A Visit to Regency London

Victoria here, inviting you to come with me to Regency London! Do not forget to don your special eyeglasses, the ones that will eliminate all evidence of city development after 1820 or so, including Victorian remodeling, post-Blitz reconstruction, contemporary skyscrapers, autos and buses, and modern clothing.

Substitute for horns, diesel engines and ever-present sirens the clip clop of hooves, the squeaking of cart-wheels and the cries of peddlers and hawkers of milk, eel pies, fresh buns: “Who will buy my ….” 

We shall start at the old address, No. 1 London (above), the site of Apsley House, home of the Duke of Wellington. The original Adam house was re-faced in Bath stone; the Duke entertained here, particularly at the Battle of Waterloo annual anniversary banquet, beginning in the appropriately named Waterloo Gallery.

I will not go into raptures over Apsley and its treasures — we have done that before on this blog. In fact, several times, and you’ll find the website here. But keep in mind that neither the exterior nor the interior are original. While the exterior was remodeled before 1820, the interiors reflect more of the tastes from the Victorian era.

Here is the entrance, as it was refaced in Bath Stone after the Duke purchased Apsley House from his brother Richard, Marquess of Wellesley, in 1817. Originally the house was smaller and finished in red brick.

The map below shows the route we will take on this visit to Regency London.  We start at Apsley House, approximately at A on the map, which is the tube stop just outside of Apsley House. The layout of the streets in 2011 is quite different from 1811. Today the broad boulevard of Park Lane (in green) connects with Piccadilly and other streets in a dizzying traffic circle. Apsley House is entirely cut off from the other streets, and the buildings that stood beside it were long ago demolished. The rather dark picture above shows how Apsley House stands isolated behind all the traffic.

Today it sits in the eastern most part of Hyde Park.  From Apsley, we will walk in a generally easterly direction toward B on the map, which is Piccadilly Circus, also non-existent in 1811.  Along Piccadilly, we will see a few remnants of the Regency Era and just before we get lost in Piccadilly Circus, we will retrace our steps to the top of St. James Street (on the map a tiny bit to the right of the Green Park tube sign) and walk down (southerly) St. James Street until it ends at — what else? — St. James Palace, beyond Pall Mall.

On the south,  or right side of Piccadilly (as you head toward today’s Piccadilly Circus) is Green Park, open space which resembles the way it looked in 1811. On the north, or left hand side of Piccadilly are solid banks of buildings most dating from later than the early 19th century, with a few exceptions.  Gone is Devonshire House which once welcomed London’s aristocracy and royalty. It was demolished in 1924. Below is a picture from The Queen in 1896.
Above is a photo from Wikipedia taken in 2010, more recent than any of mine, of the gates of Devonshire House which now serve as an entrance to Green Park, almost across Piccadilly from their original location.

Above is a building variously known as Cambridge House and the former In and Out Club. This imposing house was built in the mid 18th c. for the 2nd Earl of Egremont. It was later owned by the 1st Marquess of  Cholmondeley and then by Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge.  From 1855 to 1865, it was known as Palmerston House, where Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister, and his wife, Emily, Lady Palmerston (nee Lamb, formerly Countess Cowper) entertained and conducted much of the business of the government.  In the 20th century, it became the Naval and Military Club, often called the In and Out Club, after the large signs on the pillars in front of the courtyard. In 1996, the Naval and Military Club moved to different premises in St. James Square.  The building then stood empty and sadly neglected until last year, when construction began on what will be yet another hotel. In fact, the whole of the area around Apsley House will soon be comprised of hotels before too much longer.  

Moving eastward, and also on the north side of the street, we arrive at Burlington House, now the home of the Royal Academy of Art.  There are remnants of the Regency era building here, but the exterior and much of the interior are greatly altered, not to mention the artwork in the courtyard.

The house and its grounds were remodeled by the same Lord Burlington that designed and built Chiswick House in grand Palladian Style.  Like many of the mansions on Piccadilly and in Mayfair, it used to have gardens, extensive courtyards, stable blocks, all the accouterments of country mansions — which they once were. As the West End became more and more desirable, these gardens and most of the courtyards were built over.

 

Above are the John Madejski Fine Rooms in the Royal Academy, which have been restored close to their appearance in the 18th century.  These rooms are often open without charge to visitors and display portraits of RA members such as Reynolds and Gainsborough. The other galleries have been greatly altered from the original and house changing exhibitions.

Next door, we find Albany where so many famous Regency gentlemen (not to mention numerous fictional heroes) lived. The house was once the home of Lord and Lady Melbourne, then the Duke of York, before it was converted to apartments.  Byron had rooms here, as did (much later) Georgette Heyer.  Below, two views of Albany, from the front and the side.  Across Piccadilly is Hatchard’s Book Shop.

