Georgette Heyer's birthplace gets a blue plaque

On Friday afternoon, I found myself standing outside a late 19^th century semi-detached house: 103 Woodside, Wimbledon, together with a small crowd of about fifty people. We were waiting for the unveiling of one of London’s famous blue plaques to commemorate the life and work of the much-loved novelist, Georgette Heyer (1902-1974). She had, in fact, lived in a number of houses in London but this house best fitted the English Heritage criteria: Georgette Heyer had been born there; it had changed very little since 1902; and passers-by could see the plaque from the pavement.

103 Woodside gets ready. The plaque is up behind the red curtains and the press are waiting.

 

 

There were four speakers: Professor Martin Daunton from English Heritage; Dr Jennifer Kloester, Georgette Heyer’s biographer; Major General Jeremy Rougier, her nephew; and Susanna, Lady Rougier, her daughter-in-law. Stephen Fry, writer, actor, broadcaster, and appreciative reader of Georgette Heyer, would do the honours, formally pull the cord and reveal the plaque.

The four speakers: l-r: Dr Jennifer Kloester; Stephen Fry; Susanna, Lady Rougier; Major General Jeremy Rougier

 

 

Professor Daunton opened the proceedings and began by settling the pronunciation of ‘Heyer’- with so many family members present, he had to get it right. ‘Heyer’ rhymes with ‘mayor’, and ‘Georgette’ is pronounced in the French way with the ‘g’ soft, as in the second ‘g’ in ‘garage’. He then gave us the background of the blue plaque scheme and said that the committee had been delighted to honour Georgette Heyer with a plaque.

Professor Mark Daunton: deputy chairman of the English Heritage Blue Plaque panel

 

 

Dr Jennifer Kloester, Georgette Heyer’s biographer, spoke passionately about Georgette Heyer’s career and why her novels are so loved for their wit, intelligence, and historical accuracy, adding that they also show the importance of the social mores of Georgette’s own Edwardian upbringing.

Jennifer Kloester speaks

 

 

Susanna, Lady Rougier, talked about Georgette Heyer as a person: a formidable woman, always elegant and stylishly dressed, she could be intimidating. In fact, the first time she met her, she was so terrified that her knees were shaking. Fortunately, Georgette Heyer took to her and Lady Rougier recalled numerous gossipy phone calls, and her kindness and generosity. She said that Georgette Heyer wrote her novels extremely fast, usually in a couple of months – a feat many of us would like to be able to emulate.

Sylvester

 

 

Major General Jeremy Rougier, Georgette Heyer’s nephew, spoke amusingly about his aunt. He once asked her why she continued to live in Albany on Piccadilly, an address which, in those pre-double-glazing days, suffered badly from traffic noise. She replied that it was equidistant between her two favourite shops: Fortnum and Mason’s and Harrod’s! 

Stephen Fry speaks

 

 

Stephen Fry spoke enthusiastically of Georgette Heyer’s stylish and witty novels. He’d discovered them at school and has loved them ever since. He finds them great comfort reading if ever he’s under the weather. (I was amused to hear that Nigella Lawson is another Heyer fan.) He then pulled the cord and the curtains slid open to reveal the plaque. We all cheered. This was followed by a bit of checking to see if the curtains really had opened.

Just checking!

 

 

I’ve always enjoyed behind the scenes stuff, so I hung around to see what happened to the white wooden pelmet with the English Heritage logo and the curtains. When the guests of honour had left, Trevor Ramsay, the English Heritage blue plaque installer, moved in with a ladder and an electric drill. His assistant posed herself at the bottom of the ladder. Trevor climbed up, removed the curtains and the cord and threw them down to his assistant who neatly folded them for use next time. He unscrewed the nails which held the pelmet in place and carefully took it down. He then photographed the plaque for his records and that was that. It took a matter of moments, though he told me afterwards that he’d had trouble getting the plaque up. It was larger than usual – due to ‘Georgette’ being a long name, and positioned high up on the circle - and correspondingly heavy.

