France in an Uproar

Published by Cahusac in 1790 [1]

Since 1789, France had indeed been in an uproar as the French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille.

1. Twelve Country Dances, with their basses, for the year. 1790: with proper directions to each dance.

• London : T. Cahusac, [1790]

Round Top and Bottom Couples

This diagram is taken from Thomas Wilson's "English Country Dancing", published in 1820.

Wilson describes this as one of the many "new" figures he is introducing to country dancing.

Hoops

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Thursday 19 September 1765

'Ther will be a ball as usual at Mr Simpson's Rooms on Monday next, being the anniversary of their Majestyies [sic] Coronation; subscribers of which are taken in at both Rooms No Ladies to be admitted to dance a minuet, without a lappetted head and full dress hoop; and such minuet dancers as chuse [sic] to dance country-dances must be attended by a woman servant to put the hoops off, as no hoops (be their size large or small) are allowed in country dances.'

The sheer size of hoops made them a problem when moving around, and carriages and doorways had to be modified; even then, women often had to enter rooms sideways; small rails were put in place around tables to stem the risk of small objects being swept off the top by entrant hooped skirts. For this reason, they were increasingly not permitted in country dances which at the Assemblies meant large numbers dancing in close proximity. At one court ball in 1780, the ladies were said to have worn such large hoops that they took up as much room as four people[1]. Mr Neal, the treasurer of the Charitable Musical Society of Dublin, made it a proviso for attendees at his new music hall that women remove the hoops from their skirts and men remove their swords so that 700 people could be squashed in.

1. Peg Plunkett: Memoirs of a Whore by Julie Peakman

Two Dances from 1795

Published by Cahusacs: Thomas Cahusac, Sr., and his two sons Thomas, Jr., and William Maurice were instrument makers in London during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Racing Women

In 1748, the Bath Journal of August 8th:

‘Advertisement, the following ASSES were entered to run on the Town-Common Thursday last; the Names they were enter’d by were, Merry Pintle, Spanking, Roger, Morecock, Turpin, Mouse, Perrdy, Spider, Picksey, Pug, Jan Parsons, Roger &c. They were rode by Boys, and the Plate was won by Jackey Skares’ Ass Merry Pintle - There were Six Thousand Persons on the course, and some of Distinction who came many miles to see the Sport - a Smock and Hat were run for at the same Time by Girls.’

There are a couple of things of interest here; firstly, how popular ass racing was and how well-known many of the asses were. The second is that it is an early Bath reference to the popular Georgian sport of smock racing. It probably also tells you something about contemporary attitudes toward working-class women: the Asses were the main attraction and were named.

Another advert for a similar event featuring asses and girls provides further information. The Smock race would consist of three heats; the winner would get the smock, the second would get the hat, and the third would get half a crown, which gives some idea of the considerable value of the clothing. Women who wished to compete were required to report to the Common-house by 3 p.m. on the day. The asses won a guinea for first, 5 shillings for second and half a crown for third. 

Smocks or shifts were the essential all-purpose undergarment for Georgian women worn beneath stays and gowns during the day and often also in bed at night. The smocks offered as prizes were usually made of high-quality linen and often trimmed with lace and ribbons. The prize smock was often displayed hanging from a nearby flag pole or tree branch. 

Rowlandson 1811

Smock races were popular entertainment throughout the Georgian period partly because they served the almost insatiable demand for opportunities for gambling but also, and perhaps primarily, because they allowed opportunities for the male spectators to see young women wearing loose clothing, which often became disarranged and flushed from physical exertion. This is amply illustrated in the above Rowlandson print.

From all the reports and the many prints, competition among the often desperately poor women was fierce. There do not seem to have been any actual rules, and the women freely tripped and barged over their rivals, often knocking them into the dust. The more violent the race became, the more audiences would roar their approval and acclaim the eventual victor would receive.

Smock races took place in various locations around Bath throughout the eighteenth century, including the Parades and Lansdown and were a feature of many fairs.

