Category: Regency

Happy birthday Josiah Wedgwood

Updated on January 19, 2013 by Janet Mullany

It’s the birthday of Josiah Wedgwood, born this day in 1730 (died January 3, 1795) the founder of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Pottery, a company still in existence although it’s now owned by a US company. Here are the UK and US websites.

Now Josiah is a bit of a hero for me. He was smart, hardworking, came from humble beginnings and was an abolitionist. What’s not to love? He was also the grandfather of Charles Darwin. Yesss!

Also, according to Wikipedia:

Wedgwood is credited as the inventor of modern marketing, specifically direct mail, money-back guarantees, traveling salesmen, self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, and illustrated catalogues.

And it was his marketing acumen that came up with the idea of a logo and tagline (Am I not a Man and a Brother?) for the ‪Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. It became tremendously successful and was reproduced on pottery, jewelry, and other artefacts. (He probably didn’t actually design it himself, though.) As his friend and fellow abolitionist Thomas Clarkson said,

…ladies wore them in bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair. At length the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honorable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom…

He was interested in more than business or design, becoming involved with the science of pottery, and was a member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of businessmen, scientists and philosophers, so named because they liked to meet on the night of the full moon, thus allowing them more time for talk and less for travel. He was elected a member of the Royal Society after he invented the pyrometer, a device to measure the extremely high temperatures in kilns during firing.

I could, but I won’t, fill this entire post of pics of Wedgwood’s work although he considered this, the Portland vase, his greatest work. It was a copy of a Roman intaglio vase, made of glass. Here’s his (on the left) and the original (on the right).

Another thing I really love about Wedgwood is how he ties into so much that’s fascinating about the Georgian period. Sir William Hamilton, later husband of Emma, first brought the Portland vase to England. Mrs. Radcliffe’s father managed the Bath Wedgwood showroom and one of her uncles was a business partner of Josiah’s. There are the Darwin and abolitionist connections. Jane Austen owned some Wedgwood, as she wrote in a letter to Cassandra in 1811:

On Monday I had the pleasure of receiving, unpacking and approving our Wedgwood ware. It all came very safely and upon the whole is a good match, tho’ I think they might have allowed us rather larger leaves, especially in such a year of fine foliage as this. One is apt to suppose that the Woods about Birmingham must be blighted.

So did her brother Edward, and some of his china is on display at Jane’s home, the Chawton House Museum. For more about Austen and Wedgwood, visit this wonderful post at austenonly.com.

And for a sneak preview of the cover of my next book, Hidden Paradise, go to Facebook!

Do you own any Wedgwood? I have a pair of earrings. I don’t know whether I’d want to own a whole set of his famous designs. They might be a bit overpowering… What do you think?

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged Abolitionists, Austen, Wedgwood | 2 Replies

Regency Beach Day

Updated on January 19, 2013 by Elena Greene

The day after our tour of some Newport mansions, friend and author Gail Eastwood and I enjoyed a day at this lovely Rhode Island beach.

At 65 degrees, the water was brisk but refreshing and we had a nice swim. If this were the Regency, we would still have been able to go in the water. But instead of wearing modern bathing suits and running in (OK, wading in slowly), we would have had to enter using a bathing machine, possibly drawn by a donkey or pony, and we would have worn period-appropriate bathing gowns.

Instead of the sexes mingling freely on the beach, areas would have been dedicated to ladies and to gentlemen. However, some ogling may have occurred, as there are accounts of gentlemen employing telescopes to view ladies entering or exiting the water. Not sure why–perhaps the bathing dresses got a bit clingy when waterlogged?

After our swim, Gail and I went for a walk on the beach, happily barefoot. A fellow Regency writer once pondered the question as to whether a lady might do that during the Regency. I don’t have a definitive answer. I would guess not on a busy beach, since it would entail untying a garter and removing stockings in public. On the other hand, if it were a very private beach, perhaps on the hero’s coastal estate, and hero/heroine were alone… I will leave what clothing might be removed to your individual imaginations.

Some Regency ladies would have collected seashells and pretty stones, as we did. Here’s my trove, including what Gail told me is a “lucky stone”, since it has a contrasting band going all the way around it. Perhaps it bodes well for my mess-in-progress?

I’ve never done anything with my finds but display them in glass jars. But as I started googling around to see what Regency ladies might have done with them, I became intrigued. Although shellcraft become even more popular in the Victorian era, the idea of creating decorative objects or even decorating walls and furniture with shells began earlier, definitely by the Georgian period.

