Tag Archives: Georgian era

Courting and Marriage Historic Bits #Weddings #history

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Ring Wedding

Wedding ring customs that originated in long ago history.

Betrothal ring  –  An old Roman custom confirming that the marriage contract would be carried out. It was the first part of a dowry given, and it meant the woman was no longer for sale as the first part of the monetary settlement had been paid.

Wedding ring – many primitive peoples who believed in magic used a rope around the waist or the hand and feet, and later  a ring, to symbolise that the bride was captured and spoken for, and also to ward off any evil spirits hovering around the bride and ensure marital bliss.

The ring hand– a symbol of the humiliating tradition of the man as the master – the right hand of the family –  and the woman being the slave .  The right hand stood for power and authority while the left hand expressed submission and serfdom.

The ring finger – Ancient Greek and Roman anatomists  believed a vein or nerve led from the heart to the third finger  –   the healing finger  –  so they romantically linked this finger to the heart. There are also some more practical reasons the third finger continues to be used. It’s the most prominent for displaying a ring, and it cannot be extended to its full length on its own and usually remains slightly bent, preventing the ring slipping off.

So next time you look at a wedding ring, you can think back to how it came to be on someone’s left third finger,

Rituals of courting and marriage from ‘How Did it Begin’ by R. Brasch first published in 1965. In the word ‘Wedlock’, the lock isn’t a lock and chain but the Anglo-Saxon for gift, as wed means a promise. Wedlock pledged the gift of the happiness of a man and a woman. Nearly all courtship rituals can be traced back to early practises designed to ensure the fertility of a union. Kissing is thought to have started because primitive man believed exhaled air had magic power. 

Signing an X for  a kiss began in the Middle Ages when people were illiterate and used an X to sign and would then kiss the parchment to affirm their sincerity, like kissing the Bible to take an oath. The word ‘Spooning’ to describe courting came for the custom of young men in Wales to carve an elaborate spoon to give as a love token to the girl of their choice in the place of an engagement ring. Leap year proposals by women to men were a rare chance for women to correct an unjust state of affairs, just as the extra day in a leap year was a topsy-turvy day, a leapt over day in other years. In a time when there was a surplus of women, it was a chance of ensuring they were not left on the shelf.  

D2D_RL_4_YLD_Young Lady's Day Regency Life Series Book 4 by Suzi Love. A light-hearted look at the longer Regency years and an easy to read view of what a young lady did, wore, and lived. https://books2read.com/suziloveYLD

In Bridgerton and Jane Austen’s times craftsmen created boxes and containers of precious metals, leather, silks. #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #travel #writing #sewing

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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

HN_11_Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, silks, and decorated them with jewels to make exquisite and expensive items as well as practical carrying cases. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases
HN_11_D2D_Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, silks, and decorated them with jewels to make exquisite and expensive items as well as practical carrying cases. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases

Do you love music, Jane Austen and the Bridgerton family? Treat yourself to a nonfiction book on music history from the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. #Bridgerton #Music #JaneAusten

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Music history from the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. Pianos, pianofortes, harps, viols, violins played during Jane Austen’s times. Musical Instruments were so important in most of the more affluent households in history that large industries grew all around the world to manufacture instruments, musical accessories, and to print sheet music. Musical instruction and encouragement could be found everywhere and both young ladies and gentlemen were encouraged to have musical appreciation. And of course, playing music was on the list of social requirements for all young ladies desirous of becoming a wife and homemaker.

London became Europe’s leading centre for the manufacture of scientific instruments and this led to the manufacture of more musical instruments as well as factories developed and rail transport helped the faster distribution of goods to regional areas. One of the first places that music was used to tell stories and to share enjoyment was in Christmas music. Because music was such an integral part of households, music was always a feature in Magazines. There were advertisements everywhere for musical instruments for sale, for sheet music, and for music lessons.  And of course, of most interest to the ladies were the hundreds of fashion plates included in magazines where people were depicted with their musical instruments.

