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Silent Partners: Women as Public Investors during Britain's Financial Revolution, 1690-1750

Online ISBN:
9780191821837
Print ISBN:
9780198767985
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Silent Partners: Women as Public Investors during Britain's Financial Revolution, 1690-1750

Amy M. Froide
Amy M. Froide

Associate Professor of History

Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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Published online:
17 November 2016
Published in print:
13 October 2016
Online ISBN:
9780191821837
Print ISBN:
9780198767985
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Silent Partners restores women to their part in the story of England’s Financial Revolution. Women were active participants in London’s first stock market beginning in the 1690s and on through the eighteenth century. Whether playing the State lottery, investing in government funds for retirement, or speculating in company stocks, women regularly comprised between a fifth and a third of public investors. These female investors ranged from London servants to middling tradeswomen, on up to provincial gentlewomen and peeresses of the realm. There was, however, no single female investor type, rather some women ran risks and speculated in stocks while others sought out low risk, low return options for their retirement years. Not only did women invest for themselves, their financial knowledge and ability meant that family members often relied on wives, sisters, and aunts to act as their investing agents. Moreover, female creditors not only benefited themselves and their families, they also aided the nation. Women’s capital was a critical component of Britain’s rise to economic, military, and colonial dominance in the eighteenth century. Focusing on the period between 1690 and 1750, and utilizing women’s account books and financial correspondence, as well as the records of joint-stock companies, the Bank of England, and the Exchequer, Silent Partners provides the first comprehensive overview of the significant role women played in the birth of financial capitalism in Britain.

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