Employment and wealth in 1830s England

[finding_jay]

My character, Eleanor, is the daughter of a fairly well-to-do family living in 1830s England. They're on the cusp from upper middle class to upper class, but lose their money, though not necessarily their social status. My character's parents are trying to marry her off so as to keep face

Comments

[swan_tower]

If you want a scenario where the family has status they can hold onto without money to back it up, then they need land, because that was the major boundary between "the better sort" and their lessers. By the mid-eighteenth century you had a lot of landed families who had fallen on very hard times financially, so the up-and-coming wealth was always on the lookout for a chance to marry one of their kids into the gentry or nobility; that status was worth something even if the person who had it was all but penniless. And in the meantime, there was a lot of conflict among the upper classes as to whether it was acceptable to invest the income from your land in something like trade. (A declasse move, but frequently necessary; land income had tanked since the glory days of, oh, the fifteenth century

[finding_jay]

Fantastic, thanks for that awesome information.

[finding_jay]

The character herself is actually rather rude and up herself, so if her family background is reflective of that, then it may help build her backstory. Thanks =)

[alextiefling]

Sensible professions for self-made men in the 1830s would be lawyer, merchant or industrialist. The profession of realtor (or 'estate agent' as they're known here) didn't come into being until much later in the the century, and didn't come into its own until the Law of Property Act 1925 (and others the same year) which completely transformed the way ordinary people held real property. In the era you're looking at, a gentleman wishing to trade in property, if he did so at all, would do so through his lawyer.

A merchant could easily lose lots of money if his supply collapsed. Slightly later than what you're looking at, there was the Lancashire Cotton Famine, which was a side-effect of the American Civil War, and caused great upheaval in northwestern England. You might want to look at international political troubles for the dates you're looking at, and see if any trade routes were cut off by war or treaty.

[anonymous]

Bear in mind that, as it was almost impossible for the average individual to incorporate a company in the early Victorian period, the majority of them had unlimited liability for the debts of their business- and hence an unsuccessful business venture could lead to them losing everything.

[donald_r_oddy]

Which side of the Upper class/Upper Middle class divide is the family on? At this time the Upper class is the aristocracy which may be impoverished or not. They don't work as such although they may spend a fair bit of time managing their estates. The Upper Middle class are the wealthy professionals - lawyers, doctors, bankers, some merchants, rarely industrialists. Pretty much by definition they are rich - if they lose their money they fall out of the Upper Middle class unless their friends bail them out.

Something which could hit anyone with money at this time was bank failures. Banking was very lightly regulated and there were lots of small banks so having all one's money in a single bank was very unwise but there was typically less understanding of financial matters than there is today.

The shipping loss suggested by wldrose isn't very likely. The insurance market (Lloyds) was well established by this time.