Regncy Snippets - Christmas

Around Christmas 1814  a large family party was gathered at Blehheim* among whom were Lord Blandford, his wife and three of their children. Their days were passed in te traditional country way, with riding and wild duck shooting, and a good deal of eating and drinking.

The Profligate Duke by Mary Soames.

In the Iberian Peninsula.

"In every interval between our active services, we indulged in all manner of trick and amusement...We lived, united as men always are who are about to face death in the face on the same side, and, who, caring little about it to each new day added their lives as one more to rejoice in...We invited them every evening to a dance at our quarters...alternately...We used to dance the bolero, fandango and waltz and we wound up early in the evening with a dish of roast chestnuts."

Sir John Kincaid of the 95th Rifles which was in the light Division.

"Here for the first time in the Peninsula we kept Christmas. Every man contributed money, meat or wine. A sheep or two were bought and killed. Plum puddings were baked, etc., Plates, knives and forks, were not pelentiful. We managed to diminish the stock of eatables in quick time. For desert we had apples; and for a finish, two or three of the bandsmen played merry tunes, the men warmed their toes by dancing jigs and reels."

John Cooper of the 7th Royal Fusiliers, 1813.

Regency snippets - Population - London and other towns.

The Regency snippets which I have been uploading are taken from a file of notes that I compiled.

"Of England's own 10,000,000 a tenth lived in the capital. Apart from its suburbs of new villas it was really five towns, the mercantile City, the royal West End, the riverside port, the Borough of Southwark, and the slums.These last croweded out of sight though not always out of smell of the rich, behind the grander houses and spread ever futher eastwards into the Essex and Kentish meadows, leaving a string of low, dingy towns on either side of the Thames. They were still what they had been in the Middle Ages, fever-ridden haunts of vice and wretchedness:a maze of alleys and lanes fading into the unwholdesome vapour that always overhung them, of dirty, tumbledown houses with windows patched with rags and blackened paper, and airless courts crowded with squabbling women and half-naked children wallowing in pools and kennels (channels which carried refuse away.)

"Apart from London there were only two towns in England, Manchester and Liverpool with 100,000 inhabitants and five others - Bristol, Glasgow, Birmingham, leeds and Sheffield with over 50,000."

The Age of Elegance.
Chapter Five - Triumphant Island.
Arthur Bryant. 

Regency Snippets - Charity

."..visitors saw something too, of the great charities - the offspring of private benevolence - which the islanders had endowed their capital (London). They visited the Charterhouse, the Foundling Hospital in the northern fields, the palaces built for naval and military pensioners at Greenwich and Chelsea , and dined in the hills of the Goldsmiths and Merchant Taylors - reresentatives of corporations, which spent between them as much on relieving the poor as a Continental sovereign maintaining his Court. The British capital had 20 voluntarily supported hospitals, a hundred and twenty almhouses, fifty free dispensaries, forty-five endowed free schools and two hundred and fifty parochial schools, educating, clothing and feeding nearly 20,000 children. Though the palace of St James was the smallest and least imposing in Europe, her real palaces were hospitals. Wren's Greenwich and Chelsea, Gibb's St Bartholomews with its Hogarth staircase, St Thomas with its four great quadrangles treating and discharging 11,000 patients a year; the new "Bethlem" and "St Luke's" for the insame with their enormous classical facades were buildings that a king might have been proud to inhabit. In no other country was there so much voluntary corporate goodness towards the hungry and diseased and weak. When, on Holy Thursday 6,000 London charity children marched in procession to St Pauls the Prussian General Yorck delcared nothing had ever moved him so deeply."


Arthur Bryant.
The Age of Elegance.
Chapter Five. The Triumphant Island.

