Despite legal and social restrictions, women have found innovative ways to invest, profit, and influence the economy. This blog explores the overlooked role of women in the evolution of British finance, uncovering their stories as shareholders, speculators, clerks—and pioneers long before they were formally recognised as equals in the workplace.
Women as Early Financial Investors (17th–18th Century)
There is a common misconception that women were excluded from the financial and business world in the 17th century. However this was not so! When the Bank of England was founded in 1694, it is interesting to note that 12% of the early investors in the newly created bank were women. The bank was founded because we were at war with France, and as a result, the national debt was expanding alarmingly – and so the Bank of England was set up as a joint stock company to raise funds for the war. And raise funds it did in the first 12 days it raised £1.2 million., with William III and Mary II being the very first shareholders, investing £5000 each in Bank stock.
It is true that women had no control over and certainly no voice in the governance of financial institutions, but women were early and keen investors in the emergent financial markets. Paper bonds and financial transactions show us that women signed up to shares in the Bank of England, the Land Bank, the East India Company and the South Sea Island company.
Some women used middle men to buy their shares for them, but many women acted as the “middle woman“ themselves by buying shares for other people and taking a small commission. From early archives we can see for example that Bruce James a merchant in Leadenhall sent his wife to the bank to purchase shares in his place, and that Anne Mason of Westminster Hall came to the bank herself and bought £1000 worth of stock in her own name.
The Role of the State Lottery in Women's Financial Inclusion
One of the other significant vehicles to manage government debt from 1694 was the State Lottery. The lottery offered tickets which paid an annuity with prizes of either a larger annuity or a cash sum. The attraction of the lottery was not just the chance of winning, it was also ideal for those with fewer resources who wanted to take part in the new financial markets.
You could also buy your tickets without the intervention of “discredited stock jobbers’. It was seen as a good solid investment, and women from all walks of life bought tickets – aristocracy to nobility to wives , widows and servants.
In 1772, lady Darlington won £10,000 in the lottery draw, and the other £10,000 ticket was won by a Cook’s Serving maid. A winning £5000 ticket was shared between a Lord, a chambermaid living in Redcross street Southwark, and a glover’s apprentice in Leadenhall.
Cultural Recognition of Women in Finance
We know from literature and letters that London was “awash with lottery talk’. A newspaper reported in 1720 that “ stocks, shares and lottery tickets were now so popular amongst women that a great many ladies forsake their tea, cards and chat to go to Change Alley”.
When the Bank of England was founded in 1694, one of the very first decisions taken by the governing board, was to make a woman, Brittania – the new Institute’s Corporate seal. Later, the bank of England was gendered again after the James Gilray cartoon in 1794 personified the bank as “The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street”. Yet despite this, it was a good 200 years before women were allowed to work in the bank itself.
We know that in 1785 a woman called Mary Smith was employed by the bank as she made the mould which made the watermark for the paper on which the bank notes were printed. We also know that several women worked at the Bank’s paper mill in Hampshire, printing out the bank notes – but none of these women were employees in the bank as such.
It wasn’t until 1894 that Janet Hogarth was the first woman to be officially employed at the Bank. Starting on a good wage of £157.10 a year, her job was the ‘Superintendent of Women Clerks’. Six years earlier she had graduated from Oxford with a first class honours degree. Janet then employed Miss Elsee to be her deputy – she too had a first class honours degree but this time from Cambridge and was paid £105 a year. The two were supervising a group of women who were employed in sorting, counting and listing bank notes.
Barriers to Women’s Employment in Financial Institutions
The women were segregated from the men whilst working and women typists were not allowed to take their letters to the menthes had written them for in person. They had to present them to two carefully selected male Clarks who would then convey the letters to the men for whom the letters had been typed. Janet Hogarth said that lunchtime and office hours were arranged so that the men and women hardly ever met. Dress codes for the women with Draconian. Women had to wear navy, black or grey dresses or skirts and white blouses were permissible as long as they had ‘no pattern, stripe, sprig or spot’. Hats and gloves were required at lunch and make-up was strictly forbidden.
An internal memo from the Bank in 1920 gives us an insight as to the Banks attitude to women. It said ‘ … we are of the opinion that the standard of men’s work will be higher than those of the women… The value of the work of women clarks is lessened because of their frequent absences, because they are emotional and easily upset… There is a tendency amongst the younger ones not to look upon their work as a career in life..’. And yet – the entry conditions for women stated that women had to be between the ages of 18 – 21 and that if a woman subsequently married she was to give up her job at once.
Progress Towards Gender Equality in the 20th Century
Right up until 1949 women were made to resign from the bank of England upon marriage. Just before this rule was lifted, nearly 80% of the women Clerks at the bank had voted for the removal of this rule in an internal ballot.
So this goes to show that perhaps women did see a job at the Bank as a career after all. The 1970s Equal Pay Act meant more opportunities arose for women-equal pay came into placein 1972, and this was then followed in 1975 by the Sexual Discrimination Act. At long last the old Lady of Theeadneedle street had declared herself an equal opportunities employer!
Join me on Power, Profit, and Progress: Women in the City of London walk to learn more and hear remarkable stories of women in the City of London whose contributions helped the City become the global financial powerhouse that it is today.
