working life of women seventeenth century - School of Economics ...

CRAFTS AND TRADESis lett by lease unto Alice Armstrong for 3lives."'Such instances are merely a further proof of theactivity shown by married women in the familybusiness whenever this was carried on within theirreach.Butchers :-Theposition which women took in theRutchers' trade resembled very closely their positionas bakers, for, as has been shown, the special advantageswhich women, by virtue of their domestic training,might have enjoyed when trading as bakers, werecancelled by the statutes and bye-laws limiting thenumbers of those engaged in this trade. As wife orwidow women were able to enter either trade equally.Both trades were subject to minute supervision inthe interests of the public, and as a matter of fact,from the references which happen to have been preserved,it might even appear that the wires of butcherswere more often interested in the family businessthan the wives of bakers. An Act of Henry VIII." lycensyng all bochers for a tyme to sell vytell ingrosse at theyr pleasure " makes it lawful for anyperson "to whom any complaynt shuld be made uponany Boucher his wyff servaunte or other his mynystersrefusing to sell the said vitayles by true and lawfullweight . . . . to comytt evry such Boucherto warde,"' shows an expectation that the wifewould act 2s her husband's agent. But the wife'sposition was that of partner, not servant. During thefirst half of the century, certainly, leases were generallymade conjointly to husband and wife ; for example," Phillip Smith andElizabeth, his wife" appeared beforethe Corporation at Reading " desiringe a new leaseof the Butcher's Shambles, which was granted."3Brewster, Stockton-on-Tees, p. 42.' Statutes 27 H-erg VIIT. c. 0.B Guilding, Rcadrng Records, Vol. IV., p. 122.CRAFTS AND TRADESCustoms at Nottingham secured the widow's possessionof her husband's business premises even without alease, providing that " when anie Butcher shall dyethatt holds a stall or shopp from the towne, thattthen his wyefe or sonne shall hould the same stallor shopp, they vsinge the same trade, otherwaiesthe towne to dispose thereof to him or them thattwill give moste for the stall or shopp : this order tobeelpkewise to them thatt houlds a stall in the Spicechamber^."^The names of women appear in lists of butchersin very similar proportions to the lists of bakers.Thus one for Chester gives the names of twenty menfollowed by three women,' and in a return of sixteenbutchers licensed to sell meat in London during Lent,there is one woman, Mary Wright, and her partner,William W~odfield.~ Bye-laws which control thesale of meat use the feminine as well as the masculinepronouns, showing that the trade was habituallyused by both sexes. The " Act for the Settlementand well ordering of the several Public Markets withinthe City of London " ~rovides that " all and everyCountry butcher . . . . Poulterer . . . .Country Farmers, Victuallers Laders or Kidders. . . . may there sell, utter and put to openshew or sale his, her or their Beef, Mutton, etc., etc.'It may be supposed that these provisions relate onlyto the sale of meat, and that women would not oftenbe associated with the businesses which includedslaughtering the beasts, but this is not the case.Elizabeth Clarke is mentioned in the DorchesterRecords as " apprenticed 7 years to her father aNot'rngham Recm,lr, Vol. V., p. 284 1654.' Harl. MSS., trog to., 300 b.,r565.S. P. D. cxix. IW. February 24. 1621' Act for the Settlement and well Oricring of tbe Scvtral Publick Markets witbin tbrClty of Lonkn, 1674.