Dependent Middling Examples

Mary Beckham

You were the joiner Humphrey Beckham’s mother. Your husband Reynold, after his death, allowed you £5 yearly for the rest of your life, occupation of two rooms within the family home above the shop, comfortable furniture including beds, an arras coverlet, his best sheets, some brass kitchenware, clothing, storage chests and boxes and meat and drink during your life. You had ten children with Reynold, and your eldest, John, inhabited the rest of the house after your husband’s death. You were fairly typical of well provided for widows from solid middling homes.

Miles Woolfe

You are the son of Nicholas Woolfe, who passed away while you were still a minor. Nonetheless, he left you accommodation in his will for musical tuition and you were assigned two influential guardians in the city of Bristol, one of whom would go on to become mayor. Although still a child and not legally entitled yet to your the property and money bequeathed to you, your “inheritance” exists in other ways such as these cultural and educational assets and social status networks. You depend on adults around you for your keep but that does not mean that you cannot reach one of the higher social status categories in your adulthood.