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Dedication
The articles posted here are dedicated to the memory of Georgette Heyer in gratitude for the many hours of enjoyment her books have given me. She was an artist with words whose meticulously researched novels never fail to transport me to the Georgian or Regency eras.
© 2008 – 2019
Kathryn Kane, Kalligraph
Copyright Statement
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Category Archives: Politics & Law
Regency Bicentennial: Trial By Combat Abolished
There is no mistake in the title of this article. Trial by combat was quite legal in Britain, until the last full year of the Regency. Essentially, trial by combat was a type of duel which was sanctioned by the … Continue reading
On Jactitation of Marriage
As it happens, jactitation is both a legal and a medical term. In this article, only the legal meaning of the term will be addressed. In particular, its legal meaning with regard to marriage will be the focus here. This … Continue reading
Regency Bicentennial: The Disafforestation of Exmoor Forest
Two hundred years ago, this coming Monday, the disafforestation of the Royal Forest of Exmoor culminated in the sale of large tracts of Crown land to a private citizen. However, due to the ideosyncracies of English law, this did not … Continue reading
Regency Bicentennial: The Prince Regent Dissolves Parliament
This coming Sunday marks the two hundredth anniversary of the dissolution of the Fifth Imperial Parliament. This was only the second dissolution of Parliament during the Regency and it would be the last during the life of King George III. … Continue reading
Regency Bicentennial: Reintroduction of the Gold Sovereign
This coming Wednesday marks the bicentennial of the reintroduction of the gold sovereign coin into the coinage of Great Britain. This was part of the government’s effort to update and stabilize the national currency after the Napoleonic Wars. The last … Continue reading
The Tax on Salt During the Regency
Nearly all creatures need salt, and it has great value as a food preservative, which is why that essential commodity has been taxed since ancient times. And Regency Britain was no exception, in large part, courtesy of the need to … Continue reading
Regency Bicentennial: Britain Acquires the Elgin Marbles
Two hundred years ago today, an order was issued, by the authority of the British Parliament, to procure a warrant from the Prince Regent for the payment of £35,000. This sum was to be paid to Lord Elgin, for the … Continue reading
Regency Bicentennial: Bonaparte Aboard the Bellerophon — Part Two
Last week, we left Napoleon Bonaparte and Captain Maitland on board the Bellerophon, anchored off Torbay in Plymouth Sound. While boatloads of people were ferried out to the vicinity of the ship to get a glimpse of the former French … Continue reading
Regency Bicentennial: Bonaparte Aboard the Bellerophon — Part One
Rather ironically, Napoleon Bonaparte spent his last day and night in France on Friday, 14 July 1815, the twenty-sixth anniversary of the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris. Known in France as Fête nationale (French National Day) or simply … Continue reading
Sir Stamford Raffles: When Doing Right Went Horribly Wrong
Last month, I wrote about the anniversary of the eruption of Mount Tambora, in Indonesia. That natural disaster, the single most violent volcanic eruption on record, would eventually wreak havoc around the globe. But in the first weeks and months … Continue reading
Shakespeare’s King Lear Banned in the Regency
No one who lived in Great Britain during the Regency would have been able to attend a performance of the play considered by many to be William Shakespeare’s finest tragedy, King Lear. Curiously, even if they had been able to … Continue reading
Regency Bicentennial: Cochrane’s Trial for the Stock Exchange Fraud
Two hundred years ago, this Sunday, the dashing and daring Royal Navy flag captain, Lord Thomas Cochrane, the real-life model for both Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey, went on trial. He was accused of conspiracy in the Great Stock Exchange … Continue reading
The Panorama as Propaganda
Thus far in my series on the panorama, I have concentrated on the entertainment and technological aspects of that art form. But as with other forms of mass media, even in the early nineteenth century, there were some who hoped … Continue reading
A Regency Bicentennial: Byron Hides Authorship of The Waltz
This coming Sunday marks the two hundredth anniversary of the writing of a letter by Lord Byron in which he directed his publisher to deny any claims that he was the author of a satirical poem entitled The Waltz. Byron … Continue reading
Was the Prince Regent a Jacobite?
Absolutely, as had been both his father and his grandfather before him. Curiously, though the throne of the early Hanoverian kings of England had been severely threatened by both the son and grandson of the erstwhile King James II, the … Continue reading
A Regency Bicentennial: Napoleon Crosses the Niemen
This coming Sunday marks the two-hundredth anniversary of the day Napoloen Bonaparte took the step that would break his Grande Armée and lead to his ultimate defeat in Belgium, almost exactly three years later. It was on Wednesday, 24 June … Continue reading
A Regency Bicentennial: America Declares War on Britain
Two hundred years ago, this coming Monday, the American President, James Madison, signed a document which brought his country into conflict with the same country against which America had successfully rebelled only three decades previously. This war, unlike many curiously … Continue reading
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