Study title

Autobiographies by working men and women who were born between 1700 and 1878 will be studied to cast light on family life and labour in the first industrial revolution. Subjects to be explored include: the allocation of labour time among waged work, self-provisioning and work in the home; how this allocation varied by age and gender; how children's time was mobilised; if the household's external relationships influenced its internal organisation; whether market work was driven by consumption aspirations or the need to defend standards; what particular goods were desired; whether marriage typically required the accumulation of a standard set of goods. A further issue concerns how families came to decisions on these matters. Was this democratic? Or did husbands dominate wives and parents rule children? Since these questions relate to family relationships, they are difficult to answer using standard sources. The autobiographies provide a rare historical window into humble homes and rich commentary on families' economic strategies. The methodology combines quantitative and qualitative information from the autobiographies to recapture and understand how families responded to both the opportunities and the pressures of industrialisation.