
from  such  theories  was  inevitably  inferior  ;  and  the 
exclusion  of  women  from  skilled  industry  and  the 
professions,  was  equally  certain  to  be  the  consequence 
sooner  or  later,  of  the  absence  of  specialised  training. 

The  general  effect  upon  women  of  this  exclusion, 
which  ultimately  limited  their  productive  capacity 
to  the  field  of  household  d/udgery,  or  to  the  lowest 
paid  ranks  of  unskilled  labour,  belongs  to  a  much 
later  period.  But  one  point  can  already  be  discerned 
and  must  not  be  overlooked.  This  point  is  the  alter- 
ation which  took  place  in  the  value  to  her  family  of 
a  woman's  productive  capacity  when  her  labour  was 
transferred  from  domestic  industry  to  wage-earning, 
under  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  seventeenth 
century.  When  employed  in  domestic  industry 
the  whole  value  of  what  she  produced  was  retained 
by  her  family  ;  but  when  she  worked  for  wages  her 
family  only  received  such  a  proportion  of  it  as  she  was 
able  to  secure  to  them  by  her  weak  bargaining  power  in 
the  labour  market.  What  this  difference  amounted  to 
will  be  seen  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  wife  of 
a  husbandman  could  care  for  her  children  and  feed 
and  clothe  herself  and  them  by  domestic  industry, 
but  when  working  for  wages  she  could  not  earn  enough 
for  her  own  maintenance. 

This  depreciation  of  the  woman's  productive  value 
to  her  family  did  not  greatly  influence  her  position 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  because  it  was  then  only 
visible  in  the  class  of  wage-earners,  and  into  this 
position  women  were  forced  by  poverty  alone.  The 
productive  efficiency  of  women's  services  in  domestic 
industry  remained  as  high  as  ever,  and  every  family 


CONCLUSION  305 

which  was  possessed  of  sufficient  capital  for  domestic 
industry,  could  provide  sufficient  profitable  occupation 
for  its  women  without  their  entry  into  the  labour 
market.  Independent  hard-working  families  living 
under  the  conditions  provided  by  Family  and 
Domestic  Industry,  still  formed  the  majority  of 
the  English  people.  The  upper  classes,  as  far 
as  the  women  were  concerned,  were  becoming  more 
idle,  and  the  number  of  families  depending  wholly 
on  wages  was  increasing,  but  farmers,  husbandmen  and 
tradesmen,  still  formed  a  class  sufficiently  numerous 
to  maintain  the  hardy  stock  of  the  English  race  un- 
impaired. Thus,  while  the  productive  capacity  of 
women  was  reduced  in  the  seventeenth  century 
by  the  idleness  of  the  nouveau  riche  and  by  the  in- 
efficiency of  women  wage- earners  which  resulted  from 
their  lack  of  nourishment,  it  was  maintained  at  the 
former  high  level  among  the  intermediate  and  much 
larger  class,  known  as  "  the  common  people." 

Though  from  the  economic  point  of  view  intense 
productive  energy  on  the  part  of  women  is  no  longer 
necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  race,  and  has  been 
generally  abandoned,  an  understanding  of  its  effect 
upon  the  maternal  functions  is  extremely  important 
to  the  sociologist.  No  complete  vital  statistics 
were  collected  in  the  seventeenth  century,  but  an 
examination  of  the  different  evidence  which  is  still 
available,  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  birth  rate  was 
extremely  high  in  all  classes,  except  perhaps  that  of 
wage-earners.  It  was  usual  for  active  busy  women 
amongst  the  nobility  and  gentry,  to  bear  from  twelve 
to  twenty  children,  and  though  the  death  rate  was 
also  high,  the  children  that  survived  appear  to  have 
possessed  abundant  vitality  and  energy.  Neither  does 
the  toil  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  women  among  the 
common  people  appear  to  have  injured  their  capacity 
for  motherhood;  in  fact  the  wives  of  husbandmen 
were  the  type  selected  by  the  wealthy  to  act  as  wet  nurses 


3o6  CONCLUSION 

for  their  children.  It  is  only  among  the  class  of  wage- 
earners  that  the  capacity  for  reproduction  appears 
to  have  been  checked,  and  in  this  class  it  was  the  under- 
feeding, rather  than  the  over- working  of  the  mothers, 
which  rendered  them  incapable  of  rearing  their  infants. 

The  effect  of  the  economic  position  of  women,  must 
be  considered  also  in  relation  to  another  special 
function  which  women  exercise  in  society,  namely 
the  part  which  they  play  in  the  psychic  and  moral 
reactions  between  the  sexes.  This  subject  has  seldom 
been  investigated  in  a  detached  and  truly  scientific 
spirit,  and  therefore  any  generalisations  that  may  be 
submitted  have  little  value.  It  will  only  be  observed 
here  that  the  exercise  by  women  of  productive  energy 
in  the  Elizabethan  period,  was  not  then  inconsistent 
with  the  attainment  by  the  English  race  of  its  high- 
water  mark  in  vitality  and  creative  force,  and  that  a 
comparison  of  the  social  standards  described  by  Rest- 
oration and  Elizabethan  Dramatists,  reveals  a  decadence, 
which,  if  not  consequent  upon,  was  at  least  coincident 
with,  the  general  withdrawal  of  upper-class  women 
from  their  previous  occupation  with  public  and  private 
affairs. 

Undoubtedly  the  removal  of  business  and  public 
interests  from  the  home,  resulted  in  a  loss  of  educational 
opportunities  for  girls ;  a  loss  which  was  not  made  good 
to  them  in  other  ways,  and  which  therefore  produced 
generations  of  women  endowed  with  a  lower  mental 
and  moral  calibre.  The  influence  of  women  upon 
their  husbands  narrowed  as  men's  lives  drifted  away 
from  the  home  circle  and  centred  more  round 
clubs  and  external  business  relations.  Hence  it  came 
about  that  in  the  actual  social  organisation  prevailing 
in  England  during  the  last  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  the  influence  or  psychic  reaction  of  women 
upon  men  was  very  different  in  character  and  much 
more  limited  in  scope,  than  that  exercised  by  them 
in  the  Elizabethan  period.  When  considered  in 


CONCLUSION  307 

regard  to  the  historical  facts  of  this  epoch,  it  will  be 
noticed  that  the  process  by  which  the  vital  forces 
and  energy  of  the  people  were  lowered  and  which  in 
common  parlance  is  termed  emasculation,  accom- 
panied an  evolution  which  was  in  fact  depressing  the 
female  forces  of  the  nation,  leaving  to  the  male  forces 
an  ever  greater  predominance  in  the  directing  of  the 
people's  destiny.  The  evidence  given  in  the  preceding 
chapters  is  insufficient  to  determine  what  is  cause  and 
what  is  effect  in  such  complicated  issues  of  life,  and  only 
shows  that  a  great  expenditure  of  productive  energy 
on  the  part  of  women  is  not,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, inconsistent  with  the  successful  exercise  of 
their  maternal  functions,  nor  does  it  necessarily 
exhaust  the  creative  vital  forces  of  the  race. 

The  enquiry  into  the  effect  which  the  appearance 
of  Capitalism  has  produced  upon  the  economic  position 
of  women  has  drawn  attention  to  another  isssue, 
which  concerns  a  fundamental  relation  of  human 
society,  namely  to  what  extent  does  the  Community 
or  State  include  women  among  its  integral  members, 
and  provide  them  with  security  for  the  exercise 
of  their  functions,  whether  these  may  be  of  the 
same  character  or  different  from  those  of  men. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  earlier  English 
Commonwealth  did  actually  embrace  both  men  and 
women  in  its  idea  of  the  "  Whole,"  because  it  was 
composed  of  self-contained  families  consisting  of 
men,  women  and  children,  all  three  of  which  are 
essential  for  the  continuance  of  human  society ; 
but  the  mechanical  State  which  replaced  it,  and  whose 
development  has  accompanied  the  extension  of  Cap- 
italism, has  regarded  the  individual,  not  the  family, 
as  its  unit,  and  in  England  this  State  began  with  the 
conception  that  it  was  concerned  only  with  male 
individuals.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  every  womanly 
function  was  considered  as  the  private  interest  of 
husbands  and  fathers,  bearing  no  relation  to  the  life 


3o8  CONCLUSION 

of    the    State,  and    therefore    demanding    from   the 
community  as  a  whole  no  special  care  or  provision. 

The  implications  of  such  an  idea,  together  with 
the  effect  which  it  produced  upon  a  society  in  which 
formerly  women  had  been  recognised  as  members, 
though  perhaps  not  equal  members,  cannot  be  fully 
discussed  in  this  essay  ;  the  investigation  would 
require  a  much  wider  field  of  evidence  than  can 
be  provided  from  the  survey  of  one  century.  But 
from  the  mere  recognition  that  such  a  change  took 
place,  follow  ideas  of  the  most  far-reaching  signifi- 
cance concerning  the  structure  of  human  society  ; 
we  may  even  ask  ourselves  whether  the  instability, 
superficiality  and  spiritual  poverty  of  modern  life, 
do  not  spring  from  the  organisation  of  a  State  which 
regards  the  purposes  of  life  solely  from  the  male 
standpoint,  and  we  may  permit  ourselves  to  hope  that 
when  this  mechanism  has  been  effectively  replaced  by 
the  organisation  of  the  whole,  which  is  both  male  and 
female,  humanity  will  receive  a  renewal  of  strength 
that  will  enable  them  to  grapple  effectively  with  the 
blind  force  Capitalism ; — that  force  which,  while 
producing  wealth  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice,  has 
hitherto  robbed  us  of  so  large  a  part  of  the  joy  of 
creation. 


AUTHORITIES. 

(The  numbers  in  leaded  type  are  the  press  marks  in  the  British  Museum.) 

Account  of  Several  Workhouses  for  Employing  and  Main- 
taining the  Poor,  etc:  London  1725.  1027  i.  18  (9). 

Act  of  Common  Council  for  the  reformation  of  sundry  abuses 
practised  by  divers  persons  upon  the  common  markets 
and  streets  of  the  City  of  London.  1631.  21  1.  5  (4). 

Act  for  the  settlement  and  well  ordering  of  the  severall 
Publick  Markets  within  the  City  of  London. 

1674.     21  1.  5  (58). 

Acts  and  Ordinances  of  the  Interregnum  II.  1651. 

Add.  MSS.  36308. 

Answer  to  a  Paper  of  Reflections  on  the  Project  for  laying 

a  Duty  on  English  Wrought  Silks.  8223  e.  9  (75). 

Arber,  Edward.     Transcript  of  the  Registers  of  the  Company 

of  Stationers  of  London.  1554-1640.     London,  1876. 

Assheton,  Nicholas,  Esq.     Journal  of ;    ed.  by  Rev.  F.  R. 

Raines.  Cbetham  Sjc.,  1848 

Astell,   Mary.     A  serious   proposal   to  the  Ladies  for  the 

advancement  of  their  true  and  greatest  Interest,  by  a 

Lover  of  her  sex.  1694.     12314  a.  22. 

Atkinson,  J.  C.      Quarter  Sessions  Records  for  the  North 

Riding   of   Yorkshire.  London,  1884.     R.  ac.  8190. 

Bacon,  Francis.     Works  of;  ed.  by  Spedding.     London,  1858. 
Bacon,  Sir  Nathaniel,  of  Stiffkey,  Norfolk.     Official  Papers 

of,  1580-1620.     Royal  Hist.  Soc.     Camden,  yd  Series. 

1915 
Baillie,  Lady  Grisell.       Household  Book  of,  ed.  by  R.  Scott- 

Moncneff.  Edinburgh,   1911.      R.  ac.  8256. 

Banks,  John.     A  Journal  of  the  Life  of.          London,  1712. 
Barrett,  C.  R.  B.     History  of  the  Society  of  Apothecaries 

of  London.  London,  1905.     7680  f.  14. 

Bateson,  Mary.     Borough  Customs. 

Selden  Society,  Vol.  XVIII.,  1904.     R.  ac.  2176. 

Records  of  the  Borough  of  Leicester. 

Cambridge,  1905.     2367  b.  5. 
Batt,  Mary.     Testimony  to  the  Life  and  Death  of.         1683. 


310  AUTHORITIES 

Bedell,  Wm.  True  relation  of  the  life  and  death  of  the 
Right  Reverend  Father  in  God,  Lord  Bishop  of  Kilmore 
In  Ireland.  Camden  Society.  1872.  R.  ac.  8113/98. 

Best,  Henry.     Rural  Economy  in  Yorkshire  in  1641. 

Surtees  Society,  33.     Durham,  1857. 

Black,  W.  H.  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Worshipful 
Company  of  Leathersellers  of  the  City  of  London. 

London  1871.     1890  c.  5. 
Bownas,  Samuel.     Life  and  Travels  of.  London  1756. 

Brathwaite,  Richard.  Anniversaries  upon  his  Panarete  con- 
tinued— with  her  contemplations  penned  in  the  languish- 
ing time  of  her  sicknesse.  London  1635.  Huth  68. 

The  English  gentleman  and  English  gentlewoman 

in  one  volume  concluded :  the  3rd  edition  with  a  Ladies 

Love  Lecture  and  a  supplement.  London  1641.     30  e.  6. 

Brewster,    John.     Parochial    History    and    Antiquities    of 

Stockton  upon  Tees.  Stockton  1796.     2368  d.  3 

Brief  State  of  the  Inland  or  Home  Trade  of  England,  and  of 
the  oppressions  it  suffers,  and  the  Dangers  which 
threaten  it  from  the  Invasion  of  Hawkers,  Pedlars  and 
Clandestine  Traders  of  all  sorts.  London  1730.  104  h.  20. 

British  Friend. 

Bund,  J.  W.  Willis.     Worcestershire  County  Records. 

