‘To Work Hard for a Larger Family’

Introduction

Betsey [John and Elizabeth's eldest daughter, also Elizabeth] was wrong; her mother had not gone a journey to get orders. Instead, she was visiting her family in Lancashire. But the child's innocent words spoke to a very powerful truth about the deep impression made by business on every aspect of life for the Shaws, unwittingly revealing the complex skeins binding together working life and family life, husband and wife, man and woman, public and private, worldly and domestic. These threads were as tightly woven together as any Gordian Knot. In their everyday practices, at home and at work, the lines between John and Elizabeth, and what each of them did, what they were and what they might be, were blurred to a remarkable degree, sometimes almost to the point where they were completely dissolved.

In this chapter I will explore the demands made upon John and Elizabeth, and in time, the wider family, by an enterprising life. Naturally, the business required long hours, whether John was at the home or on the road. This took a toll that was both physical and emotional and was experienced by all alike.