Essex man
noun · first attested 1990
A newspaper column invented an entire social class in a single article.
A pejorative stereotype of the brash, self-made, right-wing working-class voter of southeast England.
51.7500°N 0.5833°E · Q23240
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1990
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Essex
- In English
Essex man
Simon Heffer coined the phrase in the Sunday Telegraph in October 1990 to name the skilled manual workers of the Essex commuter belt who had left Labour to vote for Margaret Thatcher. The county was chosen because London's East End had emptied into its new towns after the war. Essex girl followed as the female counterpart, and Mondeo Man later did the same job for the Blair years.