Trevor Ramsay does his stuff. Note the folded red curtains – they will be used again

 

 

Jenny Haddon, Jan Jones and Roger Sanderson from the Romantic Novelists’ Association had prepared a wonderful spread for us in St Mary’s church hall (the church where Georgette Heyer and Ronald Rougier were married in August 1925). It was good to sit down, eat the delicious sandwiches and cakes, drink our tea, coffee, or champagne and talk to fellow Heyer enthusiasts. I was delighted to meet our very own Amanda Grange and we chatted happily about our favourite scenes and characters.

Amanda Grange and Elizabeth Hawksley. I love Amanda’s elegant green shoes! The church where Georgette Heyer was married can just be glimpsed in the background.

 

 

The actor Ric Jerrom gave some splendid readings (the scene where Venetia meets Damerel from Venetia, and the terrific denouement from The Unknown Ajax), and we heard a few more lively reminiscences from Georgette Heyer's friends and relatives.

Friday’s Child

 

 

The afternoon ended as we raised our glasses to the ever-green memory of Georgette Heyer. It was an exhilarating occasion and I’m thrilled that Georgette Heyer, who has given so much pleasure to so many people, has been remembered in this way.

The plaque revealed.

 

 

For more information on the blue plaque scheme go to: www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/blue-plaques  They have an excellent account of the blue plaque installation for Georgette Heyer.

Elizabeth Hawksley

 

 

 

Austenesque fiction and the Battle of Waterloo

We’ve been focusing on the Battle of Waterloo on the blog this month, since this month sees the centenary, and we thought we’d take a look at Austenesque stories which feature Waterloo. For those who don’t know, Austenesque fiction creates new stories for Jane Austen’s characters. The books we’ve found on Amazon all feature characters from Pride and Prejudice. Since Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813, two years before the Battle of Waterloo, the stories are either sequels or What If? stories.  As always, if you know of any books we’ve missed, please leave details in the comments so we can update the list. Thank you!

Mr Darcy’s Waterloo: Darcy and Elizabeth What If? #9

"What if Mr Darcy's first proposal had taken place in 1815? And what if Mr Darcy and Elizabeth had met again in Brussels, where they were caught up in the Battle of Waterloo? "

Amazon UK              Amazon US

Pemberley to Waterloo: Georgiana Darcy’s Diary Volume 2.

“Georgiana Darcy and Edward Fitzwilliam want only to be together. But when the former Emperor Napoleon escapes from his exile on the Isle of Elba, Britain is plunged into renewed war with France … and Edward is once more called away to fight.”

Amazon UK           Amazon US

Wickham: Pride and Prejudice Continues – Book 3 

It isn’t clear if the book actually contains Waterloo, however it seems likely as, according to the blurb, “Wickham is bored with his wife, Lydia, and his lot in life. . . They both yearn for change. When Wickham leaves England to fight against Napoléon’s army in France, they both get their chance.”

Amazon UK           Amazon US

The Three Colonels 

"Love reigns supreme for our three brave colonels at the start of this epic tale. Colonels Fitzwilliam, Buford, and Brandon are enjoying their courtships and their early married lives  - until Napoleon escapes from exile."

Amazon UK      Amazon US

If you're in the mood for Regency romance without Jane Austen’s characters, then check out some of the new Waterloo-based Regency fiction in our posts below. 

Or, if you’re looking for an antidote to Waterloo, then our 5-book set of Regency romances will entertain you with tales of a reluctant bride, an impoverished governess, an independent young lady with no need for a husband, a mysterious gentleman and a madcap adventure concerning a poet and a wealthy lady.

Amazon UK          Amazon US

Whatever your choices, we wish you happy reading!

Six Degrees of Historical Separation

There’s a game that has been around for a few years that I absolutely love. It’s based on the idea of six degrees of separation; the theory that everyone in the world is a maximum of six steps away from each other so that a chain can be established to connect any two people. A while ago the BBC History magazine introduced a game called six degrees of historical separation – a challenge to see how broad a spectrum of historical characters you could connect in six steps. I’ve been playing it ever since and I challenge you to do the same!

