CITY WOMEN IN THE 18TH CENTURY Jessica Collins, Senior Archivist
C
ity Women in the 18th Century is an exciting new outdoor exhibition opening in the City of London this autumn. It will display the often ornately engraved trade cards of the businesswomen of centuries past, bringing them to the attention of the wider public for the first time and celebrating women’s work in London. Focusing on the Cheapside area of the City, which was renowned in this period for its luxury goods, the exhibition will display the trade cards of the scores of women who established and ran successful businesses as milliners, fan makers, silversmiths and upholsterers – to name just a few of the trades represented. Visitors may explore the 700-metre exhibition trail from Paternoster Square in the west to the Royal Exchange in the east, with each trade card displayed near the original location of the 18th-century business it represents. The visual display of these cards – all from The British Museum – will offer an accessible way to explore women’s economic importance in 18th-century commerce and manufacturing within the City. Although bills and receipts were often written upon them, trade cards were essentially business cards and served to advertise goods and services; they often featured elaborately decorative borders and detailed illustrations. Unlike today, most of the luxury goods the cards promoted were made on site, and women traders often employed a considerable workforce. Although the full extent of their activities escapes extant records, this project adds to a growing body of literature disputing the assumption that women did not enter the labour market in large numbers
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THE CLOTHWORKER | AUTUMN 2019
until the 20th century and suggests a much earlier and more entrepreneurial female workforce – at least in the City of London – than was previously believed. Many of these women were Free of one of the City’s livery companies, and those that were not were often entitled to trade by extension of their [often deceased] fathers’ or husbands’ trading privileges as Freemen. The project complements the research of our Senior Archivist, Jessica Collins, who recently published a case study and detailed analysis of women in The Clothworkers’ Company across the 17th and 18th centuries: ‘Jane Holt, Milliner, and Other Women in Business: Apprentices, Freewomen and Mistresses in The Clothworkers’ Company, 16061800’, Textile History, 44 (1), 72-94, May 2013. Jessica has been making contributions to the exhibition, which is curated by Dr Amy Erickson of the University of Cambridge, an authority on women’s history in 18th-century livery companies. Jessica’s research has uncovered important information on several businesswomen working under the auspices of The Company in
the 18th century, but for whom only passing references are found in the Clothworkers’ records. Women featured include Ann Boyer and Elizabeth Hutt. Ann Boyer was the daughter of Jonathan, a Clothworker and silk dyer of Ivy Lane, Newgate Street. She was made Free by Patrimony on 1 August 1753. The following day, Jonathan turned his apprentices over to Ann, including her brother, John. Doing so signified the transfer of responsibility for their training to his daughter, which must indicate considerable confidence in her abilities. One conjectures that she had long been involved in the operation of the business, although she did not, of course, become a Freewoman until after her 21st birthday. John completed his apprenticeship (under his sister, Ann) in 1757. As the exhibition City Women will illustrate, the siblings subsequently co-ran their father’s silk dyeing business – a seemingly unusual turn of affairs, as there are no other surviving trade cards for a female/male co-owned silk dyeing enterprise among the 16,000 trade cards in The British Museum’s
Detail from a trade card of Christopher Gibson. © Victoria and Albert Museum.
