1779 16 June Spain declared war on Britain.
1780 1 January The first iron bridge, across the River Severn at Coalbrookdale, was officially opened.
2–9 June Gordon Riots in London.
20 November Britain declared war on the Netherlands.
1781 9 June George Stephenson, engineer, was born.
1782 24 August David Tyrie was the last man in England to be hung, drawn and quartered.
1783 3 September Peace of Versailles between Britain, France, Spain and America. Britain, France and Spain each recovered some of the territories they had lost. Britain recognised American independence.
1784 20 May Peace treaty between Britain and Holland.
15 September Lunardi was the first man in England to ascend in a balloon.
13 December Samuel Johnson died.
1787 May The first convoy of convicts (’First Fleet’) sailed from Britain to begin the European colonisation of Australia.
1788 1 January John Walter founded The Times newspaper.
22 January Lord Byron, poet, was born.
15 April Alliance between Britain and Netherlands.
2 August Thomas Gainsborough, painter, died.
13 August Triple Alliance between Britain, Netherlands and Prussia.
1789 18 March Christian Bowman was the last woman in England to be burned at the stake.
30 April George Washington became first President of the USA.
14 July The storming of the Bastille in Paris, and the beginning of the French Revolution.
1790 17 April Benjamin Franklin died.
1791 July Priestley riots in Birmingham.
1792 20 April France began the Revolutionary War by declaring war against Austria.
4 August Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet, was born.
1793 21 January Execution of Louis XVI.
1 February France declared war on Britain and Holland.
26 June Gilbert White of Selborne died.
16 October Execution of Marie Antoinette.
1794 1 June The British defeated the French at the Battle of ‘Glorious First of June’.
1795 29 October Assassination attempt on George III in London.
31 October John Keats, poet, was born.
1796 5 October Spain declared war on Britain.
1797 14 February The British defeated the Spanish at the Battle of St Vincent.
May–June Mutinies aboard British warships at Spithead and the Nore.
11 October The British defeated the Dutch at the Battle of Camperdown.
1798 1 August The French fleet was destroyed by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.
1799 14 December George Washington died.
1800 5 September Britain captured Malta from France.
1801 1 January Act of Union, uniting Great Britain and Ireland.
10 March First census of Great Britain.
1 October Peace treaty (of Amiens) between France and Britain.
1802 27 March The Peace of Amiens between France and Britain was ratified.
1803 1 January Parson James Woodforde died.
30 April The Louisiana territories were sold by Napoleon to America.
18 May Start of the Napoleonic Wars between Britain and France.
1804 2 December Napoleon was crowned Napoleon I.
12 December Spain declared war on Britain.
1805 21 January George Austen died at Bath.
21 October Battle of Trafalgar, when the French and Spanish were defeated by the British and Nelson was killed.
1806 9 January Funeral of Nelson.
23 January Death of Prime Minister William Pitt (the Younger).
1807 28 January Gas street lighting was demonstrated in Pall Mall.
25 March The British slave trade (but not slavery) was abolished.
1811 5 February George III was declared insane and the Prince of Wales became Prince Regent.
27 May Census in Great Britain.
30 October Jane Austen’s first novel, Sense and Sensibility, was published.
1812 7 February Charles Dickens was born.
19 June United States declared war on Britain (the so-called ‘1812 war’).
1813 28 January Pride and Prejudice was published.
1814 February Last frost fair on the River Thames.
11 April Napoleon abdicated and went into exile on Elba.
9 May Mansfield Park was published.
24 December A peace treaty was signed at Ghent, ending the 1812 war between Britain and America.
1815 8 January Battle of New Orleans in America.
15 January Emma Hamilton died.
February End of the war between Britain and America.
1 March Napoleon escaped from Elba and landed in France.
18 June Battle of Waterloo.
23 December Emma was published.
1816 21 April Charlotte Brontë was born.
17 July Richard Brinsley Sheridan died.
1817 18 July Jane Austen died at Winchester.
