1815 Typical English Dinner In Jane Austen and Bridgerton Times. Two Courses and a Desert. From- 1815 Journal of Tour of Great Britain by a French Tourist via Google Books (PD-180)
Typical food served during the early 1800s, or Regency Era. ‘Removes‘ were the dishes removed from the table during a meal, usually the soup and fish, and then replaced by other dishes. After all diners have had a chance to eat all the dishes on the table, the table is cleared and another set of dishes put on the table. This is the second course.
19th Century Food For The Upper Classes In Bridgerton and Jane Austen Times.
Typical Meals Served for the upper classes in the Georgian and Regency Eras. For the Upper classes in the 18th and through to the end of the 19th century, meals were elaborate affairs. and served by well-trained staff anticipated their every need. Women prided themselves on hosting dinners for 50-60 people which often consisted of numerous courses, and all served with the best wines and followed, for the men at least, by expensive port.
An older lady usually controlled the servants and the serving of meals. For more about this, take a look at Older Lady’s Day Regency Life Series Book 5 by Suzi Love. Overview of what an older lady did, wore, and how she lived in the early 19th Century. Information for history buffs and pictures for readers and writers of historical fiction. books2read.com/suziloveOLD
1800s Typical Puddings and Pastries.These are the sort of puddings and pastries Jane Austen’s family would have eaten on a regular basis during the early 1800s, or Regency Era. Open Apple Tart, Galette, Apricot Fritters, Pancakes and Apricot Jam, Charlotte Russe, Macaroni Cheese, Cherry Tart, Mince Pies, Almond Puddings, Tartlets, Compote Of Fruit, Fruit Pudding, Fruit Tart, Christmas Plum Pudding, Milk Pudding and Roly Poly Jam Pudding. From: 1850s- 1860s Mrs. Beeton’s Books of Household Management. via Google Books (PD-150). 1800s Typical Puddings and Pastries Served In Households Like Jane Austen’s. https://books2read.com/suziloveOLD
Covent Garden is within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal’s Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum.
In 1552, the land was seized by Henry VIII and granted to the Earls of Bedford. The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. It was the first modern square in London, with Italian arcades and a flat, open space or piazza with low railings. This layout was copied in other new estates in London.
1555 John Russell, 1st Earl Of Bedford. By a follower of John Bettes. Given land of Covent Garden by Herny VIII after the dissolution of the Monasteries.
1650 The piazza of Covent Garden about 1650, as engraved by Wenceslaus Hollar. Courtesy University of Toronto.
1721-1789 ca. St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, London, U.K. From between two arches of the plaza. Watercolor with grey wash. By Thomas Sandy. Via British Museum, London, UK. britishmuseum.org
1800s Early Covent Garden Market, London, U.K.
In 1654, an open-air fruit and vegetable market grew on the south side of the fashionable square but over time the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute. Taverns, theatres, coffee-houses and brothels opened up, the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights moved in.
By the 18th century Covent Garden had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes such as Betty Careless and Jane Douglas. Descriptions of the prostitutes and where to find them were provided by Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies, the “essential guide and accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure”.
Covent Garden’s market was always disorderly, the buildings in bad shape, and overcrowded with stalls, donkeys, carts, and peddlers. The small number of passageways into the piazza were small and with bottle necks of carts moving goods and market sellers fighting for right of way. The markets supplied fruits and vegetables, mostly homegrown but with imported goods increasing. Many sellers missed paying tolls for selling in the piazza or refused to pay them so the owner, the Earl of Bedford, took many people to court for not paying tolls. He realized the markets were in such poor condition that he couldn’t charge sellers until he improved them. In 1830, a new market hall was built with sections dividing the kind of goods sold which did improve things, but the markets remained chaotic. By 1890, people were again complaining about the narrow streets and congestion. The market hall provided a more permanent trading centre and Charles Fowler’s neo-classical building was erected to cover the market. As the market grew, the prostitutes moved on. The Houses of Parliament were the centre of Britain’s political world. But there was also an abundance of grand mansions and other buildings of interest in the City.
Covent Garden’s flower girls attracted attention by shouting:
“Two bundles a penny, primroses!”
