85 Perhaps as many as 8,658,265, allowing for uncounted children and those in the armed forces (Wrigley and Schofield 1989, p. 595).
86 Percival 1774, p. 55.
87 In 1811 England had a population of 9,476,700, including 1,009,546 living in London (Wrigley and Schofield 1989, p. 66).
88 Simond 1817, pp. 259–60.
89 17 October 1808. Moretonhampstead History Society manuscript of Treleaven’s diary (box 2 of the Society’s archives). Silvester Treleaven seems to have been the son of the first postmaster of Moretonhampstead, John Treleaven (information from the Moretonhampstead History Society website).
90 25 January 1805. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/20.
91 See Chater 2009, p. 238.
92 29 October 1799. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/1.
93 9 October 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/10. See Penhallurick 1991, p. 290.
94 White 2012, pp. 156–7.
95 Report from Select Committee on the Education of the Lower Orders in the Metropolis (London, 1816), p. 1.
96 Colquhoun 1796, pp. 167–8. The overall Jewish population in England certainly exceeded twenty thousand. London did have the largest Jewish community, but Colquhoun probably overestimated the numbers.
97 British Library Add MS 27827, fols 145–6. Place was writing especially of the 1770s.
98 Morning Post and Gazetteer 7 June 1802.
99 Morning Post and Gazetteer 14 June 1802.
100 Morning Post and Gazetteer 14 June 1802.
101 Hall 1936, p. 60. This was mid-December 1807.
102 Western Flying Post 7 November 1803.
103 Chapman 1932b, p. 480. Sophia Deedes was the sister-in-law of Edward, Jane Austen’s brother.
104 Grose 1811. Such handbills were distributed in the streets to likely customers. Mrs Phillips had long since died by 1776, but her name continued to be used.
105 15 May 1777. Winstanley 1981, p. 130.
106 18 May 1775. Winstanley 1989, p. 141.
107 Rubenhold 2005.
108 Cyprus was home to the ancient Greek goddess of love and prostitutes, Aphrodite, hence the use of ‘Cyprian’ relating to prostitutes. Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies: or, Man of Pleasure’s Kalendar, for the year 1789 (London), p. 39.
109 Hall 1936, p. 167.
110 Watson 1827, pp. 22–3.
111 12 August 1779. Winstanley 1983, p. 164.
112 8 October 1786. Winstanley and Jameson 1999, p. 173.
113 Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies: or, Man of Pleasure’s Kalendar, for the year 1789 (London), p. iii.
114 Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies: or, Man of Pleasure’s Kalendar, for the year 1789 (London), p. viii. The ‘toyman’ dealt in small metal goods, of which children’s toys formed only a small part. The hub of the toy trade was Birmingham.
115 British Library Add MS 35143, fol. 143.
116 Romney 1984, pp. 94–5. The White Swan is still a hotel. Fothergill went to Canada in 1816 and became involved in politics. He died in 1840. His life was marked by profligacy and failure.
117 Romney 1984, p. 94.
118 Romney 1984, p. 171.
119 3 July 1810. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/33.
120 9 July 1810. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/33.
3: TODDLER TO TEENAGER
1 Struve 1802, p. 328.
2 Gillett 1945, p. 27. Elizabeth Ham was born on 30 November 1783 at North Perrott, Somerset.
3 Hay 1953, p. 44. This was August 1803.
4 Andrews 1934, p. 83.
5 Andrews 1935, p. 72.
6 15 May 1805. Silliman 1810, p. 86.
7 Silliman 1820b, p. 132. This was in November 1805.
8 Silliman 1820b, p. 133.
9 Silliman 1820b, p. 132.
10 Walker 1792, p. 84. He was largely self-taught and was especially accomplished in mechanics. Describing dialects as far south as Worcestershire, he commented: ‘Dialects more south and east have run too much into one another to admit of definition; and ere long that will be the case with the whole kingdom.’ (1792, p. 84).
11 Millard 1895, p. 44.
12 Walker 1792, p. 83. Adam Walker was no relation of John Walker.
13 Walker’s Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language (1819).
14 Belsham 1795, p. 1. Briton is often misquoted as Britain. George III was deliberately identifying himself with his subjects and distancing himself from his forebears, who were often despised as German interlopers. This realignment of the monarchy mirrored a fashion for elocution. Thomas Sheridan, father of the politician-playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, ran extremely popular and lucrative courses of elocution lessons and published in 1762 A Course of Lectures on Elocution, followed by a pronunciation dictionary that ran to several editions, the precursor of Walker’s dictionary.
