Naval wives & mistresses / Margarette Lincoln.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lincoln, Margarette.

Contributor:

National Maritime Museum (Great Britain)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Navy spouses--Great Britain--Social conditions--18th century.

Navy spouses.

Wives--Effect of husband's employment on--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Wives.

Wives--Effect of husband's employment on.

History.

Social conditions.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

218 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Naval wives and mistresses

Place of Publication:

London : National Maritime Museum, 2007.

Summary:

An innovative study of naval women who stayed at home while their men went to sea. Focusing on the second half of the eighteenth century, a period when Britain was almost continuously at war, this book looks at different social groups, from the aristocratic elite to the labouring and criminal poor, prostitutes and petty thieves. Drawing on a range of material from personal letters to trial reports, from popular prints to love tokens, it exposes the personal cost of warfare and imperial ambition.

It also reveals the opportunities for greater self-determination that some women were able to grasp, as the responsibility for maintaining the home and bringing up children fell squarely on them in their husbands' absence. The text includes many voices from the past and throws fresh light on an under-researched aspect of women's history.

Contents:

1 Naval Women and Society 15

2 The Aristocracy and the Gentry 51

3 The Middling Sort 91

4 The Labouring and Criminal Classes 135

5 Warfare and Women's Lives 173.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-210) and index.

ISBN:

9780948065927

0948065923

OCLC:

154805584