Category: Kristine Hughes

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT . . . . PLAYS WITH NEEDLES?

A recent Google images search for examples of Mrs. Delany’s shell work brought me to a blog called Plays With Needles by the exceedingly talented Susan Elliott. Her blog is a wonder and a delight, with gorgeous photos and interesting posts on where she finds her inspiration and what goes into the creation of her art. Reading about her shell work, above, I was interested to learn that Susan had found many of the shell components herself on the beach in Naples, Florida, which is only about forty minutes south of where I currently live. I know it well. It was fascinating to see what Susan’s keen eye and abundant talent could do with the same shells others walk by daily without noticing. You can read the story behind the piece above here.

Like Mrs. Delany, Susan is a multi-medium artist and her blog posts are about so much more than her own amazing artwork. In her post about the Breakfast at Tiffany’s inspired piece above, Susan discusses the cult of Holly Golightly and the gulf between the film and Truman Capote’s novel. I love the way Susan has incorporated so many elements in this piece, resulting in a three dimensional creation with enough sparkle and bling to make even Holly take notice. Susan’s use of meticulous beadwork is gorgeous. 
In this piece, Susan uses both shell and bead work elements. You can read more about it here. 
Susan has titled the piece above Your Majesty and has written a fabulous, photo laden post about her research into historic royal wedding gowns, their decoration, design and embroidery. Susan found  inspiration for this piece from several different gowns and time periods. You can read the entire post here. 
Has your historic research taken you to unexpected places? If so, we’d love to hear about it!

A RETURN TO REGENCY ENGLAND

What, or who, epitomizes the Regency Period for you?

Is it the Prince Regent, afterwards King George IV?

Brighton’s Royal Pavilion? 
Almack’s Assembly Rooms? 

Or perhaps Regency fashions?
Whatever it is that your mind’s eye conjures up when you think of “Regency England,” chances are that you’ll find it on the itinerary for Number One London’s Regency Tour in June. This immersive experience will bring you up close and personal with the people and places that define the Regency era.
Author Louise Allen

Beginning the Tour in London, we’ll walk the same streets that would have been familiar territory to the Prince Regent, Beau Brummell and Jane Austen.  Our guide for the day will be Louise Allen, author of Walks Through Regency London and Walking Jane Austen’s London.

Along the way, we’ll visit many of the sites associated with Regency London, whether they be well known buildings and locations or hidden gems, including White’s Club, Almack’s, the Burlington Arcade, St. James’s Square and the Red Lion pub.

St. James’s Palace
Fortnum & Mason

Beau Brummell’s London townhouse

Also on our London itinerary is a trip to the V & A, the Victoria and Albert Museum, where our group will attend a Specialist Talk on the fashions, social life, royals and other aspects of the Regency period. After dinner, Louise Allen will provide us with background on Brighton’s role during the Regency before we head there ourselves the next day, stopping en route to visit Grade I listed Petworth House, complete with an extensive number of preserved servants quarters. 

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Petworth House
In Brighton, we’ll be staying at The Old Ship, a Georgian seafront hotel that still retains the Regency Assembly Rooms where the Prince Regent himself opened many fashionable entertainments. While in Brighton, we’ll be given a private tou
r of George IV’s “Marine Palace,” the Royal Pavilion, scene of so many events associated with 19th Century England. We’ll embark on a walking tour of Brighton with local guide Jackie Marsh Hobbs and we’ll tour the Regency Townhouse in Hove, where we shall also attend a Regency Soiree complete with our guests and servants in period costume. 
The Regency Townhouse, Brunswick Square
Our return journey to London includes a tour of Polesden Lacey, the Regency house purchased by million-heiress Margaret Greville, who famously said, “Most people leave their money to the poor. I intend to leave mine to the rich.” And she did, leaving her fabulous collection of diamonds to the Queen Mother and her house to the National Trust.

Polesden Lacey

Our final stop on the Tour is Buckingham Palace, where the majority of the rooms reflect the taste of George IV, who commissioned John Nash to transform Buckingham House into a palace. Many of the furnishings we’ll see were purchased or made specifically for Carlton House, George IV’s London home when still Prince of Wales. Our visit includes a guided tour of Her Majesty’s gardens, where we’ll find the Waterloo Vase commemorating the Duke of Wellington’s victory at Waterloo in 1815. 
    Perhaps the highlight of the Tour is that it will bring together a group of people with at least one thing in common – their love for the Regency period. Along the way, we’ll be discussing our particular subjects of interest and all of the social, political and royal aspects of early 19th century history, all while creating new memories and making new friends. 