“Sweet violets, penny a bunch!”
In 1851, Henry Mayhew wrote London Labour and the London Poor describing two types of flower girl. The young girls, or waifs, sold flowers to feed the family. The other type of flower girl stayed out late, doubled as prostitutes, and had bad reputations.
In 1913, Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate for £2 million to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who sold his option in 1918 to the Beecham family for £250,000.
1809 View Of the New Covent Garden Theatre, London. From Hart Street, showing the King’s entrance. Watercolor drawn by James Winston. via British Museum.
1811 Bird’s Eye View of Covent Garden Market, London, UK. Main fruit, flower and vegetable market in London in early 19th century. Began here in 1656 with few temporary stalls in back garden of home of Earl of Bedford. Charles II granted market lease and in 1678 bought by Adam Piggot and others who built permanent stalls. By 1811, smelly, dirty, and overcrowded. Engraver J. Bluck. After Augustus Charles Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson published by Ackermann. Via British Museum, London, UK. britishmuseum.org
1827 Covent Garden Market, Westminster, London, U.K. By Frederick James Havell.
1835 Covent Garden Watch House, London, UK. Next to the church of St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden. Two story white building with ‘Watch House’ painted on its upper floor is shown with a lively street scene in the foreground. via Museum of London.
1852 J.M.W. Turner’s birthplace in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. Brick terraced house at night with a figure in top hat walking past and two figures with a candlelight in the doorway. Watercolour with body color over graphite. Drawn by John Wykeham Archer.
In 1913,Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate for £2 million to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who sold his option in 1918 to the Beecham family for £250,000. By the end of the 1960s, traffic had become congested until in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. In 1980, the central building re-opened as a shopping centre and then became a tourist location with cafes, pubs, small shops, a craft market called the Apple Market, and another market in the Jubilee Hall.
For many centuries, road travel was the main way of getting from place to place, but roads were notoriously rutted and badly maintained, especially in Britain. The Romans laid down the roads but they very poorly maintained through the 17th and 18th Centuries. It wasn’t until the 19th Century that improvements were made and rose travel opened up.
Roman Road Construction. Roman roads were constructed in layers. Rubble, slabs of stone, pebbles and gravel, smooth paving stones. Average width of road was 15 to 18 feet.
Roman Road Construction. Roman roads were constructed in layers. Rubble, slabs of stone, pebbles and gravel, smooth paving stones. Average width of road was 15 to 18 feet.
The dreadful condition of British roads caused great apprehension to all classes of travelers. Making a journey anywhere in the country was a big undertaking and often a gentleman composed his last will and testament before his departure. Traveling in vehicles was only possible during the day or on the nights with very bright moonlight with few vehicles attempting road travel in winter and any travel on a Sunday was frowned upon.
From: 1815 Journal of Tour of Great Britain by a French Tourist via Google Books (PD-180) ‘The roads very narrow, crooked, and dirty, continually up and down. The horses we get are by no means good, and draw us with difficulty at the rate of five miles an hour. We change carriages as well as horses at every post house. They are on four wheels, light and easy, and large enough for three persons. The post boy sits on a cross bar of wood between the front springs, or rather rests against it. This is safer, and more convenient both for men and horse, but does not look well and, as far as we have seen, English post horses and postillions do not seem to deserve their reputation.’
If you’ve read Jane Austen you’ll know that it was improper for a woman to travel alone, which meant that well-bred women were dependent on male relations to accompany them or else they had to take a maid in the carriage with her and be accompanied by a driver and footmen, which of course added to the cost of carriage travel. Any woman traveling by herself on a mail coach would be subject to speculation and probably malicious gossip.
Mail coaches raced across these roads trying to stick to a time table but there were numerous accidents on roads that were often flooded, covered in snow, or up such steep hills that passengers had to alight and either push the coach or walk ups the hill.
1790 Turnpike Gates In The Vicinity Of London, U.K.
Tolls were collected on many roads in Britain but, because the turnpikes were mainly on land belonging to the nobility, money collected went into their personal coffers and very little went to road maintenance. This caused a continual push in parliament to make those who owned the land and collected the money responsible for repairing their roads, but these pleas fell on deaf ears as the lords in who sat in parliament had no interest in spending money to better travel for the common people.
