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diff --git a/old/67936-0.txt b/old/67936-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 489ad62..0000000 --- a/old/67936-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14912 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Working Life of Women in the -Seventeenth Century, by Alice Clark - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century - -Author: Alice Clark - -Release Date: April 26, 2022 [eBook #67936] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Fay Dunn, Barry Abrahamsen, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKING LIFE OF WOMEN IN THE -SEVENTEENTH CENTURY *** - - - - 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. DUTTON & 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 discarded -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 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 Knowles 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 1 - - II. CAPITALISTS 14 - - III. AGRICULTURE 42 - - IV. TEXTILES 93 - - V. CRAFTS AND TRADES 150 - - VI. PROFESSIONS 236 - - VII. CONCLUSION 290 - - LIST OF AUTHORITIES 309 - - LIST OF WAGES ASSESSMENTS 320 - - INDEX 322 - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER I - - INTRODUCTORY - -EFFECT of environment on Women’s development. Possible reaction on men’s - development—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 -environment. 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 sometimes 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 examination, for, owing to the -indissoluble bond uniting the sexes, and the emotional power which women -exert over men, the character of men’s development 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 certainty. 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 century, forms an -important crisis in the historic development 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 reader of -contemporary drama. To the objection that the heroines 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 consequently the economic position has been -approached less from its direct effect upon the production of wealth -than from its influence upon women’s development. 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, including 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 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 mediæval women on the one hand, and with -women’s position under modern industrial conditions, on the other. It -must be admitted, however, that comparisons 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 creation of the home and the physical creation of the -child. Though essentially productive, such achievements of creative -power transcend the limitations of economics and one instinctively 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 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 domestic 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 industrial 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. - -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, whereas this -investigation is concerned primarily with its effect upon the position -of women. - -To facilitate the enquiry, organisation for production 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 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 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, 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 situation of the workshop -within the precincts of the home. - -These two conditions were rarely completely fulfilled 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 capitalist 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] - -Footnote 1: - - The 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 conversation - “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 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. - -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 introduced 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 influence 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 feminine” 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 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:— - -(1) 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 produced 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 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 apprenticeship to the male -sex, girls were seldom if ever admitted as apprentices in the gild -trades, and therefore women were excluded from the ranks of journeymen. -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 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 -development 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 following 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 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 encountered 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 proposed 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 12s. a week, one 20s. 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 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 potatoes and esculents, etc., the while -the labourer is at his work.”[2] - -Footnote 2: - - _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1834, Vol. I., p. 531. _A Letter to Lord - Althorp on the Poor Laws_, by Equitas. - -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. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - 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 household, 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, -and 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 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.”[3] - -Footnote 3: - - Verney Family, _Memoirs during the Civil War_, Vol. I., p. 210. - -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.”[4] Their household consisted of thirty -persons. - -Footnote 4: - - _Ibid._, Vol. I., p. 12. - -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.”[5] - -Footnote 5: - - Harley, _Letters of Brilliana, the Lady_, pp. 146-7, 1641. - -“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.”[6] - -Footnote 6: - - Harley, _Letters of Brilliana, The Lady_, p. 167, 1642. - -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.”[7] - -Footnote 7: - - Murray (Lady), _Memoirs of Lady Grisell Baillie_, p. 13. - -Mrs. Alice Thornton wrote of her mother: - -“Nor was she awanting to make a fare greatter improvement [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 meanes to give -opportunity of increasing his patrimony.”[8] - -Footnote 8: - - Thornton (Mrs. Alice), _Autobiography_, p. 101, (Surtees’ Society Vol. - lxii. - -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 11, 1676, is entered: “To mᵒ Recᵈ. of Tho: Greaves wife wᶜʰ. I am -to returne to London foʳ her, & is to bee pᵈ, to her sonn Jⁿᵒ. ffellꝑ -Waltʳ. miers in London, 001. 00. 00.” - -Jan., 14, 1676-7, by money lent Wiƚƚm Wilson our forge Clarke till hee -gett money in for Ireon sold 10. 0. 0. - -Aug. ye 9º 1677 by mᵒ “in expence at adgarley when wee went to chuse -oare to send father 000. 00. 04.” - -Other payments are entered for horses to “lead oare.”[9] &c., &c. - -Footnote 9: - - Fell (Sarah), _Household Account Book_. - -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.”[10] - -Footnote 10: - - Crosfield (H. G.), _Life of Margaret Fox, of Swarthmore Hall_, p. 232, - 1699. - -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 management 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.”[11] - -Footnote 11: - - Costello, _Eminent Englishwomen_, Vol. III, p. 55. - -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 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).”[12] - -Footnote 12: - - _Falkland, (The Lady), Her Life_, pp. 18-20. - -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 obligations 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 weak woman stands in - the greatest need of to dispatch her suits,” ... etc., etc. - - “Dublyn Castle this 26th of July, 1625.”[13] - -Footnote 13: - - _Falkland (The Lady), Her Life_, pp. 131-132. - -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.”[14] - -Footnote 14: - - _Ibid._, pp. 132-3. - -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 yʳ 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 yʳ own cause) yett I am confident if yᵘ were - here, yᵘ would doe as our sages doe, instruct yʳ 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.”[15] - -Footnote 15: - - _Verney Family_, Vol. II., p. 240, 646. - -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 protection 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 parliament ... for his -lordships person and estate.”[16] - -Footnote 16: - - _Calendar State Papers_, Domestic, April 8, 1646. - -Lady Mary Heveningham, through her efforts restored the estate to the -family after her husband had been convicted of high treason at the -Restoration.[17] - -Footnote 17: - - _Hunter (Joseph), History and Topography of Ketteringham_, p. 46. - -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 careful 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.”[18] - -Footnote 18: - - Nash, _Hist. and Antiq. of Worcester_, Vol. I., p. 492. It appears by - depositions in the Court of Chancery that she paid off £25,000 which - was charged upon the estate, and only sold lands to the value of - £8,854, _Ibid._, p. 496. - -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 sure such as noe way -entangle me in conscience or loyalty nor hinder me from serving the -King.”[19] - -Footnote 19: - - _Nicholas Papers_, Vol. I., p. 97. Charles Parker to Lord Hatton. - -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.”[20] - -Footnote 20: - - _Fanshawe (Lady), Memoirs of_, pp. 80-81. - -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.”[21] - -Footnote 21: - - _Nicholas Papers_, Vol. III., pp. 274-6. Marquis of Ormonde to Sir Ed. - Nicholas, 1656. - -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 -understanding, 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 punishment (fine, pillory, imprisonment -for life) and his subsequent transportation to Guernsey, “where he now -is but by what order your petitioner knoweth not and is kept in strict -durance of exile and imprisonment, and utterly denied the society of -your petitioner 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.[22] - -Footnote 22: - - _State Papers, Domestic_, cccclxxi. 36, Nov. 7, 1640. - -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....”[23] - -Footnote 23: - - _S.P.D._, cccclxxi. 37, 1640. - -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 Parliament sat again, the -colonel [Hutchinson] sent up his 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 discerned 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.”[24] - -Footnote 24: - - _Life of Colonel Hutchinson_, by his Wife, pp. 334-336. - -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.”[25] - -Footnote 25: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. x., p. 5. To Sir William Campion from - Herbert Morley, July 23rd, 1645. - -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....”[26] - -Footnote 26: - - _Ibid._, Vol. x., p. 6. - -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.[27] 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 corporation -of carriers and others.[28] - -Footnote 27: - - _C.S.P.D._ lxvii, 129, 1611. - -Footnote 28: - - _C.S.P.D._ clxii, 8, March 2, 1630. - -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.”[29] 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.[30] - -Footnote 29: - - _S.P.D._ xlviii, 119, 22nd October, 1609. - -Footnote 30: - - _S.P.D._ liii, 131, April 1610. - -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.[31] -Bessy Welling, servant to the late Prince Henry, petitioned for the -erecting of an office for enrolling the Apprentices 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.[32] 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.[33] - -Footnote 31: - - _C.S.P.D._ lxxvii, 5 April 5, 1614. - -Footnote 32: - - _S.P.D._ cxi, 121, 1619. - -Footnote 33: - - _S.P.D._ clxxx, 66, 1624. - -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 appropriated and -encroached upon by bordering commoners. She begs for a grant of it for -sixty years; as an inducement 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.[34] 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 corporation prefers the trade of buying -and selling silk stockings 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-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.[35] - -Footnote 34: - - _S.P.D._ cccxxiii, 109, 18th June, 1637. - -Footnote 35: - - _S.P.D._ cccxxiii., 7, _Bk. of Petitioners_, Car. I. - -Elizabeth, Viscountess Savage, points out that Freemen 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 belonging to His Majesty, she begs a grant of such penalties to -be recovered at her instance and charge.[36] - -Footnote 36: - - _S.P.D._ ccciii., 65, Dec. 6th, 1635. - -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.[37] - -Footnote 37: - - _S.P.D._ cccvi., 27, 1635. - -Mistress Dorothy Seymour petitions for a grant of the fines imposed on -those who export raw hides contrary 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 Majesty ... he will give -her such part as shall fully satisfy her pains and good endeavours.”[38] - -Footnote 38: - - _S.P.D._ cccxlvi., 2, Feb. 1st, 1637. - -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.”[39] - -Footnote 39: - - Jonson, (Ben.) _The Devil is an Ass_, Act III., Scene iv. - -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.”...[40] - -Footnote 40: - - (_Ibid._), Act IV., Scene ii. - -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 moneylenders. Thus, complaint is made that Elizabeth -Pennell had stolen “two glazier’s vices with the screws and -appurtenances” and pawned them to one Ellianor Troughton, wife of Samuel -Troughton broker.[41] - -Footnote 41: - - _Middlesex Co. Rec. Sess. Books_, p. 18, 1690. - -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 children -their portion?_ To which the Divine answered; _Without these three you -cannot be saved. Yea but_, quoth shee, _Doe our Learned Men and -Scriptures say so? Yes, 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.”[42] - -Footnote 42: - - Braithwaite, (Richd.), _The English Gentleman_, p. 300, 1641. - -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.[43] Others were widows like Anne Hodsall whose husband, a -London merchant, traded for many years to the Canary Islands, the -greatest part of his estate being there. He could not recover it in his -lifetime 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 necessary to take pipe-staves -over there to make casks to bring back the wines. She begs the council -therefore “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.”[44] - -Footnote 43: - - Overall _Remembrancia, Analytical Index to_, p. 519, 1582. - -Footnote 44: - - _Council Register_, 8th August, 1628. - -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.”[45] - -Footnote 45: - - Holroyd, Joseph (Cloth Factor) and Saml. Hill (clothier), _Letter Bks. - of_, pp. 18-25. - -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.[46] - -Footnote 46: - - _C.R._, 3rd December, 1630. - -A Petition of “Emanuell Fynche, Wm. Lewis Merchantes and Anne Webber -Widow on the behalfe 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 deteriorating. They asked to be allowed to sell her there.[47] -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.”[48] - -Footnote 47: - - _S.P.D._ ccxxxvi., 45, 12th, April, 1633. - -Footnote 48: - - _Hist. MSS. Com._, 14 Rep., VIII., p. 284, 1655. - -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.[49] - -Footnote 49: - - _S.P.D._ ccxcii., 24, March 23, 1636/7., _Proceedings of Gunpowder - Commissioners_. - -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.[50] - -Footnote 50: - - _S.P.D._ xx., 62, Feb. 9th, 1626. - -Cuthbert Farlowe, Elizabeth Harper Widowe, Edward Sheldon and John -Davis, “poore Tradesmen 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.”[51] - -Footnote 51: - - _S.P.D._ cxcvii., 64, July, 1631. - -A warrant was issued “to pay to Alice Bearden £100 for certain cutworks -furnished to the Queen for her own wearing.”[52] - -Footnote 52: - - _S.P.D._, clix., 27th Jan. 1630. - -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.”[53] - -Footnote 53: - - _S.P.D._, clxxxi., 138, 1630. - -For her tenancy of the Spy-law Paper Mill, Foulis “receaved from Mʳˢ. -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.”[54] - -Footnote 54: - - Foulis, Sir John, _Account Book_, 5th Jan., 1705. - -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 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.”[55] - -Footnote 55: - - _British Friend_, II., p. 113. - -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 both, so that there could not -possibly be the least Fraud in the Management thereof.”[56] - -Footnote 56: - - _Case of Dorothy Petty_, 1710. - -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.[57] The name of Barbara Milburne, widow, is given in -the Subsidy Roll for 1621 as owning land.[58] 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,[59] -which he would hardly have done unless he had believed her equal to the -management of a complicated business. - -Footnote 57: - - _Newcastle and Gateshead, History of_, Vol. III., p. 242. - -Footnote 58: - - _Ibid._, p. 237. - -Footnote 59: - - _Ibid._, p. 252. - -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 400 lbs. at Haden Wells, 300 or 400 -lbs. at Salisbury and 300 or 400 lbs. at Winchester at £9 the hundred.” -Hellyard was sentenced to a fine of £1,000, pillory, whipping and -imprisonment. - -“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.”[60] - -Footnote 60: - - _S.P.D._, cclx., 21, 1634. - -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.[61] -Lady Mansell submits a financial statement and account of the rival -glassmakers’ attempts to ruin her husband’s business, one of whom “hath -in open audience vowed to spend 1000li, 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.”[62] - -Footnote 61: - - _S.P.D._, cxlviii., 52, 1623. - -Footnote 62: - - _S.P.D._, dxxi., 147. Addenda Charles I., 1625. - -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 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.”[63] - -Footnote 63: - - _England’s Way_, 1614. _Harleian Misc._, Vol. III., p. 383. - -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 -unexperience and unaptness of his Wife to such Affairs, and so it -usually falls out. Besides it hath been observed 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 in it -to Thriftiness and good Husbandry, and prevents both Husbands and Wives -in some measure from running out of their estates.”[64] - -Footnote 64: - - Child, Sir J., _A New Discourse of Trade_, pp. 4-5. 1694. - -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.”[65] - -Footnote 65: - - Howell, (Jas.), _Familiar Letters_, p. 103. - -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 -yᵗ he doeth gayne.”[66] - -Footnote 66: - - Vives, _Office and Duties of a Husband_, trans. by Thos. Paynell. - -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 his -Lady was taking de Tale of Chandels wid her own witer Hands, ma foy; and -de young Lady, his Excellence Daughter, stringing Harring, jarnie ... -his Son, (for he had but one) was making the Tour of France, etc. in a -Coach and six.”[67] - -Footnote 67: - - Wycherley, _The Gentleman Dancing Master_, p. 21. - -The picture is obviously intended to throw ridicule on the neighbouring -state, of whose navy and commercial progress England stood at that time -in considerable fear. - -How rapidly the active, hardy life of the Elizabethan gentlewoman was -being transformed into the idleness and dependence which has -characterised the lady of a later age may be judged by Mary Astell’s -comment on “Ladies of Quality.” She says, “They are placed in a -condition which makes that which is everyone’s chief business to be -their only employ. They have nothing to do but to glorify God and to -benefit their neighbours.”[68] After a study of the Restoration 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. - -Footnote 68: - - Astell, (Mary), _A Serious Proposal_, p. 145, 1694. - -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 typical -of the new social order, after a call upon Mr. Bland, commented with -surprised pleasure on Mrs. Bland’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.”[69] 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’ -contemporaries 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 persons who hitherto had led lives of -idleness, unacquainted with the direction of affairs. - -Footnote 69: - - Pepys, (Sam.), _Diary_, Vol. II., p. 113, Dec. 31, 1662. - -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, 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, she carrieth 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.”[70] - -Footnote 70: - - Wilkinson, (Robert), _Conjugal Duty_, pp. 13-17. - -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 consequent 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 partnership; -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. Prominent 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 circumstances will be examined in detail in the following -chapters. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER III - - AGRICULTURE - -Agriculture England’s leading Industry—Has provided the most vigorous - stock 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’s - 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’ - wives—Explanation for magistrates’ action in fixing maximum wages - below subsistence level—Proportion of wage-earning families. - - -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 -families 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 -development 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 insufficient 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, professional 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 imperceptibly 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 children 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 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.”[71] 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, was the -greatest Trial that ever I met with, above anything 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 Strengthen 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.”[72] - -Footnote 71: - - Banks (John), _Journal_, p. 101, 1684. - -Footnote 72: - - Banks, (John), _Journal_, pp. 129-30. - -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.”[73] 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 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.”[74] - -Footnote 73: - - Batt (Mary), _Testimony of the Life and Death of_, pp. 1-3, 1683. - -Footnote 74: - - Batt (Mary), _Testimony to Life and Death of_, pp. 5-7, 1683. - -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 occupaciõs and -labours that be most cõvenient 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 thẽ 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 -engendred wormes, right so in an idel body are engendered ydel -thoughtes. Here maie thou see yᵗ of idelnes commeth damnatiõ, & 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 wyfe 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 wakéd and purpose to rise, lift up thy hãd & blis the & make a -signe of the holy crosse ... and remembre thy maker and thou shalte -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 thẽ, & 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 whẽ 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 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 mornynge, 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 ofte 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 wynowed and kept dry til peretime cum -againe. Thy femell hempe must be pulled fro the chucle hẽpe 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 hẽpe, but -yet it wil do good seruice. It may fortune sometime yᵗ thou shalte haue -so many thinges to do that thou shalte not wel know where is best to -begyn. Thẽ 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 cõvenient 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 cornes, 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.”[75] - -Footnote 75: - - Fitzherbert (Sir Anth.), _Boke of Husbandrye_. - -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.”[76] - -Footnote 76: - - Rogers (J. E. Thorold), _Hist. Agric. and Prices_, Vol. VI., pp. - 686-9, assess. for Yorks, East Riding, Ap. 26, 1593. - -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.”[77] - -Footnote 77: - - Josselin (R), _Diary_, p. 86, April 9th, and 30th, 1650. - -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.[78] - -Footnote 78: - - _Somerset Quarter Sessions Records_, Vol. III, pp. 370-1, 1659. - -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 important 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 information 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. 17s. 6d.”[79] by mᵒ pᵈ Anthony Towers -wife in pᵗ foʳ manneʳ wee are to have of heʳ 1.00[80] to mᵒ Recᵈ. of -Myles Gouth wife foʳ ploughing for her 1.04”[81] - -Footnote 79: - - _Fell (Sarah) Household Accounts_, p. 317, 1676. - -Footnote 80: - - _Fell (Sarah)_, _Household Accounts_, p. 339, 1676. - -Footnote 81: - - _Ibid._, p. 386, 1677. - -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 for 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 received 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.”[82] - -Footnote 82: - - _Bownas (Samuel)_, _Life_, pp. 116-17. - -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.”[83] - -Footnote 83: - - _Salford Portmote Records_, Vol. I, p. 3, 1597. - -Katharine Davie was presented “for not paving before her doore.” Mrs. -Elizabeth Parkhurst for “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 have -beene sent to the fould.”