Mistresses and Marriage
Or, a Short History of the Mrs
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3133324 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A L Erickson (University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 78 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 39-57 |
| Publication date | 2014-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History Workshop Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1363-3554 • E-ISSN: 1477-4569 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/hwj/dbt002 |
| OpenAlex | W1972308527 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 14 |
| References cited | 3 |
The ubiquitous forms of address for women ‘Mrs'and ‘Miss' are both abbreviations of ‘mistress'. Although mistress is a term with a multiplicity of meanings, in early modern England the mistress most commonly designated the female equivalent of master–that is, a person with capital who directed servants or apprentices. Prior to the mid eighteenth century, there was only Mrs (or Mris, Ms, or other forms of abbreviation). Mrs was applied to any adult woman who merited the social distinction, without any marital connotation. Miss was reserved for young girls until the mid eighteenth century. Even when adult single women started to use Miss, Mrs still designated a social or business standing, and not the status of being married, until at least the mid nineteenth century. This article demonstrates the changes in nomenclature over time, explains why Mrs was never used to accord older single women the same status as a married woman, and argues that the distinctions are important to economic and social historians.
Apprenticeship · Connotation · Marital status · Social history (medicine) · Social science · Social status · Sociology · Demography · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology
Evaluating Gender-Bias in the Iranian Pre-University English Textbooks
Politiques féministes du nom (France, xixe-xxie siècle)
Mistress or maid
Gender, Labour, and State Formation in Sixteenth-Century Sweden
Working Mothers' in Eighteenth-Century London
Women’s work on small change
How well did the nineteenth century census record women's ‘regular’ employment in England and Wales? A case study of Hertfordshire in 1851
Coverture and the Marital Partnership in Late Medieval Nottingham
Worthless Witnesses? Marginal Voices and Women's Legal Agency in Early Modern England
Women, Marital Status, and Law
Women, Politics, and the 1723 Oaths of Allegiance to George I
Wealthy businesswomen, marriage and succession in eighteenth-century London
Reading the Sexual Economy of Academic Freedom with Sarah Kofman and Jacques Derrida
A Vitious Way of Observing
| Unique citing works | 14 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,08 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2025 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |