1865 in the Regency era

The title of this post sounds odd, doesn't it? But I am working on a new book--to be released February 15, 2019--and 1865 plays an important part in my Regency-set romantic tale.

Victorian England in 1865 was very different from Regency England in 1815. Here are a few glimpses of that Victorian world.

Chester Chronicle - Saturday 17 June 1865

Lancaster Gazette - Saturday 30 September 1865

Liverpool Mercury - Saturday 17 June 1865

Wrexham Advertiser - Saturday 22 July 1865

My heroine is very familiar with 1865 and its Victorian sensibilities. She is accustomed to its comforts, and its burgeoning excesses. Without giving too much away, it is her world.

In 1815 there were no railways, no photographs, and there were few town clerks and public works. The parish was the local government and the landowners had the main voice in local improvements. There was little gas lighting, no steam travel, highwaymen were still to be feared and a great war had just ended. But the world was manageable, the pace of life was slower and expectations were more humane.

Human nature did not change as the Petty Sessions from 1815 and 1865 below prove. And human nature is what stories are built upon.

Derby Mercury - Wednesday 17 May 1865

  

Tyne Mercury; Northumberland and Durham and Cumberland Gazette - Tuesday 04 July 1815

You will be hearing further about my new book in the coming months. Please stay tuned to discover more about the connection of 1865 with 1815.

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

James Bartleman - Regency Celebrity

My first indication of the existence of James Bartleman, "the finest singer that the English school has produced", came from The Picture of London for 1809, and more particularly its column "An Almanac of the Exhibitions and Amusements of London" where he appears in the May entry under

20   Bartleman's Annual Concert, New Rooms, Hanover-square

Morning Post Thursday May 16 1805

 James Bartleman was born in 1769 and by the 1790s after a career in the choir of Westminster Abbey, he was well-known in the musical circles of London. While we still know the names of Signora Catalani and Mrs. Billington, that of Bartleman except in musical history is largely unknown.

James Bartleman

by James Thomson (Thompson), after Thomas Hargreaves
stipple engraving, published 1830
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery

But in The Musical Times of 1853 he was still remembered:

In the 1790s he was a performer at the 'Ancient Concerts' (an abbreviated version of the title for the Concerts of Ancient Music hosted by the Academy of Ancient Music), The Madrigal Society, the Catch Club, and many music festivals and benefit concerts around the country. Eventually he joined the Vocal Concerts, which he later managed and produced.

Morning Post Monday 20 February 1815

London Courier and Evening Gazette Sat  May 6 1815

Such was the popularity of the Vocal Concerts that the songs that were sung there were reproduced as sheet music and were widely sold at the time.

Courtesy of www.sheetmusicwarehouse.co.uk

By 1819 Bartleman was very ill. He had suffered many years in pain (I have not been able to discover what his illness was) and it had at times interrupted his performing career. Note the last sentence of the article below:

Morning Post Monday May 10 1819

He did not however attain a 'perfect recovery'. He died April 15, 1821 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The tablet there is inscribed:

"To the memory of James Bartleman, formerly a chorister and lay-clerk of Westminster Abbey, and Gentleman of His Majesty's Royal Chapel. Educated by Dr Cooke he caught all the taste and science of that great master, which he augmented and adorned with the peculiar powers of his native genius. He possessed qualities which are seldom united, a lively enthusiasm, with an exact judgment, and exhibited a perfect model of a correct stile, and a commanding voice; simple, and powerful; tender and dignified; solemn, chaste, and purely English, his social and domestick virtues corresponded with these rare endowments: affectionate and liberal; sincere, and open hearted; he was not less beloved by his family and friends, than admired by all for his preeminence in his profession. He was born 19th September 1769, Died 15th April 1821, and was buried in this cloister, near his beloved master".

A fitting monument, surely, for a true celebrity of the Regency era, and a great musician.

'Til next time,

Lesley-Anne

June in Regency England

Of all the months of the year, June is my favourite. May runs a very close second, but for me the crowning glory of the year is June. So I thought it would be interesting to explore June in the Regency era in England from a number of aspects.

The gardens and fields and all the natural world are glorious in June and The Shepherd's Calendar by John Clare, though written a little after the true Regency period (1827), is wonderfully descriptive.

JUNE                                                                               

NOW Summer is in flower, and Nature’s hum

Is never silent round her bounteous bloom;

.....

Fine cabbage-roses, painted like her face;                

The shining pansy, trimm’d with golden lace;

The tall topp’d larkheels, feather’d thick with flowers;

The woodbine, climbing o’er the door in bowers;                                 

The London tufts, of many a mottled hue;

The pale pink pea, and monkshood darkly blue:

The white and purple gilliflowers, that stay

Ling’ring, in blossom, summer half away;

The single blood-walls, of a luscious smell,

Old-fashion’d flowers which housewives love so well;

The columbines, stone-blue, or deep night-brown,

Their honeycomb-like blossoms hanging down,

Each cottage-garden’s fond adopted child,

Though heaths still claim them, where they yet grow wild;

With marjoram knots, sweet-brier, and ribbon-grass,                                          

And lavender, the choice of ev’ry lass,

And sprigs of lad’s-love—all familiar names,

Which every garden through the village claims.

 The ladies' fashions echo the colours of the garden and the airy delights of June.

Evening Dress Ackermann's Repository of Arts June 1820

The Lady's Magazine Paris Dress June 1802

Cobourg Walking Dress La Belle Assemblee June 1816

The cookery books of the period were assiduous in listing seasonal foods of all kinds. Modern Domestic Cookery, published in 1819, covered every month thoroughly.

Home furnishings reflected, and framed, the joys of early summer:

Three designs for window draperies from Ackermann's Repository of Arts June 1820

Books like The Gardener's Pocket Journal of 1808 listed in great detail the tasks that June gardens required done, following these introductory paragraphs.

Likewise The Farmer's Calendar of 1804 has lists of tasks, but it has no time for niceties such as introductions; it plunges directly into work:

 But always I return to gardens in June. Whether cottage or castle, June is made for gardens.

And I offer you this bouquet, from June.

'Til next time,
Lesley-Anne