Siblinghood and Social Relations in Georgian England : Share and Share Alike

This book examines the impact siblings had on eighteenth-century English families and society. Using evidence from letters, diaries, probate disputes, court transcripts, prescriptive literature, and portraiture it argues that siblings had to constantly negotiate between prescribed equality and practiced inequalities. -- .

Siblinghood and Social Relations in Georgian England: Share and Share Alike examines the impact sisters and brothers had on eighteenth-century English families and society. Using evidence from letters, diaries, probate disputes, court transcripts, prescriptive literature, and portraiture, it argues that although parents'' wills often recommended their children ''share and share alike,'' siblings had to constantly negotiate between prescribed equality and practiced inequalities. Understanding this unique family dynamic not only sheds new light on gender, marriage, parenting, and childhood, but also suggests that sibling relations stood at the intersection of early modern hierarchical ideals and Enlightenment egalitarian ideals about the social and political order.

Historical scholarship on siblings is just emerging from its infancy and is on the verge of rapid growth. Siblinghood and Social Relations in Georgian England, which will be the first monograph-length analysis of early modern siblings in England, is primed to be at the forefront of sibling studies. The book is intended for a broad audience of scholars - particularly those interested in families, women, children and eighteenth-century social and cultural history. The topic and narrative also lend themselves to a broad audience of both undergraduate and graduate students.