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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. ‘Old Maids’: Family and social relationships of never- married Scottish gentlewomen, c.1740–c.1840. Alison Duncan Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2012 DECLARATION I declare that this thesis has been composed by me and that the work is my own. It has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. ABSTRACT The thesis argues that never-married gentlewomen dissociated themselves from negative and ubiquitous stereotypes of the old maid by focussing on their gentility rather than their marital status. By demonstrably fulfilling the familial and social roles which belonged to their sex and rank, and by representing themselves in terms of approved genteel feminine virtues and conduct, they located themselves in networks of social reciprocity which extended from household and family into the wider social sphere. In doing so they confounded popular caricatures of mature unmarried women as selfish parasites whose failure to marry and procreate drained the resources of their natal families and undermined the nation’s strength. The thesis focuses on a number of case studies drawn from the extensive collections of family papers in the National Records of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland. Several of these never-married women were kin by birth or marriage, and their correspondence illustrates the reach of their relationship networks, their status, and influence. Their personal and, in some cases, published writing shows how they used ideals of gentility and associated language to support the familial and social positions they claimed. The thesis chapters examine the relationships they forged, and the resulting influence they were able to exercise, by considering them variously as members of households headed by male kin, as heads of their own households, and as familial patrons. While never-married women are increasingly the subjects of research, the lives of never-married gentlewomen remain under-examined. Yet gentlewomen, habituated to writing as an essential social skill, have left a wide range of sources by which their management of social status and singlehood can be assessed. This thesis shows some of the perspectives opened up by study of these sources. Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the outstanding support I have received from my supervisors, Dr Stana Nenadic and Dr Alexander Murdoch, and for this I offer them my heartfelt thanks. Their judicious advice throughout my research and writing up has helped me to expand my ideas, question my arguments and, when necessary, narrow my focus. It has been a valuable, and a valued, apprenticeship. Not least, they have encouraged me to keep going. I am grateful for the college scholarship and the award from the Arts & Humanities Research Council which made this feasible. For help with research completed over several visits, I would like to thank the staff at Aberdeen University Special Libraries and Archives, and The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The friendly and professional staff at the National Library of Scotland and the National Records of Scotland make it a pleasure to work there on a regular basis. Sir Robert Clerk of Penicuik kindly gave permission to cite material from the Clerk of Penicuik papers, held in the NRS. At Newhailes (National Trust for Scotland), Mark McLean and Sheila Laing generously shared their knowledge of Christian Dalrymple’s life. Friends and colleagues at all levels have had a hand in getting me into, through, and out of this project; especial thanks are due to Sonia Baker, Katie Barclay, Michael Gamer, Katharine Glover, Alexia Grosjean, Laura Marshall, Steve Murdoch, and Jane Ridder-Patrick. Richard Kane and Lindsay Scott calmly solved practical problems at crucial moments. I am also grateful to Deborah Simonton for the opportunity to publish part of my research as an article in Women’s History Magazine.1 My partner, Bosco Hazard, has helped at every stage, from testing arguments while walking round a summer stubble field, to finalising the introduction on a recent crossing on the Irish ferry. He has sharpened my thinking, and the thesis. I am immensely grateful for his personal and intellectual support, unstintingly given. This thesis is dedicated to my father, William Duncan, who first inspired my interest in history, and who has supported me in all my endeavours. 1 See appendix; reproduced with permission. Table of Contents Abbreviations Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...1 Chapters 1. ‘Old Maids and Batchelors Bluff’: the never married in popular culture……….. 25 2. Narratives of the never married: familial duties, lovers lost, examples of piety…57 3. The domestic manager: dependent sibling or household linchpin? ……………. 89 4. ‘A Family of Friends’: the importance of wider kin links………………………119 5. ‘Benevolent Feelings’: patronage as a signifier of social status………………...151 6. Jane Innes of Stow (1747–1839): filial dependency to independent wealth …..179 7. Maintaining appearances: gentility on a narrow income……………………....213 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………241 Bibliography……………………………………...……………………………..…251 Appendix (WHM article)…………………………………………………………..261 Abbreviations AH: Architectural History BM: The Burlington Magazine EAS: Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal ECL: Eighteenth-Century Life ECS: Eighteenth-Century Studies EHR: The Economic History Review FHS: French Historical Studies HJ: The Historical Journal IM: Immigrants & Minorities JAF: Journal of American Folklore JAH: The Journal of American History JBS: The Journal of British Studies JFH: Journal of Family History JHS: Journal of the History of Sexuality JSH: Journal of Social History JSHS: Journal of Scottish Historical Studies JWH: Journal of Women’s History NEQ: The New England Quarterly PP: Past and Present PS: Population Studies SECC: Studies in Eighteenth Century Culture SHM: Social History of Medicine SHR: The Scottish Historical Review TEC: The Eighteenth Century TSWL: Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature WAJ: Woman’s Art Journal WHR: Women’s History Review WS: The Walpole Society Introduction This thesis grew out of research into representations of the self in eighteenth-century correspondence. Examining the epistolary courtship of an Edinburgh gentlewoman and her suitor, I was struck by the way she used the language of gentility to represent her choice positively in the face of familial opposition. Her father refused to countenance the marriage due to her suitor’s lack of prospects and, rather than undutifully challenge this patriarchal judgement, she used positive cultural idioms to recast the parameters of the dispute and claim the moral high ground. In her letters, her love was founded on rational esteem, and she rejected low mercenary considerations and trusted in Providence to reward merit. The five-year courtship ended with her suitor’s death in 1780, but Jane Innes never forgot her ‘model of a compleat Gentleman’ and never married. In 1810, on the thirtieth anniversary of his death, she wrote a heartfelt memorial which underlined his gentility and his place in her kin network.1 But this narrative of love lost is not the whole story. Hundreds of surviving letters make it clear she did not spend the intervening decades moping over a portrait miniature. When she died in 1839 aged ninety-two, Miss Innes of Stow was an extremely wealthy woman. As the last heir to her family’s fortune and the owner of several estates, she had had familial, civic, and political roles to play. Moreover, while she was exceptional in her wealth, she was far from exceptional in remaining unmarried. Among her closest relatives and friends were nearly a dozen never- married women and men. None of the women resembled the caricature spinsters of eighteenth-century popular culture. The stereotypical old maid of the period personified the supposed failings of her sex and served as a scapegoat for perceived wider failings in society. Contemporary social commentators portrayed her as a pathetic or resentful dependant, and a selfish consumer of, rather than a contributor to, familial and national wealth. In the stereotype, never-married women were relegated to the margins of family life, where historians were content to let them languish until fairly recently. All this raised questions which demanded attention. To 1 The two were maternal cousins. 2 what extent could people cast as family dependants shape their own lives? Where did actual never-married women stand in their kin and social networks? Could they use the normative language and ideals of gentility to claim status and a place in their family circle? The chapters which follow open