Here’s one of my favourites, William Craven to Nellie Melba!

1.William First Earl of Craven 1608 – 1697. Soldier, cavalier, secret second husband of Elizabeth of Bohemia.

2.Elizabeth of Bohemia, 1596 – 1662, daughter of King James I, married Frederick the Elector Palatine, who was offered the throne of Bohemia in 1619.

3. Bedrich Smetana 1824 – 1884 A Czech composer whose music was inspired by Bohemian history and legends. His orchestral music includes the symphonic poem Richard III.

4. Richard III, King of England from 1483 – 1485, re-interred in Leicester Cathedral in 2015.

5. Thomas Cook 1808 – 1892, born in Melbourne Derbyshire, was also buried in Leicester. He founded the world’s first travel agency Thomas Cook and Sons in 1872 and offered “Grand Circular Tours of Europe” and trips to Egypt and the United States.

6. Dame Nellie Melba, 1861 – 1931 was an operatic soprano and one of the most famous singers of the Victorian era. She trained in Melbourne Australia and took the pseudonym "Melba" from the city. 

Okay, so maybe I have too much time on my hands! But if you like historical research and obscure facts, have a go at creating your own six degrees of historical separation!

SUMMER READING – BOOKS GALORE

These days there are so many good books to be read, but just in case you haven't enough to pack in your holiday suitcase, here are a few more you might like to add…

 

With the Waterloo Bicentenary looming Annie Burrows, Louise Allen and I having been talking a lot about Randall's Rogues, the men at the centre of the Brides of Waterloo trilogy, published by Harlequin Historical.

We decided to use an artillery unit for the basis of our three books, but a unit made up of artillerymen who were too rough and ill-disciplined to fit in elsewhere. They have been turned into a crack team by their commander, Colonel Lord Randall, with the help of Majors Tom Bartlett and Adam Flint. 

They are all rogues (except, perhaps Lord Randall, who is a serious, no-nonsense career soldier) but our three heroes are all redeemed by the love of the right woman. Randall meets his match in the independent, free-thinking Mary Endacott, Tom Bartlett is tamed by Randall's sister Sarah while Flint, perhaps the stoniest of all the rogues, finds his heart melting once he encounters the beautiful Rose.

 

We are all delighted with the reception these three books have received, all of them earning 4* reviews in Romantic Times and I was honoured to be able to launch the trilogy at Westminster City Archives during their special Waterloo commemoration event.  The first two books, A LADY FOR LORD RANDALL and A MISTRESS FOR MAJOR BARTLETT are out now, and the last in the trilogy, A ROSE FOR MAJOR FLINT, will be published in July.

And an added treat for those who enjoy Regencies is a second Regency Quintet, the Summer edition, which is an anthology of novels by Fenella J Miller, Liz Bailey, Amanda Grange, Monica Fairview and myself (writing as Melinda Hammond).

My contribution to this quintet is GENTLEMEN IN QUESTION, a romantic adventure set in 1792: 

The terror of the French Revolution forces Camille, the young Comte du Vivière, to flee his homeland and seek refuge with his relatives in England. For Madeleine, the arrival of her handsome French cousin marks a change in her so far uneventful existence and brings her into contact with the enigmatic Beau Hauxwell. Soon she finds herself caught up in a dangerous web of intrigue involving both gentlemen, but which one is the villain?

This special compendium is only available on Kindle, from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

So I hope there is something in this mix to take your fancy. I am off to enjoy the re-enactments and events taking place at Waterloo itself in mid- June, and will report back, hopefully with pictures!

