Women And Work In Eighteenth-century Edinburgh (studies In Gender History)

As the first in-depth study of women's experience of work in Scotland before 1800, this book draws on a wide variety of hitherto unexplored sources to throw light on the everyday working activities of women, married and single, successful and deprived, and their role in the urban community. While focusing on Edinburgh, the capital and premier service town of Eighteenth-century Scotland, Dr Sanderson's findings are important in the British context and beyond. "Georgian Edinburgh has become a familiar place to many of us, yet the working life of its population, especially the working lives of women, has been largely neglected. In this book, the first in-depth study of women's experience of work in Scotland before 1800, previously unexplored sources have been used to illuminate the everyday working activities of women, married and single, successful and deprived, and their role in the urban community." "Prominence is given to women in retailing and the textile-related trades, the extent to which both married and single women worked outside the home, the place of women's training, education and apprenticeship to preparing them for work, and the role of women in community care, such as the graveclothes-makers whose work is discussed for the first time." "While focusing on Edinburgh, the capital and premier service town of eighteenth-century Scotland, Dr Sanderson's findings are important in the British context and beyond."--Jacket Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-4 The Retail Trade....Pages 5-40 Roomsetters, Nurses and Graveclothes-Makers: Community Care in Eighteenth-Century Edinburgh....Pages 41-73 Single Women and Independence....Pages 74-107 Married Women and Subsistence....Pages 108-135 Women and Poverty....Pages 136-167 Conclusion....Pages 168-172 Back Matter....Pages 173-236 This work examines the everyday working activities of women, married and single, successful and deprived, and their role in urban community in pre-1800 Scotland. It focuses on Edinburgh, the capital and premier service town of 18th-century Scotland, whilst also looking at the British context.