Women and Property 1885-1889 dataset: North Riding Register of Deeds

Research hypothesis was to use the Registers of Deeds for the North Riding of Yorkshire (held at North Yorkshire County Record Office, Northallerton, England) to advance knowledge about women's involvement with property transfer and the wider property market in the 18th & 19th centuries. Registers began in 1736 and ceased in 1970; there are 89 Index Ledgers and 2,328 Deeds Registers. The system for recording data changed in 1885 so one Index Ledger was selected from pre/ post this date and 100 years apart to incorporate impact of Marriage Acts. Stage 1 - Two Index Ledgers were transcribed in full: 1) Index of Lands Vol 9 (1784-90) covers a seven-year period and contains 6,868 unique transactions (31,966 lines); and 2) Index of Lands 1885-1889 covers a five-year period and contains 14,481 unique transactions (52,741 lines). Each line represents a person's name. Core data from Index showed Township, unique reference and names of parties, but the 18th century Index Ledger did not show date of transaction or all parties. To analyse by gender this information was required so was added by using the Deeds Registers. Information from the individual Deeds Registers was then used to add to the core datasets: Stage 2 - The gender of all parties ('male', 'female' and 'not applicable' (for businesses) was added. Stage 3 - The usual residence, occupation (if any), marital status and any details of family relationships or inheritance rights of every women was added. Stage 4 - The 18th century dataset was then reduced to a five-year period covering 1785-1789 ONLY to provide a direct comparison with the 19th century dataset. Comparative analysis by: gender, marital status and number of transactions. Each transaction has a unique reference number but can contain multiple parties and cover more than one township. To identify the true number of transactions, the data had to be controlled for these factors. A control for uniqueness was also required for those individuals and organisations involved in multiple transactions and to avoid assuming that everyone with the same name was actually the same person. Where women were involved, additional data e.g. marital status, residence or family relationships was used to differentiate between like women. 1785-1789 findings include: distinctive patterns of female property involvement by gender and marital status. Married women represent more than 50% of female transactions despite having little, if any, legal status (coverture). Although 2,086 women transacted during this period, only 1.39% did so without husband's involvement; this increased to 45.47% by 1885-1889 period, reinforcing that Married Women's Property Acts were beginning to make an impact, treating married women as if 'feme sole'. More parity of involvement across marital status groups in 1885-1889 data, with spinsters' involvement increasing the most (from 17.58% to 31.37%). 1885-1889 dataset includes additional analysis by type of transaction and by township.本研究的研究假设为，利用藏于英格兰阿勒斯通（Northallerton）北约克郡县档案办公室的北约克郡北骑区契据登记簿（Registers of Deeds for the North Riding of Yorkshire），拓展学界对18至19世纪女性参与财产转让及更广泛房地产市场的认知。该契据登记簿体系始于1736年，终于1970年，共计收录89本索引总账（Index Ledgers）与2328本契据登记簿（Deeds Registers）。1885年，数据记录体系发生变更，因此研究分别选取该时间节点前后、间隔100年的索引总账各一本，以纳入《婚姻法》（Marriage Acts）的影响维度。 第一阶段，研究人员完整转录了两本索引总账：其一为《土地索引 第9卷（1784-1790年）》，涵盖7年时间跨度，包含6868笔独立交易（共31966条记录）；其二为《1885-1889年土地索引》，涵盖5年时间跨度，包含14481笔独立交易（共52741条记录）。每条记录对应一名当事人姓名。索引台账的核心数据包含乡镇名称、唯一参考编号及当事人姓名，但18世纪的索引总账未标注交易日期，也未收录全部当事人信息。若要按性别维度开展分析，需补充上述缺失信息，因此研究人员通过契据登记簿补全了相关内容。 随后，研究人员以单本契据登记簿的信息为基础，为核心数据集补充多维度信息：第二阶段，补充所有当事人的性别信息（分为“男性”“女性”及“企业类不适用”）；第三阶段，补充每位女性的常住地、职业（如有）、婚姻状况，以及其家庭关系或继承权相关细节；第四阶段，为实现与19世纪数据集的直接对标，将18世纪数据集缩减至仅1785-1789年这一5年周期。 研究按性别、婚姻状况及交易数量开展对比分析。每笔交易均配有唯一参考编号，但可对应多名当事人且覆盖多个乡镇。为准确统计真实交易数量，需针对上述因素开展数据去重控制；同时，针对参与多笔交易的个体与组织，也需开展唯一性控制，以避免将同名个体误判为同一主体。针对涉及女性的交易，研究额外利用婚姻状况、常住地或家庭关系等信息，区分同名女性当事人。 1785-1789年的研究结果显示，女性参与财产交易的模式因性别与婚姻状况呈现显著差异：尽管已婚女性在法律上几乎不具备独立地位（即婚姻同居权（coverture）），但其交易占女性总交易的比例超过50%。该时期共有2086名女性参与交易，其中仅1.39%的交易无丈夫参与；而到1885-1889年，这一比例升至45.47%，印证了《已婚妇女财产法》（Married Women's Property Acts）已开始发挥作用，将已婚女性视为独立女性（feme sole）。1885-1889年的数据显示，不同婚姻状况群体的参与度更趋均衡，其中未婚女性的参与占比增幅最为显著（从17.58%升至31.37%）。1885-1889年的数据集还额外增加了按交易类型及乡镇维度开展的分析。