Resisting Silences: Gender and Family Trauma in Eighteenth‐Century England

The Newdigates were happy in the summer of 1683. There were four children under five, including newborn Juliana and six older siblings between five and fifteen.1 Sir Richard Newdigate's diary presents an idyllic time: eating cherries with his pregnant wife Mary; gorging on orchard fruit with his eldest son Richard; teaching Amphillis accounting; rounding up birds flying in the buttery; visiting friends and family; enjoying family meals and walks.2 Twenty years later, the family disintegrated amid accusations of greed, madness and unspeakable acts. Newdigate's biographers link the breakdown to Lady Mary's death in 1692.3 Whatever the cause, the decline of such a contented family was tragic. The explanation Newdigate gave in his pamphlet, The Case of an Old Gentleman, Persecuted by His Own Son (1707), concentrates around four events. The first is a trip to France taken by Newdigate, accompanied by his eldest son, Richard and his sixth daughter, Elizabeth, in 1699. In Newdigate's absence, second son John looked after the estate and family. The second event was Richard and John's attempt to have their father committed as a lunatic in May 1701 – although they were initially successful, Newdigate had the committal overturned. The third event was a petition to the House of Lords in February 1702 by four of the daughters (Amphillis, Jane, Elizabeth and Juliana) asking for relief from their father's cruel severities. The fourth event was the Family Settlement of March 1702, which divided property and money among the children and gave guardianship of Amphillis, Jane, Elizabeth and Juliana to their maternal uncle. In his pamphlet and account books, Newdigate blamed his eldest sons, Richard and John, for the family problems. His published story insisted on his daughters’ innocence, but other records indicate conflicted relationships with Amphillis, Frances, Elizabeth, Juliana and Jane. The remaining children – Mary, Anne, Frank and Gilbert – were faultless through absence (marriage or school) or illness.4 Newdigate's story is oblique on matters that reflected badly on his patriarchal control. He does not mention that his second-eldest daughter, Frances (Lady Sedley), eloped in 1695 (aged eighteen). Similar evasiveness is evident with regard to Amphillis, committed as a lunatic in 1706 (aged thirty-seven), and the ‘lunacy’ from which Gilbert suffered by 1702 (aged twenty-eight).5 Newdigate discussed these instances only to blame Richard and John for driving them mad through ‘cruel usage’.6 He likewise omitted discussing his scandalous second marriage to a young woman in 1703, which he kept secret until the bride's family legally forced him to acknowledge it. As to his alleged lunacy, Newdigate alluded to accusations of sexual improprieties, but never described the decisive event that induced his sons to commit him and his daughters to petition the House of Lords. The lunacy inquisition, however, gives a date (10 April 1701), while the petition offers details: ‘Sir Richard Newdigate did by frequent solicitacions by threats & by force with sword in hand attempt his Daughter Elizabeths Chastity so that she was forced to fly his presence and for the safety of her life and Honour to swear the peace against him’.7 Newdigate, unsurprisingly, denied his children's imputations of madness and incest. These events provide the chronology for my interpretation. Newdigate's perspective is easily uncovered through his diaries, account books and pamphlet, but the children left only traces of their legal resistance. Those fragmentary records, however, suggest a family trauma with profoundly gendered suffering. By family trauma, I mean the family's response to an event that shattered their seemingly happy world. The cause of the trauma is less clear. Was Newdigate an old man victimised by his lying family? Was he mentally ill? Was the violent attack of April 1701 unique? Was there long-term sexual abuse? When writing this article, I wondered whether the story should remain untold: was it my right as a historian to uncover the family's secret? But as the #metoo movement has shown, we have an urgent duty to listen to the survivors of abuse (sexual or otherwise) and to recognise the ways in which we have enabled perpetrators’ accounts to remain dominant.8 Attending to silences in the records can provide new ways of understanding family histories. This article considers Newdigate's account, putting the children at the centre. Building on my previous work on pain narratives (or, how to find meaning in sufferers’ circular accounts of pain), I argue that the Newdigates’ experiences can be read as a familial pain narrative; its gaps, uncertainties and seemingly unconnected complaints are like other eighteenth-century pain accounts on a meta-level.9 To identify what their I their the of their family of at at a of sexual abuse Newdigate's and the children's how and the of and the experiences of family In Newdigate's an his by for The children's story an sons patriarchal and daughters the the of the by a and the of and family on the of the children their trauma, their of it. of I was the of to the Newdigates had their at kept records, which have for from to and have Newdigate's account books to estate while and Lady and identify or these as a Newdigate's were by his in asking him to her the family Newdigate as a father by his with eighteenth-century of familial and should patriarchal with This was not as were but and to and were – the father was should be in their children's after of in of As their they a was with his family with duty and to their and a to committed against were for familial narratives on for money or of for an or in it was to a on a family left to the of but in Whatever between Newdigate and his the in their at a family Newdigate's pain from by his family in old the children's