Happy Reading

Sarah Mallory / Melinda Hammond

www.melindahammond.com

www.sarahmallory.com

It Started at Waterloo

It Started at Waterloo
The more I learn about the battle, the more there is to learn! I have two novellas coming out in June, so I hope you'll indulge me by letting me talk about them. First is "It Started at Waterloo."
Waterloo was where a lot of modern surgical practices started. So many things were discovered, and not least was the beginnings of proper clinical practice. Unfortunately, much of the surgery practiced during the campaign was of the "cut and run" variety. Limbs were lopped off on the premise that it was better to save the person than save the limb. The surgeons became proficient at quick surgery, so as to minimize the effects of shock, but many patients died, nevertheless.
I don't go into too much detail in "It Started at Waterloo," because after all, this is a romance, rather than a treatise, but I do indicate how difficult it was for the surgeons at the battle. My hero is a civilian surgeon, of which there were quite a few. He didn't join the army, because then he might have had to admit his real name, and he prefers to operate under a less exalted one, but when the war is over, he finally has to face the prospect of his new life, even though his greatest desire is to continue his surgical career.
His new wife has no choice but to work with him. Thrust into an unfamliar situation, she has to cope as best she can.

It Started At Waterloo

Does she love him enough to let him go?
After three straight days working beside surgeon Will Kennaway to treat the wounded of Waterloo, Amelia Hartwell collapses on the nearest bed to sleep. Surely she can be forgiven for not caring that the warm body sleeping next to hers is Will’s.
Amelia’s status-hungry mother, however, couldn’t be more pleased to have an excuse to get the painfully shy, socially awkward Amelia married off, albeit to a less-than-ultra-rich husband.
Will doesn’t keep his title a deep, dark secret. His little-known earldom simply affords him the financial freedom to focus solely on healing the sick. But now that he has a wife to think about—and to admire, thanks to her unstinting bravery at Waterloo—he reluctantly takes up the mantle of earl to do his duty.
Missing her meaningful work as a nurse, Amelia finds herself floundering in society’s glaring spotlight, wondering if Will regrets being forced to marry. Perhaps it might even be better to give him his freedom, even if doing so will break her heart…

Product Warnings

Steamy, battlefield kisses under a tent canvas lead to steamy scenes in the bedroom.

 

You can pre-order the book at Samhain here, and it will be on sale at Samhain and all other outlets on June 16th

A Seaside Writing Retreat!

From September, writers and history lovers will have the opportunity to book a gorgeous Regency seaside villa in Lyme Regis for their writing retreats. Belmont, which once belonged to Mrs Eleanor Coade, has been renovated by the Landmark Trust and will be taking bookings from July.

Eleanor Coade was born in 1733 and built up a hugely successful business manufacturing Neo-classical statues, architectural decorations and garden ornaments. These were made from high quality stone and graced such buildings as the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and Carlton House in London. Latterly her business was by Royal appointment to George III and the Prince Regent.

Eleanor came from a line of successful businesswomen. Her grandmother Sarah Endmarch ran a textile business in Devon and her mother, also called Eleanor, ran a linen business in London. In contrast to the successful female entrepreneurs in the family, Eleanor’s father went bankrupt twice. She however, went from strength to strength, managing her own artificial stone factory in Lambeth. As a proponent of women’s rights she left sums of money to female friends in her will as well as to charities, stating that her friends’ husbands had no control over the money she had bequeathed.

Eleanor’s uncle gave her Belmont, a two-storey Georgian seaside villa built in 1774. It is lavishly

decorated with Coade stone from her own factories. After years of decay, the house has been painstakingly restored to feature its original elegant Georgian windows, a parlour with sea views and a first storey sitting room with an iron veranda accessed in the Georgian style via a sash window.

Eleanor was not the only famous resident of Lyme to live at Belmont House. John Fowles wrote and published The French Lieutenants Woman whilst living there. It was his wish that the house be restored so that other writers could stay there and be inspired!

The Foundling Museum: the children’s story

Recently, I visited the Foundling Museum which celebrates the history of the Foundling Hospital founded in 1739 by the redoubtable sea captain, Thomas Coram, who was horrified by the sight of starving and abandoned infants on the streets of London. Without clean drinking water or a proper sewage system, the streets, particularly in the poorer districts, were filthy and disease-ridden. 75% of the children died before they were five and, amongst the poor, it was 90%.

