Manuscript account book in a single hand recording the personal expenditures of Lady Sophia Wodehouse between January 1798 and December 1816. The volume lists the payments that she received from her husband as well as a range of personal and household expenses for herself and her children, documenting the kind of expenditures made by a woman, wife, and mother from the aristocracy at the turn of the nineteenth century, living between London and a grand manor in Norwich. In addition to the meticulous detail of wages paid to household servants and craftsman and laborers (chimney sweep) and payments made to “various poor people”, the list includes payments to a mantua maker, confectioners, grocers, shoemakers, and haberdashers; fees for silk stockings, hair powder, “Twining tea, coffee, & chocolate”, wax and spemaceti candles. The record includes in some cases the names of the suppliers and London businesses (Barto Valle). Three laid-in pages includes a list of 16 recipients of “Christmas boxes 1810” that include: “glasiers boy”, “butchers boy”, “blacksmiths boy”, “wheelwright boy”, “chimney sweeper”, etc. The last few pages provide a grand total of expenses represented in the volume in various categories.

• Author: Wodehouse, Sophia, 1747-1825.
  
• Title: Account book recording personal expenditure and receipts, 1798 Jan 29-1816 Dec 15.

Catalog Record

LWL Mss Vol. 227

Acquired November 2016