•  Worcester  1900.     010360  i. 

Burton,  John  Richard.     History  of  Kidderminster. 

1890.     10368  h.  27. 

C.    W.    The   Bespotted   Jesuite.  London  1641.     E.  166  (3). 

Calendar  State  Papers.     Domestic  Series  (C.  S.  P.  D.). 

Canterbury.  Articles  to  be  enquired  of  by  the  Church- 
wardens, etc.  698  n.  20  (18). 

Carpenters,  Records  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of. 

1913.     W.P.  2524. 

Gary,  John.  Account  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Corporation 
of  Bristol  in  execution  of  the  Act  of  Parliament  for  the 
better  Employing  and  Maintaining  the  Poor  of  that 
City.  London  1700.  1027  i.  1 8  (3). 

Carrier,  Henriette.     Origines  de  la  Maternite  de  Paris. 

1888.    7687  eee.  31. 

Case  of  the  Linen  Drapers  and  other  Dealers  in  Printed 

Callicoes  and  Linens.  816  m.  13  (49). 

Case  of  British  and  Irish  Manufacture  of  Linnen,  Threads, 

and  Tapes,  etc.  1887  b.  60  (6). 

Case  of  the  Manufacturers  of  Gilt  and  Silver  Wire.     1887  b.  60  (9). 


AUTHORITIES  311 

Case  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Giles.  8223  e.  9  (23). 

Case  of  the  Woollen  Manufacturers  of  Great  Britain,  and  of 

the  Poor  they  imploy.  1887  b.  60  (32). 

Case  or  Petition  of  the  Corporation  of  Pin-makers.         816  m.  13. 

Cellier,  Elizabeth,  Mrs.     Scheme  for  the  foundation  of  a 
Royal  Hospital.        London  1687.    Harl.  Misc.  Vol.  iv. 

To  Dr. an  answer  to  his  Queeries  concerning 

the     Colledg     of     Midwives.  1687-8.     1178  h.  2  (2). 

Malice  Defeated.  1680.     515  1.  I  (io). 


Chalkley,  Thomas.     Collection  of  the  Works  of.     London    1751. 

Chamberlain,  Hugh,  Dr.  Trans.  Treatise  on  Midwifery  by 
F.  Maurice.  1672. 

Chamberlain,  Peter.  Dr.  in  Physick,  Fellow  of  the  Colledge 
of  London,  and  one  of  His  Majestie's  Physicians  Extra- 
ordinary. A  voice  in  Rhama  or  the  Crie  of  Women  and 
Children.  London  1646.  B.M.  E.  1181. 

Charter  of  the  Joiners'  Co.  Chester.     Harl.  MSS.  2054,  fo.  5. 

Charter  and  By-laws  of  the  Company  of  Armourers  and 
Brasiers,  in  the  City  of  London.  1554-1640. 

1873.     08227  b.  13. 

Child,  Sir  Josiah.    A  New  Discourse  of  Trade,  etc. 

2nd  ed.  London  1694.     712  c.  5« 

Short  Addition.  1668.     1029  b.  I. 

Churchwardens'  Accounts.     Steeple  Ashton.     Wilts  Notes 

and  Queries.  London  1911.     R.  pp.  6049  m. 

St.  Michael's  in  Bedwardine,  Worcester. 

Oxford  1896.    R.  Ac.  8166/8. 
Clode,  Charles  M.     Memorials  of  the  Guild  of  Merchant 

Taylors,  City  of  London.  London  1875.     2366  d.  2. 

Early  History  of  the  Guild  of  Merchant  Taylors 

of  the  Fraternity  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  London. 

London  1888.     8248  f.  18. 
Clothiers'  Complaint,  or  Reasons  for  Passing  the  Bill. 

London  1692.     711  f.  28. 
Compleat  Servant-maid,  or  the  Young  Maiden's  Tutor. 

London  1700.     1037  a>  42- 
Congreve,  Wm.     Works  of.  London  1710.     641  d.  3. 

Considerations  touching  the  Excise  of  Native  and  Forreign 
Commodities  (as  formerly  established)  as  also  how  the 
present  Excise  settled  on  His  Majesty  may  (with  some 
additions)  be  improved  to  the  sum  resolved  on  by  the 
Commons  in  Parliament.  712  m<  I  (s)' 


312  AUTHORITIES 

Costello,  Louisa  S.     Memoirs  of  Eminent  Englishwomen. 

London  1844.     10231.8. 
Council  Register. 

Cox,  Rev.  J.  C.     Churchwardens'  Accounts.         1913-     2260  b.  3. 

Three  Centuries  of  Derbyshire  Annals  as  illus- 
trated by  the  Records  of  the  Quarter  Sessions  of  the 
County  of  Derby.  London  1890.      0103581.28. 

Cratfield.  Accounts  of  the  Parish  of.  Ed.  by  Wm.  Holland 

and  J.  J.  Raven.  l%95-  0103581.42. 

Croker,  John.     Brief  Memoirs  of.  London  1839. 

Cromwell  Family.  Bills  and  Receipts.  Vol.11.  1546-1672. 

Add.  Mss.  33,461. 

Crosfield,  Helen  G.  Margaret  Fox  of  Swarthmoor  Hall. 

London  1913 

Culpeper,  Nicholas,  Gent.,  Student  in  Physick  and  Astrologie. 

Directory  for  Midwives.  1651.  E.  1340. 

Davenant  (Inspector-General  of  Exports  and  Imports).  An 
Account  of  the  trade  between  Create  Britain,  France, 
Holland,  etc.,  .  .  .  delivered  in  his  reports  made  to 
the  Commissioners  for  Publick  Accounts.  1715. 

Davies,  J.  S.     History  of  Southampton.    London  1883.     2368  cc.  5. 

Decker,  Thomas.     Best  Plays.     Ed.  by  E.  Rhys. 

London  1887.     1177,3  bb.  14. 
Declaration  of  the  Estate  of  Clothing  now  used  within  this 

Realme  of  England.  712  G.  16  (i). 

Defoe,   Daniel.     The   Behaviour  of  Servants  in   England. 

London  1724.     1137  h.  6. 

Every-Body's  Business  is  No-Body's   Business. 

London  1725.     1 137  h.  6  (2). 

Dunning,  Richard,  Gent.  A  plain  and  easie  Method  shewing 
how  the  office  of  overseer  of  the  Poor  may  be  managed, 
whereby  it  may  be  £9,000  per  annum  Advantage  to  the 
County  of  Devon,  without  abating  the  weekly  Relief  of 
any  Poor,  or  doing  a  Penny  damage  to  any  Person. 

London  1686.      1027  i.  17. 

Dunsford,  M.     Historical  Memoirs  of  the  Town  and  Parish  of 

Tiverton.  Exeter  1790.     2368  d.  3. 

Englands  Way  to  win  wealth  and  to  employ  Ships  and 
Mariners,  etc.,  by  Tobias,  Gentleman,  Fisherman  and 
Mariner.  1614.  Harleian  Misc.,  Vol.  'III. 

Evelyn,  John.     Diary  of.     Ed.  by  Wm.  Bray.     1906.     10854  f.  II. 

Exeter.     Articles  to  be  enquired  of  by  the  Churchwardens. 

1636.    698  n.  20  (19). 


AUTHORITIES  313 

Eyre,  Captain  Adam.    A  Dyurnall.     1646.     Surtees  Society, 

Vol.  LXV.  Durham  1877.    R.  ac.  8045/53. 

Falkland,  Lady  Letice  Vi-countess.     The  Virtuous,  Holy, 
Christian  Life  and  Death  of  the  late,  by  John  Duncon. 

London  1653.     701   b.   12. 

Fanshawe,    Lady.     Memoirs   of.     Wife   of   Sir   Richard 

Fanshawe,  Bart.  London  1905.     012207  i. 

Fell,  Sarah.     Swarthmoor  Household  Accounts. 

Ferguson,  R.  S.     Municipal  Records  of  the  City  of  Carlisle. 

Carlisle  1887.     R.  ac.  5630/5. 

Fiennes,  Celia.     Through  England  on  a  Side  Saddle  in  the 
time  of  William  and  Mary.     Being  the  Diary  of  C.  F. 

London  1888.     10854  S-  23- 
Firmin,  Thomas.     The  Life  of.  London  1698.     857  h.  26. 

Some  Proposals  for  the  imploying  of  the  Poor, 

especially  in  and  about  the  City  of  London. 

London  1678.     1027  i.  32. 
Fitzherbert,  Sir  Anthony.  Book  of  Husbandrye.  1555.    9693.32(1). 

Foulis,  Sir  John,  of  Ravelston.    Account  Book  of.     1671-1707. 

Edinburgh  1894.     R.  ac.  8256. 
Fox,  F.  F.     Some  Account  of  the  Merchant  Taylors,  Bristol. 

Bristol  1880.     10352  I.  17. 

Further  Considerations  for  encouraging  the  woollen  Manu- 
facturers of  this  Kingdom.  1852  d.  I  (41). 
Gentlemen's   Magazine.     May,    1834.     Vol.   I.,   Letter  to 

Lord  Althorp  on  the  Poor  Laws  by  Equitas. 
Gibbs,  A.  E.     Corporation  Records — St.  Albans. 

St.  Albans  1890.     10351  cc.  56. 

Grasier's  Complaint.  London  1726.     712  G.  1 6. 

Guilding,  J.  M.     Reading  Records.  1892.     2366  d.  4- 

Hale,     Sir    Matthew.     Method    Concerning    Relief    and 

Employment  of  the  Poor.  London  1699.     1027  i.  18  (i). 

Discourse  touching  Provision  for  the  Poor. 

Hamilton,   A.    H.    A.     Quarter   Sessions    Records,    Queen 

Elizabeth  to  Queen  Anne.  1878.     6006  a.  14. 

Hardy,  W.  J.     Hertford  County  Records,  1581-1698. 

Hertford  1905.     010360  K.  7. 

Middlesex  County  Records.  1905.     5805  d.  f.  2. 

Harl,  MSS.     2054,  2IO5>  relating  to  City  of  Chester. 

Harley,  Letters  of  the  Lady  Brilliana.     Intro,  and  notes  by 

Thos.  Taylor  Lewis.  London  1853.     R.  ac.  8113/56. 


3H  AUTHORITIES 

Haynes,  John.  Great  Britain's  Glory,  or  an  account  of  the 
Great  Numbers  of  Poor  employed  in  the  woollen  and 
silk  manufactures.  London  1715.  1029  a.  6  (3). 

View  of  the  Present  State  of  the  Clothing  Trade 

in  England.  London  1706.  1029  a.  6  (2). 

Heath,  J.  B.  Some  account  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of 

Grocers  of  the  City  of  London.  London  18:14.  1302  m.  2. 

Herbert,  Wm.  History  of  the  Twelve  Great  Livery 
Companies  of  London.  1836. 

Heylyn,  Peter,  D.D.  The  Historical  and  Miscellaneous 
Tracts  of ;  and  an  account  of  the  life  of  the  Author. 

London  1681.  479  d.  II. 

Cyprianus  Anglicus.  1668.     C82  f.  2. 

Voyage  of  France.  1673.     10170  aaa.  8. 

Heywood,  Rev.  Oliver,  1630-1702.  His  autobiography, 
diaries,  anecdote  and  event  books,  ed,  by  J.  Horsfall 
Turner.  1882.  4907  e.  4. 

Historical  MSS.  Commission  14  Rep.     App.  VIII. 

Various  Collections.     Vol.  I. 

-  Vol.  IV. 

Hoare,  Sir  R.  C.     History  of  Modern  Wiltshire.     Old  and 

New  Sarum  or  Salisbury.  London  1843. 

Holdsworth,  W.  S.    A  History  of  Eng.  Law.  IO-O3- 

Holroyd,  Joseph,  cloth  factor,  and  Sam.  Hill,  Clothier,  Letter 

Books  of.  Halifax  1900.     7958  h. 

Howard,  Lord  William  of  Naworth  Castle.     Selections  from 

the  Household  Books  of. 

Surtees  Society,  Vol.LXVIIl.     Durham  1878.     R.  ac.  8045/55. 
Howell,  James.     Familiar  Letters.  London  1754.     G.  21 18. 

Humble  Petition  and  Case  of  the  Tobacco  Pipe  Makers  of 

the  City  of  London  and  Westminster.  l^9S-     816  m.  12. 

Humble  Petition  of  many  thousands  of  Courtiers',  Citizens', 

Gentlemen's  and  Tradesmen's   wives,  etc. 

Feb.  10,  1641.     669  f.  4  (59). 
Humble  Petition  of  the  Master,  Wardens  and  Assistants  of 

the  Company  of  Silk  Throwers,  London.          816  m.  13  (115). 
Hunter,  Joseph.     History  and  Topography  of  Kettering- 

ham.  Norwich  1851.     10351   h.  10. 

Hutchinson,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Colonel,  written  by  his 

widow,  Lucy.     Ed.  by  C.  H.  Firth.          1906.  12207  p.p. 

Irish  Friend.     Vol.  IV.     Account  of  remvarkable  visions  and 

passages  of  John  Adams,  of  Yorkshire. 


AUTHORITIES  315 

James,    John.     History    of   the    Worsted    Manufacture    in 

England.  London  1857.     227°  ^°-  l^' 

Johnson,  Rev.  A.  H.     History  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of 

Drapers  of  London.  1914.     W.P.  3016. 

Jonson,  Ben.     Plays.  1756.     673  f.  13-19. 

Josselin,  Rev.  Ralph.  The  Diary  of.     1616-1683,  ed.  for  the 

Royal  Historical  Society  by  E.  Hockdiffe.    1908.  R.  ac.  8118/17. 

Jupp,  Ed.  B.     Historical  Account  of  the  Worshipful  Company 
of  Carpenters  of  the  City  of  London. 

