Bibliography

Here are some books and websites that may help those with an interest in women's history or the history of the marginalised. The focus is on British history and British research. We will be adding more books and websites shortly; we welcome suggestions. You can also find lists of relevant resources relating to a particular category on some of the stories pages​. Do look at the articles on our website too.

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Adie, Kate Corsets to Camouflage: woman and war Hodder & Stoughton (2003)

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Alberti, Johanna Beyond Suffrage: Feminists in War and Peace 1914-28 Macmillan (1989) 

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Alcott, William Andrus The Young Wife, or Duties of Woman in the Marriage Relation George W Light (1837)

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Andrews, Maggie and Lomas, Janis 101 Things you Need to Know about Suffragettes The History Press (2018)

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Antrobus, Stuart ‘We Wouldn’t Have Missed It For the World’: The Women’s Land Army in Bedfordshire, 1939-1950 Book Castle (2008)

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Ashworth, Emily The Land Army's Lost Women Pen & Sword (2023)

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Aston, Jennifer and Anderson, Olive Deserted Wives and Economic divorce in C19th England and Wales:'For Wives Alone' Hart Publishing (2024)

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Ayres, James The Shell Book of the Home in Britain: decoration, design and construction of vernacular interiors Faber and Faber (1981)

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Bales, Mitzi They said ‘No’ to War: British women conscientious objectors in world war 11

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Barber, Elizabeth Wayland Women's Work the First 20,000 Years: women cloth and society in early times W W Norton & co. (1996)

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Barker, Hannah and Elaine Chalus [eds.] Women's History: Britain 1700-1850, an introduction Routledge (2000)

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Bartley P, ‘Preventing Prostitution: the ladies association for the care and protection of young girls in Birmingham, 1887-1914’ in Women’s History Review 37 (2006)

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Bartley, Paula Prostitution: prevention and reform in England 1860-1914 Routledge (2004)

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Bates, Martha. Snagging Turnips and Scaling Muck : The Women's Land Army in Westmorland Kendal Helm Press (2001)

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Baudino, Isabelle; Carré, Jacques and Révauger, Cecile (eds.) The Invisible Woman: Aspects of Women's Work in Eighteenth-Century Britain Ashgate (2005)

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Beddoe, Deirdre Back Home to Duty: women between the wars 1918-1939 Pandora (1989)

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Beeton, Mrs Isabella The Book of Household Management (many editions)

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Best, Michael R (ed.) Markham, Gervase The English Housewife McGill-Queen’s University Press (1986 first published in 1615)

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Bott, Alan [ed.] Our mothers: a cavalcade in pictures, quotation and description of late Victorian women 1870-1900 Gollancz (1932)

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Bourke, Joanna Husbandry to Housewifery: Women, Economic Change, and Housework in Ireland 1890-1914 Oxford University Press (1993)

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Bradley, R M The English Housewife in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Edward Arnold (1912)

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Branca, Patricia Silent Sisterhood: middle class women in the Victorian Home Croom Helm (1975)

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Bressey, Caroline Empire, Race and the Politics of Anti-Caste Bloomsbury (2013) The story of Catherine Impey, who started an anti-racism magazine in 1888

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British Weekly Commissioners Toilers in London; or, inquiries concerning female labour in the metropolis Hodder and Stoughton (1889)

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Brits, Elsabe Emily Hobhouse: Beloved Traitor Tafelberg (2016)

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Broglin, C G Jana Sloan Hookers, Crooks and Kooks: Part 1 Hookers Heritage Books (2007)

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Burlison, Robert Tracing your Pauper Ancestors: a guide for family historians Pen and Sword (2009)

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Burman, Barbara and Fennetaux, Ariane The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women's Lives, 1660-1900 Yale University Press (2020)

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Burnett, John ed. Useful Toil: autobiographies of working people from the 1820s to the 1920s Routledge (1994)

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Burtinshaw, Kathryn and Burt, Dr John Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots: a history of insanity in nineteenth century Britain and Ireland Pen & Sword (2017)

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Cale, Michelle Saved from a Life of Vice and Crime: reformatory and industrial schools for girls, c.1854-c.1901 unpublished thesis for the University of Oxford (1993)

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Carlson, Jessamay Approved Schools for Girls in England 1933-1973: girls will be girls Palgrave Macmillan (2024)

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Cassidy, Tina Birth: a history Chatto and Windus (2007)

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Chater, Kathy My Ancestor was a Lunatic: a guide to sources for family historians Pen & Sword (2014)

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Chrystal, Paul Women at Work in World Wars I and II: factories, farms and the military and civil services Pen and Sword (2024)

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Clark, Alice Working Life of Women in the Seventeenth Century Routledge (1982)

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Clark, Richard Women and the Noose: a history of female execution Tempus (2007)

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Clarke, Gill The Women’s Land Army: a portrait Sansom and Co. Ltd. (2008)

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Cole, Anne An Introduction to Poor Law Documents before 1834 FFHS 2nd edition (2000)

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Cox, Jessica Confinement: the hidden history of maternal bodies in nineteenth century Britain The History Press (2023)

Cox, Pamela Gender, Justice and Welfare: bad girls in Britain 1900-1950 Palgrave Macmillan (2003)

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Cox, Pamela & Hobley, Annabel Shopgirls: the true story of life behind the counter Hutchinson (2014)

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Crawford, Elizabeth The Women's Suffrage Movement: a reference guide 1866-1928 (Routledge 2000)

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Davidson, Caroline A Woman’s Work is Never Done: a history of housework in the British Isles 1650-1950 Chatto and Windus, London (1986)