[84] “Charles Gregorie’s wife complained that -shee is distrained for 3s. for an amerciament for hoggs goeing in the -Streete whereupon, upon her tendring of 3s. xijd is restored with her -flaggon.”[85] 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, -xiiid.”[86] - -Footnote 84: - - _Salford Portmote Records_, Vol. II., pp. 6-7, 1633. - -Footnote 85: - - Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. IV., p. 512, 1653. - -Footnote 86: - - Ferguson, _Municipal Records of Carlisle_, p. 278. - -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.”[87] - -Footnote 87: - - Howell, _Familiar Letters_, p. 290, 1644. - -Many gentlewomen were proficient in dairy management. 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 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 0 0.”[88] - -Footnote 88: - - Foulis (Sir John, of Ravelston), _Acct. Bk._, p. 158. - -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 20s. more, which I had all but 20s. and shee is 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.”[89] - -Footnote 89: - - Eyre, (Capt. Adam), _A Dyurnall_, p. 16, p. 36. - -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, unencumbered 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. And -yet he had several divertisements by company, which continually resorted -to his house; for having (God be thanked) his temporal Estate cleared -from Sequestration, by his Composition 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.”[90] - -Footnote 90: - - _Heylin, (Peter)_, pp. 18-19. - -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-fellowship_, 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.”[91] - -Footnote 91: - - King (Gregory), _Natural and Political Observations, etc._ - -Adam Martindale’s wife was equally successful. He writes “about -Michaelmas, 1662, 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.”[92] Later on he adds “My family finding -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.”[93] - -Footnote 92: - - _Martindale, (Adam),_ _Life_, p. 172. - -Footnote 93: - - _Ibid._, p. 190. - -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 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.”[94] - -Footnote 94: - - Clode, (C.M.) _Merchant Taylors_, Vol. I., p. 323. - - - 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. - -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.”[95] “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.”[96] - -Footnote 95: - - Pseudonismus, _Considerations concerning Common Fields and - Enclosures_, 1654. - -Footnote 96: - - Pseudonismus, _A Vindication of the Considerations concerning Common - Fields and Enclosures_, 1656. - -The holdings of the husbandmen varied from seven acres or more to half -an acre or even less of garden ground, in which as potatoes[97] 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. - -Footnote 97: - - Potatoes were already in use in Ireland, but are scarcely referred to - during this period by English writers. - -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.”[98] - -Footnote 98: - - _Osborne (Dorothy), Letters_, pp. 103, 4. 1652-1654. - -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 was usually nominal,[99] 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. - -Footnote 99: - - 30s. Susanna Suffolke a young maid holds a customary cottage, ... and - renteth per annum 2d. - - £28 Eliz. Filoll (widdow) holdeth one customary tenement. Rent per - annum 26s. 8d. - - £2 Mary Stanes holdeth one customary cottage (late of Robert Stanes) - and renteth per annum 7d. - - £12 Margaret Dowe (widdow) holdeth one customary tenement (her eldest - son the next heir) rent 7s. 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. - Haningfield, Essex.) - -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.”[100] - -Footnote 100: - - Taylor. (Randall), _Discourse of the Growth of England, etc._, p. 96, - 1689. - -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 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.”[101] - -Footnote 101: - - Pepys, Vol. IV, p. 428. 14 July, 1667. - -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 £10.8.0 by the year, whereas a Wiltshire 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.[102] On the other hand, four shillings a week would not 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. - -Footnote 102: - - _Hist. MSS. Miss. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. I. p. 170. - -The wages for the harvest work of women as well as men, were fixed by -the Quarter Sessions.[103] 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 11 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.”[104] - -Footnote 103: - - 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 8d. without, to - 8d. and meat and drink, or 1s. 4d. without - - and in the corn harvest from:— - - 5d. and meat and drink, or 10d. without, to - 1s. and meat and drink, or 2s. without - - Women’s wages varied in the hay harvest from:— - - 1d. and meat and drink, or 4d. without, to - 6d. and meat and drink, or 1s. without - - and in the corn harvest from:— - - 2d. and meat and drink, or 6d. without, to - 6d. and meat and drink, or 1s. without - - The variations in these wages correspond with the price of corn in - different parts of England and must not be regarded as necessarily - representing differences in the real value of wages. - -Footnote 104: - - Society of Antiquarians of Scotland, vol. xxxix, p. 125. _Dame - Margaret Nicholson’s Account Book._ - -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.[105] The best sort of men-shearers have usually 8d. a -day and are to meate themselves; the best sorte of women shearers have -(most commonly) 6d. a day.[106] It is usuall in some places (wheare the -furres of the landes are deepe worne with raines) to imploy women, with -wain-rakes, to gather the corne out of the said hollow furres after that -the sweath-rakes have done.[107] ... 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.”[108] - -Footnote 105: - - Best, _Rural Economy_, p. 36. - -Footnote 106: - - _Ibid._ p. 42. - -Footnote 107: - - Best, _Rural Economy_, p. 59. - -Footnote 108: - - _Ibid._ pp. 93-4. - -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 sometimes but 3 if the thatch bee longe and very wette.”[109] - -Footnote 109: - - _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, viz. 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 fower - services, viz. butter, milke, cheese, and either egges, pyes, or - bacon, and sometimes porridge insteade of milke: if they meate - themselves they have usually 10d. a day.” - -“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.”[110] “Men that pull pease have -8d. women 6d. a day.”[111] - -Footnote 110: - - Best, _Rural Economy_, p. 140. - -Footnote 111: - - _Ibid._ p. 142. - -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.”[112] - -Footnote 112: - - Fiennes (Celia), _Through England on a Side-saddle_, p. 225. - -There was hardly any kind of agricultural work from which women were -excluded. Everenden “payed 1s. 2d. to the wife of Geo. Baker for -shearing 28 sheep.”[113] In Norfolk the wages for a “woman clipper of -sheepe” were assessed at 6d. per day with meat and drink, 1s. without, -while a man clipper was paid 7d. and 14d. It is noteworthy that only 4d. -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.[114] Pepys on his visit to Stonehenge “gave -the shepherd-woman, for leading our horses, 4d.,”[115] while Foulis -enters, “Jan. 25, 1699 to tonie to give ye women at restalrig for making -good wailings of strae, 4s. (Scots money).”[116] - -Footnote 113: - - Suss. Arch. Coll. Vol. IV., p. 24. _Everendon Account Book._ - -Footnote 114: - - Tingye (J. C.), _Eng. Hist. Rev._, Vol. XIII., pp. 525-6. - -Footnote 115: - - Pepys, Vol. V., p. 302. (11th June, 1668). - -Footnote 116: - - Foulis (Sir John) _Acct. Bk._, p. 246. - -But the wives of husbandmen were not confined to agricultural work as is -shown by many payments entered to them in account books:[117] Thus the -church wardens at Strood, in Kent, paid the widow Cable for washing the -surplices 1s.[118]; and at Barnsley they gave “To Ricard Hodgaris wife -for whipping dogs” (out of the Church) 2s.[119] 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.[120] - -Footnote 117: - - “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. 11th, 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._) - - “Paid to goodwife Stopinge for 2 bundles of Rushes at Whitsuntide for - the Church, iiijid. (_Churchwarden’s Account Book, Strood_, p. 95, - 1612.” - -Footnote 118: - - _Churchwarden’s Account Book, Strood_, p. 197. 1666. - -Footnote 119: - - Cox (J. C.) _Churchwarden’s Accts._, p. 309. - -Footnote 120: - - _Yorks. North Riding, Q.S. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 62, Jan. 8., 1606-7. - -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, 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 husbandman 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 destitution -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 among these was their income, for -wage-earners have already been defined as the class of persons depending -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 the same work,[121] a married miller -receiving with his meat and drink, 4d. a day which after deducting -holidays would amount to £500 by the year, while the unmarried miller -has only 46s. 8d. and a pair of boots. - -Footnote 121: - - A shoemaker servant of the best sorte being married, to have without - meate and drinke for every dosin of shoes —— xxijid. - - 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 viijid. - - Millers and drivers of horses beinge married men shall not take more - by the daye then with meate and drinke —— ivid. and without viijid. - - 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 corne” 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 —— 40s. - - Every such servant being a single man and working by yᵉ pound to have - by yᵉ pound —— 1ᵈ. - - Every such servant being a marryed man and having served as an - apprentice thereto according to the statute to have by yᵉ pound —— 2ᵈ. - - (_Assessment for Suffolk_, 1630). - -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 3½d. per day in winter, and 4½d. per day in summer, -in addition to his meat and drink. Actual wages paid confirm the truth -of these figures, though it is not always clear whether the payments -include meat and drink.[122] - -Footnote 122: - - Paid to a shovele man for 2 days to shovell in the cart rakes, 2s. - (_Hertford Co. Rec._, Vol. I, p. 233, 1672.) 2½ days’ work of a - labourer, 2s. 6d. (_ibid._, p. 130, 1659). - - For one daies work for one labourer, 1s. (_Strood Churchwarden’s Acc._ - 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. 1s. 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 Braithwᵗ foʳ threshing 6 dayes 1.00. - - _April 27, 1676_, by mᵒ. pᵈ. him for thatching 2 days at Petties - Tenemᵗ, 8d. - - _August 2, 1676._ pᵈ Margᵗ 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. 0. 0. - - _Sept 4._ pᵈ. Will Nicholson wife foʳ weedinge in yᵉ garden & pullinge - hempe 12 dayes 01. 0. 0. - - _Oct. 2._ pᵈ. Issa. Atkinson for her daughtʳ Swingleinge 6 dayes 01. - 0. 0. - - _May 7, 1677._ pᵈ. Will Ashbrner for his daughteʳ harrowing here 2 - weekes 01. 0. 0. (_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, 3s. Thos. West, 1 week’s haying 2s. - (_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. IV, p. 24, _Everendon Acc. Book_, 1618.) - - Paid for a labourer 3 dayes to hoult the alees and carrying away the - weedes, 1s. 6d. (_Cromwell Family, Bills and Receipts_, Vol. II, p. - 233, 1635.) - - _Jan. 26, 1649._ Payd. to John Wainwright for 5 days worke 1s. 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 xvjid. Leonell - Bell, xiij dayes about hay, vjs. vjid. - - Tho. Bullman the lyke. iiijs. iiijd, Thos. Hutton 4 dayes at mowing - corne, xvjid. - - _Howard Household Book_, p. 40-41). - -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 possessed gardens. Taking a figure considerably higher than -the one at which the Assessment averages work out, namely 5d. per day -instead of 4d. 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 3s. 2d. Except in exceptional circumstances his -wife’s earnings would not amount to more than 1s. 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 -children’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 3s. 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.[123] - -Footnote 123: - - 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. Wednesday 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 meal 4 oz. bread, 1½ oz. cheese, 1 oz. butter, 1 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 Sewet Dumpling - with Beer. Their supper always the same, 4 oz. bread, 1½ of cheese or - 1 oz. of butter, and beer sufficient. (Stow, _London_, Book 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 or blood-pudens, or a - hagish, or what is most convenient. Breakfast and super, half 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. - -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.”[124] 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 4s. per week. Sick and wounded soldiers under cure -for their wounds to have 4s. 8d. per week.”[125] - -Footnote 124: - - _Cromwell Family, Bills and Receipts_, Vol. II., p. 233, 1635. - -Footnote 125: - - _Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum_, II., p. 556. (For Maimed - Soldiers and Widows of Scotland and Ireland, Sept 30, 1651.) - -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, 4½d; foot soldier, 4d.[126] - -Footnote 126: - - _Yorks. North Riding, Q.S. Rec._, Vol. VII., p. 106, 1690. - -“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 1s. 6d. a week between them; “others have eighteen -pence apiece single persons” and desire that an order be made for them -to have 3s. together which is but the allowance made to other -persons.[127] - -Footnote 127: - - _Hertfordshire, Co. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 258, 1675. - -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.”[128] In another case -to pay a very poor widow 6d. weekly for the maintenance of herself and -her three children.[129] The allowance of 12d. 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.”[130] On the other -hand when an orphan child was given to strangers to bring up, amounts -varying from 1s. to 5s. per week were paid for its maintenance.[131] - -Footnote 128: - - _Yorks. N.R. Q.S. Rec._, Vol. VI., p. 242, 1675. - -Footnote 129: - - _Ibid._ p. 217, 1674. - -Footnote 130: - - _Ibid._ p. 260, 1674. - -Footnote 131: - - 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 desireth some allowance extraordinary for bringinge - the said Childe to bee fitt to gett her livinge.” (_Somerset, Q.S. - Rec._, Vol. III, p. 28-9, 1647). - - In 1663 a woman who was committed to the Castle of Yorke for felony - and afterwards 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. (_Yorks. - 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. 101., 1613.) - - Item payd to the said widowe Elkyns for Dyett and keeping of a poore - child leafte upon the chardge of the parish at 11d. the weecke from - the 14th of August, 1599, till this secound of Sept., 1601, every - Saturday, being two yeres and three weeckes, videlicet 107 weeckes in - toto vˡⁱ vijs. (_Ch. Accs., St. Michael’s in Bedwendine, Worcester_, - p. 147.) - - Itm pd. to Batrome’s wife of Linstead for keeping of Wright’s child 52 - weeks £3 0s. 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. 0s. 0d. More towards her apparell - 5s. (_Ibid._ p. 137. 1609.) - - Item paide Chart’s Child’s keeping by the week £4. 11s. 8d. Item for - apparrell £1. 18s. 2d. Item paid to the surgeon for her. 3s. 6d. - (_Suss. Arch. Coll._, Vol. xx., p. 101, _Acct. Bk of Cowden_. 1627.) - for apparrelling Wm. Uridge and for his keeping this yeare £5. 12s. - 9d. - - (_Ibid._ p. 103, 1632.) - - For the keep of William Kemsing 14 weeks £1. 2s. 8d. and 23 weeks at - 2s. per week, £2. 6s. 0d. 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. 17s. 9d. - - (_Ibid._ p. 107, 1650.) - - John Mercies wief for keeping Buckles child, weekly, 1s. 6d. - - John Albaes wief for keeping Partickes child, 1s. 4d. - - (_S.P.D._, cccxlvii., 67, 1. 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 xijid. - weekly. (_Somerset, Q.S. Rec._, Vol. III, p. 1, 1646.) Order for Thos. - Scott, a poor, lame, impotent child, to be placed with Joanna Brandon; - She to be paid 5s. a week for his maintenance. (_Middlesex Co. Rec._, - p. 180, _Sess. Book_, 1698). - -Thus the amount paid by the Justices for maintaining 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 at a cost of 1s. 4d. per head per week.[132] -At Stepney, the poor were maintained at 2s. 10d or 3s. per 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 1s. 6d. a week per head.[133] At Reading it was -agreed “that Clayton’s wief shall have xiiiiid. a weeke for every poore -childe in the hospitall accomptinge each childe’s worke in parte of -payment.”[134] - -Footnote 132: - - Cary, _Acc. 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.” - -Footnote 133: - - _Account Workhouses_, 1725, p. 13, p. 37, p. 79. - -Footnote 134: - - Guilding, _Reading_, Vol. II., p. 273, Jan. 16, 1625-6. - -These and many other similar figures show that a child must have cost -from 1s. to 1s. 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 completely self-supporting before -the age of thirteen or fourteen. - -According to the wages assessments, a 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 2d. to 4d. 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 -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 writer[135] alleges that a man’s -diet costs 5d. a day and a woman’s 1s. 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. - -Footnote 135: - - Dunning, R. _Plain and Easie Method_, p. 5, 1686. - -Another writer gives 2s. as being sufficient to “keep a poor man or -woman (with good husbandry) one whole week.”[136] 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 5s. 6d. per week, but there were other -necessaries to be provided 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 12s. 3d. to build, while a “cothouse” built for Liddas “the -merchant” cost only £1 0 0;[137] other cots were built for 4s., 11s. -1d,, 5s. and 14s. 4d. These Scottish dwellings were mud hovels, but in -England the labourers’ dwellings were not much better. - -Footnote 136: - - _Trade of England_, p. 10, 1681. - -Footnote 137: - - Baillie (Lady Grisel), _House Book_, Introd. Ixiv. - -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.”[138] - -Footnote 138: - - Fiennes (Celia), _Through England on a Side-saddle_, p. 224. - -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, parcell 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.”[139] 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.[140] - -Footnote 139: - - _Yorks. N.R. Q.S. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 29. 1605-6. - -Footnote 140: - - _Hertfordshire Co. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 63. 1639-41. - -It was often necessary to compel unwilling overseers 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.[141] - -Footnote 141: - - _Hist., MSS. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. I, p. 113, _Wilts. Q.S. Rec._ - 1646. - -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 5s. 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.”[142] - -Footnote 142: - - 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. (_Yorks. 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. Mary Marchant ... 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; soe 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). - -The housing problem however could not be settled by orders instructing -the overseers to build cottages 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.”[143] - -Footnote 143: - - _Somerset, Q.S. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 41, 1609. - -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 churchwardens and overseers converted to a dwelling. -Afterwards he having no licence from Quarter Sessions, nor under the -hands of the Lord of the Manor so to do, and the sheep-cote 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.”[144] - -Footnote 144: - - _Hist. MSS. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 296, _Worcestershire, Q.S. - Rec._, 1617. - -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 -Inhabitants of Dooeffield, 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 overseers 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.”[145] - -Footnote 145: - - Cox, J. C. _Derbyshire Annals_, Vol. II., pp. 173-4, 1649. - -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 -converted to the use of such other poore people etc.” - -Order that Robert Morris of Overstowey, husbandman, 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).[146] - -Footnote 146: - - _Somerset Q.S. Rec._, Vol. III., pp. 29, 58. - -The predicament of married labourers is shown again in the following -report to the Hertfordshire Quarterly Sessions: “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.”[147] - -Footnote 147: - - _Hertford Co. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 100, 1652. - -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 churchwardens 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.”[148] - -Footnote 148: - - _Hertford Co. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 370, 1687. - -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 4s. per annum.... They usually lette their -cottages hereaboutes, for 10s. a piece, although they have not soe much -as a yard, or any backe side belonging to them.”[149] - -Footnote 149: - - Best, _Rural Econ._, p. 125. - -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 concerning cottages and inmates: - -Thos. Waters hath 3 inmates: - - Wm. Wyley pays £1. per annum - Anthony Smith pays £1. per annum - Roger Goat pays 12s. per annum - -“which are all poore labourers and have wifes and 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 14s. per annum - Wm. Jostling 14s. per annum - -that are very poor and impotent and take colleccion. - -Wm. Reynoldes hath 2 inmates: - - Anthony Durrant £1 16s. per annum - Wm. Yurely 16s. per annum - -both are very poore labourers and have wifes and small children. Jas. -Candle owner of a cottage [has] Robert Fenn, 13s. a poore man. Anne -Linckhorne 1 inmate Philip Blunt that pay £1. 17. 0 that is a poore man -and hath wife and children.”[150] - -Footnote 150: - - _S.P.D._, cccx., 104, 1635. Returns made by Justices of the Peace. - -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 -insufficient 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 1706 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, Cloaths and House -Rent under 10s. a week.”[151] - -Footnote 151: - - Haynes, (John.), _Present State of Clothing_, p. 5, 1706. - -A similar statement is made by Sir Matthew Hale, who adds “and so much -they might probably get if employed.”[152] But no evidence has been -found from which we can imagine that an agricultural labourer’s family -could possibly earn as much as 10s. 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 nor yet by taxes.”[153] - -Footnote 152: - - Hale, (Sir Matt). _Discourse touching Provision for the Poor_, p. 6, - 1683. - -Footnote 153: - - _S.P.D._ ccclxxxv., 43. Mar. 8, 1638. - -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 expenditure but the families -of seamen, labourers and soldiers show an actual yearly deficit.[154] - -Footnote 154: - - King (Gregory). _Nat. and Political Observations_, pp. 48-9. - - NO. OF FAMILIES. YEARLY - INCOME PER EXPENSE LOSS PER - PERSONS. HEAD. PER HEAD. HEAD. - - 50,000 Common Seamen 150,000 £7. £7. 10s. 10s. - - 364,000 Labouring 1,275,000 £4. 10s. £4. 12s. 2s. - people & - outservants - - 400,000 Cottagers & 1,300,000 £2. £2. 5s. 5s. - Paupers - - 35,000 Common 70,000 £7. £7. 10s. 10s. - soldiers - -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 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 settlements contain many -pitiful stories. - -“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 -fortuned 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 may help them the best I can.”[155] - -Footnote 155: - - _Hist. MSS. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 298, _Worcestershire Q.S. - Rec._, 1618. - -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 liue 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.”[156] - -Footnote 156: - - _Somerset, Q.S. Rec._, Vol. III., p. 15, 1647. - -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 denyed a residence and they ly upp and downe in barnes and hay -lofts, the said Wannell’s 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 settlement of them there.”[157] - -Footnote 157: - - _Somerset Q.S. Rec._, Vol. III., p. 246, 1654. - -There were endless examples of these conflicts often attended as in the -above case with great cruelty.[158] - -Footnote 158: - - “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 liue 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. III, 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. III, - 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 is 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 interpretted 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 churchwardens 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 said 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.) - -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 inhabitants 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.”[159] - -Footnote 159: - - _Hertford Co. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 321, 1681. Letter from Francis Leigh - to Clerk of Peace. - -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.”[160] - -Footnote 160: - - _Hist. MSS. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 322. _Worcestershire Q.S. - Rec._, 1661. - -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 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 Clutton, and there marryed with a -poore Almesmans Daughter, now liveing with her said father in the -Almeshouse of Clutton aforesaid, and would there settle himselfe with -his said wife.” He was ordered to find sureties or to go to gaol.[161] - -Footnote 161: - - _Somerset Q.S. Rec._, Vol. II., p. 292, 1637-8. - -It was reported at Salford “Whereas Rich. Hudson is come lately into the -towne with his wife and ffoure 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.”[162] - -Footnote 162: - - _Salford Portmote Records_, Vol. II., p. 144, 1655. - -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.”[163] 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 libtie that -the said James shall remove out of this towne before the next Court -Leet.”[164] - -Footnote 163: - - _Ibid._, p. 151, 1656. - -Footnote 164: - - _Salford Portmote Rec._, Vol. II., p. 150. - -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.”[165] - -Footnote 165: - - _Yorks. N.R. Q.S. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 170, 1609. - -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 -avoyding 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 20s. monethlie over and above his monethlie tax.”[166] - -Footnote 166: - - _Wilts. Notes and Queries_, Vol. VII., p. 281, 1664. _Churchwarden’s - Acct. Book. Steeple Ashton._ - -The penalties at Reading were higher. “At this daye Wm. Porter, th’elder -was questioned for harboringe a straunger woman, and a childe, vizᵗ, 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 -Faringdon 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 payne of xs a weeke and to provide suretyes to -discharge the towne of the childe.”[167] - -Footnote 167: - - Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. II., p. 181, 1624. - -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 3½ 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.[168] Another writer gives 3 persons as -the average number for a labourer’s family.[169] 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 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.[170] - -Footnote 168: - - King (Gregory), _Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions_, - p. 44, pp. 48-9. - -Footnote 169: - - _Grasier’s Complaint_, p. 60. - -Footnote 170: - - _Nottingham, Records of the Borough of_, Vol. IV., pp. 312-5, 1613. - -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 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 settlement 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 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. Significant 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.”[171] Such wages may have sufficed for the infirm and old, but -they meant starvation for the woman with a young family depending on her -for food. And what chance of health and virtue existed for the children -of these enfeebled starving women? - -Footnote 171: - - _Eng. Hist. Rev._, Vol. xiii., p. 522. - -On the death or desertion of her husband the labouring woman became -wholly dependent on the Parish for support. The conduct of the -magistrates in fixing maximum wages at a rate which they knew to be -below subsistence 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 -recognised as “the body and stay” of the kingdom.[172] They made the -best infantry when bred “not in a servile or indigent fashion, but in -some free and plentiful manner.”[173] 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.”[174] - -Footnote 172: - - Lipson, _Economic Hist. of England_, p. 153. - -Footnote 173: - - Bacon, _Works_, Vol. VI., p. 95. - -Footnote 174: - - Lamond (Eliz.) _Discourse of the Common weal_, 1581. - -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 -establishment 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 contemporary[175] that Labourers -and Cottagers numbered 2,000,000 persons, out of a population of only -5,000,000 must be regarded as an exaggeration; in any case their -distribution was uneven. - -Footnote 175: - - _Grasier’s Complaint_, p. 60. - -Complaints are not infrequently brought before Quarter Sessions from -parishes which say they are burdened with so great a charge of poor that -they cannot support it; to other parishes the Justices are sometimes -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.”[176] - -Footnote 176: - - _Yorks. N.R. Q.S. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 22-3, 1605. - -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.”[177] -Or the Constable of Tredington who declared that “the poor are weekly -relieved, felons none known. Recusants one Bridget Lyne, the 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.”[178] -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.”[179] - -Footnote 177: - - _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 ‘omnia bene’ and the like in brief. - -Footnote 178: - - Bund (J. W. Willis) _Worcestershire Co. Rec._, Vol. I., p. 564, 1634. - -Footnote 179: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 571, 1634. - -A review of the whole position of women in Agriculture 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. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - TEXTILES. - - (A) _Introductory._ Historical importance in women’s economic - development—Predominance of women’s labour—Significance in - development of Industrialism—Low wages. - - (B) _Woollen Trade._ Historical importance—Proportions of men - and women employed—Early experiments in factory system - abandoned—Declining employment 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—Increased demand caused by printing - linens—Attempt to establish a company—Part taken by - women—weaving—bleaching—spinning—Wages below subsistence - 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. - -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.”[180] - -Footnote 180: - - _Declaration of the Estate of Clothing_, p. 2, 1613. - -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 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 intervals 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 case. - -The fact is that far from underselling the spinsters[181] 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, 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 bargaining -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. - -Footnote 181: - - Spinster in the seventeenth century is used in its technical sense and - refers equally to women who are married, unmarried or widows. - -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 introduction 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 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.[182] - -Footnote 182: - - Davenant (Inspector-General of Exports and Imports). _An account of - the trade between Greate Britain, France, Holland, Spain, Portugal, - Italy, Africa, Newfoundland etc., with the importations and - exportations 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, 17s. 6¼d. Whereof the Woollen Manufacture - for the same year are valued at £2,932,292, 17s. 6½d. - -Historically the Woollen Trade has a further importance, due to the part -which it played in the development 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.”[183] - -Footnote 183: - - _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.” - -In 1612 eight thousand persons, men, women and children were said to be -employed in the clothing trade in Tiverton alone.[184] While giving -933,966 hands as the number properly employed in woollen manufacture, -another writer says that women and children (girls and boys) were -employed in the proportion of about eight to one man.[185] - -Footnote 184: - - Dunsford. _Hist. Tiverton_, p. 408. - -Footnote 185: - - _Short Essay upon Trade_, p. 18, 1741. - -Such 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.[186] 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. - -Footnote 186: - - The following estimates were made by different writers: out of 1187 - persons supposed to be employed for one week in making up 1200 lbs. - 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.) - -For the student of social organization it is noteworthy 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 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 of lumbes to weve clooth yn, 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.”[187] - -Footnote 187: - - Leland (John), _Itinerary_, 1535-1543; Part II, pp. 131-2. - -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.”[188] - -Footnote 188: - - Lipson, _Econ. Hist. of England_, p. 420. - -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 -roof provided them with the opportunity for combination and -insubordination.[189] 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 regulations 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.”[190] - -Footnote 189: - - See _Weavers’ Act_, 1555. - -Footnote 190: - - _Hist. MSS. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 75, _Wilts. Q.S. Rec._, - 1603. - -Few references occur to the wives of successful clothiers or -wool-merchants who were actively interested 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 meane ability and most of them -poore but by theire trade the poore both of the towne and country -adjoyning are ymploied to spynnyng.”[191] - -Footnote 191: - - _S.P.D._, cxxix, 45, Ap. 10, 1622, _Return of the Mayor_. - -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.”[192] - -Footnote 192: - - _Clothier’s Complaint, etc._, p. 7, 1692. - -A certain Rachel Thiery applied for a monopoly in Southampton for the -pressing of serges, and having heard that the suit had been referred by -the Queen to Sir J. Cæsar, 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 Southampton. - -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. - -III. “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 11 yeres at least. She is verie untrustie and approoved to have -engaged 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.”[193] - -Footnote 193: - - Lansdowne, 161, fo. 127, 2nd July, 1599. - -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. He writes 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 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.”[194] - -Footnote 194: - - Bund (J. W. W.), _Worcestershire Records_, Vol. I., p. 530. - -That Mrs. Cocks should engage and direct her husband’s workpeople would -not be surprising to seventeenth 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 “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.”[195] - -Footnote 195: - - Riley, _Chronicles of London_, p. 142. - -Later however, women were excluded from cloth weaving on the ground that -their strength was insufficient 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.”[196] - -Footnote 196: - - Tingye, _Norwich Records_, Vol. II., p. 378. - -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 sufficiently learned in the said craft, goeth vagrant and -unoccupied, and may not have their labour to their living.”[197] - -Footnote 197: - - _Little Red Book of Bristol_, Vol. II., p. 127. - -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.”[198] - -Footnote 198: - - Lambert, _2000 years of Gild Life_, p. 6. - -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 -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.”[199] - -Footnote 199: - - Lambert, 2000 _Years of Gild Life_, p. 210. - -Even when virtually excluded from the weaving of “cloaths” women -continued to be habitually employed 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 invention -which was invented by strangers and brought into this land by them, -which hath beene the utter overthrowe 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 Destruccion of the trade of -weaving if some speedy course be not taken therein. Wee meane those -looms with 12, 15, 20, 18, 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 seene.”[200] - -Footnote 200: - - _S.P.D._, cxxi, 155, 1621. - -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.”[201] - -Footnote 201: - - Burton, J. R., _Hist. of Kidderminster_, p. 175, _Borough Ordinances_, - 1650. - -John Grove was 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.[202] - -Footnote 202: - - _Somerset Q.S. Rec._, Vol. III., pp. 268-9. 1655. - -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 division 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 handloom weavers of the nineteenth century.[203] Another -process in the manufacture of cloth which gave employment to women was -“Burling.” The minister and Mayor of Westbury presented a petition to -the Wiltshire Quarter Sessions in 1657 on behalf of certain poor 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 apprentice 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 -imployment of Burling should be appropriated by any particular 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 -mainteynance therefrom.”[204] - -Footnote 203: - - _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 20s. will enjoy more substantial comfort in every - way than he alone would enjoy with an income of 15s. a week. This - alone is an inducement to early marriage. In obedience 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.” - -Footnote 204: - - _Hist. MSS. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 135, _Wilts. Q.S. Rec._, - 1657. - -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 employment -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.”[205] - -Footnote 205: - - _Report of Commission of Decay of Clothing Trade_, 1622, Stowe, 554, - fo. 48b. - -The housewife span both wool and flax for domestic 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. Sometimes the spinster bought the wool, -span it, and then sold the yarn, thus securing all the profit of the -transaction 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.”[206] - -Footnote 206: - - James (John) _Hist. of Worsted_, p. 98. - -During a scarcity of wool the Corporation at Norwich compelled the -butchers to offer their wool fells exclusively to the spinsters during -the morning hours until the next sheep-shearing season, so that the -tawers and others might not be able to outbid them.[207] - -Footnote 207: - - Tingye, _Norwich_, Vol II. xcvii, 1532. - -It is suggested that nearly half the yarn used in the great clothing -counties at the beginning of the seventeenth 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 merchandize 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.”[208] - -Footnote 208: - - _S.P.D._ lxxx., 13., Jan. 1615. _General Conditions of Wool and Cloth - Trade._ - -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 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.”[209] - -Footnote 209: - - _Remarks upon Mr. Webber’s scheme_, pp. 21-2, 1741. - -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.”[210] - -Footnote 210: - - _S.P.D._, lxxx., 15-16, Jan, 1615. - -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 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 falce 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.”[211] - -Footnote 211: - - _S.P.D._, ccxliii., 23, July 23, 1633. - -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 mysteries of -the craft in a new district. Thus the Earl of Salisbury made an -agreement in 1608 with Walter Morrell that he should instruct fifty -persons of the parish of Hatfield, chosen by the Earl of Salisbury, 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.”[212] - -Footnote 212: - - _S.P.D._, xxxviii., 72, 73, Dec., 1608. - -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.”[213] - -Footnote 213: - - _Hist. MSS. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. IV., p. 311. - -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.”[214] - -Footnote 214: - - Dyer John., _The Fleece_, 1757. - -The demands made on spinning by this ever expanding trade were supplied -from three sources: (1) the wives of farmers and other well to do -people, (b) the wives of husbandmen and (c) women who depended wholly 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 17d the lb. 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.”[215] - -Footnote 215: - - _S.P.D._, cclxvii., 17, May 2, 1634. Certificate from Anthony Wither, - Commissioner of reformation of clothing. - -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 employment 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 within the said division, by reason whereof the -inhabitants have continuall employment for their children in spinning -and other necessary labour about the same.”[216] - -Footnote 216: - - _S.P.D._, ccclxiv., 122, July, 1637. - -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.[217] 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.”[218] - -Footnote 217: - - _Somerset Q.S. Rec._, Vol. III., p. 56, 1648. _Complaint ... by ... - Thos Chambers, Randall Carde, Dorothy Palmer, Stephen Hodges and Wm. - Hurman, persons ymployed by Henry Denmeade servant to Mr. Thos. 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 deteyned - from 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 ffowerteene - 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._ - -Footnote 218: - - _Scheme to prevent the running of Irish wools to France_, p. 19. - -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 1s. 4d. without them. - -1688. Bucks. Spinners shall not have by the day more than 4d. without - meat and drink. - -1714. Devon. 1s. per week with meat and drink, 2s. 6d. without them. - -These rates are confirmed by entries in account books,[219] 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 1s. 6d. per week -for the spinners of wool into stuffs for the Spanish Trade, and about -2s. 11d. for stockings,[220] another pamphlet gives 24s. as the wages of -9 spinsters for a week,[221] while in 1763 the author of the “Golden -Fleece” quotes 2s. 3d. a week for Spanish wools.[222] 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.”[223] 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.”[224] - -Footnote 219: - - (_Howard Household Book_, p. 63, 1613.) “Widow Grame for spinning ij - stone and 5ˡ of wooll vjs. To the wench that brought it iijid. To - Ellen for winding yarn iij weekes xviijid.” - - (Fell, Sarah; _Household Accounts_, Nov. 28, 1677, p. 439.) “Pd. Agnes - Holme of Hawxhead foʳ spininge woole here 7 weeks 02.04.” - -Footnote 220: - - Haynes, _Great Britain’s Glory_, pp. 8, 9. - -Footnote 221: - - _Weavers’ True Case_, p. 43, 1719. - -Footnote 222: - - James, John, _Hist. of the Worsted Manufacture_, p. 239. - -Footnote 223: - - _Further considerations for encouraging the Woollen Manufactures._ - -Footnote 224: - - _Second Humble Address from the Poor Weavers._ - -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 fourepence 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 -behaviour, 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.”[225] - -Footnote 225: - - Evelyn (John) _Diary_, Vol. III., p. 7, 1685. - -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 12d. to 15d. a -Day for spinning, the men more in proportion, and are full of -work.”[226] “The Wenches ... wont go to service at 12d. or 18d. a week -while they can get 7s. to 8s. a Week at spinning; the Men won’t drudge -at the Plow and Cart &c., and perhaps get £6 a year ... when they can -sit still and dry within Doors, and get 9s. or 10s. a Week at -Wool-combing or at Carding.”[227] “Would the poor Maid-Servants who -choose rather to spin, while they can gain 9s. per Week by their Labour -than go to Service at 12d. 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.”[228] 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 Baymakers; some -of them will earn 6d. or 7d. a Day.”[229] But there is no sign of these -higher wages in the seventeenth century. - -Footnote 226: - - Defoe, _Behaviour_, p. 83. - -Footnote 227: - - Defoe, _Behaviour_, pp. 84-5. - -Footnote 228: - - _Ibid._ p. 88. - -Footnote 229: - - _Acc. of several Workhouses_, p. 59, 1725. - -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 Sayes 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.”[230] - -Footnote 230: - - _S.P.D._, civ. 97, 1618. _Petition for regulation._ - -And again in 1622 the Justices of the Peace of Essex inform the Council: -“Moreover wee understand 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. The which -reeles ought to be two yardes about and the knottes to containe -fowerscore threedes apeece.”[231] - -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.”[232] - -Footnote 231: - - _S.P.D._, cxxx., 65, May 13, 1662. - -Footnote 232: - - _Hist. MSS. Com. Var. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 94, _Wilts. Q.S. Rec._, - 1623. - -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.” -Whereupon 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.”[233] - -Footnote 233: - - _Council Register_, 2nd March, 1631-2. - -Other complaints were made of clothiers who forced their workpeople to -take goods instead of 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.[234] - -Footnote 234: - - Davies (J. S.) _Southampton_, p. 272. - -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 starvation and despair.[235] The utmost social demoralisation -ensued, and family life with all its valuable traditions was in many -cases destroyed. - -Footnote 235: - - 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 Somersetshire to - the Council.) - -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.”[236] - -Footnote 236: - - _Second Humble Address from the poor Weavers._ - -These conditions caused grave anxiety to the Government who attempted to -force the clothiers to provide for their workpeople.[237] - -Footnote 237: - - The Council ordered the Justices of the Peace for the counties of - Wilts, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Gloucester, Worcester, Oxford, Kent - and Suffolk, to summon clothiers and “deale effectually with them for - the employment of such weavers, spinners and other persons, as are now - out of work.... We may not indure 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 of them - of the poorer sort are in such cases likely by their clamour to - disturb the quiet and government of those partes wherein they live.” - (_C.R._, 9th Feb., 1621-2.) - -Locke reported to Carleton, Feb. 16th, 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 Blackwell -Hall....”[238] - -Footnote 238: - - _S.P.D._, cxxvii., 102, Feb. 16, 1622. - -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 woolles at very moderate prices, being such as do -very much impoverish the grower, yet they cannot sell 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 mainteyne one loome, which -doe require 1500li. 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.”[239] - -Footnote 239: - - _S.P.D._, cxxviii, 49, March 13, 1622. - -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 greefes) doe -manifest.... The peace is in danger of being broken.”[240] - -Footnote 240: - - _S.P.D._, cxxxi., 4, June 1, 1622. - -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 proportion of ... shall -weekly assigne and put to spynning in the towne his ordinarye and course -wooffe wooll, and shall not send it unto the country and if sufficient -be in the towne to doe it.”[241] 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 undertakers of the stocke given by Mr. -Kendricke, and uppon their appearaunce it was ordered, and by themselves -agreed, that every undertaker, for every 300li. 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 them[242]....” - -Footnote 241: - - Guilding, _Reading_, Vol. II., p. 159, 1623. - -Footnote 242: - - _Ibid._, Vol. III., p. 7, Mar. 3, 1629-30. - -In these times of distress and in all disputes concerning 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,”[243] and the Council is informed that -at the last Quarter Sessions in Wilts, many “weavers, spinners, and -fullers for themselves and for manie hundreds more ... complained of -distress by increasing want of work.... Clothiers giving up their trade, -etc.”[244] - -Footnote 243: - - _S.P.D._, xcvii., 85, May 25, 1618. J.P.s of Devonshire to Council. - -Footnote 244: - - _Ibid._, cxv., 20, May 11, 1620. J.P.s of Wiltshire to Council. - -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 behalf of themselves and others, 800 -at the least, young and old, of the said parishes, “Whereas your poore -petitioners have heretofore bene well wrought and imployed in our sayd -occupations belonging to the trade of 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.”[245] - -Footnote 245: - - _S.P.D._, ccxliv., 1, Aug. 1, 1633. - -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 “12d. a lb. for -weaving thereof for white sayes under 5 lbs. weight.”[246] - -Footnote 246: - - _S.P.D._, clxxxix., 40, Ap. 27, 1631. J.P.s of Essex to Council. - -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,” followed by 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.[247] - -Footnote 247: - - _S.P.D._, cxcvii., 72, July, 1631. Affidavit about Saymakers in County - of Suffolk. - -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 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 developing 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 defaceing of it. She now -makes use of yᵉ roomes off yᵉ out-buildings and gate house for weaving -and Linning Cloth, haveing set up a manuffactory for Linnen whᶜʰ does -Employ many poor people.”[248] - -Footnote 248: - - Fiennes (Celia) p. 74. _Through England on a Side-saddle._ - -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 11 pounds of flaxen yarn to make a bedticke; and he brought me -ten yds of ticking for yᵉ bed, 3 yds and ¾ of narrow ticking for yᵉ -bolster & for yᵉ weaving of which I paid him 10s. 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 18th, and -it was filled on Saturday, August 4th by Jonas Humphrey of Twineham for -6d.” The weaver brought it home July 6th.