The metropolitan geographies of elite shopping: Mary Leigh and Roger Newdigate in Georgian London

Jon Stobart

Research output: Contribution to ConferencePaper

Abstract

The importance of London as a source of elite goods is a commonplace. Work by Berry, Walsh, Vickery and Greig has painted a vivid picture of the mechanisms through which elite women in particular sought out metropolitan suppliers. It has also suggested a variety of motivations for their metropolitan tastes. We also have a good idea of the changing retail geography of London, with west-end shops becoming increasingly prominent through the eighteenth century. Less clear are the ways in which these two were linked through the spatial practices of consumers: where, precisely, did elites shop? How was this linked to their place of residence, experience of London or longevity in the city? And what difference did gender make? This paper explores these questions by mapping the metropolitan shopping habits of two elite families with estates in rural Warwickshire and houses in London: the Leighs of Stoneleigh Abbey and Newdigates of Arbury Hall. I argue that London retailers were both local and metropolitan – geographies of elite shopping being linked to the London residence and to key retail locations – and that men and women had different shopping geographies in part because of their different engagements in and with London.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 23 May 2013
EventGender in the European Town: Medieval to Modern - University of Southern Denmark, Odense
Duration: 23 May 2013 → …
http://www.sdu.dk/en/om_sdu/institutter_centre/ih/gender_in_the_european_town

Conference

ConferenceGender in the European Town: Medieval to Modern
Period23/05/13 → …
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