The Approach
The originality of this research is rooted in its explicitly inter-disciplinary approach in which the critical examination of the cultural image is explored within the context of the historical experience. This approach presents various methodological issues, not least of which is ensuring that historical and cultural analysis is woven coherently throughout in order to avoid creating a stark dichotomy between the two. Judgement and interpretation needs to be married as much as possible with information and knowledge. However, as the various types of source material share the need for a broadly qualitative and interpretative approach, it has been possible to combine historical research with literary criticism and iconographical analysis. The cultural image of the village shop is set within the context of the ideology of the period and compared with an assessment of the contemporary experience of rural retailing and shopping, the aim being to shed light on the perspective of the shopkeeper and customer by providing evidence of their experiences and, at least in the case of the former, their opinions.1
The structure helps to overcome methodological issues, the chapter-by-chapter comparative method, driven by themes identified within the cultural sources, establishing a dialogue between each type of evidence.2 Essentially, each representational image is established, explored and
‘tested’ against the reality of the lived experience as revealed by the historical sources. A thematic rather than a chronological approach suits the interdisciplinary nature of the research, although the chapters roughly follow the evolution of the cultural image, which is drawn out during the process of analysis. By focusing on key themes it is necessary to conduct detailed scrutiny and cross-analysis of the sources which helps to avoid neglecting evidence of continuity, a problem highlighted by Stobart who states, ‘in searching for change and progress, we neglect important continuities that served to link shopping experiences and environments over the centuries’.3 Where change is identified, particularly in terms of the cultural material, there is also a need, as
1 This is a method used by John Barrell in his analysis of the depiction of the rural poor in paintings. Barrell, J., The Dark Side of the Landscape: The Rural Poor in English Painting 1730-1840 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 1, 4.
2 As the thesis is driven by certain key themes identified from the cultural sources (essentially the most prominent), it is important to note that there were others which have not been explored herein as well as some exceptions to the common elements identified within each theme.
3 Stobart, Spend, Spend, Spend!, 15.
32 Williams has suggested, to understand the structure of feeling within which it evolved.4
Perspective and perception are a useful starting point in establishing and analysing the cultural image as an appreciation of the multiple variables which influenced the producers and consumers of such material provides the key to understanding its significance (e.g. class, gender, and the social and moral attitudes and opinions of writer and artist, reader and consumer, patron and critic).5 Each individual, subject to unique influences and varying motivations and perspectives, subjectively interpreted the experience of rural shopping. Perception is the awareness or understanding of sensory information therefore it can refer to the way in which consumers of the cultural image interpreted what was presented to them but also to the way in which those who actually visited a village shop would have interpreted their own experience or, indeed, how they understood the experiences of those who lived within rural communities. This is acknowledged by Cox and Dannehl:
Culture is made evident in the perceptions of authors and artists, and in the role these have played in shaping others’ perceptions, as well as in those of observers who had no artistic pretensions, but yet expressed their views in a more durable media than oral discussion and other vocalizations. All of them were highly personal views, charged with the interpretations of each individual.6
Ultimately we communicate as well as learn through texts; it is therefore vital to acknowledge the disparity which could exist between an urban and rural viewpoint on the experience of retailing and shopping in rural communities, between actual experience and perceptions of it.
Consideration also has to be given to the conventions of particular genres, the influence of ideology and the open and closed characteristics of texts.7 All of these variables make the interpretation of cultural material challenging. Art and literature are forms of representation which rely on communicable codes to express meaning, therefore analysis of such cultural material herein focuses on how the village shop and shopkeeper were deployed or depicted in the artistic and literary canons and who such images were intended to be consumed by; in essence, why they were used as subjects at all.8
As the burgeoning urban middle classes emerge as the primary targets of the cultural imagery analysed in this study, their significance warrants some consideration here. They not only bought
4 Williams, The Country and the City, 35.
5 For an extensive analysis of the term ‘perception’ in relation to portrayal and opinion see Cox and Dannehl, Perceptions of Retailing, 4.