[249] Similarly Sarah Fell -enters in her Household book: “Nov. 18th, 1675, by mᵒ. pᵈ. Geo. ffell -weaver foʳ workeinge 32: ells of hempe tow cloth of Mothrs. at ld½ ell. -000.04.00.”[250] - -Footnote 249: - - _Suss. Arch. Coll._, Vol. II., p. 121. _Extracts from the Diary of - Richard Stapley, Gent._, 1682-1724. - -Footnote 250: - - Fell (Sarah) _Household Accts._, p. 233. - -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 considerable 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 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_ Manufacture 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,”[251] 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.”[252] - -Footnote 251: - - _Case of British and Irish Manufacture of Linnen._ - -Footnote 252: - - _Case of the Linen Drapers._ - -But even this argument was unavailing against the political influence of -the woollen trade. The spirit of the time favouring the spread of -capitalistic enterprise 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 -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 Manufactory 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 pretended that 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 the Linnen Manufactory; that of the Woollen -was a new Art not known in this 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 infallible 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.”[253] - -Footnote 253: - - Linnen and Woollen Manufactory, p. 4-8, 1691. - -On the other side it was urged that “All the Arguments that can be -offer’d for Encouraging the woollen manufacture in _England_ conclude as -strongly in proportion for Encouraging the linnen manufacture in -_Scotland_. ’Tis the ancient Staple Commodity there, as the Woollen is -here.”[254] - -Footnote 254: - - _True case of the Scots Linen Manufacture._ - -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.[255] 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. - -Footnote 255: - - Heywood (Rev. Oliver) _Autobiography_, Vol. I., p. 36. - -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.[256] 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.”[257] - -Footnote 256: - - Ante, p. 48. - -Footnote 257: - - _S.P.D._, cccclvii., 3., June 13, 1640. - -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 spinsters’ maximum wages were settled at -Quarter Sessions, no effort was made to raise them to a subsistence -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 -under-feeding, 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 xijid. 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.”[258] - -Footnote 258: - - _Ibid._, pp. 259-60, 1649. - -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. per pound for ye second sort. - -4d. ob. (＝ _obolus_, ½d.) for ye third sorte. - -1d. per Ley [skein] for ye onely spinninge all sortes of linen, the -reele beeing 4 yards. - -ob. per pound for cardinge candleweake. - -1d. per pound for pulling midling [coarser part] out of it. - -1d. per pound for spininge candleweake.[259] - -Footnote 259: - - _Nottingham Records_, Vol. V., pp. 174-5, 1636. - -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.”[260] - -Footnote 260: - - Stow, _London_, Book VI., p. 60. - -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 Corporation 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 or willing 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.”[261] - -Footnote 261: - - _Poor Out-cast Children’s Song and Cry._ - -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 7s. 8d. entered, -and during the first seventeen years the amount expended yearly in cash -and relief did not exceed £6 11s. rising then in 1620 to £28 5s. 10d., -after which it fell again. The scheme was finally abandoned in 1627, the -relief immediately rising to £43 7s. 6d.[262] - -Footnote 262: - - _Suss. Arch. Coll._, Vol. xx., pp. 99-100, _Acct. Book of Cowdon_. - -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.”[263] - -Footnote 263: - - Dunning, _Plain and Easie Method_, p. 8, 1686. - -“Mary Harrison, daughter of Henry Harrison, was comited to the hospitall -at Reading to be taught to spyn and earne her livinge.”[264] Similarly -at Dorchester “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.”[265] - -Footnote 264: - - Guilding, _Reading_, Vol. II., p. 294. - -Footnote 265: - - Mayo (C.H.) _Municipal Records of Dorchester_, p. 667, 1635. - -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,[266] 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 to consyder of Tarrington to giue him either part -or all, that is ix pownd, the women now hath....”[267] - -Footnote 266: - - To burl, “to dress cloth as fullers do.” - -Footnote 267: - - Mayo (C. H.), _Municipal Records of Dorchester_, p. 515, 1638. - -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.”[268] - -Footnote 268: - - _Ibid._ p. 521. - -In 1649 it is entered “This day Thos. Clench was here, and demanded 10 -_li._ per ann. more than the stocke of the Hospital, which is 150 _li._ -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 3½d. 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.”[269] - -Footnote 269: - - _Ibid._ pp. 517-8. - -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.”[270] Another writer calculated that if -so employed “ixcl children whᶜʰ daielie was ydle may earne one wᵗ -another vjid. a weke whᶜʰ a mownte in the yere to jMiijcxxxvˡⁱ. Also -that jciiijxx women ... ar hable to earne at lest some xijid., some -xxd., and some ijs. vjid. a weeke.”[271] - -Footnote 270: - - _Trade of England_, p. 10, 1681. - -Footnote 271: - - Tingey, _Norwich_, Vol. II., p. 355. - -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 1s. or 1s. 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 abandoned as -unprofitable.[272] 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 -Governor took pains therefore to teach them to produce a finer yarn at -2s. to 3s. 6d. per pound. This paid better, and would have been more -profitable still if the girls as they grew older had not been sent to -service or put into the kitchen.[273] - -Footnote 272: - - Latimer, _Annals of Bristol_, p. 249. - -Footnote 273: - - Cary, (John) _Proceedings of Corporation of Bristol_, p. 13, 1700. - -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’ they 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 -Scoure 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.”[274] - -Footnote 274: - - Firmin, _Some Proposals_, p. 19, 1678. - -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 Thousands 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, hours in four and twenty, and had much -rather do it than be idle.”[275] - -Footnote 275: - - Firmin, Thomas, _Life_, pp. 31-32, 1698. - -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.”[276] - -Footnote 276: - - _Ibid._ pp. 31-2, 1698. - -“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 encouragement 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 -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_.”[277] ... 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.”[278] - -Footnote 277: - - Firmin (Thomas) _Life_, pp. 33-6. - -Footnote 278: - - _Ibid._ pp. 39-40. - -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. - - - D. _Silk, and Gold and Silver._ - -The history of the Silk Trade differs widely from that of either the -Woollen or Linen Trades. The conditions 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 full 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 lernyng the same Craftes and occupation full 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 -notable Housholdes of them that have occupied the same Craftes, which be -convenient, worshipfull and accordyng for Gentilwymmen, and oyer wymmen -of wurship, aswele 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.”[279] - -Footnote 279: - - _Rolls of Parliament_, V., 325. _A Petition of Silk Weavers_, 34 Henry - VI., c. 55. - -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.[280] - -Footnote 280: - - _Statutes_, II., p. 374, 33 Henry VI., c. 5. - -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 -mediæval 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 implications which the former -contains. Other incidents 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.[281] - -Footnote 281: - - By kind permission of Miss Eileen Power. - -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 “multitudes 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.”[282] - -Footnote 282: - - _S.P.D._, xxvi., 6. Jan. 1607. - -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 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 particular 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.”[283] - -Footnote 283: - - _S.P.D._, clxxv., 102, Nov. 25, 1630. - -A petition from the Master, Wardens and Assistants 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.”[284] - -Footnote 284: - - _Humble Petition of the Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Company - of Silk Throwers._ - -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.”[285] - -Footnote 285: - - Statutes 13 and 14, Charles II., c. 15. - -“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 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.”[286] - -Footnote 286: - - _Trade of England_, p. 18. - -During this period all the references to silk-spinning confirm the -impression that it had become a pauper trade. A pamphlet calling for the -imposition 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.”[287] The -“comfortable subsistence” of these poor seamen’s wives amounted to no -more than 1s. 6d. or 1s. 8d. per week.[288] - -Footnote 287: - - _Answer to a Paper of Reflections, on the Project for laying a Duty on - English Wrought Silks._ - -Footnote 288: - - _Case of the Manufacturers of Gilt and Silver Wire_, 1714. - -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 monopoly was, however, probably -favoured by the expensive nature of the materials used, and the -necessity 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, competition -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 Proclamation of June 11th, 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.”[289] 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. Therefore they -commenced the suit against him. - -Footnote 289: - - _C.R._, June 16, 1624. - -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 overcrowding became dangerous -to the public health. It was reported to the Council for example, that -Katherine Barnaby “entertayns in her house in Great Wood Streate, divers -women kinde silver spinners.”[290] - -Footnote 290: - - _S.P.D._, ccclix., Returns to Council ... of houses, etc., 1637. - -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 forbade 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 Vestrymen 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 1275 - number of - - There are 118 master Wire-Drawers, who with their 826 - wives, Children and Apprentices, make - - Master weavers of Gold and Silver Lace and Fringes 106 - - Their Wives, Children, Apprentices and Journey Men 2120 - amount unto - - Silver and Gold Bone-Lace makers, and Silver and 1000 - Gold Button makers with their Families - - Windsters, Flatters of Gold and Silver and Engine 300 - Spinners with their Families - - ──── - - 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 manufacture of Gold and -Silver wyres the Poor must necessarily be increased.”[291] - -Footnote 291: - - _Case of the Parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate._ - -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 -supplemented 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 processes, 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 organisation 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 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 industry together, an -interesting light is thrown upon the reactions between capitalistic -organisation of labour and women’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 -expansion, 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 Authorities 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 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 grudging assistance given by the Churchwardens and -Overseers. - -The woollen trade, in which capitalistic organisation 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 productive industry within the -precincts of the home. Therefore to induce women of independent position -to work for him, the Clothier was obliged to offer 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 adequate 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 contemporary 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 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.”[292] - -Footnote 292: - - _Reasons for a Limited Exportation of Wooll_, 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. (_b_) 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 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 apprenticeships 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 middlemen 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_) _The 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 she were a femme sole, and provide -that her husband shall not be responsible for her 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 thereof.... 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.”[293] - -Footnote 293: - - _Liber Albus_, pp. 181-2. 1419. - -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.”[294] Similarly at Rye, “if any woman that is -covert baron be impleaded in plea of debt, covenant broken, or chattels -withheld, and she be known for sole merchant, she ought to answer -without the presence of her baron.”[295] - -Footnote 294: - - Lyon. _Dover_, Vol. II., p. 295. - -Footnote 295: - - Lyon, _Dover_, Vol. II., p. 359. - -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.”[296] - -Footnote 296: - - Ferguson, _Carlisle_, p. 79; from _Dormont Book_. - -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 these 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, “whereby I was -relieved in mind, and confirmed I was in my place, and that it was -Satan, by his transformation, who had deceived and disturbed me.”[297] - -Footnote 297: - - _Irish Friend_, Vol. IV., p. 150. - -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 organisations 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 ceremonies 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 organisations the importance -of the sisters diminishes, and in some, the Carpenters for example, they -appear to be virtually excluded from membership though 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, 11 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 ancillæ 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, 11 inn -keepers, 1 farrier, 1 shoemaker, 2 nurses, 39 brewsters, 2 farmers, 1 -smith, 1 merchant, 114 domestic servants and farm labourers, 66 -websters, (30 with that surname), 2 listers or dyers, 2 fullers or -walkers, and 22 seamstresses.[298] 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 1574.[299] - -Footnote 298: - - By kind permission of Miss Eileen Power. - -Footnote 299: - - Harl. MSS., 2054. fo. 22., _The Smiths Book of Accts._ Chester, 1574. - -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 customary 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 themselves 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 important 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 essential 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 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.”[300] - -Footnote 300: - - Defoe, _Everybody’s Business is No-Body’s Business_, p. 6, 1725. - -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 Shopkeepers and Warehouse-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.”[301] - -Footnote 301: - - Defoe, _Behaviour of Servants_, p. 12, 1724. - -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 with the wife of a master or her -handmaid,”[302] 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.”[303] - -Footnote 302: - - Smith (Toulmin), _English Gilds_, p. 180. - -Footnote 303: - - Riley (H. T.), _Memorials of London_, p. 365. - -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 characteristic 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.”[304] - -Footnote 304: - - Arber, _Stationers_, Vol. III., Intro., p. 19. - -Decker describes a craftsman’s household in “A Shoemaker’s Holiday.” The -mistress goes in and out 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.”[305] - -Footnote 305: - - Decker (Thos.), _Best Plays_, p. 29. - -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? 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.”[306] - -Footnote 306: - - _Ibid._ p. 108. - -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 responsibilities 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 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 interests 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 -references 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. - -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 apprenticeship; before the Long -Parliament this privilege 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,[307] none of the later husbands being printers. - -Footnote 307: - - Arber, _Stationers_, Vol. V., Intro. xxix-xxx. - -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 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 Ells 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 apprentices and Mrs. Purslow two -apprentices.[308] Another list made in 1630 of the names of the Master -Printers of London gives twenty-one men and three women, namely—Widdow -Alde, Widdow Griffin, and “Widdow Sherleaker lives by printing of -pictures.”[309] 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.” - -Footnote 308: - - _S.P.D._, cccxiv., 127., Feb. 1636. - -Footnote 309: - - _Ibid._ clxxv., 45., Nov. 12, 1630. - -Mistris [ ] Alde, widdowe of Edward Alde [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 18 yeeres since [she was] never admitted -neither capable. (she hath a sonne.) (haviland, Yo[u]ng and fletcher -have this yet).[310] - -Footnote 310: - - Arber, _Transcript_, Vol. III., add, 701. - -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.”[311] - -Footnote 311: - - Stopes (Mrs. C. C.) _Shakespeare’s Warwickshire Contemporaries_, p. 7. - -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 whatsoever, 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.[312] - -Footnote 312: - - _Ibid._, p. 8. (Some authorities state that Field married the widow, - others the daughter of Vautrollier.) - -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 Translation 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 Majestie to haue ye printing of her fathers workes, -which his [Majestie] 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 -authoritie.”[313] - -Footnote 313: - - Arber, _Transcript_, Vol. III., p. 39. - -Another patent was granted to Helen Mason for “printing and selling the -abridgment of the book of martyres,”[314] while Jane, wife of Sir Thomas -Bludder, petitions Archbishop 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.”[315] - -Footnote 314: - - Arber, _Transcript_, Vol. V., lviii. - -Footnote 315: - - _S.P.D._, cccxxxix., p. 89. - -Many of the books printed at this time bear the names of women -printers,[316] but though women might own and direct the printing -houses, there is no indication 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. - -Footnote 316: - - e.g. _An Essay of Drapery_ ... by William Scott, printed by Eliz. Alde - 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. - -Apprenticeship was still exacted for the journeymen. 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 Freemen, or Apprentices -to the Trade or mystery of Printing.”[317] While in 1676 the Stationers’ -Company ordained that “no master-printer, or 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.”[318] - -Footnote 317: - - Arber, _Transcript_, Vol. IV., p. 534. - -Footnote 318: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 16. - -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.”[319] - -Footnote 319: - - _S.P.D._, ccci., 105, Nov. 16, 1635. - -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 -thus effected by capitalistic organisation on the economic position of -married women, for no details have been discovered of the 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 unpaid 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 meanwhile 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.[320] One of these, -the widow of Francis Coldock, married in 1603 Isaac Binge, the Master of -the Company. “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.”[321] 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, _7th -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,”[322] and Women are 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 3s. for their minute -book,[323] while Pepys’ bookseller was a certain Mrs. Nicholls.[324] 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.”[325] - -Footnote 320: - - Arber, _Transcript_, Vol. V., p. lxxxi-cxi. - -Footnote 321: - - _Ibid._, Vol. V., p. lxiii. - -Footnote 322: - - Arber, _Transcript_, Vol. V., p. lv. - -Footnote 323: - - Monthly Meeting Minutes. Horsleydown, 13 iᵐᵒ 167⅞. - -Footnote 324: - - Pepys, _Diary_, Vol. I., p. 26. - -Footnote 325: - - Smyth’s _Obituary_, P. 77. - -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.”[326] 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, 18. 14. 0 [Scots money], to them for a gramer -and a salust to the bairns, 1.2.0. She owes me 6/8. of change.”[327] - -Footnote 326: - - Howard, _Household Books_, p.161, 1622. - -Footnote 327: - - Foulis, Sir John, _Acct. Book_, p. 22, 1680. - -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,[328] and though these in some cases may have almost completed -their servitude 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,[329] -it is evident that she had no intention of relinquishing it. - -Footnote 328: - - “Mistres Gosson. Stephan Coxe, Sworne and Admytted a Freeman of this - Companie iijs, iiijid. Note that master Warden White Dothe Reporte, - for mistres 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. iiijid. (_Ibid._ p. 730, 1601.) Mistres - 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.) Mystris Conneway Nicholas Davyes sworn and admitted A - freeman of this company per patrimonium iijs. iiijid. (_Ibid._ p. 732, - 1602.)” - -Footnote 329: - - Johne Adams of London (stationer’s son) apprenticed to Alice Woolff of - citie of London widowe for 8 years 2s. 6d. (Arber, _Transcript_, Vol. - II., 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). - -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.”[330] “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.”[331] 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 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, and entering the book in the “bookes -of thys Company.”[332] - -Footnote 330: - - _Ibid._, p. 260, 1602. - -Footnote 331: - - _Ibid._, p. 262, 1602. - -Footnote 332: - - Arber _Transcript_, Vol. V., p. 11, 1560. - -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 Brotherhood 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.[333] 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.[334] In one instance -considerable trouble was experienced because the Bedell’s wife would not -turn out of their house after the Bedell’s death. In September, 1567, -“it is agreed and fullie determyned 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.”[335] 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 -oʳ Ladie Sᵗ 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 eightpense -in reward.”[336] 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.[337] - -Footnote 333: - - _Records of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. II., Intro., - p. ix. - -Footnote 334: - - 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. 11) and - iiijid. “for skoryng of the vessell,” (p. 13) this payment was later - increased to xijid. and she had “for bromes for Oʳ Hall every quarter - a jid.” (p. 33) in Reward for her attendance ijs, (p. 114). Burdons - wyffe for dressing your dinner xiiijid. (p. 129). - -Footnote 335: - - _Records of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. III., _Court - Book_, p. 97. - -Footnote 336: - - _Ibid._ p. 103. - -Footnote 337: - - _Ibid._ Vol. III., pp. 10-11, March 15, 1544-5. “agreyed and - codyssendyd thatt frances pope and hys wyffe schall have and hold a - gardyn plott lyeng be oure hall in the prysche of alhallouns at london - Wall for the tyme of the longer lever of them bothe payeing viijs: be - the yere ... the sayd [ ]pope nor hys wyffe schall not take dowene no - palles 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 ... wᵗowt the lycens 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 deseese of - the said Robart to Remayne to Elizabeth his wyffe duryng her wyddohed - paying yerlye xls of lawfull mony of England” etc., _Ibid._ Vol. III., - p. 78. - -Women accompanied their husbands to the Company dinners as a matter of -course. In 1556 “the clothyng” are ordered to pay for “ther dynner at -the Dynner day ijs. vjid. a man whether ther wyffes or they themselves -come or no.”[338] But the entries do not suggest that the position of -equal sisters which they held in the days of the old “Boke” was -maintained. Women made presents to the Company. “Mistrys ellis,” the -wife of one of the masters of the Company, presented “a sylv̄ pott ꝑsell -gylt the q̄ter daye at candylmas wayeing viij ozes & a qter.”[339] 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—xijid.”[340] 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 xvjᵈ—Resd of Wyllam Mortym̃ a fyne for callyng of Mystris -frances best ijˢ.”