 

Thomas Corum (1668-1751)

The problem was twofold: first the Elizabethan Poor Law, set up to relieve poverty at parish level, was woefully inadequate to deal with a city of over a million inhabitants. Second, contemporary social attitudes saw poverty as a sign of moral weakness and helping abandoned babies as encouraging immorality. 

In order to set up a Foundling Hospital, Coram needed a Royal Charter, as well as enough money to build, equip, and run it. It took him seventeen years of dogged persistence to get it.

 

The original Foundling Hospital, 1745

Coram’s story deserves a post of its own, but, as a novelist, I found myself thinking about the abandoned infants, how did they fare? What exactly happened to a baby whose mother couldn’t support it?

Under the Foundling Hospital’s early 19^th century guidelines, the foundling had to be illegitimate, under two months old, and healthy. The mother must be Protestant and to have been of good character before her fall. It was felt that ‘in addition to the protection of the Child, they had an opportunity of saving the Mother from shame, and of enabling her to return to her proper Situation in life, which the acknowledgment of an illegitimate Child would prevent her from doing…’

The mother left a token, often a swatch of material, but sometimes, a coin, a bracelet, or even, in one case, a hazelnut, to identify her child if she were ever in a position to take her child back. 

Two of the tokens

The Hospital billet book noted each baby’s possessions and any distinguishing features. For example, (I have italicised the hand-written notes beside the typed clothes list) Mary Lamas, baby No. 10,125, admitted in 1758, had a ‘white sarsen ribbon’,  a cap ‘with a muslin border’, a plain biggin (a child’s cap), a forehead cloth, a gown ‘blue and white checke’ (sic), a blanket ‘bound with white ferret’ (narrow woollen tape), a neck cloth, a roller (a bandage), a waistcoat ‘diaper’  (linen cloth woven with flowers), shirt ‘Irish trimmed’ (linen), and two clouts (nappies – also ‘Irish’.) It noted that the baby was female and had been christened. Interestingly, what the billet book didn’t note that she was black.

 

Female Orphans by Emma Brownlow, 1860s

Every baby was given an identity disk which they wore at all times, and a new name to signify a fresh start. Some of the names chosen were questionable, to say the least; for example, Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel. The real life Warbeck and Simnel pretended to be the ill-fated Princes in the Tower. Both were caught; Simnel was pardoned and made a scullion in Henry VII’s kitchen and Warbeck was hanged - hardly role models for the unfortunate boys given their names.

Two other foundlings were named Tom Jones and Sophia Western after the hero and heroine of Henry Fielding’s picaresque novel, Tom Jones. There was also an Oliver Cromwell and a Julius Caesar. It seems as if the authorities had no objection to a little levity at the foundlings’ expense.

 

The Foundling Museum today. It incorporates the original Court Room, Picture Gallery and the Boys’ Staircase.

So, the child was renamed. What happened then? The babies were sent to respectable foster parents in the country and had a wet nurse until they were weaned. A lot of care was taken over this and a local reputable person kept an eye on them. In most cases, this was the nearest the child ever got to having a proper home.

When they were five, they returned to the Foundling Hospital and sent to either the boys’ wing or the girls’ wing. They were also inoculated against smallpox – very forward-thinking at the time, but practical, too. A child who had been vaccinated would be valued more when he or she went out into the world.  

 

The Boys’ Staircase

Their education was far in advance of what most working-class children received. Both boys and girls were taught to read and write and they learnt practical skills too, like needlework. They were expected to contribute towards the running of the Hospital – their work was on sale to visitors, for example, and older children helped to dress the little ones, did the cleaning, drew water, and tended the vegetable garden.

Their diet, comprising meat, potatoes, dairy products and bread was certainly adequate, if monotonous. Fruit and vegetables were not, at that date, considered important, so scurvy, poor eye-sight and rickets were common.