Regency Snippets - Charity

."..visitors saw something too,  of the great charities - the offspring of private benevolence - which the islanders had endowed their capital (London). They visited the Charterhouse, the Foundling Hospital in the northern fields, the palaces built for naval and military pensioners at Greenwich and Chelsea , and dined in the hills of the Goldsmiths and Merchant Taylors - reresentatives of corporations, which spent between them as much on relieving the poor as a Continental sovereign maintaining his Court. The British capital had 20 voluntarily supported hospitals, a hundred and twenty almhouses, fifty free dispensaries, forty-five endowed free schools and two hundred and fifty parochial schools, educating, clothing and feeding nearly 20,000 children. Though the palace of St James was the smallest and least imposing in Europe, her real palaces were hospitals. Wren's Greenwich and Chelsea, Gibb's St Bartholomews with its Hogarth staircase, St Thomas with its four great quadrangles treating and discharging 11,000 patients a year; the new "Bethlem" and "St Luke's" for the insame with their enormous classical facades were buildings that a king might have been proud to inhabit. In no other country was there so much voluntary corporate goodness towards the hungry and diseased and weak. When, on Holy Thursday 6,000 London charity children marched in procession to St Pauls the Prussian General Yorck delcared nothing had ever moved him so deeply."

Arthur Bryant.
The Age of Elegance.
Chapter Five. The Triumphant Island.

Regency Snippet - Buckingham Palace

This snippet is pre-Regency but I think it deserves a mention.

In May 1762 King George III and Queen Charlotte moved into Buckingham House, which was called Queen's House.

In 1800 Wyatt built a new grand staircase with a central and two branching flights....Although the palace was being gradually adapated for ceremonial use, Queen Charlotte continued to find nostalgic pleasures around her. The royal 'Bookbinders Shop' was there and in the Queen's Garden she had carnation stages, and evergreens as in earlier years. Her elephant and zebra were gone, but the King's flocks and herds remained, and the patoral scene, enlivened in due season by haymaking and harbvesting of crops from plantations of fruit trees, preserved unchallenged the tradition of the Duke of Bucking ham...

Queen Charlotte by Olwen Hedley.

Writing and Gardening

I have been busy with many writerly matters but had set myself a deadline to begin a new novel today - Monday's Child - the sequel to my Regency Novel, Sunday's Child - and kept to it. I've spent so much time thinking about it that the first few pages flowed well.

I didn't have time to write for as long as usual because the gardener who works for me once a fortnight arrived and I needed to give him some instructions etc. We removed my peach tree from a large container and planted it in the the garden. He then laid wee suppressent over an 5 foot by 8 foot vegetable patch bordered by fir trees. The trees drain the soil and nothing flourished in the patch so we put two four by four foot raised beds over the weed suppressant which will filter the water.

After the gardener left I finished cleaning the greenhouse and repotted more of my orchids in a special growing medium.

All in all, a very satisfying morning.

Gardening

At long last, some decent weather her in S.E.England. Yesterday, I cleaned my greenhouse and potted up pumpkins, winter squash and courgettes which were growing indoors in a heated propagator. I also potted up my orchids. I removed all the old compost, trimmed the roots, repotted the plants in orchid compost and fed them with a special liquid feed. Hopefully, they will thrive and flower for months.

Yesterday, I sowed sweetcorn,sweetpeas,basil and other seeds in seed-tray. Today, I transplated four clumps of rhubarb to a well-manured sunny spot, planted a dessert gooseberry and nearly finished tidying up my  greenhouse.

Regency Snippets - Bazaar

John Trotter, an army contractor, became rich during the Napoleonic Wars. Afte the war ended he turned his warehouse in Soho Square, London, into a bazaar, which opened in 1816. He intended the bazaar to provide a space in which the wives and daughters of army officers could sell their handiwork. The bazaar was entirely encolsed. The stalls were for hire fore three pence a foot.

Guest Blogger at Fresh Fiction.

Today, I am a guest blogger at Fresh Fiction.

The link is: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=4898

Regency Snippets - Birth

Ladies were allowed to participat in social functions from the beginning to the very end of their pregnancies.

The birth of a child, particularly when an heir was expected, took place in the paternal family's house.

During the last weeks of pregnancy, aristocrats usually went to London for the confinement, especially when an heir was expected.

While getting ready to give birth, more often than not an accoucheur was hired to deliver the baby, and so was a monthly nurse. Her duty was to deliver the baby if the accoucheur did not arrive in time and to look after the mother for a month.

