This thesis examines the day to day practices that constituted Anne Lister’s (1791–1840) sexuality and sociability within the range of her writings, as well as her society. Anne’s writings were a detailed account, spanning her lifetime, of her own love and relationships with the ‘fairer sex’ (Whitbread 1988, 145). Anne’s sociality, seen in her correspondence and plain handwritten journal entries, has been explored by Muriel Green in Miss Lister of Shibden Hall and Jill Liddington in Female Fortune and Nature’s Domain (Green 1992; Liddington 1998; 2003). As a gentlewoman of adequate means, Anne has garnered some attention from women’s historians interested in her agency within an early nineteenth century social and historical context. Anne’s sexual identity has been extensively analysed over the past nearly twenty years by lesbian feminists, queer theorists, women’s historians and historians of sexuality concerned with the history and development of modern Western female homosexuality and gender. The source for theorising Anne’s sexuality has been the edited selections of the crypted journal entries, published by Helena Whitbread in I Know My Own Heart and No Priest but Love (Whitbread 1988; 1992). However, many analyses deal either with the theorisation of Anne’s sexuality or her sociality; the theoretical difficulty with reconciling these categories has troubled the analysis of her complex subjectivity. Drawing upon the archival materials, I have used an interdisciplinary feminist approach to analyse the sexual and social processes of Anne’s everyday interactions in her writings. Taking the seven month period of the sojourn to Paris in 1824–25, I have focused upon Anne’s textual practices within her journal volume and letters during her residence in Paris, her social practices with the other guests at the guesthouse 24 Place Vendôme and her sexual practices with her lover, the widow Mrs. Maria Barlow. The journal volumes and correspondence are a valuable historical record of one gentlewoman’s engagement with early nineteenth century British culture.

This thesis examines domestic service practises among some members of the Yorkshire gentry during the nineteenth century. Historians usually consider the gentry to have shared the same social outlooks and practises as other members of the upper class in spite of significant differences in income and political power. However, as they were less well-to-do, they could not afford to maintain the variety of servants a wealthy aristocrat could. Three main families were selected to reflect the range of incomes and possession or lack thereof of a hereditary title: the Listers of Shibden Hall, the Sykes of Sledmere House and the Pennymans of Ormesby Hall. The Yorkshire gentry organised country houses servants along the same hierarchical lines as prescriptive authors suggested because this gave servants clear paths for promotion which reduced the frequency of staff turnover; furthermore the architecture of their country houses promoted such organization. Secondly, this architecture reinforced the domestic social positions of every rung of the domestic hierarchy. As part of a unique subgroup of the upper class, gentry ladies were less likely to experience class conflict with servants clearly placed within the domestic service hierarchy. The conclusion is that through selective recruitment processes, the distinctive work environment and a particular labour pool, this group created a unique labour market tailored to their social and economic standing.

This thesis examines domestic service practises among some members of the Yorkshire gentry during the nineteenth century. Historians usually consider the gentry to have shared the same social outlooks and practises as other members of the upper class in spite of significant differences in income and political power. However, as they were less well-to-do, they could not afford to maintain the variety of servants a wealthy aristocrat could. Three main families were selected to reflect the range of incomes and possession or lack thereof of a hereditary title: the Listers of Shibden Hall, the Sykes of Sledmere House and the Pennymans of Ormesby Hall. The Yorkshire gentry organised country houses servants along the same hierarchical lines as prescriptive authors suggested because this gave servants clear paths for promotion which reduced the frequency of staff turnover; furthermore the architecture of their country houses promoted such organization. Secondly, this architecture reinforced the domestic social positions of every rung of the domestic hierarchy. As part of a unique subgroup of the upper class, gentry ladies were less likely to experience class conflict with servants clearly placed within the domestic service hierarchy. The conclusion is that through selective recruitment processes, the distinctive work environment and a particular labour pool, this group created a unique labour market tailored to their social and economic standing.

This thesis examines domestic service practises among some members of the Yorkshire gentry during the nineteenth century. Historians usually consider the gentry to have shared the same social outlooks and practises as other members of the upper class in spite of significant differences in income and political power. However, as they were less well-to-do, they could not afford to maintain the variety of servants a wealthy aristocrat could. Three main families were selected to reflect the range of incomes and possession or lack thereof of a hereditary title: the Listers of Shibden Hall, the Sykes of Sledmere House and the Pennymans of Ormesby Hall. The Yorkshire gentry organised country houses servants along the same hierarchical lines as prescriptive authors suggested because this gave servants clear paths for promotion which reduced the frequency of staff turnover; furthermore the architecture of their country houses promoted such organization. Secondly, this architecture reinforced the domestic social positions of every rung of the domestic hierarchy. As part of a unique subgroup of the upper class, gentry ladies were less likely to experience class conflict with servants clearly placed within the domestic service hierarchy. The conclusion is that through selective recruitment processes, the distinctive work environment and a particular labour pool, this group created a unique labour market tailored to their social and economic standing.

This thesis examines domestic service practises among some members of the Yorkshire gentry during the nineteenth century. Historians usually consider the gentry to have shared the same social outlooks and practises as other members of the upper class in spite of significant differences in income and political power. However, as they were less well-to-do, they could not afford to maintain the variety of servants a wealthy aristocrat could. Three main families were selected to reflect the range of incomes and possession or lack thereof of a hereditary title: the Listers of Shibden Hall, the Sykes of Sledmere House and the Pennymans of Ormesby Hall. The Yorkshire gentry organised country houses servants along the same hierarchical lines as prescriptive authors suggested because this gave servants clear paths for promotion which reduced the frequency of staff turnover; furthermore the architecture of their country houses promoted such organization. Secondly, this architecture reinforced the domestic social positions of every rung of the domestic hierarchy. As part of a unique subgroup of the upper class, gentry ladies were less likely to experience class conflict with servants clearly placed within the domestic service hierarchy. The conclusion is that through selective recruitment processes, the distinctive work environment and a particular labour pool, this group created a unique labour market tailored to their social and economic standing.