books2read.com/suziloveMusicGeneral

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HN_6-7-8 Music General History Notes
HN_7 D2D Retailer Buy Link Music Piano History Notes books2read.com/suziloveMusicPiano
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18th-19th Century Sedan Chair Travel In Jane Austen’s Times. #JaneAusten #BritishHistory #Travel #GeorgianEra

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A sedan chair is a portable enclosed chair for a single passenger. It was generally carried by two “chairmen” holding poles attached to either side of the chair. Sedan chairs were fashionable in England and Europe during the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries and were an important part of the social life of the times. They were very useful for negotiating crowded, unsafe, narrow, winding and often filthy streets and were particularly used by “invalids, ladies and party goers”. Sedan chairs had the advantage of being able to be carried up and down stairs and could deliver the passenger from inside their own home to inside their destination without having to step outside.

1784 Sedan Chair. ‘The return from a masquerade. A morning scene.’ A young lady dressed as shepherdess with staff slumps in a sedan chair. Asleep or drunk her head and shoulders hang outside window. Two porters smile and dwarf chimney sweep carries a mask.’ By Robert Dighton and Cari.

1784 Sedan Chair. ‘The return from a masquerade. A morning scene.' A young lady dressed as shepherdess with staff slumps in a sedan chair. Asleep or drunk her head and shoulders hang outside window. Two porters smile and dwarf chimney sweep carries a mask.’ By Robert Dighton and Cari.
1784 Sedan Chair. ‘The return from a masquerade. A morning scene.’ A young lady dressed as shepherdess with staff slumps in a sedan chair. Asleep or drunk her head and shoulders hang outside window. Two porters smile and dwarf chimney sweep carries a mask.’ By Robert Dighton and Cari.

The 19th century English author, Elizabeth Gaskell, described the use and function of the sedan perfectly in her novel “Wives and Daughters” when she reminisced how the Browning sisters chose to be transported to a ball by sedan chair, which ‘came into the parlor, and got full of the warm air, and nipped you up, and carried you tight and cosy into another warm room, where you could walk out without having to show your legs by going up steps, or down steps.’

The Bath Chair was invented in Bath, England, in the mid 18th Century to transport the wealthy and the sick around the city.  It could be steered by the passenger and rivaled and then outdid the Sedan Chair as only one chairman was needed to operate it. The last Bath Chairman retired in 1949. 

Typical 1700s, or Eighteenth Century Sedan Chair. Portable enclosed chair for single passenger usually carried by two chairmen holding poles attached to either side of chair. Fashionable during 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries when needed to negotiate crowded, unsafe, narrow, and dirty streets. Used by invalids, ladies and party goers. The sedan chair comprises a small kiosk with a curved timber roof which is covered with leather and studded with brass nails. The front and side panels are painted in green with floral decorations of cherubs and flowers. The back panel is of plain timber. Access to the chair was via a hinged door at the front. Inside, the chair is upholstered in silk and features padded upholstered arm rests. The windows have raw silk curtains which are gathered with tassels. The present brackets and poles are reproductions made in 1986 prior to display in the Transport exhibition. The total length of the new poles are 80 inches. The sedan chair door lock features the initials “V.F.” and a set of crossed keys with the wording “PARIS” and the number “34”. Via Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia.

Typical 1700s, or Eighteenth Century Sedan Chair. Portable enclosed chair for single passenger usually carried by two chairmen holding poles attached to either side of chair. Fashionable during 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries when needed to negotiate crowded, unsafe, narrow, and dirty streets. Used by invalids, ladies and party goers. The sedan chair comprises a small kiosk with a curved timber roof which is covered with leather and studded with brass nails. The front and side panels are painted in green with floral decorations of cherubs and flowers. The back panel is of plain timber. Access to the chair was via a hinged door at the front. Inside, the chair is upholstered in silk and features padded upholstered arm rests. The windows have raw silk curtains which are gathered with tassels. The present brackets and poles are reproductions made in 1986 prior to display in the Transport exhibition. The total length of the new poles are 80 inches. The sedan chair door lock features the initials "V.F." and a set of crossed keys with the wording "PARIS" and the number "34". Via Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia.