 

Handel by Louis François Roubiliac, 1739

But it was the inclusion of music that made the Foundling Hospital’s education special. One of the Hospital’s first patrons was the composer Handel whose annual benefit performance of The Messiah was a Society highlight. And, from the 1760s on, all musically gifted children were taught choral singing. The standard was extremely high and they gave successful benefit concerts in the chapel. Musical boys also had the opportunity to learn a brass instrument; later, many of them went into the army via regimental bands.

 

Subscriber’s ticket to a concert at the Foundling Hospital

The creation of the Picture Gallery became an important and elegant venue for the Hospital to entertain the aristocracy – their potential patrons. The first artist to donate a painting was William Hogarth, who gave his magnificent portrait of Thomas Coram. He also persuaded other eminent artists to donate their own paintings; and the spectacular rococo plasterwork in the Court Room was donated by the plasterer, William Wilton.

 

The Picture Gallery

The musical and artistic life of the Foundling Hospital ensured that it swiftly became the place to see and be seen in. Aristocratic ladies and gentlemen of the 18^th century prided themselves on their Sensibility. Supporting Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital meant that they could express their finer feelings, and, at the same time, enjoy Mr Handel’s music or admire the latest works of art in the Court Room and Picture Gallery.

 

Court room. Note the appropriate picture, ‘Suffer Little Children’, and the plasterwork 

But what about the children? They left the Hospital at fourteen. Boys either joined the army or navy, or became apprentices. The girls mainly went into carefully vetted domestic service – no bachelor households! - though a few were apprenticed as calico printers. Foundling children had the reputation of being humble and hard-working, and were welcomed by prospective masters or employers, and inspectors followed their progress to ensure that they were treated properly. It is pleasing to note that the Hospital looked after disabled children throughout their lives.

 

‘Leaving for Work’ by Emma Brownlow, 1860s

However, in spite of the undoubted excellence of the Foundling Hospital’s charitable work, one cannot help feeling sorry for the children. By modern standards, their emotional needs went unrecognized. They were not encouraged to value themselves and they must have become institutionalized; they always wore the regulation uniform, for example. Still, I like to think that a spirited child could find some way to emerge with a sense of their own worth.

Nowadays, The Coram Foundation continues to work with and for children in need. To find out more, go to www.coram.org.uk

Elizabeth Hawksley  

Inspiration can come from anywhere!

 

A very short blog this time, because I seem to have been doing non stop promotion for A LADY FOR LORD RANDALL, the first book in the Brides of Waterloo Trilogy (books 2 and 3 are by Annie Burrows and Louise Allen respectively). So it is most likely that you have heard something about this series!

So just a little trivia for you about how I created Lord Randall. Inspiration can strike any time, anywhere and Randall "grew" from a variety of sources –I imagine him looking like a young Peter O'Toole and in temperament he is serious, uncomfortable around women (think of Gregory Peck's Hornblower).

   

I was also inspired by a song that sums up his character perfectly – "I Won't Send Roses" from the musical Mack & Mabel, based on the true story of Hollywood director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, who became one of the biggest film stars of the early 20^th century. Mack is a grumpy authoritarian character and he tries to warn Mabel not to fall in love with him. The link is here to Robert Preston singing if you want to hear it.

Randall is a tough, no nonsense career soldier who commands an artillery unit made up of villains and criminals. He has, quite literally in some cases, whipped them into shape and turned them into a crack fighting force. As Annie Burrows puts it, a Dirty Dozen in breeches! Such a unit needs a strong leader and Randall has no time for anything but his job. That is, until he meets Mary, a fiercely independent schoolteacher who is opposed to everything Randall stands for. 

The action takes place in the weeks leading up to the battle, but we also follow Randall onto the battlefield itself, while Mary must remain in Brussels waiting for news.

 Annie Burrows' book, A MISTRESS FOR MAJOR BARTLETT is published in June, and Louise Allen's A ROSE FOR MAJOR FLINT is published in July.

Happy Reading!

Sarah Mallory

www.sarahmallory.com