Elite Women's Household Management

From the end of the seventeenth century to the
beginning of the nineteenth century, the large
households of the elite represented complex active
communities where individuals held interdependent
relationships with one another. Throughout the
period an elite woman s managerial presence and
performance within the dimensions of domestic space
were key to her more public image and femininity.
From primary sources a complex picture of authority
and deftness arises in which the elite woman was
expected to run the household within the wider
departments of the country estate. For the elite
women of the Yorkshire country house, this
role was to have been one of difficult decision-
making, influenced at all times by degrees of moral
judgement over large numbers of people.

The domestic space of the country house had long
been associated with feminine accomplishment in
the delicate art of needlework or the knowledge of
pickling and preserving. In her role as household
manager an elite woman could actually exercise
expressions of power and find that this space was
more heavily imbued with command, authority and
organisational skill.

Autorentext
Studied art history at De Montfort University in Leicester,
gaining a B.A. (Hons) in 1999. She obtained an M.A. in local
history in 2001 from the University of Leeds before completing
her Ph.D, also at the University of Leeds, in 2007.

Klappentext
From the end of the seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the large households of the elite represented complex active communities where individuals held interdependent relationships with one another. Throughout the period an elite woman's managerial presence and performance within the dimensions of domestic space were key to her more public image and femininity. From primary sources a complex picture of authority and deftness arises in which the elite woman was expected to run the household within the wider departments of the country estate. For the elite women of the Yorkshire country house, this role was to have been one of difficult decision- making, influenced at all times by degrees of moral judgement over large numbers of people. The domestic space of the country house had long been associated with feminine accomplishment in the 'delicate' art of needlework or the knowledge of pickling and preserving. In her role as household manager an elite woman could actually exercise expressions of power and find that this space was more heavily imbued with command, authority and organisational skill.