Typical 1700s, or Eighteenth Century Sedan Chair. Portable enclosed chair for single passenger usually carried by two chairmen holding poles attached to either side of chair. Fashionable during 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries when needed to negotiate crowded, unsafe, narrow, and dirty streets. Used by invalids, ladies and party goers. The sedan chair comprises a small kiosk with a curved timber roof which is covered with leather and studded with brass nails. The front and side panels are painted in green with floral decorations of cherubs and flowers. The back panel is of plain timber. Access to the chair was via a hinged door at the front. Inside, the chair is upholstered in silk and features padded upholstered arm rests. The windows have raw silk curtains which are gathered with tassels. The present brackets and poles are reproductions made in 1986 prior to display in the Transport exhibition. The total length of the new poles are 80 inches. The sedan chair door lock features the initials “V.F.” and a set of crossed keys with the wording “PARIS” and the number “34”. Via Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. 

The longest journey recorded in a sedan chair was made by Princess Amelia, youngest daughter of King George III, who in 1728 was carried by 8 chairmen working in reliefs from London to Bath, a distance of 172 kms (107 miles). This sedan chair door lock features the initials “V.F.” and a set of crossed keys with the wording “PARIS” and the number “34”.

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1780 ca. English Guitar, Lisbon Made by Jaco Vieira da Silva. #Music #Guitar #Portugal #GeorgianEra

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1780 ca. English Guitar, Lisbon Made by Jaco Vieira da Silva. Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling or bordering, brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl. The English guitar was a fashionable instrument from about 1750, considered easy to play and tuned in C major, although the player would use a capo, much like a modern folk-guitarist, in order to change the key. The tuning pegs were often small metallic pins that could be turned with a watch-key, to keep the strings in tune longer. This instrument was made in Portugal, a country with strong trading links with England, and its peg box is decorated with a paper ‘cameo’ in imitation of a jasper ware medallion, a motif made popular by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) from about 1770. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.  History Notes Book 6 Music General https://www.suzilove.com/wp-admin/books2read.com/suziloveMusicGeneral \

1780 ca. English Guitar, Lisbon, Portugal. Made by Jaco Vieira da Silva Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling (bordering); brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl. The English guitar was a fashionable instrument from about 1750, considered easy to play and tuned in C major, although the player would use a capo, much like a modern folk-guitarist, in order to change the key. The tuning pegs were often small metallic pins that could be turned with a watch-key, to keep the strings in tune longer. This instrument was made in Portugal, a country with strong trading links with England, and its peg box is decorated with a paper ‘cameo’ in imitation of a jasper ware medallion, a motif made popular by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) from about 1770. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
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1780 ca. English Guitar, Lisbon, Portugal. Made by Jaco Vieira da Silva Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling (bordering); brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl. The English guitar was a fashionable instrument from about 1750, considered easy to play and tuned in C major, although the player would use a capo, much like a modern folk-guitarist, in order to change the key. The tuning pegs were often small metallic pins that could be turned with a watch-key, to keep the strings in tune longer. This instrument was made in Portugal, a country with strong trading links with England, and its peg box is decorated with a paper ‘cameo’ in imitation of a jasper ware medallion, a motif made popular by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) from about 1770. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
1780 ca. English Guitar, Lisbon, Portugal. Made by Jaco Vieira da Silva Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling (bordering); brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl. The English guitar was a fashionable instrument from about 1750, considered easy to play and tuned in C major, although the player would use a capo, much like a modern folk-guitarist, in order to change the key. The tuning pegs were often small metallic pins that could be turned with a watch-key, to keep the strings in tune longer. This instrument was made in Portugal, a country with strong trading links with England, and its peg box is decorated with a paper ‘cameo’ in imitation of a jasper ware medallion, a motif made popular by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) from about 1770. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
1780 ca. English Guitar, Lisbon, Portugal. Made by Jaco Vieira da Silva Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling (bordering); brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl. The English guitar was a fashionable instrument from about 1750, considered easy to play and tuned in C major, although the player would use a capo, much like a modern folk-guitarist, in order to change the key. The tuning pegs were often small metallic pins that could be turned with a watch-key, to keep the strings in tune longer. This instrument was made in Portugal, a country with strong trading links with England, and its peg box is decorated with a paper ‘cameo’ in imitation of a jasper ware medallion, a motif made popular by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) from about 1770. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
1780 ca. English Guitar, Lisbon, Portugal. Made by Jaco Vieira da Silva Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling (bordering); brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl. The English guitar was a fashionable instrument from about 1750, considered easy to play and tuned in C major, although the player would use a capo, much like a modern folk-guitarist, in order to change the key. The tuning pegs were often small metallic pins that could be turned with a watch-key, to keep the strings in tune longer. This instrument was made in Portugal, a country with strong trading links with England, and its peg box is decorated with a paper ‘cameo’ in imitation of a jasper ware medallion, a motif made popular by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) from about 1770. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
1780 ca. English Guitar, Lisbon, Portugal. Made by Jaco Vieira da Silva Pine back, sides and soundboards, with pine and wood purfling (bordering); brass openwork rose, framed with mother-of-pearl. The English guitar was a fashionable instrument from about 1750, considered easy to play and tuned in C major, although the player would use a capo, much like a modern folk-guitarist, in order to change the key. The tuning pegs were often small metallic pins that could be turned with a watch-key, to keep the strings in tune longer. This instrument was made in Portugal, a country with strong trading links with England, and its peg box is decorated with a paper ‘cameo’ in imitation of a jasper ware medallion, a motif made popular by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) from about 1770. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, U.K.
HN_6_D2D_Music General_ books2read.com/suziloveMusicGeneral