 

Hatchards Book Store, 187 Piccadilly, Est. 1797

 

A bit farther east on Piccadilly (assuming you can tear yourself away from all the tempting titles at Hatchards) is St. James Church, 197 Piccadilly, built in 1684 and designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Its interior has many carvings by Grinling Gibbons, and despite some renovations in the 19th and 20th centuries, it is much as it appeared during the Regency.

Now retrace your steps past Hatchards and walk to Fortnum and Mason, on the corner of Piccadilly and Duke Street.  Although it began in 1707 in St. James Market, the large building  is modern. Nevertheless, you may want to sample one of the restaurants or at least take home a catalogue of their mail-order wares.  Visit the website here.

Fortnum and Mason, 181 Piccadilly, est. 1707

Proceed westerly to the corner of St. James Street and turn left, or south.  At the bottom, you will see St. James Palace, as I photographed it from a distance.

Charming print of cherry seller outside St. James Palace, c. 1811
Today’s view of St. James


From Ackermann’s Microcosm of London, the scene at a drawing room in St. James Palace in 1808.  St. James Palace was the official residence of the King. Even today, foreign ambassadors serve at the Court of St. James, though they are received by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

On your walk from Piccadilly to St. James Palace, most of the buildings you pass were constructed later than the Regency, but not all, for here are several of the famous men’s clubs of St. James and several shops with roots in the era.

Whites Club
Brooks Club

 

Boodles Club
Berry Bros. and Rudd, Wine Merchants, est. 1698

 

Lock and Co. Hatters, est.1676

 

 

A walk around Regency London with tour guide Kristine Hughes is included on the itinerary for Number One London’s Town & Country House tour in May 2024. Complete itinerary and details can be found here.

 

Regency Reflections: Sir John Soane’s Museum

Sir John Soane by Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Victoria here.  People often ask me what I recommend for their visits to London.  I always answer, if they are in search of the English Regency, Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Sir John Soane (1753-1837) was a brilliant architect and teacher. The Museum is in his house and classrooms, so you will get a taste of a wealthy (but not aristocratic) residence, in addition to all of Sir John’s collections, used for the instruction of his architecture students.
The bust of Sir John Soane in the center of the picture above was sculpted by Sir Francis Chantrey (1781-1841). The Museum is comprised of a rabbit warren of rooms, each one chock-a-block full of architectural specimens, art and Soane’s various and varied collections.

Sir John began his career working for architects George Dance and, later, Henry Holland.  He traveled to Italy to study and came back to London to begin his own practice, in which he prospered, often doing projects to expand, remodel and modernize the country houses of the wealthy. An example, below, is Moggerhanger House in Bedfordshire, finished in 1812 and updated as a conference center in recent years. More information is here.

Sir John Soane’s Museum shows several rooms in which his family lived, and I have always found the Drawing Room amusing.  It’s very brilliant shade of yellow that  was very popular during the Regency, as evidenced in a number of country houses (such as Goodwood House).

Whether you visit on a sunny or a rainy, gray day, this room will be cheerfully bright. The dining room is an equally vivid crimson, also a popular color for walls in the Regency.

Sir John Soane’s Museum also has gallery space for small, very selective exhibitions related to Soane’s era and interests. I recommend browsing the shop on the website for Museum publications. One of my favorites is The Soanes At Home: Domestic Life at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, from 1997.  It’s full of pictures, copies of receipts and invoices and all sorts of fascinating information about life and household management in the early 19th century.

Above, Soane’s drawing of the Bank of England as he rebuilt it in 1814;  since then, it has been remodeled and enlarged so that little of his work is evident today, except in portions of the interior.  The Museum houses a collection of more than 30,000 architectural drawings by England’s finest architects, as well as Soane’s sketchbooks, business records and other valuable research and archival material.
Above is a drawing by J. M. Gandy of Tivoli Corner, part of Soane’s Bank of England, now remodeled.

Above, a statue of Sir John Soane in the Bank of England, where he is honored even though they changed his designs beyond recognition. Soane left the buildings of his Museum and his home to the nation as a resource for training future architects.
We’ll be visiting the Museum in September, as part of the itinerary of Number One London’s Town and Country House Tour – you’ll find further tour details and the full itinerary here.

Early Rumblings of a Regency From the Pens of Creevey, General and Captain Moore



Thomas Creevey

 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie.

22nd Aug., 1803.

