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From the end of the seventeenth century to the
beginning of the nineteenth century, the large
households of the elite represented complex active
communities where individuals held interdependent
relationships with one another. Throughout the
period an elite woman s managerial presence and
performance within the dimensions of domestic space
were key to her more public image and femininity.
From primary sources a complex picture of authority
and deftness arises in which the elite woman was
expected to run the household within the wider
departments of the country estate. For the elite
women of the Yorkshire country house, this
role was to have been one of difficult decision-
making, influenced at all times by degrees of moral
judgement over large numbers of people.

The domestic space of the country house had long
been associated with feminine accomplishment in
the delicate art of needlework or the knowledge of
pickling and preserving. In her role as household
manager an elite woman could actually exercise
expressions of power and find that this space was
more heavily imbued with command, authority and
organisational skill.

Elite Women's Household Management: Yorkshire, 1680-1810