Georgian Terrace Houses
Terrace houses dominated the London landscape during the Regency. Almost the entire London population, rich and poor alike, lived in one or another version of the terrace house.
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Georgian Cleaning Secrets
Out, out damned spot! Ashes, tallow and turpentine to the rescue for all your cleaning needs! Keeping clothes clean has always been a challenge. Today, we can simply go to the store and buy a specialized product according stain that needs cleaning, but this wasn’t the case in Jane Austen’s day. In centuries past, the mistress of the house needed to be well versed on what home preparations could be used to keep her household … Continue reading →
Laundry the old fashioned way
With all our modern conveniences, it is easy to forget how arduous everyday tasks were for our ancestors. Wash day in particular is one for which we take our modern appliances for granted. Today, we gather the laundry and sort it, more or less, less if you’re one of my teen-aged sons. If it is a good day, we check for stains, pretreat the stains, then throw it all in the machine. Later we wander … Continue reading →
Ape Leaders: Spinsters of the Regency Era
Regency society organized itself around marriage and family. Adults were identified by their place, or lack thereof, in a married, family unit. Married women were ranked higher and more respected than the unmarried spinsters. The plight of the regency spinsters is fairly well documented. The local tax or judicial records says it all. Women were typically identified in tax or judicial records by their marital status (spinsters, wives and widows) whereas men were always identified … Continue reading →
Mistress of the manor: Lady of leisure or Full time working mom?
What did Jane Austen’s ladies do all day? Were they ladies of leisure or full time working women? Period dramas have left many of us with the notion that ladies of the landed gentry in the Regency era had little to do but dress in lovely gowns, embroider and gossip. Reality could not be farther from this image. In general, both master and mistress of the manor did a great deal of work around the estate, … Continue reading →