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- Title
Living standards of women in England and Wales, 1785-1815: New evidence from Newgate prison records.
- Authors
Nicholas, Stephen; Oxley, Deborah
- Abstract
The article focuses on the living standards of women in England and Wales from 1785 to 1815 using evidence on the height of 16,573 women in the industrial revolution. Industrialization had a differential impact on the English women's living standards, with rural-born women suffering most. It was found that the height of rural-born English women fell 0.75 inches between 1800 and 1815. New data on stature of 16,573 women collected from the Newgate prison registers confirm the original finding that rural female heights fell between 1785 and 1815. More importantly, the Newgate data reveal the complex regional patterns of living standards. The height of Middlesex-born women rose more than 0.7 inches from a 1797 low to a peak of 61.4 inches in 1812. In contrast, urban-born women, whose birthplace was outside Middlesex, experienced a fall in average height of 0.85 inches from an 18 peak to a low point in 1812. These different experiences for urban-born women focus future research on uncovering the complex patterns of regional living standards.
- Subjects
ENGLAND; WALES; QUALITY of life; WOMEN; INDUSTRIALIZATION; INDUSTRIAL revolution
- Publication
Economic History Review, 1996, Vol 49, Issue 3, p591
- ISSN
0013-0117
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/2597766