15 24 October 1808. Brabourne 1884b, p. 26.
16 The Mother’s Remarks on a Set of Three Hundred and Thirty Six Cuts for Children 1802 (London), p. 22, quoted in Journal of the British Archaeological Association 30 (1874), p. 40.
17 17 July 1802. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/15.
18 10 January 1806. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/25.
19 Northampton Mercury 27 April 1772.
20 Gillett 1945, p. 24.
21 Gillett 1945, p. 19.
22 Old Bailey Proceedings online, December 1811 (t18111204-3). This trial was of a woman wrongly acused of stealing the boy’s clothes, before his real abductor had been found.
23 Old Bailey Proceedings online, December 1811 (t18111204-3). The two children were Thomas Dillone and his sister Rebecca. Thomas’s abduction is described later in this chapter (pp. 58–9).
24 Gillett 1945, p. 27.
25 10 May 1803. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/16.
26 10 September 1803. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/17.
27 Bell’s Weekly Messenger 6 November 1814.
28 The Times 1 May 1799.
29 This was probably a confusion with Edward Wortley Montagu, son of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who periodically ran away from home, and in 1726 became a climbing boy for a short while (Cullingford 2000).
30 The Times 12 June 1789.
31 The Times 12 June 1789.
32 The Times 12 June 1789.
33 The Times 12 June 1789.
34 The Times 12 June 1789.
35 Old Bailey Proceedings online, December 1811 (t18111204-3).
36 Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle 6 January 1812. Mr Richard Magnes was a gunner on board HMS Lightning. The surname of Thomas was stated variously as Dillone, Deloe and Dellow in the newspapers.
37 13 June 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/7.
38 13 June 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/7.
39 19 June 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/7.
40 26 September 1803. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/17.
41 Christie 1929, p. 128.
42 4 December 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/12. A pencil factory was later established at Worsley in Lancashire. In a pocket diary of 1799, fifteen-year-old Mary Filliter of Wareham in Dorset recorded purchases of a pencil costing sixpence and a slate pencil costing twopence (Dorset History Centre D/FIL/F53).
43 6 April 1807. Upton-Wilkinson archive (070406wwsp).
44 The traveller was Thomas Pennant in 1769. Pennant 1776, pp. 10–11.
45 Jenkin 1951, p. 120.
46 27 September 1775. Winstanley 1989, p. 172.
47 2 April 1789. Jameson 2001, p. 132.
48 Moritz 1809, pp. 37–9.
49 Leach 1911, p. 413. The purpose of the original medieval grammar schools, which were attached to cathedrals and monasteries, was to teach Latin to future priests and monks. Some like Winchester and Eton were independent of the Church. From 1944 the term ‘gramma
r school’ was applied to state-funded schools that required pupils to pass the 11-plus examination.
50 Moritz 1809, p. 59. The term ‘public school’ was officially used in England from 1860 for Eton and others. They took in pupils from all over the country.
51 11 January 1808. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/28. Charterhouse was founded in London in 1611, but the school is now situated near Godalming in Surrey.
52 4 September 1813. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/39. Mrs Cecilia Windham had been widowed in 1810 on the death of her husband William (1750–1810).
53 Hall 1939, p. 62. Letter to Mrs Dodson written on 18 August 1812.
54 14 June 1809. Hall 1936, p. 173.
55 19 October 1812. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/37.
56 19 and 20 October 1812. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/37. Elizabeth Poole (1798–1853) was also gifted at music and algebra. Tom Poole was a patron of Coleridge.
57 Information from David Worthy and from Sandford 1888.
58 Hall 1936, p. 197. Letter written at Liverpool, 15 November 1809.
59 Corley 2005, p. 14.
60 The school was in the Abbey gatehouse at Reading in Berkshire.
61 Joseph Lancaster established his first free school around 1801 in Southwark, in which older boys, called monitors, taught the younger children.
62 Andrews 1935, p. 178.
63 18 July 1802. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/15.
64 The Parliamentary Debates vol. 9 for 1807 (London, 1812), p. 798. Such attempts were made in 1796, 1797, 1807, 1820 and 1833, finally succeeding in 1870. Giddy later changed his surname to Gilbert so that he could inherit substantial estates from his wife’s uncle (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online).