6 Ibid., 171.
7 For more on the distinction in literary theory between open and closed texts see Short, Imagined Country, 158.
8 Macleod, D.S., Art and the Victorian Middle Class: Money and the Making of a Cultural Identity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 62.
33 books and accessed libraries but had access to a wide range of periodical literature from the cheaper press to the shilling monthlies and slightly more expensive or specialist publications. As Marjory Lang has suggested, ‘while the demand for entertaining reading spread through all sections of society, it was the middle classes who responded most enthusiastically to new forms of cheap literature’.9 They also visited art exhibitions, bought prints and the wealthy might act as patrons. Indeed, it became the prevailing fashion amongst the rising middle classes to solicit depictions of contemporary English life as popularised by artists like Frith who led the way in realistic depictions of scenes of everyday bourgeois activities, often depicting the urban masses on the move and in recreation. Therefore, whilst the whole class spectrum, as consumers of cultural imagery, are represented by the material used in this study, there is a distinct recognition of the importance of the urban middling classes. Indeed, they were not just consumers but also the producers of much of the cultural material, particularly in the mid to late nineteenth century
Aside from the challenges of an interdisciplinary approach, another significant issue is the fact that the cultural image is comprised of art and literature which has a broadly national geographical scope, whilst the survival of the business records of village shops and their inclusion in official records is localised and patchy.10 However, closer scrutiny has revealed that the majority of the cultural material would have been primarily published or exhibited in London and broadly refers to villages with agricultural rather than industrial economies.11 Essentially, the countryside appears to have been conceived in southern rather than northern terms. Therefore, whilst village shops undoubtedly existed in industrialised areas of rural England, particularly in the north which had a particular connection to the co-operative movement, the focus of this study is the shops of rural agricultural economies in the southern half of England. The historical analysis primarily draws on a series of village micro-studies which broadly represent this area, employing some aspects of the case-study approach, the parish forming the basis for the study of the place and value of the retailer within the village community. The choice of these villages was determined by the existence of useful and comprehensive records relating to a shop which existed in each one. Three counties are represented by these chosen villages, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire and Kent (See Appendix), whilst others, such as Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Suffolk, are represented through the use of supporting material, which gives better cohesion to the ‘national’ feel of the cultural sources. Also, as the constructed image often focuses on portraying or characterising an individual shop or shopkeeper, the case-study
9 Lang, M., ‘Childhood’s Champions: Mid-Victorian Children’s Periodicals and the Critics’, Victorian Periodicals Review, 13, 1/2 (Spring-Summer 1980), 17.
10 There are some areas for which the evidence is more concentrated (e.g. the insolvent debtors files in county archives such as Kent (Q/CI) and Buckinghamshire (Q/DA).
11 Whilst London housed most of the publishers and much of the readership was urban, it is recognised that some publishers were provincial and some material published in London was getting out to the provinces.
34 approach allows for a similar focus on individuals within the historical analysis, who are essentially lost in macro-historical studies of retailing. Conversely, the ability to conduct county surveys also provides a broader overview in order to test some more general elements of the cultural image. This level of scrutiny allows the lives of the shopkeepers and their customers to take centre stage as in order to understand the social-economic significance of the village shop and shopkeeper within their local community there is a need to understand not only the commercial significance of the business and the engagement of the local population but also the place of the shopkeeper as an individual within the community and the contribution made to local society. Essentially, this method ensures that representations and perceptions of rural retailing, which often present a focused image of individuals (characters) or communities (settings), can be tested against a comparable reality of lived experiences, essentially put in a localised context.
Sources
As this study draws on a range of sources it is useful to consider the various types, why they have been chosen, the ways in which they will be analysed and possible drawbacks.
Literary Culture
Literature published in the nineteenth century, both fiction and non-fiction, is the primary source of material used to establish the cultural image of the village shop and its keeper. However, some late eighteenth-century and Edwardian literature has been included where it provides useful supplementary evidence. Similarly, although the focus is firmly on the English village shop, narrative on the Scottish village shop has also been included due to its relative prominence within the literature compared to the noticeable absence of both the Welsh and Irish equivalent.12 All references to Scottish village shops are made explicit throughout in order that they can be readily identified.
