The world of the nineteenth-century woman was extremely narrow. Quiet, uncomplaining, and of delicate constitution, she spent her days at home with her family - the vagaries and demands of commerce were quite beyond her. Or so the story goes . . . History has not remembered these nine women. They came from a variety of backgrounds but the thing that links them is that they were financially able. They survived abusive husbands, bankruptcy, impecunious relatives and heart-breaking personal tragedies to achieve surprising levels of success, and every one of them was a Staffordshire woman.

'Nine Norfolk Women - succeeding in a 19th-century man's world' is a selection of single chapter biographies of women from the county of Norfolk who succeeded, often against considerable odds, in a time when neither business enterprise nor acumen was expected of their gender. It is also a fine example of how diligent research in census records and directories can then contribute fascinating pictures of our families in times gone by. The family researcher will find in this book excellent motivation and guidance to dig deeper into his or her own ancestry. Those women featured in the book are in the main deliberately previously unknown - but include a family of money lending ladies, female light-house keepers, enterprising businesswomen, artists and dressmakers, a writer and a farmer - and two Norfolk women whose lives took them far from their home county. Whether the reader is wishing to draw inspiration from these determined women of the 19th century or is wondering where to go next in researching family history, this book outlines a splendid route forward.