Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a book that will tell me everything?
1 - Recommended books for Regency
2 - Recommended books for Peninsular War
3 - Recommended books for Waterloo
4 - Recommended General Military Works
5 - Recommended diaries/autobiographies
6 - Where can I get them
7 - No - I'm not a bookshop - I make no profit from this

Common Regency Questions from Novels
1 - Titles and Inheritance - also entitled - 'that bastard he'll never get my title!'
2 - Marriage and those royal marriages.
3 - Almacks
4 - The London Season
5 - I am looking for "such and such" a place/person.

Military
1 - When was the Peninsular War?
2 - How to trace your relatives from Waterloo/Peninsular War - on the net

School Projects
1 - No I don't care if your project is due in tomorrow
2 - I am looking for information on.......
3 - How to get a helpful reply

Where can I find like minded people?
1 - Jane Austen
2 - Georgette Heyer
3 - Research for Georgian/Regency
4 - Other lists

What is the Regency Period?

1 - Time
The Regency was only 10 years long. King George III went quite mad for the last time in December 1810 - from early 1811 the Prince of Wales became regent, essentially ruling in his father's place. George III died in 1820 and the Regent became King George IV. His coronation ceremony was in 1821.

2 - Extended Regency
There are various time spans used for what is called the 'extended Regency'. From around 1800 for instance the empire style of dress that is so linked to the Regency became popular in Britain. Some people use as early as 1780 and as late as 1830 for the Regency period. This period covers the Prince of Wales attaining his adulthood until his death in 1830 as King George IV. Clearly these are liberal interpretations which is why they are known as the 'extended' Regency.

3 - What is a Regent
Some appointed to rule in lieu of the King. Regent's have been appointed in the past to rule for child Kings and Queens. Mary, Queen of Scot's mother ruled Scotland for her as she inherited the throne at the age of 6. Her son King James I of Britain (and VI of Scotland) was the last King to have a Regent rule for him.

4 - The Hanover Kings in brief
George I (1714-1727)
George II (1727-1760)
George III (1760-1820)
George IV (1820-1830)
William IV - (1830-1837)
As the throne of Hanover could only be inherited by males on William's death the throne separated from the British throne. Victoria, was the next in line to the throne of Britain as she was the daughter of the George III 4th son, Edward, Duke of Kent.
The next male heir in line to the throne was her uncle, George III's 5th son the Duke of Cumberland. It was he who became the King of Hanover thus after some 120 years the two thrones separated.

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Is there a book that will tell me everything?

In short - no. There are loads of books - and as with all things some are better than others. I certainly haven't read all the Regency books out there, but I have read a few. I try to objectively recommend books that I think are the best of the bunch to give you an overview. Some are less readily available than others - but I deal with that in point 7.
1 - Recommended books on the Regency -
There are literally hundreds of books. The two best, I think to give you a general overview of the period are
(1) Stella Margetson - "Regency London" Divided into subject areas so it is easy to find your way around the information and get a general overview of the period. Good illustrations used.

(2) JB Priestly - "The Prince of Pleasure and his Regency" - Divided into years from 1811 to 1820, the book follows life year by year. It is great for getting a chronological picture of events. Excellent illustrations and explanations.

Both of these books are out of print - check point 7 for recommended book search sites. I recommend both of these because they give a very light and chatty overview to the period.

Also highly recommended but less easily available are;
(3) Britons : Forging the Nation 1707-1837 by Linda Colley - its a fascinating social history but you won't find a great number of gossipy stories in it.
(4) Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon by Rory Muir - a penetrating look at life in a Napoleonic Army.
(5)Arthur Bryant - "Years of Victory 1802-1812" - no pictures - but fascinating reading
(6)Also by Bryant - "Age of Elegance, 1812-1822"- mostly Peninsular War background
These are also out of print, they are not as easy to read as Margetson and Priestley's work. Bryant uses no illustrasions but he has a grasp of events for the period including extensive military descriptions. Often events in England can be overshadowed by battles in the Peninsular.