      Complete itinerary and full details regarding

      The Story of "Mad Jack" Mytton

      A true Regency eccentric, John ‘Mad Jack’ Mytton was born at Halston in 1796. He inherited a fortune worth about £500,000 a year by today’s standards, but died in 1828 at the King’s Bench debtors’ prison in Southwark at the age of just thirty-seven. Alas, we are getting ahead of ourselves . . . .
      Young Squire Mytton, expelled from both Westminster and Harrow, arrived for studies at Cambridge University with “2,000 bottles of port to sustain him during his studies.” You will not be surrpised to learn that he failed to graduate. Mytton went on to drink six bottles of port a day, although he was known to drink eau de cologne when brandy was not readily available. Mytton enjoyed country pursuits such as racing, driving and hunting, but he was also civic minded – he ‘invested’ £10,000 to become MP for Shrewsbury by paying ten pounds each for votes, but once elected he spent less that half an hour in the House of Commons.
      Madcap pranks made Mytton a legend in his own lifetime and it was said that as a whole, Mytton’s life amounted to a “series of suicide attempts.” A drunken friend was put to bed with two bulldogs and a bear. Mytton went duck shooting by moonlight on Halston’s frozen lake, dressed in only his nightshirt. Disguised as a highwayman, complete with his blazing pistols, he ambushed departing guests on the Oswestry road. In 1826, after winning a bet, he rode his horse into the Bedford Hotel in Leamington Spa, up the grand staircase and onto the balcony, from which he jumped, still seated on his horse, over the diners in the restaurant below, and out through the window onto the Parade. During a visit to France, Mytton set fire to his night shirt in an effort to cure himself of the hiccups. The drastic step did end the hiccups, but left Mytton with serious burns to his upper body.

      Mytton once rode a bear into his drawing room in full hunting costume
      One biographer notes that Mytton once rode a bear into his drawing room in full hunting costume. “The bear carried him very quietly for a time; but on being pricked by the spur he bit his rider through the calf of his leg.” Mytton owned thousands of dogs and cats during his lifetime, some of which he had dressed in costumes. Perhaps his favorite pet was a horse named Baronet, who had full run of the Hall and who often lay down and napped before the fire.
                                             Halston Hall, Shropshire – More info on their website
      ‘Mad Jack’ lost his money, but not his friends. Three thousand people attended his funeral. He is buried in the Chapel at Halston, but his ghost is said to appear annually on Mytton’s birthday, September 30th, at theMytton & Mermaid Hotel at Atcham. His funeral procession stopped at the Mytton, then a coaching inn, on the way to Halston Chapel. Mad Jack also lives on today in Mad Jack Mytton Way, a seventy mile route through some of rural England’s most unspoilt and beautiful countryside. The route starts near Highley and ends at the bridge over the River Terne in Llanfair Waterdine on the Welsh border and is regularly used by riders, cyclists and walkers.
      Next time,  more Mytton anecdotes from Famous Racing Men by Willmott-Dixon Thormanby (1882)

      AUTHOR LOUISA CORNELL JOINS OUR FAMILY











      Victoria and I are thrilled to announce that our dear friend Louisa Cornell has joined the Number One London editorial team. We couldn’t be happier! Many of you will already know Louisa who, in addition to her editorial work and her own writing projects, is also President Elect of the Beau Monde Chapter of Romance Writer’s of America.

      Louisa has been a friend of this blog since it’s beginnings six years ago and has been a friend to Victoria and myself for a considerably longer period of time (decades!). 


      Louisa, on the left, with Victoria at one of the many writing conferences they’ve attended through the years.

      As a champion of romantic fiction and all things British, Louisa will be bringing her unique talents and her passion for researching the history of Great Britain to Number One London soon and you can look forward to reading her enlightening posts, reviews of fiction and non-fiction books and to many surprises yet to be announced.



      Welcome Louisa!


      And a note from Louisa –

      I cannot begin to tell you what a thrill and honor it is to join the Number One London team! I think I’ve spent so much time loitering about here the last six years, Victoria and Kristine have decided to put me to work. And I could not be happier! This blog has been and continues to be a delightful respite from the everyday world, a lovely neverending vicarious vacation to the UK, and a source of entertainment and enlightenment for all who love 18th and 19th century England and the romances set in those eras. I look forward to contributing in my own small way to the myriad charms enjoyed by the most discerning, supportive, and loyal denizens on the web – Our Visitors!

      Thank you so very much, Kristine and Victoria!
      And thank you to Number One London’s Fabulous Followers!


      And while we’re at it, Victoria, Kristine and Louisa would like to thank all of our guest bloggers who have contributed to the blog in the past. Our most prolific (and much loved) pal, author Jo Manning has been providing guest posts to Number One London since the beginning, with many of her posts featuring 18th and 19th century artists and their sitters. Look for more book reviews and posts from Jo coming soon. Over the past year, we’ve welcomed guest posts from the following authors: Abigail Dane, Marilyn Clay, Louise Allen, Diane Gaston (Perkins), Beth Elliot, Cheryl Bolen, Amanda McCabe, Tracy Grant, Kerryn Reid and Michelle Styles. If you’ve uncovered an historic tidbit you’d like to post about, or a favourite his
      toric person, place or thing, please do get in touch. We’d love to add you to our roster of guest bloggers.