Upstairs-Downstairs: The Life of Women in England's Country Homes During the Regency Era, 1775-1837
Graduation Date
Spring 2010
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program Name
Humanities
First Reader
Martin Anderson, JD, PhD
Second Reader
Thomas Burke, MA
Abstract
This thesis focuses on the role of women during the Regency Era in England, from 1775 to 1837, centered on the lives of women who were servants or women who had servants. Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austen, Nelly Weeton, and Agnes Porter are featured. Similarities and differences among these women are examined using diaries, letters, and hooks written by them as well as about them. England went through dramatic changes during this fifty-year period due to population growth, the shift from small family farms to large manorial farms, the move from an agricultural to an industrial based economy, major wars with America and France, and changing attitudes due to the Age of Enlightenment. The educational, employment and matrimonial choices open to women are explored. The evidence will show that despite considerable differences the constraints under which these women lived were more common than one would expect.