London  1887.     10350  dd.  17. 

King,  Gregory  (Rouge  Dragon).     Natural  and  Political  Obser- 
vations and  Conclusions  upon  the  state  and  condition  of 
England,  1696.     Ed.  by  G.  Chalmers. 

London  1910.     1137  k.  27. 

Lambert,  Rev.  J.  Malet.     2,000  years  of  Gild  Life,  Kingston- 

upon-Hull.  2240  f.  9. 

Lamond,  Eliz.     Discourse  of  the  Common  Weal  of  this  Realm 
of  England.     First  printed  in  1581. 

Cambridge  1893.    8009  aaa.  33. 

Lansdowne  MSS.    161  fo.  127.    Letter  from  Mayor  of  South- 
ampton to  Sir  J.  Caesar  re  suit  of  Rachell  Tierry. 

351  fo.  1 8  b.     A  Project  for  Mounts  of  Piety. 

Latimer,  John.  Annals  of  Bristol.  Bristol  1900.  2367  bb.  I. 
Leach,  Arthur  F.  Beverley  Town  Documents.  Selden 

Society,  Vol.  xiv.  London  1900.  R.  ac.  2176. 

Leader,  John  Daniel.  Extracts  from  the  earliest  book  of 

Accounts  belonging  to  the  Town  Trustees  of  Sheffield. 

1566-1707.  Sheffield.  1879.     8228  aa.  II. 

Records  of  the  Burgery  of  Sheffield,  commonly 

called  the  Town  Trust.  London  1897.     010358  f.  63. 

Leader,  Robert  Eadon.     History  of  the  Company  of  Cutlers 

in  Hallamshire.  Sheffield  1905.     1889  e.  IO. 

Leland,  John.     The   Itinerary   of,  1535-1543.     Ed.   by  L. 

Toulmin  Smith.  London  1907.     2366  d.  6. 

Linnen  and  Woollen  Manufactory  discoursed,  with  the  Nature 

of  Companies  and  Trade  in  General. 

London  1691.     712  m.  I  (14). 
Lipson,  E.     An  Introduction  to  the  Economic  History  of 

England.  I.  the  Middle  Ages.  London  1915.  W.P.  2753. 
Little  Red  Book  of  Bristol.  Ed.  by  F.  B.  Bickley.  10370  h.  22. 
Lyon,  John.  History  of  Town  and  Port  of  Dover. 

Dover  1813.     191  b.   6. 

Manchester  Court  Leet  Records.  1887. 


316  AUTHORITIES 

Martindale,  Adam,  The  Life  of,  written  by  himself.     Ed.  by 

Richard  Parkinson.  Ckeetham  Society,  Vol.  IF.  1845.  R.  ac.  8120. 
McMath,  James,  M.D.    The  Expert  Midwife.      1694.     7581  de.  19. 

Mayo,  C.  H.  Municipal  Records  of  the  Borough  of  Dor- 
chester. Dorset.  Exeter  1908.  010360  k.  u. 

Monthly  Meeting  Minute  Books  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
Horselydown  and  Peele. 

Mournfull  Cryes  of  many  thousand  Poore  Tradesmen,  1647. 

669  f.  II  (116). 

Murray,  Lady  Mary,  of  Stanhope.  Memoirs  of  Lives  and 
Characters  of  the  Rt.  Hon.  Geo.  Baillie  of  Jerviswood, 
and  of  Lady  Grisell  Baillie.  Edinburgh  1822.  614  g.  29. 

Nash,  T.     History  and  Antiquities  of  Worcester.     1781. 

Nicholas  Papers.  Correspondence  of  Sir  Edward  Nicholas, 
Secretary  of  State.  Ed.  by  G.  F.  Warner. 

Camden  Society  1886.     R.  ac.  8113/127. 

Nicholson,  Dame  Magdalen,  widow  of  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot, 
first  Baronet  of  Stobbs,  by  Alexander  O.  Curie.  Some 
notes  of  the  Account  Book  of.  In  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland.  1904-1905.  Vol. 
XXXIX.,  pp.  120-132.  R.  ac.  5770.  2. 

Nottingham,  Records  of  the  Borough  of.     London  1889.     2366  d.  I. 

Osborne,  Dorothy.     Letters  to  Sir  William  Temple.    Ed.  by 

E.  A.  Parry.  10921  bbb.  34. 

Overall,  W.  H.     Analytical  Index  to  the  Series  of  Records 

known   as   the   Remembrancia,   preserved   among   the 

Archives  of  the  City  of  London.     1579-1664. 

London  1878. 
Some  account  of  the  Company  of  Clockmakers 

of  the  City  of  London.  London  1881.     10349  ig-  "• 

Pechey,  John.  Fellow  of  the  Colledge  of  Physicians.     The 

Compleat  Midwife's  practice  enlarged. 

London  1698.     778  b.  44. 
Pepys,  Samuel.     Diary  and  Correspondence.     Ed.  by  Rev. 

Mynors  Bright.  London  1875.     100854  ee.  I. 

Petty,  Dorothy,  the  case  of,  in  Relation  to  the  Union  Society, 

at  the  White  Lyon  by  Temple  Bar,  whereof  she  is 

Director.  1710.     816  m.  10/82. 

Phipps,  Thomas,  Esq.     His  Proposal  for  Raising  1,000,000 

of  Pounds  Sterling  Yearly.  1712.     82236.9(60). 

Poor  out-cast  Children's  Song  and  Cry.  London  1653.  669  f.  16  (93). 
Powell,  John.     The  Assize  of  Bread.          London  1600.     C.  40  d.  54- 


AUTHORITIES  317 

The  Proverb  Crossed  or  a  new  Paradox  maintained,  etc., 
Being  a  Full  Clear  and  Distinct  answer  to  a  Paper  of  an 
English  Gentleman,  who  endeavours  to  demonstrate 
that  it  is  for  the  Interest  of  England,  that  the  Laws 
against  the  Transportation  of  Wooll  should  be  repealed. 

London  1677.  712  g.  1 6  (16). 

Pseudonismus,  Considerations  concerning  Common-fields  and 

Inclosures.  1654.  E.  719  (9). 

Ramsey,  Wm.  History  of  Worshipful  Company  of  Glass- 
sellers  of  London.  1898.  8248  g.  10. 

Rawdon,  Marmaduke,  of  York,  the  Life  of.  Ed.  by  Richard 

Davies.  Camden  Society,  Vol.  LXXXV .  R.  ac.  8113/80 

Raynold,  Thomas.  The  byrth  of  Mankynde,  otherwyse 
named  the  woman's  booke,  newly  set  furth,  corrected 
and  augmented.  London  1545-  IJ77  h»  *• 

Reasons  for  a  Limited  Exportation  of  Wooll.     1677.    712  g.  16  (14). 

Reasons  humbly  offered  to  the  Honourable  House  of  Com- 
mons bv  the  Leather-dressers  and  Glovers.  816  m.  13  (39). 

Remarks  upon  Mr.  Webber's  Scheme  and  the  Draper's 

Pamphlet.  1741.  1029  d.  4  (5). 

Report  of  Commission  on  Decay  of  Clothing  Trade.  1622. 

Stowe  554  fo.  45-49- 

Report  of  the  Commissioners  on  the  Condition  of  the  Hand- 
loom  weavers,  1841.  Mr.  Chapman's  Report. 

Riley,  H.  T.  Chronicles  of  the  Mayors  and  Sheriffs  of 

London,  1188-1274.  London  1863.  9510  h.  12. 

Memorials  of  London  and  London  Life.     1868. 

Riley,  W.  H.     Translation  of  the  Liber  Albus,  of  the  City 
of  London.     Compiled  1419,  by  John  Carpenter,  clerk,  - 
and  Richard  Whittington,  Mayor.       London  1861.     9510  f.  22. 

Rockley,  Francis,  Esq.,  Presenteth  that  the  Revenue  of  Excise. 

8i6m.  6  (2). 

Rogers,  J.  E.  Thorold.     History  of  Agriculture  and  Prices. 

Oxford  1866-1902. 
-  Oxford  City  Documents.  1891.     R.  ac.  8126/10. 

Rogers,  Timothy,  M.A.  The  Character  of  a  Good  Woman, 
both  in  a  Single  and  Marry'd  State,  in  a  Funeral  Dis- 
course on  Prov.  31,  10,  occasion'd  by  the  Decease  of  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  Dunton.  London  1697.  1417  b.  29. 

Rolls  of  Parliament. 

Salford,  The  Portmote  or  Court  Leet  Records  of  the  Borough 
or  Town  and  Royal  Manor  of,  1597-1669. 
Ckeetham  Society  1902.     Vol.  xlvi.  new  series.         R.  ac.  8120. 


318  AUTHORITIES 

Scheme  to  prevent  the  running  of  Irish  Wools  to  France. 

By  a  Merchant  of  London.  London  1743.     1029  d.  4  (3). 

Second  Humble  Address  from  the  Poor  Weavers  and  Manu- 
facturers to  the  Ladies.  816  m.  14  (84). 

Sharp,  Jane.  The  Midwives  Book  or  the  whole  art  of  Mid- 
wifery discovered,  by  Mrs.  Jane  Sharp,  Practioner  in  the 
art  of  Midwifery  above  thirty  years.  London  i6j\.  117?  b.  19. 

Shaw's,  Mrs.,  Innocency  restored  and  Mr.  Clendon's 
Calumny  retorted,  notwithstanding  his  late  Triumphing, 
by  sundry  Depositions,  making  out  more  than  ever  she 
by  Discourse  or  writing  did  positively  charge  upon  him. 

London  1653.     E.  730  596  (8). 

Short  Essay  upon  Trade  in  General,  etc.,  by  a  Lover  of  his 

Country.  London  1741.     1029  d.  4  (2). 

Smith,  L.  Toulmin.     English  Gilds.  1870.     R.  ac.  9925/33. 

Smith's  Book  of  Accounts,  Chester,  1574.  Harl.  MSS.  2054  fo.  22. 

Smyth,  Richard,  The  Obituary  of.  Secondary  of  the  poultry 
Compter,  London;  being  a  catalogue  of  all  such  persons 
as  he  knew  in  their  life.  Ed.  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis. 

Camden  Society,  1849.     R.  ac.  8113/44. 

Smythe,  W.  Dumville.  Historical  Account  of  the  Worship- 
ful Company  of  Girdlers,  London.  London  1905.  8248  e.  44. 

Somerset   Quarter   Sessions   Records.     Ed.  by  Rev.  E.   N. 

Bates  Harbin.  1913.     R.  ac.   8133/17. 

Sowerby,  Leo.  Ladies  Dispensatory,  containing  the  nature, 
virtues  and  qualities  of  all  Herbs  and  simples  usefull  in 
Physick  reduced  into  a  methodical  order,  for  their  more 
ready  use  in  any  sicknesse,  or  other  accident  of  the  Body. 

London  1651.     E.   1258. 

State  Papers.     Domestic  Series  (S.P.D.). 

Statutes  at  Large. 

Stone,  Jolley.     Court  Precedents.     1673,  Harl.  MSS.  1628. 

Stopes,  Mrs.  C.  C.  Shakespeare's  Warwickshire  Contem- 
poraries. 1897.  H765  d-  I7- 

Stow,  John.  Survey  of  the  cities  of  London  and  Westmin- 
ster. Written  at  first  MDXCVIII.,  brought  down  from  the 
year  1633  to  the  present  time  by  John  Strype. 

London  1720.     1791  d.  5. 

Strood,  Churchwarden's  Ace.  Book.     1555-1763.  Add.  MSS.  36937. 

Sussex  Archeological  Collections. 

Account  Book  of  Cowden.     Vol.  XX. 
Burrell,  Timothy,  Journal  of.     Vol.  III. 
Danny  Papers.     Vol.  X. 
East  Sussex  Parochial  Documents.     Vol.  IV. 


AUTHORITIES  319 

Everenden  and  Frewen  Account  Books.     Vol.  IV. 

Hastings  Documents.     Vol.  XXIII. 

Herstmonceux  Castle  House  Accounts.     Vol.  XLVIII. 

Mayfield  Overseer's  Accounts.     Vol.  XVIII. 

Moore,  Rev.  Giles.  Journal  of.     Vol.  I. 

Stapley,  Rich.,  Diary  of.     Vol.  II. 

Taylor,  Randall.  A  Discourse  of  the  Growth  of  England 
in  Populousness  and  Trade  since  the  Reformation. 

1689.     712  m.  I  (13). 

Tawney,  R.  H.  The  assessment  of  Wages  in  England  by  the 
Justices  of  the  Peace — in  the  vierteljahrscbrift  ftir 
Sozial  und  Wirtscbaftsgeschichte.  XI.  Band  Unties 
Heft  and  Viertes  Heft.  1913. 

Thornton,  Mrs.  Alice,  of  East  Newton,  Co.  York.  Auto- 
biography. Surlees  Society,  Vol.  LXII.  1873  R.  ac.  8045/50 

Tingey,  }.  C.  Assessment  of  Wages  for  Norfolk.  English 
Historical  Review,  Vol.  XIII. 

Records  of  the  City  of  Norwich. 

Norwich  1906.      2368  cc.  4. 

Trade  of  England.     Revived  and  the  abuses  thereof  Rectified. 

London  1681.     712  g.    16  (20). 

True  Account  how  Mr.  Reading's  House  at  Santoft  happened 

to  be  Burnt.  816  m.  10/112. 

True  Case  of  the  Scots  Linen  Manufacture.  816  m.  13  (55). 

Verney,  F.  P.     Memoirs  of  the  Verney  Family  during  the 

Civil  Wars.  London  1892.     2407  f.  12. 

Vives,  office  and  duetie  of  an  husband.     Trans,  by  Thos. 

Paynell.  1550.     G.  10325. 

