Northampton Electronic Collection of Theses and Research

The new militia: war, politics and gender in 1750s Britain

McCormack, M. (2007) The new militia: war, politics and gender in 1750s Britain. Gender and History. 19(3), pp. 483-500. 0953-5233.

Item Type: Article
Abstract: This article explores the role of gender in the debates around the creation of a ‘New Militia’ at the beginning of the Seven Years War. The humiliating military defeats of 1756 had precipitated a cultural crisis that focused upon gender distinctions, as the ‘effeminacy’ of men and the ‘boldness’ of women threatened to collapse the social order. In this context, militia service was presented as a cure for the nation's moral, social, political and sexual ills. This article therefore examines a range of textual and visual sources in order to suggest that certain mid-Georgian political worldviews were fundamentally gendered, since they were predicated upon martial masculine virtues of the citizenry
Subjects: D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain > DA40 Political, military, naval, and Air Force history
D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain > DA498 1714-1760
H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Women > HQ1075 Sex role
Creators: McCormack, Matthew
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
Faculties, Divisions and Institutes: University Faculties, Divisions and Research Centres - OLD > Faculty of Education & Humanities > History
Faculties > Faculty of Education & Humanities > History
Date: December 2007
Date Type: Publication
Page Range: pp. 483-500
Journal or Publication Title: Gender and History
Volume: 19
Number: 3
Language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0424.2007.00486.x
ISSN: 0953-5233
Status: Published / Disseminated
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/825

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