[341] - -Footnote 338: - - _Records of Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. III., p. 58. - -Footnote 339: - - _Ibid._ Vol. IV., p. 99, _Wardens Acct. Book_, 1558. - -Footnote 340: - - In 1563 xxs. was “Resd of Wyllym barnewell at yᵉ buryall of his wiffe - yᵗ she dyd wyll to be gyven to yᵉ Cōpany.” (_Ibid._ Vol. IV., p. 147) - “Payd at the buryall of barnewell’s wyffe at yᵉ kyges hedd. xiiijs. - iiijid. Paid to the bedle for Redyng of yᵉ wyll viijid.” (_Ibid._ Vol. - IV., p. 149.) - -Footnote 341: - - _Ibid._ Vol. IV., p. 84. - -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 the purchase of timber. In -1554 “yᵗ 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 q̄ters ponchons gystes & Raffters ther husbandes beyng in the town -uppon payne to forfyt at ëvry tyme so fownd.”[342] The Company’s -decision was not readily obeyed, for on March 8th, 1547, “the Master and -the Wardyns wᵗ partt of the Assestens went to the gyldehall to have had -a Redresse for the women that came to the watersyde to by stuffe,”[343] -and on March 10th “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.”[344] - -Footnote 342: - - _Records of Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. III., p. 15, - _Court Book_. - -Footnote 343: - - _Ibid._ Vol. III., p. 30. - -Footnote 344: - - _Ibid._ Vol. III., p. 31. - -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.”[345] Mrs. -Hayward must clearly have been actively prosecuting 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 10th, 1607. -“If any Apprentice or Apprentices Marry or Absent themselves from their -Master or Mistress During their Apprenticehood, then within 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.”[346] - -Footnote 345: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 136. - -Footnote 346: - - _Records of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. I., Intro. - vii-viii. - -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.[347] The -right to succeed her husband in his position as carpenter and member of -the worshipful company was immediately allowed when claimed by a widow; -thus the court “agreed ... that Johan burton wydowe late wife of [ ] -burton citezein 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 she shall paye in discharge of tharrerages -behind Twelve pence & so shall paye her Quateridge (pᵈ xijid.)”[348]; a -year later “burtons widow” makes free an apprentice Mighell -Pattinson.[349] - -Footnote 347: - - _Ibid._ p. 137, May 2, 1671. Richardus Read filius Thome Read de Chart - Magna in Com. Kanc. Shoemaker po: se appren Josepho Hutchinson Bedello - Hujus Societat 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 Elizabetham Davis vid. willi - Davis nuper Civi & Carpentar de London a die date pred etc (sic). - - _Ibid._ p. 158. July 1, 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, 1681. Richard Lynn sonn of William Lynn decd. - 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 Sᵗevenson sonne of Robᵗ - 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. - -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.[350] Nine were apprenticed to Richard -Hill and his wife, who lived first near St. Michael’s, Cornehill,[351] -and afterwards against Trinity Minories.[352] 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 50ˡ pro -ventute apprenticij).”[353] - -Footnote 348: - - _Records of Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. III., p. 102, - _Court Book_, 1567. - -Footnote 349: - - _Ibid._ Vol. III., p. 200. - -Footnote 350: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., Intro. p. x-xi. Apprentice Entry Book. - -Footnote 351: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 62. - -Footnote 352: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 125. - -Footnote 353: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 78. - -Richard Hill’s wife’s name is included in the Indentures three times, -and in 1672 a boy was apprenticed to “Ric. Hill Civi _et_ Carpenter -London necnon de little Minories Silk Winder.”[354] 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, while 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,”[355] five were apprenticed to Henry Joyce to -learn the trade of a milliner. No mention is made of his wife, but as he -received boy apprentices also,[356] 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;[357] 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.”[358] 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.”[359] - -Footnote 354: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 145. - -Footnote 355: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 136. - -Footnote 356: - - _Records of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. I., p. 65, - e.g. Brewin Radford (obligatur Maria Radford de Perpole in Com Dorsett - vid. in 100ˡ pro ventut apprentice). - -Footnote 357: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 149, 1674. “Edmundus Wilstead filius Henrici - Wilstead de Thetford in Com Norfolcie yeoman po: se appren. Samueli - Joyse Civi et Carpenter London necnon de Exambia Regali London miliner - pro septem annis” etc. - -Footnote 358: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 162. - -Footnote 359: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 148. - -Elizabeth Lambert, the daughter of Thomas Lambert, formerly of London, -silkeman, was apprenticed in 1678 to Rebecca Cooper, widow of Thomas -Cooper, “Civis Carpenter London,” for seven years.[360] 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 unusual -one, the records stating that “Certaine Indentures 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 haveing served her said Mistres faithfully a Terme of seaven years -whᶜʰ 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.”[361] 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 1684.[362] - -Footnote 360: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 156. - -Footnote 361: - - Jupp, _Carpenters_, p. 161, 1679. - -Footnote 362: - - _Records of Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. I., p. 198. - -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 dict -Hester matri pro septem ann a dat etc.”[363] 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 apprentices 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 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 xiiijᵈ the day and their servants xijᵈ. Itm otherwises the -sayd carpynters to have viijᵈ the day wayges meat & drynke & their -servants vjᵈ meat & drynke.”[364] 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. - -Footnote 363: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., _App. Entry Book_, p. 159, Feb. 3, 1679. - -Footnote 364: - - _Records of the Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. III., p. 75, - _Court Book_. - -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.”[365] 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 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....”[366] 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.”[367] - -Footnote 365: - - Jupp, _Carpenters_, p. 12. - -Footnote 366: - - _Armourers and Braziers._, _Charter and By-laws of the Company_, p. 4. - -Footnote 367: - - Clode, _History of the Merchant Taylors_, London, Vol. I., p. 42. - -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 20d.; also, that each shall pay 5s., -that is to say, 20d. for himself, 20d. for his companion, and 20d. 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 40d. 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.”[368] - -Footnote 368: - - Heath, _Acct. of the Worshipful Company of Grocers_, p. 53, memo. - 1348. - -The Wardens of the Merchant Gild at Beverley were directed to make in -turn yearly “one dinner for all his bretherne and theire wieves.”[369] -The Pewterers decided that “every man and wif that comyth to the -yemandries dynner sholde paye xvjid. 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 eƚƚe 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.”[370] 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 & wyffe and the wydowes -xijid. a peece.”[371] In 1672, the expense of entertaining becoming -irksome, “an order of Coʳᵗ for ye abateing extraoʳdinary Feasting” was -made, requiring the “Master & Wardens ... to deposit each 12li & 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 90li.”[372] - -Footnote 369: - - Leach, _Beverley Town Documents_, p. 95, 1582. - -Footnote 370: - - Welch, _History of Pewterers Company_, Vol. I., p. 201, 1559. - -Footnote 371: - - _Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 47. - -Footnote 372: - - Welch, _Hist. of Pewterers’ Company_, Vol. II., p. 145. - -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 craffᵗᵗ be at every offeryng within the sayd town -with every brother or syster of the same crafftt 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.[373] 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.”[374] In the city of Chester, when -a charter was 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.”[375] - -Footnote 373: - - Lambert, _Two Thousand Years of Gild Life_, p. 217, 1499. - -Footnote 374: - - _Ibid._ p. 229, 1415. - -Footnote 375: - - Harl. MSS., 2054, fo. 5. _Charter of the Joiner’s Co._ - -Sisters must have played an important part in the 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....”[376] 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 y^f 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 (delit) ye thridde tyme ye maister and -ye wardeynes of ye fraternite schulle pute her out of ye compaynye for -ever more.”[377] - -Footnote 376: - - Fox (F. F.) _Merchant Taylors, Bristol_, p. 31. - -Footnote 377: - - _Ibid._ p. 26-9. - -Chiding and reviling were failings common to all gilds, and were by no -means confined to the sisters. The punishments appointed by the Merchant -Gild at Beverley for those “who set up detractions, or rehearse past -disputes, or unduly abuse”[378] 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,”[379] the quarrelling among the Carpenters seems -to have been almost confined to the men. - -Footnote 378: - - Leach, _Beverley Town Documents_, p. 78, 1494. - -Footnote 379: - - Welch, Charles, _Hist. of Pewterers Company_, Vol. I., p. 200, 1558. - -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 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.”[380] 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.[381] “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 standing 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.”[382] - -Footnote 380: - - _Armourers and Brasiers, Charter and Bye laws of Company of._, p. 5. - See also Johnson, _Ordinances of the Drapers of London_, Vol. I., p. - 280, 1524). - - “(it shall not be lawful unto any brother or sister freed in this - fellyship to take mo. apprentices than may stand in good order for - their degree) ... every brother being in the master’s livery 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 3s. 4d.” - -Footnote 381: - - Hoare, Sir R. C., _Hist. of Modern Wilts_, Vol. VI., p. 340. - -Footnote 382: - - _Ibid._ Vol. VI., p. 343. - -Rules which specifically permit the employment of the master’s wife or -daughter in his trade while excluding other unapprenticed persons, are -in themselves evidence that they were often so employed. 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....”[383] 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; excepting their wives and -children.”[384] 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”[385] 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).”[386] - -Footnote 383: - - Ferguson, _Carlisle_, p. 212, _Glover’s Gild_, 1665. - -Footnote 384: - - Black, W. H., _Articles of the Leathersellers_, p. 21, 1398. - -Footnote 385: - - Smythe, W. D., _Hist. of Worshipful Co. of Girdlers, London_, p. 63. - -Footnote 386: - - Fox, F. F., _Merchant Taylors, Bristol_, pp. 64-65. - -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.[387] 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 upon the old maces ... comes -unto iijˡⁱ.xviijˢ.iijᵈ, which was intended to bee delivered to Mr. Sam: -White’s wife towards payment for the new Maces.... Mr. White hath it the -18th of January, 1660.” (Inserted later). - - July 3rd, 1661.—pd. Mrs. White as appeareth forward — 5 0 0 - - October 4th, 1661.—pd. Mrs. White more as appeareth forward — 4 10 0 - - About Michaelmas, Mr. Sauage pd Mrs. White in dollers— 7 7 0 - - 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.”[388] - -Footnote 387: - - _Somerset Quarter Sessions Records_, Vol. III., p. 165, 1652. - -Footnote 388: - - Mayo, G. H., _Municipal Records, Dorchester_, p. 466. - -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.”[389] “Resd of Whytte’s wyffe her hole -yere’s Rent in ale xxixˢ iiijᵈ.”[390] “Itm payd to whytte’s wyffe for -ale above the rent of hyr howsse iijˢ.vjᵈ.” “Itm payd to whytte’s wyffe -for hopyng of tobbis xvjᵈ.”[391] Finally, in 1559, when perhaps William -Whytte had departed this life, it is entered “Resd of Mother whytte hole -yeres rent xxixˢ vijᵈ.”[392] - -Footnote 389: - - _Rec. of Worshipful Co. of Carpenters_, Vol. IV., p. 56, _Warden’s - Acct. Book_, 1556. - -Footnote 390: - - _Ibid._ Vol. IV., p. 86. - -Footnote 391: - - _Ibid._ Vol. IV., p. 88. - -Footnote 392: - - _Ibid._ Vol. IV., p. 101. - -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 “that none of the sayde companye shalbe excusyd by his wif or -servannte nor none other suche lyk excuse.”[393] - -Footnote 393: - - Welch, _Hist. of Pewterers’ Company_, Vol. I., pp. 180-181. - -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,”[394] while the charter -of the Glass-sellers provides suitable punishment “if any apprentice ... -shall misbehave himself towards his master or mistress ... or shall lie -out of his master or mistress’s house without his or her privity.”[395] - -Footnote 394: - - Overall, _Company of Clockmakers_, London, p. 43, 1632. - -Footnote 395: - - Ramsay, Wm., _Hist. of the Glass-Sellers_, p. 125. - -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 20s. a year for the three -remaining years,[396] but on the other hand the widow Poynton was paid -15s. 7d. “for glass worke” by the Burgery of Sheffield;[397] 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 Edward Fish, late -member of this Compᵃ decđ, and since marryed to one Moore, a fforeignir, -now also decđ, 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.”[398] - -Footnote 396: - - Leader, _Hist. of Company of Cutlers_, Vol. I., p. 47, 1696. - -Footnote 397: - - Leader, _Records of the Burgery of Sheffield_, p. 227, 1685. - -Footnote 398: - - Welch, _Hist. of Pewterers’ Company_, Vol. II., p. 153. - -Instances occur in which an apprentice was discharged because “the wife, -after the death of her Husband, taught him not.”[399] 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.[400] -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.”[401] The Gilders having -accused Richard Northy of having more than the just number of -apprentices, he stated 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.”[402] - -Footnote 399: - - Stow, _London_, Book V., p. 335. - -Footnote 400: - - _Middlesex Sessions Book_, p. 47, 1691. - -Footnote 401: - - Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. II., p. 362. - -Footnote 402: - - Smythe, _Company of Girdlers_, p. 133, 1635. - -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 5s. each by way of fine for making and selling unlawful -wares.”[403] 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.”[404] - -Footnote 403: - - _Ibid._ p. 87, 1627. - -Footnote 404: - - _Somerset Q.S. Rec._, Vol. III., pp. 365-6, 1659. - -Widows were very dependent upon the assistance of journeymen, and often -chose a relation for this responsible position. At Reading “All the -freeman Blacksmiths in this Towne complayne that one Edward Nitingale, a -smith, beinge a forreynour, useth the trade of a blacksmith in this -Corporacion to the great dammage of the freemen: it was answered that he -is a journeyman to the Widowe Parker, late wife to Humfrey Parker, a -blacksmith, deceassed, and worketh as her servant at 5s. a weeke, she -being his aunt, and was advised to worke in noe other manner but as a -journeyman.”[405] The connection often ended in 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 proposes 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.”[406] - -Footnote 405: - - Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. III., p. 502, 1640. - -Footnote 406: - - _Horsleydown Monthly Meeting Minute Book_, 19 11mo., 1675. - -Such marriages, though obviously offering many advantages, were not -always satisfactory. A lamentable 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 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 20/- a weeke, yet he consumes the same in idle company ... having -lewdlie spent all he had with your petitioner.”[407] - -Footnote 407: - - _S.P.D._, ccccxxxv. 42, Dec. 6, 1639. - -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 Wetwood, 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 9s. 2d.”[408] More than one hundred -years later Mary Temple was made free of the Girdlers’ Company by -patrimony.[409] 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.”[410] Rules -were made in Bristol in 1606, forbidding women to work at the trades of -the whitawers (white leather-dressers), Point-makers and Glovers.[411] - -Footnote 408: - - Welch, _Pewterers_, Vol. II., p. 92, 1633-4. - -Footnote 409: - - Smythe, _Company of Girdlers_, p. 128, 1747. - -Footnote 410: - - _Ibid._ p. 88, 1628. - -Footnote 411: - - Latimer, _Annals of Bristol_, p. 26, 1606. - -In the unprotected trades where the Gild organisation had broken down, -and the profits of the small tradesmen had been reduced to a minimum by -unlimited competition, the family depended upon the labour of mother and -children as well as the father for its support. Petitions presented to -the King concerning 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 1s. 6d. and 1s. 10d., out of which 2d. 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?”[412] - -Footnote 412: - - _Humble Petition and Case of the Tobacco Pipe Makers of the Citys of - London and Westminster, 1695._ - -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 Families at Work to maintain them, or else they must perrish for -want of Bred.”[413] - -Footnote 413: - - _Reasons humbly offered by the Leather-Dressers and Glovers, &c._ - -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.”[414] - -Footnote 414: - - _Case or Petition of the Corporation of Pin-makers._ - -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 ingraven 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 -Counsell; whereby you have taken our goods from us, if we have gone to -the Innes to sell them to the Countrimen; and you have murdered some of -our poor wives, that have gone to Innes to find countrimen to buie -them.”[415] - -Footnote 415: - - _Mournfull Cryes of many Thousand Poore Tradesmen_, 1647. - -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 connected 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.”[416] - -Footnote 416: - - _Humble Petition of many thousands of Courtiers, Citizens, Gentlemens - and Tradesmens Wives, &c._ - -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.[417] 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 indentures shall be enrolled as well for women as -for men.”[418] The girls who were apprenticed to Carpenters were -evidently on this footing. - -Footnote 417: - - Ante, p. 175. - -Footnote 418: - - Eileen Power, by kind permission, 1419. - -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.”[419] Mrs. Cellier speaks of “one Mrs. -Phillips, an upholsterer,”[420] 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, £1 5 0; should shee -dye, I am in future to inquire for her daughter Barbara, who may do the -like for mee.”[421] 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, £2 10 0.”[422] That the bottoming of -cane chairs was a poor trade is witnessed by the meagreness of the -premium paid in this case. - -Footnote 419: - - _C.S.P.D._ cv. 53, Jan. 19, 1619. - -Footnote 420: - - Cellier (Mrs.) _Malice Defeated_., p. 25. - -Footnote 421: - - _Suss. Arch. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 123, _Journal Rev._, 1676. - -Footnote 422: - - _Monthly Meeting Minute Book, Peele_, Nov. 24, 1687. - -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 and eleven sisters are -given; no one who was absent from her duties for more than three months -was permitted to return to the Sisterhood without the Mayor’s licence. -“Item, yᵗ 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.”[423] - -Footnote 423: - - Davies. (J. S.) _Hist. of Southampton_, p. 279. - -Possibly when more records of the Gilds and Companies 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 -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 still 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 perception 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 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 Handkerchiefe, but she would not suffer him, speaking with a -very audible voice, ‘I 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 Batchelor” Belinda relates that “a Country Squire, -with the Equipage of a Wife and two Daughters, came to Mrs. 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.”[424] - -Footnote 424: - - Congreve (Wm.). _The Old Batchelor_, Act iv., Sc. viii. - -Amongst the Quakers, shop-keeping was a usual employment for women. -Thomas Chalkley, soon 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_.”[425] 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.”[426] The provision of the little stock -needed for a shop was a favourite method of assisting widows. - -Footnote 425: - - Chalkley, _Journal_, pp. 30-31, 1690. - -Footnote 426: - - Bownas, Samuel, _Life of_, p. 135. - -The frequency with which payments to women are entered in account -books[427] 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 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 independence -were insurmountable. Girls were, however, apprenticed to shopkeepers -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 admitted 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 -Elizabeth 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.[428] 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,”[429] 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 -often defrauded her mistress of her goods and sold them for less than -cost price.[430] - -Footnote 427: - - Mayo, _Municipal Records of Dorchester_, p. 428-9. - -Footnote 428: - - The Churchwardens of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, paid 6d. to - “Goodwyfe Wells for salt to destroy the fleas in the Churchwarden’s - pew.” (Cox. _Churchwardens Accts._, p. 321, 1610.). Among the Cromwell - family receipts is one in 1624 “from ye Right worᵉ 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 Bills and Receipts_, p. 15.) “A bill - for Mrs. Willie of Ramsie the 14 of April 1636 - - for material and making your daughter petecoat - for material and making your silk grogram coate - for material and making your daughter’s gasson shute - for material and making your daughter’s silke moheare wascote - for material and making your damask coate - Total 7. 17. 9.” (_Ibid._ p. 265). - - The Rev. Giles Moore bought “of Widdow Langley 2 more fine sheets, of - Goodwyfe Seamer 9 ells. and a halfe of hempen cloath.” (_Suss. Arch. - 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. 11s.” (p. 144), and on Aug. 3, 1696 he - “received from Eliz. Ludgate last Whits maill for yᵉ shop at fosters - Wyndhead 25ˡⁱᵇ.” (p. 195). Jan. 14, 1704 “to my douchter Jean be Mrs. - Cuthbertsons paymᵗ for 4 ell & ½ flowered calico to lyne my nightgowne - 7. 13. 0.” (p. 339). May 23, 1704 “receaved from Agnes philp Whitsun, - maill for the shop at fosters wyndhead and yᵉ key therof, and given it - to the Candlemakers wife who has taken the shop 25ˡⁱᵇ” (p. 346). - (Foulis _Acct. Book_). Similar entries are in the _Howard Household - Book_, 1619. “To Mrs. Smith for lining [linen] for my Lord, had in - Easter tearm, 5ˡⁱ xˢ. Mrs. Smith for napry had in May vjˡⁱ iiˢ” - (_Howard Household Book_, _pp._ 105 and 161.). - -Footnote 429: - - _Middlesex County Records_, p. 180, 1698. - -Footnote 430: - - _Middlesex County Records_, p. 2, 1690. - -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 entered into bond that she shall leave -off selling tobacco in the town of Wigan.”[431] 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 _aprentice_.”[432] 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,”[433] 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.”[434] 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.[435] - -Footnote 431: - - _C. R._ 18th, August, 1640. - -Footnote 432: - - _Nottingham Records_, Vol. V., p. 331, 1686. - -Footnote 433: - - Ferguson, _Municipal Records, Carlisle_, p. 110, 1651. - -Footnote 434: - - _Ibid._ p. 112, 1668. - -Footnote 435: - - _Ibid._ p. 115, 1719. - -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 -Freemen 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 country people when they come -with victual and provision have no roome left them to set down their ... -baskets.”[436] - -Footnote 436: - - _Act of Common Council for reformation, etc._ - -In provincial towns, stalls in the market place were leased to tradesmen -by the Corporation, the rents forming a valuable revenue for the town; -infringements 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,”[437] not being free. It was as a special -favour 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 2s.”[438] - -Footnote 437: - - Gibbs, _Corporation Records of St. Albans_, p. 62, 1613. - -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 Foorde of Newbery the aperne woman’s husband, exhibited a lettre -from the Lord of Wallingford for his sellerman to shewe and sell -aperninge[439] in towne, in Mr. Mayor’s handes, etc. And thereupon -tollerated to doe as formerly she had done, payeing yerely 10s. to the -Hall.”