Watson,  Wm.     The  Clergyman's  Law.  1747.     516  m.  10. 

Weavers  True  Case,  or  the  wearing  of  Printed  Calicoes  and 
Linnen  Destructive  to  the  Woollen  and  Silk  Manu- 
facturers. 1719.  T.  1814  (8). 

Welch,  Charles.     History  of  the  Worshipful  Company  of 

Pewterers  of  the  City  of  London.     London  1902.     8248  f.,  15- 

Welford,  Richard.     History  of  Newcastle  and  Gateshead. 

London  1885.     2367  bb.  7. 

Wilkinson,  Robert.  The  Merchant  Royal,  or  woman  a  ship, 
etc.  in  conjugal  duty,  set  forth  in  a  collection  of  ingenious 
and  delightful  wedding  sermons.  Original  ed.,  1607. 

London  1732.     4454  b.  9. 

Wycherley,  Wm.     Plays.  London  1735.     644  a.   19. 

Yonge,  Walter.  Diary  at  Colyton  and  Axminster,  Co. 
Devon.  1604-1628.  Ed.  by  Geo.  Roberts. 

Camden  Society  1848.     R.  ac.  8113/41, 


WAGES    ASSESSMENTS. 


County. 
Buckingham 

Cardigan 

Chester 
Derbyshire 

Devonshire 
Dorsetshire 
Essex 

Gloucestershire 

Hertfordshire 
Kent 

Ki  ngtson-upon-Hull 
Lancashire 

"Lincolnshire 

London 
Middlesex 
Norfolk 
Rutland 
St.  Albans 
Somerset 
Suffolk 
Warwickshire 
Wiltshire 
Worcestershire 
Yorkshire  : 
East  Riding 

North  Riding     . . 


Reference. 

Hamilton,  A.  H.  A.,  Quarter  Sessions  Records 

from  Queen  Eliz.  to  Queen  Anne. 
Dyson,    Humfrey.,  Proclamations   of   Queen 

Elizabeth.  06463  (33ib.). 
Harleian  MSS.,  2054  (3)  f.  5  zb. 
Cox,  J.  C.,  Three  Centuries  of  Derbyshire 

Annals. 

Hamilton,  A.  H.  A.,  Quarter  Sessions  Record. 
Sussex  Archeological  Collections,  Vol.  I.,  p.  75. 
Ruggles,    Thomas,     History    of    the    Poor, 

pp.  123-5.     IO27  i-  x- 
Rogers,  J.  E.  Thorold,  History  of  Agriculture 

and  Prices.     Vol.  VI.,  p.  694. 
Hardy,  W.  J.,  Hertford  County  Records. 
Rogers,  J.  E.  T.,  History  of  Agriculture  and 

Prices.     Vol.  VII.,  p.  623. 
Dyson,  Humfrey,  Proclamations.     66463  (77). 
Rogers,  J.  E.  T.,  History  of  Agriculture  and 

Prices.     Vol.  VI.,  p.  689. 
Hist.  MSS.  Com.,  Duke  of  Rutland,  Vol.  I., 

p.  460. 

Lord  Mayor's  Proclamations.     21  h.  5  (6iV 
Hardy,  W.  J.,  Middlesex  County  Records. 
English  Historical  Review,  Vol.  XIII.,  p.  522. 
Archeologia,  Vol.  XL,  pp.  200-7. 
Gibbs,  Corporation  Records. 
Somerset  Quarter  Sessions  Records. 
Cullum,  Sir  John.,  History  of  Hawstead. 
Archeologia,  Vol.  XL,  p.  208. 
Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Var.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  163. 
Hist.  MSS.  Com.  Var.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  323. 

Rogers,  J.  E.  T.,  History  of  Agriculture  and 

Prices,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  686. 
Atkinson,    J.    C.,    Yorkshire,    North    Riding 

Quarter  Sessions  Records,  Vols.  VI.  and 

VII. 


INDEX. 


Agriculture,  9,  42-92  passim,  93,  1 50, 
292  seq.,  see  Apprentice,  Capitalism, 
Dairy,  Farmer,  Husbandman, 
Labourer,  Pig-keeping,  Poultry- 
keeping,  Spinning,  Wages,  Wage- 
earner,  Wife,  Yeoman  ;  conditions 
for  rearing  children,  43,  92. 

Alehouse,  91  seq.,  101,  225,  229,  231- 
233  passim  ;  see  Brewing,  Innkeeper; 
livelihood  for  widows  and  infirm 
people,  230-232. 

Alewife,  222,  232 ;    see  Brewing. 

Apothecaries,  184,  259-263  passim, 
see  Doctor,  Gild. 

Apprentice,  6,  26,  1 12,  144,  156,  185, 
195,  211,  213,  293  ;  agriculture,  59  ; 
Gild  trades,  boys,  163,  165  seq.,  177, 
185,  187,  260,  girls,  10,  150,  166, 
175  seq.,  185,  195,  261,  298  ;  other 
trades,  boys,  159,  185,  214,  226,  261, 
girls,  151,  194,  217,  220,  293; 
retail  trades,  200  seq.  ;  silk  trade, 
138,  141  seq.  ;  weavers,  104  seq, 
122;  duties  of  apprentices,  5,  157; 
restriction  of  numbers,  10,  156,  188, 
298;  apprentices  of  women,  162,  168 
seq.,  173,  179,  194,  220;  of  widows, 
104,  162,  168  seq.,  173  seq.,  183, 
187  sea.,  190,  293. 

Apprenticeship,  146,  151,  156,  i6oseq., 
165,  177,  184,  191,  194,  196, 
200  seq.,  212-214  passim,  234,  261, 
269  seq.,  298,  301. 

Apprentice  Trade,  106. 

Aristocracy,  see  Capitalist ;  character 
of  women,  38-41,  253,  289,  296  seq., 
305  seq.  ;  confinements,  267  seq.  ; 
occupations,  14-27,  35,  38,  53  seq., 

.  253)  25?  "9- 
Armourers  and  Brasiers,  178,  183  seq. 

See  Gild. 

Assheton  Nicholas,  280. 
Astell  Mary,  38. 
Assize,  of  beer,  224;   of  bread,  211. 

Badger,  204  seq. 

Baillie,  Lady  Grisell,  16,  68,  229. 


Bakers,  8,  92,  202,  208-215  passim  ; 
corporations  of,  212  seq. ;  restrictions 
on,  210,  211,  215;  women  bake  for 
domestic  purposes,  47,^50,  210,  214; 
for  sale,  30,  213,  214;  wife  assists 
husband,  211  seq.,  215. 

Baptist,  240. 

Barber-surgeons,  259-263  passim,  265, 
276,  284  ;  see  Gild. 

Barrymore,  Lady,  14. 

Bedell,  Mrs.  Eliz.,  256. 

Best,  60-62  passim,  78. 

Beverley,  180,  183,  211,  221  seq. 

Binder,  161,  167. 

Birth-rate,  4,  43,  86  seq.,  305. 

Bleacher,  129,  145. 

Bookseller,  161,  168. 

Bourgeois,  Mme.  Louise,  275,  284. 

Borough,  209,  see  Corporations. 

Brathwaite,  Richard,  29,  53. 

Brewing,  8,  n,  209,  221-233  passim; 
see  Alehouse,  Ale-wife,  Apprentices, 
Capitalism,  Domestic,  Gild;  Brew- 
ster  n,  155,  221  seq.,  229;  Common 
Brewers,  223-227  passim,  230 ; 
Fellowship  of,  223-226  ;  for  domestic 
purposes,  5,  8,  47,  <jo,  210,  223;/sr 
retail,  210,  222-230  5  for  wages, 
229  seq. 

Bristol,  103,  134,  182,  185,  191,  232. 

Burford,  Rose  de,  140. 

Burling,  105  seq.,  132,  145. 

Buiy,  222. 

Bury  St.  Edmunds,  227. 

Business    affairs    of    family,    41,    see 
Family  ;  managed  by  wife,  16,  21  seq., 
54      seq.,      superior      capacity       of 
Dutch  women,   36-38  passim ;    wife 
unequal   to,    20,    22   seq.  ;     women's 
capacity  for,  20,  34,  38  seq. 
Butcher,  155,  202,  209  seq.,    216-219 
passim,      221  ;       see     Apprentices ; 
selling  wool,  107  ;  wage-earners,  219. 
Buttons,  142,  144. 
Butter,  8,  49,  see  Dairy. 


Cane-chair  bottoming,  195. 


21 


322 


INDEX 


Capitalism,  6,  300,  308  ;  see  Capitalistic 
Organisation,  Family  Industry, 
Gilds,  Industrialism,  Linen,  Silk, 
Textile  Trades,  Woollen  ;  definition 
of,  7  ;  demand  for  labour,  90  seq.  ; 
effect  on  Domestic  Industry,  8,  11, 
94 ;  effect  on  Family  Industry,  8, 
10,  u,  94,  142,  156,  165,  196,  297  ; 
effect  on  Marital  Relations,  40  seq., 
158,  167,  197,  235,  296,  299,  301  seq.; 
effect  on  Motherhood,  8  seq.,  n  seq., 

306  ;    effect  on  Social  Organisation, 
8  seq.,  40,  148,  300,  306  seq. ;  effect  on 
women's  economic  position,  $  seq.,  10, 
92,  94,  96,  98,   145  seq.,   165,   167, 
196,  235,  295-299  passim,  301,  302, 

307  ;    effect  on   women's   morale  and 
physique,  41  ;    in  agriculture,  43,  56, 
92;    in  brewing,   n,  226,  230;    in 
Crafts  and  Trades,  156,  158,  165,196. 

Capitalists,  see  Aristocracy  ;  Definition 
of,  14 ;  idleness  of  wives  and 
daughters,  10,  38,  41,  50,  235, 
296-298  passim,  305;  women's 
activity  as  Capitalists,  14-41  passim. 

Capitalistic  organisation,  13,  94,  146, 
196,  236;  see  Capitalism,  Indus- 
trialism. 

Carding,  employment  for  poor,  116, 
132;  men,  102,  116;  women,  99, 
108,  120  seq.,  141. 

Card-maker,  190. 

Carlisle,  44,  53,  153,  201,  203,  211, 
215. 

Carpenter,  170-178  passim  187,  195; 
see  Companies. 

Carrier  of  letters,  63. 

Cellier,  Mrs.,  195,  269,  273-276 passim. 

Chamberlain,  Dr.  Hugh,  281,  283. 

Chamberlain,  Peter,  272  seq. 

Chandler,  wax  and  tallow,  155,  195, 
200,  202. 

Chapmen,  109,  155,  206. 

Cheese,  8,  49,  53,  208. 

Chester,    155,     181,    211,    217,    232. 

Child,  Sir  J.,  36. 

Child's  coate  seller,  176. 

Children,  22,  45,  88,  147^7.,  192-194 
passim,  196,  256;  see  Agriculture, 
Apprentices,  Capitalism,  Cost  of 
Living,  Education,  Family,  Father, 
Housing,  Husband,  Infant  Mortality 
Mother,  Nursing,  Poor,  Settlement, 
Wages,  Wage-earners,  Widow,  Wife  ; 
attending  gild  dinners,  180  ;  employ- 
ment in  agriculture,  59  seq.,  64  ;  in 
textile  manufacture,  9,  97  seq.,  106, 
1 08,  112-114  passim,  125,  130-134 


passim,  140-1 44  passim,  292  ;  reduce 
women's  wage-earning  capacity, 
68  seq.,  92,  136,  147;  right  to  work 
in  father's  trade,  156,  165,  seq.,  185, 
share  in  family  property,  7, 
182;  share  in  supporting  family,  12, 
72,  79,  105,  192  seq.,  293  ;  under- 
feeding of,  64,  86  seq.,  118. 

Child-birth,  46,  267,  273,  276,  283, 
285 ;  see  Aristocracy,  Common- 
people,  Midwifery. 

Church,  236-242 ;  supervision  of 
midwives,  277  seq. 

Clockmakers,  187. 

Clothiers,  98-102  passim,  "108-112 
passim,  117-124  passim,  141,  147; 
see  Poor ;  force  workpeople  to  take 
goods  for  wages,  njseq.;  women,  9, 
100-102  passim,  124. 

Cloth-workers,  184. 

Coal-owner,  34. 

Common-people,  3,  257,  305  ;  defini- 
tion of,  148,  253  ;  child-birth,  267-269 
passim  ;  women's  position  contrail  d 
by  necessity,  41. 

Companies,  10,  25-27  passim,  189,  207, 
212,  259,  260  seq. ;  see  Corporations, 
Gilds,  Apothecaries,  Armourers  and 
Braziers,  Bakers,  Barber-surgeons, 
Binders,  Book-sellers,  Brewsters, 
Butchers,  Carpenters,  Clockmakers, 
Clothworkers,  Cutlers,  Drapers, 
Dyers,  Embroiderers,  Fishmongers, 
Fullers,  Girdlers,  Glass-sellers, 
Glovers,  Goldsmiths,  Gold-wire 
Drawers,  Grocers,  Joiners,  Leather- 
sellers,  Mercers,  Merchants,  Mer- 
chant Taylors,  Mid-wives,  Painter- 
Stainers,  Pewterers,  Physicians, 
Point-makers,  Printers,  Publishers, 
Shoe-makers,  Smiths,  Stationers, 
Tailors,  Upholsterers,  Whit-awert. 

Congreve,  3. 

Contractors,  31. 

Cooking,  it. 