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Davis, Mark Voices from the Asylum: West Riding pauper lunatic asylum Amberley Publishing (2013)

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Dawson, Thomas The Good Housewife’s Jewel Southover Press (1996 first published in 1596/7)

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DeBartolo, Sharon Telling her Story: a guide to researching and writing about women of teh past Scattered Leaves Press (2024) NB this is a US based book

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De la Haye, Amy Land Girls: Cinderellas of the soil Royal Pavilion Libraries & Museums (2009)

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Dyhouse, Carol Girls Growing up in Late Victorian and Edwardian England Law Books (1980)

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Emm, Adele Tracing your Female Ancestors: a guide for family historians Pen and Sword (2019)

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Erickson, Amy Louise Women and Property in Early Modern England Routledge (1995)

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Fessler, Ann The Girls who went Away: the hidden history of women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe.v. Wade Penguin (2007)

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Few, Janet Remember Then: women’s memories of 1946-1969 and how to write your own Family History Partnership (2014)

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Few, Janet Tracing your Marginalised Ancestors: a guide for family historians Pen and Sword (2024)

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Finnegan, Frances Poverty and Prostitution: a study of Victorian prostitutes in York Cambridge University Press (1979)

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Flanders, Judith Prostitution

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Flanders, Judith The Victorian House: domestic life from childbirth to deathbed Harper Perennial (2004)

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Fowler, Simon Workhouse: the people, the places, the life behind doors Pen and Sword (2014)

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Fox, Sarah Giving Birth in Eighteenth Century England University of London Press (2022)

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Fraser, Antonia The Weaker Vessel: women's lot in the seventeenth century Vintage Books (1984)

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Freeling, Arthur The Young Bride’s Book: being hints for regulating the conduct of married women Henry Washbourne (1839)

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Gear, Gillian Carol Industrial Schools in England 1857-1933: moral hospitals or oppressive institutions? Unpublished PhD thesis for University of London Institute of Education (1999)

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Gelis, Jacques History of Childbirth, Fertility, Pregnancy and birth in Early Modern Europe Polity (1996)

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Gibson, Marion Witchcraft: a history in thirteen trials Simon & Schuster (2023)

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Gordon, Dee Voices from History: Essex Land Girls The History Press (2015)

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Gowing, Laura Ingenious Trade: women and work in seventeenth century London Cambridge University Press (2021)

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Graham, Ysenda Maxtone Jobs for the Girls: how we set out to work in the typewriter age (Dilly's Story) Abacus (2023)

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Graham, Ysenda Maxtone Terms & Conditions: Life in Girls' Boarding Schools, 1939-1979  Abacus (2017)

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Gregory, Phillippa Normal Women: 900 years of making history William Collins (2023)

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Griffiths, Gareth R Women’s Factory Work in World War One Sutton Publishing (1991)

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Grof, Lazlo L Children of Straw Barracuda (1988)

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Hampton, Janie How the Girl Guides Won the War Harper Collins (2011)

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Harding, Phil The British Shell Shortage of the First World War Fonthill Media (2015)

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Hartley, Jenny Charles Dickens and the House of the Fallen Women Methuen (2009)

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Hawkings, David T Pauper Ancestors: a guide to the records created by the poor laws in England and Wales The History Press (2011)

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Healey, Robynne Rogers and Spencer, Carole Dale [eds.] Quaker Women, 1800–1920: studies of a changing landscape Penn State University Press (2023)

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Hemyng, B ‘Prostitution in London’, in Mayhew, H., London Labour and the London Poor: Volume IV Those Who Will Not Work; Comprising Prostitutes, Thieves, Swindlers and Beggars (Dover Publications 1862)

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Higginbotham, Peter The Workhouse Encyclopaedia The History Press (2014)

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Hill, Bridget Eighteenth Century Women: an anthology Routledge (2012)

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Hill, Bridget Women Alone: spinsters in England 1650-1850 Yale University Press (2001)

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Hill, Bridget Women, Work And Sexual Politics In Eighteenth-Century England Routledge (2005)

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Hobby, Elaine [ed.] Sharp, Jane The Midwives’ Book or, the whole art of midwifery discovered Oxford University Press (1999 first published in 1671)

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Holcombe, Lee Wives and Property University of Toronto Press (1983)

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Hole, Christina The English Housewife in the Seventeenth Century Chatto & Windus (1953)

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Holton, Sandra Stanley Feminism and Democracy: women's suffrage and reform politics in Britain 1900-1918 Cambridge University Press (1986)

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Holton, Sandra Stanley Quaker Women: personal life, memory and radicalism in the lives of women Friends 1780-1930 Routledge (2007)

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Holton, Sandra Stanley Suffrage Days: stories from the women’s suffrage movement Routledge (2002)

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Honeyman, Katrina Women, Gender and Industrialisation in England 1700-1870 Macmillan (2000)

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Horn, Pamela Life Below Stairs in the Twentieth Century Sutton Publishing (2003)

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Horn, Pamela  My Ancestor was in Service Society of Genealogists (2009)

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Horn, Pamela The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Servant Macmillan (1995)

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Ingham, Mary Tracing your Servicewoman Ancestors Pen and Sword (2012)

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Jalland, Pat Women, Marriage and Politics 1860-1914 Clarendon Press 1986

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Jarrett, Simon Disability in Time and Place 

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Jarrett, Simon He is so Silly he would Rather have a Half Pence than a Shilling: discovering the history of learning disability 

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Jolly, Emma My Ancestor was a Woman at War Society of Genealogists (2014)

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Joyce, Fraser Prostitution and the Nineteenth Century: in search of the ‘Great Social Evil’