was by a that pain is have an for pain in and have on and and or accounts and such we have can we with such as the in which is to the never the between work by of trauma, and which as they and is not it is for to in As in to sexual abuse to the in records and not that indicate or to for is with a that But is a of which can to identify is pain work on trauma the of its events can remain from but in or on the they long-term and There is a between the and to a like are in a and narratives be or but the at their is for to is in other considers as but can and to be to and and As for work on of how were a of a while between or that be these is that silences can be or Attending to and of trauma gendered experiences of family This article is that I not remain of Newdigate's and with the children's By the of and I for an – by which I mean the of and with The children's and Newdigate's the the family's When is Newdigate his pamphlet as a with and with of family and of which have with older of his with like of is for Newdigate's that reflected and his and of the family and his children's as I the children's story it to like a on for or their This the of as a the children's to their but their through silences not The to be in of gendered and the of to patriarchal The family to their from Newdigate's of a to the children's legal against a narratives to the Newdigates’ story of which Newdigate's to the family at 1701 which the of my The Newdigates’ of and in the Family Juliana which was in a was in and an response for Newdigate (aged had read and were for The father and pain to and his his of and old a on old to his that he not be it his to Newdigate this with that he an man and his children's His was but it have a to the family by of and with the of a property Newdigate to that he was an was to and with at the of a to or were to the and was to Newdigate's of in his pamphlet were for the in and with of the of he was a of the and up a in He the The Newdigate daughters’ accusations of with and to Newdigate's was a to his as he to and as in with Richard was by his and and to commit his His sons, Newdigate a from and to the and and of it Newdigate his or and of or a was the of the sons were to Newdigate by his Newdigate his for estate in to his In Newdigate France – a trip seemingly taken of He had his second-eldest son, John, with a the his The of France Newdigate was he left John to the John, however, the estate and his Gilbert (aged him to account his father John Newdigate and Richard In his pamphlet, Newdigate the was to have of the have as an He in but in 1695 (aged his wife Newdigate's estate his to his The was by Newdigate The Newdigate estate on April The House of Lords petition has of the violent while the lunacy a with of Newdigate that he suffered from a and in May John and Richard this to have him to him and a by the lunacy accusations were the was at with the daughters’ petition to the House of which Newdigate legally his Newdigate's have and a in the The lunacy on family the were to family to provide to long-term and to property the lunatic was a committal be Newdigate, it was a to control. His diary legal until In for Newdigate to the Newdigate was the he Richard the by after Richard for his father a new Richard had up as a to her In Newdigate Richard to to or his father's and the to that be to the Newdigate legally but Richard and it through estate and were on the a understanding that Newdigate his of and the There are to him as a while his for his a or six in the with a of and that he This with the John and be but a father to a son was or Newdigate, his the John's was through his John with Newdigate in and Richard but the and on his after he was Richard his father to to which Newdigate with a the account that as he and which his did not of but has Newdigate while his sons were Newdigate in of was of the in the pamphlet, to family or He the of his family – to – and his to them Newdigate in and to his children Newdigate the Richard and an the children's He was with to his daughters’ petition and and he a of his and that from a on in a by In the to children not Newdigate's was that a father of such not to his The family a of and which the of to family by property the the the the of which have and to the & be Newdigate gave the children daughter, for was to through an of after with the at The for the first was but Newdigate the of his it be – with the eldest to Newdigate, the was his father and to have divided among there was But the Amphillis Elizabeth and Juliana to to the guardianship of their maternal Sir the the family was Newdigate the family's by the children's and to their the first Newdigate as a to in and that to the of his the of family Newdigate's have of his family he to of familial madness by that Gilbert and Amphillis had up by their to their Newdigate his daughters’ he was the petition to the House of Lords. The four young had not read the it discussed Newdigate's to an to what and in the of his was as in this sexual or Newdigate the petition to his daughters’ he that the House of Lords in his of his and that – as a father – he the blame on the of the of to the of his in is a for the of Newdigate's of family His to family his while his and family the Newdigate on old to that his sons were not In old Newdigate was from his The children their father's he was at a in life that he family – a Newdigate did not mention his pamphlet with madness and The of a and less was to including Newdigate had an of Newdigate was To the of his he to the account in of how left the to a but and was by the his This with the by and their Newdigate's children so from the and their that they they there was Newdigate's and His suggest that he the of old and His diary and a of until his death in while his in to an woman the to a of the of Newdigate a with an old man & to a to I the to family after Newdigate's marriage to But Newdigate's of the