Unfortunate Objects [electronic resource] : Lone Mothers in Eighteenth-Century London /
Evans, T.author.
This book analyzes how poor eighteenth-century London women coped when they found themselves pregnant, their survival networks and the consequences of bearing an illegitimate child. It does so by exploring the encounters between poor women and the parish as well as London's lying-in hospitals and the Foundling Hospital. It suggests that unmarried mothers did not constitute a deviant minority within London's plebeian community. In fact, many could expect to find compassion rather than ostracism a response to their plight. All poor mothers, left without the support of their child's father, shared similar strategies of survival and economies of makeshift.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; Acknowledgements; 1 Introduction; 2 'The Insecurities of Life and Trade': Work, Community and Personal Life in Eighteenth-Century London; 3 Courtship, Sex and Marriage in Eighteenth-Century Popular Literature; 4 'Craving Charity': Poor Mothers and the Public Philanthropic Imagination; 5 'Unfortunate Objects': Petitioners to the Foundling Hospital; 6 The Duty of Poor Mothers in Eighteenth-Century London; 7 Childbirth; 8 'Be so Good as to Remember Where This Child Goes to': Poor but not Hopeless; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Includes bibliographical references (p. 260-276) and index.
This book analyzes how poor eighteenth-century London women coped when they found themselves pregnant, their survival networks and the consequences of bearing an illegitimate child. It does so by exploring the encounters between poor women and the parish as well as London's lying-in hospitals and the Foundling Hospital. It suggests that unmarried mothers did not constitute a deviant minority within London's plebeian community. In fact, many could expect to find compassion rather than ostracism a response to their plight. All poor mothers, left without the support of their child's father, shared similar strategies of survival and economies of makeshift.
Sociology.
Great Britain-History.
Clinical psychology.
History, Modern.
Gender Studies.
History of Britain and Ireland.
Clinical Psychology.
Modern History.