ISSN 1743-4424

Jul / Aug 2019 9 771743 442006 £5.50 Issue 100

marking one hundred 100 reasons to love festival time in bath previewing this year’s Austen celebrations published in the georgian1 city kept in cold storage of exploring the hidden world of icehouses ISSN 1743-4424

9 771743 442006

Jul / Aug 2019 £5.50 Issue 100 JaneFESTIVAL Austen 13 - 22 September 2019 City of Bath

marking one hundred 100 reasons to love Jane Austen published in the georgian city festival time in bath of edinburgh previewing this year’s Austen celebrations Contents exploring thekept hidden in world cold of storage icehouses

Jane Austen’s Regency World

Editorial To contact the editor: [email protected]

4 ton up for jane austen’s regency world Letters for publication: Marking our 100th edition with 100 reasons to love Jane [email protected]

Advertising To reach thousands 10 news of Jane Austen fans, advertise in Jane Austen’s Regency World. 20 letters Contact Alison Bentley at: [email protected]

22 ten days of jane Subscription inquiries and change Raising the curtain on this year’s Jane Austen Festival in Bath of address notification: [email protected]

27 centenarian celebrations Publisher Tim Bullamore: Reaching the age of 100 was a rare feat in Georgian times [email protected] Jane Austen’s Regency World 32 if walls could talk is published by Lansdown Media Ltd Austen would have known the stunning Devonshire House Registered number 6610314 Correspondence address: 38 new: regency heroine 3 Traquair Park East, Edinburgh Introducing our new feature with Dorothy Jordan EH12 7AP, United Kingdom Design: www.annapatience.com 39 love had to wait Print: Blackmore, Dorset Matthew Flinders put adventures in Australia before romance While every effort to obtain accurate copyright permission has been made by Jane Austen’s Regency World, 49 placed in cold storage please contact us in the case Ice houses were a popular precursor of the modern refrigerator of a missed or inaccurate attribution.

© 2019. All rights reserved. No part 54 regency rogue of this magazine may be reproduced James McKean, hanged for murder and robbery without the written permission of Lansdown Media Ltd. The opinions expressed in Jane Austen’s Regency 60 book reviews World are those of the individual from Promenade to Finale... authors and do not necessarily Ten wonderful days of celebrating all plus, news from jane austen societies represent those of Lansdown Media. Registered address: 38 Gay Street, things Austen in the beautiful city of Bath Bath, BA1 2NT www.janeaustenfestivalbath.co.uk Cover image by Jason Dorley Brown (jasondorleybrown.com) 3 to celebrate the 100th issue of jane austen’s 80 Crimson velvet cushions appearing regency world magazine, amy patterson offers over the ledge of the family gallery 69 one hundred reasons why we love jane austen Gleaning 79 Portrait miniatures nuts in the hedgerow 78 Long engagements

77 A well-hung curricle (below)

100 reasons to love Jane 68 Mr Weston’s good wine 76 67 Humming “No life without wife” Long-awaited in the car 92 The Lyme tree letters 66 Mr Bennet’s set-downs 100 91 Turned ankles 65 Elizabeth Long sleeves 90 Spruce beer Bennet’s pithy 75 comebacks (below) Drunken confessions of villainy 64 A 16-mile haircut 89 74 Second proposals Woodston 63 Walking the avenue at Godmersham (below) 88 73 99 Dancing Mr Beveridge’s Maggot Very long walks Sisterly confidences 62 Colonel Brandon’s flannel waistcoat 87 72 98 Occasionally professing opinions Lover’s Vows A man who reads aloud with feeling 61 that in fact are not my own (right) Taking a low phaeton, with a nice 71 A glass of old Constantia little pair of ponies, around Pemberley 86 97 Jumping stiles Fine eyes 70 A little strawberry-picking 85 96 Muddy petticoats £10,000 a year basket with pink ribbons 84 95 Frenemies The Circus 83 94 Correctly pronouncing Epsom races The Giaour 82 Short stays 93 Allowing for more prose in my daily study 81 A man who appreciates fine muslin 60 42 The company of clever, well- Making the most of a broken 33 Taking up the Baronetage informed people, who have a great deal shoelace of conversation 32 Rears and Vices 41 Shouting when she turns down 59 Portraits themselves seeming the Captain’s umbrella 31 Fordyce’s Sermons to stare in astonishment 40 Being rich enough to keep a pack 30 The universal flattery of an 58 Hiding a church key in the Yew tree of foxhounds, and drink a bottle of Empire-waist gown wine a day 57 Walking the Steyne at Worthing 29 Knowing we all know a Mr Collins 49 (below left, played by David Bamber) 56 Capturing a Captain with a little Jumping the stairs at Lyme beauty, and a few smiles, and a few compliments to the Navy 28 Late-night Austen movie binges 39 48 Men reading Shakespeare to us 27 Shedding a tear at A secret, Winchester Cathedral 47 Amateur theatricals cousinly little 55 interview 26 An £800 chimney piece Having my 46 A bit of sea-bathing share in the 25 Fainting alternately on a sofa conversation 45 when Learning history through the eyes of a partial, prejudiced, and ignorant 24 speaking of Whist, lottery tickets, historian and fish lost & won music 38 Blackguards and duels 44 Tea in the orangery at 23 37 Room for one more in the Admiral Stoneleigh Abbey (above) Playing an Irish air Croft’s gig

43 36 Finding what’s behind Udolpho’s Touring the library of 22 Stealing a reverent moment horrid black veil the Prince Regent with Austen’s prayers 54 Kitty, a fair but frozen maid 35 The little bit (two inches wide) 21 Ringing the church bell 53 Walking out with Mr Darcy, that of ivory on which she worked with at Steventon (below) he may not be in Bingley’s way so fine a brush

34 52 A whole campful of soldiers Sneaking a Sotherton cream cheese

51 To be a renter, a chuser of books

50 Sipping gin with Jane (right) 11 20 Winchester Races Learning anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection 19 Sequels, prequels and variations

10 We none of us expecting smooth 18 Dreaming up endings to water all our days

17 Being truly accomplished – painting 9 Colin Firth, aka Mr Darcy, tables, covering screens, having in a wet shirt (below) a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing and modern 8 languages; and possessing a certain Fanny, ever faithful something in my air and manner of walking, tone of voice, my address 7 Elinor and Marianne, who taught expressions each other happiness

16 To add to all this – the improvement 6 Catherine, who loved and learnt of my mind by extensive reading 5 15 , who only called him Sobbing at the thought of Jane George once dying, her head in her sister’s lap 4 Anne, who pierced his soul

3 Elizabeth, a woman worthy of being pleased

14 2 Cassandra, for whom Jane was the sun Tinkling her piano of her life, the gilder of every pleasure keys on private 1 tour of the cottage Jane Austen – the author herself in Chawton (right)

13 Toasting “Our Jane” with friends and

12 A first glance of the Abbey from Henry’s curricle what’s happening in all Cooking up a Chawton storm corners of regency world has extended the opening hours of its Old Kitchen Tearoom to cater for increased demand. Visitors will now be able to enjoy the atmospheric setting from 9am, with a new special breakfast menu that includes a selection of toasted treats. The tearoom was renovated at the beginning of the current visitor season, thanks to two generous donations from Tony Costigan and Mark Kemp-Gee, both local councillors. Part of the change included a new seasonal menu, with more emphasis placed on using ingredients from the local area. Since the renovation, visitor numbers to the tearoom have nearly tripled, with customers turning to Katie Childs, chief executive of Chawton social media to voice their approval. House, said: “We’re thrilled more people News One wrote: “Really enjoyed my lunch in are enjoying the Old Kitchen Tearoom and this a very relaxed, beautiful location. My want to make it a space for the community to Brie baguette was delicious and the gluten- enjoy. We particularly hope local groups will free chocolate brownie was one of the best I make the most of our new morning openings, have tasted. The staff were very friendly and such as walkers, parents finishing the school welcoming.” run and home workers.” We’ve reached 100, thanks to you This issue is the 100th edition of Jane Austen’s of meeting so Partying like it’s 1949 Regency World, a magazine founded by the many of you at be Regency garden games to play, a chance Jane Austen Centre, Bath, and taken on by Austen-themed to dress up, and performances by the Duke Lansdown Media Ltd in 2008. To reach events worldwide. of Wellington’s Dancers and the violinist this landmark in an era of declining print Together, we have Sophie Langdon. Inside the house, visitors readership is a remarkable achievement, and celebrated the will be able to enjoy the anniversary ‘Making the result of dedication and hard work by a Jane Austen spirit the Museum’ exhibition and drop into an small team of people. in the way that hourly ‘Curator’s Questions’ session to find Tim Bullamore (pictured), editor and she herself would out more about the museum. publisher of JARW, said: “There have been have liked – by The museum is also marking its 70th many talented contributors over the years, the pastime of anniversary with the “Chawton Cottage too many to name individually. However, I reading.” rose”, a new climbing rose developed by would especially like to acknowledge those However, Harkness Roses, which was unveiled at the stalwarts of our team whose names do not Tim also added a cautionary note, pointing Chelsea Flower Show in May. appear regularly in print: Alison Bentley out that the growing interest in social media, • A small piece of the original wall (advertising), Anna Patience (design), Dawn the propensity for groups to share copies and Celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of from the drawing room at Jane Austen’s Gorman (proof reading) and Nigel Starck a reluctance to pay for quality writing and Jane Austen’s House Museum continue, with House Museum has been returned there (associate editor). Our printers, Blackmore production are all affecting the magazine. “We discounted admission for the first 70 visitors after turning up in the US. Professor John in Dorset, and our distributors, AllSorts, also live in difficult times for print publications,” he on the day of the anniversary ( July 23) and a Halperin, an Austen biographer who died provide invaluable support. said. “I would urge anyone who shares a copy 70th anniversary party on Saturday, July 27. last year, was given the piece of original “The past few years have brought a or who reads a copy belonging to their region The museum first opened to the public on wainscoting by Elizabeth Jenkins, one regular spotlight on Jane Austen, through to consider seriously taking out their own July 23, 1949, with an admission charge of 1/6, of the original trustees, in September the 200th anniversaries of the publication subscription. Otherwise, it will be a challenge equivalent to £2.34 today. The first 70 visitors 1981. According to of her novels, the 200th anniversary of her to achieve another 100 issues of Jane Austen’s to arrive on July 23 will only be charged £2.34 Halperin’s own label death, and her appearance on the British Regency World magazine.” compared with the usual price of £9.00. it had come loose £10 note. Reaching No 100 could never have He added: “Once more, I thank you our Four days later the museum will be during the renovation been achieved without the support of our loyal readers worldwide – and welcome the hosting a 70th anniversary party for which works that took place subscribers, readers and advertisers. prospect of your company on the way to the grounds will be decorated and filled early in the museum’s “I have had the pleasure, and the honour, No 200.” with activities for all the family. There will history.

10 11 P&P staging at historic theatre The historic Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds is to stage Simon Reade’s “If she gathered flowers at all, adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. The show, which is directed by Marcus Romer, will it was chiefly for the pleasure run from August 23 to September 7 and will feature members of the theatre’s summer of mischief.” school alongside professional actors. The theatre, which opened in October Jane Austen, (1818) 1819, is currently celebrating its 200th anniversary. It was restored to its Regency origins in 2005 and has since become known Austentatious, the improvised show as one of the most beautiful theatres in the that plays regularly in , will also be country. Hundreds of people turned out visiting the Theatre Royal. They appear for earlier this year to learn about the celebratory two nights on October 31 and November 1. events to mark the anniversary. Full details from theatreroyal.org

Summer course in Cambridge Wilkes packages her Vignettes Wolfson College, Sue Wilkes, a regular Cambridge, is playing contributor to Jane host to a summer Austen’s Regency literature course in World, has published which participants can an e-book, Vignettes: explore ideas of “home” Literary Lives in the in literature from Jane Age of Austen, based Austen’s books through on almost 30 articles to the present day. It will previously published look particularly at how in the magazine, plus the home is depicted in Pride & Prejudice and a couple of other Northanger Abbey, and consider when a house publications. becomes a home. In it Wilkes explores how Austen drew There will be lectures, seminars and inspiration from the writers who came before supervisions (tutorials), as well as an evening her, such as Dr Johnson, James Thomson and talk and excursions to places of interest in William Cowper, and how she faced stiff Cambridge. Among the lecturers is Alison competition from the rival novelists of her Hennegan (pictured), a fellow of Trinity Hall, day including Ann Radcliffe, Mary Brunton, Cambridge, and a lecturer at the university. Fanny Burney and Walter Scott. The course runs from July 21 to 26. For Vignettes is available online through details: literaturecambridge.co.uk/home-2019 Amazon.

