A lively social history of the roles of men and women - from workplace to household, from parish church to alehouse, from market square to marriage bed. Robert Shoemaker investigates such varied topics as crime, leisure, the theatre, religious observance, notions of morality and even changing patterns of sexual activity itself.

A lively social history of the roles of men and women - from workplace to household, from parish church to alehouse, from market square to marriage bed. Robert Shoemaker investigates such varied topics as crime, leisure, the theatre, religious observance, notions of morality and even changing patterns of sexual activity itself.

Now available in a fully-revised and updated second edition, A History of Modern Britain: 1714 to the Present provides a comprehensive survey of the social, political, economic and cultural history of Great Britain from the Hanoverian succession to the present day. Places Britain in a global context, charting the rise and fall of the British empire and the influence of imperialism on the social, economic, and political developments of the home country Includes revised sections on imperialism and the industrial revolution that have been updated to reflect recent scholarship, a more reflective view on New Labour since its demise, and an all new section on the performance of the Conservative – Lib/Dem coalition that came into office in 2010 Features illustrations, maps, an up-to-date bibliography, a full list of Prime Ministers, a genealogy of the royal family, and a comprehensive glossary explaining uniquely British terms, acronyms, and famous figures Spans topics as diverse as the slave trade, the novels of Charles Dickens, the Irish Potato Famine, the legalization of homosexuality, coalmines in South Wales, Antarctic exploration, and the invention of the computer Includes extensive reference to historiography

This account examines some of the areas of women's political activity in Britain from the Glorious Revolution to the election of the first female Prime Minister in 1979. It shows how women had worked in a variety of arenas and organizations before the suffrage campaign and explores the directions their political activity took afterwards.

An examination of the interaction between ideology and experience in the lives of English women during a period of great social and intellectual change. Focusing on the complex relationship between discourse and experience, Women of Quality examines the role of gender in aristocratic women's daily lives during a period of significant cultural change. In the years followingthe Glorious Revolution, didactic writers and other social critics responded to a perceived crisis of gender relations by creating a new discourse of 'natural' feminine behavior in opposition to the luxury and decadence of fashionable women. Modern scholars have often portrayed this agenda as representing the rise of a middle-class ideology, but Ingrid Tague argues that the new rhetoric held enormous appeal for those women who would appear to be its greatest targets: wealthy, fashionable 'women of quality'. Using the correspondence and diaries of these women, Tague traces the ways in which they adopted, adapted, and exploited ideals of femininity. In their hands, feminine values could become powerful tools that enabled them to compete for status and reputation. Ironically, by identifying femininity with private, trivial concerns, these ideals created unique opportunities for elite women. Female participation in informal social and political activities placed women at the heart of aristocratic power in the early eighteenth century, even as they employed the language of wifely subordination and domesticity. Ingrid Tague is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Denver.

Citizenship and Gender in Britain, 1688–1928 explores the history of citizenship in Britain during a period when admission to the political community was commonly thought about in terms of gender. Between the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Equal Franchise Act of 1928 the key question in British politics was what sorts of men – and subsequently women – should be admitted to citizenship, particularly in terms of parliamentary suffrage. This book makes new links between the histories of gender and politics, and surveys exciting recent work in these areas. By examining central topics such as political masculinity, electoral culture, party politics and women’s suffrage through this lens, it expands not only the remit of gender history but encourages the reader to rethink how we approach the history of politics. It explores the close connections between gender, nation and class in Britain, and advocates a new cultural history of politics for the period between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. Citizenship and Gender in Britain, 1688-1928 is essential reading for students of early modern and modern British history, gender history and political history.