18th Century Early.  Silk, Leather, and Linen Mules (shoes), European, and embroidered in Florentine Style. #shoes #georgianfashion #europe

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18th  Century  Early.  Silk, Leather, and Linen Mules, European. Embroidered in the Florentine Style, a type of flame stitch canvas work with varied stitch lengths often in subdued tones. via  Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A.

shoes_18th Century Early. Silk, Leather, and Linen Mules, European. Embroidered in the Florentine Style, a type of flame stitch canvas work with varied stitch lengths often in subdued tones. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A.
shoes_18th Century Early. Silk, Leather, and Linen Mules, European. Embroidered in the Florentine Style, a type of flame stitch canvas work with varied stitch lengths often in subdued tones. via Metropolitan Museum, NYC, U.S.A.
18th Century Early.  Silk, Leather, and Linen Mules (shoes), European, and embroidered in Florentine Style. #shoes #georgianfashion #europe https://books2read.com/suziloveFashWomen1700s
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HN_1 Fashion Women Late 1700s History Notes Book 1 by Suzi Love. What was fashionable for women in the late 1700s? Extravagant colors and fabrics and outrageous styles were all seen in these flamboyant fashions. books2read.com/suziloveFashWomen1700s

Jane Austen and the Bridgerton family and contemporaries used boxes of metal, leather, or silks, decorated with jewels and engraving. #Bridgerton #Travel #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #Antiques

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Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, and silks and decorated them with jewels and engraving. Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have used writing boxes, linen boxes when travelling, boxes to hold their food and drink supplies while traveling by carriage, and decorative boxes to keep letters, ribbons, gloves, hairpins etc. Boxes, Cases, and Necessaires By Suzi Love, History Notes Book 11. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases.

HN_11_Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, silks, and decorated them with jewels to make exquisite and expensive items as well as practical carrying cases. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases
HN_11_Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, silks, and decorated them with jewels to make exquisite and expensive items as well as practical carrying cases. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases
Jane Austen and the Bridgerton family used boxes of metal, leather, or silks, decorated with jewels and engraving. #Bridgerton #Travel #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #Antiques books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases
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Want to know about music in the households of Jane Austen and the Bridgertons? Music history from the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. #Music #Bridgerton #RegencyEra #JaneAusten #GeorgianEra

Suzi Love Posted on by

Music history from the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries. Pianos, pianofortes, harps, viols, violins played during Jane Austen’s times. Musical Instruments were so important in most of the more affluent households in history that large industries grew all around the world to manufacture instruments, musical accessories, and to print sheet music. Musical instruction and encouragement could be found everywhere and both young ladies and gentlemen were encouraged to have musical appreciation. And of course, playing music was on the list of social requirements for all young ladies desirous of becoming a wife and homemaker.