Gremlins in the works A photograph purporting to be of Ann the Quiz in JARW Radcliffe appeared on p42 of JARW No No 99, “Which Explore Chawton House on the new 99. Radcliffe died in February 1823 and American collector is unlikely ever to have seen a camera or donated a lock of Jane Austen Garden Trail to have been photographed by one. The Jane Austen’s hair to identity of the mid-19th century lady in the Jane Austen’s House Supported by the North American Friends of Chawton House picture (right) is a mystery to the editor. Museum”, was How wonderful it would have been if incorrectly given as Chawton House, Chawton, Hampshire, GU34 1SJ Radcliffe – and indeed Jane Austen – had Augusta Burke. Her www.chawtonhouse.org lived into the photographic era. name was in fact The answer given to question four of Alberta Burke. @ChawtonHouse

12 Austen under the stars Jane An open-air Jane Austen film festival is Austen’s being held every Wednesday evening in House July at Dumbarton House Museum in the Museum Georgetown district of Washington, DC. at Visitors are urged to “grab a blanket, grab a date, grab friends and family and enjoy Jane Austen’s timeless love stories under the stars in our beautiful historic garden”. 701949 - 2019 This year’s festival, the eighth, has been expanded to include five films: Sense & Sensibility ( July 3); Emma ( July 10); museum members and 7.30pm for the ( July 17); Love and Friendship general public. ( July 24); and Pride & Prejudice ( July 31). Details, including wet weather alternative Admission is $6, though tickets should be dates, can be found at: dumbartonhouse.org/ purchased in advance. Gates open at 7pm for event/jaff2019-5 (Picture: Chad Williams)

Adaptations across America So many American theatres have announced is described as “taking us downstairs where Join us in 2019 to celebrate our 70th Anniversary stagings and adaptations of Jane Austen’s servants are bustling with the arrival of holiday Open daily ◆ www.jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk ◆ 01420 83262 novels that an enthusiast could create a guests. In the warmth of the Darcy kitchen, decent tour while taking them in. family secrets are revealed and loyalties are Next Stop Theatre Company in Herndon, tested.” VA, is performing Kate Hamill’s spirited new Opera Modesto, in Modesto, California, is adaptation of Pride & Prejudice from October staging the British composer Jonathan Dove’s 3 to 27. Evan Hoffmann, the company’s operatic version of (libretto producing artistic director, said: “After by Alasdair Middleton) on January 11 and directing 2018’s smash hit production of 45 12, 2020. The performances are part of the Plays for 45 Presidents, Megan Behm returns company’s “story into song” literacy initiative to direct this romantic literary classic.” and are supported by an Innovation Grant The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, by from Opera America, funded by the Ann and Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, is Gordon Getty Foundation. returning to Jungle Theatre in the LynLake And at the New Vic theatre in Santa area of Minneapolis for a run that starts on Barbara, CA, the Ensemble Theatre Company November 18 and continues until December is staging a musical adaptation of Emma by 29. This, work which was commissioned Paul Gordon from February 6 to 23, 2020. for last Christmas by the Jungle Theatre, For more information search online.

Mrs Bennet’s new advice Janeites visit Williamsburg Dori Salerno, executive The legacy of Northanger Abbey will be under director of Vantage the spotlight when members of the Jane Theatre and the author of Austen Society of North America gather Mrs Bennet’s Sentiments, in Colonial Willamsburg, Virginia, from has written another book October 4 to 6. from the perspective of The plenary speakers will be Jocelyn the matriarch of Pride & Harris on ‘Magnificent Miss Morland’, Prejudice. Dr Janine Barchas on ‘The lost copies of Mrs Bennet’s Admonishments, which was Northanger Abbey’ and Roger Moore speaking published in April, is filled with Regency-era about ‘Northanger Abbey before the Tilneys: advice on everything from motherhood to Austen’s abbey and the religious past’. etiquette to reasons why wives should never Registration is now open. Full details pick up their husband’s socks. from: jasna.org/agms/williamsburg/index.html

15 Dow to speak The annual general July 13, at Chawton House. Dr Gillian Dow, meeting of the Jane professor of English at Southampton and Austen Society of the UK former director of Chawton House, will be take place on Saturday, the guest speaker in the afternoon.

Gin o’clock for Janeites “Fifty cocktails to celebrate the novels of Jane Austen” is the subject of Gin Austen, a new book by Colleen Mulanney, which celebrates the picnics, luncheons, dinner parties, and glamorous balls of Austen’s world: social engagements where gossip reigned, love flourished and drinks flowed. According to the announcement, in Gin Austen “the reader can discover an exotic world of cobblers, crustas, flips, punches, shrubs, slings, sours and toddies, with recipes that evoke the past but suit today’s tastes”. Pictured is a “Fanny’s Folly ” (photo by Christopher Baine), a cocktail inspired by Fanny Price from Mansfield Park that includes light white wine, apricot brandy, peach brandy, lemon juice and garnishings. Review, page 62

16 Rebecca Huish is Charlotte Heywood Director for Sanditon staging Persuasion musical returns Angie Diggens After sellout of Wivenhoe, performances last year Colchester has been at the Jane Austen appointed director festivals in Bath and for the first outing British Columbia, of Chris Brindle’s Chamber Opera Tours new musical – 200 is returning to the UK Years Later. this summer with their The musical original musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s is based on Jane Persuasion. Austen’s Sanditon to They will perform at the New Theatre be performed at the Royal in Portsmouth on Wednesday, July 31, Studio of The Other make their first appearance in Wales at the Palace in Victoria, London on July 26. New Theatre, Cardiff, on Saturday, August 3, Angie first came to fame as a finalist on and back by popular demand to the Paignton ITV ’s Stars In Their Eyes and currently tours Palace Theatre on Wednesday, August 7. with the Classical Singing trio Bel Canto. This widely-acclaimed stage production Brindle said: “It has been a fascinating features songs from Jane Austen’s process, finding the best of actor/musician manuscripts and music of the era and is talent to play the Parker siblings, Lady performed by chamber orchestra with Celtic Denham, and the West Indian heiress Miss and period instruments using beautiful Lambe”. Regency costumes, projected scenery and The show will be playing for one night world-champion Irish dancers. Further only and casting details and rehearsal footage information and tickets can be found at can be found at sanditon.info chamberoperatours.org

Jane Austen’s ‘Sanditon’ “200 YEARS LATER” ‘The Other Palace’ Studio, Victoria, London, July 26th Cast and Rehearsal Footage at www.Sanditon.info 19 send your views and comments to [email protected]

Yourabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz letters Centenary celebrations continued Congratulations on publishing your 100th I am so pleased for Tim Bullamore and his issue of Jane Austen’s Regency World. We hardworking team that they have reached appreciate being able to communicate with this milestone of 100 issues. Having other Janeites about the Jane Austen Society of put together the first 34 issues, I know North America. You have connected those of how much work goes into each one. The us who love Jane Austen and are eager to learn breadth and quality of content continues about the world in which she lived. It is a great to delight as does the production value. As happiness when we see a return address from long as Jane Austen remains popular and the United Kingdom and know that happy newsworthy (which she will), there will hours lay ahead as we put the kettle on and be a Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine immerse ourselves in Regency times. I smile being produced and delivered to you. Well to think of my friends around the world doing done, and here’s to the next 100! the same thing. Here’s to the next 100 issues! David Baldock Liz Philosophos Cooper, President Director, Jane Austen Society of North America Jane Austen Centre, Bath

High life of song Your 1811 news summary (JARW May/June composer, singing teacher and impresario. 2019, No 99) reported the death of Venanzio “The Great Rauzzini” settled in Bath in Rauzzini (1746-1810), described as a castrato. 1781, remaining there until his death nearly 30 Relatives were invited to apply to a Bath law years later and mounting a series of popular office, where they might “hear something to subscription concerts. He was buried at their advantage”. Bath Abbey. Two of his most distinguished Clearly, he was a man of means – and a students, the soprano Anna Selina Storace and man of mystery. It was widely rumoured that the tenor John Braham, donated an elegant he was not truly a castrato at all, but rather tablet in his memory. had an endocrine condition that prevented Acknowledging the bicentenary of his his voice from breaking. This enabled him to death, in 2010, my daily newspaper – The indulge in a number of romantic affairs as he Guardian – described him as “a kind of was thought to be “safe”. As a boy, he was a castrato Casanova” notorious for “sleeping his member of the Sistine Chapel Choir. In his way round Europe with rich men’s wives who unusual manhood, he achieved fame assumed the sex was risk-free”. and financial success through being a Cynthia Holland, Newcastle upon Tyne

20 the 19th jane austen festival is taking place in bath in september. jackie herring, the festival director, raises the curtain on this year’s programme. pictures from last year’s festival

Ten days of Jane

n June 1799 Jane Austen wrote, from previous years, running from 11.30am until her lodgings at 13 Queen Square, “… 3.30pm, during which time Charles the there is to be a grand gala… in Sydney silhouettist will no doubt cut well over 50 Gardens; – a Concert, with silhouettes – his scissor speed and skill is hard Illuminations and fireworks; to the latter I to believe. lookI forward with pleasure…”. The opening Later, the Natural Theatre Company’s event of this year’s Jane Austen Festival Bath, hilarious theatrical tour Austen Undone! meets the famous and spectacular Grand Regency outside the Assembly Rooms, known in the Costumed Promenade will, for the first time, 18th century and referred to in Northanger be starting in those same Sydney Gardens, Abbey, as the Upper Rooms. This special behind the Holburne Museum, on Saturday, building, where Jane Austen danced in 1801 September 14. The procession will proceed and “… had all my finery much admired…”, along the length of Great Pulteney Street, will be the venue for the popular Country cross Pulteney Bridge, head up Broad Street, Dance Ball. With card tables, finger buffet along George Street, down Milsom Street supper, announcements from the master of and from there via High Street to Orange ceremonies, dancing to the Fortuna Trio and Grove, finishing in Parade Gardens calling by Liz Bartlett of the Jane Austen accompanied by the magnificent 33rd Dancers, the ball will be a perfect end to an Regiment of Foot. extremely busy first day of the festival. Afterwards, the Guildhall will be There are two premieres at this year’s the venue for the popular Festival Fayre, festival. Catherine Curzon, in collaboration with stalls offering Regency costume, with Adrian Lukis, who played Mr Wickham haberdashery and beautiful hats – as well as in the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice, has produced the opportunity to subscribe to Jane Austen’s Being Mr Wickham, which takes place on Regency World magazine, catch up on back September 15. On his 60th birthday George issues and meet the editor, Tim Bullamore. Wickham recounts his version of some The fayre opens slightly earlier than in infamous events in his past. Meanwhile, the

