"Unfortunate objects"
Subtitle: lone mothers in eighteenth-century London
By: Tanya Evans.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2005
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 279
Subjects: Unmarried mothers -- England -- London -- History -- 18th century.; Poor women -- England -- London -- Social conditions.; Unmarried mothers -- Services for -- England -- London -- History -- 18th century.; Charities -- England -- London -- History -- 18th century.
Description: "This book is about the meanings and experiences of lone mothers in eighteenth-century London. It explores the material lives of men and women who produced legitimate and illegitimate offspring and examines those lives within a shared social, economic and cultural plebeian context. It examines how women coped when they found themselves pregnant, the consequences of bearing an illegitimate child and poor women's survival networks. It does so by exploring the encounters between poor women and the parish as well as philanthropic authorities in the city. This study of London's lone mothers has implications for the history of gender relations, the family and sexuality, the social, economic and cultural circumstances of plebeians, employer/servant relations, philanthropy and poverty."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.