While giving birth, relatives and friends would wait, drinking caudle, a hot spiced wine also given to the mother in labour to strengthen her.

After the baby was born aristocratic visitors paid calls on the mother during her lying in, which ended when the mother was churched and the christening, an important occasion, had taken place. 

Most ladies, who had recently given birth, took between a month and six weeks to leave the confinement of their bedrooms and houses.

(I think most of these notes were taken from In the Family Way by Judith S. Lewis.)

Regency Snippets - Barristers

The differences between solicitors and barristers were greater in the Regency period than they are now. The terms are still  in  use but the words sarjeant and attorney were used more often than barrister. In the early decade of the 19th century the training and work of barristers and solicitors was being standardished. To this day barristers are called to the bar at one of the four Inns of Court. In the Regency they were sometimes called pleaders and were hired by solicitors.

Regency Snippets - Solicitors

Solicitors dealt with wills, land conveyances, trusts, marriage settlements, employment contracts, leases - and dealing with the bank. They were often retained as a family's man of business.

In many criminal cases, as well as civil suits, the injured party had to prosecute the case against the alleged perpetrator. Those who could afford it hired a solicitor who briefed a barrister to act for the plaintiff.  Because of the cost, merchants banded together to share the cost of prosecuting shoplifters and those who charged for goods but did not deliver them.

Regency Snippets - Baby Carriage

Charles Elliot, cabinet maker and upholsterer, designed for the baby a cushioned chaise, with a white carpet, a large lustrine umbrella and a mahogany turned stick for the front of the chaise.

Extract from Queen Charlotte by Olwen Hedley

Regncy Snippets - Almacks

In James Grant's book The Great Metropolis published in 1837 he lists the following patronesses of Almacks.

"The commitee consists of six ladies-patronesses. Formerly there were seven; but since the Princess Lieven, the celebrated Russian politician and beauty, quitted this country the number has been only six. They are the Countess of Jersey, the Marchioness of Londonderry, Lady Cowper, the Countess of Brownlow, Lady Willoughby D'Eresby and the Countess of Euston. These ladies are self-elected."

* * * *

D'Orsay, who was in London for a first visit in April 1823 and went to France later that year, not to return before 1829, wrote.

"At the upper end, on a raised seat or throne, sat the all powerful dames. There might be seen the splendid figure and handsome face of the Countess of Jersey; by her side the slim yet graceful form of the female representative of the Court of the Czar; there the good-humoured enbonpoint Lady Castelreagh, all smiles and good humour; the ladylike aristrocratic Lady Gwydir; and the dark-haired daughter of France, Lady Tankerville.

"On the side benches, the lovely nieces of Rutland's Duke - the peerless Eliza, afterwards Hon. Mrs Smith; the fascinating Isabella, who married George Anson, and Anne, now Countess of Chesterfield. Mark the magnificent aristocratic and beautiful sisters, Ladies Caroline and Jane Paget. The Fitz Clarences - Sophia, afterwards Countess of Errol; Mary, still Lady M.Fox."

A list of distinguished men present follows as wekk as mention of other female beauties."

When writing my new Regency novel, Monday's Child, the sequel Sunday's Child, if I mention a patroness or patronesses of Almacks I shall be very careful to make sure who they were in 1814.

Research for My New Regency Novel

I plan to begin the sequel to my novel Sunday's Child which ends when Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba.

My research will begin when re-reading Dancing into Battle A Social History of the Battle of Waterloo by Nick Foulkes.

I am browsing through a very large file of notes and cuttings about the period and intend to share some snippets from it. The first ones are from notes I made on Regency advertisements.

"Rowland's Essence of Tyre will produce a brown or black hue for hair."

"Anodyne Necklace - for use of children cutting teeth. Sugar plums for worms for children and grown up persons. Necklace 9 shillings. Sugar plums - box 2 shillings and eight pence."

"At Repositaire a la Mode. Dresses for Christmas balls for 12 shilings and swansdown muffs for 1 pound ten shilings."

"Need to learn the latest dances for the Christmas ball? Only 2 guineas a quarter at Mr Leiven's select Evening Academy.