22 23 their ‘Create your own Reticule’ and ‘Create Regency games evening), ‘The honours of your own soft bonnet or turban’ workshops; the table’ a presentation on how to prepare a Bath Archers, the oldest and largest archery Regency dinner table and dining etiquette, club in the UK, are providing taster sessions ‘Bad Girls and Bonnets’ presentation from for would-be bowmen and women at their the amazing Lucy Adlington from History range at Batheaston; and for budding Wardrobe, the unique Regency Costumed actors Karen Eterovich will be running a Masked Ball (September 20) with a reception Natural Theatre Company will be premiering Five Crescents’, and ‘Jane Austen and Bath’. masterclass on bringing literary figures to life. by the Roman Baths and dancing in the their theatrical take on , Austen’s Some of the walks are led by Bath Parade Old favourites, such as minibus tours to Pump Room, and a very welcome return for epistolary novel, in matinee and evening Guides, who are also providing a day trip to the harder-to-reach parts of Bath, as well as Karen Eterovich with her exquisite piece performances. Another Pride & Prejudice , Clifton and Blaise Castle. to Lacock and Austen’s Hampshire haunts, of very clever theatre, Cheer from Chawton celebrity visiting the festival this year is The programme of talks and are on the programme, as are the foody events (September 21). Susannah Harker, who played Jane Bennet demonstrations includes ‘Regency Ice of ‘Rummaging Through the Reticule’ and ‘A Waterstones bookshop in Milsom Street in the 1995 BBC adaptation; Susannah and Cream’, ‘A Tendency to Some Particular Very Private Public Breakfast’. The Theatre is hosting the annual public readings, which her sister Nelly will present their production Evil’ (a look at Austen’s villains), ‘To be fond Royal, Bath, is the host for several events take place from Monday to Friday and will be Yours, Jane Austen on September 21. of dancing…’, ‘Kitchens and Cooking in including Kim Hicks returning to Bath with the favourite chapters from each of Austen’s Dr Amy Frost, from the Bath Jane Austen’s England’, ‘Layers of Austen’ (a her one-woman show, Courtship; the ever- novels, as voted for by supporters and friends Preservation Trust, will delight us with two rummage through Regency underclothing), popular theatre tour Draw Back the Curtain of the Festival, plus the complete Lady Susan. talks, ‘The buildings you don’t know in Jane ‘Adapting Austen’ and ‘What matters in Jane with Jane Tapley; and Murder at Mansfield It all promises to be a magical ten days, and I Austen’ (September 16) and ‘It’s not Rosings: Austen?’ with the ever-popular Professor Park, a luncheon in the theatre’s 1805 rooms do hope you will be able to join us in Bath in What’s wrong with locations in Austen John Mullan (September 21). with the Moonstone Theatre Company. In September. Adaptations?’ (September 22), as well as her There are more events than ever before, addition, there are a couple of book events The Jane Austen Festival, Bath, runs from tour of Beckford’s Tower on September 15. with several workshops including a whole with authors Carrie Kablean, author of What September 13 to 22, 2019. Tickets are on general Throughout the week there are walks with ‘Day of Dance’ with the Jane Austen Dancers Kitty Did Next, and Sophie Andrews, who sale from July 1 (priority booking for festival titles such as ‘Crime in the time of Jane at the Assembly Rooms, as well as three wrote Be More Jane. friends is from June 17, when the programme Austen’, ‘A Novel Experience’, ‘Dubious separate dance workshops; Bath Theatrical There are extra-special evening events, will be available online and in print). For more Wealth and Questionable Freedoms’, ‘The Costume Hire are bringing their expertise to including ‘A noisy game of lottery tickets’ (a information visit janeaustenfestivalbath.co.uk

24 25 the number 100 features prominently in this issue. here, sue wilkes looks at instances of remarkable longevity from georgian britain

Living to 100

he late 18th and early 19th centuries were a time when medical science was imperfect, infant mortality high, and even people in the very prime of life fell prey to disease. TWithin Jane Austen’s own family, her grandfather William Austen died at the early age of 36, and three of her sisters-in-law died young, so she was well aware of the fragility of life. In Sense & Sensibility, Fanny Dashwood pours cold water on her husband’s suggestion that they set up an annuity for her widowed mother-in-law, because she was “very stout and healthy, and hardly forty ... if Mrs Dashwood should live fifteen years we shall be completely taken in”. The Leigh side of Jane Austen’s family were more likely to live longer. Her mother Cassandra, who survived her husband and both daughters, lived to the grand old age of 88 and was described as “a pale, dark-eyed Henry Jenkins, who claimed to have old lady, with a high arched nose and a kind delivered arrows for the King’s army in smile, dressed in a long cloak and a large 1513, died in 1670 at the supposed age drawn bonnet, both made of black satin”. of 169 (Wellcome Collection) At a time when life expectancy was

27 King’s army at the Battle of Flodden Field before the garrison surrendered. At the companions to leave the field”. He was hale in 1513, died in 1670 at the supposed (and martyrdom of King Charles I she was enough to milk his own cows until two years incredible) age of 169 at Bolton-on-Swale nineteen years of age ... She hath an only before his death. Another farm labourer who (the locals were sufficiently impressed to erect daughter living, age 103.” remembered the solar eclipse of April 22, 1715, an obelisk in 1743 dedicated to him). Another case of this ilk was that of was Joseph Lemon of Shenton, Leicester. Like today’s “fake news”, these incredible Mary Cameron, of Braemar, Inverness, “He was a schoolboy going from Belfont tales were repeated in print until they who died “aged near 130 years” in 1785. “She to Hounslow ... and was so alarmed at the acquired a life of their own. This was partly remembered the rejoicings at the Restoration extreme darkness that he hid under a hedge because it was extremely difficult for people of Charles II,” reported the Gentleman’s till it was over.” Lemon died “in his 107th to check claims of great longevity, with Magazine in July 1785. “Her house was an year” in 1808. civil registration not being introduced until asylum to the exiled Episcopal clergy at Mrs Jane Williams was one of the few 1837. Although births, weddings and burials the Revolution, and to the gentlemen who authenticated cases of extreme old age. Jane were recorded in parish registers, these were were proscribed in the years 1715 and 1745. Chassereau was baptised on the day after her sometimes lost over time or had become Upon hearing that the forfeited estates birth at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, illegible with age. were restored, she exclaimed, ‘Let me now on November 14, 1739 (roughly the same Monumental inscriptions on tombstones die in peace; I want to see no more in this year as Jane Austen’s mother Cassandra could not be relied upon, either. The relatives world’.” The story of Donald McKean, alias Leigh). She was the daughter of Francis who erected the monument would naturally McDonald, of Morven, Argyleshire, reported and Ann Chassereau (or Chattereau). Her have depended on the age given them by the two months later who died in his 109th year father had fled from France, age 14, after the deceased. Sometimes, the stonemason simply in August 1785, sounds more plausible: “He revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In 1764, made an error with the inscription. And at escaped from Glencoe, at the time of the Jane married the banker Robert Williams. Beverley Minster, the gravestone of a person massacre there, in 1692.” They lived in Moor Park, Hertfordshire, and aged 44 years was reportedly altered by some Farming seems to have been a healthy later at Bridehead in Dorset. Mrs Williams hoaxer to 414 years. It was not until the late occupation. William Truman of Whatley, was old enough to remember making social 19th century that some of the more lurid near Frome in , died, “an industrious calls on “the people living in the houses cases of longevity were finally discredited by and honest man” who “had nearly completed on Old London Bridge”, homes that were researchers. his 104th year”. He particularly remembered demolished between 1757 and 1758. Even the bills of mortality (especially weeding corn during the 1715 total eclipse, Her son Robert Williams later testified limited, it was only natural that cases of those published in London) were an “when the darkness obliged him and his that he had dined on Christmas Day with extreme old age were of huge interest. uncertain guide to the true numbers of Publications such as Kirby’s Wonderful and centenarians. However, a more scientific Eccentric Museum (1820) reported amazing approach was gradually adopted by stories such as that of the midwife Mrs Mills physicians such as Dr John Haygarth of of Jamaica, said to have died in 1805 “aged 118; Chester, who published some papers on she was followed to her grave by 295 of her deaths in the city during the early 1770s. He children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, recorded that in 1775, five people over 90 years and great-great-grandchildren ... she retained old had died, plus another citizen aged 106 her senses to the last, and followed her years. So it was not impossible for a person to business to within two days of her death”. reach a great age. Among the more fabulous tales of However, some of the more extravagant centenarians trotted out for the credulous ages reported in the public journals must be public were those of Henry Jenkins, “Old taken with a pinch of salt. Ages may have Parr” and the Countess of Desmond. The been exaggerated, or genuinely mistaken, by Countess, from , reputedly died in very elderly people or their relatives. People 1612 at the immense age of 145. “Old” Thomas sometimes had vivid “recollections” of events Parr, from Winnington, Shropshire, allegedly that pre-dated their birth but were, in fact, died aged 152 in 1635. To cap them all, the much talked of during their early childhood. Yorkshire fraudster Henry Jenkins, who A case in point may be that of Jane claimed to have delivered arrows for the Forrester of Abbey Laddercost [Lanercost] Cumberland, “now in the 138th year of her Above, John Haygarth, who studied mortality age”. According to the Public Advertiser of in the town of Chester (Wellcome Collection). March 9, 1768: “When Cromwell besieged Right, London Bridge before 1757, painted by the city of Carlisle, 1646, she can remember Samuel Scott (The Fishmongers’ Company) that a horse’s head sold for 2s 6d [for food]

28 29 his mother “for seventy consecutive years down some garden steps ... He lived chiefly without a break”, surely some kind of record on [a] vegetable diet, and drank frequently in itself. “In 1829, being then in her 90th year, of the famous rock-water of Llandidrod”. A quiz about Jane held her great-grandchild and godchild One centenarian, Anne Henley, reputedly in her arms at the font.” When she was over only drank whey until she was 40 years 90, the old lady “cut old. She died aged a third tooth, which 104 at Smart’s all things 100 was always a source Buildings, London, have a go! there are no prizes – it’s just for fun. of inconvenience” having supported to her. She died on herself in old age October 8, 1841, at by making and the grand old age selling pincushions. of 102, 14 years after Another centenarian her contemporary was Janet Muttie, Mrs Austen died at of Pencaitland, in Who says, “I have an hundred Chawton. Scotland, who was things to say to you”? What was the depicted in 1794 at 1 secret of achieving the age of 108. such a long life? Perhaps a Doctors suggested Mediterranean diet “You might not see one in a hundred, temperance, was the best way to with gentleman so plainly written.” avoiding smoking ensure a long life. The or snuff-taking, Edinburgh Magazine 2 Who is the gentleman held up as and eating a mixed of March 1794 such a standard? diet with a “liberal reported the story of use of vegetables”. Francis Hannibal, a However, resident of Marseilles Richard Brown in 1742. At that date Who fails to give his daughter a of Peterchurch, Hannibal was 106 bank-bill of “an hundred pounds”? in Herefordshire, years old and had “a who died on brother then living, 3 December 30, 1794, aged 112”. Francis still “in his 108th year worked in the fields ... was seldom seen and vineyards. His Who breathes “very quick without the pipe son, aged 70, looked and feel(s) a hundred things in his mouth, and much “older than 4 in a moment”? took a last whiff a his father”, because short time before he was bent double his death. He had with age, while his lived in the reigns parent still walked Who gets “one of six sovereigns, erect. Hannibal hundred a year during and was so little had recently buried my life, and fifty after enfeebled with age his wife, who was 5 I am gone”? as to walk out to the over 90 years old. haymakers during When some local answers the last harvest”. wag joked with him on page 65. The writer, in the Gentleman’s Magazine about re-marrying, “the old blade answered, by susannah Supplement of December 1794, opined: “In he thought he could not, but ... his refusal fullerton Which character who the example of this old man, the assertion did not proceed from any want of ability to never actually appears that smoaking [sic] tobacco is prejudicial to discharge the duties of the married state”. 6 has “not much above a health, is completely refuted.” hundred acres altogether”? Maybe mineral water was the best health preserver. Lewis Morgan, from Co Radnor, Janet Muttie, of Pencaitland, depicted at age “died in his 101st year, occasioned by a fall 108 in 1794 (National Galleries of Scotland)

