Sevenoaks 1790–1914

Risk and choice in West Kent

Iain Taylor and David Killingray

This book offers a fresh perspective on British history in the long nineteenth century through the lens of a study of Sevenoaks and the surrounding area of West Kent. It considers, in particular, how the risks faced by the people of this region, and the choices they made to try to mitigate them, shaped their lives and relationships.

During a period of often dramatic change, the economic, social, political, religious and cultural interests of individuals were subject to different risk factors; the responses they made (and the reasons for those choices) provide valuable insights and enable the writing of highly nuanced local history.

The authors pinpoint the fundamental risk factors affecting the lives of West Kent's inhabitants (especially the poor): the struggle to obtain the four bare necessities of shelter, food, fuel and clothing, without which their survival was threatened.

ISBN 978-1-912260-61-4

December 2022

Paperback; £16.99/$33.95

Other risks abounded too, from abysmal sanitary conditions and the dangers of giving birth, to industrial injuries and being a victim of crime. Secure work and strong family networks were essential to limiting risks – often forming part of the 'makeshift economy' – as well as charity, education, health insurance and access to medical care. For many, not all these options were available – or not until much later in the period.

Choice was central to religious and political struggles. The examination of beliefs and values reveals the immense impact such issues had across West Kent society, and how and why it divided as a direct result. Finally, the authors consider the advent of motor vehicles, which combined both risk and choice in exciting but potentially dangerous ways. This innovative approach provides a fruitful new way of writing history and offers a model for future local history studies.

Iain Taylor has a PhD from the University of London and is a Trustee of the British Association for Local History (BALH).

David Killingray is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at Goldsmiths, and Senior Research Fellow at the School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Hertfordshire Publications

At University of Hertfordshire Press we are proud of our relationship with historians, societies and communities within our own county’s borders. We have a partnership with the Hertfordshire Association for Local History to produce monographs and essay collections with a focus on Hertfordshire. This long-running series is called Hertfordshire Publications and it continues to produce attractive books, crafted out of high-quality research into the county, its landscape, archaeology, community and culture, but which also resonate and connect with research across the UK.

William Ellis

Eighteenth-century farmer, journalist and entrepreneur

Malcolm Thick

ISBN 978-1-912260-49-2; Jun 2022; Paperback £16.99/$33.95 e PDF | ePub | Kindle; Jul 2022

William Ellis, who lived and farmed at Little Gaddesden in Hertfordshire in the first half of the eighteenth century (d. 1759), is an important figure in English agricultural history. In his time the most prolific writer on agriculture in England, his many works were read not only at home but also in the American colonies and continental Europe.

Ellis's style was discursive, particularly so in The Country Housewife's Family Companion (1750). As well as providing a compendium of household management, cookery and medicine, Ellis delighted in relaying gossip. He included the activities of farmers, wives and maids, labourers, travellers and beggars, as well as the gentry and aristocracy, rich pickings for social historians.

The book provides a fascinating picture of rural life in the period and sheds light on the evolution of English farming. This is the first book about Ellis for over sixty years and the first to consider him fully in the round – as a farmer, an active member of his community, an innovative salesman and a wonderfully curious mind.

“This is a grand book and [UH Press] is to be congratulated on putting it out and for not charging the usual academic arm and a leg” – Petits Propos Culinaires

“Malcolm Thick’s summaries are a very useful starting point for anyone wishing to delve into Ellis’s writings” – Historia Agraria

“[A] fascinating volume…” – Oxfordshire Family Historian

Malcolm Thick is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a winner of the Sophie Coe prize for food history writing. He has published books and papers on early modern gardening, food and agriculture, including a critically acclaimed biography of the early scientist Sir Hugh Plat and a history of market gardening around London.