First well documented race meetings in Bath

William Capell

John Cheny (1727–1750), in his racing calendar, carries details of the first well-documented race meeting in Bath on the 25th of September 1728. The meeting took place on Claverton Down when William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex’s horse Smiling Ball, beat three other horses over three four-mile heats coming first in all of them for a prize of 50 guineas.

Smiling Ball, we learn from "The Turf Register and Sportsman & Breeder's Stud-book" by William Pick, had been bred by Mr Gaze of Lincolnshire and sold to the Earl of Essex.

Smiling Ball’s sire was bred by Sir Matthew Peirson, Bart and got by Old Merlin out of a dam bred by Mr Curwen, got by his Bay Barb; grandam by the Curwen Old Spot, out of a daughter of Lord D’Arcy’s Woodcock.

At Newmarket, in April 1728, Smiling Ball, carrying 9st, beat Lord Gower’s Miss Wilkins, carrying 8st 7lb over four miles for a prize of 200gs. Incredibly only three hours after that race, and carrying 7st, he beat Lord Hallifax’s Partner, by Jigg, carrying 9st over a four-mile course, thus winning the Earl another 200gs.

He won 80gs at Stamford, beating Mr Bertie’s Ladythigh; walked over for 50gs at Oxford; his next race was the meeting at Bath,

After Bath, he went north and won the Gold Cup, value 50gs at Warwick, beating Mr Cole’s Singlepeeper and Mr Howe’s Lampire.

So in a single year, he won his owner 710gs worth or approximately £65,000 at today's values. This, of course, does not include his Lordship's winnings at the betting post.

In 1729, he won £50 carrying 10st at Guilford, beating Lord Onslow’s Singlepeeper and Mr Bennet’s Bumper He then won another Gold Cup, value 50gs at Andover and £30 at Grantham, beating Mr Heneage’s Whitenose and three others; 40gs at Leicester; and 10gs at Epsom.

At stud, he sire several notable horses, including Mr Mewburn’s Smiling Ball, Sir Harry Harpur’s Darling, Mr Shaw’s Ploughman, Mr Barker’s Venture, Mr Arundale’s Fancy, Lord March’s Roderick Random, and several others. 

The other horses in the race were:

Mr. Kirby's Black horse Collier
Rev. Mr Thorpe's Chestnut gelding Frostyface

In Bath, we have another record of racing on the 1st and 2nd November 1728 featuring two races, one for six horses over three four-mile heats for 20 guineas won by Mr Longton’s unnamed grey horse. The second race was for Galloway’s and was won by Mr Proctor’s grey mare Northern-Nancy.

Bath Races 1757

"It is thought there will be good Sport at our Races several horses are already here and many more are daily expected" Bath Journal September 1757.

The 1757 meeting started on Wednesday the 5th of October 1757 on Claverton Down with a race for a purse of fifty pounds for any horse, mare or gelding, that had not won the value of fifty pounds (matches excepted); five-year-olds to carry eight stone seven pounds; six year olds nine stone seven pounds; aged ten stone seven pounds bridle and saddle included; best of three-four mile heats.

Five horses were entered ahead of time:

• Mr Smart’s Grey mare Grey of Greys Five years old
• Mr Moore’s Chestnut horse Six years old
• Mr Butler’s Grey Horse Sterling, Six years old
• Mr Parham’s Bay horse Vortigern Aged

On the day, Lord Bruce entered his horse Fox at the post

Lord Bruce

This is almost certainly Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury KT (30 April 1729 - 19 April 1814), styled The Honourable Thomas Brudenell until 1747 and known as Lord Bruce of Tottenham between 1747 and 1776. He subsequently served as Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire from 1780 to 1782.[1]
.
Vortigern won the first heat but took the turn at the post too short in the second which brought down both horse and rider. Victory in the race finally went to Starling.