30 31 devonshire house was the london home of grand court nor entertaining on anything like the Berkeley, the house was completely gutted aristocracy and a place frequented by royals, but same scale as they had done in centuries by fire in 1733, so the Devonshire House that a century ago it was demolished. felicity day looks past. The smaller flats and houses going up Jane Austen and her contemporaries would at some of the great events that took place there in Kensington and Chelsea were just as fit have recognised was that rebuilt in the time for their new postwar life, if not more so, and of the 3rd Duke to a design by William Kent, certainly much cheaper to run. the Palladian architect. In the late Georgian era, however, a Kent’s sumptuous interiors were at grand town house had been a necessity odds with the very simple and minimalist for a peer of the realm. Politically minded style of his design for the exterior of the aristocrats needed a base close to Parliament house. Brick-built (possibly for financial and the Court at St James’s, and the more reasons), it was long and low, with very spectacular the house, the better it advertised little decorative detail. Its relative starkness, their wealth, power and fashionable status. combined with its sheer size, led one Spacious apartments fit for entertaining large contemporary to compare it unfavourably numbers of guests were also essential, and to an East India Company Warehouse. If walls could talk Devonshire House had those in abundance. Aesthetically, the house was not helped by Facing on to Piccadilly, Devonshire the 10ft brick wall that shielded it from the House stood almost directly opposite what is street, hiding the ground-floor windows now the Ritz Hotel, enjoying uninterrupted from view. Many people complained that views across Green Park, which was then the wall was unsightly and spoiled the view a fashionable place to promenade. Set from the street, not least because it became back from the road, the house had a large a magnet for the capital’s graffiti writers. It courtyard in front and to the rear three acres was not until the mid-19th century that a of its own gardens, a rare luxury in London, pair of decorative ironwork gates was added, t was in 1919 that Victor Cavendish, even in the 18th century. increasing the property’s kerb appeal. the 9th Duke of Devonshire, parted A mansion house on the site was Inside, however, it was among the most company with a house that had been in originally acquired in 1696 by the 1st Duke opulent and spacious of the aristocratic his family for more than 200 years. He of Devonshire, who promptly renamed London residences of the Georgian age, sold Devonshire House, a famous landmark it Devonshire House. Built just after the more aptly referred to as “private palaces”. ofI Georgian London, to developers for Restoration of Charles II for the 1st Lord It boasted an impressive double-height £750,000, a sum equal to about £30 million today. Demolition began in earnest in 1924, and within a few short years a new block of luxury flats had emerged from the rubble, its name alone a reminder of the iconic house that had been lost. Like many aristocrats, the duke and duchess had been hit hard by increased taxation after the First World War, particularly as their estates were already encumbered by debts. Asset rich but cash poor, they chose to part with a slice of London real estate that was incredibly valuable to developers – although it was not only about the money. After the war, large town residences were increasingly surplus to requirements; the aristocracy were no longer dancing attendance on the royals at

Right, the 9th Duke of Devonshire, under whom Devonshire House was sold and demolished. Far right, Devonshire House as Jane Austen would have known it. The high wall was a magnet for Georgian graffiti artists

32 33 entrance hall, 11 glittering state rooms and It was here that political meetings were a 40ft library, with every small detail conducted informally over turtle dinners and designed by Kent, from the door surrounds quiet suppers, ably hosted by Georgiana who to the fireplaces. understood the important role that these For most of Austen’s life Devonshire played in bringing together various factions House was home to William Cavendish, of the party, particularly during critical the 5th Duke of Devonshire, and his first periods such as the Regency crisis of 1788. duchess, Georgiana. Married only a year Thanks to its spacious drawing room, the before Jane was born, the couple were soon house was one of the best places for the party at the heart of fashionable and political to gather together and rally its supporters, life. The Duke was fabulously wealthy (one and thanks to Georgiana’s legendary skills account put his annual income at as much as a hostess, the best place to celebrate their as £60,000) and Devonshire House was political victories with balls and parties. not their only property, nor even their only The Prince Regent was a regular visitor London house. They also owned Burlington until he abandoned his Whig friends. He House, which was only 300 metres up the and the Duchess enjoyed a close relationship, street (and thus rented to relations), as well although Georgiana’s biographers tend to as a villa at Chiswick, which was then a small dispute allegations that there was anything riverside village six miles outside the capital. more than friendship between them. It was The couple’s country seat was Chatsworth at Devonshire House, with the support and in Derbyshire, but they typically spent only assistance of Georgiana, that the Prince three months of the year there, preferring the conducted secret meetings with his mistress, buzz of London and Devonshire House. Mrs Fitzherbert, before the pair were The family archives would certainly secretly married. A library bookcase with a suggest that this was the most important concealed door was supposedly the means house in the Cavendish family portfolio at by which he passed into her bedroom at the that time. In 1798 the contents were valued house – or so the 12th Duke said when the at £29,285, significantly more than the bookcase was sold at Sotheby’s in 2010 with £22,321 valuation placed on the contents of several other relics. Chatsworth. The 5th duke appears to have Devonshire House also gained notoriety lavished money on the property, carrying thanks to Georgiana’s obsession with out regular works to alter and improve gambling. Such was her passion that she is it during his tenure. These were lovingly said to have arranged her drawing rooms overseen by Georgiana, who revelled in so that they resembled a gaming house and the opportunity to showcase her talent for charged professional croupiers 50 guineas design. The architect James Wyatt, who a night to preside over the faro tables. It was also employed by the Prince Regent was a risky business, with other ladies being to undertake works at Carlton House, was prosecuted for setting up similar enterprises commissioned in 1776 and again in 1790 in their houses. to make extensive changes, and the couple As leaders of the ton, every action of the regularly commissioned new furniture. It was Devonshires was newsworthy; scarcely a at Devonshire House that they also chose to week went by without the house, its owners place their most impressive art. One visitor or their dinner guests appearing in the society in the 1790s called theirs “the finest private pages of the London newspapers. They were collection in England” and noted that Titians, influencers long before the word gained its Rembrandts and Van Dycks graced the walls current meaning: in 1803, for example, the alongside numerous family portraits. Morning Post informed its readers that “the Because the 5th duke and duchess French Cotillions danced at Devonshire were ardent supporters of the more liberal House on Wednesday are a new stile of Whig party – anti-slavery, supportive of the dancing just introduced”. Their celebrity American Revolution and firmly opposed status aside, however, the couple used their to the Tory government of George III – Devonshire House became a centre for the Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire Whig opposition during their residence. (Chatsworth House)

34 35 London house in much the same way as extravagant Whig duchess with a penchant of 21 and, following his parents’ example, hosted by the 8th Duke and Duchess to any other aristocratic family of the period. for gambling, but she would certainly continued to lavish money on the property. celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. In 1800, like countless other matchmaking have known her house. She would have He made extensive improvements both Then, during the First World War it was mothers, Georgiana hosted a series of balls passed down Piccadilly during her sojourns inside and out, notably removing Kent’s pressed into service as the headquarters of there to mark the “come-out” of her eldest in London, walking or driving past the exterior staircases, which had once brought the Red Cross before meeting its unfortunate daughter, known as “Little G” – although her imposing brick wall and on towards the guests directly into the house on the first end. If walls could talk, this is one house that parties were on a rather grander scale than museums and galleries in Pall Mall or the floor, and replacing them with a portico would have had plenty of stories to share – if most. The apartments at Devonshire House shops on Bond Street. In 1808 she joined and new entrance hall. Although the only it had survived. could comfortably hold 1,200 guests at a ball her brother James and his family at the Bath duke was a confirmed bachelor, the house and on one occasion in June 1800 Georgiana Hotel, close to Devonshire House on the remained legendary for its entertainments, received 1,000 people just for a supper party. corner of Arlington Street (on the site of hosting Queen Victoria and Prince Albert Left, a gaming table at Devonshire House, where Expense was no object. For a similar party in what is now the Ritz), while her publisher among others. Georgiana was an enthusiastic gambler. Below, 1803 the house was decked throughout with John Murray had his offices in Albemarle In later years, Devonshire House was the demolition of Devonshire House in 1925, garlands of real flowers brought from the Street, just a few hundred metres further up the scene of a spectacular fancy dress ball painted by Charles Ernest Cundall gardens at Chiswick House; the Morning Post the road. This was certainly an area of town gushed that “the fragrance they shed that Jane was familiar with and no doubt was delicious”. she was also familiar with its aristocratic It was at Devonshire House that “Little residents; it has been suggested more than G” was married the following year and there, once that the Duke and Duchess’s family too, that her mother died in 1806 after a short provided inspiration for her, giving her the illness caused by an abscess on the liver. The name of Georgiana for the daughter of her Duchess lay in state in the Great Hall for five own wealthy Whig family with a country seat days before her coffin was transported from in Derbyshire. London to Derbyshire for her funeral. The Jane lived to see Devonshire House pass house became a focal point for mourners who into the hands of the 6th Duke, also called gathered outside the gates on Piccadilly to William but known as “Hart” because of his pay their respects. courtesy title, the Marquess of Hartington. Jane Austen might not have mourned an He inherited from his father in 1811 at the age

36 37 exploration and enlightenment flourished during the regency. matthew flinders achieved hero Regency Heroine status in this era of discovery – for his adventures and for his romance, as nigel starck writes Dorothy Phillips began acting to support her mother and siblings. Born on November 22, 1761, in London, “Dora” was the child of Francis Bland, an Irishman, and Grace Phillips, an actress. Family disapproval of their relationship led Francis to abandon Grace and their nine children and instead he married an heiress. Grace, however, could not manage on the allowance that the Bland family gave her. In 1779 Thomas Ryder, a theatre Love had to wait manager, gave Dora her first role as Miss Lucy in The Virgin Un-Masked. She was known by the stage name Miss Francis and was soon charming audiences, especially when wearing men’s clothes that displayed her lovely legs. The dramatist James Boaden said that “the n persuasion, the last novel passion for the natural sciences, especially Dorothea Jordan as Hippolyta neatness of her figure in the male attire was for (portrait by Hoppner) completed by Jane Austen, Captain astronomy and zoology. Dr Flinders years remarkable”. Frederick Wentworth has to wait maintained a hope that his son would follow Pretty actresses were notorious for being more than seven years to be him in the practice of medicine, sending the prey of theatre managers. A brutal the flames were quickly extinguished. reunited with Anne Elliot, his him off to boarding school and then relationship with her next employer, Richard Off stage she was living with Richard Ifirst true love. When he training him to assist in his own Daly, left Dora pregnant, frightened and Ford, a lawyer, and bore him three children, returns from the Napoleonic apothecary shop. destitute. She fled to England and appeared at one of whom was stillborn. However, in 1790 Wars in 1814, enriched by But other forces exerted ’s theatre under the name she caught the eye of Prince William, Duke the prizemoney of battle, a greater influence. Young “Mrs Jordan”. Although she drew jealousy of Clarence (later William IV). They lived that love is allowed to Matthew’s cousin, John from her fellow thespians, in 1785 Richard together for more than twenty years and blossom once more. Flinders, had gone to sea at Brinsley Sheridan asked her to perform at she bore him ten children. But their cosy Another seafarer and 13 as an officer’s servant, seen Drury Lane theatre, London. domesticity at Bushy House was shattered another Ann (this one, action against the French and At this time reigned when the hard-up duke started hunting for a without a final “e”) had to the Dutch, sailed across the supreme in tragedies. Although Dora could rich wife. William provided an allowance for endure an even longer – and, Atlantic, and basked in the fame tackle any role, she refused to play second Dorothy and all her children, on condition in this case, actual – separation this gave him within the family. fiddle to Siddons. She made her debut that she did not work again. It is not known in the same turbulent period of Then Matthew, already captivated by as Peggy in The Country Girl and was so if he repaid the money he had borrowed from history. Matthew Flinders, the English his cousin’s exploits, read Daniel Defoe’s successful that her salary was doubled. She her over the years. explorer and veteran of pioneering voyages Robinson Crusoe – and his career path was became the queen of farces and comedy Dora was generous to a fault: to her to the Southern Ocean and Australia, had settled. It would be the ocean, not surgery. in roles such as Miss Hoyden (The Trip to lovers, her children and their spouses. This married Ann Chappelle in April, 1801. But He studied trigonometry and navigation. Scarborough), Miss Tomboy (The Romp) and open-handedness proved disastrous. Despite only three months later she was banned by Helped by a recommendation from his Little Pickle (The Spoiled Child). poor health, she returned to acting to support the British naval authorities from sailing cousin, the 16-year-old Matthew joined The critic William Hazlitt said that Dora’s her ruined son-in-law. This meant that she with her husband on his final and ill-starred the . Flinders would become “smile had the effect of sunshine ... [she] lost custody of her daughters by the duke expedition. They would not see each other a maritime explorer without equal in the gave more pleasure than any other actress”. and forfeited his allowance for them. Then, again for nine years. Their story is one of Regency age: a skilled navigator, eminent Audiences adored her rendition of ballads such a horrified Dora discovered that one of her faith, hope and not much charity. cartographer and fearless ship’s commander as The Blue Bell of Scotland, some of which she sons-in-law had contracted thousands of Both had grown up in rural Lincolnshire, – the first to sail right around Australia, wrote herself. She also toured the regions, and pounds of debts in her name. She met a tragic that flat and verdant English county abutting identifying it as a continent. In official at Glasgow a medal was struck in her honour. end far from home and family. After fleeing the North Sea. His home was in the village of correspondence, he became the first, too, At Margate in 1802 she had a narrow escape to France to escape her creditors, she died at Donington; hers in Partney, a village 30 miles on stage when her gown caught fire. Luckily, St-Cloud on July 5, 1816. to the north. Matthew Flinders, born on Matthew Flinders was famed for sailing March 16, 1774, was the son of a doctor, also around Australia and filling in the gaps on its coastal charts By Sue Wilkes named Matthew, who gave the boy an early

