Female Business Ownership in Birmingham 1849-1901 Midland History Prize Essay 2011.

This article uses a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology to shed light on the previously unexamined female business owners of late nineteenth-century Birmingham. Examination of the Birmingham trade directories from 1849 to 1901 shows that women continued to enter the business community of late nineteenth-century Birmingham and owned a range of businesses. These findings suggest not only that women continued to trade in late nineteenth-century Birmingham as they had prior to 1849, but also that there was no marked deterioration in their opportunity to do so. Attention then turns to the personal and professional lives of some of the 20,000 businesswomen identified in the trade directories. Using a wide variety of sources, the article explores the professional achievements of the businesswomen, their familial and friendship networks, their assets, and their wealth distribution strategies. The results of this analysis demonstrate not only that businesswomen played a public role in the urban business economy of late nineteenth-century Birmingham, but that they acted first and foremost as business owners. This highlights the dangers of using gender as a way to describe the economic opportunities available to women in nineteenth-century England and emphasizes the importance of acknowledging commonality as well as difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]