of children in of his second Newdigate, an and Newdigate by on which he as the of his and in the second with in his and the The pamphlet was around which as and The first was that of Richard and Elizabeth which forced them to from their trip of 1699. the of family with Newdigate, his from his The second and third after his from his to find that John had the his and Gilbert The reflected the of familial The account of was Newdigate's and of John and Richard had him The of on Newdigate in hand for five a to of The attempt Newdigate's When a from the the to be The Newdigate to his The the of the As a in relationships and the it was with The – John's death from and lunacy committal – the family's in the family's and Newdigate's in with his The of and abuse by family. Newdigate's of had and Richard was as a a and like a he the family. Newdigate of and such as his and with his He blamed Richard and John for old by his and him from his old Newdigate was as by his as by in the he his with his of and The of him his by a him in his like a Old was a of suffering. By Newdigate was an a of and His family's to commit him and to him of have from a the a lunatic legal his and In a story on and Newdigate as an old man or by his This is As have – and can from Newdigate's while his The of old was not but or by family. had sons to like in the of his Newdigate this to his – and to the family from the of a of with his The pamphlet scandalous a by to an son and an old Newdigate's pamphlet is there is of the with Newdigate's of or which his patriarchal In this the children's to Newdigate's their to commit their father on of lunacy, petition the House of Lords and the family story is of to the of a and the profoundly gendered of their it was the to his as his daughters had but to their and his sons The Newdigate daughters on with Richard as their his as the against an The family records at and but story on them – like pain narratives – is to with and the is the The family records suggest that such was a by the from and the children's were from family The family's of their father's of family was a them to their story and to the daughters’ When by for gendered and the of the children's story on trauma, and for family of such as or But Case of in The Newdigates’ in their father's the of the second of was of and his wife and The accusations were by his eldest son, was and that had a to Lady the the like Newdigate, was through to his The like the had to a while her or that of the The have to the as had in of the of and her daughters – including the of – is in Newdigate family Family be The Newdigate children's story with the summer of 1683. Newdigate instances of his between and including on like Newdigate, on He read and with his In was a that be or was – at for had to the and of their – but was to be only diary Newdigate's and account books with and family Newdigate be with his but does not to have his patriarchal he in his with In he had to be his with after the House in Newdigate that he was including a to to Newdigate's had and the of his his and His to violent suggest in response to such a of Newdigate was a his children through a of and He Elizabeth for a and daughters for family but he When with Elizabeth, he to her by In Newdigate her for her he a these instances as and while that Newdigate's did not the of children's were of the such was a of patriarchal it was March 1702, for Newdigate that Elizabeth and Juliana as the was attempt to their money for their in the but it be as an attempt to remain in their patriarchal and money were a by the of a father's Family and after Lady Mary's death in Amphillis her as of the her on daughters’ other problems. Frances was for from February which to for an Frances in she with and only and gave in Amphillis in and to with her father's The from to the first of of The after Newdigate's family the of a Richard Elizabeth and a to while Newdigate to the the a family an for Richard and Elizabeth to although Newdigate's a that his son had for my the Newdigate the family as a against for that the was in this & read a to my But there were with the trip by The Newdigates what to or and how to Newdigate the of in to but he them for that The of was in The the children in the against Newdigate's He described their in a in the and Elizabeth a His pamphlet other Richard and a the trip he was There were between a and a Son and Daughter of by 1702 the of at as is the family and a decline of and family The family's was the family Gilbert and Amphillis were mentally and John By Frances, Anne, Elizabeth, John and Newdigate had while Amphillis and Gilbert had it is whether the Newdigates’ was a cause or of their and sexual abuse can cause familial including or of can in family and the of and the family's it is evident the Newdigates were suffering. The cause of their pain be in the children's for their father of lunacy and As kept their the Newdigates’ to legal their Whatever on April 1701 Richard and John to a lunacy Newdigate's did not His a man for including but to after the which the children in to Newdigate's Richard in his sons were right to Newdigate that he not or he & how to as it or to 1706 & He his by as he the of the the and to in Newdigate's in which money was with or the of Richard (aged his father's of the from his first Newdigate to him my so I my Son to his & I him I this my son has so to that I have the The accounts that the was up in the estate and that not The of was evident in Newdigate's of his for family and how to peace with but his their to and the of he did not his children's it have to an In he that she him for her long-term and that her her as as her in This was and were that their through Newdigate's of to have a of family he insisted on his to his their for them I had had was less his it he kept – but to the children was of patriarchal and and a estate to lunacy at a and were in was of As Newdigate of