Household Accounts of the Le Strange Family, 1606-1626

The database was created for a project which ran from 2003-2007 titled ‘The housewife in early modern rural England: gender, markets and consumption’, funded by the ESRC and AHRC as part of the ‘Cultures of Consumption’ research programme. The project was centred on a detailed study of the household accounts of the Le Strange family of Hunstanton, Norfolk, from 1606-1654, which from 1610 onwards were kept by Lady Alice Le Strange. These accounts are both remarkably long running and complete, and exceptionally detailed. They are also notable in having been written by a married woman. The accounts have been used to examine patterns of consumption in this early seventeenth century household, the gendered nature of the household economy, and the level of market development in this period. The main output of the project will be a book, authored by Jane Whittle and Elizabeth Griffiths: ‘Consumption and Gender in the Early Seventeenth Century Household: The World of Alice Le Strange’ which is under contract with Oxford University Press for publication in 2009.