Women’s History
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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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New Podcast | Past Matters, “The Queen of the Bluestockings”
Hello! I recently had a wonderful chat with the lovely Ploy Radford of the Past Matters Podcast about one of my favourite eighteenth century women, Elizabeth Montagu. Montagu was the so-called Queen of the Bluestocking Circle, a group of intellectuals – both men and women! – who often met in her London home. You can read more
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“the cradle of her genius”: Jane Austen and Steventon
It’s long been on my list to take a trip to the small village of Steventon, Hampshire. Steventon is small, but incredibly auspicious, as it is the birthplace of Jane Austen. Not only that, but it is where she largely spent the first twenty-five years of her life, leading her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, to 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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Unique pets in the Eighteenth-Century
I recently stumbled across this beautiful portrait in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Once I got past the beautiful fabrics and luxurious pearls (they always pull me in) – there was something else that struck me… The squirrel. I wondered if it was a symbol of something, but it turns out that actually, it wasn’t. 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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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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Marie-Antoinette’s biggest fan: Empress Eugénie
Fewer women have captured cultural imagination like Marie-Antoinette. Her fascination endures today, and it did so almost immediately after her death in the French revolution. And one of her biggest fans, who sat at the helm of cult-like adoration for who they saw as a martyr queen, was Empress Eugénie. Empress Eugénie was born in read more
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Book Review | “The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh”, by Claudia Gray
When you think of the novels of Jane Austen, if you were pressed to think of the most odious of all her characters, who would you choose? One of my favourites, so to speak, is Lady Catherine de Bourgh of Pride and Prejudice. Whilst not an outright villain, she is utterly – sometimes deliciously – read more
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Dr. Lizzie Rogers 