Lesser Gentry’, C.1660-1820
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A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/102069/ Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Marriage Strategies of Midlands ‘Lesser Gentry’, c.1660-1820 by Hugh Gareth Davies A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in History University of Warwick, Department of History March 2018 Contents Acknowledgements iv Declaration and note about transcripts v Abstract vi Abbreviations vii Introduction: Page 1 Thesis outline 7 Chapter 1: Debates 14 Historiography 18 Map: showing main residences of the families used in this study 41 Chapter 2: Families Introduction 42 1. Principal families 43 2. Family affinities 54 3. Other families and individuals 57 Conclusion 64 Chapter 3: Literary Material Introduction 66 1. Literary material 67 (i) Prose fiction 67 (ii) Drama 72 (iii) Conduct literature 76 2. Themes and ideas 78 Conclusion 92 Chapter 4: Marriage strategies Introduction 94 1. Demographic matters 96 2. Parental aims 98 3. Bride selection and the ideal of parity 108 Conclusion 123 i Chapter 5: Making provision Introduction 125 1. Provision 127 (i) Wills 128 (ii) Settlements 130 (iii) Second sons 133 (iv) Land and annuities 135 (v) Setting up sons 137 (vi) Daughters’ portions 139 (vii) Heiresses 143 Conclusion 145 Chapter 6: Strategies for younger sons Introduction 148 1. Demographic matters 150 2. Family relationships 152 3. Finding partners 157 4. Bachelors and fortune hunters 165 Conclusion 171 Chapter 7: Strategies for daughters Introduction 175 1. Demographic matters 178 2. Finding husbands 183 3. Marriage-making 190 4. Single women 198 Conclusion 205 Chapter 8: Strategies for widows and widowers Introduction 207 1. Widowhood, widowers and widows 210 2. The benefits and costs of widowhood 218 3. Remarriage strategies 226 Conclusion 237 Conclusion Introduction 241 1. Conclusions 244 2. Implications 247 3. Questions for further research 253 ii Appendices: 257 Appendix 1: Family trees 1:a Barker 258 1:b Congreve 260 1:c Hacket 263 1:d Mortimer 264 1:e Lowe 265 1:f Heylin and Niccol 265 1:g Greene, Tryst and Scott 266 1:h Byrche 267 Appendix 2: Glossary 268 Appendix 3: Notes on novelists, playwrights and their works 274 (i) Novelists 274 (ii) Novels 276 (iii) Playwrights 279 (iv) Plays 280 Bibliography 283 Map 41 The West Midlands Counties showing approximate geographical locations of the main families and other families based on an outline map from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/English_counties_ 1851_with_ridings.svg/515px-English_counties_1851_with_ridings.svg.png iii Acknowledgement When I approached retirement my ‘A level’ Sociology students repeatedly asked what I would do afterwards. I used to joke that I intended to go back to university and return to my first love history - but never believed it would be possible, until by a mental ‘accident’ I discovered Leicester University’s MA in the ‘Development of the Country House’ and was persuaded to apply. Enjoying this, I decided to continue my studies and pursue work I had started thirty years earlier, when working in Northamptonshire. Professor Mark Knights generously and willingly took me on when my first supervisor departed. Mark opened my eyes in so many ways, encouraged me to broaden my view of my theme, and throughout showed exemplary patience and kindness as I struggled to come to terms with the demands of advanced study. Regular meetings with him were instructive and constructive – even if sometimes uncomfortable for me. His comments were incisive and his questions pertinent. He read and re-read countless drafts of chapters and always gave helpful and constructive advice. Mark showed belief in me when I doubted and gradually coaxed me to a point where I could complete and submit. I value the time spent with him and the support he gave to me. I received considerable help and guidance from many archivists in the record offices I visited and which are listed in the abbreviations. I thank them for their generosity in time, advice and help in finding the materials I needed. Above all I thank my family. From the outset, my lovely wife Sue has supported and encouraged me. She showed interest in what I was doing, read my work and made constructive comments. She will be delighted to get her dining room table back! Throughout I have been backed and encouraged by my two beautiful daughters, Natalie and Sophia, and their families. They may not always have understood why I wanted to do it – but were determined that I would succeed and. whenever I felt