Other recommended books for a general overview of the Regency are Carolly Erickson's "Our Tempestuous Day", Christopher Hibbert's "London". You can read a longer list of various books on my References page.

There are dozens of other books on the period that are still worth reading - the only one I would single out to absolutely avoid is Venetia Murray's Work, "An Elegant Madness". It is littered with mistakes, you can click here to find out more.

2 - Recommended books for Peninsular War
There are numerous overviews to read to find out about this period. The Classic Works are by Sir William Napier in the 1820's and followed by Sir Charles Oman.

3 - Recommended books for Waterloo
Again, check the books on my References Page - but if you want a favourite then it is definitely David Howarth's 'Waterloo'. This book looks at the battle through the day from quotes in various letters and diaries from the day. A very moving book that gives you a very personal idea of what it was like.
4 - Recommended General Military Works
Phillip Haythornthwaite's book "A Napoleonic Source Book" is a good general source for understanding the various countrys, how their armies worked, battles etc. It also has an interesting bibliography.It is a very general book though - you won't find order of battle or lists of names of generals in here.'Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon' by Rory Muir - a penetrating look at life in a Napoleonic Army

5 - Recommended diaries/autobiographies
Well - again books on my References page. My all time favourite is Captain Sir John Kincaid's book "Adventures in the Rifle Brigade" which has recently been re-published. There are many biographies and some are more descriptive of life than others. If you want to discuss this more or have recommendations of your own then email me.

6 - Where can I get them
You can find the out of print books from searching Bookfinder or from ABE books. For new books I recommend you try out Regency Bookshelf.
7 - No - I'm not a bookshop - I make no profit from this

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Common Regency Questions from Novels

1 - Titles and Inheritance
- Laura Wallace's titles site has all this information and you can learn all you need to know from there - but in short; Inheriting titles is different from inheriting land. If land is not entailed then whoever owns it can leave their land to whomever they please - male, female, legitimate, illegitimate - whatever.

You can find out more about entails in relation to Jane Austen's novels here - but essentially they were to prevent the disintegration of the large estates to prevent profligate sons from giving them away but debt, or gift before their heirs might inherit them.

Titles are linked to their original letters patent. A title might in some circumstances go through the female line of the family - but in most cases the letters patent were only granted for the title to travel through the line of the eldest male. (more on this next)

What a title can never do, never, never, never can it be left to an illegitimate child. Now there is a difference here between being 'someone's son' and being illegitimate. For instance, Lady Melbourne had three sons - two of her sons had father's that weren't her husband - however, her husband acknowledged them as his own. Hence they were not illegitimate - they were considered the legitimate off-spring and heirs to Lord Melbourne.

Children are not automatically made legitimate if a father marries the mother of his children. The Marquess of Wellesley had five children with his mistress before marrying her. Despite marrying her the children were considered illegitimate because he had married her after they were all born. They were not entitled to inherit his title.

However if a man marries the woman pregnant with his child prior to its birth that child - no matter when it is conceived, is considered legitimate.

Titles travelled through the line of the eldest male. If you think of it as a mix of blood and hierachy then its not complex - First blood. A title can only be inherited by a descendent of blood (legitimate) of the title holder. Therefore if a hypothetical Mr Grimface is given the title 'Marquess of Grimface' then his descendents are entitled to inherit that title (in a hierachical order) because they are of his blood.

Lord Grimface's brother and his brother's descendants are not entitled to inherit that title - they are not of his blood - neither are any other descendants to Lord Grimface's father. The only people entitled to inherit this title must be solely Lord Grimface's descendents.

Second - Hierachy. This isn't tricky either - its first in line. So lets say Lord Grimface has a daughter first followed by two sons Norbert, and Bertram. The daughter cannot inherit - nor can any of her offspring or any of her descendants - she is a female. So the child that will inherit the title on his father's death is the eldest son, Norbert. Bertram, his younger brother, will inherit the title only if Norbert dies and leaves no male heirs. Norbert, as the eldest son can pass the title down his family line finding the eldest male child of the heir in each succeeding generation.

