Search Results

“... insisting he had lifted her clothes proved him to be capable of fornication. In her fine book, Laura Gowing emphasises the extent to which women were vulnerable to sexual assault by their employers. Servants lived in their master’s household, and most people passed through an extended period of service before marriage. Nevertheless, the vast ...”

“... no strangers to the use of physical force or the law in preserving their honour and reputation. As Laura Gowing has shown in the case of London, if your neighbour called you a whore it wasn’t just upsetting: in a cash-poor society, it could affect your ability to get credit. Without credit, and without cash, making your way in the world got harder ...”