it was too difficult they lifted me up and encouraged me to continue. I also thank my close friend Anthony Bachelor for his friendship, support and encouragement. iv Declaration This thesis is my own work and has not been submitted for a degree at another university. Note about transcripts For clarity, all dates have been modernised to show the year starting in January rather than March. Capitalisation, punctuation and spelling in transcriptions of original materials have been modernised. v Abstract Secondary writers describing lesser gentry marital practices have usually relied on extrapolation from the procedures of the wealthy gentry but there is no consensus about whether squirearchy practices were a diluted form of metropolitan procedures or diverged from them because of different aims and limited resources. This study examines the marriage-making strategies of Midlands squires. The Midlands is an area far enough from London to escape many metropolitan influences and its rapid economic and industrial expansion may have influenced gentry strategies and relationships. ‘Lesser gentry’ is a term used to describe landowners with relatively small estates and limited resources who were usually inactive in county or national governance. It is an imprecise term because social boundaries were blurred, making them a fluid and porous social group in which status could change. Lesser gentry saw themselves as an integral sub-stratum of the gentry despite differences in wealth and influence. I argue that their marital practices were closer to those of the greater gentry than the wealthier urban merchants and professionals with whom they are often compared and that they experienced similar procedural changes and influences as the greater gentry. This study uses family archives, supplemented with primary material available in published form and contemporary literary material, to provide a different dimension. Literary authors reflected and represented marriage-making practices to challenge traditional behaviours and attitudes. Chapters 1-3 discuss secondary writers’ views about gentry marriage-making, the families sampled and literary materials used. Five chapters consider strategies affecting heirs, provision for younger children, younger sons, daughters and widows. Parental aims differed for different children but included: strengthening estate finances; reducing costs by ‘disposing’ of daughters and ‘setting up’ younger sons; and preventing widows from alienating wealth through remarriage. This thesis shows that the dominant influences in marriage-making were finance and financial provision, although affection and personal choice played an increasingly important role. vi Abbreviations BRO The Birmingham Library: Archives and Collections BRO (Sc) Sutton Coldfield Reference Library LRO Leicester and Leicestershire Record Office NRO Northamptonshire Record Office PRO/TNA Public Record Office/National Archives SRO Staffordshire Record Office (Stafford) SRO (Lc) Staffordshire Record Office (Lichfield)* WRO Warwickshire County Record Office * Closed December 2017 and archives transferred to the Stafford Record Office vii Introduction This study is about the marriage strategies of the Midlands lesser gentry in the long eighteenth century. It will refer to urban ‘pseudo-gentry’ and the ‘middling sort’ but primarily concerns the rural squirearchy.1 Historians who have written about gentry marriage strategies have usually concentrated on the well-documented practices of the London based elite. Writers have constructed a detailed picture of their marriage-making practices and of changes that took place in the process. Comments about lesser gentry marriage-making aims have usually been extrapolations based on the assumption of a commonality of practices with wealthier metropolitan groups. The lesser gentry have often left fewer and more incomplete archives than the elite, especially if a family followed a downward social trajectory. Surviving archives are usually very patchy, have possibly been absorbed into the archives of more successful families, or represent families which moved relatively recently out of the lesser gentry ranks into those of the upper gentry or aristocracy. Lesser gentry numbers increased rapidly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, thanks largely to increased prosperity and surplus wealth. Gregory King’s estimate in 1696 claimed there were 15,000 minor gentry families. A century later Patrick Colquhoun said the number had risen to 20,000.2 Peter Borsay showed a rapid increase in the late seventeenth century in