Jane Austen's England

by Roy Adkins,Lesley Adkins

  After breakfast I walked out a coursing and took Ben, Briton and my boy Downing with me. I took my three greyhounds, Fly, Snip and Spring, and two spaniels, Spring and Carlo with me. We stayed out till two o’clock and coursed only one hare which we killed. We saw no people out either shooting or coursing, but heard some guns at a distance. Dinner to day, giblet-soup, fryed beef and potatoes, and a fine young hare rosted.25

  Hares and other animals and birds killed in hunting would be given away to friends and neighbours if there were too many to use before they became inedible, and sharing and exchanging food in this way helped to bind country communities together.

  Brutal sports did not just involve animals. Boxing was legal, but the newspapers routinely reported vicious prize fights (boxing for a cash prize), such as one near London in March 1812: ‘A pugilist contest took place at Harford, near Hounslow, for twenty guineas a side, between William Swallow, a youth of promise, aged nineteen, from Suffolk, and a farmer of the name of Coulthard. The combatants fought fifty-seven hard rounds in one hour and forty-eight minutes, when Coulthard was declared the victor. It was what was termed a good stand up fight.’26 These matches were fought for money and were subject to heavy gambling by the spectators. Prize fighting was in a dubious position legally, and magistrates often broke up fights or tried to prevent them, as in November 1805: ‘The celebrated pugilist the Chicken arrived in town [London] on Saturday last from Somersetshire, where he had been several days in durance vile [prison], by order of the Magistrates of the District charged with attempting to disturb the public peace by the introduction of a prize fight intended to have been fought in the neighbourhood of Bath. Chicken was to have been second to the favourite.’27 Generally, all the magistrates achieved was to postpone the fight for a few weeks or move it elsewhere. To avoid even this much interference, most prizefight venues were kept secret until the last minute.

  In Yorkshire in 1805, Charles Fothergill learned that the lead miners at Arkendale pursued various rough sports: ‘Amusement amongst the miners: Fives, football, cricket, wrestling and leaping. Wrestling and leaping generally practised at public times, particularly at Whitsuntide and Easter when belts are wrestled for and gloves are leaped for.’28 A few miles north, he chatted with the parish clerk at the public house at Fremington, who told him about the sports there:

  Athletic exercises among the lower of the people are seldom practised now…they have given place to pitchhalfpenny…criket [cricket] and such like…I am glad however to hear that wrestling is still in vogue amongst the miners on certain public occasions, festivals and merry-meetings: they have two modes of setting to; one by taking hold of each others hand and directing their efforts at the feet and legs, the other the old fashioned way round the waste [waist] where more strength is required.29

  Fothergill was also told about a ferocious form of football that used to be played:

  Football was amongst the former athletic games but it seems to have been dropped in consequence of accidents happening not unfrequently, particularly broken legs in consequence of the players wearing such terrible thick shoes armed with iron. The men of Arkendale were particularly famous at this game and they frequently challenged to play 13 of their men against 13 from any other quarter.30

  Born in Derby, William Hutton had come across several football matches there. The best players, he said, were treated like celebrities:

  I have seen this coarse sport carried to the barbarous height of an election contest; nay, I have known a foot-ball hero chaired through the streets like a successful member [of parliament], although his utmost elevation of character was no more than that of a butcher’s apprentice. Black eyes, bruised arms, and broken shins, are equally the marks of victory and defeat. I need not say this is the delight of the lower ranks, and is attained at an early period; the very infant learns to kick, and then to walk.31

  Although cricket was played by miners and other labourers, the major matches were the preserve of the gentry. In 1787 Thomas Lord established a cricket ground in London, which became the home of Marylebone Cricket Club. John Blackner in Nottingham acknowledged that the club had the best players:

  1791, during the summer, was played, what is called, the great cricket match, which was thus occasioned. A Colonel Churchill happening to be quartered here with his regiment, was struck with the superior activity of the Nottingham cricketplayers; added to which, their fame was already up by having won several matches. The colonel sent a challenge to the Mary-le-bonne club to play for a considerable sum; which challenge being accepted, eleven noblemen and gentlemen, with the Earl of Winchelsea at their head, came to Nottingham to play. But, notwithstanding the Nottingham players excited the admiration and applause of their opponents, they had no chance of success.32