“… I saw a great deal of Sheridan. We dined together several times, got a little bosky, and he took great pains to convince me he was sincere and confidential with me. … A plan of his relates to Ireland, and it is the substitution of a Council for the present Viceroy, the head of the Council to be the Prince of Wales, his assistants to be Lord Moira, Lord Hutchinson and Sheridan himself. The Prince is quite heated upon the subject; nothing else is discussed by them. Lord Hutchinson is as deep in the design as any of them, but God knows it is about as probable as the embassy of old Charley to Russia I believe Sherry is very much in the confidence of the Ministers. They have convinced him of the difficulty of pressing the King for any attentions to the Prince of Wales; he is quite set against him, and holds entirely to the Duke of York, who, on the other hand, is most odious to the Ministry. . . . Have you begun your visits to Knowsley yet? . . . If you see Mrs. Hornby, cultivate her. She is an excellent creature; her husband, the rector, is the most tiresome, prosy son of a —— I ever met with, but is worthy. . . .”



General Sir John Moore


General Sir John Moore to Mr. Creevey.

Sandgate, 15th Sept., 1803.

“. . . The newspapers have disposed of me and my troops at Lisbon and Cherbourgh, but we believe that we have not moved from this place. I begun to despair of seeing you here, and am quite happy to find that, at last, I am to have that pleasure. If the Miss Ords do not think they can trust to the Camp for beaux, or if they have any in attendance whose curiosity to see soldiers they may chuse to indulge, assure them that whoever accompanies them shall be cordially received by everybody here. . . .”

 

Capt. Graham Moore

Capt. Graham Moore, R.N., to Mr. Creevey.

“Plymouth, August 7th, 1803. “… I never had to do with a new ship’s company before made up of Falstaffs men—’decayed tapsters,’ etc., so I do not bear that very well and I get no seamen but those who enter here at Plymouth, which are very few indeed. The Admiralty will not let me have any who enter for the ship at any of the other ports, which cuts up my hopes of a tolerable ship’s company. … I hear sometimes from my brother Jack. He says they have had a review of his whole Corps before the Duke of York. . . . My mother was more delighted with the scene than any boy or girl of fifteen. N.B.—she is near 70. . . . She is an excellent mother of a soldier. I am not afraid of showing her to Mrs. Creevey, altho’ she is of a very different cast from what she has generally lived with. If Mrs. Creevey does not like her, I shall never feel how the devil she came to like me.

“Jack says his Corps are not at all what he would have them, yet that they will beat any of the French whom he leads them up to. I am convinced the French can make no progress in England, and do not believe now that they will attempt it; but how is all this to end? However that may be, as I am in for it, I wish to God I was tolerably ready, and scouring the seas. What the devil can Fox mean by his palaver about a military command for the Prince of Wales? That may come well enough from Mrs. Barham perhaps.”

Capt. Graham Moore, R.N., to Mr. Creevey.

Plymouth Dock, Feby. 1st, 1804.

“… I suppose you mean to join the set that prepare to worry the poor Doctor (Addington) when Parliament meets. What can he do? He seems, or we seem, to do as well as Bonoparte—fretting and fuming and playing off his tricks from Calais to Boulogne and back again. The fellow has done too much for a mere hum; he certainly will try something, and I hope to be in at the death of some of his expeditions. If they do not take my men, we shall soon be ready for sea again. New copper, my boy! we shall sail like the wind. . . .”

Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie.

“2nd May, 1804.

“. . . It is felt by the Pittites that the Prince and a Regency must be resorted to, and as the Prince evinced on every occasion the strongest decision in favor of Fox, the Pittites are preparing for a reciprocity of good offices. God send we may have a Regency, and then the cards are in our hands. I wish you had seen the party of which I formed one in the Park just now. Lord Buckingham, his son Temple, Ld. Derby, Charles Grey, Ld. Fitzwilliam, Canning, Ld. Morpeth  and Ld. Stafford. . . . The four physicians were at Buckingham House this morning: I feel certain he (the King) is devilish bad.”

But, as we know, the Regency did not begin for another seven years.  We will post a number of excerpts from the many diarists and prolific letter writers of the Regency era in future blogs.  Watch for more from Mr. Creevey, his friends, his enemies and those who never had the privilege to be either.

ON THE SHELF: IN PRAISE OF OLD BOOKS

by Louisa Cornell – originally published June 26, 2017

Regular visitors to Number One London have read of my obsession with research books written on the Regency era. I collect them with a fervor just short of that of the Regency’s most avaricious bibliomaniac. As a subdivision of my obsession, I want to tell you a bit about my relationship with research books written during the Regency era. What the latest generation of twenty-somethings would call ancient books.