Description of Stage Coach Travel in England. via 1815 Journal Tour of Great Britain.
“The gentlemen-coachmen, with half-a dozen great coats about them,—immense capes,—a large nosegay at the button-hole,—high mounted on an elevated seat,—with squared elbows,—a prodigious whip, beautiful horses, four in hand, drive in a file to Salthill, a place about twenty miles from London, and return, stopping in the way at the several public-houses and gin-shops where stage-coachmen are in the habit of stopping for a dram, and for parcels and passengers on the top of the others as many as seventeen persons. These carriages are not suspended, but rest on steel springs, of a flattened oval shape, less easy than the old mode of leathern braces on springs. Some of these stage coaches carry their baggage below the level of the axletree.”
1825 Observations on the Management of Turnpikes by John Loudon Mc Adam. Via Google Books (PD-150)
1825 Observations on the Management of Turnpikes by John Loudon Mc Adam. Via Google Books (PD-150)
John Loudon McAdam, born Ayr, Scotland. (1756 -1836) He acted as a magistrate and assumed other civic roles including one as as trustee of the Ayrshire Turnpike in 1783, where he developed an interest in road construction and engineering, eventually becoming general surveyor for the Bristol Corporation in 1804. He wrote papers on the benefits of raising roads, making them from layers of stone and gravel, and giving priority to drainage. However, no roads were made this way until McAdam was put in charge of remaking the Bristol Turnpike in 1816, when he put his theories into practice and demonstrated macadamization, known as macadam. He made him numerous enemies on the Turnpike Trusts, who preferred to keep the money made from tolls rather than ploughing it back into road improvements but Macadam was soon in widespread use.
John Loudon McAdam (1756 – 1836), Scottish engineer and road-builder who started a new way of raising roads called ‘macadamization’. Via Wikimedia Commons.
John Loudon McAdam (1756 – 1836), Scottish engineer and road-builder who started a new way of raising roads called ‘macadamization’. Via Wikimedia Commons.
1825 John McAdam Observation of English Roads. “In a Country like England, inhabited by an ‘ intelligent people, well educated, active, and enterprising, where every hint at improvement is eagerly caught at and prosecuted with spirit, it is only possible to account for the apathy respecting Roads, and the want of exertion in prosecuting the means given for improvement, by showing that a strong counteracting principle exists in the defects of the Road Laws, and that although much want of encouragement has arisen from the prejudices of old practitioners— the great obstacle to success remains in the zealous opposition of those who profit by mismanagement in various ways.”
McAdam Report on Bristol District Roads, March, 1815.
Expenditure and Debt.
• 1802 – 1812 only two roads maintained themselves.
• Neither able to pay £100 of the debt they owed.
• No other roads supported themselves at all.
McAdam’s List of Reasons for Bad Roads.
• Ignorance and incapacity of Surveyors
• Lack of any control over the lavish spending of Road Trusts
• Trust accounts being in an inexplicable mess
• No system or scientific mode of constructing roads
• Every part of a road being differently formed
• Each road managed by a different person
• Each area managed by a different Turnpike Trust
• Winford Road Trust produced no account books
McAdam informed the Road Trusts that smooth roads were the most useful and lasted longer because carriages do little damage to a smooth road because the horses exert themselves less and the carriages do not rock and roll.
Unfortunately for travelers in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the smoothness of a road surface depended on the preparation and distribution of the road building materials used and was therefore entirely in the hands of each individual road-maker. In 1816, Mc Adam reported to the Bristol District the difference in revenue if roads were built of good material, regularly maintained, and if the finances of Turnpike Trusts were under someone’s control.
1823 ‘Construction of a Macadam Road’ by Carl Rakeman. Via Wikimedia Commons.
1823 ‘Construction of a Macadam Road’ by Carl Rakeman. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Travel on these roads was also dangerous as highwaymen stopped and robbed anyone who came along. Male or female made no difference to highwaymen in Britain, nor to the bushrangers in Australia or the gangs on American roads, as they robbed indiscriminately and often with violence.
