Quick Update on research: Women in Local History

Women in Local History 

It occurred to me recently that I haven’t really blogged about my Ph.D focus and how I plan to approach it. 

My research focus has recently changed. Anyone who attended my transfer seminar back in May will know that I have been researching the wives and daughters of boot and shoe manufacturers and their participation in local philanthropy within Northampton. This has shifted my focus onto considering women's history further and more specifically on the importance of women in local history.

There are many things that I need consider to answer the fundamental question of why women are important in a local history study. For example, is it necessary to include women into an already written history? My current focus is looking at the wives and daughters of prominent boot and shoe industry in Northampton. These women are rarely written about in the local histories and even when appearing in the local newspapers are written about with reference to their husbands.  

Take this newspaper report about Mrs Louisa Manfield from 1915. Even though it reports that she has the position of President of the Y.W.C.A, she is still reported as being Mrs Harry Manfield, in reference to her husband.[1] (For this type of research, that's not always a bad thing. There are two wives with the name Mrs Louisa Manfield so it does also help differentiate the two) 

 So why is it necessary to consider these women? When I presented my seminar on Ladies in the Shoe Industry as part of my PhD transfer process in May I argued that local cases are key in forming a different focus to that of the national picture and by considering women's history in a social context does just that. For example, as discussed during the seminar, much written about philanthropy during the nineteenth and early twentieth century can be very London focused. Steven King suggests that local studies provide the opportunity to take more positive consideration of female agency in local and municipal politics.[2]

Whilst researching for my seminar paper it became clear that the wives and daughters of the boot and shoe manufacturers participated in activities such as charitable donations, public appearances, fundraising activities as well as holding local authority positions such as on the Local school boards and hospital boards. Without looking at local newspapers such as the Northampton Mercury and Daily Echo from the period, these connections may not have been as obvious and although historians such as Kathryn Gleadle and Jane Lewis wrote about the positions of women, a local study such as this puts their research into a local context rather than a national context. Frank Prochaska points out that whilst academics accepted women's philanthropic efforts, the impact and origin of their participation is not reflected.[3] Studies such as this one, can draw out that participation and, although much of the research will focus on the middle classes, it is hoped that there will be some links to working class women due to the nature of the women being researched.

 

There's also something quite personal about a local study such as this one.  I was born in Northampton and have lived here all my life.  Two of the hospital connections to this research have a personal connection too.  Northampton General Hospital is full of connections to the boot and shoe industry including Barratt Maternity Home, where I and my daughter were both born. Manfield Hospital, another which has strong connections to the industry, was the hospital where I had operations on my feet when I was a child. Local studies such as these bring an extra layer to those personal connections and, although experiences can't be allowed to steer the research, it certainly brings a dogged determination on the research to do those memories justice. 

 

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[1] Northampton Mercury, 8^th January 1915

[2] Steven King, Women, Welfare and Local Politics, 1880 – 1920: ‘We Might Be Trusted’ (Brighton, Sussex Academic Press, 2010) p. 4

[3] F. K Prochaska, Women in English Philanthropy, 1790 – 1930, International Review of Social History, 1974, vol. 19 (3), pp. 42 – 445, (p. 426)