20 December Northanger Abbey was published.
20 December Persuasion was published.
1871 June Jane Austen’s novel Lady Susan and the unfinished fragment of The Watsons were published.
1925 The unfinished fragment of Jane Austen’s novel Sanditon was published.
NOTES
INTRODUCTION: KNOW YOUR PLACE
1 In 1806 the Austen family journeyed north to visit relatives, and in August they stayed at Stoneleigh Abbey. On 13 August Mrs Austen wrote to Mary, wife of her son James, that they would travel to Hamstall Ridware the next day (Austen-Leigh 1942, p. 247). It is not certain if they actually made this journey, or even if they travelled further north. Letters destroyed after Jane Austen’s death may have revealed other places she visited.
2 See the Chronological Overview on p. 347.
3 October 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies, ABTL/2/10.
4 13 October 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies, ABTL/2/10.
5 The Annual Register or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1816 (1817), p. 67.
6 George Austen’s library contained some 500 volumes, which were sold off when he retired to Bath.
7 28 September 1814. Austen-Leigh and Austen-Leigh 1913, pp. 359–60. Her niece was Anna Austen, who became Anna Lefroy on her marriage to Ben Lefroy in November 1814. Anna’s novel was never published.
8 Edinburgh Magazine or Literary Miscellany January 1799, ‘On the Cause of the Popularity of Novels’, pp. 33–6. First published in the Universal Magazine of 1798.
9 Austen-Leigh and Austen-Leigh 1913, p. 356.
10 August 1814. Austen-Leigh and Austen-Leigh 1913, p. 355.
11 Austen-Leigh and Austen-Leigh 1913, p. 356.
12 A Review of the State of the British Nation 25 June 1709 (vol. 6, p. 26).
13 4 December 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies, ABTL/2/12.
14 29 January 1810. Somerset Archives and Local Studies, ABTL/2/31. Andrew Guy lived at Barford near Bridgwater in Somerset.
15 Diary entry for 10 February 1795; Jupp 1991, p. 204.
16 Eden 1797b, pp. 30, 223, 528. Sir Frederick Morton Eden was born in 1766, became a baronet in 1784 and died in 1809. The three volumes of The State of the Poor were published under his name Frederic, but elsewhere he is spelled as Frederick. Many thanks to Professor Donald Winch for discussing this problem with us. Eden founded the Globe Insurance Company.
17 From Blake’s untitled poem, written around 1804, in his Preface to Milton, a Poem.
18 25 January 1801. Somerset Archives a
nd Local Studies, ABTL/2/13. Born in 1746, Holland is known to have kept a diary from 1799 until 1818, the year before he died.
19 Ayres 1984. The diaries are now in the Somerset Archives and Local Studies, ABTL/2.
1: WEDDING BELLS
1 The Reverend James Woodforde is traditionally referred to as Parson Woodforde, because abridged diary extracts were first published in 1923 using this title, decades before the Parson Woodforde Society embarked on full publication (Winstanley 1996).
2 The marriage took place on 25 January 1787. Winstanley and Jameson 1999, p. 205. The absent vicar of St Peter’s was the Reverend Carter.
3 Newcastle Courant 10 February 1787.
4 Winstanley and Jameson 1999, p. 205.
5 The wedding was on 23 September 1794. Jameson 2004, p. 73. Anne’s surname was actually Dunnell.
6 Brayne 1998, pp. 13–14.
7 The Mysteries of Udolpho was first published in 1794.
8 25 February 1810. Hall 1936, p. 239. She is referred to as Ellen in her biography, but was actually called Nelly after her father’s merchant ship. Bessy Winkley did later marry, becoming Bessy Price.
9 Hall 1936, pp. 310–11. Letter to Miss Bessy Winkley dated 18 October 1810.
10 27 January 1791. Original copy of the diary for this date is missing. Jameson 2003, p. 4.
11 31 January 1791. Original copy of the diary for this date is missing. Jameson 2003, p. 4.
12 Jameson 2001, p. 66.
13 Apprenticeship indenture in authors’ collection. See Chapter 3 for further details.
14 Drewry’s Derby Mercury 29 September 1775.
15 Andrews 1891, p. 187, quoting Harrop’s Manchester Mercury 12 March 1771.
16 Derby Mercury 28 December 1797. The wedding took place before 23 December.
17 28 August 1788. Jameson 2001, p. 66; Beresford 1927, p. 45. Many thanks to Martin Brayne and Peter Jameson for clarifying this quote.
18 Rowe 1796, p. 113.
19 12 November 1810. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/34.
20 19 October 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/11.
