Albuerra Almack's Assembly Rooms Archbishop of Canterbury
Austen, Jane (1775-1817) Blake, William (1757-1827) Brummel, George Bryan "Beau"
(1778-1840) Burrell, Mrs. Drummond. Byron (of Rochdale), George (Gordon)
Byron, 6th Baron (1788 - 1824) Canning, George (1770-1827) Castlereagh. See Stewart,
Robert
Corinthian Drummond-Burrell, Mrs..
See Burrell.
Fancy, The. Boxing. See Jackson.
George IV (George Augustus Frederick
Guelph (1762-1830)
A small village in Spain
where the British and their allies defeated the French in an 1811 battle
of the Pennisular War.
Named for their founder, William Almack (d. 1781). In the late 18th
century and the first half of the 19th century, this was the most
prestigious and exclusive spots for social functions in London. During
the Season, weekly balls were held here, with the tickets controlled by an
oligarchy of powerful lady patronesses like Lady
Jersey, Emily, Countess Castlereagh. Princess Lieven. Located on King
Street, St. James's. For an entertaining set of quotes and pictures
through the years, see Laura Wallace's Research Timeline of
Almack's
The Church of England has two provinces, each headed by an
archbishop,
York in the north and Canterbury in the south. Since the sixth century
A.D., the Archbishop of Canterbury has been recognized as the leader of
the English church.
A
rector's daughter who became a great novelist. The four novels published
during her lifetime were published anonymously; her two posthumous novels
appeared with her name. Her social comedies are one ultimate source of
Regency romances as a distinctive genre, especially through her influence
on Georgette Heyer.
English
poet and engraver. Early Romantic.
The most prominent dandy of his day, the acknowledged arbiter of taste.
For some time, he was a close friend of the Prince Regent. He eventually
gambled away his fortune, fled to France, and died in an insane asylum.
A
patroness
of Almack's at the height of the Regency period.
Lord Byron was a famous poet and a bit of a rake. He made his name with
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812). Poems like that and The
Corsair, combined with Byron's own irregular life, created a cult of
the "Byronic hero'. He married Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke
(1792--1860) in 1815, a very respectable blue-stocking, but he was
repeatedly unfaithful, especially with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh.
Ostracized for such behavior, he left for Europe, where he met his fellow
poet Shelley. Don Juan (1819--24) is a comic epic that draws on
his life and loves in this period. Always anti-establishment, he helped
the Italian revolutionaries, and died while fighting with the Greek
revolutionaries.
An
English politician who because leader of the House of Commons and Foreign
Secretary in 1822 after the suicice of Castlereagh, which whom he had earlier fought a
famous duel.
A
well-bred young sportsman, probably a frequenter of Jackson's boxing saloon.
Gave his name to the Regency period
while serving as Prince Regent during the madness of his father, George
III, 1811-1820; his own reign was from 1820 to 1830 and is sometimes
included in the period. As Prince of Wales, and particularly as Regent, he
was known as a great patron of the arts. Unlike his father, he was a
licentious womanizer, and his marriage to Princess Caroline of Brunswick
was a disaster. Their sole child, Charlotte, predeceased her father. Jane Austen dedicated Emma (1816) to him.
A famous dandy of the Regency period, a nouveaux-riche more famous for
conspicuous consumption than for good taste. Married an opera dancer but
later divorced. Spent his closing years in exile in France because of
gambling debts. AKA "Golden Ball."
Jackson, John (1769-1845)
A great boxer as "Gentleman Jackson," English heavyweight champion
1795-1803. Having retired undefeated, he
opened a boxing saloon at 13 New Bond
Street, where he taught the noble science (often
called "the Fancy"). Youmng bloods and prominent figures like Lord
Byron flocked to spar with the master.
Jersey, Sarah Sophia Child-Villiers, Countess
of (1785-1819)
Not to be confused with Frances, the Lady Jersey who was an early mistress
of George IV, Sarah was a rich banker's daughter who survived a scandalous
elopement to become one of the leaders of Regency society and an important
patroness at Almack's. AKA Sally, Queen Sarah, and
"Silence" (because she talked too much).
Kean, Edmund (c. 1789-1833) Kemble, John Philip (1757-1823) Lieven, Dorothea, Princess (also
Countess) (1785-1857) Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of
(1770-1828) Perceval, Spencer
(1762-1812) Stewart, Robert, Viscount
Castlereagh (1769-1822) Tattersall's Trevithick, Richard
(1771-1833)
Wellesley, Richard Colley, Marquis of Wellesley (1760-1842)
One of the most prominent actors of the Regency period, especially admired
for his work in Shakespeare. He played Hamlet in the provinces at age 14
but did not reach London till he played
Drury Lane in 1814, making an instant sensation despite his small stature.
The most famous male member of a family of actors, brother of the equallyt
renowned Sarah Siddons. He was actor-manager at Drury Lane from 1788 to
1800 and at Convent Garden from 1803 to 1817, when he retired, leaving the
stage to Kean.
Madame de Lieven enters Regency fiction as a patron of Almack's, but she was much more. A Russian diplomat,
she was also mistress of the great Austrian statesman Metternich.
Became prime minister in 1812, after having served as foreign secretary,
home secretary, and secretary for war and the colonies. Educated at
Oxford. Resigned as prime minister is 1827 after a stroke.
British statesman and Tory prime minister (1809--12), born
in London and educated at Cambridge. Practiced law, became an MP, and
served as soliciter general, attorney general, and Chancellor of the
Exchequer, before becoming Prime Minister, a term which ended when he was
shot in the lobby of the House of Commons.
Eventually succeeded his father
as
2nd
Marquess of Londonderry. Started in the Irish parliament but made his
name in Great Britain. About to be outsted from the War Office partly by
Canning's machinations, he fought a famous duel,
slightly wounding Canning. In 1812 he became foreign secretary and
leader
of the House of Commons. His wife (born Emily Hobart, married 1804) was a
patroness of Almack's.
A popular horse market in London, founded by Richard Tattersall (died
1795). The name survives as the name for a pattern of dark lines forming
squares against a (usually) light background, the pattern used on horses
there.
Engineer and inventor, born in Illogan, Cornwall, SW England, UK. He
became a mining
engineer at Penzance, and between 1796 and 1801 invented a steam
carriage which ran between
Camborne and Tuckingmill, and which in 1803 was run from Leather Lane to
Paddington by
Oxford St. He later went to Peru and Costa Rica (1816--27), where his
engines were introduced
into the silver mines.
A British statesman. Served as foreign secretary under Perceval from 1809
to 1812.