Death and Memory: Clothing Bequests in English Wills 1650–1830. (January 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lambert, Miles
• Is Part Of: Costume. Volume 48:Number 1(2014)
• Page Start: 46
• Page End: 59
• Publication Date: 2014-01
• Subjects: Costume -- Periodicals; Costume -- History -- Periodicals; 391
• DOI: 10.1179/0590887613Z.00000000037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0590-8876

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec> <p>Specific clothing bequests form a distinct and often intimate feature in a range of English wills during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Carefully and symbolically allocated to new owners, garments were thus imbued with commemoration as well as financial worth. This paper suggests that gender differentials in this practice have been exaggerated as individual men could be as committed to the process as their female counterparts. Crucially, men and women without children or partners were most disposed to draw up detailed wills reallocating a range of possessions, especially clothing. In this creation of stewardship for chosen garments, individual personality and familial situation were more decisive than any general social or economic considerations.</p> </sec> </abstract>