38 39 advancing the surge of colonisation. extended enjoyment, the young ladies of the Matthew Flinders, with hand-picked Flinders, Franklin and Tyler establishments. specialists among his crew, further enriched Ann, accordingly, soon became aware of the body of knowledge by observing and Matthew, the boy with a love for the sea. collecting exotic species of animal and plant After serving on the 74-gun warship life. In addition, his presence shored up Bellerophon, he applied successfully in 1791 Britain’s colonial possessions at a time when for an extraordinary voyage under Captain French expeditions were creating concerns William Bligh. That famous, and no longer that they might be seizing territory for notorious, seaman had by now been acquitted themselves. Yet Flinders himself, unlike Jane of misconduct in the “mutiny on the Bounty” Austen’s Captain Wentworth, would reap affair and selected to lead a second so- meagre monetary rewards. His only true called breadfruit expedition. This inventive prize was the extraordinary devotion, loyalty campaign was aimed at transplanting and patience displayed by Ann Chappelle. breadfruit, a vigorous and high-yield tree Records indicate Ann was born on November bearing fruit rich in vitamin C that grew 21, 1772 (although other accounts favour 1770), in the south Pacific. The idea was to collect the daughter of a merchant ship’s captain, young trees in abundance then re-plant them John Chappelle. She suffered reverses in in the Caribbean as a staple food for slaves. childhood: the early death of her father and, The driving force behind the endeavour was when she was about 12, an attack of smallpox Sir Joseph Banks, who had been the botanist that blinded her permanently in one eye. on Cook’s voyage to Australia 20 years earlier. Ann’s mother was married again, to a He also happened to be a privy counsellor at to use the name Australia. Before that, it had where Sydney stands today that he believed clergyman, the Rev William Tyler. This newly the royal court and a wealthy Lincolnshire been known as both New Holland and New had prospects for a new colony. created family struck up a friendship, through landowner, a geographical tie of significance South Wales. The first of those terms was The 1801-03 circumnavigation by Flinders, church attendance, with fellow parishioners that helped to promote long-term prospects bestowed by the Dutch mariner Abel Tasman on HMS Investigator, proved its composition named Franklin. They, in turn, were related for Flinders. in 1644, while the second was a name applied as a single land mass. On an earlier to the Flinders family, and a strong social The first breadfruit expedition, involving to the eastern coast by James Cook on his expedition he had also proved that the island bond developed between the households. It the Bounty in 1787, had culminated in violent voyage of 1770, when he found a site near to the south, today called Tasmania, was remains unclear as to when Matthew and insurrection. Bligh and 18 loyal crew members indeed just that – an island. Until then there Ann first met. What is known, however, is were set adrift, by mutineers, in an open boat. Above, HMS Investigator depicted in an had been suspicions that it was joined to the that Matthew was a prolific correspondent, They reached safety in the Dutch East Indies etching by Geoffrey Ingleton, 1937. Right, mainland. These discoveries would forever addressing tales of his adventures to his 47 days later, with the loss of just one man, Flinders served with Captain William Bligh, benefit those who took to the sea, cutting the “charming sisters” – meaning, in those days after a 4,000-mile escape that demonstrated famous for the “mutiny on the Bounty” affair sailing time between Britain and Sydney and when letters were freely passed around for the captain’s remarkable seamanship.

40 41 more than 2,000 saplings. Watering them Flinders stepped up the romantic ardour. told Banks, who apparently did not even every day, for five months, had been a Writing to Ann from the Investigator as it know of the marriage. It is said that Ann was tiresome task for sailors desperately short of was being readied for departure, he urged her seen by a senior Admiralty officer, or officers, drinking water themselves. The young trees to meet him so that “this hand shall be thine sitting on the commander’s knee in his cabin. took to the Caribbean soil, though, and the forever”. They were married on April 17, 1801, Banks threatened Flinders with dismissal fruit is a prominent feature of the region’s in a ceremony conducted by her stepfather from the expedition unless he sailed without diet today. at St Nicholas’s, Partney. She immediately her. Flinders expressed disappointment Ever the opportunist, Flinders signed up set about buying outfits for a changed way but gave in and on July 20, 1801, set off again for naval warfare, seeing fierce action in of life in Australia and made herself at home unaccompanied. He would be away, and 1794 in what became known as the Glorious on the ship. This was indiscreet. Nobody had parted from his bride, until October 1810. First of June, when the British fleet routed the French. This career momentum, fired by his unfettered drive, led to appointment aboard HMS Reliance the following year, when it took a colonial governor to Australia. Having a feline for the seas His resourcefulness was soon recognised. Matthew Flinders had a cat, a creature entertainment, as well as winning After the arrival of the Reliance, Flinders he remembered in an epitaph as “the respect for keeping down the rats and was dispatched on schooners and sloops most illustrious of his race”. He named mice. He was allowed to steal food from and even tiny open boats to penetrate the it Trim, after the faithful manservant in the very forks of sailors as they dined hazards of the extensive – and, until then, Laurence Sterne’s novel Tristram Shandy and admired for being able to dash up largely unknown – inlets and promontories who attended to his master “with great the gangway steps “quicker than any Come 1791, he was ready to try again, of the Australian mainland and its islands. fidelity and affection”. member of the ship’s crew”. commanding HMS Providence with Flinders This allowed him to exercise some naming Trim was born aboard the Reliance Flinders even wrote a biographical as one of his midshipmen, the most junior of rights. In honour of Ann, upon whom he during its explorations of 1799 when tribute to Trim, describing him as “the officer ranks in the navy. It was a seductive had apparently called again in his pre- the ship’s resident cat, brought all the most affectionate of friends, faithful of experience for a boy of 17, turning 18: the embarkation leave, he gave the name of way to Australian waters from Britain, servants and best of creatures”. A new dramatic scenery of Tenerife and the Cape Mount Chappelle to one rocky outcrop. produced a litter. This particular kitten edition, Trim, The Cartographer’s Cat, of Good Hope; the dash across the bottom Back home once more in 1800, he was black with a white star on his chest, by Matthew Flinders, Philippa Sandall of the globe to Tasmania (then known as pursued two ambitions: command of a and feet that, as Flinders himself put it, and Gillian Dooley, will be published Van Diemen’s Land), driven ever onward by major expedition in his own right, and the “seemed to have been dipped in snow”. by Bloomsbury on October 17, 2019. Roaring Forties winds; skirting New Zealand quest for a wife. With Sir Joseph Banks yet He impressed the commander by having Meanwhile, a statue (pictured) stands in salt-lashed tempest; then turning for the again as the agitator, the British Admiralty no fear of the ocean, happy to swim and today in Donington, Lincolnshire, the warmth of Tahiti and its breadfruit target endorsed another mission to Australia that climb back to the deck up a rope. home of the Flinders family, in memory after a voyage of nine months. would finally resolve the uncharted elements of the cat possessed of a passion for the He completed the voyage of the Seduction of the fleshly of its coast, collect its exotic sea and those who sailed it. kind flourished too. flora and define its Reliance and was temporarily deposited The crew were unique fauna. And – not all that comfortably, for he was warned about with Sir Joseph accustomed to the heave and the pitch the charms of as his patron, of a life on the waves – in a London Tahitian women, Flinders was house. Trim rejoined Flinders on the and about the threat to given command of the 1801 Investigator quest, sailing right health accompanying those charms. craft selected for the job, HMS around Australia, surviving a shipwreck But temptation was often impossible to Investigator. His complement of 83 included and then attending to the vermin on resist. A Providence log, cited by Flinders’s a botanist, a botanical artist, an astronomer, a the doomed Cumberland. biographer Miriam Estensen, points to landscape painter and a gardener. This was to While his master languished as a at least a quarter of the ship’s company be a voyage of enlightenment. prisoner, Trim was boarded out once having their pay docked for venereal Fired by these new-found powers, more – this time, according to Flinders, disease treatment. The name of the young “with a little girl and her mother” on midshipman, she writes, appears twice on Top, ‘Poedooa, the Daughter of Oree’, painted by John Webber in 1782, illustrated the allure Mauritius. But he vanished in 1804, the list. of Tahitian women to the sailors of the British never to be seen again. Then ensued an arduous slog back home navy. Above, the platypus: Australia’s egg- via what is now Indonesia, the southern laying semi-aquatic mammal, by Ferdinand Trim had supplied unfailing on-board extremity of Africa again, and to the West Bauer, botanical artist on the 1801-03 Indies ports for unloading their cargo of Investigator voyage

42 43 In terms of pure discovery and scientific him in Australia, it is unlikely he would have The Mauritius governor, General Charles There would be more such outpouring of object, the voyage paid handsomely. taken such a risk. The replacement ship was De Caën, believed him to be a spy. Flinders despair. Those letters in some instances took Flinders filled in the gaps on the charts a disaster, too small for such a long voyage was held captive; first in a tavern and then years to arrive, so haphazard was the mail; at of Australia’s southern coastline, gathered and leaking as badly as the abandoned at a plantation, where he was at least free to one stage, starved of accurate communication botanical and zoological specimens, recorded Investigator. He interrupted the passage, walk the countryside, play his flute, work on and misled by reports of a former vessel’s tide patterns and conducted himself with therefore, for repairs on French-controlled his maps, compose a treatise on magnetic loss, Ann took to wearing the black robes of distinction – notably in leading a gallant Mauritius – an innocent error of judgment, variation, improve his command of French a widow. But on receiving more reassuring rescue mission for shipwreck survivors. because war had again broken out between and, above all, write letters to Ann. They information, she rallied and set about finding But the Investigator itself was eventually Britain and France. To make his position survive today as a cry from the heart, as heard a ship to join her husband in Mauritius. condemned as unseaworthy and he tried to even more vulnerable, Flinders was carrying in this letter of August 1804: “I cannot connect Flinders, while moved by such fortitude, get back to England on an unsuitable craft, a passport attesting to scientific survey by the the idea of happiness with anything but thee. dissuaded her; at a time of war with France, it HMS Cumberland. If Ann had been with Investigator, not the Cumberland. Without thee, the world would be blank.” would be too dangerous, he wrote. The torment was made all the worse by a deep animosity that arose between gaoler and prisoner. Governor De Caën was offended by what he regarded as his captive’s arrogance and disrespect; in his journal, Flinders simply described his adversary as a “barbarian”. It took a distressingly prolonged chain of official appeals and diplomatic dispatches, along with sanctioned exchanges of prisoners, before release eventually came. Flinders was allowed to board a British ship on June 10, 1810, noting in his diary the end of incarceration for “six years, five months and twenty-seven days”. When Ann was re-united with him, in October, she encountered a man appearing much older than 36. He had incurable kidney damage, after all those punishing voyages when drinking water was so scarce; he suffered, too, from blood and crystals in his urine. But there was a job to be done and a legacy to be established. Flinders worked assiduously at his book A Voyage to Terra Australis (Latin for South Land), completing it shortly before his death. He had funded the enterprise himself, ultimately at a small loss. Its charts, nevertheless, would profit navigators for decades on. Remarkably, there was also a triumph of a more intimate kind: the frail explorer and his middle-aged wife produced a child, Anne Flinders, born on April 1, 1812. All this was achieved in straitened circumstances. The Admiralty promoted Flinders to the rank of captain, but back- dated the pay scale only to May 1810, when he had boarded the prisoner-exchange ship.