[440] 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.”[441] 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 contempt of the government, shalbe -questioned.”[442] Finally it was “agreed that Steven Foorde’s wife shall -henceforth 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 henceforth -keepe markett or sell lynsey and woolsey in this markett.”[443] - -Footnote 438: - - Ferguson, _Carlisle_, p. 187, 1669. - -Footnote 439: - - Stuff for Aprons. - -Footnote 440: - - Guilding. _Reading Records_, Vol. II., p. 171, 1624. - -Footnote 441: - - _Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 240, 1625. - -Footnote 442: - - _Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 252. - -Footnote 443: - - _Guilding, Reading Records_, Vol. II., p. 267. - -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 Privileges 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 Children, the Manufacturers, the -Shopkeepers who confessedly make up the principal Numbers of those -corporations, and are the chief Supporters of the Parishes, will be much -more willing to maintain them, than to be ruin’d by them.”[444] - -Footnote 444: - - _Brief State of the Inland and Home Trade._, pp. 59 and 63, 1730. - -The terms Badging, Peddling, Hawking and Regrating 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, Dorsᵗᵗ 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.”[445] The authorities, fearing lest corners and profiteering -should result from interference with the supply of necessaries, 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 salte.”[446] of -“Johann Stedie of Fifehead, widdow, ... for ingrossinge of corne -contrary etc,”[447] of “Edith Bruer and Katherine Bruer, Spinsters, of -Halse ... for ingrossinge of corne,”[448] and of “Johann Thorne ... -widow ... for ingrossinge of wheate, Barley, Butter and Cheese.”[449] - -Footnote 445: - - _Somerset Q.S. Records_, Vol. II., p. 119, 1630. - -Footnote 446: - - _Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 153, 1631. - -Footnote 447: - - _Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 161. - -Footnote 448: - - _Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 165. - -Footnote 449: - - _Somerset Q.S. Records_, Vol. II., p. 223. - -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.[450] 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 profer their Wares by Wholesale which are called Hawkers, and which -are not only the Manufacturers themselves, but others besides them, viz. -the Women in _London_, in _Exceter_ and in _Manchester_, who do not only -Profer Commodities at the Shops and Ware houses, but also at Inns to -Countrey-Chapmen. Likewise the _Manchester_-men, the _Sherborn_-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.”[451] - -Footnote 450: - - _Ante_, p. 33. - -Footnote 451: - - _Trade of England_, p. 21, 1681. - -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 -steale,” and that they believe her to be falsely accused.[452] - -Footnote 452: - - _Hertfordshire County Records_, Vol. I., pp. 347-8. - -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 application -seems to have been chiefly directed in the interests of the shopkeepers, -to whom the competition of women who hawked provisions from door to door -was a serious matter, the women being contented 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 pennyworth 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 consideration 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.”[453] - -Footnote 453: - - _Linnen and Woollen Manufactury_, p. 7, 1681. - -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. 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.”[454] - -Footnote 454: - - Gower, _Le mirour de l’omme_ (trans. from French verse by Eileen - Power). - -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 -_Suthwerk_, 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.”[455] 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 xijid.”[456] “Katherine Birch for buyinge and selling pullen -[chicken] both of one day 3s. Thos. Ravald wife of Assheton of Mercy -bancke for sellinge butter short of waight.”[457] “Thomas Massey wife -for buyinge a load of pease and sellinge them the same day. Amerced in -1s.”[458] “Katharine Hall for buyinge and sellinge Cheese both of one -day 6d. Anne Rishton for buyinge and sellinge butter the same day Amercd -in 3. 0.”[459] - -Footnote 455: - - Stow, _London_, Book V., p. 343. Assize of Bread. - -Footnote 456: - - _Manchester Court Leet Records_, Vol. IV., p. 110, 1653. - -Footnote 457: - - _Ibid._ p. 212, 1657. - -Footnote 458: - - _Ibid._ p. 244, 1658. - -Footnote 459: - - _Manchester Court Test Records_, p. 243, 1658. - -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 Trades._ - -Under this head are grouped the Bakers, Millers, Butchers and Fishwives, -together with the Brewers, Inn-keepers and Vintners, the category -embracing both those who produced and those who retailed the provisions -in question. - -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,[460] but his rights in this case were not carried so far as to -penalize baking for domestic purposes. - -Footnote 460: - - 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. - -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. - -_Baking._—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 -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,[461] 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.”[462] 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 1 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.”[463] - -Footnote 461: - - _Harl. MSS._, 2054, fo. 44 and 45, 2105, fo. 301. - -Footnote 462: - - Ferguson, _Carlisle, Dormont Book_, p. 69, 1561. - -Footnote 463: - - _Beverley Town Documents_, pp. 39-40. - -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 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.”[464] - -Footnote 464: - - Powell, _Assize of Bread_, 1600. - -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.”[465] - -Footnote 465: - - _Records of Worshipful Company of Carpenters_, Vol. IV., p. 69, 1554. - -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 5ls except hee beake at the Comon beakehouse in -Salford.”[466] 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.[467] 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 the warden of the company.”[468] At Reading in 1624, “the bakers, -vizt., William Hill, Abram Paise, Alexander 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 and -having noe worke doth a little to gett bread. James Arnold will -surceasse ... Wydowe Bradbury alwayes hath used to bake.”[469] - -Footnote 466: - - _Salford Portmote Records_, Vol. II., p. 188. - -Footnote 467: - - _S.P.D._ cxxxiv., 36. November 27, 1622. - -Footnote 468: - - Lambert, _Two Thousand Years of Gild Life_, p. 307. _Composicion of - Bakers, Hull._, 1598. - -Footnote 469: - - Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. II., p. 181. - -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 ... except 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.”[470] It is not -likely that many women served an apprenticeship, 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.”[471] In 1650, twenty-five men and no -women were charged with a similar offence,[472] in 1651 eleven men and -no women[473] and in 1652 are entered the names of five men and ten -women[474]. - -Footnote 470: - - Hoare, (Sir. R. C.). _Hist. of Wiltshire_, Vol. VI., p. 342. - -Footnote 471: - - _Manchester Court Leet Records_, Vol. IV., p. 31. - -Footnote 472: - - _Ibid._ p. 47. - -Footnote 473: - - _Ibid._ p. 51. - -Footnote 474: - - _Manchester Court Leet Records_, p. 70. - -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.”[475] 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 Tomson’s wife doth bake, and William Everite’s wife doth -bake bread to sell being not apprenticed nor licensed.”[476] 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 Sabridgworth, is of honest and -industrious behaviour, but 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.”[477] - -Footnote 475: - - Atkinson, (J. C.), _Yorks. N. R. Q.S. Records_, Vol. I., p. 81. July - 8, 1607. - -Footnote 476: - - _Hertford Co. Records_, Vol. I, p. 32, 1600. - -Footnote 477: - - _Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 365, 1686. - -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.”[478] 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.”[479] “Margaret Page, of Hertingfordbury, widow,” was -indicted for “erecting a mill house in the common way there,”[480] and -at Stockton “One water corne milne ... is lett by lease unto Alice -Armstrong for 3 lives.”[481] - -Footnote 478: - - Ferguson, _Carlisle_, p. 278. April 21, 1619. - -Footnote 479: - - J. C. Atkinson, _Yorks. N. R. Q.S. Records_, Vol. II., p. 8, 1612. - -Footnote 480: - - _Hertford County Records_, Vol. II., p. 25, 1698. - -Footnote 481: - - Brewster, _Stockton-on-Tees_, p. 42. - -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 preserved, 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 wyff servaunte or -other his mynysters refusing to sell the said vitayles by true and -lawfull weight ... to comytt evry such Boucher to warde,”[482] 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.”[483] - -Footnote 482: - - Statutes 27, Henry VIII., c. 9. - -Footnote 483: - - Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. IV., p. 122. - -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 shall 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.”[484] - -Footnote 484: - - _Nottingham Records_, Vol. V., p. 284, 1654. - -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,[485] 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.[486] 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.”[487] 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 butcher,”[488] 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,”[489] 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.”[490] - -Footnote 485: - - _Harl. MSS._, 2105 fo., 300 b., 1565. - -Footnote 486: - - _S.P.D._ cxix. 107., February 24, 1621. - -Footnote 487: - - _Act for the Settlement and well Ordering of the Several Publick - Markets within the City of London_, 1674. - -Footnote 488: - - Mayo, _Municipal Records of Dorchester_, p. 428, 1698. - -Footnote 489: - - _S.P.D._ 1. clxxxviii., James I., undated. - -Footnote 490: - - _Manchester Court Leet Records_, Vol. V., p. 236, 1674. - -Beside these women, who by marriage or apprenticeship 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 continually liable to a prosecution for -regrating. Thus at the Court Leet, Manchester, Anne Costerdyne was fined -1s. “for buyinge 4 quarters of Mutton of Wᵐ. Walmersley & 1 Lamb of -Thomas Hulme both wᶜʰ shee shold the one & same day.”[491] 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 3s. -4d.[492] She was again fined with Mary Shalcross and various men in 1650 -for selling unlawful meat and buying and selling on one day.[493] - -Footnote 491: - - _Ibid._ p. 221, 1674. - -Footnote 492: - - _Manchester Court Leet Records_, Vol. IV., p. 31. - -Footnote 493: - - _Ibid._ p. 40. - -She was presented yet again in 1653 for selling “stinking meate,” and -fined 5s.[494] Evidently Elizabeth Chorlton was an undesirable -character, for she had previously been convicted of selling by false -weights;[495] 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 character of many of the others who were -similarly presented for regrating. - -Footnote 494: - - _Manchester Court Leet Records_, Vol. IV., p. 68. - -Footnote 495: - - _Ibid._ p. 15, 1648. - -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 for 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.”[496] - -Footnote 496: - - Tingey, J. C., _Records of the City of Norwich_, Vol. II., p. 337. - -_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, expressly says -that they were a very different class from the women who sold fish in -England, and who were commonly known as fisherwives.[497] Nevertheless -that in this, as in other trades, they shared to some extent in their -husband’s enterprises, is shown by the presentment 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 Runswick or -Whitbye ... before it came into the markett.”[498] - -Footnote 497: - - Ante., p. 36. - -Footnote 498: - - Atkinson, J. C. _Yorks. N. R. Q.S. Records_, Vol. I., p. 121, 1698. - -The position of the sisters of the Fishmongers’ Company, London, was -recognised to the extent of providing 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.[499] 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.[500] 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’.”[501] 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 pawn-brokers “above 400 in the hundred” -from “fishwives, oysterwomen and others that do crye thinges up and -downe the streets.”[502] It was in this humble class of trade rather -than in the larger transactions of fishmongers, 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 persecuted 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.”[503], while at the same -court others were fined for selling unmarketable fish. - -Footnote 499: - - Herbert, _Livery Companies of London_, Vol. II., p. 44. - -Footnote 500: - - _Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 35. - -Footnote 501: - - _Middlesex County Records_, p. 160, 1696. - -Footnote 502: - - _A Project for Mounts of Piety, Lansdowne MSS._, 351 fo., 18b. - -Footnote 503: - - _Manchester Court Leet Records_, Vol. IV., p. 112, 1654. - -_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 industry; 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 affeering, in -words or otherwise, he shall pay ... to the community 6s. 8d.”[504] 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 1½d. ... and if any one offer 1½d. 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,”[505] while a rule made in 1405 orders that “no -brewster or female seller called tipeler” shall “permit strangers to -remain after 9 p.m.”[506] 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”[507]; 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.”[508] - -Footnote 504: - - _Beverley Town Documents_, p. 41. - -Footnote 505: - - _Ibid._ p. 41. - -Footnote 506: - - _Ibid._ p. lv. - -Footnote 507: - - Bateson, (M.), _Borough Customs_, Vol. I., p. 185. - -Footnote 508: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 185, 1345. - -It was ordered at Leicester in 1335 that “no breweress, sworn inn-keeper -or other shall be so bold as to brew except (at the rate of) a gallon of -the best for 1d,”[509] 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 be no mesure butt to sell be yᵉ dossyn & yᵉ halfe -dossyn.”[510] - -Footnote 509: - - Bateson, (M.), _Records of Leicester_, Vol. II., p. 21. - -Footnote 510: - - Bateson, (M.), _Records of Leicester_, Vol. III., p. 33. - -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 introduction 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 households 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 unfortunately 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 inhabitantes 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.”[511] 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 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 misterie 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 profite 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 utterlie 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.[512] - -Footnote 511: - - _Ibid._ Vol. III., p. 153. - -Footnote 512: - - Powell, John. _The Assize of Bread._ - -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 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.”[513] 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.”[514] - -Footnote 513: - - _Considerations Touching the Excise_, p. 7. - -Footnote 514: - - Rockley, Francis. - -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, inn-keepers, etc. to sell any beer 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.”[515] Thus the rise of the “common brewer” signalises the -complete victory of capitalistic organisation in the brewing trade. In -1636 Commissioners were appointed to “compound with persons who wished -to follow the trade of common Brewers throughout the Kingdom.”[516] 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.[517] A list of such brewers in -the County of Essex “as have paid their fines and are bound to pay their -rent accordingly”[518] (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,[519] 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. - -Footnote 515: - - _S.P.D._, cxii., 75., February 9, 1620. - -Footnote 516: - - _C. R._ November 9, 1636. - -Footnote 517: - - _S.P.D._ ccclxxvii., 62, 1637. - -Footnote 518: - - _S.P.D._ ccclxxvii., 64, 1637. - -Footnote 519: - - _S.P.D._ ccclxxxvii., 66. - -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 necessities) 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 commonwealth, 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.”[520] At Tiverton the Council was obliged to make a -concession to popular feeling and agreed that “every person being a -freeman 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 alehouse 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.”[521] - -Footnote 520: - - _Hist. MSS. Com._, 14 Rep. App., VIII., p. 142. - -Footnote 521: - - _C. R._ June 12, 1640. Order concerning the Brewers of Tiverton. - -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 gᵗ loss both in removing her -implements and in her rents,” asking “that in consideration of her loss -she might have license to erect brick houses on her messuage in -Whitefriars.” This was granted on conditions.[522] A married woman, Mary -Arnold, was committed to the Fleet on March 31st, 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.[523] - -Footnote 522: - - _C. R._ 22nd March, 1638-9. - -Footnote 523: - - _C. R._ May 8, 1639. - -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 5s. on her -brew-house;[524] Jennet Firbank, wife of Steph. Firbank, of Awdbroughe, -a recusant, was presented at Richmond for brewing, a side note adding -“she to be put down from brueing.”[525] 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.”[526] 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.[527] And at Malton, a few years later, “Rob. Driffeld, 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.”[528] Isabell Bagley and Janyt -Lynsley “both of Cowburne bruesters” were fined 10s. each “for suffering -play at cardes in their houses, &c,”[529] and at Norwich, Judith Bowde, -brewer, was fined 2s. 9d.[530] - -Footnote 524: - - _Strood Churchwardens’ Accounts_, Add. MSS., 36937, p. 263., 1683. - -Footnote 525: - - Atkinson, (J. C.), _Yorks. N. R. Q.S. Records_, Vol. I., p. 95., 1607. - -Footnote 526: - - Ferguson, _Carlisle_, p. 280, _Court Leet Rolls_,. October 21, 1625. - -Footnote 527: - - Atkinson, (J. C.), _Yorks. N. R. Q.S. Records_, Vol. I., p. 159, 1609. - -Footnote 528: - - Atkinson, (J. C.), _Yorks. N. R. Q.S. Records_, Vol. II., pp. 53-54, - 1614. - -Footnote 529: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 93, 1607. - -Footnote 530: - - Tingey, (J. C.), _Records of City of Norwich_, Vol. I., p. 388, 1676. - -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, including all the farm servants.[531] -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_.”[532] Lady Grizell Baillie -enters in her Household Account Book, “For Brewing 7 bolls Malt by Mrs. -Ainsly 10s. For a ston hopes to the said Malt out of which I had a -puntion very strong Ale 10 gallons good 2nd ale and four puntions of -Beer. 14s.”[533] - -Footnote 531: - - Ante., p. 50. - -Footnote 532: - - _True Account how Mr. Reading’s House._ - -Footnote 533: - - Baillie, Lady Grizell, _Household Book_. p. 91., 1714. - -Naturally the women who brewed for 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.”[534] 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 fayre 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.”[535] - -Footnote 534: - - _Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 68., 1641. - -Footnote 535: - - _Somerset Q.S. Records_, Vol. II., pp. 40-1, 1627. - -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. 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.”[536] According to a -pamphlet 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....”[537] 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 livelihood, and brought up three -children she had by a former husband. She married John Briggs, woodard -and servant to Lord Ashton, she 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 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.”[538] 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,[539] 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.”[540] 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, “and also for -entertaining a strange maid which is sick.”[541] - -Footnote 536: - - _Hist. MSS. Com._, 14 Rep., app. viii., p. 99, 1629. - -Footnote 537: - - Phipps, (Thomas), _Proposal for raising £1,000,000 Sterling yearly_. - -Footnote 538: - - _Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 289, 1678. - -Footnote 539: - - _Middlesex Sessions Book_, p. 23, 1690. - -Footnote 540: - - _Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 174, 1665. - -Footnote 541: - - Latimer, _Bristol_, p. 359, 1670. _Court Leet for St. Stephen’s - Parish._ - -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.”[542] At times complaints were made of the conduct of -alewives, as in a request to the Justices of Nottingham “that your -Worshipps wyll take some order wythe all the alewyfes in this towne, for -we thinke that never an alewyfe dothe as hir husband is bownd to,”[543] -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.”[544] 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.”[545] - -Footnote 542: - - _Harl. MSS._, 2054 (4), fo., 6. - -Footnote 543: - - _Nottingham Records_, Vol. IV., p. 325, 1614. - -Footnote 544: - - _Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 59, 1626. - -Footnote 545: - - Fiennes, (Celia), p. 226, _Through England on a Side-Saddle._ - -_Vintners_:—The trade of the Vintner had no connection 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 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 termes of apprentizhood expired.”[546] - -Footnote 546: - - _S.P.D._ ccl., 22, November 6, 1633. Lord Mayor and others to the - Council. - - - _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 journeymen 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, 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 childbirth -in seventeenth and twentieth centuries—Importance of midwives—Character -of their training—Jane Sharp—Nicholas Culpepper—Peter Chamberlain—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._ - -SIMILAR 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 working 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,[547] while farming people and -artizans alike were chiefly regulated in their dealings with each other -by customs depending for interpretation 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 fulfilment of men’s -responsibilities to their wives and children. - -Footnote 547: - - _Holdsworth_, Vol. III., p. 408. - -_Church_.—According to modern ideas, religion pertains more to women -than to men, but this conception 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 ornamental sphere -in short, whither the Victorian gentleman 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 -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 -concerning 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 representing 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 (1) 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 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.”[548] - -Footnote 548: - - _C.W._ 1641. _The Bespotted Jesuite._ - -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.”[549] - -Footnote 549: - - Heylin (Peter), _The Voyage of France_, p. 29, 1673. - -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 may 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, educational or -charitable duties were established in 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 association -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 - Is woman’s happiest knowledge and her praise.” - -Nevertheless, though excluded from any position in the hierarchy of -recognised servants of the Church, it must not be supposed that the -Church was independent 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 life of Letice, 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.”[550] - -Footnote 550: - - _Falkland, Lady Letice, Vi-countess, Life and Death of._ - -The quarrel between Church and State over the teaching profession is an -old story which does not 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 professions, 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 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 scientific 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 education -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 charitable 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 Saints, 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 competent servant in London, it may be -supposed that 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 -faithfully 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 1s. 6d. per week for board wages and the sisters 1s. 4d. -per week, and between them £6 per year for livery, while the matron -received 13s. 4d. for this purpose.[551] 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. 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.”[552] - -Footnote 551: - - Stow, _London_, I., pp. 185-186. - -Footnote 552: - - Stow, _London_, app., p. 58. - -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 Ward, -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 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 Governors.... 