(Unfortunately I did not note the source of these ads.)

Christina Courtenay

The first novel which I read by Christina Courtenay was The Scarlet Kimono set in 1611. In Japan, HannahMarston is abducted by Kumashiro, who has been warned about her by a seer. I enjoyed it so much that in future I shall read it again.

Yesterday, with a satisfied sigh, I finished reading Christina's novel The Silent Touch of Shadows in which dreams and visions concerning a mediaeval knight and a young woman plague genealogist Melissa Grantham. Jake Precy, a vet, also dreams about the past.  Neither Melissa nor Jake can decide whether they are in love or whether ghosts are manipulating them.

Now, I am looking forward to reading Chistina's new novel The Gilded Fan.

Books I Have Ejoyed

For as long as I can remember, I have always been an avid reader, particularly of historical fiction and non-fiction. As a child I read Jeffrey Farnol and Geoffrey Trease’s children’s historical fiction and, at the library, always chose to read historical fiction and non-fiction. Later, I read the classics, Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen. At around the age of fourteen or fifteen, I borrowed my next door neighbor’s novels by Georgette Heyer and could not read them fast enough. I also read the works of Elizabeth Goudge, Anya Seton, and, I think, in my late teens began reading the Angelique series by Seargeanne Golon. These authors and many more invoked my wish to become a published historical novelist. More recently I have read and enjoyed Helen Hollick and Elizabeth Chadwick’s novels. By the way, if you browsed through my personal home library, you would find The Bhagavita, The Song of God by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and the great Indian classics The Mahabharat and the Ramayan, which rival The Odyssey and the Illiad which I own, as well as the St James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. You would also find The White Witch by Elizabeth Goudge, all of Elizabeth Chadwick’s mediaeval novels, Benita Brown’s novels, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, These Old Shades and Devil’s Cub and other novels by Georgette Heyer, the works of Jane Austen, The Far Pavilions, The Shadow of the Moon and Trade Winds by M.M.Kaye, Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scot, and many others by authors I appreciate such as Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel series and the novels of Francis Parkinson Keyes. 

Novels On My 'Henry III' To Be Read List

I enjoy reading non fiction and fiction.


At the moment I want to read some historical novels set in the reign of Henry III.

On a pile of novels I intend to read is Sharon Kay Penman's Falls the Shadow.

On my to buy, beg or borrow list are Thomas B Constain's novels - The Magnificent Century. Katherine Ashe 5 part Montfort series about Simon de Montfort, Edith Parteger's The Marriage of Megotta and Arthur Diggan's Leopards and Lilies, as well as a number of non fiction books which I can't share because I have misplaced the list.

Allotment Society and Gardening

Yesterday, I visited the shop at the local allotments. The allotment holders who run it know the local conditions and always give good advice.  Although I have chitted my first early potatoes I was advised that it is still too cold to plant them out, something I had suspected. If the sprouts grow much more I shall plant them in pots and ease them into the ground later on.

In need of something cheerful, I bought a pot of Little Red Riding Hood tulips. I really like their dark green and white striped leaves and pillar box-red flowers. I've put the pot in a ceramic container on the front doorstep to welcome visitors when the tulips flower.

I also bought second early potatoes to chit, and a desert gooseberry bush which should produce large red and yellow striped berries. I dream of having home grown fruit, soft and stone all year round - in the winter I rely on bottled and frozen fruit. Last year it was so wet that my strawberries rotted, this year it's been so cold and wet with icywinds that farmers are badly affected. This means the prices of vegetables will go up.  Deep sigh.

Today, unless it's really too cold I shall make a start on clearing out the greenhouse, and setting my second early potatoes to chit. While doing so I shall think of gardeners in the past, particularly in mediaeval times when the sequel to my novel set in Edward IInd's reign will be set.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday, the sun's shining after days of snow, bitterly cold winds and rain. Berengia, crocuses and daffodils are blooming in my garden. I've been given three beautiful bouquets which I've arranged in vases, and am looking forward to spending time with most of my family throughout the day. Thank you God for all the good things in my live.