This comprehensive account was first published in 1919 and was written by Alice Clark, of the Quaker shoemaking family. Clark (1874-1934) herself is an interesting character, rising to become a director of the family firm in an era when this would have been very unusual. Her Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century is, justifiably, still regarded as a key work on this topic. Sadly it is not currently in print, although the publishers, Routledge, do offer a Kindle edition. You can get copies on online auction sites and various facsimile reprints are available.

The book considers the vital role of women in the family economy, in a century when we tend to imagine that all women were downtrodden housewives. Women’s roles in business, in agriculture, textiles, crafts and the professions are all considered. Clark’s stance is that seventeenth century women enjoyed an equality with men, that their role was complementary, rather than identical and that they played an invaluable part in the family economy. She has used account books, diaries, letters and other sources to illustrate the central role that some women played. She goes on to argue that women began to lose their place in the economic world with the rise of capitalism. By the end of the seventeenth century, she feels, women were increasingly constrained by household duties. The author’s feminist stance and her interest in economics and I suspect socialism, is in evidence but does not detract from the narrative. My Routledge edition has an valuable introduction and bibliography, contributed by Amy Louise Erickson. These enhance Clark’s own list of contemporary and secondary sources.

I enjoyed this book because it provides information about my favourite (well one of my favourites) century. Although this book is about the seventeenth century, it does also give us an understanding of aspects of the early twentieth century too. Clark was actively involved in the women’s suffrage movement and unusually, was a mature student at the London School of Economics. That a woman could write a book like this at this time is insightful.

A couple of things about the early twentieth century while I am here. First of all, it seem likes a long way away because of the seasonal celebrations in between but it is just five weeks before my online course about researching your family and/or locality in the early twentieth century begins. To save you clicking through to the blurb I will copy it here (see how I look after you). “Family historians often neglect the twentieth century as being ‘not really history’ but there is plenty to be discovered about individuals and the communities in which they lived between 1900 and 1945. Twentieth century research brings with it the difficulties of larger and more mobile populations as well as records that are closed to view. This course sets out to provide advice for finding out about our more recent ancestors and the context for their lives. This course would be of interest to those undertaking one-place studies as well as family historians.” It may surprise you how much there is still to be found about a comparatively recent period and the course contains plenty of hints for investigating the social history of the time. What ever time period you choose, focusing on just a few years really pays dividends, whether you are a family historian or a local historian. Sign up, you know you want to. Put a course on your Christmas list.

The early twentieth century is of course when Barefoot on the Cobbles is set. In between writing these blogs, which take more time than you might think, I am of course writing further chapters (I put that in in case my publisher is reading this). No, I really am writing. This week it is the harrowing death scene of one of the main characters. I am also trying to compose something that I can add to my Barefoot page on this website, to give you more information about what you can expect. The first attempt may even be there by the time you read this.