By the end of the 18th Century, however, travel as a pleasurable pursuit came into vogue and numerous guides were written for traveling all over the British Isles as well as on the continent.
The 1812 ‘Tour Of Dr. Syntax’ was an ironic look at the new obsession of travel and travel guides. Before he set off for the Lake District, Dr. Syntax said to his wife, “You well know what my pen can do, and I’ll employ my pencil too: I’ll ride and write, and sketch and print and thus create a real mint: I’ll prose it here, I’ll verse it there and picturesque it everywhere. I’ll do what all have done before; I think I shall and somewhat more.”
Georgian and Regency travelers were envious of aristocrats, even if they were of the nobility themselves, and loved to view all the British Great Houses.
A gentleman and his wife would even drive up to the front door of a mansion house and demand to be given a tour of the house. If they weren’t admitted, they would write in their journals of the inhospitable nature of the people on a particular estate. Thomas Pennant, William Mavor, and others, loved to write about these bad experiences and have them published. Paterson’s British Itinerary, a travel guide had 17 editions between 1785-1832 – it outlined the roads used by the stage and mail coaches, the tolls, the bridges, etc.
This new touring craze created an industry of hospitality that encompassed more than simple mail coach trips from place to place, and more than a noble family traveling from their country seat to the Metropolis of London for parliamentary sittings. Inns had to improve the quality of the linens and meals if they wanted to attract the wealthier traveling class. Before that, many travelers carried their own linen, crockery, glasses, and utensils, as they didn’t trust the hygiene or standards of country inns.
Travel became something written about by poets with many sonnets written to the beauty of places like the Lake District in England, or the pyramids in Egypt. Inns became cleaner and more respectable so they could welcome travelers of the upper classes. This also meant that women could travel more as roads were slowly improved from rutted tracks that were only suitable for horse riding to roads that family coaches could travel along, though these roads were still narrow and subject to extremes of weather, such as flooding. The race was on to travel from places like London to Edinburgh in the fastest possible time.
1817-1875 ca. Vehicles. From: Pierre Larousse’s World Dictionary Of the 19th Century.
1826 The Cyprian’s Ball At the Argyll Rooms. A Regency Gentleman’s Life. From The English Spy By Robert Cruikshank.
Cyprians: High-class prostitutes who dressed well and were interesting and entertaining. They were often under the protection of a wealthy gentleman for a time and were gifted clothing, jewelry and temporary housing. Called a multitude of names, none of which were flattering. Ladybird, lady of easy virtue, impure, fashionable impure, soiled doves, Covent Garden nun, Drury Lane vestal, left-handed wife, short-heeled wench, three-penny upright, woman of pleasure.
Covent Garden is within the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden, and the parliamentary constituencies of Cities of London and Westminster and Holborn and St Pancras. The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal’s Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the elegant buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the London Transport Museum.
In 1552, the land was seized by Henry VIII and granted to the Earls of Bedford. The 4th Earl commissioned Inigo Jones to build fine houses to attract wealthy tenants. It was the first modern square in London, with Italian arcades and a flat, open space or piazza with low railings. This layout was copied in other new estates in London.
1555 John Russell, 1st Earl Of Bedford. By a follower of John Bettes. Given land of Covent Garden by Herny VIII after the dissolution of the Monasteries.1650 The piazza of Covent Garden about 1650, as engraved by Wenceslaus Hollar. Courtesy University of Toronto.1721-1789 ca. St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, London, U.K. From between two arches of the plaza. Watercolor with grey wash. By Thomas Sandy. Via British Museum, London, UK. britishmuseum.org1800s Early Covent Garden Market, London, U.K.
In 1654, an open-air fruit and vegetable market grew on the south side of the fashionable square but over time the market and the surrounding area fell into disrepute. Taverns, theatres, coffee-houses and brothels opened up, the gentry moved away, and rakes, wits and playwrights moved in.
By the 18th century Covent Garden had become a well-known red-light district, attracting notable prostitutes such as Betty Careless and Jane Douglas. Descriptions of the prostitutes and where to find them were provided by Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies, the “essential guide and accessory for any serious gentleman of pleasure”.
