Differing Responses to an Industrialising Economy - eTheses ...

however, James Archer, shopkeeper, did own a freehold house in the town. 268
The
shopkeeper, Elizabeth Bumford, had a variety of goods in her shop including tobacco,
snuff, and material such as silk, tustin and holland. 269
Both grocers and shopkeepers
were on the increase after 1750. 270
There must also have been many men and women
running lower status shops, (perhaps as a sideline), which go unnoticed in the records.
In Period A the town was also home to ten families of mercers who were amongst
the most wealthy, well-connected and influential Alcestrians. They were typically
literate, sometimes described as gentry, and had capital to invest in property and to
finance others and often enjoyed links with more distant places. 271
The items sold by the
mercers indicate a growing demand by local consumers for more luxurious and
sophisticated products. This trend is borne out by the presence of other retailers in late
Stuart times including haberdashers, a bookseller and a tobacconist.
The term ‘haberdasher’, little used in Alcester records, could mean a dealer in
small items such as ribbons, and tapes, but was also used in a looser sense. Robert
Ingram, described both as a ‘haberdasher’ and ‘haberdasher of hats’, was a substantial
man, who served as overseer of the poor and held land in the area. Although his father
268 WoRO, probate of James Archer, Alcester, shopkeeper, 1795. Some shopkeepers catered for the
growing demand for food and drink from less wealthy customers, including tea and coffee as these drinks
became more accepted lower down the social scale, as described by A. McCants, ‘Poor consumers as
global consumers: the diffusion of tea and coffee drinking in the eighteenth century’, Econ. Hist. Rev., 61,
S1, pp. 172-200, (2008). Other shops perhaps supplied cheap clothing as women moved into wage labour
in the needle industry rather than making their family’s clothing. See Styles, The Dress of the People, p.
149.
269 WoRO, probate of Elizabeth Bumford, Alcester, widow, 1751, £34-4-0.
270 Probate records reveal no shopkeepers in Periods A and B and 1 each in Periods C and D. UBD 1792
lists 1 shopkeeper and Pigot 1835 lists 3. WaRO, Alcester 1841 census, reveals 4 male and 1 female
shopkeeper. In probate grocers first appear in Period C when there is 1, followed by 4 in Period D. UBD
1792 lists 2 grocers and Pigot 1835 lists 3. WaRO, Alcester 1841 census, lists 7 male grocers and 1 female
grocer.
271 Inventory values range from WoRO, miscellaneous probate (796/376) of Joseph Dewes, Alcester,
mercer, 1662, £176-14-2, to WoRO, probate of William Reynolds, Alcester, mercer, 1668, £1743-18-4.
For example Matthew Crabb, mercer and gent, dealt with land in Great Alne, Fulke Emes issued his own
tokens and Joseph Dewes had connections with Lancashire and Derbyshire.
124