The periodical press was swiftly identified as a rich and varied source of relevant material which, despite its potential as a cultural mine, has been relatively underused by scholars in comparison with other types of literature such as novels. Two online databases, GALE 19th Century UK Periodicals and ProQuest British Periodicals, which include a wide variety of published material such as magazines, journals, reviews, comics and newspapers, were surveyed in detail for material, three other databases providing some additional texts.13 Over 400 individual items were
12 In a literary study of the English village, Patton also included literature on the Scottish village for similar reasons. See Patton, The English Village, viii.
13 Additional databases: Gale Digital Collections: 19th Century British Newspapers, British Newspapers 1600-1950 and The Times Digital Archive, 1785-2008.
35 identified; whilst most are exclusively text, some contain useful visual imagery such as engravings, illustrations and, later in the century, photographs (see Visual Culture below).
By focusing on periodical material recognition can be given to the diversity of this type of literary genre and the important role that it had in maximising the size and engagement of the readership therefore providing a cross-class view of the way in which the constructed image of the village shop was presented to and consumed by nineteenth-century society. Periodical journals and magazines, which were published weekly or monthly and varied in price from a halfpenny to half-a-crown (thirty pence), were part of the popular literature, aimed at a mass audience, which expanded rapidly during the Victorian period in both number and circulation as the cost of printing lowered. Not only did the type, ethos and targeted readership of each differ, typically filtered by age, gender and/or class, but the magazine format itself brought together a range of authors, topics and articles. The complexity is highlighted by Beetham, who states that,
‘a periodical is not a window on to the past or even a mirror of it. Each article, each periodical number, was and is part of a complex process in which writers, editors, publishers and readers engaged in trying to understand themselves and their society’.14 The material certainly represents a range of types of literature including fiction, news, journalism, essays, articles, correspondence and competitions which express a range of opinions and reflect various perspectives. The context in which this material was produced and published is considered throughout, assisted by data compiled on the background, history, readership and ethos of each periodical, thereby ensuring that these cultural sources are used as ‘historically important discourse’.15 It must be remembered, however, that targeted readership and circulation figures did not necessarily reflect actual readership as various literature was often shared, passed on or read aloud, particularly newspapers.
Therefore dissemination of the literary material may have been wider than is initially apparent.
Whilst the focus is on the periodical press, a variety of other published sources have also been used including novels, poetry, children’s books, social commentary, biographies, autobiographies, ballads and memoirs.16 All provide useful, often varying, perspectives. Using multiple sources assists in verifying other sources and, as they are not only texts but also cultural artefacts, an appreciation of their contextual nature is also required.17 Literature certainly acquires an additional value when read with a consideration for its wider social and historical significance.
14 Beetham, M., ‘Towards a Theory of the Periodical as a Publishing Genre’, in Brake, L., Jones, A., and Madden, L. (eds.), Investigating Victorian Journalism (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1990), 20.
15 Maidment, B.E., ‘Victorian Periodicals and Academic Discourse’ in Brake et al., Investigating Victorian Journalism, 151.
16 In this regard, various online sources have been used including: Project Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.org; The Internet Archive and Open Library, www.archive.org; Google books, www.books.google.com; Bodleian Library’s online archive of broadside ballads (University of Oxford), www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads.
