Women Investors in Early Modern European Mines

This paper contributes to the scholarly interest in the involvement of women in early modern mines and mining by examining the role of women as investors in mining operations. Women’s capital was of interest to mining entrepreneurs and women themselves sought out opportunities to own and invest in mines. I argue that the study of women’s economic activity as it relates to mining should include the critical role of women’s funding of these enterprises. This paper explores women’s mining investments through two case studies. The first is the Company of Mine Adventurers, a British joint-stock company established in the 1690s to mine coal, lead, and copper in Wales. Intriguingly, the managers of the company specifically targeted female investors. In 1700, 28.8 per cent of shareholders in the company were women. This was one of the highest levels of female investment in a publicly traded company in Britain during this century. As my previous research has shown, women were active investors in company stocks during Britain’s Financial Revolution. I will explore why mining attracted proportionally more female investment than insurance, fisheries, or trade. The second case study is of the mining entrepreneur Lady Mary Herbert (b. 1684). She spent much of her adulthood on the European continent where she engaged in speculative ventures. In the 1720s Mary Herbert emigrated to Spain where she raised capital and put together a team to reopen a silver mine at Guadalcanal. She expanded her involvement in the 1730s and ‘40s, eventually also laying claim to the Rio Tinto mine. Mary Herbert funded, organized, and worked political and legal channels as a mining entrepreneur. She seems to have been the first person (male or female) to begin British involvement in Spanish mining.