65 Jenkin 1951, p. 161. Letter of 17 September 1811 to George Wilbraham of Delamere House near Northwich in Cheshire.
66 Carter 1845.
67 Report from Select Committee on the Education of the Lower Orders in the Metropolis: with the minutes of evidence taken before the committee (London, 1816), p. 54.
68 Report from Select Committee on the Education of the Lower Orders in the Metropolis: with the minutes of evidence taken before the committee (London, 1816), p. 10.
69 Manuscript in authors’ possession.
70 This was Coventry’s Charity, established by Thomas Coventry and Hugh Dashfield in 1636. Farm rents were paid into the charity.
71 Manuscript in authors’ possession.
72 Derby Mercury 16 May 1793.
73 Evidence of Robert Blincoe, sworn and examined by Dr Hawkins at Manchester on 18 May 1833, in Factories Inquiry Commission 1833, section D3, p. 17.
74 Evidence of Robert Blincoe, sworn and examined by Dr Hawkins at Manchester on 18 May 1833, in Factories Inquiry Commission 1833, section D3, p. 18.
75 Evidence of Robert Blincoe, sworn and examined by Dr Hawkins at Manchester on 18 May 1833, in Factories Inquiry Commission 1833, section D3, p. 18.
76 Warner 1801, pp. 90–1
77 Parliamentary Debates from the year 1803 to the present time vol. 33 (London, 1816), p. 884.
78 Reports of special assistant poor law commissioners on the employment of women and children in agriculture (London, 1843), pp. 112–13.
79 Ayton 1815, pp. 155–6.
80 Ayton 1815, p. 155.
81 Children’s Employment Commission. Appendix to First Report of Commissioners. Mines. Part II. Reports and Evidence from Sub-Commissioners. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty (London, 1842), p. 122.
82 Journal of the House of Commons 43 (1788), pp. 436–7.
83 Journal of the House of Commons 43 (1788), evidence of James Dunn, p. 436.
84 Pratt 1803, p. 434.
85 Pratt 1803, pp. 428, 431–2.
86 Pratt 1803, pp. 432–3.
87 Pratt 1803, pp. 433–4.
88 Journal of the House of Commons 43 (1788), p. 436.
89 Christian Observer 9 (1811), p. 614. The same evidence was later given to the parliamentary committee Report from the Committee on Employment of Boys in Sweeping Chimnies: together with the minutes of the evidence taken before the committee and an appendix (London, 1817), p. 35.
90 Christian Observer 9 (1811), p. 614.
91 Brabourne 1884b, p. 241. The house has since been largely rebuilt, but a blue plaque records Jane Austen’s residence there.
92 Christian Observer 9 (1811), p. 182.
93 Christian Observer 9 (1811), p. 182. The inquest was 24 November 1810.
94 Christian Observer 9 (1811), p. 182.
95 Jameson 2005, p. 169.
4: HOME AND HEARTH
1 Brougham 1840, pp. 41–2 (speech to Parliament).
2 The situation has not improved since then. With increased landholding by institutions such as the Forestry Commission and the National Trust and also by commercial companies, the percentage of land owned by lower-and middle-class individuals has dwindled even further. See Cahill 2001.
3 Henry 2002, p. 313; Mingay 2002, p. 143.
4 11 July 1785. Andrews 1934, pp. 236–7. The Grade I listed castle is currently empty and visitors barred, so history repeats itself here. Born in 1743, John Byng was nephew of Admiral John Byng who was executed.
5 In the poem, ‘The Homes of England’, written in 1827. Usually known simply as ‘Mrs Hemans’, she was born in Liverpool in 1793, a brilliant linguist and scholar who was an extremely popular poet in Victorian times.
6 Silliman 1820a, p. 12.
7 Silliman 1820b, p. 145 footnote.
8 Andrews 1935, p. 275.
9 Trusler 1790, p. 2.
10 Simond 1817, p. 337.
11 Cunningham 1859, p. 324. Walpole (1717–97) was the 4th Earl of Orford, author, politician, antiquarian and patron of the arts.
12 6 July 1790. Bamford 1936, p. 71. Letter from Arabella Pennant. Weston Hall became the home of Sir Sacheverell Sitwell. Little is known of Mary Heber (1758–1809).
13 Mackenzie 1916, p. 179. George MacAulay (1750–1803) was originally from the Outer Hebrides but had come to London at the age of fifteen, in 1774. He became an alderman in 1786. The construction of Finsbury Square began in 1777. The square was severely damaged in the Second World War.