On Thursday the 6th on the same course, they ran for a purse of fifty pounds, for any horse, mare or gelding that has not won more than one fifty pound plate this year; five years old to carry ten stone four pounds; six years old eleven stone four pounds; aged twelve stone, bridle and saddle included; the best of three-four mile heats. Six horses were entered before the meeting:

• Mr Scudamore’s Grey horse Sober John Six years old
• Mr Howe’s Bay horse Mercury Five Years old
• The Earl of Eglington’s Grey horse Gog Magog Aged
• Mr Cornwall’s brown horse Redstreak Aged
• Mr Roger’s Grey mare Chastity Five years old
• Mr Jennison’s Grey horse Why not Aged

Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton, one of twenty siblings, was the eldest son of the 9th Earl of Eglinton and Susanna Montgomery, Countess of Eglinton the earl's third wife and a renowned society beauty. Alexander planned and built the conservation village of Eaglesham in 1769 around the basic plan of a capital 'A' (for Alexander). The Earl introduced the young James Boswell to the joys of London society in the early 1760s, and figures prominently in Boswells London Journal, 1762-63. He was the Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland from 1750-51. We know that the Earl was present in person because the Bath Journal records his arrival sometime between September 19th and September 26th. 

There were no horses entered at the post despite pre-meeting expectations that there would be.

Mercury won the first heat and Redneck the last heat by a narrow half-length. The purse was awarded to Redneck but Mercury won the stakes as the "second bell horse."

The horses had to be shown and entered on the Saturday before the day of running, between the hours of twelve and six, at Mr Figg’s, at the Lamb Inn in Bath, and be subject to the articles produced at the time of entrance. Certificates of their qualification for each of the purses had to be produced at the time of entrance, or before the day of running no less than three reputed running horses had to start for either of these purses. Owners had to pay two guineas entrance per horse if they were subscribers to the Bath races, and five shillings to the Clerk of the Course; a non-subscriber paid three guineas and five shillings to the Clerk of the Course, or double at the post. In the event that only one horse, was entered for a race, his owner would win ten guineas for the walk-over, and his entrance money returned and if only two they would get five guineas each, and their entrance money returned. Any disputes would be settled by the gentlemen who could afford to be in the stands.

No horses were to be plated (shod) by anyone but a smith that had subscribed half a guinea to the organisers. No persons would be allowed to sell any liquor on the Down unless they had subscribed one guinea. The stakes of each day for the second bell horse, etc. The winning horse etc. of the first day not to start for the second purse.

There were back sword contests in the Market Place Tuesday before the races and on Friday after the races and the will be a Ball each night of the races in the Town Hall.

1. G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume I, page 63. Hereinafter cited as The Complete Peerage.

The Equestrian Circus in Monmouth Street and the Child of Promise

On 17th April 1788, the following advertisement appeared in the press:

'By particular Desire of several Ladies and Gentlemen positively the last night. At Ryle’s Ride, the top of Monmouth Street, will be presented a variety of equestrian exercise; consisting of horsemanship by the whole troop, tight rope dancing, by the unrivalled Signora Riccardini, and the Child of Promise. Slack Rope Vaulting by Master Smith, Mr Smallcomb will pick up a watch blindfold. Mr Handy, in the character of harlequin, will make several surprising leaps through a hogshead of real fire (Beatles fans take note), to conclude with the tailor's disaster Or disagreeable journey to Brentford, with the hunter and road horse, by Mr Smallcombe. The doors open at half past five, and begin at half past six. Front seats, 2s. Back seats, 1s. Mr Handy returns his best thanks for the great encouragement he has been honoured with in this city.'

Stephen Ryle, who put in this advertisement, kept equestrian premises in Monmouth Street from which he sold carriages and horses and ran a stud. He also offered riding tuition in his ‘Circular Riding School.' 

Benjamin Handy began his career as an ostler with Hughes Equestrian Circus. Hughes had been a performer with Phillip Astley’s famous circus in London but left to create his own company and amphitheatre with the intention to break Astley’s virtual monopoly. Handy’s appearance with his own company in Bath seems to have been one of his first. The company mostly consisted of members of his own family and former members of the company Astley had brought to Bristol in the 1770s. 