Mary Delany (1700-1788) was an English Bluestocking and artist. Her first marriage was unhappy; she wrote that “Why must women be driven to the necessity of marrying? a state that should always be a matter of choice! and if a young woman has not fortune sufficient to maintain her in the situation she has been bred to, what can she do, but marry?” Her second marriage was happier and she spent much of her time gardening, painting and decorating interiors with shells. Later in life she began to make paper flower “mosaicks” some of which are at the British Museum. I would have liked to have known Mary Delany. Unfortunately, it was hard to find images of her shellcraft in time for this blog.

Jane and Mary Parminter, two spinster cousins, returned from their Grand Tour late in the 18th century. They had a 16-sided house, A La Ronde, built for them and decorated it with many of the treasures from their travels. Here is an image of the shell gallery they created.

Regency folk could have indulged in various forms of shell craft, from decoration of glove boxes and trinket boxes to the creation of romantic shell grottoes.

I used to associate shell art with the silly sorts of things you get at tourist shops. But as I googled around this week, I saw many artistic and beautiful creations. I am not personally that excited about some of the extravagant Victorian creations, things like vases of shell flowers under glass domes. Although I appreciate the craftsmanship and time involved, my personal preference is for art that shows off the natural beauty of the shells rather than making them look like something else.

I found some lovely examples of shell art at Fine Shell Art Blog. Through that blog, I discovered the work of shell artist Peggy Green. Here’s just one example of her exquisite work.

Through the Fine Shell Art blog, I also discovered a gallery of shell art so tacky that some of it is downright scary. You can check it out here but don’t say I didn’t warn you!

In any case, do check out the lovely items on Peggy Green’s site, www.shellartist.com.

So what’s your favorite thing to do at the beach? Are you into shell collecting? What do you think of shell art?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged A La Ronde, Jane and Mary Parminter, mary delany, Peggy Green, shell art, shell craft | 10 Replies

Girls Rock in Any Era

Updated on January 19, 2013 by Diane Gaston

Last week my daughter volunteered at a summer program called Girls Rock. This is a terrific program for girls ages 8 to 18 where the goal is teaching self-confidence, empowerment, leadership, and team-building, all through teaching the girls how to play in their very own rock ‘n roll bands. Saturday was the culmination, a rock concert. The girls performed before, an enthusiastic crowd of friends, family, and my dh and me!

Eleven acts performed. Two were girl djs but the rest were “bands” who each performed songs that the girls had written themselves under the guidance of volunteers like my daughter. One of the popular rock ‘n roll venues in Washington, DC, the 9:30 Club, donated the space, so the girls could really feel like rock stars. It was a great, positive experience for all. As you can see by the photo.

So I got to wondering…What was the equivalent in the Regency era?

Most aristocratic young ladies learned to play music, perhaps on the pianoforte or, like one of the Musgrove girls in Persuasion, the harp. And like Lizzie in Pride and Prejudice, they might be asked to perform at dinner parties and for the family.

I could conceive of a young peoples party where the young ladies, and perhaps some young gentlemen, as well, gather around the pianoforte and sing popular songs of the day. Or a family entertaining themselves in the evening in the same way.

I’m reasonably certain that learning to perform music in the Regency was not an exercise in self-empowerment or leadership, but very well might have been confidence and team-building.

In my fantasies, if I wasn’t a romance novelist, I’d love to be a torch singer in an upscale piano bar in New York City. In reality, I did perform in the chorus in musicals in community theater as a teenager. I even sang Pony Boy in my high school senior play.

I think there is something about performing music that is special. And I have to think that is true in any era.

What do you think?

Did you ever perform music? Did you feel special doing it?

Mariel Covendale in A Not So Respectable Gentleman? attends a musicale….I’m just saying. The book is out now!

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged Music | 8 Replies

The Colours of the Regency

Updated on January 19, 2013 by Elena Greene

Last week, I had painters in sprucing up my kitchen, the master bathroom and the hall. I chose relatively quiet colors for the latter two. Pale blue for the bathroom to match the adjoining bedroom, a color I find very restful. A warm, slightly caramel cream for the halls, because I think a neutral color gives the eyes a resting place in between more colorful rooms. (My kids’ rooms are very colorful.)

I got bold with the kitchen. When we first bought the house, the walls were covered in a hideous 70s avocado green textured wallpaper that didn’t suit our Colonial style house. We got rid of that but then my husband and I couldn’t agree on what to do next. I found a botanical border that went well with the Portmeirion china we’d bought at the seconds shop in England and I wanted to paint the walls green, with stripes. Having been raised in a home that was all neutrals, I really wanted to try some color but my husband balked at so much green. We ended up using the border but leaving the walls white. It looked bland from the start and got worse over time. I do NOT recommend painting a kitchen white if you are a messy cook or have kids! Anyway, this summer I finally got my way and I’m very pleased with the result.

