Monthly Archives: March 2023

Caroline Norton, a True Case of a Competency Hearing

Caroline Norton, born Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Sheridan, on 22 March 1808, in London (died 15 June 1877, London), was an English poet and novelist whose matrimonial difficulties prompted successful efforts to secure legal protection for married women. Continue reading

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Lease and Release as a Plot Point in “Where There’s a FitzWILLiam Darcy, There’s a Way”

For Lease and Release to work, two agreements were required. First, a bargain (sale) contract was executed by the seller to convey a lease on the land… (Unlike an outright sale, short leases did not require enrollment in a public registry.) The seller then separately executed a release to grant to the buyer (who was now his tenant) the seller’s remaining interest. [This transfers] title to the buyer, since he now owned both the current and future interests in the land. [“A Bit of Deed History,” Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet]  Continue reading

Posted in book excerpts, book release, British history, estates, family, Georgian Era, historical fiction, Inheritance, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, Pride and Prejudice, Vagary, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Historical Aspects of the Word “Cuckold”

I recently received a question on a sensitive subject. Question: I have a question about cuckolding during the late Georgian era. I know for the most part that a woman who was brazen about her affairs could/would suffer public censure … Continue reading

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Happy Sixth Book Birthday to “A Dance With Mr. Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Vagary”

This novel came to me when I admit to being quite depressed. I wrote it over the 2016 Christmas holidays, and we all know how those can sometimes catch us off guard. I am customarily sad over the Thanksgiving break … Continue reading

Posted in book release, George Wickham, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, Pride and Prejudice, publishing, Regency era, Regency romance, Vagary | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Regency Etiquette for Men and Women

I have never found an etiquette book publish during the Regency. The book named Regency Etiquette is not an etiquette book as we might think of it. The closest I once came was an etiquette book published in 1827. The … Continue reading

Posted in British history, customs and tradiitons, dancing, Georgian England, Georgian Era, historical fiction, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, Living in the UK, marriage customs, peerage, Pride and Prejudice, real life tales, Regency romance, research, romance, tradtions, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Admiral Croft’s Gout in Austen’s “Persuasion” and How to Cure It…

In Chapter 18 of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Mary Musgrove writes to her sister Anne Elliot of their father’s tenants, the Crofts. “I have this moment heard that the Crofts are going to Bath almost immediately: they think the Admiral gouty.” Continue reading

Posted in Austen actors, food and drink, Georgian England, herbs, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, medicine, Persuasion | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Honorific Titles and Honourables

Ornament from the Bookman Ornaments collection from American Type Founders – Public Domain After last week’s post on a “gentleman’s honor” and my brief mention of honorific titles, I had a reader ask exactly what such titles entailed and how … Continue reading

Posted in American History, British history, customs and tradiitons, peerage, titles of aristocracy, tradtions | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Greatest Way to Live with Honor . . .

Upon occasion, it is difficult for those who read Regency romances to understand all the nuances of the word “honor” or “honour”. Obviously, the idea of “honor” is quite different in nonfiction books. One rarely finds information in a nonfiction … Continue reading

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Peerages: Those Which Can Be Inherited and Those Which Cannot

A hereditary peerage, generally passages from father to son, or to another. Those peerages which cannot be inherited are called “for life.” “By the 1950s, there was a feeling the membership of the House of Lords ought to be tackled. … Continue reading

Posted in Act of Parliament, British history, Inheritance, Living in the UK, peerage, primogenture, research | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Peerages: Those Which Can Be Inherited and Those Which Cannot

The Protocol of “Being at Home”

During the Regency and Victorian Periods, ladies of the aristocracy rigorously made a daily round of social calls, which were governed by strictly adhered to conventions. Precedence and rank defined each of these engagements. However, there was a distinct difference … Continue reading

Posted in British history, Great Britain, Jane Austen, Living in the Regency, real life tales, Regency era | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments