Regency Trivia – Weather

As an author, I’m always checking the weather in the year my book is set. One would not, for example want to write about a nice hot summer in 1816 which was known as the Year Without Summer. Ergo, when I started my latest book set in 1819, I researched the weather and was particularly looking at air quality. For various reasons, air quality in London has been an on and off issue since the 14^th century. But it was not until the Victorian era that it came to the point that greasy black residue covered buildings and even the grass (turning it black) in Hyde Park. So, during the Regency, one could be appalled by the smell of the Thames if the wind was in the wrong quarter, and buildings became dingy from coal smoke, but there the greasy residue was not yet a problem.

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Regency Trivia – Picnics

Much to my dismay, picnics as we know them did not seem to exist until the middle part of the 19^th century. In fact, a picnic during the Regency was what we would call a pot-luck, where everyone contributes food. That does not mean they didn’t go outside, sit on a blanket, and eat. But it was called al fresco dining which could mean anything from an elaborate table set up to a blanket on the ground.

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Regency Trivia – Biscuits

In the UK, and many other countries, a biscuit is and has always been the equivalent of a US (may Canadian) cookie. Biscuits as we in the US know them, made with flour, milk, eggs, and a leavening were not around until the mid-19th century when baking powder and baking soda were invented.

 

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Regency Trivia – Gentlemen Farmers

Despite the name, gentlemen farmers were not gentry and, thus, not gentlemen. The difference lies in how the land is used. Although, their holdings could be quite large, they were men who farmed their own land. Whereas, the gentry had tenants who, via leases, farmed the land for them. Gentlemen farmers had the same status as merchants, what we would call the middle-class no matter how wealthy they became.

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