Illegitimacy and its Effects on Marriage Prospects in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Rural England

All births, marriages and deaths that occurred in two rural parishes in south-west England in the period 1754–1914 were examined, using a wide array of source material. Records of individuals were linked together into large multi-generational family groups. There were 4,940 births, of which 319 were illegitimate. For the illegitimate cases, the rates of subsequent marriage of mothers and fathers were determined and compared with those for other people in the same parishes. Being the father of an illegitimate child did not impact the chances of subsequent marriage. Being the mother of an illegitimate child decreased the chances of subsequent marriage but only if the mother was co-resident with her children. Where the mother did not live with the illegitimate child(ren), her chances of marriage were similar to that of other women. Mothers of illegitimate children were more likely to marry their cousins and were less geographically mobile than other mothers.

Rural Ritual, Gardened Faith: Ford Madox Ford's Memorial Plots

This article examines the importance of the working country garden to the memorial narratives of Ford Madox Ford. It begins with a study of Ford before the Great War; considering how his particular brand of Literary Impressionism was frequently used to make a case for memorializing the rural poor and their surrounding landscape from The Heart of the Country (1906) to The Fifth Queen saga (1906–08). Moving to Post-War Sussex and Kent, it examines Ford's continuing interest in the country garden and rural community, reading his gardening practices as attempted personal reconstruction through faith in landscape production. As Ford moves from small-holding to small-holding, and eventually away for good, it discusses how the narratives of his part-fictive biographies, including Thus to Revisit (1921) and It was the Nightingale (1934), repeatedly return to rural England to resituate the developments of Literary Impressionism – and Ford's most formative literary friendships – in and about the garden. The repetitions of garden work; of sowing, weeding, and digging over plots, proved essential to Ford's in-text ritualisations of rural life and literary innovation alike.

Immigrant entrepreneurs in rural England – An examination of the socio- cultural barriers facing migrant small businesses in Lincolnshire

A growing body of literature recognises the crucial role played by immigrant entrepreneurs. However, certain socio-cultural barriers adversely affect their businesses in rural areas. Thus, this article examines the socio-cultural barriers facing immigrant entrepreneurs in Lincolnshire. Eleven semi-structured interviews were held with businesses owned by immigrants from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The findings identified migrant ethnocentrism, stereotypes, cultural differences and language differences as key socio-cultural barriers adversely affecting immigrant businesses in Lincolnshire. The research found that immigrant enterprises experienced growth issues, not just owing to the size of the market but also due to issues of embeddedness in the socio-economic nomenclature. The study found mixed embeddedness to be key to immigrant entrepreneurial success. This involves immigrant adaptation to develop relational embeddedness with the hosts, involvement with its social, structural and institutional frameworks. The study contributes to our understanding of the role of social, relational, structural and institutional embeddedness in steering fertile approaches to immigrant entrepreneurship in rural England which has been under-researched.