21 Brand 1813, p. 33. John Brand lived from 1744 to 1806.
22 Brand 1813, p. 33.
23 Brand 1813, p. 35.
24 Brand 1813, p. 67.
25 Nicholson and Burn 1776, p. 620. In 1816 this bell cracked, and when it was recast, the inscription was reinstated on the new bell, with minor changes.
26 Brabourne 1884b, p. 16.
27 Rowe 1796, p. 112.
28 Derby Mercury 10 June 1802.
29 Western Luminary 21 February 1815.
30 28 December 1809. Hall 1936, p. 218.
31 Elliott 1842, p. 2.
32 Elliott 1842, pp. 18–19.
33 19 October 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/11.
34 The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first use of ‘old maid’ (‘oulde mayde’) to 1530.
35 Hayley 1786, p. 7.
36 Brabourne 1884b, p. 296.
37 17 July 1809. Hall 1936, p. 178.
38 Hall 1936, p. 178.
39 Information from Ruth A. Symes in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Her daughter Mary was removed from her care at the separation.
40 See Vickery 2003, pp. 72–83; Moore 2009, pp. 297–303.
41 Jeffery 1907, p. 314.
42 Jeffery 1907, p. xxii.
43 Hampshire Chronicle and Portsmouth and Chichester Journal 9 April 1796.
44 Brand 1813, p. 37.
45 Northampton Mercury 7 January 1790.
46 Morning Post 13 January 1815. The sale took place ten days earlier.
47 27 December 1808. Brabourne 1884b, pp. 46–7.
48 Christie 1929, p. 179. William Jones had been vicar from 1801 and a curate before then.
49 Christie 1929, pp. 179–80. This was June 1805.
50 13 March 1817. Chapman 1932b, p. 483.
2: BREEDING
1 Austen-Leigh 1942, p. 29. Letter of 6 June 1773 to Mrs Walter, wife of the half-brother of George Austen (Jane Austen’s father).
2 For example, Derby Mercury 8 February 1798.
3 Brabourne 1884a, p. 166. Letter written on Saturday 17 November 1798.
4 Brabourne 1884a, p. 167. The boy grew up to become the Reverend James Edward Austen-Leigh (1798–1874).
5 Chapman 1932b, p. 76. Letter to Cassandra of 29 January 1813.
6 Winstanley Hall is a Grade II* listed building but has become derelict in a planning dispute. Winstanley Park and the buildings are bordered today by the M6 motorway.
7 Hall 1936, pp. 166–7. Letter to Miss Whitehead, 23 May 1809. Despite their preparations, Mrs Bankes died in childbirth and the infant soon after. Nelly Weeton used the spelling ‘Banks’ in her letters.
8 Smith 1785, pp. 19–20.
9 Smith 1785, p. 20.
10 Brabourne 1884a, p. 253. Letter written at Steventon on 3 January 1801. Coulson Wallop MP died as a prisoner-of-war in France in 1807.
11 Brand 1813, pp. 6–7.
12 Later lying-in hospitals included Liverpool in 1841 and Sheffield in 1863. Most were for married women, but the New Westminster Lying-in Hospital (later the General Lying-in Hospital) admitted unmarried women. The first lying-in wards (within hospitals) were opened in London in 1747, and several lying-in hospitals were established there during the next five years.
13 Letter written at Beacon’s Gutter, near Liverpool, on 23 May 1809. Hall 1936, p. 167.
14 2 November 1794. Jameson 2004, p. 91.
15 3 November 1794. Jameson 2004, p. 92.
16 Brabourne 1884a, p. 159. Letter written on 27 October 1798.
17 25 June 1783. Winstanley 1998, pp. 146–7.
18 26 June 1783. Winstanley 1998, p. 147. Frances Anne married Robert Marsham around 1804 and died in January 1874.
19 13 July 1785. Winstanley and Jameson 1999, pp. 53–4.
20 British Library Add MS 35143, fol. 71.
21 See Vickery 2003, pp. 97–8.
22 Cooper 1776, p. 231.
23 Cooper 1776, p. 221.
24 Cooper 1776, p. 222.
25 Cooper 1776, p. 231.
26 Cooper 1776, p. 227.
27 She was buried on 16 August 1774, two days after the caesarean. The churchyard was later sold to construct the Holborn Viaduct, and some bodies were placed in the church crypt (since reinterred in the City of London Cemetery).