Corporation*  (Municipal),  151,  199- 
204  passim,  209,  212,  218,  224,  263  ; 
see  Boroughs,  Companies,  Customs, 
Gilds,  Beverley,  Bristol,  Bury, 
Bury  St.  Edmunds,  Carlisle,  Chester, 
Dorchester,  Exeter,  Grimsby,  Hull, 
Kingtson-upon-Hull,  Leicester, 
Lincoln,  London,  Manchester, 
Norwich,  Nottingham,  Newcastlc- 
upon-Tyne,  Reading,  Rye,  Salford, 
Salisbury,  Sandwich,  St.  Albans, 
Sheffield,  Southampton,  Tiverton, 
Torksey,  York. 


INDEX 


323 


Cost  of  living,  68-79  #««*»»>  1 34  5  diet  of 

children,  68,  71,  223;  servants,  68  ; 

difference  between   men,   women   and 

children,       71-73      passim,        127; 

Family  of  three  Children,  68,  73. 
Cotton  trade,  94,  124. 
Cowden,  parish  of,  131,  264,  280. 
Cows,  45,  47,  53,  55,  57,  209,  293  ;  see 

Dairy,   Milking. 
Crafts,     10,     150-197;      see     Gilds, 

Trades. 

Craftsman,   10,   197. 
Cromwell  family,  18,  69. 
Culpeper,  Nicholas,  271  seq. 
Custom  (habit),  155,  158-161. 
Customs,     1 60;      see     Corporations; 

excise,  140. 
Cutler,  187. 
Cutworks,  32. 

Dairy,  see  Butter,  Cheese,  Cows,  Milk- 
ing ;  produce  for  domestic  consumption, 
5,  43  ;  as  pin-money,  54 ;  supple- 
menting family  income,  55  ;  women's 
sphere,  5,  50,  53,  292. 

Dant,  Joan,  32  seq.,  206. 

Daughters,  176  seq.,  197  seq.,  252,  284  ; 
see  Burling,  Education  ;  employed  in 
parents'  trade,  184,  ^.,195,  200,  217, 
298  ;  enters  company  by  patrimony, 
191,  298  ;  hired  out  as  weavers,  103  ; 
sustaining  parents,  115. 

Decker,  Thos.,  158  seq. 

Defoe,  Daniel,  96,  115  seq.,  156  seq. 

Distaff,  13,  48,  107,  in. 

Doctor,  see  Apothecaries,  Barber- 
surgeons,  Physicians,  Midwifery. 

Domestic  Industry,  4  seq.,  8,  40,  47-49, 
151,  210,  254,  302;  see  Baking, 
Brewers,  Capitalism,  Dairy,  Family 
Industry,  Servants,  Spinning,  Tex- 
tile Trades ;  definition  of,  4-6  passim  ; 
drudgery  performed  by  servants, 
156  seq.,  294,  304  ;  effect  on  women's 
economic  position,  145,  290,  292 ; 
girls'  work,  1 1  seq. ;  men's  work,  5. 

Dorchester,  132  seq.,  185,  200,  217, 
261,  263  seq. 

Drapers,  184,  200;  see  Gild. 

Dunning,  Richard,  132. 

Dyer,  in,  155;  of  leather,  158;  in 
Ireland,  18. 

Education,  36,  242,  286  seq.,  295, 
302-306  passim ;  see  Apprentice, 
Children,  Mother,  Poor  Relief, 
Teaching ;  arithmetic  unnecessary 
for  girls,  5» ;  industrial,  71,  130- 


135  passim  ;  influence  of  domestic 
and  family  industry,  40  ;  institutions, 
239 ;  medical,  255,  288 ;  nurses, 
249  ;  want  of  specialised  training  for 
girls,  243,  288,  301,  304. 

Embroiderer,  184. 

Elizabethan  Period,  Women  of,  2,  3,  9, 

38,  41- 

Estate  Management,  14,  15,  17. 
Evelyn,  John,  115. 
Everenden,  62. 
Executrix,  39,  188,  293. 
Exeter,  206. 
Eyre,  Adam,  54. 


Farmer,  42- 56  passim,  108,  155;  see 
Agriculture,  Capitalism;  definition 
of,  43  ;  demand  for  labour,  81,  83,  90, 
91  ;  finds  sureties  for  married 
labourers,  83  seq.  ;  preference  for  un- 
married labourers,  12 ;  wife's 
occupation.  46-50  passim,  in,  112; 
women's  characteristics,  43  seq. 

Farrier,  155. 

Father,  39,  45,  56,  79,  86,  145,  237  ; 
deserts  starving  family,  118,  148; 
head  of  family,  6,  300;  interest  in 
children,  5,  54,  160,  295  ;  pro/its  of 
family  industry  vested  in  father,  6,  7, 
182,  294,  299. 

Falkland,  The  Lady,  18-20  passim. 

Falkland,  The  Lady  Letice,  241,  251, 
256. 

Family,  73,  80,  100,  106,  122,  144, 
204,  219,  242,  286,  291,  294,  299, 
304,  307  ;  see  Business,  Capitalism, 
Father,  Mother,  Wages,  Wage- 
earners,  Widow,  Wife;  basis  of  social 
organisation,  285,  288,  290,  299  seq.  ; 
chargeable  to  Parish,  80-88  passim, 
134,  142,  146,  204;  dependence  on 
wages,  43,  56,  178,  see  Husbandmen, 
Wage-earners ;  $ixe  of,  86  seq. ; 
traditions  lost,  118,  148,  237,  287; 

Family  Industry  6-n  passim,  92, 
94,  96  seq.,  102,  142,  151,  156, 
165,  192  seq.,  196,  216,  234,  290, 
297,  301  seq.,  305,  see  Capitalism; 

Fanshawe,  Lady,  22. 

Fell,  Sarah,  17,  51,  255. 

Felt-maker,  190. 

Fiennes,  Celia,  62,  73,  124,  233. 

Firmin,  Thomas,  135-137  passim. 

Fishmonger,  219  seq. 

Fishwives,  36,  209,  219-221  ;  oyster- 
wives,  202,  220. 

Fitzherbert,  Sir  Anthony,  46-50,129. 


324 


INDEX 


Flax,  64,  146,  246,  291  ;  sowing,  40, 
48,  128. 

Foulis,  Sir  John,  32,  280  seq. 

Foreign  Women,  Dutch  merchants, 
36  seq.,  219;  Flanders,  workers  of 
woollen  cloths,  103 ;  French  mid- 
wives,  268,  275,  284. 

Fullers,  121,  145,  155,  n>7j  189. 

Garden,  women's  sphere,  5,  9,  48,  50, 
53,  292. 

Gardiner,  Lady,  15. 

Gilds,  10,  141,  150,  154-156  passim, 
192,  196  ;  see  Apprentice,  Capital- 
ism, Companies,  Journeyman,  Wife  ; 
admission  to,  160  seq.,  176  seq.,  179, 
191  ;  charters,  140,  160,  178,  181- 
183  passim;  187,  259;  development 
into  Companies,  158 ;  functions, 
religious,  social  and  for  trade  purposes 
154,  1 60,  171-181  passim;  revilings, 
172,  182,  183;  rules,  157  seq., 
179  seq.,  187;  women's  position  in, 
150  154-191  passim;  in  woman's 
trade,  195  seq. 

Girdlers,  185,  189  ;    see  Companies. 

Glass-sellers,  187  ;    see  Companies. 

Glovers,  181,  185,  191  seq.  ;  see 
Companies. 

Gold  and  Silver  Thread,  26,  143-145 
passim  ;  pauper  trade,  145  seq. 

Goldsmith,  184 ;    see  Companies. 

Gold-wire  Drawers,  see  Gold  and 
Silver  Thread. 

Grimsby,  31. 

Grocers,  179,  184,  201  seq.,  260 ;  see 
Companies. 

Haberdasher,  200. 

Hale,  Sir  Matthew,  79. 

Harber,  Sylvia,   122  seq. 

Harley,  Brilltana  Lady,  15  seq. 

Harley,  Sir  E.,  16. 

Harrowing,  87. 

Hawkers,  204-207  passim. 

Hay-making,  49,  62. 

Hellyard,  Elizabeth,  34  seq. 

Hcylyn,  Peter,  54  seq.,  239,  278. 

Hey  wood,  Oliver,  87,  129. 

Hobbes,  258,  303. 

Holroyd,  Joseph,  30. 

Home,  4  ;  see  Industrial  Revolution  ; 
includes  workshop,  7  seq.,  156-160 
passim,  294 ;  men's  sphere  as  well 
as  women's,  303  ;  opportunities  for 
production  in  home,  147 ;  wa%e- 
earners  work  away  from  borne,  296. 

Howell,  James,  37,  53. 


Hospitals,  243-249  ;  see  Nurses. 

Household,  accounts,  17  ;  a_fairs,  157  ; 
of  craftsmen,  158  seq.;  sive  of,  15, 
50,  99. 

Housing,  73-81  passim. 

Huckster,  155. 

Hull,  30,  212  seq. 

Husband,  10,  12,  15,  17,  18,  20,  22- 
24  passim,  34,  39,  46,  49,  88  seq., 
95,  118,  171-173  passim,  212,  228, 
233  seq.,  240,  306 ;  see  Wife  ; 
acquires  wife's  rights,  161,  213  ; 
assists  wife,  199,  214,  301  ;  com- 
panionship with  wife,  1 60,  183,  301- 
303  passim,  306 ;  dependence  on 
wife's  assistance,  16,  36  seq.,  46, 
153,  165,  194,  196,  211  ;  ill-treat- 
ment of  wife,  191  ;  independence  of 
wife,  41  197 ;  meddles  not  with 
wife's  trade,  231  seq. ;  not  respons- 
ible for  wife's  debts,  151  seq. 

Husbandman,  3,  56-64  passim  ;  defini- 
tion of,  43,  57  ;  girls'  environment,  87  ; 
independence,  56  ;  rent,  57 ;  wages, 
men,  59-62  passim,  women,  60-63 
passim ;  wife's  occupation,  60-64 
passim,  ill  seq. ;  wife  as  wet-nurse, 
58  ;  women's  characteristics,  58  seq. 

Hutchinson,  Mrs.  Lucy,  23  seq.,  255, 
263. 

Hutchinson,  Colonel,  23  seq.,  252. 

Keeper  of  tenis  court,  25. 
King,  Gregory,  55,  80,  86. 
Kingston-upon-Hull,  103,  181. 
Knitting,  18,  26,  133. 

Idleness,  138,  253. 

Industrialism,  94,  123  ;  <««  Capitalism  ; 

attempted     introduction     of    factory 

system,  99,  124. 
Industrial  Revolution,  8  seq. 
Industry,      see     Domestic,       Family, 

Capitalism. 
Infant  Mortality,   58,  86,  273,  276, 

283,  3°5- 
Inn-keeper,   155,  209,  213,  225,  227, 

*33- 

Insurance  Office,  33. 
Ireland,  18,  126. 
Ironmonger,    155. 

Joiners,  181  ;  see  Companies. 

Jonson,  Ben,  28,  257. 

Josselin,  the  Rev.  R.,  50,  257. 

-Journey-man,  156,  159,  180,  212, 
297  seq. ;  see  Widows ;  employed 
by  women,  174,  185,  189,  261 


INDEX 


325 


organisation  of,  10,  166 ;  wives  and 
daughters  excluded,,  10,  166,  197, 
234,  298,  301  ;  wife  unpaid  servant, 
10. 

Labourer,  see  Farmer,   Husbandman, 

Wage-earner,  Wages. 
Laundry,  maid,  50;    work,  5,  13,  49, 

'35>  1SS- 

Law,  236  seq. 

Lace,  see  Ireland  ;  bone-lace,  142,  144. 

Leather-sellers,  158,  185;  see 
Companies. 

Leicester,  210,  222  seq. 

Leland,   99. 

Lincoln,  157. 

Linen  manufacture,  94,  96,  124-137 
passim,  138 ;  see  Drapers,  Flax, 
Poor,  Spinning,  Weaving  ;  appropri- 
ateness to  women,  128  seq. ;  capital- 
istic, 124,  136;  company,  126-128 
passim,  136;  domestic,  5,  40,  48, 
96,  125,  128,  129,  137  ;  family,  128  ; 
in  Ireland,  126  seq.  ;  printers,  126  ; 
in  Scotland,  '126,  129;  wages  for 
spinning,  48,  95  seq.,  128-137  passim, 
146. 

London,  29,  31,  33,  131,  135,  138- 
141  passim,  152,  158-195  passim, 
202,  206,  208,  217,  220,  233, 
243-249  passim,  258-263  passim, 
281. 

Malt-making,  47,  49  seq.,  224-226 
passim. 

Manchester,  206,  213,  218,  221. 

Mansell,  Lady,  35. 

Mantua-making,  195,  234,  293. 

Marriage,  191  ;  see  Poor-relief,  Wife, 
Mother ;  confers  woman's  rights  on 
her  husband,  261  ;  strengthens  man's 
economic  position,  39. 

Married  Woman ;   see,  Mother,  Wife. 

Market,  4,119,  202,  204,217,  291  ;  corn- 
market,  211  ;  Farmer's  wife  attends 
market,  49-51  ;  labour-market,  145, 
167,  298;  price  of  spinning,  129; 
market  spinner,  107,  1095^.,  113; 
town,22t{.  seq.  ;  thread,  yarn  and  wool, 
sold  in  market,  107-109  passim,  112, 
127  seq.  ;  woman,  135. 

Martindale,  Adam,  55,  257. 

McMath,  James,  267,  282. 

Medicine,  242,  253-265  passim,  286, 
288,  294 ;  see  Poor,  Servant?. ; 
domestic  practice,  242,  254-257 
passim  ;  education  of  women,  255, 
194 ;  their  exclusion  from  schools, 


254,  265,  294;  fees,  262,  264; 
Licensed  by  Bishop,  276 ;  profes- 
sional practice,  242,  254,  257-259 
passim,  263  seq ;  restrictions  on 
women,  259  seq. ;  women's  skill 
extended  to  neighbours,  255-257 
passim,  294. 

