Articles about the Georgian era, or the “long” Regency
In this picture, Edward Jenner vaccinates a reluctant patient with cowpox matter to prevent the more serious smallpox. Meanwhile, those already vaccinated show many, er, unusual side effects from the process. Previously innoculations for smallpox involved cutting the skin and using actual smallpox matter. It was called variolation and was much riskier. The word vaccine…
October 5, 1813 The death of Tecumseh In response to continuing conflict on the frontier and his ongoing struggle to create a secure independent homeland for a confederation of native groups, the great Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, threw in his lot with the British when the United States declared war and invaded Canada. Given the rank…
September 29, 1829 An act of Parliament, at the request of Sir Robert Peel, created the Greater London Metropolitan Police Force, later known as Scotland Yard. The men, afterward nicknamed “bobbies,” were named after Sir Robert himself.
We recently reported that Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena in August 1815 and that Queen Caroline, the princess whose husband banned her from his coronation, died in August 1821. Here are some other notable events: August 12, 1822, Lord Castlereagh, British Foreign Secretary, who was Foreign Secretary during the defeat of Napoleon, committed suicide….
The Napoleonic war—or, more properly, wars were long and costly. Not every battle ended in victory. On July 25, 1797, Britain lost one and almost lost a treasure. Admiral Horatio Nelson led an ill-fated attack on the island of Tenerife. A cannonball hit Nelson as he stepped ashore. The result—a compound fracture and a severed…
The most famous June event in British History was, of course, The Battle of Waterloo, which Maureen Mackay so eloquently presented last week. The wars had dragged on for decades. It is interesting to note that in the years that followed the emperor’s defeat significant firsts include things considerably more peaceful in nature. June 22,…
An experience most of us can relate to is a bad haircut. You go to the hairdresser with high hopes that are soon dashed – either the first time you look in the mirror after your cut or in the days that follow. And for me, at least, the shorter the hair cut the more…
May 5, 1821 Napoleon died at 5.49pm at Longwood on the island of St Helena. Mystery has surrounded it ever since. There are some primary sources to be found here: https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/close-up/a-close-up-on-napoleons-death/
We’ve seen a glamorous, idealized version of Queen Charlotte in the first two seasons of the Bridgerton on Netflix and also in Queen Charlotte: a Bridgerton Story, the prequel now streaming. But is that how Charlotte’s contemporaries saw her, particularly through the work of irreverent artists like James Gillray and other satirists? Not so much.
Some thoughts George IV’s attempts to rid himself of his wife absorbed the king, the country, and the press for much of 1820 and 1821. I love the look on the face of the man on the far right holding a pitcher that says, “Trial.” Abstract: Print shows George IV, “a conning stoker,” of some…