London became Europe’s leading centre for the manufacture of scientific instruments and this led to the manufacture of more musical instruments as well as factories developed and rail transport helped the faster distribution of goods to regional areas. One of the first places that music was used to tell stories and to share enjoyment was in Christmas music. Because music was such an integral part of households, music was always a feature in Magazines. There were advertisements everywhere for musical instruments for sale, for sheet music, and for music lessons.  And of course, of most interest to the ladies were the hundreds of fashion plates included in magazines where people were depicted with their musical instruments.

books2read.com/suziloveMusicGeneral

books2read.com/suziloveMusicPiano

books2read.com/suziloveMusicViolins

HN_6-7-8 Music General History Notes
HN_6-7-8 Music General History NotesHN_6 Music General History Notes,
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Love music? Love Jane Austen and the Bridgerton family? Treat yourself to a nonfiction book on music history. #Bridgerton #Music #History #JaneAusten https://books2read.com/suziloveMusicGeneral
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Jane Austen, the Bridgerton family, and contemporaries used jeweled boxes of metal, leather, or silks. #Bridgerton #Travel #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #Antiques

Suzi Love Posted on by

Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, and silks and decorated them with jewels and engraving. Jane Austen and her contemporaries would have used writing boxes, linen boxes when travelling, boxes to hold their food and drink supplies while traveling by carriage, and decorative boxes to keep letters, ribbons, gloves, hairpins etc. Boxes, Cases, and Necessaires By Suzi Love, History Notes Book 11. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases.

HN_11_Craftsmen created containers of precious metals, leather, silks, and decorated them with jewels to make exquisite and expensive items as well as practical carrying cases. books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases



Jane Austen, the Bridgerton family, and contemporaries used jeweled boxes of metal, leather, or silks. #Bridgerton #Travel #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #Antiques books2read.com/suziloveBoxesCases
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What did travelers take with them to make long journeys easier in Bridgerton and Jane Austen times? #Bridgerton #JaneAusten #RegencyEra #HistoricTravel

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How did people travel in Jane Austen and Bridgerton years? What did they take with them to make their long journeys easier?  Travel by road, ship, canal, or railway all took a long time and had dangers so people learned to prepare. And then, in the nineteenth century, road improvements, inventions, and scientific developments made travel more pleasurable. Travel and Luggage By Suzi Love History Notes Book 10 books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel

Horse Power To Steam. Various alternatives to horse power were tested in London’s streets during the 19th century. Steam powered road engines and trams proved too heavy and damaged the roads. Stationary steam engines were used to haul trams attached to a cable but these were only really effective on hills that we too steep for horses. There were also experiments with trams driven gas engines and battery electric power. but was successfully developed. Petrol engines were still primitive and unreliable in the 1890s. In 1900 the reliable horse still dominated the streets of London but new technology was to revolutionize road transport.

HN_10_Travel and Luggage By Suzi Love History Notes Book 10. How did people travel in Jane Austen's times. In past centuries? What did they take with them to make their long journeys easier? Travel by road, ship, canal, or railway all took a long time and had dangers so people learned to prepare. And then, in the nineteenth century, road improvements, inventions, and scientific developments made travel more pleasurable. books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel
Travel and Luggage By Suzi Love History Notes Book 10. How did people travel in Jane Austen’s times. In past centuries? What did they take with them to make their long journeys easier? Travel by road, ship, canal, or railway all took a long time and had dangers so people learned to prepare. And then, in the nineteenth century, road improvements, inventions, and scientific developments made travel more pleasurable. books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel
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HN_10_D2D_RetailerBuyLink_Travel and Luggage By Suzi Love History Notes Book 10 #History #travel How did people travel in past centuries? What did they take with them to make their long journeys easier? books2read.com/SuziLoveTravel