The chart made by Flinders, after he had established that the Australian continent comprised a single land mass with a large island to the south, now known as Tasmania

44 45 His repeated appeals, for back-dating another indomitable spirit, left an elegantly written six years to the official end of his nautical memoir to Matthew, ranking him among his survey, were rejected. They lived in a series nation’s most celebrated explorers. “Hunger, What Made the News of rented rooms in London, constantly thirst, labour, rest, sickness, shipwreck, experimenting with such ineffective remedies imprisonment, Death itself,” she wrote, “were in july and august 1811 as citrus juice, seltzer water and magnesia for equally to him matters of indifference if they his pain-racked half-life on half-pay. interfered with his darling Discovery.” Following his death – on July 19, 1814, His lasting image is one of unfailing Importations of Spanish wool into this at the age of only 40 – the naval authorities stoicism in the face of oppressive adversity. Guildhall, Bath kingdom have been lately so very great, CORPORATION TENANTS compounded their unkindness by refusing So, too, is Ann’s. Just as Flinders attains heroic that reduction of price has taken place in Notice is hereby given, to the Tenants of Ann a special pension. Instead, she existed stature, she emerges from their travails as that article of nearly 50 per cent. the Corporation, that the Chamberlain cautiously on the standard gratuity made personifying to a profound degree an Austen will attend every day this week, from Eleven to the widow of a captain until her own character study of courage and forbearance – o’clock until Two, to receive the death long afterwards in 1852. There would and as a heroine of the Regency era. A whole family was lately poisoned at WATER RENTS, OUT RENTS, and be no financial recognition of her husband’s Dresden by some hemlock, which the HOUSE RENTS, due at Midsummer: contribution to Britain’s standing as a force servant cooked under the idea of its being when it is particularly required that all of empire. Dr Nigel Starck is an alumnus of the Flinders University of South Australia parsley. The husband and wife died in the arrears be paid up. But Ann Flinders herself, a woman of greatest agony 24 hours later. N B. No notes but those of the Bank of England, or of the regular Bath banks, will be received. Next year, it is said, is to be a jubilee for A grave discovery and a lasting legacy the Baronets of England, it being the In January for magnetic deviation caused by the 200th year from their first institution. The The Dublin Theatre is about to be opened as this year iron in ships’ superstructure and cargo. Premier Baronet is Sir Edmund Bacon, of an English Opera House, upon the plan of archaeologists Flinders invented it in a series of tests Raveningham, Norfolk; the creation 22nd the Lyceum. working on he conducted, with Admiralty support, May, 1611. There are nearly 600 Baronets. the site of a in 1812. Dr Gillian Dooley, of Flinders On the 22nd May next year, it is proposed high-speed University, Adelaide, has found that to have a grand gala in honour of the day, At Berlin a royal edict has been published, and of the order. rail project in one of those trials took place aboard suspending commercial intercourse with London found HMS Namur, captained by Jane Austen’s the United States. It directs that no vessels the mortal brother Charles. Dr Dooley now hopes coming from any of the ports of those remains of for his further posthumous, and Provinces or having American proprietors Mr West has received 1,000 guineas shall be admitted into the Prussian harbours. Matthew peaceful, recognition through Flinders for his excellent picture of Christ Flinders. He had being buried in the English countryside, teaching Humility exhibited in the last been interred, “which is what he wished”, she says. exhibition. The liberal purchaser was in July 1814, at the St James’s burial The legacy left by Flinders extends Mr Davis, MP for Colchester. ground, but his headstone was removed also to the fields of Egyptology and during an earlier railway development mathematics. His daughter, Anne, had The Argus, a newspaper printed at Paris in 1840 and all trace of the celebrated The Pope, it is said, has nothing more a son, Sir William Matthew Flinders in the English language, and which, for explorer apparently lost. Petrie (1853–1942), who excavated many than what may be deemed a prison a series of years, has been a vehicle of the Identification was established through of the most important archaeological allowance, as he has declared his greatest falsehoods respecting the state of firm intention not to owe anything a lead breastplate (pictured) attached sites in Egypt, becoming Britain’s first this country, terminated its existence on the to Bonaparte, whom he has indeed 31st ultimo. to the coffin. His name has long been professor of Egyptology, at University excommunicated, though unhappily attached, too, to a range of sites and College London. He in turn had a son, the sentence cannot be carried into institutions in Australia. Among their John Flinders Petrie (1907-72), a juvenile execution. There are, however, many number are a university, a mountain prodigy who became a distinguished A French Courier, with his escort, have been devout persons who are anxious range, a parliamentary electorate and a mathematician and had his name killed at Nievas, by a party of patriots, and to render every assistance to the the mail which they had with them has been national park. conferred in perpetuity to a geometric unfortunate Pontiff, and who afford visualisation known as “the Petrie secured. The party was commanded by a There is even a nautical device, used in polygon”. him many comforts. female, who has acquired such dexterity in maritime compasses worldwide, known the use of arms, that she actually fired two as the Flinders bar. It compensates Discovery, it seems, was in the genes. shots for one that her followers discharged.

46 Compiled by Judy Boyd 47 refrigerators were non-existent in jane austen’s day. for the well-to-do, however, icehouses were A prayer becoming all the rage, as joceline bury reports

May we now, and on each return of night, consider how the past day has been spent by us, what have been our prevailing Thoughts, Words, and Actions during it, and how far we can acquit ourselves of Evil. Have we thought irreverently of Thee, have we disobeyed Thy Commandments, Cold storage have we neglected any known Duty, or willingly given pain to any human Being? Incline us to ask our Hearts these questions Oh! God, and save us from deceiving ourselves by Pride or Vanity. Give us a thankful sense of the Blessings in which we live, of the many comforts of our Lot; that we may not deserve to lose them by Discontent or Indifference.

Jane Austen, excerpt from “Prayer One (Evening Prayer)”

evelopers working on the rebuilding of a Georgian crescent in central London last year In these lines, Austen focuses her Vanity” as common causes of spiritual uncovered a remarkable structure: attention on reflective prayer. She blindness. She expresses a wish to a huge underground icehouse dating from contemplates her “thoughts, words, exchange any dishonouring inward Dthe 1780s. The red-brick, egg-shaped and actions” and carefully “consider[s]” thoughts or outward habits for a chamber survived the Blitz, despite the the way “the past day has been spent”. “thankful sense of the Blessings” and destruction of the mews houses above, and Her words point to a wonderful “comforts” in their lives. remains in excellent condition, along with its end-of-day habit, wherein she and Austen’s prayer reveals a heartfelt entrance passage and vaulted ante-chamber. her family took time to think back on desire to honour God and love others Its survival, according to Jane Sidell, their day and weigh their attitudes and well. Her words echo the first and inspector of ancient monuments at Historic actions during it. second greatest Commandments as England, is largely down to “the great Austen asks God to “incline” their expressed by Christ: “You shall love engineering and construction abilities hearts to ask four important questions: the Lord your God with all your heart present towards the end of the 18th century”. “Have we thought irreverently and with all your soul and with all Located close to the elegant houses of of Thee, have we disobeyed Thy your mind. This is the great and first Regent’s Terrace designed by John Nash, Commandments, have we neglected Commandment. And a second is like the subterranean icehouse would have been any known Duty, or willingly given it: You shall love your neighbour as one of the largest of its kind when first built. pain to any human Being?” These yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39 ESV) Its internal dimensions, an impressive 7.5m questions cover two important areas: wide and 9.5m deep, indicate that it was Our relationship with God and our designed for commercial use. It is thought to relationship with people. Reflections provided by Rachel Dodge, have been built for Samuel Dash, to store ice author of Praying with Jane: 31 Days She also prays that they might see taken from the River Thames in the winter Nicholas I of Russia, who as Grand Duke Through the Prayers of Jane Austen themselves clearly, citing “Pride or months, and pre-dates the building of the visited Brighton in 1817 and was served John Nash crescent. By the early years of the all manner of frozen delights (painted by 19th century it was being used by William Franz Krüger in 1852)

48 49 Leftwich, a pioneering ice-merchant and 1780BC records the construction of an ice store ice cut from nearby lakes and rivers, or confectioner, to store high quality ice house by Zimri-Lim, a Mesopotamian king; even purpose-built ice ponds in the grounds imported from Norway and supply it to the Chinese archaeologists have found remains of the grandest houses. Georgian elite of London. By that time it was of ice pits from the 7th century BC; and the The desire for cool coincided with extremely fashionable to serve all manner of Romans stored mountain-harvested snow in developments in building techniques, frozen delights at lavish banquets. Marie- straw-covered pits and sold it in “snow shops” including the increased manufacture and Antoine Carême, the world’s first celebrity in the 3rd century AD. The earliest recorded use of bricks. These were the ideal building chef, included iced and chilled dishes among purpose-built “snow well” in England dates material for the British style of icehouse, the 32 desserts served at a feast celebrating from 1619. Built in Greenwich Park for which are most commonly brick-lined, the visit of Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia James 1, it was apparently designed as an domed structures, with most of the storage (later Tsar Nicholas I) to George IV at industrial-scale chiller for the king’s wine. It space underground. The above-ground part Brighton Pavilion in 1817. is likely, however, that the Roman occupation of the structure would typically consist of a David Sorapure, head of standing led to the first such structures being built in hemispherical brick vault or earth mound, buildings at Museum of London Britain, although no traces remain. often further protected with a covering of Archaeology (MOLA), said: “Standing Most of the icehouses – also known as puddle clay, or sometimes a conical thatched inside the cavernous and beautifully ice (or snow) wells, ice pits or ice mounds roof. An “air lock” entry tunnel – resembling, constructed icehouse at Regent’s Crescent, it – that survive in the British Isles date from rather aptly, the entrance to an igloo – is fascinating to think that it would once have the 18th and 19th centuries; it is estimated provided extra protection from the elements. been filled with tonnes of blocks of ice that that about 3,000 were built in Britain, most The ice storage chambers were usually conical had travelled across the North Sea and along of them between 1750 and 1875. As wealthy or rounded at the bottom, with a drain to the Regent’s Canal to get there. The structure travellers returned from their grand tours, take away the melt-water. Keeping the ice demonstrates the extraordinary lengths gone bringing tales of the icehouses of Europe – as dry as possible was important – ice sitting to at this time to serve up luxury fashionable they were particularly prevalent in Italy, the in a puddle tends to melt relatively quickly, Top left, archaeologists examine the cavernous frozen treats and furnish food traders and country that popularised iced desserts – it and running out of ice halfway through a icehouse at Regent’s Crescent (MOLA). Top retailers with ice.” became fashionable for them to improve their hot summer would not have impressed the right, the entrance to the icehouse at Moseley The history of icehouses dates back a lot country estate in this way. By the mid-19th upper-class trendsetters of Georgian Britain. Park, Birmingam. Above, the Parlington Hall further than the late 18th century – millennia, century almost every large country house in The Taylor family of Moseley Park, icehouse used an “air lock” to maintain the in fact: a cuneiform tablet from about Britain probably had some kind of ice well to Birmingham, had their icehouse built at the cold temperature (Brian Hull)

