Here’s what’s missing from the history of rural Britain: the hidden stories of women who shaped it
Rebecca Smith
So, sit down, have a chat, take notes and write the damn stories.
How much does paper and pencil cost these days?
Here’s what’s missing from the history of rural Britain: the hidden stories of women who shaped it
Rebecca Smith
So, sit down, have a chat, take notes and write the damn stories.
How much does paper and pencil cost these days?
Forestry wives, farmers’ wives, coalminers’ wives: they were the backbone of communities. But men always write the narratives
True, I’m sick of these fucking coal miners getting all those book deals.
Cos those histories if written by rural wives would be like a transcript of Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough as Cissie and Ada.
Cotsford Fields on the Durham Coast is named after Cotsford Matthews but locals don’t know her story, whether her land was sold or gifted to the National Trust, or what she did to have a local school, farm and street named after her. It’s probably in an archive somewhere. Good place for Ms Smith to start.
“Anyone know a farmer’s wife who isn’t as much of a farmer as their husband?”
Sure. Round here (affluent West Sussex) most of them seem to be interior designers and therapists.
Only five of the top 20 bestselling books in the UK in the first half of this year were written by men. And one of those was the Ginger Whinger, who barely counts. The publishing industry is about 80% women.
But yeah, it’s da patriarchy stopping all the fishwives’ memoirs coming out.
“But men always write the narratives.”
Why is that? Are women prevented by law from writing about this stuff?
@ Stonyground
No they were prevented by illiteracy.
There was no ban on women learning to read and write – it is reported that Elizabeth 1 was learning Greek at the age of 3. However literacy was mostly confined to men, like fighting in the army/navy and felling trees and building fortresses/ships/churches/sheepfolds/…
Farmer’s wives don’t control the narrative? – Ask the Three Blind Mice.
@John77 – was. Male/female literacy rates were even by 1900.
I’ve not read any social history of the UK but I imagine the main obstacle to the rural peasantry of either sex writing historical accounts, even journals and the like, was work.
Mind you, we did have The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady at home….
MC – I’ve not read any social history of the UK but I imagine the main obstacle to the rural peasantry of either sex writing historical accounts, even journals and the like, was work.
It twere literacy, lad.
And technology, and the economy, and whatnot.
It was this new fangled printing press technology that really started giving the plebs ideas. For most of our history, the ability and means to write anything down on paper was a luxury afforded mainly to judges, priests and scribes.
Kids these days don’t know they’re born. Little bastards moan when their iPads run out of battery. When I was their age, it was clay tablets engraved with cunieform boob jokes.
But we were
@Steve “Kids these days don’t know they’re born”
Damn right. No Facebook or WhatsApp when I were a lad. If we had any news we had to go house to house, opening the letter box and shouting “I’ve got a puppy” or whatever before scampering off to the next house, stopping only to buy some ciggies from the newsagents (“they’re for me mum”).
And as you so poignantly say.
But we were
For most of our history, the ability and means to write anything down on paper …
If you reckon “our history” started when the Romans showed up then for most of our history the crucial problem was that there wasn’t any paper.