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Lady Landlords of Prince Edward IslandImperial Dreams and the Defence of Property |
eBook Available
A lively look at estate management and resistance to land reform in nineteenth-century Prince Edward Island through the life stories of four elite British women landowners.
The 1767 decision to divide Prince Edward Island among elite British grantees shaped Island history for more than a century. Lady Landlords of Prince Edward Island examines this history through the lives of four women who, due to the vagaries of family formation and inheritance, became Island landlords.
As absentee owners of large estates, each of the four women faced challenges from those who wanted land redistributed in freehold lots to actual settlers. Their individual management strategies were determined in part by class standing and marital status, as well as individual eccentricities and prejudices. Drawing on family and official papers, Rusty Bittermann and Margaret McCallum provide engaging portraits of these women - orphaned heiress, prudent wife and property manager, countess estranged from her husband, independent spinster - as they negotiated relations of power and privilege in a domain dominated by men.
Lady Landlords of Prince Edward Island is a compelling narrative that provides a unique perspective on landed society in England in the age of industrialization and reform, making an important contribution to trans-Atlantic, British social, legal, and women's histories.
As absentee owners of large estates, each of the four women faced challenges from those who wanted land redistributed in freehold lots to actual settlers. Their individual management strategies were determined in part by class standing and marital status, as well as individual eccentricities and prejudices. Drawing on family and official papers, Rusty Bittermann and Margaret McCallum provide engaging portraits of these women - orphaned heiress, prudent wife and property manager, countess estranged from her husband, independent spinster - as they negotiated relations of power and privilege in a domain dominated by men.
Lady Landlords of Prince Edward Island is a compelling narrative that provides a unique perspective on landed society in England in the age of industrialization and reform, making an important contribution to trans-Atlantic, British social, legal, and women's histories.
Details
224 Pages, 6 x 9
20 b&w photos 5 maps
ISBN 9780773534247
June 2008
Formats: Paperback, eBook
"Captivating ... written with fluency and in an engaging style that holds the reader's attention. The authors present the wider history of land policy in PEI with a refreshing lucidity." Marjory Harper, University of Aberdeen
"Lady Landlords gives us many glimpses not found elsewhere of nineteenth-century figures... [it] presents a view of some women's lives from about 1795 to about 1875, which does not fit the conventional picture of wealthy Victorian ladies. " E.E.Cran in Atlantic Books Today
"Lady Landlords is enjoyably illustrated with a number of black and white reproductions of paintings and photos, and is recommended reading for anyone interested in P.E.I. history, women's lives in an era dominated by men, or the lives of aristocrats in the eighteenth and nineteenth century." The Beaver
"In Lady Landlords of Prince Edward Island, Rusty Bittermann and Margaret McCallum show not only female landlords' presence but also their centrality to nineteenth-century Island developments... A refreshing approach to Anglo-Canadian imperial history, the study speaks to any scholar interested in gender, Canadian legal and political history, British social history, and experiences of empire and colonialism, broadly speaking." Left History
"This study serves as a pertinent reminder of the inseparability of 'public'' and 'private,' 'domestic' and 'political' in the history of British North American colonies." American Review of Canadian Studies
"For historians of gender, empire, or Canada, Lady Landlords will be a useful supplement. For historians of Prince Edward Island, it should now be added to the canon of essential reading." Canadian Historical Review
"The book is an excellent case study of elite women's ability (or lack thereof) to manage their property at a time when the separate spheres ideology is often supposed to have reigned supreme." Acadiensis
"Lady Landlords gives us many glimpses not found elsewhere of nineteenth-century figures... [it] presents a view of some women's lives from about 1795 to about 1875, which does not fit the conventional picture of wealthy Victorian ladies. " E.E.Cran in Atlantic Books Today
"Lady Landlords is enjoyably illustrated with a number of black and white reproductions of paintings and photos, and is recommended reading for anyone interested in P.E.I. history, women's lives in an era dominated by men, or the lives of aristocrats in the eighteenth and nineteenth century." The Beaver
"In Lady Landlords of Prince Edward Island, Rusty Bittermann and Margaret McCallum show not only female landlords' presence but also their centrality to nineteenth-century Island developments... A refreshing approach to Anglo-Canadian imperial history, the study speaks to any scholar interested in gender, Canadian legal and political history, British social history, and experiences of empire and colonialism, broadly speaking." Left History
"This study serves as a pertinent reminder of the inseparability of 'public'' and 'private,' 'domestic' and 'political' in the history of British North American colonies." American Review of Canadian Studies
"For historians of gender, empire, or Canada, Lady Landlords will be a useful supplement. For historians of Prince Edward Island, it should now be added to the canon of essential reading." Canadian Historical Review
"The book is an excellent case study of elite women's ability (or lack thereof) to manage their property at a time when the separate spheres ideology is often supposed to have reigned supreme." Acadiensis
Margaret McCallum teaches in the Faculty of Law at the University of New Brunswick.
Rusty Bittermann is a professor of history, St Thomas University, and author of Rural Protest on Prince Edward Island: From British Colonization to the Escheat Movement.
Rusty Bittermann is a professor of history, St Thomas University, and author of Rural Protest on Prince Edward Island: From British Colonization to the Escheat Movement.
Illustrations and Maps ix
Acknowledgments xi
Note on Names xiii
1 Imperial Land Policy and Women Landlords in Prince Edward Island 3
2 Anne Saunders, Lady Melville: Managing at Home and Abroad 16
3 Jane Saunders, Lady Westmorland: Perpetual Motion 50
4 Georgiana Fane: Defending Position and Property 79
5 Charlotte Sulivan: The Final Defence 109
6 Differences That Matter 137
Appendix: Proprietors’ Estates Purchased by the Prince Edward Island Government, 1875
- 1880 151
Notes 155
Bibliography 189
Index 201
Acknowledgments xi
Note on Names xiii
1 Imperial Land Policy and Women Landlords in Prince Edward Island 3
2 Anne Saunders, Lady Melville: Managing at Home and Abroad 16
3 Jane Saunders, Lady Westmorland: Perpetual Motion 50
4 Georgiana Fane: Defending Position and Property 79
5 Charlotte Sulivan: The Final Defence 109
6 Differences That Matter 137
Appendix: Proprietors’ Estates Purchased by the Prince Edward Island Government, 1875
- 1880 151
Notes 155
Bibliography 189
Index 201