17 Morgan, ‘Producing Consumer Space’, 68-9.
36 An appropriate approach to the material is therefore of paramount importance; as Morgan suggests, ‘historical representation is subjective and selective and the ordering of narrative is a personal creation... a degree of reflexivity is required on the part of the researcher; in other words, a sensitivity to the historical framework’.18 An acute awareness of the mode of the source is also necessary, Williams having pointed out that such material can ‘raise questions of historical fact and perspective, but they raise questions, also, of literary fact and perspective’.19 A piece of literature or a painting can therefore be valued not only within the context of a literary or artistic canon or for its charm, expression or technique but also for its content; realistic depiction, for example, is rendered explicit within its historical context. As each of the chapters contain elements which require setting in context, it has been necessary for some overlap to exist in the use of sources within each chapter. A consideration of the differing perspectives of writer and artist; reader and consumer; observer and participant; patron and critic; shopkeeper, customer and villager also ensures that a balanced interpretation is made. The dual nature of many of the sources, which might be considered to hold both cultural and historical value, is therefore potentially problematic. However, it is the way in which the sources are approached that determines what is learnt from them. For example, the subject matter of biographies, autobiographies and memoirs is filtered through the subjective haze of recollective memory and subject to the influence of nostalgia.20 They therefore present some of the same problems associated with recollective memory as some of the articles published in the periodical literature, the passing of time inevitably altering recollection and perspective. Yet despite their limitations they are immensely important as they add breadth and depth to the analysis, giving a greater insight into the everyday lives of both shopkeeper and customer, often giving detailed descriptions of their appearance, character and relationships, their thoughts and opinions, the exterior and interior of shops, working practices and their relevance to the wider community.21 They are therefore used primarily as historical sources (see section below).
18 Ibid., 68.
19 Williams, The Country and the City, 12.
20 For example: Flora Thompson’s literary trilogy, Larkrise to Candleford, represents the observations of a child and yet the evaluation is that of an adult therefore it has a ‘complex double perspective...the voice which acknowledges the power of memory to recreate and relive the experience of the child is that of the adult who apprehends a changing world’. Dusinberre, J.,
‘The Child’s Eye and the Adult’s Voice: Flora Thompson’s Lark Rise to Candleford’, The Review of English Studies, 35, 137 (1984), 61.
21 For example, two important examples of such texts used in this thesis: The first is a biographical account of the life of Samuel Budgett (1794-1851), a very successful village shopkeeper, turned merchant, in South Gloucestershire who, it is claimed, made his fortune on certain key principles associated with his Methodist faith (another biography was published in 1890 which has also been useful). The second text is less well known and very rare, being an anonymous autobiography of a village shopkeeper, which was published in Scotland in 1876.
Whilst the village is not identified in the book, the place of publication and various clues within
37 Scrutiny of the image created by literary sources has necessitated the textual analysis of the material, the focus being a systematic decoding of the content, including thematic and symbolic elements, in order to determine the overall objective or meaning. As Morgan has explained, it
‘provides a means for evaluating the content, structure and style of written records, not just focusing on language but also the context in which language is used, how it is constructed and the structures carried within language which enable the reproduction of ideas’.22 This allows for consideration to be given to the reader’s interpretation of the text, and the context and popularity of the format in which it is published, which might influence or frame the way in which an author presents or structures their work (i.e. to appeal to a particular readership). For example, Beetham has suggested that there is a ‘struggle over meaning’ in relation to periodicals such as magazines and journals, as the motivation behind publication was not always straightforward, encompassing profit, religious or moral instruction, benevolence or a desire to educate or impart knowledge.23 Periodicals were not just important in illustrating and reinforcing ideologies, but also in constructing them.24 The same can also be said of novels and paintings yet periodicals are perhaps less recognisable in this role. Such literature functioned not only to satisfy the reader’s needs and aspirations and the demands of the market but also to fulfil the agenda of the writer,
‘provides a means for evaluating the content, structure and style of written records, not just focusing on language but also the context in which language is used, how it is constructed and the structures carried within language which enable the reproduction of ideas’.22 This allows for consideration to be given to the reader’s interpretation of the text, and the context and popularity of the format in which it is published, which might influence or frame the way in which an author presents or structures their work (i.e. to appeal to a particular readership). For example, Beetham has suggested that there is a ‘struggle over meaning’ in relation to periodicals such as magazines and journals, as the motivation behind publication was not always straightforward, encompassing profit, religious or moral instruction, benevolence or a desire to educate or impart knowledge.23 Periodicals were not just important in illustrating and reinforcing ideologies, but also in constructing them.24 The same can also be said of novels and paintings yet periodicals are perhaps less recognisable in this role. Such literature functioned not only to satisfy the reader’s needs and aspirations and the demands of the market but also to fulfil the agenda of the writer,