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

CRAFTS AND TRADES. . . . shall teach,other printer or workmandirect or instruct any person or persons whatsoever,other than his or their own legitimate son or sons,in this Art or Mystery of Printing, who is not actuallybound as an Apprentice to some lawful authorisedPrinter."'From the omission here of any mention ofdaughters it is clear that the Master Printers'women folk did not concern themselves with thetechnical side of his trade ; but some attempt wasevidently made to use other girls in the unskilledprocesses, for on a petition being presented in 1635by the younger printers, concerning abuses whlchthey wished removed, the Stationers' Companyadopted the following recommendation, " That noMaster Printer shall hereafter permit or suffer bythemselves or their journeyman any Girles, Boyes,or others to take off anie sheets from the tinpin ofthe presse, but hee that pulleth at the presse shalltake off every sheete him~elf."~The young printers were successful in their effortsto preserve the monopoly value of their position,and formed an organisation amongst themselves toprotect their interests against the masters; but inthis association the wives of the young printersfound no place. They could no longer helptheir husbands who were working, not at home,but on the master's premises; and as girls were notusually apprenticed to the printing trade women werenow virtually excluded from it.Some imagination is needed to realise the socialresults of the change thus effected by capitalisticorganisation on the economic position of marriedwomen, for no details have been discovered of thel Arber, Transcript, Vol. IV., p. 534.'Ibid, Vol. I, p. 16.' S.P.D., ccci., 105, Kov. 16, 1635./CRAFTS AND TRADES~rinters' domestic circumstances; but as the wifewas clearly unable to occupy herself with her husband'strade, neither she nor her daughters could sharethe economic privileges which he won for himselfand his fellows by his organising ability. If hiswages were sufficiently high for her to devoteherself to household affairs, she became his unpaiddomestic servant, depending entirely on hisgoodwill for the living of herself and her'children;otherwise she must have conducted a business on her ownaccount, or obtained work as a wage earner, in neithercase receiving any protection from her husband in thecompetition of the labour market.The wives and widows of the Masters were meanwhileactively engaged in other branches of theStationers' Company. In a list of Publishers coveringthe years I 553-1640, nearly ten per cent. of the namesgiven are those of women, probably all of whom werewidows.' One of these, the widow of Francis Coldock,married in 1603 Isaac Binge, the Master of the Company." She had three husbands, all Bachelors andStationers, and died 1616, and is buried in St. AndrewUndershaft in a vault with Symon Burton her father.2The names of these women can be found also in thebooks they published.For example " The TrueWatch and Rule of Life " by John Brinsley the elder,printed by H. Lownes for Joyce Macham, 7th ed.1615, the eighth edition being printed for herbv T. Beale in I 61 g, and " an Epistle . . . . uponthe present pestilence " by Henoch Clapham, wasprinted by T.C. for the Widow Newber~, London,1603. A woman who was a Binder is referred toin an order made by the Bishop of London in 1685" to damask . . . . counterfeit Primmirs'seized at Mrs. Harris's Binder, "l and Women are-- -' Arber, Transcript, Vol. V., p. Ixxxi-cxi.' Ibrd, Vol. V., p. Ixiii.