28 She had been travelling on top of a loaded cart, had fallen off and been crushed beneath one of the cartwheels.
29 Barlow 1834, p. 569.
30 The operation was performed on 27 November 1793. Jane Foster died about 1826; her age at death is given as sixty-eight or seventy-two.
31 White 1773, p. 157.
32 White 1773, p. 115.
33 White 1773, p. 6.
34 White 1773, p. 130.
35 White 1773, pp. 283–5.
36 23 May 1809. Hall 1936, pp. 166–7.
37 Cheltenham Chronicle and Gloucestershire Advertiser 28 August 1817. They were John, Charles, Robert and Caroline.
38 Norfolk Chronicle 8 November 1817. She died on 5 November 1817.
39 White 1789, p. 13.
40 New Exeter Journal 22 January 1789.
41 Hull Packet 27 October 1801. The Constable family of Everingham Park in East Yorkshire were gentry, a branch of the large Constable-Maxwell family.
42 Upton-Wilkinson archive (071109fpww01).
43 Upton-Wilkinson archive (071109fpww01).
44 Upton-Wilkinson archive (080105wwsp).
45 This provided the perfect setting for stories about changelings.
46 Upton-Wilkinson archive (071109wwwsp01). A wet-nurse is far more likely than a nursemaid, because the family was so short of money for such a luxury.
47 Foreman 1998, pp. 122–3.
48 Downman 1803, p. 19. Infancy was later published as a single volume.
49 White 1773, pp. 58–9.
50 White 1773, p. 63.
51 Moss 1781, p. 60.
52 Austen-Leigh 1942, p. 28. Letter of 8 November 1772, written at Steventon.
53 Austen-Leigh 1942, p. 29. Letter to Mrs Walter of 6 June 1773, written at Steventon.
54 Austen Leigh 1871, p. 41.
55 Leviticus 12.2–8.
56 6 December 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/12.
57 Andrews 1935, p. 370.
58 11 March 1787. Winstanley and Jameson 1999, p. 222.
59 18 March 1787. Winstanley and Jameson 1999, p. 224.
60 More detailed pre-printed forms were required from 1812 as part of the Rose’s Act of 1812.
61 10 September 1783. Winstanley 1998, p. 170.
62 11 December 1786. Winstanley and Jameson 1999, p. 192.
63 17 February 1810. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/31.
64 18 February 1810. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/31.
65 Sunday 25 February 1810.
66 Chapman 1932a, p. 97.
67 30 June 1783. Winstanley 1998, p. 148.
68 September 1814. Chapman 1932b, p. 400.
69 Brabourne 1884a, p. 315. Written at Southampton on 7 January 1807. Captain Edward James Foote divorced his first wife by Act of Parliament in July 1803, and one of the children of that earlier marriage was called Caroline. He married Mary Patton in August 1803 and had four daughters, including Elizabeth.
70 Moss 1781, p. 41.
71 Moss 1781, p. 44.
72 Austen-Leigh 1942, p. 29. Letter to Mrs Walter 6 June 1773, written at Steventon.
73 Moss 1781, pp. 43–4.
74 Moss 1781, pp. 159–60.
75 Derby Mercury 24 March 1775.
76 Moss 1781, pp. 164–6.
77 16 September 1808. Upton-Wilkinson archive (080916spww).
78 18 September 1808. Upton-Wilkinson archive (080918spww). He was either Mr Thomson or Thompson, possibly Frederick Thompson who had been a Royal Navy surgeon and was resident in Kensington from at least 1790.
79 Upton-Wilkinson archive (080925jbww).
80 Buckle commonplace book, courtesy of Trustees of the National Museum of the Royal Navy NMRN, P2002 73, f.23.
81 Moritz 1809, p. 10. Carl is also spelled Karl and at times written as Charles in English translations. Born in Hameln in 1756, Carl Moritz struggled with poverty for much of his life. He died in 1793, barely a decade after his visit to England (Winstanley 2012).
82 Price 1783, p. 253.
83 Price 1783, p. 281.
84 ‘Abstract of the Answers and Returns made pursuant to an act, passed in the forty-first year of His Majesty King George III, Parish Registers, ordered to be printed 21st December 1801. Abstract of the answers and returns to the population act, 42 Geo III, 1800 County of Cornwall’.
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