Covent Garden’s market was always disorderly, the buildings in bad shape, and overcrowded with stalls, donkeys, carts, and peddlers. The small number of passageways into the piazza were small and with bottle necks of carts moving goods and market sellers fighting for right of way. The markets supplied fruits and vegetables, mostly homegrown but with imported goods increasing. Many sellers missed paying tolls for selling in the piazza or refused to pay them so the owner, the Earl of Bedford, took many people to court for not paying tolls. He realized the markets were in such poor condition that he couldn’t charge sellers until he improved them. In 1830, a new market hall was built with sections dividing the kind of goods sold which did improve things, but the markets remained chaotic. By 1890, people were again complaining about the narrow streets and congestion.
Covent Garden’s flower girls attracted attention by shouting:
“Two bundles a penny, primroses!”
“Sweet violets, penny a bunch!”
In 1851, Henry Mayhew wrote London Labour and the London Poor describing two types of flower girl. The young girls, or waifs, sold flowers to feed the family. The other type of flower girl stayed out late, doubled as prostitutes, and had bad reputations.
In 1913, Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate for £2 million to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who sold his option in 1918 to the Beecham family for £250,000.
1809 View Of the New Covent Garden Theatre, London. From Hart Street, showing the King’s entrance. Watercolor drawn by James Winston. via British Museum. 1811 Bird’s Eye View of Covent Garden Market, London, UK. Main fruit, flower and vegetable market in London in early 19th century. Began here in 1656 with few temporary stalls in back garden of home of Earl of Bedford. Charles II granted market lease and in 1678 bought by Adam Piggot and others who built permanent stalls. By 1811, smelly, dirty, and overcrowded. Engraver J. Bluck. After Augustus Charles Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson published by Ackermann. Via British Museum, London, UK. britishmuseum.org
1827 Covent Garden Market, Westminster, London, U.K. By Frederick James Havell.
In 1830, Charles Fowler’s neo-classical building was erected to cover the market and as the market grew, the prostitutes moved on. The Floral Hall and Charter Market were added and the Jubilee Market in 1904.
1835 Covent Garden Watch House, London, UK. Next to the church of St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden. Two story white building with ‘Watch House’ painted on its upper floor is shown with a lively street scene in the foreground. via Museum of London.
1852 J.M.W. Turner’s birthplace in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. Brick terraced house at night with a figure in top hat walking past and two figures with a candlelight in the doorway_Watercolour with body color over graphite. Drawn by John Wykeham Archer.
In 1913,Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford agreed to sell the Covent Garden Estate for £2 million to the MP and land speculator Harry Mallaby-Deeley, who sold his option in 1918 to the Beecham family for £250,000. By the end of the 1960s, traffic had become congested until in 1974 the market relocated to the New Covent Garden Market about three miles (5 km) south-west at Nine Elms. In 1980, the central building re-opened as a shopping centre and then became a tourist location with cafes, pubs, small shops, a craft market called the Apple Market, and another market in the Jubilee Hall.
In Jane Austen’s times craftsmen created boxes and containers of precious metals, leather, silks, and decorated them with jewels. Boxes, Cases, Etui, Necessaire and everything else that was used to carry essential items for travel, sewing, medicine, writing, and toiletries. Containers were engraved to make exquisite and expensive items as well as practical carrying cases. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases
1826 The Dinner Party. Social Life. From 1826 The English Spy By Robert Cruikshank. via Google Books (PD-180).
An older lady usually controlled the servants and the serving of meals. For more about this, take a look at Older Lady’s Day Regency Life Series Book 5 by Suzi Love. Overview of what an older lady did, wore, and how she lived in the early 19th Century. Information for history buffs and pictures for readers and writers of historical fiction. books2read.com/suziloveOLD
1562-1575 ca. Wine Cooler With a Pageant Battle with Elephants, Italian. Maiolica, or tin-glazed earthenware, from the workshop of the Fontana family. 1553-1580. Coolers were set near the table on a credenza or sideboard, visible to diners and within easy reach of servants. They are designed to be viewed from any side, but especially from above when empty. When not in use, coolers remained in place to convey the owner’s refined taste and, due to the relatively inexpensive medium, personal modesty. via Metropolitan Museum New York City, U.S.A. metmuseum.org