  Lord’s Cricket Ground moved to its present-day site in St John’s Wood in 1814, and the first match played there, with the usual gambling on the outcome, was between Marylebone Cricket Club and Hertfordshire on 22 June. The Morning Post carried a brief account: ‘CRICKET.– The grand Cricket Match at Lord’s Ground, between the Marylebone Club against the County of Hertford, with HAMMOND, was decided on Saturday…Marylebone won by 27 runs in one Innings.– Bets 5 to 4 at starting in favour of Marylebone.’33

  All kinds of races – on foot, horseback and in boats – provided popular sport. Many events included races for women, and in September 1772 Woodforde watched the sports at Castle Cary in Somerset: ‘There was running this morning in Cary Park between two women for half a guinea, and which was run by Peg Francis; also boys running. There was a great multitude to see it in the Park.’34 Not all events went to plan, as revealed by Silvester Treleaven’s description of the Whitsun revel at Mardon Down in Devon in May 1801:

  Being Tuesday in Whitsunweek a revel on Mardown, wrestling, skittle playing, and females racing for 2 yards of Holland [linen], three started but unfortunately for the girl who depended on getting the prize, after running a few land yards, triped [tripped] on a stone and fell with such violence that she exposed herself to vast numbers of spectators who gave such shouts at the unfortunate young woman’s accident that she got off the course and was not seen on the ground afterwards.35

  For ladies especially, the horse races were a fashionable place at which to be seen, and in October 1809 the writer Mary Berry, a prominent literary figure, went to a race meeting at Newmarket in Suffolk:

  The inn is almost opposite what are called the rooms, where men only meet, and which have rather a handsome entrance of three arcades from the street; and in this street Tattersall was selling horses by auction, and all the young men, whose faces one knows in London, were walking about, as well as all the fathers of the turf, such as Sir Frank Standish, Sir Charles Bunbury, &c. &c. It had the oddest effect possible to see so many figures one hardly ever sees out of London, walking about in a sort of village-town, for Newmarket is no more [than that], with the exception of some good houses.36

  They next moved to the Heath to follow the horses:

  About one o’clock all these men mounted their horses, and proceeded towards the Heath, half a mile from the town. We followed them in the carriage, with many other carriages, and Lord Hardwicke37 on horseback…When they got upon the Heath, it is so vast that they seemed only like small groups upon it…But the style in which all this is managed here, the rapidity with which one race follows another, though on different courses – that is, on different parts of the Heath – the scene at the betting post, one of which belongs to each course, and is the only permanent thing upon it, for the ropes are immediately moved, and the winning post (a little machine upon wheels) is moved from one to the other, – all this was new and entertaining to me.38

  As with so many sports, gambling was the prime attraction, and Mary observed that ‘between each race all the men and all the carriages are collected at the betting-posts’.39 The winning horses that day were Hymen, Yellow-hammer, Vexation and Morel, all somewhat conservative names, but there was a huge variety of names, fr
om the patriotic Heart of Oak or Briton Strike Home to the whimsical – such as Blue Ruin, Shake My Rags and Bumtrap – and the down-to-earth Sod. Racecourses were to be found all over England, and in 1795, on another trip to his Somerset relatives, Woodforde joined a party heading for the local races:

  About four o’clock this afternoon, my sister Pounsett and daughter, Mrs. Clarke, my brothers wife, and Mrs. Willm. Woodforde, and myself, all got into the coach, and drove to Bruton Races, to a field called Burrowfield where the races are kept, about half a mile from Bruton, and there we stayed till after 7 o’clock, and then returned home to Cole. The races were very indifferent, but a vast concourse of people attended, both gentle and simple…We stayed in the coach all the time and very hot we were.40

  Races also took place on the water, and one regatta held on Lake Windermere in July 1810 was described in the Lancaster Gazette:

