Hannah Barker

Gender in Eighteenth-Century England: Roles, Representations and Responsibilities

Social reputations work and poverty politics and the political elite periodicals and the printed image.

Press, Politics and the Public Sphere in Europe and North America, 1760-1820

Notes on contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Hannah Barker and Simon Burrows 1. The cosmopolitan press, 1760-1815 Simon Burrows 2. The Netherlands, 1750-1813 Nicolaas van Sas 3. Germany, 1760-1815 Eckhart Hellmuth and Wolfgang Piereth 4. England, 1760-1815 Hannah Barker 5. Ireland, 1760-1820 Douglas Simes 6. America, 1750-1820 David Copeland 7. France, 1750-89 Jack Censer 8. The French revolutionary press Hugh Gough 9. Italy, 1760-1815 Maurizio Isabella 10. Russia, 1790-1830 Miranda Beaven Remnek Index.

Students making progress and the ‘research‐teaching nexus’ debate

The paper draws on an extensive literature search about the ‘research‐teaching nexus’, insights from interviewing twelve university history lecturers about student progress in undergraduate degrees, and ideas about the role of disciplines in student learning to argue (i) that the educational goal for students of ‘becoming a practising historian’ is more desirable than ‘acquiring transferable skills’; and (ii) that research activity is a ‘strong condition’ for teachers of university history to pursue the former.

Medical advertising and trust in late Georgian England

This article explores the nature of trust in the fast growing and rapidly changing urban environments of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century England through an examination of medical advertisements published in newspapers in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield between 1760 and 1820. The ways in which medicines were promoted suggest not just a belief that the market in medicines operated both rationally and fairly, but also a conception that a trustworthy ‘public’ existed that was not limited to the social elite but was instead constituted of a more socially diverse range of individuals.

Soul, purse and family: middling and lower-class masculinity in eighteenth-century Manchester

The historiography of British masculinity currently presents a rather abrupt picture of change during the modern era. In particular, the ‘long’ eighteenth century seems to differ fundamentally from the centuries that precede and follow it. In contrast to historians of both earlier and later periods, those studying masculinity between around 1680 and 1800 have tended to focus on the public sphere and on the development of new ideas about sexual difference. Underlying many of their accounts are assumptions about the transition to modernity and the development of an increasingly secular society. While histories of the sixteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth centuries have emphasized the importance of the household and religion in their descriptions of manliness, manhood and masculinity, those examining the eighteenth century tend to privilege the social sphere outside the home and the importance of a secular ‘civilizing process’ in which the concept of politeness was especially influential. Indeed, the ‘polite gentleman’ is one of the most prominent figures in the historiography of the period. This anomaly has not gone unnoticed, with Alexandra Shepard and Karen Harvey recently arguing that histories of masculinity during the long eighteenth century contrast forcibly with those of adjoining periods, largely because of differences in methodology. While the majority of early modern historians, and many of those studying the period from 1800, pursue a social history approach, they argue, the historiography of the long eighteenth century has been dominated by a cultural history model so that, as Shepard describes it, ‘Historians have been preoccupied with the print culture pertaining to an

Living above the Shop: Home, Business, and Family in the English “Industrial Revolution”

This article explores the living arrangements and familial relations of small business households in northwest English towns between 1760 and 1820. Focusing on evidence from inventories and personal writing, it examines the homes that such households lived and worked in and the ways in which space was ordered and used: indicating that access to particular spaces was determined by status. This study suggests both the continuance of the ‘‘household family’’ into the nineteenth century (rather than its more modern, ‘‘nuclear’’ variant) and the existence of keenly felt gradations of status within households making it likely that the constitution of ‘‘the family’’ differed according to one’s place in the domestic hierarchy.