Mercers,  184,  201. 

Merchant,  29,  36,  140,  155,  180- 
184  passim  ;  see  Joan  Dant. 

Middle-man,  no,  124;  see  Market- 
spinner. 

Midwife,  258 ;  see  Midwifery ; 
Baptism  by,  277-279  passim  ;  Fees, 
268,  279-28 1  passim ;  Licences, 
272-279  passim;  Man-midwife, 
265,  271  seq.,  284  ;  Prosecutions  of, 
279. 

Midwifery,  242  seq.,  265-285,  288  ; 
see  Midwife ;  chiefly  professional, 
265  ,  doctor's  assistance,  271,  280-284 
passim  ;  French,  268.  275,  279,  284  ; 
training  of  women  for,  269-275  passim, 
288. 

Milking,  47. 

Mill,  47,  210,  215  seq. 

Miller,  209,  212,  215  seq. ;  wages  of,  66. 

Milliner,  176,  195,  234,  293. 

Milton,  John,  240,  304. 

Money-lender,  28  seq.,  see  Pawnbroker. 

Monopolies  and  patents,  25-28  passim. 

Moore,  Rev.  Giles,  252. 

Mother,  43,  63  seq.,  73,  125,  196,  198, 
214 ;  see  Capitalism,  Domestic 
Industry,  Spinning,  Wage?,  Widow, 
Wife ;  desertion  of  children,  86 ; 
educating  children,  21,  95,  159,  242, 
286,  295;  head  of  family,  7,  234, 
300  ;  sharing  father's  work,  6  seq.  ; 
supporting  family,  12,  29,  55,  64, 
78  seq.,  114,  178,  192-194  passim, 
198  ;  tending  children,  47,  63,  95  ; 
underfeeding,  87-89  passim,  306 ; 
value  of  productive  acuity,  145, 
290  seq.,  304  ;  worship  of,  238  seq. 

Motherhood,  women's  capacity  for 
8  seq.,  58,  87,  305. 

Murray,  Lady,  16. 

Needlework,  13. 
Netmaker,  155. 

Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  34,  226. 
Nicholson,  Dame  Margaret,  60. 
Norwich,  107,  116,  219,  229. 
Nottingham,  130,  201,  217,  232. 
Nurse,  sick,    13,    135,    155;    salaries, 

243-246  passim,  248,  250  seq. 
Nursing,  242-253  ;  see  Poor,  Servants. 


326 


INDEX 


Ogden,  Heater,  164. 

Orphan,  see  Children,  Poor  Relief. 

Osborne,  Dorothy,  57. 

Painter-Stainer,  188. 

Paper-maker,   32. 

Pauper,  see  Poor. 

Pawnbroker,  28  seq.,  see  Money-lender. 

Pechey,  275. 

Pedlar,  32,  204-207  passim. 

Pepys  Samnel,  3,  38  seq.,  59,  62,  281, 
296  seq. 

Peronne,  Mme.,  268. 

Petitions,  from  women,  23-27  passim, 
118,  121,  138;  of  married  woman 
objected  to,  77. 

Petty,  Dorothy,  33  seq. 

Pewterers,  183,  186  seq.,  191,  210, 
294;  see  Companies. 

Physicians,  259,  262,  265,  271,  275  seq., 
284. 

Politics,  see  Petitions ;  women's 
interest  in,  23  seq. 

Pig-keeping,  5,  48,  52  seq.,  292. 

Pin-maker,  193. 

Point-maker,  191. 

Poor,  see  Hospitals,  Midwife,  Silk, 
Spinning,  Wages,  Wage-earners ; 
census  of,  219  ;  clothiers'  poor,  109  ; 
confinements,  277,  280 ;  education 
of,  130-134.  passim  ;  increased  wages, 
115;  medical  attendance,  255  seq., 
263-265  passim ;  not  all  vagrants, 
135  ;  nursing,  243,  251  seq.  ;  relief, 
69-92  passim,  118,  129-137  passim, 
204  ;  set  on  work,  no,  120,  130-137 
passim;  140,  148;  synonymous  with 
pauper,  148  ;  widows  and  orphans 
maintained  by  parish,  204  ;  work- 
house, 72,  131-134  passim. 

Poultry-keeping,  5,  48,  50,  87,  209, 
292. 

Pregnancy,  24,  72  seq.,  82,  89. 

Printer,  161-167  ;    see  Companies. 

Professions,  5,  236-289  passim ;  see 
Church,  Education,  Law,  Medicine, 
Midwifery,  Nursing,  Teaching ; 
services,  4  seq.,  294  seq. ;  women's 
position  in,  13,  304. 

Projector,  28. 

Provision  Trades,  150,  seq.,  209- 
234  passim  ;  see  Alehouse,  Alewife, 
Apprentices,Baker,Brewing,Butcher, 
Fishwife,  Inn-keeper,  Malt  Making, 
Miller,  Retail  Trade,  Vintner,  Wife, 
Widow;  women' s position  in,ioseq. 
Publisher,  167  ;  see  Com  panic*. 

Pulling  pease,  61  seq. 


Quakers,  51,  168,  199,  240;  see  Fell; 
Adams  (wife  of  John],  153;  Banks; 
(wife  of  John),  44 ;  Batt,  Mary, 
45  seq.  ;  Bownas  (wife  of  Samuel), 
52  ;  Townsend,  Will.,  marriage  of, 
190. 

Rawdon,   Marmaduke,   257. 

Raynold,  266  seq.,  269. 

Reading,  85,  132,  189,  203  seq.,  213 

216,  249  seq. 
Regrater,    204   seq.,    207-209   passim, 

218  seq. 
Religion,      independence     of     married 

women,  240. 
Restoration  Period,  women  of,  2,  9,  38, 

4i; 

Retail  Trade,  197-209  passim ;  see 
Chapmen,  Badgers,  Haberdashers, 
Hawkers,  Pedlars,  Regrater,  Shop- 
keepers ;  women's  position  in,  i  o  seq. , 
150  seq.,  156,  172,  197,  209,  293. 

Rons,  Margaret,  17. 

Rye,  152  seq. 

Salford,  52  seq.,  84,  212. 

Salisbury,  184,  213,  258  seq. 

Salisbury,  Earl  of,  25,  in. 

Sandwich,  152. 

Salt  concerns,  17  seq. 

Scotland,  126,  129. 

Scottish,  140. 

Semptsress,  155,  175  seq.,  202,  221. 

Servants,  5  seq.,  26,  155  seq.,  176,  187, 
202,  220,  241  ;  see  Brewing,  Journey- 
man, Wages,  Wages  assessments ; 
diet  of,  68,  88  ;  dresses  126  ;  employed 
in  domestic  drudgery,  5,  157,  196, 
292,  294  ;  employed  in  spinning,  125  ; 
farm,  47,  50,  116,  210,  229; 
married,  8 1,  88;  scarcity  of,  56; 
housekeepers'  duties,  255 ;  medical 
attendance  on,  252,  263  ;  men 
servants  brought  up  by  women,  141  . 
of  clothiers,  101  ;  nursing  of,  251  seq."1 
shoemaker,  66,  203  ;  training  of,  253,' 
women,  scarcity  of,  157. 

Sex-jealousy,  an  anachronism,  299 ; 
absence  in  woollen  trade,  95,  123  , 
exclusion  of  women  from  trades,  103, 
105,  106,  191. 

Shakespeare,  3. 

Sharp,  Jane,  269-271  passim. 

Shearing,  corn,  49,  60 ;    sheep,  62. 

Sheffield,  187. 

Shepherd,  62. 

Shipping,  29-31  passim. 


INDEX 


327 


Shoemaker,  155,  158  seq.,  184,  202  seq., 
see  Servant* 

Shopkeeper,  158,  168,  198-209  passim. 

Silk  manufacture,  94,  126,  138-143  ; 
see  Apprentices,  Poor,  Textiles, 
Weaving;  capitalistic,  142  ;  occupa- 
tion of  gentlewomen,  10,  138-140 
passim,  142  ;  refuge  of  paupers,  140- 
142  passim,  146;  silk-women,  140; 
stockings,  26  seq. ;  wages,  142. 

Smith,  155,  189,  210,  259,  294. 

Social  position  of  women,  8,  40,  249, 
283,  306  seq. 

Southampton,  101,  195  seq. 

Spinning,  5  ;  see  Poor,  Linen,  Woollen  ; 
demand  for,  95,  no,  112  seq.,  124, 
129,  146  ;  domestic  industry,  9,  40, 
64,  96,  125,  129,  137,  H7)  29l  "9-  5 
employment  of  poor,  13,  100,  no  seq., 
128-137  passim,  146  seq.,  209,  291  ; 
instruction  in,  13,  in,  130-1375 
monopoly  of  women  and  children,  93, 
102,  145,  292  ;  organisation  of,  107- 
113,  123  seq.  ;  resource  for  mothers, 

9>  *3>  63>  95*  1S*>  2°95   wa£w>  *ee 

Linen,  Woollen  ;    withdraws  women 

from    agriculture   and   service,    112, 

115. 
Spinner,  18,  102,  no,  113,  117,  120, 

128  seq.,  141,  221  ;    market  spinner, 

107,  109  seq.,  113. 
Spinster,     95     seq.,    107-109   passim, 

112-136    passim,    147,     155,    221  ; 

classes  of,  ill  seq. 
Spreading  muck,  62. 
St.  Albans,  202. 
Stapley,  Richard,   125. 
State,  242,  286,  299,  303,  307  seq. 
Stationers,   158,   161-170  passim ;    see 

Companies. 

Stumpe,  99 ;    see  Clothier. 
Suckle  calves,  47. 
Surgeons,  see  Barber-surgeons. 
Surgery,  see  Medicine. 

Tailor,  155,  181. 

Tanner,  185. 

Thatching,  61. 

Taylor,  Randall,  58. 

Teaching,  242,  265,  286  seq.,  294  seq. 

Textile  Trades,  9,  93-149  passim,  150  ; 
see  Bleaching,  Burling,  Capitalism, 
Carding,  Clothiers,  Cotton,  Domes- 
tic Industry,  Family  Industry, 
Fuller,  Gold  and  Silver,  Knitting, 
Linen,  Silk,  Spinning,  Spinner, 
Weaver,  Wage-earner,  Wages, 


Woollen,  industrial  organisation  of, 
96  ;  proportion  of  women's  labour, 
93  seq.,  97  seq.,  114,  133  seq,  292  ; 
proportion  of  children's  labour,  108, 
112,  114,  116,  133  seq. ;  women's 
position  in,  93  seq.,  95,  146. 

Thierry,  Rachel,  100  seq. 

Thornton,  Mrs.  Alice,  16. 

Tiverton,  227. 

Tobacco-pipe  makers,  192. 

Torksey,  222. 

Trades,  see  Crafts,  Provision,  Retail 
Textile  ;  women's  occupation  in,  10, 
146,  293. 

Turbeville,  Mrs.  Mary,  258  seq. 

Upholsterer,  184,   195. 

Vantrollier  (wife  of  Thos.),  163. 

Verney,  Lady,  20;  Sir  Edmund,  15; 
Sir  Ralph,  15,  20,  258. 

Vintners,  209,  233  seq. 

Village  Community,  56,  253 ;  dis- 
integration of,  148 ;  vigorous  stock 

'    of,  42  ;   women's  influence  in,  148. 

Vives,  37. 

Wage-earner,  4,  6,  64-92  passim,  99  ; 
see  Agriculture,  Birth-rate,  Butcher, 
Capitalism,  Children,  Infant 
Mortality,  Journeyman,  Marriage, 
Motherhood,  Spinning,  Silk,  Textile 
Manufactures,  Wages,  Widow, 
Wife,  Woollen;  definition  of,  43, 
65  ;  children  of,  86  seq. ;  class  of 
undesirables,  90  ;  combination  among, 
121-124  passim,  298,  301  ; 
family  income,  65-69  passim,  71, 
79  seq.,  178  ;  insolvency,  80-92 
passim,  129,  146-149,  209,  293  ; 
numbers  of,  4,  90  seq.,  305  ;  wife 
of,  9  seq.,  76-89  passim,  235  ;  her 
earning  capacity,  68  seq.,  89,  92, 
147  seq.,  209,  292 ;  her  virtual 
exclusion  from  skilled  trades,  298. 
Wages,  35,  59,  65,  100,  301  ;  set 
Brewing,  Carpenters,  Doctors, 
Husbandmen,  Linen,  Nurse  (sick), 
Midwife,  Miller,  Poor,  Spinning, 
Silk,  Woollen ;  assessments,  50, 
59  seq.,  62,  65-67  passim,  72,  83, 
90,  210,  293 ;  di  erence  between 
family  and  individual  wages,  j,  296, 
299  ;  day  labourers,  men,  9,  56,  60- 
62 passim,  65  seq.,  96  ;  day  labourers, 
women,  9,  60-66  passim,  68,  72,  89  ; 
servants,  men,  50,  56,  65  seq. ; 


328 


INDEX 


servants,  women,  50,  65,  1 57 ;  married 
men,  65  seg.,  not  expected  to  keep 
family,  12,  86,  90,  293  ;  relation  to 
cost  of  livinq,  10,  68  seq.,  79  seq.,  83, 
89,  95,  130,  134-137  passim,  145, 
178  ;  women's,  do  not  represent  value 
of  their  work,  64,  137,  145,  291  seq., 
304. 

Weaver,  155,  259;  see  Apprentices, 
assault  women,  126;  complaints 
against  clothiers,  114, 1 17-123  passim, 
domestic  purposes,  40,  64,  125 ; 
linen,  18,  124  seq.,  128,  136; 
women,  129;  woollen,  18,  99,  in, 
116;  women,  102-106,  145 ;  for- 
bidden to  weave  cloth,  103  ;  widow, 
103  seq.  ;  ribbons  and  tape;  104; 
silk,  138,  141  ;  Wages,  120,  149. 