  The two fine sailing boats, the Victory, belonging to Mr. Bolton of Storrs, and Endeavour, the property of Mr. Wilson of Elleray, started a little after eleven o’clock, with a good breeze, and afforded the best entertainment to an immense crowd of spectators…This was the best boat-race that was ever seen on the lake [the Victory won a close contest]. There were many other races of inferior note, some of them well contested.41

  Edward Pedder, Nelly Weeton’s employer at nearby Dove Nest, was involved with staging this regatta, but another event in August fell below expectations. Nelly told her aunt what happened:

  The second Regatta was expected to have been more splendid still, in consequence of which, Mr. Pedder invited a number of friends. We were sadly disappointed; it was one of the most blackguard things ever conducted. After a rowing match or two, which began the entertainment, there followed a footrace by four men. Two of them ran without shirts; one had breeches on, the other only drawers, very thin calico, without gallaces [braces]. Expecting they would burst or come off, the ladies durst not view the race, and turned away from the sight. And well it was they did.42

  Nelly had no qualms in watching and gave an eyewitness description: ‘during the race, and with the exertion of running, the drawers did actually burst, and the man cried out as he run – “Oh Lord! O Lord! I cannot keep my tackle in, G–d d–n it! I cannot keep my tackle in.”’43 The ladies were disgusted and left, she reported, and ‘there were many of fashion and of rank; amongst other, Lady Diana Fleming, and her daughter Lady Fleming, and the Bishop of Landaff’s daughters; several carriages, barouches, curricles; but all trooped off. Wrestling and leaping occupied the remainder of the day, we were told.’44

  Seaside resorts also staged regattas, and John Byng witnessed one at Weymouth in Dorset in 1782, before the town became fashionable, but he was unimpressed:

  To-day is a day of gala at Weymouth, and has been long announced for a regatta, and sailing-race, for the purpose of drawing company to the place; and of engaging seamen for the Orestes frigate, who lays in the road [safe anchorage]…the beach was crouded by horse, foot and phaetons, and the windows throng’d with beauties, to view this famous regatta, that consisted of a number of ill-looking luggers, sailing round the bay for two hours and an half; but of which the company understood not the skill, and so seem’d heartily tired; and of having raised their expectations to such little effect.45

  Regattas were only one of the attractions of the seaside. Bathing in seawater (and even drinking it) became a popular health remedy that encouraged the rise of places like Brighton (then called Brighthelmstone) and Weymouth. As with inland spas such as Bath, seaside resorts became places where the higher ranks would spend their time socialising, dancing, gambling and gossiping. Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel Sanditon is set in the fictitious village of Sanditon, which is being remodelled into a resort, like so many on the south coast. One character, Mr Heywood, argues the case against resorts: ‘Every five years, one hears of some new place or other starting up by the sea, and growing the fashion. – How they can half of them be filled, is the wonder! Where people can be found with money or time to go to them! – Bad things for a country; – sure to raise the price of provisions and make the poor good for nothing.’ In fact, Jane Austen liked seaside places, and in September 1804 she was staying at Lyme Regis, where she wrote to Cassandra, who was further along the coast at Weymouth: ‘I continue quite well; in proof of which I have bathed again this morning. It was absolutely necessary that I should have the little fever and indisposition which I had: it has been all the fashion this week in Lyme…The Ball last night was pleasant, but not full for Thursday.’46

  Dancing was enjoyed primarily by the better-off. Some balls were public occasions, but more often private entertainments held in someone’s house. Jane Austen loved dancing and going to balls, and her letters gave critical comments about the latest ones attended, as in October in 1800 at Deane in Hampshire: ‘It was a pleasant ball, and still more good than pleasant, for there were nearly sixty people, and sometimes we had seventeen couple…I danced nine dances out of ten.’47 This was a country ball that attracted nowhere near the numbers of the London events. Upper-class balls in wealthy London mansions were grand affairs, and a decade later Mary Berry arrived at one given by Lady Shaftesbury in Portland Place:

