Dunster, Sandra (2003) Women of the Nottinghamshire elite, c. 1720-1820. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. 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For more information, please contact [email protected] `Women of the Nottinghamshire Elite c. 1720-1820' by SandraDunster, BA, MA Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degreeof Doctor of Philosophy, May 2003 G 2/ýFR'SITY ýýýPPQ 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS PageNumber Abstract 2 List of Figures and Maps 3 Abbreviations 4 Acknowledgements 5 Introduction 7 Chapter 1 Nottinghamshire elite women and their family backgrounds 18 Chapter 2 Childhood and education 61 Chapter 3 Marital decisions 93 Chapter 4 Domestic life 129 Chapter 5 Politics 165 Chapter 6 Social leadership 204 Chapter 7 Property 241 Conclusion 278 Bibliography 289 2 ABSTRACT This thesis explores the lives of women in a small group of families in the Nottinghamshire elite between 1720 and 1820.A close reading of family papers, gives accessto the minutiae of female life and it is from thesesmall details that the attitudes,activities and responsibilities of elite women are constructed. Drawing on the distinct historiographiesof women and gender,and of the elite, the evidenceproduced by this sharply-focusedapproach is usedto explore women's formal and informal roles, and the specific ways in which they were fulfilled, in the domestic, social, economic and political life of the elite. Considerationis first given to attitudes towards girls within the family and to how childhood experiencecontributed to the construction of elite womanhood. An assessmentof the level of convergencebetween family and individual interests in the matter of marital choices is followed by an exploration of the weight of domestic responsibility experiencedby women within the family, as wives, mothers and housekeepers.Attention then turns to assessingthe extent of female engagementwith political, economic and social life, in the pursuit of personaland family interests. The narrativesof women and their families illuminate how the female elite balancedthe particular mix of subordination and privilege conferred upon them by genderand status.The range of activities in which they engagedand the multifaceted nature of that engagementdemonstrate that throughout the eighteenth century women at all levels of the Nottinghamshire elite worked to support the ethos of elite pre-eminencein many small but cumulatively significant ways. 3 LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS PageNumber Figure 1 The Bentinck family of Bulstrode and Welbeck 24 Figure 2 The Savile family of Rufford 29 Figure 3 The Lumley-Saundersonfamily of Sandbeck 31 Figure 4 The Foljambe family of Aidwark and Osberton 36 Figure 5 The Thornhagh/Hewett family of Osbertonand Shireoaks 40 Figure 6 The Warde family of Hooton Pagnell 41 Figure 7 The Gawthern family of Nottingham 49 Figure 8 Monies received by the younger children of Francis and Mary Arabella Foljambe 118 Figure 9 The two patriotic duchess'son their canvass.' 193 Map 1 The location of the family homes 25 4 ABBREVIATIONS The following abbreviationshave been used in footnote referencesto primary sourcematerials. BRO Berkshire Record Office, Reading. CH Chatsworth House, Derbyshire HP Hooton Pagnell Hall, South Yorkshire LPL Lambeth Palace Library NAO Nottinghamshire Archives Office, Nottingham NUMI) University of Nottingham, Hallward Library, Manuscripts Department SH SandbeckHall, South Yorkshire Note on the text Original spelling, punctuation and capitalisation have been retained throughout. Where original abbreviations make the text hard to follow, these contractions have been rendered in full in square brackets. Acknowledgements The debts of gratitude incurred during the past few yearsof study are many. First I would like to expressmy thanks for the financial support I received in the form of a studentshipfrom the University of Nottingham, without which it is unlikely that this project would have started.I have also received much practical assistance from the staff of Nottinghamshire RecordsOffice, Nottingham University Manuscripts Department, Berkshire RecordsOffice, DoncasterRecords Office, Lambeth PalaceLibrary, and Chatsworth House who gave so much invaluable help in keeping me supplied with the primary sourcematerials. Two private families also deserveparticular mention for granting me accessto family papers.Both Lord and Lady Scarbroughof SandbeckHall and Mr and Mrs Warde-Norbury of Hooton Pagnell welcomed me into their respectivehomes with courtesy,consideration and hospitality. For this I offer my sincerethanks. Along the way, so many people have assistedme by their support and enthusiasm for my work. My supervisor, ProfessorJohn Beckett, has been a model of patienceand persistence,and has wielded his red pen without mercy. For this I am extremely grateful. Fellow postgraduatestudents, Richard Gaunt, Denise Amos and Paul Evans have been staunchin their friendship and support for a fellow sufferer. Studentson the Advanced Certificate in Local History at the University of Nottingham and on the Certificate in Combined Studiesat the Universityof Kent at Canterburyhave also helpedto keepme motivatedwith their unfailing interest in my latest discoveries. 6 The cumulative significance of the contribution madeby family and close friends to the completion of a thesis is immeasurable.I could not possibly mention every instanceof kindness,moral and practical support, and assistancethat I have enjoyed. All I will say here is I know how much you have done and I hope you know how grateful I am. As for my husband George and my daughter Hannah, what can I say? They have done everything they could to help keep me going and I cannot thank them enough. 7 INTRODUCTION The history of the eighteenth-centuryEnglish elite hasbeen, until very recently, a predominantly masculine affair. Whether concernedwith defining membership, exploring activities or asking what promoted the longevity of this ruling class, historians have focused attention on the ways in which men achievedand exercisedpower in the political, economic and social worlds-of the day. This thesis aims to contribute to the businessof redressingthe balanceby exploring the content, rangeand purposeof women's lives in the elite of eighteenth-century England. Rather than focus in depth upon a particular sector of this heterogeneous social group, this study will cut a swathethrough the Nottinghamshire elite, reconstructingthe lives and accessingthe attitudes and opinions of a cross-section of women from families of differing social status,from the peerage,through the greaterand lessergentry. Women's roles in family life, and in the political, economic and social environment in which elite families were rooted will be examinedto ask what was expectedof women, what they delivered, and what contribution, if any, they made to the maintenanceof the elite. This introduction establishesthe themeswhich will run throughout this work, arising from the current stateof researchin the histories of the elite, of women and of gender. A definition of the social category `elite' is followed by a brief considerationof how historians of the elite have dealt with women and, converselyhow women's history has dealt with the elite, and the implications of developmentsin the history of gender for these approaches.Finally, the contours 8 of this study are defined, setting out, chapterby chapter,the topics to be explored and the questionsto be asked. There is a broad consensusamongst historians of the elite as to how this privileged ruling class was constituted. In generalterms the elite of eighteenth- century England were the landowning families who, basedon the wealth and power that landownershipendowed, took the lead in national and local politics, ' dominated much of the economy and played a prominent role in society. The wide-ranging privileges of membership were balancedby a responsibility to the communities in which they operated.Although it was possibleto enter this exclusive social group from outside, through marriage or ennoblement,or by purchasingan estate,these routes offered only limited accessto outsiders,due to the prevalenceof endogamousmarriage and the increasingscarcity