WOMEN'S LANGUAGE AND EXPERIENCE, 1500-1940
Women's Diaries and Related Sources

Part 6: Sources from Wiltshire, Somerset and Hampshire Record Office

Scattered throughout the local record offices of England, Scotland and Wales are vital yet neglected sources for the study of women's history.  This project brings together diaries, commonplace books, travel journals and related sources, which describe women's lives and experiences in their own language. 

Part 6 contains around 100 volumes of diaries from the Wiltshire, Somerset and Hampshire Record Offices, covering the lives of 16 women, 1675-1925, including:

• Farm accounts and journals of Mrs Frances Hamilton for the years 1755-1802.
• The diaries of Mrs S Chauncey for 1779 and 1783 give details on outings, expenses, holidays, health remedies, dining and entertainment. There are also manuscript letters and poems in the first volume.
• The diaries, 1802-1860, belonging to Lady Joanna Bonham-Carter, daughter of William Smith, MP for Norwich and an active socialite, with friends such as Charles Darwin.
• The diaries of Elisabeth Georgina Eyre, 1831-1838 and 1840 are emotional diaries describing her love for someone she calls “Mr T” whom she felt did not reciprocate her feelings.
• Diaries of Charlotte Downes (née Grove),  1811-1858, and  Agnes Grove, 1879-1925, describing social and political events.

Parts 1-6 of this project now offer over 700 volumes describing the lives of c150 women from 1625 to 1940.