  The dancing began immediately: first, an English dance; then two quadrilles, admirably well danced; high benches round the room, upon which everybody mounted. Then another English dance; and then Miss Montgomery danced a Bolero, and Lady Barbara immediately afterwards the Tambourine dance, which was really admirable. The ball, upon the whole, both with respect to numbers, lighting, company, dress and dancing, one of the most brilliant I ever saw in London.48

  Apart from occasional spontaneous dancing in inns, the working classes tended to dance mainly at festivals and celebrations such as those held after the harvest. For labourers and servants, such events were rare treats, and as in most households Woodforde’s servants needed permission to attend: ‘Our servant maid, Sally Gunton, had leave to go to Mr. Salisbury’s harvest frolic this evening and to stay out all night. Our servant man, Bretingham Scurl, had also had leave to be at Mr. Bidewell’s harvest frolic this evening and to stay out all night.’49

  News of Nelson’s victory at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 prompted displays of thanksgiving, and in a letter to her friend Mary Heber, Lady Banks described what they did in rural Isleworth, west of London:

  as we wish’d to have a little festivity to celebrate this famous victory, we had a treat in the evening. Besides all our own domesticks, we invited the labourers we usually employ, and their wives, and gave them some beef and plum pudding and punch in the servants’ hall, and they had a dance in the barn. We went to visit them and sang God Save the King and Rule, Britannia, in which they all most heartily join’d in chorus.50

  She explained how they deterred gatecrashers: ‘by a little care in keeping our gate shut, we had no more Company than we chose, which is liable to happen so near London’.51 Harriet Wynne mentioned a dance given on Lady Buckingham’s birthday for the tenants on the Stowe estate: ‘In the evening we all danced with the tenants…I laughed a great deal to see the different mixture of people. We could hardly breathe it was so hot and the smell was beyond anything. We danced Sir Roger de Coverly, attended their supper &c. Delighted were we to go to bed.’52

  Some balls were fancy-dress affairs, such as one enjoyed by Woodforde’s niece:

  Nancy did not return till after 9 o’clock this evening as the young folks at Weston House had something of a Masquerade-Ball this evening. Dramatis Personae, Miss Custance in the character of an old woman, Emily Custance a flower girl, Devonshire Miss Bacon a fortune-teller alias gipsy, Miss Bacon in the character of a fool, Miss Maria Bacon, a ghost – none of the young gentlemen acted at all or were dressed.53

  Amateur theatricals were also in fashion, something reflected in Jane Austen’s novels, and as a teenager she herself had taken part in family plays. For those who could afford the price of tickets, going to the theatre was also popular, and in London
and larger towns and cities, several theatres offered plays and sometimes concerts. London was a special case in that only three theatres, each called the ‘Theatre Royal’, were licensed for ‘serious drama’, usually defined as ‘spoken drama’. They were often referred to simply by their location – Drury Lane, Covent Garden and Haymarket. Covent Garden put on operas as well as plays and later specialised in opera – it is now the Royal Opera House.

  Other theatres in London were not supposed to allow plays to be performed, but avoided this ban by providing a mixture of entertainment, often musical, which might include part of a play. When visiting relatives in the capital, Jane Austen enjoyed the theatre and in September 1813 she wrote to her brother Frank: ‘Of our three evenings in town, one was spent at the Lyceum and another at Covent Garden. “The Clandestine Marriage” was the most respectable of the performances, the rest were sing-song and trumpery…I wanted better acting. There was no actor worth naming. I believe the theatres are thought at a low ebb at present.’54The Clandestine Marriage was a comedy by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick, first performed in 1766. Nelly Weeton sometimes saw famous performers at the theatre in Liverpool, as she told her brother Tom in July 1809:

  I wish you could have been here this week to have seen Mrs. Siddons…Henry Latham [Nelly’s cousin] has been with me a fortnight, and one day last week he and I went to see her as Lady Macbeth. We got a very comfortable front seat in the gallery, and I was highly gratified. I have seen her before at Lancaster as Belvidera, but had almost forgot her, it is so long ago. Much as I expected, my expectations were exceeded; particularly in that scene where Lady Macbeth is represented as walking in her sleep. The whole audience seemed wonder struck.55