A complete reappraisal of the scale and significance of female criminality in a period of major legislative changes. This book offers important new insights into the relationship between crime and gender in Scotland during the Enlightenment period. Against the backdrop of significant legislative changes that fundamentally altered the face of Scots law, Anne-Marie Kilday examines contemporary attitudes towards serious offences against the person committed by women. She draws particularly on rich and varied court records to explores female criminality and judicial responses to it in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.Through a series of case studies of homicide, infanticide, assault, popular disturbances and robbery, she argues that Scottish women were more predisposed to violence than their counterparts south of the border and considers how this relates to the contemporary drive to `civilise' popular behaviour and to promote a more ordered society. The book thus challenges conventional feminist interpretations that see women principally as the victims of male-controlled economies, institutions and power structures, and calls for a major re-evaluation of the scope and significance of female criminality in this era. It will be ofinterest to scholars, students and those interested in the fields of gender studies, social history and the history of crime. ANNE-MARIE KILDAY is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Criminal History at Oxford Brookes University.

The Development of the Mechanics’ Institute Movement in Britain and Beyond questions the prevailing view that mechanics’ institutes made little contribution to adult working-class education from their foundation in the 1820s to 1890. The book traces the historical development of several mechanics’ institutes across Britain and reveals that many institutes supported both male and female working-class membership before state intervention at the end of the nineteenth century resulted in the development of further education for all. This book presents evidence to suggest that the movement remained active and continued to expand until the end of the nineteenth century. Drawing on historical accounts, Walker describes the developments which shaped the movement and emphasises the institutes’ provision for scientific and technical education. He also considers the impact that the British movement had on the overseas development of mechanics’ institutes – particularly in Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand. The book concludes with a discussion of the legacy of the movement and its contribution to twentieth-century adult education. The Development of the Mechanics’ Institute Movement advances the argument that the movement made a substantial contribution to adult education for the working classes and provided a firm foundation for further education in Britain and beyond. It will appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the areas of education, history and sociology, as well as the philosophy of education, technical and vocational education, and post-compulsory education.

The eighteenth century looms large in the Scottish imagination. It is a century that saw the doubling of the population, rapid urbanisation, industrial growth, the political Union of 1707, the Jacobite Rebellions and the Enlightenment - events that were intrinsic to the creation of the modern nation and to putting Scotland on the international map. The impact of the era on modern Scotland can be seen in the numerous buildings named after the luminaries of the period - Adam Smith, David Hume, William Robertson - the endorsement of Robert Burns as the national poet/hero, the preservation of the Culloden battlefield as a tourist attraction, and the physical geographies of its major towns. Yet, while it is a century that remains central to modern constructions of national identity, it is a period associated with men. Until recently, the history of women in eighteenth-century Scotland, with perhaps the honourable exception of Flora McDonald, remained unwritten. Over the last decade however, research on women and gender in Scotland has flourished and we have an increasingly full picture of women's lives at all social levels across the century. As a result, this is an appropriate moment to reflect on what we know about Scottish women during the eighteenth century, to ask how their history affects the traditional narratives of the period, and to reflect on the implications for a national history of Scotland and Scottish identity. Divided into three sections, covering women's intimate, intellectual and public lives, this interdisciplinary volume offers articles on women's work, criminal activity, clothing, family, education, writing, travel and more. Applying tools from history, art anthropology, cultural studies, and English literature, it draws on a wide-range of sources, from the written to the visual, to highlight the diversity of women's experiences and to challenge current male-centric historiographies.

*Shortlisted for the 2022 Lord Aberdare Literary Prize* This book is the first, full-length scholarly examination of British women’s involvement in equestrianism from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, as well as the corresponding transformations of gender, class, sport, and national identity in Britain and its Empire. It argues that women’s participation in horse sports transcended limitations of class and gender in Britain and highlights the democratic ethos that allowed anyone skilled enough to ride and hunt – from chimney-sweep to courtesan. Furthermore, women’s involvement in equestrianism reshaped ideals of race and reinforced imperial ideology at the zenith of the British Empire. Here, British women abandoned the sidesaddle – which they had been riding in for almost half a millennium – to ride astride like men, thus gaining complete equality on horseback. Yet female equestrians did not seek further emancipation in the form of political rights. This paradox – of achieving equality through sport but not through politics – shows how liberating sport was for women into the twentieth century. It brings into question what “emancipation” meant in practice to women in Britain from the eighteenth through twentieth centuries. This is fascinating reading for scholars of sports history, women's history, British history, and imperial history, as well as those interested in the broader social, gendered, and political histories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and for all equestrian enthusiasts.