High Society in the Regency Period: 1788-1830 (Paperback)

~ Venetia Murray (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

'Full of wonderful social titbits and interesting pieces of information' - Amanda Foreman, "Mail On Sunday". The Regency is synonymous with a style unique in the English monarchy's history. A time of transition and paradox, elegance and vulgarity; when Lady Caroline Lamb stabbed herself for love of Byron and Stephenson invented the locomotive; when a mistress cost the equivalent of GBP100,000 a year and a farm labourer kept a family on 15 shillings a week. Murray chronicles the life of the beau monde during this extraordinary period. The book is lavishly illustrated with satirical prints of the period.

About the Author

Venetia Murray's previous books include ECHOES OF THE EAST END and CASTLE HOWARD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A STATELY HOME. She lives in Wiltshire and has a grown-up family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (November 4, 1999)
• ISBN-10: 0140240438
• ISBN-13: 978-0140240436
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,675,463 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars this is the American title for "An Elegant Madness" which is an INaccurate Mess of bad research, November 23, 2005

By	A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is actually the American titled version of Venetia Murray's book "An Elegant Madness" - and without benefit of any editing this seems to have have all the same shockingly sloppy errors as the English book. I find it difficult to believe that this was allowed past the editors pen at all. Muuray claims to have used first hand accounts for this book, but what results is a confusion of dates, people and periods which does not give an accurate picture of the extended Regency at all.

And what is worse, proving that Murray does not understand this period, her errors are continually repeated.

She seems to have a permanant state of confusion with the Spencer (Earl Spencer) family and the Cavendish family (the Duke's of Devonshire). The 1st Earl Spencer had two daughters, Georgiana and Henrietta. Georgiana married the 5th Duke of Devonshire and had two daughters, Georgiana and Harriet. Murray consistently and continually confuses these two generations and families despite listing seven separate books on the family in her bibliography and a number of other associated books that would provide information on them. I am starting to wonder if she read the books at all - if she read that many surely she wouldn't have made those mistakes.

She calls the Marquis of Queensbury "Old Q" in fact, 'Old Q' was the Duke of Queensbury, a completely different person.

Her description of Beau Brummell is based on entirely apocryphal and disproved events. She places their first meeting on a salacious and since disproved story by Captain Gronow. She says that the Prince and Brummell fell out at an event in 1814 when Brummell insulted the Prince by asking his companion, "Who is your far friend'. This was not the case. Not only did this even actually occur a year earlier in 1813, but it was probably at least a year after the Prince and Brummell fell out. She also fails to show the influence of Brummell on clothing. She says his dress was 'leather breeches for daytime' in actual fact this was the common dress in the 1790's and not at all what Brummell introduced. No one was admitted into his dressing room either - they were entertained in his drawing room while he put on his neck cloths in the dressing room next door with the doors open.

She misdates the arrival of gas in London as 1816 - it came in 1808 and was in common use by 1815.

She continually misnames people - Lord William Pitt-Lennox for the Duke of Richmond's son Lord William Lennox. She calls James Wedderburn Webster, James Webster Wedderburn.

She confuses the Duke of Kent's mutiny in Gibralter (undated in her book but occuring in 1802) with a mutinous incident a few years earlier in Canada. She also says the Duke sentenced the man to 900 lashes, it was actually 999. But the mutiny in Gibralter was not over his cruelty, it was over his excessive regulations which prevented the men from drinking on Christmas Day.

She blandly uses 'after the war' as a statement - but doesn't state what war - one must assume she means after Waterloo. In which case it would be after the 'wars'. Given that the Napoleonic Wars dominated all but a few years of the 1788-1830 she chooses as the scope for her book she has almost no information of the effect of these wars on the country.

She quotes many things out of context too - the list of her errors, omissions and flat out misconstructions could go on.

Frankly while I am interested in much of the information she brings up, those things that I know about or have researched further have shown that she has very little discipline either in her note taking or her ability to put it into its correct context.

She jumps around her chosen 50 year period with little regard to the development of society, London or social mores. So she states with certainty it was a violent age and people were mugged etc. Yet the difference in London in the 1780's when people were robbed in the carriages in broad daylight in London streets, and in 1810 when this was extremely uncommon, is not developed at all.

It is not like Murray has put new interpretations on facts - she has taken too many events and given them incorrect dates, people or information.

This is an exceptionally sloppy book, littered with errors and should be read with extreme caution. I have only listed some of the errors in the book here.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but not always accurate!, November 2, 2005

By	Valita "Val" (New Albany IN) - See all my reviews

A breezy look at Regency England, but if you are a stickler for accuracy, this book has some glaring errors. An example: (referring to the interesting situation at Devonshire House): "The Duke had three legitimate children by his wife and two by Lady Elizabeth, while the Duchess had a couple by Lord Grey."

Sorry, but this is not correct; the Duchess had one child by Lord Grey, Eliza Courtenay. Considering the author's access to the Chatsworth archives, one would imagine that this is the sort of error that could have been easily avoided. This quote from the first chapter does not give the reader confidence in the scholarship of the author.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful reference, January 11, 2007

By	C. Hussey "Happy grandparent" (Apex, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ventetia Murray obviously does her research before writing! Her book is full of useful information for those folks who write Regency period fiction, presented in an entertaining and interesting style of writing that keeps the reader involved. Great for reference and just plain fun to read.