Nineteenth Century
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The Publishing Journey of Jane Austen
Today is Jane Austen’s 249th birthday, which means we are now officially in her 250th year: I am so excited for all the events and publications (I already have my tickets to tour 8 College St in Winchester), as well as having a few of my own up my sleeve, and so I wanted to… read more
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“Widow Clicquot” Review for BSECS Criticks
You might remember that earlier this year, I shared this post about the fascinating life of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, the Widow Clicquot who revolutionised the Clicquot champagne house to be the Veuve Clicquot it is world-renowned as today. Well, I am very happy to share a review I wrote of that film for BSECS Criticks… read more
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A Classical Landscape at Stourhead
Visiting the gardens at the sprawling estate of Stourhead, Wiltshire, is like walking into a Claude Lorrain painting, or some kind of fantastical neoclassical, Grand Tour dream. In fact, Henry Hoare I, who first acquired the Stourhead estate for his family in 1717 (then known as Stourton Manor) owned a Lorrain painting, Aeneas at Delos.… read more
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Jane Austen in Bath
Humphry Repton, North Parade, Bath, 1784, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1986.29.460. Bath, a Georgian city that was descended upon during the eighteenth century for its fashionable surroundings, for its healing waters and its vibrant social scene, had many famous residents during its historical heyday. However, as the eighteenth century became the… read more
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The Rules of the Ballroom
Watching Bridgerton, and ultimately reading a LOT of Regency romances recently, has had me fascinated even more by the ritual of attending balls: and of course, balls in the eighteenth and nineteenth century were governed by strict rules. Here are some of them below: Firstly, you should never attend a private ball without an invitation,… read more
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Introducing debutantes at Queen Charlotte’s Ball
Thomas Gainsborough, Queen Charlotte, Met Museum. You may have noticed, if you have immersed yourself in the Regency fantasy world of Bridgerton recently, that each series begins with the presentation of society’s debutantes to Queen Charlotte. Young ladies queue up in white dresses, escorted to the Queen, where they curtsey and are examined by the… read more
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Attending Almack’s in Regency London
Print made by James Caldwall, The Cotillion Dance, 1771, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1977.14.11242. If you were part of high society in late eighteenth or early nineteenth century London, a key social location of the season was Almack’s. Located on King Street behind St James’s Square, Almack’s put on balls and… read more
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Visiting Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens
One of my favourite things to read about in eighteenth and nineteenth century history is how, and where, people spent their free time. The eighteenth century saw a real change in the development of leisure and pleasure, especially for the elite, which meant the arrival of more cultural institutions and places to satisfy these needs.… read more
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Madame Clicquot, the Grand Dame of Champagne
This weekend sees the release of Widow Clicquot, a film celebrating the life and achievements of the Grande Dame of Champagne, who became the first female owner of a champagne house and an incredibly astute businesswoman. Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin was born in 1777 into a wealthy family, with a father who was also a businessman. He… read more
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The Tragic Story of the Wiltshire Heiress
We talk a lot about rich men during the Regency period, but what about the heiresses of the day? One of the richest heiresses in the early nineteenth century was Catherine Tylney-Long, heiress to Wanstead Park in Essex, as well as lands in Hampshire and Wiltshire, who actually had quite a tragic story. It did… read more
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Dr. Lizzie Rogers 