Abstract
The long eighteenth century was simultaneously frivolous and austere, attractive and repulsive. It embraced enlightenment and revolution, great wealth and abject wretchedness. Women participated, to some extent, in most aspects and levels of eighteenth-century society. Philanthropic endeavour was perceived as being especially suitable for them. Nevertheless, their contributions are largely absent from the story of the long eighteenth century. The stories of female members of the Ascendancy who contributed to the provision of elementary education for Ireland’s poor during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries are particularly hard to find. This book focuses on the female beneficiaries and providers of education at the end of the lengthy eighteenth century in Ireland. This chapter introduces the book, its themes, sources and structure.
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Notes
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Cohen and Manion, Research Methods, 48.
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O’Sullivan, E. (2017). Introduction. In: Ascendancy Women and Elementary Education in Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54639-1_1
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