Jessica Ayres

Thesis

Thesis

The Financial and Administrative Roles of Women in London's Court Orphans, 1660-1720

Supervisor: Natasha Glaisyer

Research

Research

My research interests are in the social and economic history of England in the early modern period, particularly women's engagement with finance, administration and institutions. My PhD thesis focuses on the City of London's Court of Orphans and emphasises the importance of women's financial and administrative roles in the Court’s proceedings during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Papers and publications

Conference Papers

• Economic History Society Annual Conference, University of Cambridge, April 2022                                                          ‘Women in the Financial Records of London’s Court of Orphans, 1660-1694’
• Women, Money and Markets, 1600-1900, University of Zurich, June 2021                                                                   ‘Women’s Economic and Legal Activities in London’s Court of Orphans, 1660-1730’
• Economic History Society Annual Conference, University of Warwick, April 2021                                                            ‘Widows, Money and Credit: The Probate Inventories of London’s Court of Orphans, 1660-1720’
• History Department Research Seminar: Women’s Intellectual Traditions and Roles, University of York, February 2021 ‘Women, Petitioning and Print during the City of London’s Financial Crisis, 1682-1694’
• History Lab, Institute of Historical Research, University of London, January 2021 ‘The Women of London’s Court of Orphans and the Orphan Act, 1682-1694’
• Female Experience in Early Modern England, University of Auckland, November 2020 ‘Women’s Petitions to London’s Court of Orphans, 1660-1740’
• History Department Annual PGR Conference, University of York, October 2020 ‘Civic Orphanage and Self-Identity: Women’s Petitions to London’s Court of Orphans, 1660-1740’
• Cabinet of Curiosities Autumn-Term Colloquium, University of York, October 2020 ‘Chains of Obligation: Widows, Money and Credit in London’s Court of Orphans, 1660-1720’
• Interrupted Ideas: Cabinet of Curiosities Zoom Colloquium, University of York, July 2020 ‘Women’s Financial and Administrative roles in London’s Court of Orphans, 1660-1720’

External Activities

External activities

• Graduate student council member and trustee of the Economic History Society
• Graduate Teaching Assistant in both the History Department and Economics Department at the University of York
• Associate Tutor in the History Department at the University of Sheffield