his the that was to patriarchal the of the by the sons the of they to have their father it is the daughters’ petition the House of Lords in February that the Sir Richard Newdigate described the accusations of and with his daughters as Newdigate although the only to The 1702 the of the daughters from their father's that the was of not violent with Newdigate was his the family of a legal attack in the lunacy the family and for the daughters’ while that Amphillis, Elizabeth, Juliana and were of his control. the daughters the committal was to and the House of Lords of for sexual abuse were and with older are the for sexual it is for to uncover of its of and from or by man – and old – was a of children were and The between and was easily were but against the of of an father be easily as it was to the of a man with a Newdigate's of and for him as a When to children were for older and was for to it was for her father of in eighteenth-century up in while he – with a the of his innocence, while the was by her accusations and her of on estate by for a to records of of the daughters was the attempt to have Newdigate committed was the children his them while family long-term sexual but there is including The of from was not she was committed as a lunatic to the of her Frances in in with five for on breakdown to Newdigate's in 1703, that Amphillis, an woman in her was by her as only was young to be but Newdigate had her to be his while they in The new and at but they to in Newdigate it was to have the marriage he and to her Newdigate his that a was his Newdigate only the marriage in after and her family him in the of The scandalous marriage and to a interpretation. whether was by sexual abuse by her father after she had the of long-term to she was for a and a In children's sexual such were decisive of an The with for The have the House of Lords were with the family. of these were the and and at and and as was for while their long-term have a The was with the family's and – of the – were while to the children her The daughters’ was on their but they the of to to and their of Newdigate's as a The daughters’ provide the of the daughters from the of man to it was at to relationships they daughters had for Frances – the second eldest – eloped with Sir in Newdigate was so that father that the should have for but he had his son and the to a from the family Elizabeth in as did Juliana in as is a response to abuse the of Newdigate have a have enabled from an while for Elizabeth and Juliana it an to their the of and among the daughters be it family and the to however, by the Newdigates with for enabled to patriarchal John's he was to have a the and from a trip that on was for that she the of her father other by with or Elizabeth with a to on her In Elizabeth her to a the family was a In a to in 1706 she that her siblings to that she was and denied her the to as she of my not the of Elizabeth for with her she her siblings as of her in of in her the family to as a at to the family's but the children with for or there are of the to the The are lunacy accusations and a House of Lords that never Newdigate's are that was not as was is the to the family account – the of that be in the to what As has in her Family are as by as by which traces in the the as an is never As an it of – its and or By family to the Newdigates to the in Newdigate's account books that of the were to have Newdigate a discussing his daughters’ a not to be in the – the of their for of has or The as I have to to has from the In the the to – a accounts and mention of a of the which had discussed the lunacy, has does not mention these and although she that Newdigate to his accounts from it for him to these Newdigate's as an to his while to and from his however, had to to the – to Richard and property – the to the daughters and the of was in the family's for the daughters and for to the The was not to the of it. The left a for To and their were of with such as or or were a be a was whether the of or the of in The of writing was from with to this to the – and its – the the and In the Newdigates’ their father in his which the and of his Newdigate's be as an the to with his the and between and But the was a violent against an by as to what had his of events was not on the the of family the family's trauma and the daughters’ as the of or the of an so the Newdigates’ was with the of the of the to the family. The children's story through the attack on Newdigate's and of his The Newdigate is a family's and and the pain their and to were The sons their father his to their and were to be initially The daughters had – such as by marriage or with a – and on the of at legal were the children's to it was their father's story that however, was not was a that enabled the children to family their and their father's In a patriarchal that family and to with an of there were legal of a father's these were to or the family's as the Newdigate children The family the children to but the of the enabled them to their story and their is the cause of family violent sexual – or a Newdigate's account is and easily by the children's is Whatever the the the historian to long-term and of trauma on a family. The Newdigate is not a of and The accounts to a family in pain and to their how and the of from the daughters’ to their to the father's of old his patriarchal To the of the Newdigates’ trauma, I have read their like a pain – as to what was as the from the of an to the family new family and in Newdigate's pamphlet only as his the of his or on the family. is for to accounts like Newdigate's But trauma is only through a family's and we to uncover it we the Newdigates’ trauma their of sexual abuse or and their patriarchal The of to the but the of the is not the of is the of resistance. to at the of and for their I the and by and the The was by the and of and the of

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.