Papers presented by Linda Perriton since 2019

2024 Providence, Rhode Island

"The consuming city: women and their businesses in late Victorian Glasgow"

Abstract:

In this paper we offer new quantitative perspectives on the economic contribution of women's businesses and their importance to a rapidly urbanising population. Combining information from entries in trade directories with named business owners in the annual assessment of property rental values, we build a detailed picture of the extent of women’s entrepreneurship in Glasgow, the location of that business activity, and the distance between a women’s business and their place of residence. Between 1861 and 1881, our analysis of rental assessments shows nearly a doubling in the number of commercial premises occupied by women in Glasgow (1,700, to 3,000). This is not reflected in the trade directory listings where we only see an increase from 1,300 to 1,600 listings. Most of the business activity was focused in sectors traditionally associated with women in business during this era (i.e., food, clothing, and teaching), and women business owners consistently paid lower rents than men. However, in some common sectors (alcoholic drinks, furnishings, milk selling), men and women appear to have operated businesses of comparable size, as the rent gap between genders is modest. By rental value the most substantial women-owned businesses were theatres and hotels. Using business addresses from the trade directories and valuation rolls we explore whether women owned businesses were clustered, more likely to be found in certain parts of the city, and the distance between their business and residence. Our preliminary results indicate that women’s businesses populate the city in different ways; women located their businesses closer to their place of residence (or at their place of residence) when compared to their male counterparts. And, by linking Census data to the above information, we explore how factors such as marital status, age, and household influence business distance from residence, and find evidence that family structure influenced this relationship.

2024 Providence, Rhode Island

"Legal change and financial efficacy: The impact of the 1844 Savings Bank Act on trust accounts and trusteeship"

Abstract:

Savings banks were legally instituted in Britain in the early nineteenth century with a particular aim to help the working poor. Their arrival marked the rise of formal thrift provision for small depositors, with little competition for funds until the arrival of the Post Office Savings Bank in 1861. Savings banks filled an important financial function for those on the periphery of the banking system, but they were embroiled in recurrent debates about middle-class appropriation of services intended for the working poor. In this paper, we explore the impact of legal change on the social and economic efficacy of the savings bank movement. The 1844 Act brought about several key changes with respect to the trust arrangement. Firstly, the individual for whom a trust account was established had to enjoy the benefits of the account, and, on withdrawal, signatures of both trustee and beneficiary were required. With respect to bank trustees, individuals were no longer liable for deficiencies at the bank unless they had made a written declaration – but few did. Perhaps unsurprisingly, defalcations followed – precipitating “the search for security” in the following decades (Horne, 1947). We explore the use of trusts through a dual micro (depositor) and macro (institutional) perspective. We use the detailed ledger records of Limehouse Savings Bank (London) to provide insights on the characteristics (name, address, and occupation) and account behaviours of depositors around the 1844 Act. We supplement this with a wider contextual analysis of the impact of the Act on the institutions; and an appraisal of the changing legal context - critical to placing the development of savings banks in their socio-political context.