Silent Partners : Women As Public Investors During Britain's Financial Revolution, 1690-1750

__Silent Partners__ restores women to their place in the story of England's Financial Revolution. Women were active participants in London's first stock market beginning in the 1690s and continuing through the eighteenth century. Whether playing the state lottery, investing in government funds for retirement, or speculating in company stocks, women regularly comprised between a fifth and a third of public investors. These female investors ranged from London servants to middling tradeswomen, up to provincial gentlewomen and peeresses of the realm. Amy Froide finds that there was no single female investor type, rather some women ran risks and speculated in stocks while others sought out low-risk, low-return options for their retirement years. Not only did women invest for themselves, their financial knowledge and ability meant that family members often relied on wives, sisters, and aunts to act as their investing agents. Moreover, women's investing not only benefitted themselves and their families, it also aided the nation. Women's capital was a critical component of Britain's rise to economic, military, and colonial dominance in the eighteenth century. Focusing on the period between 1690 and 1750, and utilizing women's account books and financial correspondence, as well as the records of joint stock companies, the Bank of England, and the Exchequer, __Silent Partners__ provides the first comprehensive overview of the significant role women played in the birth of financial capitalism in Britain. Cover 1 Silent Partners: Women as Public Investors during Britain’s Financial Revolution, 1690–1750 4 Copyright 5 Acknowledgments 6 Table of Contents 8 List of Figures 10 List of Tables 12 1: Introduction: Women as Public Investors in England 14 1.1. TYPES OF INVESTMENTS AVAILABLE DURING THE FINANCIAL REVOLUTION 24 1.2. LEARNING TO INVEST 27 2: Playing the Lottery for Marriage and Profit 43 3: Early Adopters: Women Investors in the Early Years of the Financial Revolution 73 3.1. CASE STUDY: SARAH CHURCHILL, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH (1660–1744) 81 3.2. CASE STUDY: MARTHA (HARLEY) HUTCHINS (C. 1657–1719) 86 3.3. CASE STUDY: ELIZABETH FREKE (C. 1641/42–1714) 95 4: Women as Investors for their Families 106 4.1. CASE STUDY: MARY BARWELL (1733–1825) 120 5: Unmarried Women Investing for “Retirement” 131 5.1. CASE STUDY: BARBARA AND GERTRUDE SAVILE 143 5.2. CASE STUDY: MARTHA (PATTY) AND TERESA BLOUNT 152 6: Gender and Risk in the Early Stock Market 164 7: The Financial and Political Agency of Female Investors 191 7.1. CASE STUDY: HESTER PINNEY (1658–1740) 194 7.2. FINANCIAL PATRIOTISM 215 8: Conclusion 219 Bibliography 226 Manuscript Sources 226 Printed Primary Sources 227 Online Sources 230 Secondary Works 230 Index 236 Restores women to their place in the story of England's Financial Revolution: as active participants in London's first stock market in the 1690s, women invested for themselves and their families, meaning that women's capital was a critical component of Britain's rise to economic, military, and colonial dominance in the eighteenth century.