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.”[553] - -Footnote 553: - - Stow, _London_, App., pp. 57-58. - -In Christ’s Hospital there were two Matrons with salaries of £2 13s. 4d. -per annum and forty-two women keepers with salaries of 40s. per annum. -Board wages were allowed at the rate of 1s. 4d. per week for the -“keepers” and 1s. 6d. for the Matrons. There was one keeper for fifteen -persons.[554] 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 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 Inventorie.”[555] - -Footnote 554: - - _Ibid._ I., pp. 175-6. - -Footnote 555: - - Stow, _London_, app., p. 42. - -The nurses were instructed that they must “carefully 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 swete and cleane ... avoid all Idleness when your Charge and -Care of keping the Children is past, occupie yourselves 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 immediately 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.”[556] - -Footnote 556: - - Stow, _London_, app., p. 43. - -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 profanation of God’s house and the scandal to the -congregation.[557] - -Footnote 557: - - _S.P.D._, cccclv., 87., May 30th, 1640. - -Sick and wounded soldiers were tended at the Savoy, where there were -thirteen Sisters, whose joint salaries amounted to £52 16s. 8d. per -annum.[558] 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 12d. for the first offence, 12d. 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. 11ᵗʰˡʸ No soldier under -cure to have their (wiv)es lodge with them there except by the -approbation of the Phisicion. 12ᵗʰˡʸ 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 5s. per weeke as -others usually have had for the service. 14ᵗʰˡʸ soldiers, wounded and -sick, outside the hospitals not to have more than 4s. 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 4s. per week. 15ᵗʰˡʸ Soldiers’ widows to receive -according to their necessities, but not more than 4s. a week. 19ᵗʰˡʸ 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 12d. for 1st offence, week’s pay for -second, be dismissed for the third. 20ᵗʰˡʸ If any widow after marriage -shall come and receive weekly pensions as a soldier’s widow contrary to -the ordinance of parlᵗ 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).”[559] - -Footnote 558: - - Stow, _London_ I., p. 211. - -Footnote 559: - - _S.P.D._, dxxxix, 231., November 15, 1644. - -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.[560] - -Footnote 560: - - _S.P.D._, Interreg: I, 62, p. 633., 17 Aug., 1649. - -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 religious 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 -expression 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 Provyders & 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.”[561] - -Footnote 561: - - Stow, _London_, V., p. 433. - -In the town records of Reading it is noted “at this daye Marye Jerome -Wydowe was sworn to be 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, 4ˢ a weeke a peice, allowing iiijs. a moneth after.”[562] “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 carryeing to buryall, and iiijs. a weeke a -moneth after the ceassinge of the plague.”[563] - -Footnote 562: - - Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. II., p. 241, 1625. - -Footnote 563: - - _Ibid._ Vol. II., p. 244, 1625. - -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.”[564] 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 3s. a weeke for and towardes their mayntenance duringe the -vj weekes.”[565] In 1639 the Council “Agree to geve the Widowe Lovejoye -in full satisfaccion for all her paynes taken in and about the visited -people in this Towne in this last 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.”[566] On a -petition in 1641 from Widow Lovejoy “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.”[567] - -Footnote 564: - - _Ibid._ Vol. III., p. 371. - -Footnote 565: - - _Ibid._ Vol. III., p. 384, 1637. - -Footnote 566: - - Guilding, _Reading Records_, Vol. III., p. 459. - -Footnote 567: - - _Ibid._ Vol. IV., p. 8. - -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.”[568] “To Goody Halliday, -for nursing him & his family 5 weeks £1 5; to Goody Nye, for assisting -in nursing, 2s. 6d.[569] ... to Goody Peckham for nursing a beggar, 5s. -For nursing Wickham’s boy with the small pocks 12s.”[570] A -Hertfordshire parish paid a woman 15s. for her attendance during three -weeks on a woman and her illegitimate child.[571] A Morton man was -ordered to pay out of his next half-year’s rent for the grounds he -farmed of Isabelle Squire “20s. to Margt. Squire, who attended and -looked to her half a year during the time of her distraction.”[572] - -Footnote 568: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. XXIII., p. 90. _Hastings Documents_, 1601. - -Footnote 569: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. XX., p. 117. _Acc. Book of Cowden,_ 1704. - -Footnote 570: - - _Ibid._ p. 118. - -Footnote 571: - - _Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 435, 1698. - -Footnote 572: - - Atkinson, J. C., _Yorks. N. R. Q.S. Records_, Vol. VII., p. 91. 1688. - -Sometimes nurses were provided for the poor by religious and charitable -ladies, who, like Letice, Viscountess Falkland, “hired nurses to serve -them.”[573] Sick nurses were also engaged by well-to-do people to attend -upon themselves or their servants. Thus the Rev. 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 1s. and to old Bess -for tending her 3 days and 2 nights I gave 1ˢ; in all 2ˢ 4ᵈ.”[574] A -little later, when the writer himself was “in an ague. Paid Goodwyfe -Ward for being necessary to me 1s.”[575] Though his daughter was with -him, a nurse watched in the chamber when Colonel Hutchinson died in the -prison at Dover.[576] - -Footnote 573: - - _Falkland, Lady Letice, Vi-countess, Life and Death of._ - -Footnote 574: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. I., p. 72. _Rev. Giles Moore’s Journal._ - -Footnote 575: - - _Ibid._ Vol. I., p. 100. 1667. - -Footnote 576: - - _Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson_, p. 377. - -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 mᵒ given -Ann Daniell for her paines about Rachell Yeamans when she died -05.00.”[577] Timothy Burrell “pd. Gosmark for tending Mary 3 weeks -6s.”[578] Lady Grisell Baillie engaged a special nurse for her daughter -Rachy at a fee of 5s.[579] At Herstmonceux Castle they “pd Hawkin’s wife -for tending the sick maiden 10 days 3s. Pd. Widdow Weeks for tending -sick seruants a fortnight 4s.”[580] Sir John Foulis in Scotland paid “to -Ketherin in pᵗ paymᵗ & till account for her attendance on me the time of -my sickness 12. 0. 0” [scots].[581] “To Katherine tueddie in compleat -paymᵗ for her attendance on me wⁿ I was sick 20. 0. 0.” [scots].[582] -“To my good douchter jennie to give tibbie tomsone for her attendance on -my wife the time of her sickness 5. 16. 0. [scots].”[583] - -Footnote 577: - - Fell (Sarah), _Household Accounts_, p. 285. June 20, 1676. - -Footnote 578: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. III., p. 123. _Journal of Timothy Burrell._ - 1688. - -Footnote 579: - - _Baillie, Lady Grisell, Household Book._ Intro. lxvii. - -Footnote 580: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. XLVIII., p. 121. 1643-1649. - -Footnote 581: - - Foulis, Sir John, _Account Book_, p. 346. May 23, 1704. - -Footnote 582: - - _Ibid._ p. 396. August 22, 1705. - -Footnote 583: - - _Ibid._ p. 314. January 28, 1703. - -All the above instances refer to professional nursing; that is to say to -the tending of the sick for wages, but nursing was more often 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 community 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 mediæval women in the arts of healing is shown in -such books as Mallory’s “Morte d’Arthur.” When 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 -consultants was no longer retained by women in the seventeenth 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 household, 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 small-pox, 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.”[584] “The Ladies -Dispensatory” contains “the Natures, Vertues and Qualities of all Herbs, -and Simples usefull in Physick. Reduced into a Methodical Order,” the -diseases to be treated including those of men, as well as women and -children.[585] - -Footnote 584: - - _Add. MSS._ 36308. - -Footnote 585: - - Sowerby (Leonard). _The Ladies’ Dispensatory._ 1651. - -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 coaching. Thus Sarah Fell entered in her account -book, “July ʸᵉ 5º 1674 by mᵒ to Bro: Loweʳ yᵗ hee gave Thomas Lawson foʳ -comeinge over hitheʳ to Instruct him & sistʳˢ, in the knowledge of -herbs. 10.00,”[586] 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.”[587] - -Footnote 586: - - Fell, (Sarah). _Household Accounts_, p. 95. July 5, 1674. - -Footnote 587: - - _Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson_, p. 12. - -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 of their Housekeepers business.”[588] -The “Good Woman” is described as one who “distributes among the -Indigent, Money and Books, and Cloaths, and Physick, as their severall -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.”[589] - -Footnote 588: - - _Compleat Servant-maid_, p. 40. - -Footnote 589: - - Rogers, Timothy. _Character of a Good Woman_, p. 42-43. - -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.”[590] 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.”[591] - -Footnote 590: - - _Falkland, Lady Lettice, Vi-countess, The Life and Death of._ - -Footnote 591: - - _Bedell, (Wm.), Life and Death of_, p. 2. - -Expressions of gratitude to women for these medical services occur in -letters and diaries of the time. The Rev. R. Josselin enters January -27th, 1672, “My L. Honeywood sent her coach for me: yᵗ 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;”[592] 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.”[593] - -Footnote 592: - - Jonson, (Ben.), _The Alchemist_, Act IV. Sc. I. - -Footnote 593: - - Josselin, (R.), _Diary_, pp. 163-4. - -Nor was the practice of medicine confined to Gentlewomen; 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.”[594] - -Footnote 594: - - _Rawdon, (Marmaduke), Life of_, p. 85. - -Though their work was entirely unscientific, experience 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 spreading -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 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.”[595] - -Footnote 595: - - _Martindale (Adam), Life of_, p. 21. 1632. - -The general standard of efficiency among the men who professed medicine -and surgery was very low, the chief work of the ordinary country -practitioner 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.”[596] Of Hobbes it -was said that he took little physick and preferred “an experienced old -woman” to the “most learned and inexperienced physician.”[597] - -Footnote 596: - - _Verney Family_, Vol. 2, p. 270. 1647. - -Footnote 597: - - _Dictionary of National Biography._ - -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.”[598] He died at Sarum in 1696, and -his sister, Mrs. Mary Turbeville, practised afterwards in London “with -good 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.”[599] - -Footnote 598: - - Hoare, Sir R. C., _History of Modern Wilts_, Vol. VI., p. 465. - -Footnote 599: - - Hoare, Sir R. C., _History of Modern Wilts_, Vol. VI., p. 467. - -Events, however, were taking place which would soon curtail the practice -of women whose training was confined 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, exclusive 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 Forfeiture 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.”[600] - -Footnote 600: - - Stow, _London_ I., p. 132. - -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 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.”[601] - -Footnote 601: - - Hoare, Sir R. C., _History of Modern Wilts_, Vol. VI., p. 341. - -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 Apothecaries, 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.[602] - -Footnote 602: - - Barrett, _History of Apothecaries_, Intro., p. xxxii. - -It will be observed that there is little in their charters to -distinguish the medical from other city Companies, and while the -examination required by the Faculties of Medicine and Surgery in the -City of London excluded women altogether, the Apothecaries still -admitted them by marriage or apprenticeship. “Mʳⁱˢ Lammeere Godfrey -Villebranke her son both Dutch Pothecarys” are included in a certificate -made by the Justices of the Peace to the Privy Council, of the -foreigners residing in the Liberty of Westminster.[603] 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.[604] 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 40s. because he had “married a -wife who had lived as apprentice for 20 years to an apothecary.”[605] - -Footnote 603: - - _S.P.D._, ccc., 75., October 1635. - -Footnote 604: - - Barrett, _History of Apothecaries_, pp. 28-9. - -Footnote 605: - - Mayo, C. H., _Municipal Records of Dorchester_, p. 428. - -The jurisdiction of companies was local, and where no company existed -boys were apprenticed to surgery for the sake of training, though such -an apprenticeship 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.”[606] The operation of these various -Statutes and Charters being local and their enforcement depending upon -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.”[607] - -Footnote 606: - - Croker, (John), _Brief Memoirs_, p. 5. - -Footnote 607: - - _Statutes at Large._ 34 Henry VIII. C. 8. - -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 12d., 18d., 2s., 2s. 6d. -as they please to give, very seldom five shillings unlesse from such as -take 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.”[608] - -Footnote 608: - - _Humble Petition of many thousands of Citizens, and Inhabitants in and - about London._ - -Prudence Ludford, wife of William Ludford of Little Barkhampton, was -presented in 1683 “for practising the profession of a chyrurgeon -contrary to law,”[609] 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.[610] 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 -himself, and was left behind at Dorchester under the care of Mrs. -Margaret Waltham, “a female practitioner.”[611] - -Footnote 609: - - _Hertford Co. Records_, Vol. I., p. 328. - -Footnote 610: - - _Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson_, p. 427. - -Footnote 611: - - Yonge, Walter, _Diary_, Intro., xxii. - -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 Vˡⁱ to be paid to Peter Salanova for cutting of -Giles Garrett’s leg shall be paid out of the Xˡⁱ yearly paiable out of -the Hospitall for pious vses ... to have the one halfe having cutt of -his leg already, and the other halfe when he is thoroughly cured.[612] -... Unto the Widdow Foote xs. for the curing of the Widow Huchins’ lame -leg at present; and xs. more when the cure is finished[613].... 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 accustomed.... -Vnto Mr. Mullens the somme of thirty shillings for curing Hugh Rogers of -a dangerous fistula.”[614] 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.”[615] 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].”[616] - -Footnote 612: - - _Ibid._ Vol. XVIII., p. 196. _Accounts of Parish of Mayfield._ - -Footnote 613: - - _Cratfield Parish Papers_, p. 179., 1640. - -Footnote 614: - - Mayo, C. H., _Municipal Records of Dorchester_, p. 516, 1640. - -Footnote 615: - - _Ibid._ p. 518, 1651. - -Footnote 616: - - _Ibid._ p. 518, 1649-50. - -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 10s. was given “to Goodwife Wells for -curing Eliz Skinner’s hand.”[617] Mary Olyve was paid 6s. 8d. “for -curing a boye that was lame” at Mayfield,[618] and 15s. was given to -“Widow Thurston for healing of Stannard’s son,” by the churchwardens at -Cratfield.[619] In Somerset £5 was paid to “Johane Shorley towards the -cure of Thomas Dudderidge. Further satisfaction when cure is don.”[620] - -Footnote 617: - - _Ibid._ pp. 518-9. 1652-1654. - -Footnote 618: - - _Ibid._ p. 519. - -Footnote 619: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. XX., p. 114. _Account Book of Cowden_, - 1690. - -Footnote 620: - - _Somerset Q.S. Records_, Vol. III., p. 212. 1653. - -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 maintain 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 mediæval history -of midwifery in England; and possibly nothing ever will be 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 seventeenth 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 exclusively 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 foorth 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 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 suppresse ... 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.”[621] - -Footnote 621: - - Raynold, _The Byrth of Mankynd_, Prologue. - -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 seventeenth century without -realising that the dangers of childbed were much greater then than now; -nevertheless 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 contemporary writers. McMath -dedicated “the _Expert Mid-wife_” 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 confirms this, -saying that “the poor Country people, 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.”[622] - -Footnote 622: - - Sharp (Jane), _The Midwives Book_, p. 3. - -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 intelligence 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 extraordinarily 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”[623] shows the high value attached to her services. - -Footnote 623: - - _S.P.D._ 1630. Sign Manual Car. I., Vol. VII. No. 11. - -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.”[624] 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 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 -ambition 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. - -Footnote 624: - - _Mrs. Shaw’s Innocency Restored._ 1653. - -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 possible to insist upon -any general standard of efficiency, and many midwives were ignorant of -the most elementary 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 apprenticeship, 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. - -Several handbooks on Midwifery were written in response to the demand -for opportunities for scientific training by the more intelligent -members of the profession. 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 unskilful 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.”[625] - -Footnote 625: - - Sharp, Mrs. Jane, _The Midwives Book, or the whole Art of Midwifery - discovered_. - -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 -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 Midwives amongst the Israelites, for, though we women cannot deny -that men in some things may come to a greater perfection of knowledge -than women ordinarily can, by reason of the former helps that women -want; yet the Holy Scriptures hath recorded Midwives 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 communicated 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 Midwifery chiefly concerns -us.”[626] - -Footnote 626: - - Sharp, Mrs. Jane, _The Midwives Book_, pp. 2-4. - -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 the number of those whom my soul loveth, 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).”[627] - -Footnote 627: - - Culpeper, Nich., Gent., Student in Physick and Astrologie, _Directory - for Midwives_. - -Efforts made by Peter Chamberlain to secure some systematic training for -midwives drew upon himself the abuse, if not persecution, of his jealous -contemporaries. 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 intruded 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 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.”[628] - -Footnote 628: - - Chamberlain (Peter), _A Voice in Rhama, or the Crie of Women and - Children_. 1646. - -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 midwives and -urged that steps should be taken to raise the standard of their -efficiency. Mrs. Cellier[629] pointed out “That, within the Space of -twenty years last past, above six thousand women have died in childbed, -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 government, -instruction, direction, and administration as are hereunto annexed.” - -Footnote 629: - - 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 Government. - - Other midwives may be admitted to the second thousand on payment of - half the above fees. - - The money raised by 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.” ... - - Then follow proposals for the care of the children, requiring that - they may be privileged 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 misfortune, 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 maturity; ... 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 midwives, 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 - whatsoever, 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.” - -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.[630] - -Footnote 630: - - Cellier, (Eliz.). _To Dr. ——, an answer to his Queries concerning the - Colledg of Midwives_, p. 7. - -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.[631] Before entering on their -profession the French midwives 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.”[632] - -Footnote 631: - - Carrier (Henriette.) _Origine de la Maternité de Paris._ - -Footnote 632: - - Pechey, _Compleat Midwife_, Preface. - -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 Midwives till Bp. _Bonner’s_ time, who drew up the -Form of the first License, which continued in full force till 1642, and -then the Physicians and Chirurgeons contending about it, it was adjudged -a Chyrurgical operation, and the Midwives were Licensed at -_Chirurgions-Hall, but not till they had passed three_ _examinations, -before six skilful Midwives, and as many Chirurgions 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 skilful 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.”[633] - -Footnote 633: - - Cellier (Eliz.). _To Dr. —— an answer to his Queries concerning the - Colledg of Midwives_, p. 6. - -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 practised 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?”[634] And again, -“whether any in your Parish do practise Physicke or chirurgery, or that -there be any midwife there, or by what authority any of them do -practise, or exercise that profession.”[635] But the interest of the -Bishops was concerned more with the orthodoxy of the midwife than with -her professional skill. - -Footnote 634: - - _Exeter, Articles to be enquired of by the Churchwardens._ 1646. - -Footnote 635: - - _Canterbury, Articles to be enquired._ 1636. - -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. 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.”[636] - -Footnote 636: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. IV., pp. 249-50. Extracts from Parish - Registers. - -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 authority are -explained as follows:—“in hard Labours the Head of the Infant was -sometimes baptized before the whole delivery. This Office of Baptizing -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.”[637] -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_.”[638] - -Footnote 637: - - Watson, _Clergyman’s Law_, p. 318. - -Footnote 638: - - _Heylyn (Peter), Cyprianus Anglicus_, p. 27. - -The fear of secret baptisms into the Catholic 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.”[639] - -Footnote 639: - - Bacon, (Sir Nat.), _Official Papers_, p. 176. 1591. - -It was this danger which led to the prosecution of women who practised -without licences. The Churchwardens 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,”[640] and elsewhere -“Dorothye Holding wief of Jo. Holding & Dorothye Parkins wief of Wᵐ -Parkins” were presented “for exercising the office of midwives without -License.”[641] - -Footnote 640: - - _S.P.D._, ccxcvi., 17. August 21, 1635. _Visitation presentments by - the Churchwardens._ - -Footnote 641: - - _S.P.D._, ccxcv., 6. August 19, 1636. - -The fees charged by midwives varied from £300 in the case of the French -Midwife who attended the Queen, to the sum of 1s. 6d. paid by the Parish -of Aspenden to the midwife who delivered a woman “received by virtue of -a warrant from the justices.”[642] In most cases the amount paid by the -parents was supplemented by gifts from the friends and relations who -attended the christening.[643] Thus the baby’s 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. 16, -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.”[644] - -Footnote 642: - - _Hertford County Records_, Vol. I., p. 435. 1698. - -Footnote 643: - - The Rev. Giles Moore “gave Mat [his adopted daughter] then answering - for Edwd. Cripps young daughter 5s. whereof shee gave to the mydwyfe - 2s. & 1s. to the Nurse. Myself gave to the mydwyfe in the drinking - bowle 1s.” (_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 5s. - each.” (_Ibid._ p. 119.) - - After Lady Darce’s confinement at Herstmonceux Castle, is entered in - the accounts “paid my Lord’s benevolence to Widdow Craddock the - midwife of Battle £5. 0. 0.” (_Sussex Arch. Coll._, Vol. xlviii. - 1643-1649.) - - Entries in a similar book of the Howard family give “To my young - ladye’s midwyfe 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’s commaund iijˡⁱ” (_Howard Household Book_, p. 263. 1629.) - - Sarah Fell records the presents given to her sister’s midwife—Jan yᵉ - 1st 1675 - - by mᵒ Bro. Loweʳ to give Jane Chorley his wifes midwife 1. 