7
had he have been‘ less anxious about’ or so‘ deeply interested’ in her. 10 His justification is that his future wife would have to conform to certain manners and practices to be accepted by his family and community although the quotation at the beginning of this section indicates that he approached his candid style with some apprehension.
I argue that there were contextually relationship obstacles that pressured Joseph to coerce Isabella to convert to Unitarianism to appease his family, but as a fervent worshipper his faith may have masked other reasons for her non-acceptance. The Strutt family are recorded as having been accepting of other religions, which implies it was her lack of education generally, her lack of self-improvement or the standing of her father Archibald Douglas who was a merchant from outside Derbyshire. 11
Family and Community
‘ For the good opinion Mr Cooper may have formed of me, I thank him […] for the attention he has paid to your improvement, I think myself much obliged’( Joseph Strutt) 12
Joseph judged his own identity against the company he kept and its opinion of him, which was not unusual at a time when reputation played a major role in a person’ s acceptance within the socio-economic world. Friends within his community who wanted Joseph to continue to be part of their society were anxious for his reputation and also perhaps that a wrong decision could leave him in a no-man’ s land between communities. He openly reveals to Isabella that his friends‘ Disapprove the steps I am taking’, and justified why he felt he should listen to their opinion as they‘ love me & [ are ] whom I love most tenderly’; they were life-long friends by whom he stood. 13 Joseph also iterated that‘ they are my friends without being‘ Enemies to you [ Isabella ]’ and that they are observers of the‘ manners and actions of all Mankind’ not just of
10
Letter from Joseph to Isabella, 12 th October 1788( BAHPS MS3101 / C / E / 4 / 8 / 13).
11
David Hempton, Religion and Political Culture in Britain and Ireland: From the Glorious Revolution to the decline of empire( Oxford University Press, 1996), 34.
12
Letter from Joseph to Isabella, 26 th January 1789( BAHPS MS3101 / C / E / 4 / 8 / 17). Mr Cooper is the brother-in-law of Isabella Douglas.
13
Letter from Joseph to Isabella, 12 th October 1788( BAHPS MS3101 / C / E / 4 / 8 / 13).