The Culture of the Time

I’ve often thought about how we in the twenty first century look back on previous centuries, how our perspective clouds our understanding of them. We are all products of the culture we’re born into and I think as historians (even amateur ones) we need to remember that. I’ve had the opportunity to travel widely in the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East. I remember one conversation I had in a bar with German police officers about a variety of issues in the US. I actually agreed with much of their line of thought, but they were incredulous at our gun laws. I tried to explain how our laws worked and how the constitution allowed sovereignty among the states. That concept was alien to them, that the values that they had ingrained in their culture weren't shared across borders, but rather rejected.

The Brothel Scene (1735) from A Rake's Progress by William Hogarth

I’ve tried to explore that in my writing, the difference in perspective and how perception affects actions. In my novel, War on the Inland Sea, the characters live in and are influenced by the cultures they inhabit. The British, French and Mississauga all experience the world through the lens of their own experience. My protagonist, Robert Marshal, is a product of the British colonial system. Though resident in the colony of New York, the culture of Great Britain influenced everything he experienced, including the class difference so prevalent in England.

Joseph Massie, a British economist at the time, commented on the wealth gap between the elite and the lower classes. He estimated that forty percent of the population of Great Britain in the 1760’s survived on less than fourteen percent of the nations income. While the top three hundred families in Great Britain owned more than half of the land, which was the basis of wealth at the time. The graph showing the wealth disparity at the end of the 18th century versus the end of the 20th is truly incredible, but also defines how wealth changes. Land is no longer the basis of wealth in the 21st century, so the graph may be somewhat misleading today.

The social stratification in the mid-eighteenth century made a system of patronage necessary for advancement. Patronage from the wealthy was an accepted route to social mobility in Great Britain and the colonies. This system extended to the military as well, where the rise as an officer could be assisted by a superior officer. Unlike the British Army though, which promoted through purchase of commissions, the Royal Navy used both patronage and merit. Patronage could get a young man his position as midshipman and subsequent advancement. However, the truth was that a superior officer would not continue to support a junior naval officer that wasn’t good enough. A midshipman would still have to pass an examination on seamanship by other ship’s captains in order to make lieutenant. Patronage might get his foot in the door, to get that examination early, but he would still have to pass the examination with his own knowledge. Merit still mattered in the Royal Navy.

In the American colonies, social mobility was higher than in the mother country and the wealth gap smaller. As with today though, class distinction based on wealth was still prevalent and in the eighteenth century it was more overt. In my novel, Robert is the protege of the wealthy merchant of New York City, William Walton. His father of the same name had been a merchant captain who had gained wealth and prestige in the colonies and passed on to his son a thriving business. The latter had capitalized on that and created a business empire that made him one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. His patronage was necessary not only for Robert to learn his trade as a sea-captain, but also to rise in his employment.

In my novel, when my main character is asked by his mentor to recruit and then lead sailor’s for service at Fort Oswego, he’s not really asking. Robert knows that this is part of the patronage system and he’s bound by its rules or will lose the patronage. Nor for that matter did Walton have much of a choice, the web of favors and indulgences at all levels was the same. He owed a great deal to the colonial government for authorizing his trade with the Spanish and was expected to return the favor when asked. Robert as the youngest of Walton’s sea-captains was the most likely to survive his service in the north and in the scheme of things the most expendable. It’s not fair, but it was understandable.

REF:

Szreter, S. (2021). “The history of inequality: the deep-acting ideological and institutional influences.” IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities.

The Brothel Scene (1735) from A Rake's Progress by William Hogarth. Sir John Soane's Museum, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, UK.