Although white was very popular for clothing during the Regency, it was very rare for it to be used on walls. As it turns out, people during the Regency weren’t afraid of color either.

One of my favorite books on Regency décor, Regency Style by Steven Parissien has a chapter on “Colours and Coverings”. He writes that “In spite of the increasingly large number of colours available, however, one colour was predominant in the principal interiors of Regency Britain: red.” D. R. Hay, in his Laws of Harmonious Colouring wrote that ”a proper tint of crimson is the richest and most splendid colour for the walls of a room”. It was often used for dining rooms and was also considered “the best ground for pictures”. Here’s the famous red dining room designed by Sir John Soane.

Green was also popular and much used in drawing rooms and libraries. Here’s a room I like very much: the Morning Room at Pickford’s House, a late Georgian house in Derby.

Bedrooms were supposed to be “light, clearing and cheerful” and were often blue, so my pale blue bedroom is very much in the Regency spirit. I also like the bedchamber below, from Royal Crescent No.1 in Bath.

According to Parissien, yellow was controversial although it was sometimes used. ‘Drab’ colors (more subtle shadings of green, gold and brown) were also popular. Now, those sound like 70s colors to me!

So how about you? What are your favorite Regency colors or interiors? Which colors do you like best for decorating? Have you experimented with color, and how did it turn out?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

Posted in Regency, Research | Tagged Regency colors, Regency decor, Regency Style, Steven Parissien | 5 Replies

Mourning Rituals

Updated on January 18, 2013 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

“My Mother is preparing mourning for Mrs E. K. – she has picked her old silk pelisse to peices, & means to have it dyed black for a gown – a very interesting scheme.“ (Jane Austen, 1808)

I found out that July 18 marked the 195th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death in Winchester, so i thought I’d take a look at some of the mourning rituals from the Regency period. (It’s easy to mistake all 19th century mourning as the very elaborate fashions and rituals laid out in the later Victorian era. The Victorians loved their rituals, and anything that involved special jewelry!!)

Though there are so many examples of beautiful mourning clothes in Regency fashion plates (very chic to our modern eyes!), most people of Jane Austen’s station and means couldn’t go all out like that on new mourning wardrobes. They would make do with re-doing and black dye (as in the quote above!), cover bonnets with crape, add black ribbons and hems, buy jet or hair jewelry, things like that. Widows would wear matte black for about a year, then transition to muted half-mourning like lilacs, purples, grays, or even white. (White was a predominant mourning color in the medieval and Renaissance period, like in this portrait of Mary Queen of Scots in mourning for her first husband, the King of France–La Reine Blanche).

Men had it easier–their clothes were generally dark anyway, they could get away with black armbands, hatbands, etc.

I often imagine some people must have spent years of their lives in mourning clothes! At least I like purple and black!

“I have lost a treasure, such a Sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed, – She was the sun of my life, the gilder of every pleasure, the soother of every sorrow, I had not a thought concealed from her, & it is as if I had lost a part of myself…” Letter from Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra to her niece Fanny Knight, 1817

“This morning, a little before one o’clock, the funeral procession with the remains of the late universally-regretted Princess Charlotte, arrived here from Claremont. They were received at the lower Lodge, where she is to lie in state this day, previously to the interment at night. The mourning coach, in which were the infant and urn, proceeded to the chapel, where eight yeomen of the guard, in attendance, carried and deposited them in the vault. The procession of the hearse and five mourning coaches, preceded by a number of men on horseback, was escorted into the town from Egham by a party of the Royal Horse Guards. Although the hour at which it arrived was so very late, the road and streets through which it passed were lined with spectators.” “Blackwood’s Magazine” on the funeral of Princess Charlotte

The grave has closed over the mortal remains of the greatest hero of our age, and one of the purest-minded men recorded in history. Wellington and Nelson sleep side by side under the dome of St. Paul’s, and the national mausoleum our of isles has received the most illustrious of its dead. With pomp and circumstances, a fervour of popular respect, a solemnity and a grandeur never before seen in our time, and in all probability, not to be surpassed in the obsequies of any other hero heretofore to be born, to become the benefactor of this country, the sacred relics of Arthur Duke of Wellington have been deposited in the place long since set apart by the unanimous design of his countrymen. . . . all the sanctity and awe inspired by the grandest of religious services performed in the grandest Protestant temple in the world, were combined to render the scene, inside and outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday last, the most memorable in our annals. . . . .Illustrated London News on the funeral of the Duke of Wellington (1852)