I currently own slightly over 500 research books about the Regency era. They are catalogued online at LibraryThing  which is one of the earliest online cataloguing services. I understand there are far more platforms now, but this one has served me well and the community is without peer when it comes to discussing and admiring the libraries of its members. My library is listed as public, which means it can be viewed by any member of LibraryThing. Here’s the link to my Regency Research Book collection, which comprises 1/6th of the books I have catalogued so far. I won’t tell you how many of my books are not catalogued. The number frightens even me.

As dearly as I love my Regency research books, those books written and published during or just after the Regency era are my most prized. Why? It isn’t the monetary value nor the cache of having antique books to display on my shelves. I live in the middle of nowhere and my library is hardly ever seen by anyone else. My old books have incalculable value to me for two reasons.

Their proximity to the era about which or during which they are written puts my research as close to the source as I can reach. Ask anyone who is a fanatic about a certain period and place in history and they will tell you, whether it be visiting an exhibit of clothing sewn and worn during said era or reading a copy of a book written and printed during that era, extant resources are the best. To be able to actually look at an item, be it a Manton pistol or a single-lens quizzing glass or a lady’s corset, transports a person into a place as near to the era as they will ever be absent a teleporting police box, a ring of Scottish stones, or an acquaintance with a couple of gentlemen named Bill and Ted. Books written about an era during that era or shortly afterwards offer the very best view into not only the subject matter, but also into the mind of the writer. An invaluable view to have.

For instance,

1829 Edition Paterson’s Roads
Title Page Paterson’s Roads 1829 Edition

 

 

Foldout map from Paterson’s Roads 1829 Edition

Paterson’s Roads was one of the essential travel atlases of the Regency era. Those huge, unwieldy spiral bound atlases one can purchase at rest stops, restaurants, and in no less a location that Walmart have nowhere near the elegance of this volume, but they serve the same purpose. With Paterson’s Roads in hand a Regency gentleman, an ambitious coachman, or a young lady looking to escape an unwanted marriage might find his or her way nearly anywhere the road might take them. My copy has a bit of scuffing about the cover, but it does include all eight foldout maps intact, a rarity. It also has the added thrill, mixed with a bit of sadness, of coming from the library of a country house. The new owners of Lowick Hall in Cumbria have parted with large portions of the home’s library in order to afford renovations necessary to maintain the house. Their loss is my gain, but I cannot help but wonder at whose hands have touched this book before me and what adventures it took them on before it made its way across the Pond to me.

I own two editions of The Stately Homes of England, Illustrated with 210 Engravings on Wood by Llewellyn Jewitt. One is the 1877  two-volume first edition published in England and the other is volume one of the 1878 edition published in the United States. The British edition was an intentional purchase from a book dealer in Saxmundham, England. The American edition I came upon at a flea market and I simply could not leave it there to languish unappreciated. This book allows me to see these stately homes, many of them gone now, through the eyes of both a writer and an engraver who lived only slightly removed from the Regency era. One cannot put a price on their vision. And the wood engravings are exquisite.

Stately homes of England by Llewellyn Jewitt 1877 edition

My 1890 edition of Glimpses of Old English Homes, Illustrated with drawings and portraits by Elizabeth Balch is a bit worse for wear. As with all of my old books it is carefully wrapped and preserved and I wear gloves when I consult it. She is a fragile old girl, but the information and illustrations and the scholarly research conducted by the author provide myriad little details a researcher more removed from the era might never have the opportunity to see.

Glimpses of Old English Homes by Elizabeth Balch 1890 edition
Front page Glimpses of Old English Homes by Elizabeth Balch 1890 Edition

In addition to these three beauties, I own a few more ancient books, as my nephew would call them. I have an 1860 edition of William Makepeace Thackery’s The Four Georges – Sketches of Manners, Morals, Court and Town Life. This book is both entertaining and informative and tells me in no uncertain terms what the author thought of the Georgian era and the people who made the era what it was.

I also have an 1821 edition of Real Life in London: On the Rambles and Adventure of Bob Tallyho, Esq. and His Cousin, the Hon. Tom Dashall through the Metropolis; Exhibiting a Living Picture of Fashionable Characters, Manners, and Amusements in High and Low Life. By an Amateur. Embellished and Illustrated with a Series of Coloured Prints, Designed and Engraved by Messrs. Heath, Alken, Dighton, Brooke, Rowlandson, &c. London: Printed for Jones & Co. This is a fun read and rife with all sorts of ideas for stories set in the Regency era. This is actually an imitation of the original work by Pierce Egan. However, this particular imitation is the one Egan is said to have favored the most. I have to agree with him.