Webber,  102,  221,;   see  Weaver. 

Webster,  102,  155,  221  ;   see  Weaver. 

Weeding,   62,  89. 

Wet-nurse,  26,  58. 

Whipping  dogs  out  of  Church,  63. 

Whit-awers,    191. 

Winchcombe,  John,  99. 

Winnowing,  49. 

Widow,  29,  33,  45,  86,  100,  122,  129, 

i37»  l&  '71*  J77>  l89  *«?•>  J95> 
200,  201,  204  seq.,  209,  213,  216, 
218,  227,  230,  249-252  passim, 
264,  268  ;  see  Apprentices,  Housing, 
Journeymen,  Poor  Relief,  Weaver  ; 
dependence  on  journeymen,  185,  189, 
seq.,  261  ;  membership  in  late 
husband's  gild,  160  seg.,  168,  174, 
176  seq.,  179  seq.,  183,  185,  187, 
233  seg.,  261,  298  ;  pensions  to,  69, 
seq.  170 ;  of  soldiers,  248  seq. 
succession  to  late  husband's  business, 
u,  30-34  passim,  104  seq.,  151, 
154  seq.,  160-163  passim,  167-173 
passim,  188  seq.,  215,  217,  221,  293. 
Wife,  45,  70,  216,  237,  280;  see  Ale- 
house, Baker,  Business,  Capitalist, 
Dairy,  Doctor,  Domestic,  Farmer, 
Household  Management,  Husband- 
man, Journeyman,  Mother, 


Pig-keeping,  Poultry-keeping,  Shop- 
keeper, Sick  nursing,  Spinning, 
Wage-earner  ;  economic  position  of, 
n,  292;  membership  in  husband's 
gild,  150,  160,  171  seq.,  179  seq., 
191,  261,  301  ;  mutual  dependence 
of  husband  and  wife,  12,  41,  44,  49, 
54  seq.,  300-302  passim ;  pauperisa- 
tion of  wife,  92,  147,  149 ;  wife 
provides  food  and  clothes  for  family, 
12  seq.,  39,  60,  63,  90,  94,  seq.,  106, 
112,  125,  137,145,  291,  293,  304; 
separate  business,  17,  40,  151-156 
passim,  165,  175-178  passim,  194  seq., 
202  seq.,  206,  208,  214,  219,  221, 
228  seq.,  231  ;  settlement,  80-89 
passim  ;  soldier's  wife,  142  ;  subjection 
to  husband,  16,  35,  41,  45,  197,  240, 
302-304  passim  ^working  in  husband's 
business,  29,  34  seq.,  40  seq.,  45,  95, 
100-102  passim,  144,  151,  153-159 
passim,  163,  172  seq.,  175,  184-187 
passim,  192  seq.,  196  seq.,  202,  seq., 
212,  215  seq.,  220,  seq.,  229,  234  seq. 
293  seq.,  302. 

Woollen  manufacture,  42,  94,  97- 
124  passim,  126,  129,  138;  see 
Clothiers,  Drapers,  Poor,  Spinning, 
Weaver ;  capitalistic,  94,  96  seq., 
123  seq.,  147 ;  domestic,  49,  106 ; 
family,  97,  106 ;  dependence  on 
women's  and  children's  labour,  97  seq. 
112,  114;  fluctuations  in  trade, 
98  seq.,  no  seq.,  118-122  passim, 
147  seq.  ;  instruction  in,  no  seq., 
men  and  women  wage-earners  unite 
in  trade  disputes,  116-123  passim; 
political  power,  1 26 ;  wages  for 
spinning,  49,  95-97  passim,  100, 
108  seq.,  113-118  passim,  120, 
122  seq.,  124,  134  seq.,  137; 
women's  position  in,  98,  102  seq., 
1 06,  124;  wool-combers,  155. 

Wycherley,  3,  37. 

Yeoman,  9,  50,  76,  90. 
York,  212. 


LIST    OF    STUDIES    IN    ECONOMICS 
AND    POLITICAL    SCIENCE. 


A  Series  of  Monographs  by  Lecturers  and  Students  connected  with  the 
London  School  of  Economics  and  Political  Science. 


EDITED    BY   THE 

DIRECTOR  OF  THE  LONDON  SCHOOL  OF  ECONOMICS 
AND  POLITICAL  SCIENCE. 


1.  The  History  of  Local  Rates  in  England.       The  substance 
of  five  lectures  given  at  the  School  in  November  and  December,  1895. 
By  EDWIN  CANNAN,  M.A.,  LL.D.     1896  ;   second,  enlarged  edition, 
1912  ;  xv.  and  215  pp.,  Crown  8vo,  cloth.     4s.net.     P.  S.King  &  Son. 

2.  Select    Documents    Illustrating    the    History    of  Trade 
Unionism.     I.— THE  TAILORING  TRADE.     By  F.  W.  GALTON.    With 
a  Preface  by  SIDNEY  WEBB,  LL.B.     1896 ;     242  pp.,  Crown  8vo, 
cloth.     55.  P.  S.  King  &  Son. 

3.  German  Social  Democracy.     Six  lectures  delivered  at  the 
School  in    February   and    March,    1896.     By  the   Hon.   BERTRAND 
RUSSELL,  B.A.,  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.     With  an 
Appendix  on  Social  Democracy  and  the  Woman  Question  in  Germany. 
By  ALYS  RUSSELL,  B.A.     1896  ;   204  pp.,  Crown  8vo,  cloth.     33.  6d. 

P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

4.  The  Referendum  in  Switzerland.     By  M.  SIMON  DEPLOIGE, 
University  of  Louvain.     With  a  Letter  on  the  Referendum  in  Belgium 
by  M.  J.  VAN  DEN  HUEVEL,  Professor  of  International  Law  in    the 
University   of  Louvain.     Translated  by   C.   P.   TREVELYAN,   M.A., 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  edited  with  Notes,  Introduction, 
Bibliography,  and  Appendices,  by  LILIAN  TOMN  (Mrs.  Knowles),  of 
Girton  College,  Cambridge,  Research  Student  at  the  School.     1898  ; 
x.  and  334  pp.,  Crown  8vo,  cloth,     ys.  6d.        P.  S.  King  £ff  Son, 

5.  The  Economic  Policy  of  Colbert.       By  A.  J.  SARGENT,  M.A. 
Senior  Hulme  Exhibitioner,  Brasenose  College,  Oxford  ,  and  Whately 
Prizeman,  1897,  Trinity  College,  Dublin.     1899;   viii.  and  138  pp., 
Crown  8vo,  cloth.     2s.  6d.  P.  S.  King  £5"  Son. 


330 

6.  Local  Variation  in  Wages.       (The   Adam    Smith   Prize, 
Cambridge  University,  1898).     By  F.  W.  LAWRKNCE,  M.A.,  Fellow 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.     1899  ;   viii.  and  90  pp.,  with  Index 
and  1 8  Maps  and  Diagrams.     410,  1 1.  in.  by  8£  in.,  cloth.     8s.  6d. 

Longmans,  Green  y  Co. 

7.  The  Receipt  Roll  of  the  Exchequer  for  Michaelmas  Term 
of  the  Thirty-first  Year  of  Henry  II.  (1185).      A  unique  fragment 
transcribed  and  edited  by  the  Class  in  Palaeography  and  Diplomatic, 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Lecturer,  HUBERT  HALL,  F.S.A.,  of  H.M. 
Public  Record  Office.     With  thirty-one  Facsimile  Plates  in  Collotype 
and  Parallel  readings  from  the  contemporary  Pipe  Roll.      1899  ;    vii. 
and  37  pp.,  Folio,  15!-  in.  by  ll|-  in.,  in  green  cloth  ;   2  Copies  left. 
Apply  to  the  Director  of  the  London  School  of  Economics. 

8.  Elements    of    Statistics.      By  ARTHUR  L.  BOWLEY,  M.A., 
Sc.D.,  F.S.S.,  Cobden  and  Adam  Smith  Prizeman,  Cambridge  ;   Guy 
Silver  Medallist  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society  ;  Newrnarch  Lecturer, 
1897-98.     500  pp.  and  40  Diagrams,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     1901  ;  Third 
edition,  1907  ;  viii.  and  336  pp.     12s.  net.         P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

9.  The  Place  of  Compensation  in  Temperance  Reform.     By 
C.  P.   SANGER,  M.A.,  late  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
Barrister-at-Law.     1901  ;     viii.    and    136   pp.,    Crown    8vo,    cloth. 
28.  6d.  net.  P.  S.  King  W  Son. 

10.  A  History  of  Factory  Legislation.     By  B.  L.  HUTCHINS 
and  A.  HARRISON  (Mrs.  Spencer),  B.A.,  D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London.     With 
a  Preface  by  SIDNEY  WEBB,  LL.B.     1903  ;    new  and  revised  edition, 
1911  ;   xvi.  and  298  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     75.  6d.  net. 

P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

1 1 .  The  Pipe  Roll  of  the  Exchequer  of  the  See  of  Winchester 
for  the  Fourth  Year  of  the  Episcopate  of  Peter  Des  Roches  (1207) 
Transcribed  and  edited  from  the  original  Roll  in  the  possession  of  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commissioners  by  the  Class  in  Palaeography  and  Diplo- 
matic, under  the  supervision  of  the  Lecturer,  HUBERT  HALL,  F.S.A., 
of  H.M.  Public  Record  Office.     With  a  Frontispiece  giving  a  Facsimile 
of  the  Roll.     1903  ;  xlviii.  and  100  pp.,  Folio,  13^  in.  by  8£  in.,  green 
cloth.     155.  net.  P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

12.  Self -Government  in  Canada  and  How  it  was  Achieved  : 
The  Story  of  Lord  Durham's  Report.     By  F.  BRADSHAW,  B.A., 
D.Sc.    (Econ.),    London ;     Senior    Hulme    Exhibitioner,    Brasenose 
College,  Oxford.     1903  ;  414  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth,     js.  6d.  net. 

P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

13.  History   of   the   Commercial    and    Financial  Relations 
Between  England  and  Ireland  from  the  Period  of  the  Restora- 
tion.    By  ALICE  EFFIE  MURRAY  (Mrs.  Radice),  D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London, 


STUDIES  IN  ECONOMICS  331 

former  Student  at  Girton  College,  Cambridge  ;  Research  Student  of 
the  London  School  of  Economics  and  Political  Science.  1903;  486pp. 
Demy  8vo,  cloth.  75.  6d.  net.  P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

14.  The  English  Peasantry  and  the  Enclosure  of  Common 
Fields.     By  GILBERT  SLATER,  M.A.,  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge ; 
D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London.     1906  ;   337  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     IDS.  6d. 
net.  Constable  y  Co. 

15.  A  History  of  the  English  Agricultural  Labourer.     By 
Dr.  W.  HASBACH,  Prosessor  of  Economics  in  the  University  of  Kiel. 
Translated   from   the   Second   Edition   (1908),   by   RUTH    KEN  YON. 
Introduction  by  SIDNEY  WEBB,  LL.B.     1908  ;    xvi.   and  470  pp., 
Demy  8vo,  cloth.     73.  6d.  net.  P.  S.  King  &  Son. 

1 6.  A  Colonial  Autocracy :  New  South  Wales  under  Governor 
Macquarie,    1830-1821.     By  MARION  PHILLIPS,  B. A.,  Melbourne  ; 
D.Sc.    (Econ.),    London.      1909 ;   xxiii.    and   336  pp.,    Demy   8vo, 
cloth.     I  os.  6d.  P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

17.  India  and   the   Tariff  Problem.     By  H.  B.  LEES  SMITH, 
M.A.,  M.P.     1909  ;    1 20  pp.,  Crown  8vo,  cloth.     33.  6d.  net. 

Constable  y  Co. 

1 8.  Practical    Notes    on    the    Management    of    Elections. 
Three   Lectures   delivered  at  the   School  in  November,    1909,   by 
ELLIS  T.   POWELL,   LL.B.,   D.Sc.   (Econ.),  London,   Fellow  of  rhe 
Royal  Historical  and  Royal  Economic  Societies,  of  the  Inner  Temple, 
Barrister-at-Law,  1909  ;   52  pp.,  8vo,  paper,     is.  6d.  net. 

P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

19.  The  Political  Development  of  Japan.     By  G.  E.  UYEHARA, 
B.A.,  Washington,  D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London,     xxiv.  and  296  pp.,  Demy 
8vo,  cloth.     1910.     8s.  6d.  net.  Constable  y  Co. 

20.  National    and    Local    Finance.     By   J.    WATSON    GRICE, 
D.Sc.   (Econ.),  London.     Preface  by  SIDNEY  WEBB,  LL.B.     1910  ; 
428  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     123.  net.  P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

21.  An  Example  of  Communal  Currency.     Facts    about    the 
Guernsey  Market-house.     By  J.  THEODORE  HARRIS,  B.A.,  with  an 
Introduction   by   SIDNEY  WEBB,   LL.B.     1911  ;    xiv.   and  62    pp., 
Crown  8vo,  cloth,     is.  6d.  net ;  paper,  is.  net.     P.  S.  King  y  Son. 

22.  Municipal  Origins.    History  of  Private  Bill  Legislation.    By 
F.  H.  SPENCER,  LL.B.,  D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London ;    with  a  Preface  by 
Sir  EDWARD  CLARKE,  K.C.     1911  ;  xi.  and  333.  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth. 
IDS.  6d.  net.  Constable  y  Co. 

23.  Seasonal  Trades.     By  VARIOUS  AUTHORS.     With  an  Intro- 
duction by  SIDNEY  WEBB.     Edited  by  SIDNEY  WEBB,  LL.B.,   and 
ARNOLD  FREEMAN,  M.A.     1912  ;   xi.  and  410  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth. 
10.  6d.  net.  Constable  y  Co. 