50 51 end of the 18th century and it stands today, is also built on the cup-and-dome principle, extensively restored. The one at Compton covering the buildings tended to preserve regularly open to visitors, a fine example of and the strength of the structure is the reason Verney, Warwickshire, is a particularly the internal structures. a mound-covered “cup and dome” structure. why so many of this type of icehouse still pretty example. Built sometime in the In the case of the Regent’s Crescent Ice would have been cut from the nearby exist today. The most significant advantage early 1770s, it had fallen out of use within icehouse – now designated as a scheduled lake and poured by the barrowload into the of the cup-and-dome design was the fact around 30 years. A two-year restoration monument by Historic England – survival deep brick-lined chamber. The surface of the that the ice slid down the tapering side walls project began in 2010. Shaded by yew trees has been something of a lucky accident. ice would have been covered with insulating as it melted, allowing it to compact and to shelter it from the warmth of the sun, Having avoided Second World War materials such as sacking, straw or sawdust to consolidate under the weight of the ice above. it includes a two-room entry “tunnel” to bombing, it also escaped damage during the keep it frozen. The icehouse would have held Once in place the ice would remain intact for further insulate and protect the contents. building of the nearby Jubilee Underground up to 20 tonnes of ice, with the space above as long as two to three years. Other fine examples of thatched icehouses line. Once restored by the buildings the insulating layer providing cold storage The Parlington icehouse was uncovered include those at Holkham Hall, Norfolk, archaeologists from MOLA, working on where food could be stacked on the surface by Brian Hull, who said: “I was curious to and Croome Park, near Worcester. behalf of the developer, Great Marlborough or hung from hooks in the ceiling – although discover more about the structure so took it Holkham Hall was built by Thomas Coke, Estates, the icehouse will be incorporated preserving food by refrigeration did not upon myself to excavate the years of collected 1st Earl of Leicester, on his return from the into the gardens of Regent’s Crescent and it become practical or commonplace until the cover, from leaf mould to soil. Although the grand tour and the icehouse probably dates is hoped that public access, via a new viewing early 20th century, with the invention of the walls have been largely demolished you can from the early 1730s, although it has been corridor, will be made available at certain domestic refrigerator. see in the photograph how the ‘air lock’ was modified a number of times since then. times of year. The icehouse at Parlington Hall at formed, by a series of two rooms leading to As commercially collected ice became A large number of Georgian and Aberford near , in West Yorkshire, the aperture in the icehouse wall. The floor more available in the latter part of the Victorian icehouses are open to the public can be seen along with the dividing wall with 19th century, privately owned icehouses and Tim Buxbaum’s excellent book on the parts of it still attached to the flank wall.” became redundant. Maintenance ceased, subject lists locations where they can be seen Below, Norwegian ice cutters handle blocks of ice harvested from frozen lakes, circa 1900 Some thatched icehouses also remain. doors were locked, pits were filled in or in the UK, Europe and North America. (London Canal Museum). Right, an archaeologist Built partly as decorative structures in used as dumping grounds for rubble and from MOLA brushes the near-perfect exterior of landscaped gardens, they were more rubbish, and soil heaped over the dome or the Regent’s Crescent icehouse exposed during fragile than their earth or brick-covered thatched roofs. Ironically, their dereliction Icehouses by Tim Buxbaum is published excavation in 2018 (MOLA) counterparts and those that survive have been contributed to their longer-term survival – by Shire Books at £6.99 (paperback)

52 53 McKean was apprehended by the end “returned a verdict, all in one voice”: Guilty. of October on the Isle of Arran, some 50 He was returned to Glasgow and fed on miles away, where he was found with bread and water until his execution. Buchanan’s pocket book and bank notes for more than £100. At first he admitted McKean was hanged at the Cross in robbery but denied murder, and was Glasgow on Wednesday January 25, 1797, RegencyRogues taken to Edinburgh for trial. By the time appearing “calm, collected, and resigned to he was hauled into court on December his fate”. Although his body was supposed Written by Emily Brand 12 he had changed his plea. He pleaded to be handed over for dissection, his end guilty to both crimes and submitted a was even more macabre – persuaded by written confession. Nonetheless, the judge some curious gentlemen to provide the thought it necessary “for the satisfaction criminal’s skin, the man guarding his corpse of the public” to bring a few witnesses had sections of it cut and distributed among forward. The case was clear. The jury them as a grisly memento. James McKean Murder and robbery

James McKean (or McKaen) was born in about 1753 in the Gallowgate area of Glasgow to “reputable” parents. Although his father died when he was an infant, his widowed mother was “very well left”. James was apprenticed to a local shoemaker while still a boy and eventually – having married and begun his own family – set up a shoemaker’s workshop on the High Street. In the autumn of 1796 he seemed to establish a friendly relationship with James Buchanan, a local carrier (a driver and transporter of goods) and the two began to meet at Buchanan’s house on Thursdays for tea.

On the evening of October 7, 1796, when Buchanan came to McKean’s door, by invitation, he was politely received and taken into a dimly-lit back room. By all accounts McKean lost no time in slitting his visitor’s throat with a razor, before robbing him of his watch and a “considerable sum of money” that he knew was on his person. He calmly walked from the room and asked his daughter to fetch a towel, because Buchanan was drunk and had urinated in the room. He had just bundled the corpse into a closet when his curious wife burst in and was horrified by the pool of blood on the floor. Her cries of “Murder!” brought neighbours flocking to the house. The perpetrator reportedly yelled out “Woman, you have done for me now!” as he made his escape. A reward was offered for his arrest.

54 55 the jane austen society and her comings and goings were extensively history of the university and its architecture. of north america covered in the newspapers. Academy artists The student guide drew attention to neo- by meg levin such as Reynolds, Hoppner and Fuseli Gothic buildings that date from the 19th painted her in various roles, and satirical century. To give the buildings the appearance artists such as Cruikshank featured her in of being several centuries old, the architect savage attacks on the duke. Jane Austen would had acid poured down the façade of one to undoubtedly have been familiar with Jordan’s roughen the stone and actually set fire to the personal and professional reputation. top of another to give the blackened look of Natasha Duquette spoke about Jane age. We were reminded of the 18th-century Austen’s “clergymen heroes” – Edward fashion for freshly constructed “ruins” Ferrars, Edmund Bertram and decorating the grounds of country estates. – touching on both music and visual arts. Mark Turner entertained members with She explained the history of Amazing Grace, an after-dinner talk about Regency charades, a popular hymn written by John Newton, those rhyming word puzzles collected by Beyond the written word an active abolitionist who had once been Emma Woodhouse and Harriet Smith, to captain of slave ships. The song appeared in a which Mr Elton contributes in his clumsy collection of hymns written by Newton and wooing. Turner’s many examples included by Austen’s favourite poet, William Cowper. this charade written by Jane Austen. The Duquette also discussed William Gilpin message – that romantic love may not and his theories of the picturesque, which succeed without money – is not surprising: are referenced in Austen’s novels. Henry You may lie on my first by the side Tilney lectures Catherine Morland on of a stream, Gilpin’s notions of perspective as they walk And my second compose to the nymph on Beechen Cliff, and Edward Ferrars draws you adore. on Gilpin to tease Marianne Dashwood. But if, when you’ve none of my whole, Coincidentally, on a visit to the Yale Center her esteem for British Art, conference participants saw And affection diminish – think of her n a weekend in April, JASNA’s during her lifetime. As she said in a letter to an exhibit on the history of blue pigments, no more. New York Metropolitan Region Cassandra before their move to Chawton: which included one of Gilpin’s watercolour (The answer is: banknote) joined with the Connecticut “Yes, we will have a Pianoforte – & I will sketchbooks in which he explained Region to host a conference in practice country dances, that we may have appropriate colours for elements in an Members returned from the conference New Haven, Connecticut, home of Yale some amusement for our nephews & nieces.” outdoor scene. with a new appreciation of the cultural University.O The theme, “Beyond the Written Austen’s novels reflect the strongly Tours on the Yale campus complemented environment in which Jane Austen was Word”, was an exploration of art and music in enforced gender roles prescribed for male the conference. Members saw the Yale writing. Jane Austen’s world. Austen’s surviving letters and female musicians during the Georgian Center’s extensive collection of Georgian make it clear that on trips to London she era. Chang explained that women played the art and the university’s museum of musical enjoyed attending the theatre and visiting piano or the harp, which allowed the graceful instruments, where harpsichords and other Music copied by Jane Austen and exhibitions. The family music notebooks display of their arms. Men sang and, if they period instruments were demonstrated. A featured at the British Library preserved at Jane Austen’s House Museum performed, played string or wind instruments, walking tour of the campus covered both the (Jane Austen’s House Musuem) include her handwritten copies of the music especially the flute. Chang noted, however, that she played on the pianoforte at the that pieces for flute tended to be “stupidly cottage. Conference speakers, focusing on the easy” because it was felt that men had better influence of art and music in Austen’s work, things to do than practice music. drew on this rich cultural background. Jocelyn Harris’s lecture made the Lidia Chang, a musicologist and musician, intriguing argument that the looks and made use of recorded period songs as she character of were prompted discussed Austen’s choice of music and by Dorothea (Dora) Jordan. Jordan was a the social functions and cultural context of wildly popular comic actress and long-time music-making in the Regency. Though Austen mistress of the Duke of Clarence, the future apparently did not play works by Mozart or William IV (see page 38). She was particularly Beethoven, her music books include pieces known for her beautiful eyes, her natural by Handel, Haydn and Gluck. Her collection look and her performance as Rosalind and in is a varied one, reflecting the fact that home other cross-dressing roles. A true celebrity, performance of music was a social activity her relationship with the duke was no secret,

