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“The Widow, The Clergyman And The Reckless”: Women Investors In England, 1830—1914

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  • Janette Rutterford
  • Josephine Maltby

Abstract

Modern historians infrequently acknowledge that women were financial investors before the twentieth century. Yet a study of nineteenth-century England shows substantial groups of women investing for income, capital growth, or a share in the family business. This article will summarize the evidence for women as investors and consider why their participation has been until recently largely ignored by scholars. Second, it will analyze the forms taken by women's investment, exploring the extent to which the development of the stock market and legal changes in married women's property rights facilitated a growing female role in investment. Third, it will analyze the objectives and needs of the three main groups of women investors: speculators, income-seekers, and family investors. The findings have implications for understanding the economic position of women before the First World War and also for contemporary discussion of women's wealth and investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Janette Rutterford & Josephine Maltby, 2006. "“The Widow, The Clergyman And The Reckless”: Women Investors In England, 1830—1914," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 111-138.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:12:y:2006:i:1-2:p:111-138
    DOI: 10.1080/13545700500508288
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Walker, S. P., 1998. "How to secure your husband's esteem. Accounting and private patriarchy in the British middle class household during the nineteenth century," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(5-6), pages 485-514.
    2. David R. Green & Alastair Owens, 2003. "Gentlewomanly capitalism? Spinsters, widows, and wealth holding in England and Wales, c. 1800–1860," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 56(3), pages 510-536, August.
    3. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2001. "Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 261-292.
    4. Mary Beth Combs, 2006. "Cui Bono? The 1870 British Married Women'S Property Act, Bargaining Power, And The Distribution Of Resources Within Marriage," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 51-83.
    5. Susan Yohn, 2006. "Crippled Capitalists: The Inscription Of Economic Dependence And The Challenge Of Female Entrepreneurship In Nineteenth-Century America," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 85-109.
    6. Christopher Clay, 1968. "Marriage, Inheritance, and the Rise of Large Estates in England, 1660–1815," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 21(3), pages 503-518, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Graeme G. Acheson & John D. Turner, 2011. "Investor behaviour in a nascent capital market: Scottish bank shareholders in the nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(1), pages 188-213, February.
    2. John D. Turner, 2009. "Wider share ownership?: investors in English and Welsh Bank shares in the nineteenth century1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(s1), pages 167-192, August.
    3. Annaert, Jan & Verdickt, Gertjan, 2021. "Go active or stay passive: Investment trust, financial innovation and diversification in Belgium's early days," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Janette Rutterford & Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos & Carry van Lieshout, 2023. "Individual investors and social ownership structures in the UK before the 1930s: Joint holdings and trustee investment," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(2), pages 661-692, May.
    5. Acheson, Graeme G. & Coyle, Christopher & Jordan, David P. & Turner, John D., 2018. "Share trading activity and the rise of the rentier in the UK before 1920," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-04, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    6. Helen Doe, 2010. "Waiting for her ship to come in? The female investor in nineteenth‐century sailing vessels," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(1), pages 85-106, February.
    7. Acheson, Graeme G. & Campbell, Gareth & Gallagher, Áine & Turner, John D., 2018. "Independent women: Shareholders in the age of the suffragettes," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    8. Janette Rutterford & David R. Green & Josephine Maltby & Alastair Owens, 2011. "Who comprised the nation of shareholders? Gender and investment in Great Britain, c. 1870–1935," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(1), pages 157-187, February.
    9. Acheson, Graeme G. & Campbell, Gareth & Turner, John D., 2015. "Who financed the expansion of the equity market? Shareholder clienteles in Victorian Britain," QUCEH Working Paper Series 15-07, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    10. Grant Fleming & Zhangxin (Frank) Liu & David Merrett & Simon Ville, 2023. "Gender(ed) equity: The growth of female shareholding in Australia, 1857-1937," CEH Discussion Papers 05, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial markets and institutions; household behavior; family economics; JEL Codes: N23; J16; D10;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • D10 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - General

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