Men, women, and property in England, 1780-1870
Subtitle: a social and economic history of family strategies amongst the Leeds middle classes
By: R.J. Morris
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 445
Subjects: Middle class -- England -- Leeds -- History; Middle class families -- England -- Leeds -- History; Property -- Social aspects -- England -- Leeds; Leeds (England) -- Social conditions -- 18th century; Leeds (England) -- Social conditions -- 19th century
Description: "This is a study of middle-class behaviour and property relations in English towns in Georgian and Victorian Britain. Through the lens of wills, family papers, property deeds, account books and letters, the author offers a new reading of the ways in which middle-class families survived and surmounted the economic difficulties of early industrial society. He argues that these were essentially 'networked' families created and affirmed by a 'gift' network of material goods, finance, services and support, with property very much at the centre of middle-class survival strategies. His approach combines microhistorical studies of individual families with a broader analysis of the national and even international networks within which these families operated. The result is a significant contribution to the history of the middle classes, to economic, business, urban and gender history, and to debates about the place of structural and cultural analysis in historical understanding."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [417]-438) and index