00.00 - by mᵒ Motheʳ gave to sᵈ midwife 5. 00 - by mᵒ Sistʳ Sus: sistʳ Rach: & I gave heʳ 5. 00 - - Dec. 6. 1676. By M° Given ffran. Laite Sister Lowers middwife by - ffatheʳ & Motheʳ 5s. by sistʳ Sus: 2s. by sistʳ Rach: 2s. myselfe 4s. - Dec. 10, 1677 by mᵒ Motheʳ gave ffrances Layte when she was middwife - to Sistʳ Lower of litle Love-day Loweʳ 02.06, by mᵒ sistʳ Susannah - gave heʳ then 01.00 by mᵒ sister Rachell gave her then 01.00 (Fell, - Sarah, _Household Accounts_). - -Footnote 644: - - Assheton (Nicholas), _Journal_, p. 81. - -The Churchwardens at Cowden entered in their account book 1627 “Item, -paide for a poore woman’s lying in 3. 0.” 1638. “to John Weller’s wife -for her attendance on the widow Smithe when she lay in 2. 0.”[645] - -Footnote 645: - - _Sussex Arch. Coll_., Vol. XX., p. 101 and p. 104. _Account Book of - Cowden._ - -The account book of Sir John Foulis of Ravelstone gives many details of -the expenses incurred at confinements 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.[646] -“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. 0, to Elspie dicksone, -midwife, 40. 12. 0, to her woman 2. 18. 0.” On November 26, 1692 there -is another payment “to my wife to give doctor Sibbald for his attendance -on her in childbed and since to this day 5 guineas 66. 0. 0.” Jan. 31, -1704 “to my son Wᵐ to give the midwife when his wife was brought to bed -of her sone Joⁿ 3 guineas 42. 12. 0. to my douchter Crichtoune to give -the midwife for me halfe a guinie 7. 2. 0.” - -Footnote 646: - - One pound Scots—20d. sterling. - -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 10s.”[647] 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. - -Footnote 647: - - Pepy’s _Diary_, Vol. I., p. 308. 1661. - -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 midwifery, of -which several were published during this time, deprecate any attempt on -the midwife’s part to cope with difficult cases. Dr. Hugh Chamberlain -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.”[648] 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.”[649] This line of thought is carried -yet further by McMath, who says in the preface to “The Expert Mid-wife” -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 might seem 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.”[650] - -Footnote 648: - - Chamberlain (Dr. Hugh). _Accomplisht Midwife: Epistle to the Reader._ - -Footnote 649: - - _Ibid._ - -Footnote 650: - - McMath (Mr. James, M.D.). _The Expert Mid-wife._ - -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 -circumscribing the midwife’s sphere; McMath continues “Natural Labour, -where all goes right and naturally, is the proper 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 Physicians 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.)”[651] - -Footnote 651: - - _Ibid._ - -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 -century were not wholly founded on such reasonable grounds; they were -also affected by much more 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 throughout 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.”[652] 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.” - -Footnote 652: - - Chamberlain (Hugh). _Accomplisht Midwife: Epistle to Reader._ - -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 explanation of the growing ascendancy of male -practitioners to other causes beside the hypothetical standard of their -greater efficiency. Their prestige rested partly on an ability to use -long words which convinced 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 of confidence in -womanly resourcefulness and capacity 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.”[653] - -Footnote 653: - - 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. - -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 seventeenth -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, -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. - -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 orientation 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 interdependent. 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 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 themselves 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 the 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 from the higher ranks of the -teaching profession. - -The history of their relation to the arts of Healing is very similar. -Other things being equal, as to some 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 preventive 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 -physiological 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 languages 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 uneducated midwives -brought their profession into disrepute. The exclusion of women from all -the sources of specialised training was bound to re-act unfavourably -upon their characters, because as family life depended more and more -upon professional services for education and medical assistance, fewer -opportunities were offered to women for exerting their faculties within -the domestic sphere and the general incompetence of upper-class women -did in fact become more pronounced. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - 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_) -substitution of individual for family wages—(_b_) 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; (_b_) 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 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. - -Neither can the value of a woman’s productive 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, or in her other -facilities for work; it was only later, when organisations for trading -purposes had enormously increased productive capacity by the -introduction 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 outgoing 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 management 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 redressed 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 expectation 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 recognised that the wage-earner’s family must be dependent on the -poor rate. - -Though the part which women played in agriculture 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 -shopkeepers as to the recognised women’s trades such as millinery and -mantua-making. - -The assistance of the wife was often so important 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 women, 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 experience and tradition, seldom resting upon a scientific -basis, for they were excluded from schools and universities. Acquired -primarily with a view to domestic use, such skill was extended beyond -the family circle, and women who were wise in these matters 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 that 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 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. - -(_b_) 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 withdrawal 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’ naïve -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. 13th. Our 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. 18. a ring which I am to give her as a valentine. It -will cost me near £5 she costing me but little in comparison with other -wives, and 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 -permanently 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; 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, craftsmen 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 expectation 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 wives of journeymen confined themselves to domestic -work, or entered the labour market as individuals, being henceforward -entirely unprotected in the conflict 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-jealousy 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 demarcation 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 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 dismissed. 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 modified 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 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 prevailing 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. 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 specialised 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 development 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 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 inclusion 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 _quâ_ 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 independent 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 which had been extended to them in this respect by the Catholic -Religion 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 drudgery, 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 alteration 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 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 unimpaired. -Thus, while the productive capacity of women was reduced in the -seventeenth century by the idleness of the _nouveau riche_ and by the -inefficiency 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 -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 Restoration 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 -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, accompanied -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 circumstances, 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 issue, 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 Capitalism, 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 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. 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History and Topography of Ketteringham. _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 remarkable visions and passages of - John Adams, of Yorkshire. - -James, John. History of the Worsted Manufacture in England. _London_ - 1857. =2270 bb. 16.= - -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. Hockcliffe_. 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 Observations and - Conclusions upon the state and condition of England, 1696. _Ed. by - G. Chalmers._ _London_ 1910. =1137 k. 27.= - -Lambert, Rev. 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VI. and VII. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - INDEX - - - - Agriculture, 9, 42-92 _passim_, 93, 150, 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, Inn-keeper; - _livelihood for widows and infirm people_, 230-232. - - - Alewife, 222, 232; - _see_ Brewing. - - - Apothecaries, 184, 259-263 _passim_; - _see_ Doctor, Gilds. - - - Apprentice, 6, 26, 112, 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 _seq._, 190, - 293. - - Apprenticeship, 146, 151, 156, 160 _seq._, 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, 255 _seq._ - - - Armourers and Brasiers, 178, 183 _seq._ - _See_ Gilds. - - 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_ Gilds. - - 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, 11, 209, 221-233 _passim_; - _see_ Alehouse, Alewife, Apprentices, Capitalism, Domestic, Gilds; - _Brewster_ 11, 155, 221 _seq._, 229; - _Common Brewers_, 223-227 _passim_, 230; - _Fellowship of_, 223-226; - _for domestic purposes_, 5, 8, 47, 50, 210, 223; - _for retail_, 210, 222-230; - _for wages_, 229 _seq._ - - - Bristol, 103, 134, 182, 185, 191, 232. - - Burford, Rose de, 140. - - - Burling, 105 _seq._, 132, 145. - - - Bury, 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. - - - Capitalism, 6, 300, 308; - _see_ Capitalistic Organisation, Family Industry, Gilds, - Industrialism, Linen-manufacture, 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, 11, 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._, 11 _seq._, 306; - _effect on Social Organisation_, 8 _seq._, 40, 148, 300, 306 _seq._; - _effect on women’s economic position_, 8 _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_, 11, 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, Industrialism. - - - 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 _seq._, 192-194 _passim_, 196, 256; - _see_ Agriculture, Apprentice, Capitalism, Cost of Living, Education, - Family, Father, Housing, Husband, Infant Mortality, Mother, - Nursing, Poor, Settlement, Wages, Wage-earners, Widow, Wife; - _attending gild dinners_, 180; - _employment in agriculture_, 59 _seq._, 64; - _in textile manufacture_, 9, 97 _seq._, 106, 108, 112-114 _passim_, - 125, 130-134 _passim_, 140-144 _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_, 117 _seq._; - _women_, 9, 100-102 _passim_, 124. - - - Cloth-workers, 184. - - Coal-owner, 34. - - - Common-people, 3, 257, 305; - _definition of_, 148, 253; - _childbirth_, 267-269 _passim_; - _women’s position controlled by necessity_, 41. - - - Companies, 10, 25-27 _passim_, 189, 207, 212, 259, 260 _seq._; - _see_ Corporations, Gilds, Apothecaries, Armourers and Braziers, - Bakers, Barber-surgeons, Binder, Book-sellers, Brewsters, - Butchers, Carpenters, Clockmakers, Cloth-workers, Cutlers, - Drapers, Dyers, Embroiderers, Fishmongers, Fullers, Girdlers, - Glass-sellers, Glovers, Goldsmiths, Gold-wire Drawers, Grocers, - Joiners, Leather-sellers, Mercers, Merchants, Merchant, Taylors, - Midwives, Painter-Stainers, Pewterers, Physicians, Point-makers, - Printers, Publishers, Shoe-makers, Smiths, Stationers, Tailors, - Upholsterers, Whit-awers. - - Congreve, 3. - - Contractors, 31. - - Cooking, 11. - - - Corporations (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, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leicester, Lincoln, London, Manchester, - Norwich, Nottingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Reading, Rye, Salford, - Salisbury, Sandwich, St. Albans, Sheffield, Southampton, Tiverton, - Torksey, York. - - Cost of living, 68-79 _passim_, 134; - _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, 292; - _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, 160; - _see_ Corporations; - _excise_, 140. - - - Cutler, 187. - - Cutworks, 32. - - - - Dairy, - _see_ Butter, Cheese, Cows, Milking; - _produce for domestic consumption_, 5, 43; - _as pin-money_, 54; - _supplementing 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, _seq._, 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, 111. - - - 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, Textile 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_, 11 _seq._; - _men’s work_, 5. - - - Dorchester, 132 _seq._, 185, 200, 217, 261, 263 _seq._ - - - Drapers, 184, 200; - _see_ Gild. - - Dunning, Richard, 132. - - - Dyer, 111, 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_, 52; - _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 unmarried labourers_, 12; - _wife’s occupation_, 46-50 _passim_, 111, 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; - _profits 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; - _size of_, 86 _seq._; - _traditions lost_, 118, 148, 237, 287. - - Family Industry, 6-11 _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. - - Feltmaker, 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. - - - 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 midwives_, 268, 275, 284. - - - Fullers, 121, 145, 155, 157, 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, Capitalism, 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, 160, - 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, Brilliana Lady, 15 _seq._ - - Harley, Sir E., 16. - - Harrowing, 87. - - - Hawkers, 204-207 _passim_. - - Hay-making, 49, 62. - - Hellyard, Elizabeth, 34 _seq._ - - Heylyn, Peter, 54 _seq._, 239, 278. - - Heywood, 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; - _wage-earners work away from home_, 296. - - Howell, James, 37, 53. - - - Hospitals, 243-249; - _see_ Nurses. - - - Household, _accounts_, 17; - _affairs_, 157; - _of craftsmen_, 158 _seq._; - _size 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; - _companionship with wife_, 160, 183, 301-303 _passim_, 306; - _dependence on wife’s assistance_, 16, 36 _seq._, 46, 153, 165, 194, - 196, 211; - _ill-treatment of wife_, 191; - _independence of wife_, 41, 197; - _meddles not with wife’s trade_, 231 _seq._; - _not responsible for wife’s debts_, 151 _seq._ - - - Husbandman, 3, 56-64 _passim_; - _definition 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_, 111 _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; - _see_ Capitalism; - _attempted introduction of factory system_, 99, 124. - - - Industrial Revolution, 8 _seq._ - - - Industry; - _see_ Domestic, Family, Capitalism. - - - Infant Mortality, 58, 86, 273, 276, 283, 305. - - - Inn-keeper, 155, 209, 213, 225, 227, 233. - - Insurance Office, 33. - - - Ireland, 18, 126. - - Ironmonger, 155. - - - - Joiners, 181; - _see_ Companies. - - Jonson, Ben, 28, 257. - - Josselin, the Rev. R., 50, 257. - - - Journeyman, 156, 159, 180, 212, 297 _seq._; - _see_ Widow; - _employed by women_, 174, 185, 189, 261; - _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, 135, 155. - - - 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; - _appropriateness to women_, 128 _seq._; - _capitalistic_, 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, 109 _seq._, 113; - _town_, 224 _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, Servants; - _domestic practice_, 242, 254-257 _passim_; - _education of women_, 255, 294; - _their exclusion from schools_, 254, 265, 294; - _fees_, 262, 264; - _Licensed by Bishop_, 276; - _professional 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, 110, 124; - _see_ Market spinner. - - - Midwife, 258; - _see_ Midwifery; - _Baptism by_, 277-279 _passim_; - _Fees_, 268, 279-281 _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, Wages, 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; - _under-feeding_, 87-89 _passim_, 306; - _value of productive activity_, 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. - - - Ogden, Hester, 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 Samuel, 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_, 110, 120, 130-137 _passim_, 140, 148; - _synonymous with pauper_, 148; - _widows and orphans maintained by parish_, 204; - _workhouse_, 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, Apprentice, Bakers, Brewing, Butcher, - Fishwife, Inn-keeper, Malt-making, Miller, Retail Trades, Vintner, - Wife, Widow; - _women’s position in_, 10 _seq._ - - Publisher, 167; - _see_ Companies. - - 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, 41. - - - Retail Trade, 197-209 _passim_; - _see_ Chapmen, Badger, Haberdashers, Hawkers, Pedlars, Regrater, - Shopkeepers; - _women’s position in_, 10 _seq._, 150 _seq._, 156, 172, 197, 209, - 293. - - Rous, Margaret, 17. - - - Rye, 152 _seq._ - - - Salford, 52 _seq._, 84, 212. - - - Salisbury, 184, 213, 258 _seq._ - - Salisbury, Earl of, 25, 111. - - - 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, Journeyman, 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_, 81, 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._; - _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_. - - Shoemaker, 155, 158 _seq._, 184, 202 _seq._; - _see_ Servants. - - - Shopkeeper, 158, 168, 198-209 _passim_. - - - Silk manufacture, 94, 126, 138-143; - _see_ Apprentice, Poor, Textiles, Weaving; - _capitalistic_, 142; - _occupation 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-manufacture, Woollen; - _demand for_, 95, 110, 112 _seq._, 124, 129, 146; - _domestic industry_, 9, 40, 64, 96, 125, 129, 137, 147, 291 _seq._; - _employment of poor_, 13, 100, 110 _seq._, 128-137 _passim_, 146 - _seq._, 209, 291; - _instruction in_, 13, 111, 130-137; - _monopoly of women and children_, 93, 102, 145, 292; - _organisation of_, 107-113, 123 _seq._; - _resource for mothers_, 9, 13, 63, 95, 151, 209; - _wages_; - _withdraws women from agriculture and service_, 112, 115. - - - Spinner, 18, 102, 110, 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_, 111 _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_ Burling, Capitalism, Carding, Clothiers, Cotton, Domestic - Industry, Family Industry, Fuller, Gold and Silver, Knitting, - Linen-manufacture, 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; - _disintegration 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; - _see_ Brewing, Carpenters, Doctors, Husbandmen, Linen-manufacture, - Nurse (sick), Midwife, Miller, Poor, Spinning, Silk, Woollen; - _assessments_, 50, 59 _seq._, 62, 65-67 _passim_, 72, 83, 90, 210, - 293; - _difference between family and individual wages_, 7, 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._; - _servants, women_, 50, 65, 157; - _married men_, 65 _seq._; - _not expected to keep family_, 12, 86, 90, 293; - _relation to cost of living_, 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_ Apprentice; - _assault women_, 126; - _complaints against clothiers_, 114, 117-123 _passim_, - _domestic purposes_, 40, 64, 125; - _linen_, 18, 124 _seq._, 128, 136; - _women_, 129; - _woollen_, 18, 99, 111, 116; - _women_, 102-106, 145; - _forbidden 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, 137, 156, 171, 177, 189 _seq._, - 195, 200, 201, 204 _seq._, 209, 213, 216, 218, 227, 230, 249-252 - _passim_, 264, 268; - _see_ Apprentice, Housing, Journeymen, Poor Relief, Weaver; - _dependence on journeymen_, 185, 189, _seq._, 261; - _membership in late husband’s gild_, 160 _seq._, 168, 174, 176 - _seq._, 179 _seq._, 183, 185, 187, 233 _seq._, 261, 298; - _pensions_ to, 69, _seq._ 170; - _of soldiers_, 248 _seq._; - _succession to late husband’s business_, 11, 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_ Alehouse, Bakers, Business, Capitalist, Dairy, Doctor, - Domestic, Farmer, Household Management, Husbandman, Journeyman, - Mother, Pig-keeping, Poultry-keeping, Shop-keeper, Sick nursing, - Spinning, Wage-earner; - _economic position of_, 11, 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_; - _pauperisation 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._, 110 _seq._, 118-122 _passim_, 147 - _seq._; - _instruction in_, 110 _seq._; - _men and women wage-earners unite in trade disputes_, 116-123 - _passim_; - _political power_, 126; - _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._, 106, 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.= 1.—THE -TAILORING TRADE. By F. W. GALTON. With a Preface by SIDNEY WEBB, LL.B. -1896; 242 pp., Crown 8vo, cloth. 5s. _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. 3s. 6d. _P. S. King & 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. 7s. 6d. _P. S. King -& 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 & Son._ - -=6. Local Variation in Wages.= (The Adam Smith Prize, Cambridge -University, 1898). By F. W. LAWRENCE, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, -Cambridge. 1899; viii. and 90 pp., with Index and 18 Maps and Diagrams. -4to, 11 in. by 8¼ in., cloth. 8s. 6d. _Longmans, Green & 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 Palæography 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, -15¼ in. by 11¼ 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; Newmarch Lecturer, 1897-98. 500 pp. and 40 -Diagrams, Demy 8vo, cloth. 1901; Third edition, 1907; viii. and 336 pp. -12s. net. _P. S. King & 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. 2s. 6d. net. _P. S. King & 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. 7s. 6d. net. _P. S. King & Son._ - -=11.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 Palæography and Diplomatic, -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, 13½ in. by 8½ in., green cloth. -15s. net. _P. S. King & 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. 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Village Government in British India.= By JOHN MATTHAI, D.Sc. -(Econ.), London; with a Preface by SIDNEY WEBB, L.L.B., Professor of -Public Administration in the University of London. 1915; xix., 211 pp., -Demy 8vo, cloth. 4s. 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. 7s. 6d. net. _George Bell & Sons._ - -=50. Rates of Postage.= By A. D. SMITH, D.Sc (Econ.), London. 1917; -xii., 431 pp., Demy 8vo, cloth. 16s. 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 & 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._ - -=1. The Material Culture and Social Institutions of the Simpler -Peoples.= By L. T. HOBHOUSE, M.A., Martin White Professor of Sociology -in the University of London, G. C. WHEELER, B.A., and M. GINSBERG, B.A. -1915; 300 pp., Demy 8vo, paper. 2s. 6d. net. _Chapman & Hall._ - -=2. 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. 5s. net. _George Allen & -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, 2s. net; paper, 1s. 6d. net. _P. S. King & -Son._ - -=2. Two Select Bibliographies of Mediæval Historical Study.= By MARGARET -F. 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By E. C. MATTHEWS, 1911; viii. and 124 pp., 7 maps, 8 -illustrations, 8vo, cloth. 5s. net. _A. & C. Black._ - - - _Series of Contour Maps of Critical Areas._ - -=1. The Hudson-Mohawk Gap.= Prepared by the Diagram Company from a map -by B. B. Dickinson. 1913; 1 sheet 18″ by 22½″. Scale 20 miles to 1 inch. -6d. net; post free, folded 7d., rolled 9d. _Sifton, Praed & Co._ - - - -------------------------------------------------- - - Printed in England by Headley Bros., Ashford, Kent, and 18, Devonshire - St. E.C.2. - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - ● Transcriber’s Notes: - ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected. - ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. - ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only - when a predominant form was found in this book. - ○ Text that: - was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_); - was in bold by is enclosed by “equal” signs (=bold=). - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKING LIFE OF WOMEN IN THE -SEVENTEENTH CENTURY *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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