Editorial Introduction

ABSTRACT

Eighteenth-century England saw a close association between personal decency and the condition, cleanliness and quality of underwear – this shirt or shift, usually made from linen, was used to judge status and respectability. Novels and a pawnbroker’s book reveal that inadequate underwear shamed its owner. Bodily intimacy had the potential to create emotional attachments, illustrated by the poignant Derwentwater sheet. However quantitative analysis of wills and textiles from the Foundling Hospital, which continues as the children’s charity Coram, indicate that bodily intimacy did not automatically create emotional meaning and economic value could have primacy over emotional attachment.