Aristocratic Women and Political Society in Victorian Britain

by K. D. Reynolds

Overview

This study of gender and power in Victorian Britain is the first book to examine the contribution made by women to the public culture of the British aristocracy in the 19th century. Based on a wide range of archival sources, it explores the roles of aristocratic women in public life, from their country estates to the salons of Westminster and the royal court. Reynolds also shows that a partnership of authority between men and women was integral to aristocratic life, thus making an important contribution to the "separate spheres" debate. Moreover, she reveals in full the crucial role that these women played at all levels of political activity—from local communities to the national electoral process. The book is both a lively portrait of women's experiences in modern Britain and a corrective to the view of the upper-class Victorian woman as a passive social butterfly.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198207276
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	07/16/1998
Series:	Oxford Historical Monographs
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1820L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

AcknowledgementsNote on Names1. ‘The Lady at their Head': Women and the Landed Estates2. ‘The Business and Charities of the Parish': Churches, Schools, and Local Authority3. ‘Many to Take Care of': Charity, Philanthropy, and Paternalism4. ‘Aristocratical and Female Influence': Elections and Electioneering5 ‘Party' Politics: Metropolitan Political Society.6. ‘A Busy and Suspicious "Cabal" or "Head Housemaids"'? The Ladies of Queen Victoria's HouseholdConclusionBiographical AppendixBibliography

Editorial Reviews

"Reynold's thesis about her aristocratic women in succinct and persuasive...[She] has herself performed an important work in alerting us to some interesting realities of identity formation for Victorian aristocratic women, with implications for our understanding of other presumptive elites who were filled with what Robert Coles has called a 'sense of entitlement.'"—Albion

"[A]n important and well-researched contribution...Reynolds provides a wealth of close detail to further her argument, and she has delved into an impressive array of papers in search of sometimes elusive clues as to the lives of these women...[A] superbly researched and ...important study...[W]ell written, meticulously evidenced, and brave, this is an important study that will be read fruitfully by a wide range of historians."—Journal of Modern History

"This study of the female aristocracy during the Victorian era sheds new light on an old question."—Americal Historical Review

From the Publisher