56 57 the jane austen society Jane Austen, probably involving overnight The Winslow Boy; and Richard Jenkyns, of the uk stays; and to celebrate Jane’s birthday with chairman of the JAS, on ‘Jane Austen and by marilyn joice a slap-up lunch in early December. After Modernity’, in which he drew comparisons several years lunching at the Royal Overseas between her characters and their lives and League in St James, we switched last year to the present day. The old-fashioned pleasure The University Women’s Club in Mayfair, of hearing Austen’s beautiful prose read a successful move to a venue that we hope aloud by some of our very skilled speakers will prove attractive to members for the is another perennial delight. foreseeable future. Our main trip last year That easily rattled-off list belies the was spread over three days in April from a hard work and dedication required of the base in Royal Leamington Spa. It took in committee to run the annual programme Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire, visited by – and of course there are hitches. For one Jane Austen and her mother in 1806, as well of our meetings St Columba’s doubled- as Kenilworth and Warwick castles. booked our room, and kindly offered For our regular meetings, which take to find us alternative accommodation. London calling place in the church hall of St Columba’s in We ended up at the Caledonian Club in Pont Street, Knightsbridge, the Group tries Belgravia enjoying a level of luxury to to find speakers on the broadest possible which members would like to become range of subjects connected to Jane Austen. accustomed, including white-jacketed Last year’s contributors included Dr Joe Bray waiters serving coffee and biscuits. Then of Sheffield University on ‘Language and there was the occasion when our speaker tensions in Jane Austen’s novels’; Hazel Jones was rushed to hospital three days before our on ‘One Does Not Love a Place Any The meeting; miraculously we were able to find Less For Suffering In It’, focusing on Ann a replacement. Elliot; Dr Roger Pooley on ‘Lady Susan and A year in the life of the London Group uch is the love and enthusiasm for Frances, who also proved to be an excellent the epistolary novel’; Barbara Calderbank, offers variety, stimulation and, for the Jane Austen, straddling time and and enlightening speaker, gave her address in one of our committee members, speculating committee, a lot of hard work. But all is so continents, that a Maori greeting in spring 2018 at one of the group’s whole day on whether the playwright Terence Rattigan worthwhile for the continued enjoyment deepest Knightsbridge served only to events, which included the AGM. was influenced by Jane Austen when he wrote and study of the great Jane Austen. tantalise the London Group: “Kia Ora Katou. The year began with the appropriately SKo Frances Duncan taku ingoa. Te whanau a named Amy Frost, who spoke on ‘Jane Apanui te iwi.” Austen and architecture’. Amy has a And what was our speaker, Frances particularly close connection to the London Duncan, from New Zealand, actually saying? Group because she is heavily involved with “Hi everyone. My name is Frances Duncan. research and organisation at No 1 The Royal My tribe is Te whanau a Apanui. Crescent, Bath, which is open to the public. Jane Austen has a dedicated readership Our chairman is also involved because in New Zealand and Frances is the founder the house was once home to her family’s of the Jane Austen Society of New Zealand, ancestors. which she set up in 2014. She was one of the Our patron is Professor John Mullan, excellent speakers whom the London Group an important contemporary critic of Jane enjoyed in 2018. Austen who regularly appears on national The New Zealand Society is based media. When the London Group gets in Wellington for the South Island and requests for information or comment about Auckland for the North. The remoteness Jane Austen – such as the decision to put her and geography of New Zealand means image on the £10 note – he is always our first that most contact is through the internet port of call. – yes, shades of the flying doctor. Her The London Group aims every year to presence strengthened the London Group’s have four days with multiple speakers; to connection with the Antipodes. Frances have at least one trip to sites connected to was encouraged to be the pioneer in New Frances Duncan, centre, founder of the Zealand by Susannah Fullerton, president Jane Austen Society of New Zealand, with of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, who Barbara Calderbank and Hellen Blackwell, has visited the London Group in the past. members of the London Group committee

58 59 joceline bury looks rounded off by a portrait of the man who, All Things Georgian: Tales From the Long at the latest books from more than any other individual, dominated Eighteenth-Century the jane austen world the era: “the profligate George IV, formerly By Joanne Major and Sarah Murden the Prince of Wales and the Prince Published by Pen and Sword Regent”. His mistresses, his extravagance £25/$39.95 hardback and his prodigal greed were legendary, and ISBN 978-1-526-744616 when he died – largely unmourned by his subjects, according to his obituary in The Scandal, crime and romance: a mouth- Times – an extraordinary period of British watering collection of Georgian titbits history died with him.

Recently out in paperback, with the grotesque creature – Imogen Hermes Gowar’s in a bell-jar – by the captain Book reviews first novel was something of a of Hancock’s ship Calliope, publishing sensation when it unheard of for more than a year appeared in 2018. The fruit of and presumed lost. The vessel years of diligent research and has indeed been forfeited, but a passion for the period, The the captain is adamant that The long 18th century is generally tanner who set fire to York Minster, and Mermaid & Mrs Hancock is one the mermaid will earn its new reckoned to have begun in the reign of John Frith, one of at least three people of those rare novels that grabs owner a fortune. And indeed it Queen Anne (1702-14), England’s last who made an attempt upon the life of you by the throat and hangs does, displayed for the delight Stuart monarch, and ended with the death George III. in there until the final page, of London’s sensation-seeking of George IV in 1830. It was a period of On the whole, though, the women have relinquishing its hold only by masses. the most extreme extremes: it was an the best stories. The Wallen sisters, Sarah degrees over weeks and months. Meanwhile in Soho, newly age of political turmoil and revolution – (“Crazy Sally”) and Maria, found fame in To describe it as immersive freelance courtesan Angelica agrarian and industrial, as well as political wildly different circles. Sally, possessed of is to understate its impact; Gowar creates Neal and her associate, Mrs Frost, are and military. It was an age of adventure “phenomenal brute strength for a woman”, an extraordinarily vivid world, peopled concentrating their energies on finding and discovery, scandal and intrigue, and was a bonesetter, who plied her trade in the by some unforgettable characters – every a gentleman protector so they can avoid extraordinary creativity in the arts. It was Surrey racing town of Epsom, where she one of whom could have stepped from the returning to the clutches of Mrs Chappell, an age, in short, of fabulous and fantastic found “a plentiful supply of broken bones pages of Joanne Major and Sarah Murden’s the deeply unsavoury “abbess” of King’s Place, stories, and Joanne Major and Sarah from tumbles on the turf ”. So sought-after entertaining collection of Tales From the a brothel that caters to a demanding and Murden have gathered a couple of dozen of were her services that people travelled for Long Eighteenth-Century, reviewed above. powerful clientele. The unlikely relationship them together in this wonderful collection. miles to avail themselves of her skills and Gowar’s inspiration for this entrancing between gentle, middle-aged Hancock and Colourful and eccentric characters she was rumoured to earn 20 guineas a day, adventure came from her early career as a worldly, beautiful Angelica unfolds against a abound: the book opens with an account a phenomenal sum. Her sister, meanwhile, gallery assistant at the British Museum. Her background of excess, starting with a marine- of the origins of Doggett’s Coat and changed her surname to Warren and made a favourite location was the Enlightenment themed orgy described in astonishingly Badge race, a Thames watermen’s tradition name for herself as an actress, most famously Gallery, which she has described as “a graphic – and impeccably researched – detail. that began in 1715 and continues to this in the role of Polly Peachum in John Gay’s clutter of stuff; natural history specimens, Sounds, smells and flavours pour off the page; day. Thomas Doggett was an Irish actor- successful and long-running play, The mummies, all sorts” – including a “mermaid”, violence and tragedy simmer on the streets manager and a great supporter of the new Beggar’s Opera. one of the bizarre items brought back from of the capital, and the nature of mermaids, Protestant king, George I, who acceded to Then we have the cross-dressing Jenny far-flung travels by those obsessive collectors real or imagined, is explored with a delicate the throne after the death of Anne (despite Cameron, rumoured to have been the of curiosities who laid the foundations for intensity of feeling that lingers in the mind 17 pregnancies, she had no surviving heirs). mistress of Bonnie Prince Charlie; Mary Britain’s great museums. Created from a like the sound of the ocean. He instigated his annual contest, open to Doublet, Countess of Holderness and monkey’s body and a fish tail, with various watermen just out of their apprenticeship, “the queen of smugglers”; the stunningly bits and bobs added for effect, it is a hideous The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock in commemoration of George’s coronation, beautiful and famously cold-hearted little thing, but its appearance at the By Imogen Hermes Gowar and the race still begins at the site of the old courtesan Emily Warren; female jockey and beginning of the novel sets in train a series Published by Vintage White Swan Tavern at London Bridge. star of Astley’s circus Alicia Massingham; of events that take the reader, and £8.99 paperback The famous and the infamous are the Sicilian Fairy Caroline Crachami – the the protagonists, on a rollercoaster journey ISBN 978-1-784-70599-2 profiled: we meet the “king of the extraordinary list goes on. of discovery. resurrection men” – the (probably) falsely This is a splendid collection of vignettes The narrative begins in 1785, at the Voluptuous, haunting and accused bodysnatcher William Millard, of Georgian life, superbly illustrated and Deptford home of Jonah Hancock, a magical debut novel as well as Jonathan Martin, a Darlington full of flavoursome nuggets of social history, widower and shipowner who is presented

60 61 “The orange Mullaney knows her Austen as well as wine will want her mixology – each cocktail is introduced our care soon. But with a neat anecdote or comment relating to “Rachel Dodge draws rich meaning and practical in the meantime, characters and incidents in the novels. for elegance and In the Sense & Sensibility section, for application for modern readers from ease and luxury, instance, the mixing instructions for an the Hattons and ‘Elinorange Blossom’ run thus: “In a shaker Jane Austen’s beautifully written prayers.” Milles dine here filled with ice, pour the gin, vermouth, and —Julie Klassen today, and I shall orange juice, shake well and strain into a eat and drink coupe. Top with sparkling wine, garnish, if bestselling author, Tales from Ivy HIll French wine and you like, with an orange slice, and remember be above vulgar that true love triumphs in the end.” Or, from economy.” Jane Austen’s 1808 letter to her the Emma section: “…garnish with two sister Cassandra sets the scene for Colleen olives and a cocktail onion pierced, like Mr Mullaney’s collection of “fifty cocktails Martin’s heart, with a cocktail spear.” celebrating the novels of Jane Austen”: an Chin chin! unbeatable recipe for a good time. An introductory section lists the Gin Austen many and various types of Georgian By Colleen Mullaney drink – from flips, juleps and punches Published by Sterling Epicure to shrubs and toddies – as well as the £14.99 hardback “barware” needed to create them, essential ISBN 978-1-4549-3312-0 ingredients and mixing techniques. Then it’s on to the main event – six collections of Tales of gin cocktails curated to cocktail recipes each themed around a Jane suit each of Austen’s novels Austen novel.

Babies need books – and the sooner they begin to “read”, the better. These two delightful board books, published in association with Hampshire Cultural Trust and Jane Austen’s House Museum in Chawton, are beautifully illustrated by Ailie Busby, and parents and grandparents will enjoy reading them as much as their little ones. The ABC of Musical Instruments covers everything from Accordion to Zither, with quite a few less familiar examples in between: Ipu, Jinghu, Yunluo. The design, by Verity Clark, is based on the charming oak leaf pattern of a pelisse, The ABC of Musical Instruments In this lovely, 31-day devotional, you will get an in-depth look at Jane thought to have belonged to Jane Austen Illustrated by Ailie Busby Austen’s vibrant, steadfast prayer and faith life. Her deep trust in God and now held in the collection of the Published by Catchastar Books Hampshire Cultural Trust. comes to life through her exquisite prayers, touching biographical £6.99 board book anecdotes, intimate excerpts from family letters and memoirs, Jane Austen’s enjoyment of gardening, ISBN 978-1-912076-45-1 and the flowers and plants that flourish illuminating scenes from her novels, and spiritual insights. in the grounds of her home in Chawton, 123 Tea Party £9.99 • Available from all good bookshops or online provide the inspiration for the design and Illustrated by Ailie Busby illustration of 123 Tea Party. This one-to-ten Published by Catchastar Books counting book follows a cheerful little fox £6.99 board book cub as he prepares a spread for his woodland ISBN 978-1-912076-44-1 friends – delicious in every way. Available from Macmillan Distribution / Represented by SPCK 62 Quiz

regency world / June 2019 answers May £5.50 Issue 99 (from page 31)

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A Musical Drama Adapted by Barbara Landis Featuring songs from Austen’s original manuscripts and music of the era, fully staged with chamber orchestra, Regency costumes, and world-champion Irish dancers! 2019 UK TOUR New Theatre Royal Portsmouth Wednesday, 31st July, at 7:30pm 20-24 Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, England newtheatreroyal.com • Box Office: (023) 9264 9000 FIRST TIME IN WALES! New Theatre Cardiff Saturday, 3rd August, at 7:30pm Park Place, Cardiff, Wales newtheatrecardiff.co.uk • Box Office: (029) 2087 8889 Palace Theatre Paignton Wednesday, 7th August, at 7:30pm Palace Avenue, Paignton, England palacetheatrepaignton.co.uk • Box Office: 01803 665800

“No ‘Persuasion’ needed to see this treat for the eyes and ears...astounding!” (Isle of Wight County Press) “Perfect synchronicity between the cast and the impressive chamber orchestra... retaining much original dialogue complemented superbly by Austen’s favourite music and luxurious costumes.” (Broadway Baby, featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) “Flashes of humour, great dancing, a small but perfect orchestra, clever scene changes with very well done projections, and the cast of over 30 all playing their roles to perfection… one of the best evening’s entertainment I’ve had!” (Bury Free Press) For more information, visit www.chamberoperatours.org

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