Women-owned businesses were also relatively common in Retford. For example, Piercy mentions in 1828 that the Post Office in Grove Street is run by the post mistress Miss Elizabeth Barker. Three years later, White's 1831 directory notes it is run by Mrs Elizabeth Taylor. At that time, Mary Clark and Catherine Dean were grocers; Mary Stocks was a boat owner; Mrs Jane Taylor, Frances Holliday, Susanna Slaney and Elizabeth Wilkinson were stay makers; Faith Walker was a farmer; Margaret Holderness was a bookseller; Ellen Lawrence was a shoemaker; Mary Burley was a China and Glass dealer; Ann Appleby, Ann Colbeck, Sarah Graves, Mary Penington and Susan Penington were straw hat makers; Ann Burton, Mary Chester and Jane Walker were shopkeepers. Several Retford public houses were also run by a landlady at that time.