This study aimed to show that businesswomen were central to urban society and to the operation and development of commerce in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century northern towns. It presents a rich and complicated picture of lower-middling life and female enterprise in three northern English towns: Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield. The stories told by a wide range of sources - including the trade directories and newspaper advertisements which form the basis of the database - demonstrate the very differing fortunes and levels of independence that individual businesswomen enjoyed. Yet, as a group, their involvement in the economic life of towns and, in particular, the manner in which they exploited and facilitated commercial development, force us to reassess our understanding of both gender relations and urban culture in late Georgian England. In contrast to the traditional historical consensus that the independent women of business during this period - particularly those engaged in occupations deemed 'unfeminine' - was insignificant and no more than an oddity, businesswomen are presented by the project findings not as footnotes to the main narrative, but as central characters in a story of unprecedented social and economic transformation. This database records details of women's trade and business activities in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield between 1773 and 1828. The data is drawn from trade directories and newspapers published during sample years between these dates. The database comprises of 5 tables: 1. directories: contains the bibliographic details of the 14 trade directories used and details of the copies consulted. 2. directoryentries: contains the entries for women in the 14 trade directories. 3. newpapers: contains the bibliographic details for each of the 7 newspapers used, and details of the copies consulted. 4. adverts: contains details of the newspaper adverts in which women are mentioned, often including sections of the text. 5. advertpersons: contains entries for each of the women named in newspaper adverts.