The water in Georgian era Britain was bacteria laden and it could kill people so they understandably avoided it. While the rich could afford wines and the finer spirits, ordinary people drank an inexpensive and readily available alternative: Gin. The Gin Craze consumed Georgian London.
Largely thanks to the slave trade, throughout the Georgian era there was a 20,000 strong black population in Britain and many communities settled in and around London. Ignatius Sancho arrived in the city as a 2 or 3 year old orphaned child and he was set to work by his owner.
Welcome to Tanner's Close in Westport, Edinburgh, Scotland. It's the 3rd November 1828 and the police have finally caught up with Burke and Hare, the prolific Georgian era killers. In a period of 10 months in 1828 William Burke and William Hare committed at least 16 murders and very probably more. They profited financially from every death.
Sophia Dorothea, Princess Palatine of the Rhine was born in The Hague, the Dutch Republic on 14th October 1630. She was the daughter of the exiled Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Elizabeth Stuart. She was the granddaughter of Britain's King James I/VI and the great granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots.
It's easy to think that the House of Hanover or the Hanoverians, the Guelph's or the Welf's hail from Germany but their origins lie in the Kingdom of Lombardy, modern day north west Italy and the House of Obertenghi...
She didn't hurry back to the court of George I, instead she focused on her children and writing. She set quill to paper and produced The Turkish Embassy Letters, her record of the family's time in Constantinople. She didn't intend for them to be published and they weren't during her lifetime.
Becoming a Grand Tourist became a rite of passage in the Georgian era; it was an accepted step towards independence that could last months or sometimes several years.
Walpole was a clever, consummate and dedicated politician, regarded as Britain's first Prime Minister. He courted influential people including royalty and he remained in power for 21 years.
The last time that another country's military invaded Britain was 1797, perhaps that's a lot more recent than you thought. It was the French that tried and failed to stake a claim to the isles and they probably wished that they hadn't bothered.
The Georgians expected the Transit of Venus in mid 1769. Venus passes in front of the sun and Venus is seen as a black disc on the sun's face by onlookers on Earth. It happens twice in every 125 years, 8 years apart, as Venus crosses through Earth's orbit.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.