ABSTRACT
Wollstonecraft lived at a time of agnatic primogeniture when the firstborn son was privileged and legally in line to inherit the parent’s estate and rank. Edward John Wollstonecraft had no title, but he was the son of a wealthy master weaver in Spitalfields. He raised his first son Edward (Ned) to be a gentleman like himself—spoiled, indolent, reckless with money, imperious, especially toward women—but unlike a gentleman too in that neither father nor son accepted the responsibility of taking care of subordinates. Further, because Wollstonecraft’s father could not afford the lifestyle to which he felt entitled, he frequently abused his wife and children, physically and emotionally. The second born, Mary Wollstonecraft would find herself burdened throughout her entire life with paying her father’s debts and providing financially for several of her young brothers and sisters. This chapter explores those ramifications as they impacted Wollstonecraft’s work.