So there is - simplistically a mixture of blood and hierachy.

Now as you might have noticed above, the British Royalty were a little different - females could inherit the title. But a princess's brothers are entitled to inherit first. Royalty is plain different.

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2 - Marriage and those Royal Marriages
This is all explained in the marriage page - but in short during the Regency a man could legally marry his deceased wife's sister. The law banning these weddings wasn't imposed until 1835.

As to the Royal Marriages - two laws applied. The Royal Marriage Act passed in 1772 Royal Marriage Act forbade any member of the royal family under age of twenty-five to marry without Sovereign's consent. Despite this act most of George III's sons contracted Morganatic marriages with women. Under the Act of Settlement in 1701 none of the royal family could marry catholic - it stipulated that the heir to the throne must be a protestant.

3 - Almacks
The marriage market in London. Only the eligible could be granted vouchers to purchase tickets to the rooms. No one that I know of can tell me what the vouchers actually looked like. To find out more you can see London Society of ladies or my Clubs page.

4 - The London Season
Went Approximately from Easter to the End of June.

5 - I am looking for "such and such" a place/person.
If you can't find it on this site have you thought of doing a quick search of the internet first? I get a number of questions that are easily tracked down that way. Try Altavista or Yahoo. If you are looking for a specific place, say White Conduit House - then the best way is to enter the search as "White Conduit House" - put the full name in the quotation marks. This goes for any place or person's name. You can also try searching under various subject headings at Yahoo which can throw up a wealth of other information.

Of course I am not saying that you can't send me these questions - I often find them really interesting - however time does get in the way and I might not get back to you for days - weeks if things are on top of me.

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Military

Try checking out Briitsh Military records which is very good on how and where to search. Or you could look at GENUIUK for more information.

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School Projects

This is where I get really antsy!

1 - No I don't care if your project is due in tomorrow
It is difficult for me to express just how uninterested I am that you have a project due in tomorrow. I'm not here to write your project - the web isn't here to provide you with instant answers. The number of questions I get (all of them) that could be answered if you actually read something on the web instead of clicking on the email address and asked me to write it for you....quite frankly if I bother to reply it won't be polite - so do you want to risk it?

2 - I am looking for information on.......
Yeah - well check my site thoroughly first and read the pages before you ask me any questions.

3 - How to get a helpful reply
I will definitely answer if by some miracle you show that you have shown that;
(1) - you actually read my pages -
(2) - You don't subject me to the question you got given by your teacher - I'm not here to write your essay for you.

Lastly - remember common courtesy - if someone helps you - thank them. I don't think I have ever received a thank you note from any student who asked for information - kind of not a great encouragement to continue helping you guys out either is it?

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Where can I find like minded people?

1 - Jane Austen
Janeites discussion list homepage or join the discussion list hosted by egroups.

2 - Georgette Heyer
Georgette Heyer Hompage - full of resources, apply to join the Georgette Heyer discussion list - but be prepared to wait a bit. The list is very popular and there is a waiting list to join.

3 - Research for Georgian/Regency
The 18th Century Regency list Subscribe by sending a blank email to this great discussion list.

You have to be a member of the Romance Writers of America's regency branch, the Beaumonde to join their mailing list Beau monde - but it is well worth it.

Historical Research has a huge variety of subscribers and interests and there is generally someone with your interest and a ready supply of information 4 - Other lists
Byron Discussion list - a list for fans of Lord Byron's poetry. You can find out more details from The Byron Homepage.

The Regency Ring - this is a monthly newsletter that sends out information and updates members on changes to sites on the Regency Web Ring.

Regency at egroups is a great list for those interested in discussing latest releases in Regency novels.

Painted Rock run an excellent research list as well where you can post questions from all eras.

Moonstone has a number of absolutely wonderful email publications and is a definite must if you have any interest in the Regency, Georgian or Victorian periods. There is the peerless Regency Library for a very small yearly subscription fee. Check out this site for more information.

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