I write Regency novels. This is shorthand for saying I write historical novels set in England in the second decade of the nineteenth century, a time of unprecedented change that continues to affect our modern lives. In this series of blogs, we will look behind the scenes to discover what makes this decade tick. What makes it so fascinating to us, two hundred years later?
Let us start with a snapshot of the UK on 31 December 1810. All was not well in the island kingdom. Having lapsed in and out of insanity for over two decades, King George III, sober paterfamilias, was finally deemed incapable of undertaking any affairs of state. Preparations were set in train to appoint as Regent his eldest son and heir, the affable, extravagant and adulterous Prince of Wales.
The country had been at war with France since 1803. Across the English Channel, the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had consolidated his hold on the European Continent; his sphere of influence extending west across the Iberian Peninsula, north into Sweden where one of his generals, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, had been elected crown prince, and eastwards through modern Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Poland to the borders of the Russian and Ottoman Empires. The only ray of light was provided by Lord Wellington whose Peninsular army was driving that of the French General Massena out of Portugal and into Spain.
Back at home, the bulk of wealth, power and influence lay in the hands of the aristocracy and landed gentry who also controlled the established Church of England, the universities and the military and legal professions. In a study carried out two years later, in 1812, these classes made up 7.8% of families in Great Britain and Ireland but received 40.19% of the total annual income generated therein. Unsurprisingly, they resisted any attempts to reform a system that worked well for them but not so well for the rest of the country.
Back at home, the bulk of wealth, power and influence lay in the hands of the aristocracy and landed gentry who also controlled the established Church of England, the universities and the military and legal professions. In a study carried out two years later, in 1812, these classes made up 7.8% of families in Great Britain and Ireland but received 40.19% of the total annual income generated therein. Unsurprisingly, they resisted any attempts to reform a system that worked well for them but not so well for the rest of the country.
Apart from formal Court dress which remained unchanged as long as the elderly Queen Charlotte was alive, the vast skirts and cumbersome hoops of the previous century had yielded to the classical styles copied from revolutionary and imperial France while gentlemen had abandoned their silks and brocades for boots, buckskin breeches and riding coats.
Did these lighter, looser clothes lead to a lighter, looser way of life? The Regency was certainly one of the great party decades. Perhaps this was due to the shift in the dates of the London Season, the months that the upper classes spent in London while Parliament was sitting. Every peer had a seat in the House of Lords and where the noble families led, others followed. During the 18th century Parliament had sat from November to May. From 1806 onwards, the opening of Parliament veered towards February and the session extended into July or even August.
This change from a winter to spring/summer Season with its warmer and brighter days provided many more opportunities for entertainment and dalliance. The Season was the great ‘marriage market’ when eligible young ladies of good birth and varying fortunes sought to find a suitable husband. Night was turned into day. Eight p.m. was the fashionable dinner hour, after which both sexes flocked to the theatres, balls, assemblies and routs while gentlemen also had their clubs and the dubious establishments of the demi-monde – gaming hells and brothels for the most part.The social round continued into the small hours and resumed the next day with ‘morning calls’ i.e. visits which were made between noon and three p.m.. A ‘breakfast’ at three o’clock might be followed by a ride or drive in Hyde Park at the fashionable hour and soon it was time for dinner again.
Over the coming months, we shall experience the highs and lows of the Regency year by year. I hope you will join me and look forward to your comments.
