Henry French

‘Upon your entry into the world’: masculine values and the threshold of adulthood among landed elites in England 1680–1800

Compared with studies of earlier and later centuries, discussion of masculinity in the ‘long’ eighteenth century has often concentrated on typifying discourses abstracted from conduct literature, or by reference to gender values expressed in prosecutions and publications relating to ‘deviant’ sexualities. Less attention has been given to identifying private understandings of masculine norms embedded in family correspondence. This study identifies values that were ‘routinized’ within a sample of landed families, that is, those norms rendered unremarkable by everyday rehearsal and mentioned only in passing. It focuses particularly on a ‘make-or-break’ moment in male development – sons’ departure from direct parental control. This pivotal step offered the chance to enact ideals of masculine autonomy, self-control and independence, but carried the risks of debt, disease or disgrace. This article evaluates three important aspects of the tense relationship between filial ‘entry into the world’ and parental expectations. Firstly, it explores parental understandings of this dilemma, and illustrates how fears were counter-balanced by recognition of the importance of personal autonomy within practices of elite masculinity. Secondly, it shows how families mitigated the perils of filial independence, particularly by inculcating ‘familial’ values, and selecting appropriate role models (often siblings). Thirdly, it examines sons’ responses to these efforts, and whether hidden differences of opinion were concealed beneath outward conformity. These private unpublished records demonstrate a number of insights into elite masculinity. Despite the inherent dangers involved in the process, the gentry deemed the beginnings of independence to be crucial to their sons’ development as men and negotiated the process in various ways. Ongoing support was provided by family members. Women were amongst the most important of these and mothers played a very important part in both advising and admonishing. Parents and other family members were more likely to recommend the example of living role models than to suggest particular conduct books or advice manuals. Family cultures of masculinity were apparent in this correspondence as well as the broader social assumptions about manhood that informed them, and demonstrate a greater degree of continuity in gender norms than has previously been supposed

The character of English rural society : Earls Colne, 1550-1750

Maps Tables Abbreviations A note on references to the Earls Colne sources A note on measurements Glossary Preface 1. The character of rural change 2. Earls Colne 3. The lords of Earls Colne 4. The Harlakenden estate 5. The lord and his copyholders 6. The land market quantified 7. The land market anatomised 8. Subtenancy: the character of Earls Colne, 1722-50 9. Conclusion

How dependent were the ‘dependent poor’? Poor relief and the life-course in Terling, Essex, 1762–1834

Despite the volume of research on the Old Poor Law, only in the last two decades have detailed local studies begun to assess the impact of relief payments across the life-courses of individuals. Their conclusions have been mixed. While many have found that the rural labouring poor of southern England were increasingly frequent recipients of poor relief after the 1780s, recent studies have indicated that ‘dependence’ on relief was generally intermittent, not permanent. Based on a new dataset for the Essex village of Terling, this study sets individual life-histories within the broader chronology of change to show how young, able-bodied men and women became relief recipients much more often after 1795 than they had before.

‘I tremble lest my powers of thought are not what they ought to be’: Reputation and the masculine anxieties of an eighteenth–century statesman

This chapter explores how masculine norms were enacted through biographical assessments of political actors. It focuses on changing perceptions of the masculine ‘character’ of the Georgian politician, William Windham of Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk (1750–1810). Obituaries described him as ‘the politest man in England’, yet the publication of diaries in 1866 revealed that such apparently effortless attainments were underpinned by constant self-doubt, hypochondria, and restlessness. These revelations downgraded Windham’s historical reputation. The chapter explores three elements of this revision of Windham’s ‘public’ masculinity: Windham’s own perception of the relationship between his public persona and his private doubts; posthumous assessments of Windham’s ‘public’ character in relation to contemporary norms of masculinity; and how he was displaced from the pantheon of ‘worthy’ public role models in mid/late-Victorian England.

Making Men: The Formation of Elite Male Identities in England, c.1660–1900

The power and status of English male elites were not merely inherited at birth but developed through everyday interactions with family, peers and guardians. Much of these conversations were conducted through correspondence. In this fascinating Sourcebook, Mark Rothery and Henry French present a unique collection of letters which together trace this construction of gender and social identities. The Formation of Male Elite Identities in England, c.1660-1900: • reveals the lifelong process of shaping and managing manliness via a range of social agents • illustrates continuities and changes in the values associated with the landed gentry over the course of the period, and within the male lifecycle • charts the process from school and university, through to experiences of travel, courtship, marriage and work • provides a detailed Introduction to the letters, editorial guidance throughout, questions to stimulate discussion, and helpful suggestions for further reading

Review of periodical literature published in 2005

No abstract available.

‘Identity and Agency in English Society, 1500–1800’— Introduction

It has never been easy for historians to explain the activities of groups of people in the past. The problem has always been to establish a collective motive for their behaviour, particularly in the absence of direct evidence about such a motive, or when contradictory explanations exist of why people acted as they did. In theory, if we could reconstruct the shared understandings that people in the past had about themselves in relation to society, we might then be able to explain why they acted as they did—even when their actions appear to have been at odds with their professed visions of themselves.