Inheritance and continuity in small family businesses during the early industrial revolution

Explanations for the rapid turnover rates of small businesses during the early years of British industrialisation are usually framed in terms of mismanagement or misfortune. More recently, the short lifespans of family businesses have been presented in the context of family ambitions and priorities. Whilst these explanations are persuasive, such studies tend to describe a reluctance to continue the family firm after the death of the head of household. By utilising evidence of both formal and informal methods of post-mortem estate disposal in Liverpool and Manchester we argue that the petite bourgeoisie of the early Industrial Revolution were more likely than has been thought to continue family businesses and to treat them as valuable going concerns. Moreover, we identify a degree of freedom on the part of those who inherited that allowed them to use their own judgements about the best interests of surviving family members.

‘Smoke cities’: northern industrial towns in late Georgian England

The industrial towns of northern England have been largely overlooked during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This article examines newspaper advertising, directories, public building and improvement in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield and identifies a middling, consumerist society, where urban culture was firmly rooted in the localities in which it developed. The nature of this culture challenges simplistic understandings of metropolitan dominance and questions the utility of national models of consumerism and ‘politeness’ that ignore the importance of regional variation and provincialism.

Family and Business during the Industrial Revolution

Small businesses were at the heart of the economic growth and social transformation that characterized the industrial revolution in Britain. In towns across north-west England, shops and workshops dominated the streetscape, and helped to satisfy an increasing desire for consumer goods. Yet despite their significance, we know surprisingly little about these firms and the people who ran them, for whilst those engaged in craft-based manufacturing, retailing, and allied trades constituted a significant proportion of the urban population, they have been generally overlooked by historians. Instead, our view of the world of business is more usually taken up by narratives of particularly successful firms, and especially those involved in new modes of production. By examining some of the forgotten businesses of the industrial revolution, and the men and women who worked in them, Family and Business during the Industrial Revolution presents a largely unfamiliar commercial world. Its approach, which spans economic, social, and cultural history, as well as encompassing business history and the histories of the emotions, space, and material culture, alongside studies of personal testimony, testatory practice, and property ownership, tests current understandings of gender, work, family, class, and power in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It provides us with new insights into the lives of ordinary men and women in trade, whose relatively mundane lives are easily overlooked, but who were central to the story of a pivotal period in British history. Contributors to this volume - Hannah Barker, University of Manchester Jane Hamlett, Royal Holloway, University of London Mina Ishizu, London School of Economics and Political Science

Women and their money 1700–1950: essays on women and finance

have been further developed. Perhaps the book’s most original element is the exploration of companies and company law in Australia. However, while the final chapter is devoted to the colonial context, references to Australia in the other chapters are few and far between. Readers expecting a sustained comparative study may be disappointed. The book is derived from the author’s doctoral thesis of 1995. Although the bibliography contains references to many works on companies and corporate governance published since then, these are not cited in the text after the introductory sections, and the historiography subsequently engaged with is from the 1930s to the early 1990s. One wonders how far the text was revised since its initial incarnation as a thesis, especially since works published in 1979, 1980, and 1983 are described as ‘recent’ (pp. 27, 148, 170). This is a pity, as the book would have benefited from a more extensive engagement with works published since the mid-1990s. Presentational glitches, including multiple confusions over the tables, graphs, and charts, mar the text. More seriously, factual errors are sufficiently numerous to cause concern: the Royal British Bank did not collapse in 1855, nor did it have limited liability (pp. 38, 135); Robert Lowe was not yet Viscount Sherbrooke in 1867 (p. 169), nor indeed in 1877 (pp. 177, 184); the directors of Overend and Gurney were not convicted, nor were they sentenced to transportation (pp. 223–224); David Morier Evans was never editor of the Economist (p. 315). This book is certainly worth reading, and if it encourages more extended comparative treatments of company law it will have performed a valuable service. But, just as McQueen presents the aftermath of Overend and Gurney as a ‘lost opportunity’ for a proper reform of company law (p. 162), so might readers conclude that this book itself represents a missed opportunity to make a more telling contribution to the debate on the joint-stock company.