Guide to the unprotected

Listen to a fascinating Radio 4 Money Box programme on an 1863 investment guide by a woman – Emma Sophia Galton – the sister of the eminent statistician Sir Francis Galton and, as her pseudonym reveals, the daughter of a banker.  Her target audience was women, especially the unprotected single women with no man to manage their affairs.  Her easy-to-read primer included advice on how to write a cheque, what to say to your broker when you wanted to buy shares, and how to diversify your investments.  She also recommended taking advice from one man of business (not two) and never to marry without a prenuptial agreement or ‘marriage settlement’.  Miss Galton lived to the ripe old age of 94, presumably living on her royalties, as the final edition came out in 1901.

 

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