14 Simond 1817, p. 259.
15 Simond 1817, p. 260.
16 Simond 1815, pp. 50–1.
17 Andrews 1935, pp. 9–10.
18 19 April 1802. Christie 1929, pp. 138–9.
19 Report from Select Committee on the Education of the Lower Orders in the Metropolis (1816, London), p. 40.
20 Simond 1817, pp. 338–9. He puts this in his diary as 1811.
21 Letter dated ‘Good Friday 1808’. Hall 1936, p. 82.
22 Hall 1936, p. 82.
23 7 May 1817. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/43.
24 See Vickery 2009, chapter 6. The first known English patterned wallpaper dates to around 1509. By the late eighteenth century London was the centre of the wallpaper industry.
25 Ipswich Journal 18 April 1789.
26 30 June 1785. Winstanley and Jameson 1999, p. 50.
27 Hall 1936, p. 140.
28 1 September 1809. Christie 1929, p. 230.
29 13 April 1810. Hall 1936, p. 251 (with an image of Dove Nest opp. p. 225). Nelly Weeton called the house Dove’s Nest, but Dove Nest is the more usual form (Green 1819, p. 165).
30 Chorley 1836, p. 118. Mrs Hemans paid visits to Wordsworth from Dove Nest. It is today a luxury hotel, much altered.
31 10 June 1798. Christie 1929, pp. 105–6.
32 21 August 1809. Upton-Wilkinson archive (0910821spww).
33 13 November 1809. National Maritime Museum WIL/1/38.
34 13 November 1789. Jameson 2001, p. 206.
35 8 February 1807. Brabourne 1884a, p. 324.
36 Simond 1815, pp. 12–13.
37 1 September 1784. Winstanley 1998, p. 273. Buildings still exist with such bricked-up windows.
38 15 May 1788. Jameson 2001, p. 36 (where the horse tax is omitted, though it is in Beresford 1927, p. 24).
39 27 October 1798. Brabourne 1884a, pp. 160–1.
40 Brabourne 1884a, p. 161.
41 28 December 1809. Hall 1936, p. 217.
42 18 January 1810. Hall 1936, p. 221.
43 For the problems of finding and keeping servants in northern England, see Vickery 2003, chapter 4 and appendix 5.
44 15 January 1798. Jameson 2006, p. 3.
45 On her uncle’s death, Nancy Woodforde returned in 1805 to Castle Cary, which is adjacent to Ansford, in Somerset, and remained there until her death in 1830. She never married.
46 5 July 1784. Winstanley 1998, p. 256.
47 8 December 1801. Jameson 2007, pp. 90–1.
48 9 November 1799. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/1.
49 Hall 1936, p. 126. Nelly was writing at Beacon’s Gutter, near Liverpool, 14 November 1808.
50 Moritz 1809, pp. 12–13.
51 26 August 1782. Andrews 1934, p. 85. Byng stayed in many inns during his excursions and was very critical of poor ones.
52 26 January 1784. Winstanley 1998, p. 209.
53 30 June 1808. Brabourne 1884a, p. 367 (who cites the wrong date). Jane Austen was staying at Godmersham in Kent.
54 4 January 1789. Jameson 2001, p. 108.
55 14 January 1792. Jameson 2003, p. 103.
56 28 January 1794. Jameson 2004, p. 7.
57 25 January 1795. Jameson 2004, p. 118.
58 3 February 1799. Jameson 2006, p. 86.
59 A report from 1795. Eden 1797b, p. 397.
60 Writing in April 1795. Eden 1797c, pp. 776–7.
61 Eden 1797c, p. 797.
62 24 March 1800. Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/4. The ‘sticks’ were from where the hedge had been laid.
63 23 October 1799, Somerset Archives and Local Studies ABTL/2/1.
64 February 1798. Knight 1904, p. 7.
65 31 July 1802. Knight 1904, p. 144.
66 Simond 1815, pp. 37–8.
67 At Alfoxton in Somerset on 2 February 1798. Knight 1904, p. 7.
68 17 December 1797. Jameson 2005, p. 198.
69 28 December 1781. Winstanley 1984, p. 192.
70 25 February 1810. Hall 1936, p. 232. Mary Gertrude Pedder died on 17 February 1810. Her mother, of the same name, had died on 18 December 1807 at the age of thirty-two.
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