332  STUDIES  IN  ECONOMICS 

24.  Grants  in  Aid.     A  Criticism  and  a  Proposal.     By  SIDNEY 
WEBB,  LL.B.     1911  ;    vii.  and  135  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     55.  net. 

Longmans,  Green  tff  Co. 

25.  The  Panama  Canal  :  A  Study  in  International   Law. 
By  H.  ARIAS,  B.A.,  LL.D.     1911  ;   xiv.  and  188  pp.,  2  maps,  biblio- 
graphy, Demy  8vo,  cloth.     IDS.  6d.  net.  P.  5.  King  &  Son. 

26.  Combination  Among  Railway  Companies.      By  W.  A. 
ROBERTSON,  B.A.     1912  ;    105  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth,     is.  6d.  net ; 
paper,  is.  net.  Constable  &  Co. 

27.  War  and  the  Private  Citizen  :     Studies  in   International 
Law.     By  A.  PEARCE  HIGGINS,  M.A.,  LL.D. ;    with  Introductory 
Note  by  the  Rt.  Hon.  Arthur  Cohen,  K.C:     1912  ;  xvi.  and  200  pp., 
Demy  8vo,  cloth.     53.  net.  P.  S.  King  &  Son. 

28.  Life  in  an  English  Village  :    an  Economical  and  Historical 
Survey  of  the  Parish  of  Corsley,  in  Wiltshire.     By  M.  F.    DAVIES 
1909  ;  xiii.  and  319  pp.,  illustrations,  bibliography,  Demy  8vo,  cloth, 
los.  6d.  net.  T.  Fisher  Unwin. 

29.  English  Apprenticeship  and  Child  Labour  :     a  History. 
By  O.  JOCELYN  DUNLOP,  D.Sc.  (Econ.)^  London  ;    with  a  Supple- 
mentary Section  on  the  Modern  Problem  of  Juvenile  Labour,  by  the 
Author  and  R.  D.  DENMAN,  M.P.     1912  ;    pp.   390,  bibliography, 
Demy  8vo,  cloth.     IDS.  6d.  net.  T.  Fisher  Unwin. 

30.  Origin  of  Property  and  the  Formation  of  the  Village 
Community.    By  J.  ST.  LEWINSKI,  D.Ec.Sc.,  Brussels.     1913  ;    xi. 
and  71  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     33.  6d.  net.  Constable  W  Co. 

31.  The  Tendency  Towards  Industrial  Combination  (in  some 
Spheres  of  British  Industry).     By  G.  R.  CARTER,  M.A.     1913  ; 
xxiii.  and  391  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     6s.  net.       Constable  &  Co. 

32.  Tariffs  at  Work  :    an  outline  of  Practical  Tariff  Adminis- 
tration.    By    JOHN    HEDLEY    HIGGINSON,    B.Sc.    (Econ.),    London, 
Mitchell  Student  of  the  University  of  London  ;  Cobden  Prizeman  and 
Silver  Medallist.     1913  ;   150  pp.,  Crown  8vo,  cloth.     2s.  6d.  net. 

P.  S.  Kin«  y  Son. 

33.  English   Taxation,    1640-1799.      An  Essay  on  Policy  and 
Opinion.     By  WILLIAM   KENNEDY,  M.A.,  D.Sc.   (Econ.),   London  ; 
Shaw  Research  Student  of  the  London  School  of  Economics  and 
Political  Science.     1913  ;    200  pp.,  Demy  8vo.     73.  6d.  net. 

G.  Sell  W  Sons. 

34.  Emigration  from  the  United  Kingdom  to  North  America, 
1763-1912.     By  STANLEY   C.    JOHNSON,    M.A.,   Cambridge,    D.Sc. 
(Econ.),  London.     1913;  xvi.  and  387  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     6s.net. 

G.  Routledge  &  Sons. 


STUDIES  IN  ECONOMICS  333 

35.  The  Financing  of  the  Hundred  Years'  War,  1337-1360. 

By  SCHUYLER  B.  TERRY.     1913  ;   xvi.  and  199  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth. 
6s.  net.  Constable  y  Co. 

36.  Kinship  and  Social  Organisation.     By  W.  H.  R.  RIVERS, 
M.D.,  F.R.S.,  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge.     1914;  96pp. 
Demy  8vo,  cloth.     2s.  6d.  net.  Constable  y  Co. 

37.  The  Nature  and  First  Principle  of  Taxation.     By  ROBERT 
JONES,  D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London  ;  with  a  Preface  by  SIDNEY  WEBB,  LL.B., 

1914  ;   xvii.  and  299  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth,     ys.  6d.  net. 

P.  5.  King  y  Son. 

38.  The   Export    of  Capital.      By  C.  K.  HOBSON,  M.A.,  D.Sc. 
(Econ.),  London,  F.S.S.,  Shaw  Research  Student  of  the  London  School 
of  Economics  and  Political  Science.     1914  ;  xxv.  and  264  pp.,  Demy 
8vo,  cloth.     75.  6d.  net.  Constable  y  Co. 

39.  Industrial  Training.      By  NORMAN  BURRELL  DEARLE,  M.A., 
D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London,  Fellow  of  All  Souls  College,  Oxford ;    Shaw 
Research  Student  of  the  London  School  of  Economics  and  Political 
Science.     1914  ;   610  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     los.  6d.  net. 

P.  5.  King  y  Son. 

40.  Theory  of  Rates  and  Fares.     From  the  French  of  Charles 
Colson's  "  Transports  et  tarifs  "  (3rd  edn.,  1907),  by  L.  R.  CHRISTIE, 
G.   LEEDHAM,  and  C.   TRAVIS.     Edited  and  arranged  by  CHARLES 
TRAVIS,  with  an  Introduction  by  W.  M.  ACWORTH,  M.A.     1914  ;  viii. 
and  195  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     35.  6d.  net.     G.  Sell  y  Sons,  Ltd. 

41.  Advertising:  a  Study  of  a  Modern  Business  Power.     By 
G.  W.  GOODALL,  B.Sc.  (Econ.),  London  ;   with  an  Introduction  by 
SIDNEY  WEBB,  LL.B.     1914 ;    xviii.  and  91  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth. 
2s.  6d.  net ;  paper,  is.  6d.  net.  Constable  y  Co. 

42  English  Railways  :  their  Development  and  their  Relation 
to  the  State.  By  EDWARD  CARNEGIE  CLEVELAND-STEVENS,  M.A., 
Christ  Church,  Oxford  ;  D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London  ;  Shaw  Research 
Student  of  the  London  School  of  Economics  and  Political  Science. 

1915  ;  xvi.  and  325  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     6s.  net. 

G.  Routledge  y  Sons. 

43.  The    Lands  of    the    Scottish    Kings    in    England.     By" 
MARGARET  F.   MOORE,   M.A.,  with  an    Introduction   by  P.  HUME 
BROWN,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Ancient  Scottish  History 
and  Palaeography,  University  of  Edinburgh.     1915  ;  xii.  and  141  pp., 
Demy  8vo,  cloth,  53.  net.  George  Allen  y  Unwin. 

44.  The  Colonisation  of  Australia,  1829-1842  :  the  Wake- 
field  Experiment  in  Empire  Building.     By  RICHARD  C.  MILLS, 
LL.M.,  Melbourne  ;   D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London  ;   with  an  Introduction 


334  STUDIES  IN  ECONOMICS 

by  GRAHAM  WALLAS,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Political  Science  in  the 
University  of  London.  1915  ;  xx.,  363  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.  los.  6d. 
net  Sidgwick  &  Jackson. 

45.  The  Philosophy  of  Nietzsche.  By  A.  WOLF,  M.A.,  D.Lit., 
Fellow  of  University  College,  London  ;  Reader  in  Logic  and  Ethics 
in  the  University  of  London.     1915;  I  if  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth, 
33.  6d.  net.  Constable  &  Co. 

46.  English    Public    Health    Administration.       By    B.    G. 

BANNINGTON  ;  with  a  Preface  by  GRAHAM  WALLAS,  M.A.,  Professor 
of  Political  Science  in  the  University  of  London.  1915  ;  xiv.,  338  pp., 
Demy  8vo,  cloth.  8s.  6d.  net.  P.  S.  King  &  Son. 

47.  British    Incomes    and    Property  :    the    application    of 
Official  Statistics  to  Economic  Problems.      By  J.    C.    STAMP, 
D.Sc.   (Econ.),   London.     1916.;    xvi.,   538  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth, 
las.  6d.  net.  P.  S.  King  &  Son. 

48.  Village     Government    in     British     India.        By    JOHN 
MATTHAI,  D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London ;   with  a  Preface  by  SIDNEY  WEBB, 
LL.B.,  Professor  of  Public  Administration  in  the  University  of  London. 
1915  ;   xix.,  211  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     43.  6d.  net. 

T.  Fisher  Unwin. 

49.  Welfare  Work  :  Employers'  Experiments  for  Improving 
Working  Conditions  in  Factories.      By    E.    D.    PROUD,    B.A., 
Adelaide  ;  D.Sc.  (Econ.),  London,  with  a  Foreword  by  the  Rt.  Hon. 
D.   Lloyd  George,  M.P.     1916 ;    xx.,   363  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth. 
78.  6d.  net.  George  Bell  W  Sons. 

50.  Rates  of  Postage.     By  A.  D.  SMITH,  D.Sc  (Econ.),  London. 
1917  ;  xii.,  431  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.     i6s.  net. 

George  Allen  &  Unwin. 

51.  Metaphysical  Theory  of  the  State.       By  L.  T.  HOBHOUSE, 
M.A.,  Martin   White  Professor  of  Sociology  in  the  University  of 
London.     [In  Press.]  George  Allen  13     Unwin. 

52.  Outlines  of   Social    Philosophy.      By   J.    S.   MACKENZIE, 
M.A.,  Professor  of  Logic  and  Philosophy  in  the  University  College  of 
•South  Wales.     [In  Press.]  George  Allen  &  Unwin. 

Monographs  on  Sociology. 

3.  The  Material  Culture  and  Social  Institutions  of  the 
Simpler  Peoples.  By  L.  T.  HOBHOUSE,  M.A.,  Martin  White  Pro- 
fessor of  Sociology  in  the  University  of  London,  G.  C.  WHELLER,  B.A., 
and  M.  GINSBERG,  B.A.  1915  ;  300  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  paper.  2s.  6d. 
net.  Chapman  &  Hall. 


STUDIES  IN  ECONOMICS  335 

4.  Village  and  Town  Life  in  China.  By  TAO  Li  KUNG, 
B.Sc.  (Econ.),  London,  and  LEONG  YEW  KOH,  LL.B.,  B.Sc.  (Econ.), 
London.  Edited  by  L.  T.  HOBHOUSE,  M.A.  1915  ;  153  pp.,  Demy 
8vo,  cloth.  53.  net.  George  Allen  6?  Unwin. 

Series  of  Bibliographies  by  Students  of  the  School. 

1 .  A  Bibliography  of  Unemployment  and  the  Unemployed. 

By  F.  ISABEL  TAYLOR,  B.Sc.  (Econ.),  London.  Preface  by  SIDNEY 
WEBB,  LL.B.  1909 ;  xix.  and  71  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth,  as.  net ; 
paper,  is.  6d.  net.  P.  S.  King  &  Son. 

2.  Two  Select  Bibliographies  of  Mediaeval  Historical  Study. 

By  MARGARET  F.  MOORE,  M.A.  ;  with  Preface  and  Appendix  by 
HUBERT  HALL,  F.S.A.  1912  ;  185  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth.  55.  net. 

Constable  y  Co. 

3.  Bibliography  of  Roadmaking  and  Roads  in  the  United 
Kingdom.     By   DOROTHY    BALLEN,     B.Sc.     (Econ.),    London ;     an 
enlarged  and  revised  edition  of  a  similar  work  compiled  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Sidney  Webb  in  1906.     1914 ;    xviii.  and  281  pp.,  Demy  8vo, 
cloth.     155.  net.  P.  S.  King  &  Son. 

4.  A  Select  Bibliography  for  the  Study,  Sources,  and  Litera- 
ture   of    English    Mediaeval    Economic    History.      Edited    by 
HUBERT  HALL,  F.S.A.     1914 ;    xiii.  and  350  pp.,  Demy  8vo,  cloth. 
5s.  net.  P.  S.  King  &  Son. 

Series  of  Geographical  Studies. 

1.  The  Reigate  Sheet  of  the  One-inch  Ordnance  Survey. 

A  Study  in  the  Geography  of  the  Surrey  Hills.  By  ELLEN  SMITH. 
Introduction  by  H.  J.  MACKINDER,  M.A.,  M.P.  1910 ;  xix.  and 
no  pp.,  6  maps,  23  illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  cloth.  55.  net. 

A.  y  C.  Black. 

2.  The  Highlands  of  South- West  Surrey.      A   Geographical 
Study  in  Sand  and  Clay.     By  E.  C.  MATTHEWS,     1911  ;    viii.  and 
124  pp.,  7  maps,  8  illustrations,  8vo,  cloth.     55.  net. 

A.  y  C.  Black. 

Series  of  Contour  Maps  of  Critical  Areas. 

I.  The  Hudson-Mohawk  Gap.  Prepared  by  the  Diagram 
Company  from  a  map  by  B.  B.  Dickinson.  1913  ;  I  sheet  18"  by 
22^".  Scale  20  miles  to  i  inch.  6d.  net ;  post  free,  folded  7d., 
rolled  gd.  Si/ton,  Praed  y  Co. 

Printed  in  England  by  Headley  Bros.,  Ashford,  Kent,  and  18,  Devonshire  St.,  E.C.2. 


4187 


OCK  2