Also on my shelf is The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1804 which was actually published in 1806. This is the sort of volume one would have lying about the library or the lounge of a club or anywhere someone might want to pass a few hours reading articles about various subjects as they appeared in the year noted. I cannot tell you how fascinating it is to pick up this book and immerse myself in the major, minor, and every level in between events of a single year during the Regency era.

I also have an 1818 edition of One Hundred Sixteen Sermons, Preached Out of the First Lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer, For all Sundays in the Year by William Reading, M.A. This book is especially close to my heart as it was given to me by a dear friend who knew how much I would treasure it. The inscription of the first owner is dated December 29, 1818. December 29th is my birthday. Reading the sermons probably has not made me a more pious person, but it has given me insight into the religious year and into the way people of this era practiced and thought of their faith.

I said before, there are two reasons I treasure these extant resources so very much. The second reason has nothing to do with monetary value, research value or their usefulness to me as a writer of Regency historical romances. It has to do with me as a human being. My Native American ancestors say “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”

That spiritual experience is what I have when I hold these books in my hand. When I curl up in a chair with a cup of Earl Grey and a plate of Walker’s shortbread and read the same pages someone from another time and place read I feel a connection, a tie to those long ago readers. I wonder about their lives, their hopes, and their reasons for owning and reading these books before me. When each of these books arrived, I spent a great deal of time holding it and turning it over and over again in my hands. I guess that makes me some sort of book geek, at best, and a book weirdo, at worst. Guilty as charged.

There is a reverence to the written word. Those of us who know the importance of words, of their preservation in these old books, can see as others do not the intangible connection books provide from one era to another, from one person to another, and from one soul to another. The electronic age has provided us with access to plenty of old books via inter-library loan and Google books. I do a great deal of my research this way. I confess if a book is particularly helpful I let the Harvard Bookstore print a Google book up for me. They are cute little volumes and the script and text are presented exactly as they appear in the originals.

In the end, there is simply something about holding a stalwart leather bound volume in my hand and carefully turning the pages of a book other souls thought important enough, for any number of reasons, to preserve so that I might treasure it all over again. In that moment, I understand them. Their soul speaks to mine. And as important as our connection to each other is, we can learn a great deal from our connection to those who have come before us. Old books give us that chance – to connect, to learn, and to grow on our human journey, and our spiritual one.

 

AN INVITATION TO THE ROYAL PAVILION

The Royal Pavilion, Brighton

One of the most iconic buildings in England, Brighton’s Royal Pavilion has come to symbolize the decadence of the Regency Period. Built as George IV’s pleasure palace by the sea, the Pavilion continues to astonish visitors, just as it did in the 19th century. Even the typically unflappable Duke of Wellington was taken aback by the Pavilion’s excesses and the Prince’s flamboyant style of interior decor. 

Princess Lieven recorded the Duke’s reaction upon first seeing the Pavilion in a letter to her husband written from Brighton on January 26, 1822:

I wish you were here to laugh. You cannot imagine how astonished the Duke of Wellington is. He had not been here before, and I thoroughly enjoy noting the kind of remark and the kind of surprise that the whole household evokes in a new-comer. I do not believe that, since the days of Heliogabalus, there have been such magnificence and such luxury. There is something effeminate in it which is disgusting. One spends the evening half-lying on cushions; the lights are dazzling; there are perfumes, music, liquers – “Devil take me, I think I must have got into bad company.” You can guess who said that, and the tone in which it was said. . . . ” 

After the death of the Prince Regent, his brother, King William IV, and later Queen Victoria, both visited the Pavilion. However, by Queen Victoria’s time, the town of Brighton had become much more developed and the population increased accordingly. Queen Victoria felt that the property could no longer afford herself and her family the seclusion they required and she sold the building to the Corporation of Brighton in 1850.

George IV
Queen Victoria

Today, the Royal Pavilion has been restored to it’s former Regency glory and is still astonishing the many visitors who arrive daily to experience the grandeur first-hand. Number One London Tours invites you to join us for a tour of the Royal Pavilion as part of the itinerary for our 2019 Queen Victoria Tour or our 2020 Regency Tour.

The video below offers the most comprehensive tour of the Pavilion’s interiors I’ve seen and it also includes a good overview of it’s history, so I’ve chosen to include it despite the interpreter’s very animated delivery. Final bit of trivia – Ironically, all of the kitchen copper-ware you’ll see in the video was once the property of the first Duke of Wellington and bears his ducal crest. It was transferred to the Pavilion in the 1950s, when Apsley House was placed under the control of English Heritage.