The Tailor's Disaster Or Disagreeable Ride to Brentford was a well established clowning routine which would have been familiar to those who had attended Astley's shows.

Signora Riccardini was Handy’s wife who could perform on 'One and Two Horses in a capital Manner’ and famously would stand on her head on top a spear surrounded by fireworks. She and  Benjamin had married in Birmingham in 1873.

The 'Child of Promise' was the Handy's daughter, Mary Ann, whose star turn was riding on another rider's shoulders ‘without the assistance of Hand or Rein, having nothing to keep her up but her perpendicular Balance, and which is allowed to be the greatest balance ever attempted.’ She would have been around four years old in 1788. A year later, her father refused an offer of 365 guineas a year from Astley for the services of his daughter. 

The Master Smith mentioned in the bill was Handy’s indentured apprentice; however, by the 1787 -8 season, he had run away from his service, and by 1793, he had become a major star of the London circus scene.

Astley's Amphitheatre in 1777

At Bristol on 25th April 1788, in 'a large commodious yard at the back of the Angel, in the Borough Walls, leading from Redcliff Street to Thames Street, ' a group of performers from Astley’s and Hughes’s riding schools in London were presenting riding, rope dancing and other entertainments, but the group was called (Benjamin) Handy’s Troupe in the advertisements. Featured were 'the celebrated Mr Franklin, the Child of Promise' (Mary Ann Handy), Signora Riccardini (Mrs Handy), and Benjamin Handy. Mr Franklin was Thomas Franklin the son of a clown, famous for his feats of strength.

In December 1788 and early January 1789 ‘Ryle’s Circular Riding-School,’ which by now had been granted a Royal Patent to Host Equestrian Entertainments, hosted the same troupe of performers. The wonders promised included: ‘Mr Franklin will carry the Child of Promise over the leaping bar on two horses in the attitude of a Flying Mercury.’  This show did not feature Handy’s wife possibly because she was incapacitated by the illness of which she would later die. By October of that year, Ryle’s was putting on a show, under the patronage of the Mayor of Bath, that did not include the Handy family probably because of the death of Handy’s wife on the 25th September. But they did include Franklin and many other members of the Handy troupe. The performers also included Mr Parker throwing 'a Somerset (sic) off the horse at full speed.’ (Beatles fans may wish to take note here too!). Parkers celebrated actress wife, she was said to be the best Columbine in England, joined him an was a member of the company at the Theatre Royal for the 1789/90 season.

By November, Ryle and Franklin had formed a partnership and put on their own shows at what was now billed as 'Ryle and Franklin’s Amphitheatre' with facilities comparable to Astley’s London arena: e.g.: heating, and ringside boxes which could be reserved, as in the Theatre, by sending your servants to occupy them. There were three performances a week. The Ryle Franklin enterprise doesn't seem to have thrived because by March 1790, Franklin and Hardy had become partners and were again in Bristol building a new riding school and ring for performance behind the Full Moon in North Street, St Paul’s. Construction was delayed, however, and the planned opening on 8th March was postponed until the 22nd. Meanwhile, the two men offered riding lessons to the ladies and gentlemen of Bristol.

Even though they had so recently erected an arena, on 10th May 1790 Franklin and Handy announced plans for a more elaborate riding school and performance ring. They promised their patrons that as soon as 500gns (of a total of 1000 gs needed) should be subscribed, construction would commence. They also noted they would be in attendance six months of the year to teach riding to Bristolians and to break horses for them. They continued to perform in their old circus at Bristol throughout May and then left to perform elsewhere. Their new establishment in Bristol opened in 1792, but Handy seems to have sold his interests in the Bristol establishment in 1793. Handy went on to have a long and successful career both as a performer and proprietor, eventually owning a part share in Astley’s Amphitheatre in London. Jacob DeCastro the comedian, in his memoir of 1824, said that Handy 'lives as an independent gentleman, and a magistrate for the county of Somerset, very near the famed city of Bath . . .'

In February 1793 Franklin brought his company to Monmouth Street four a week. The company consisted of 9 performers and 9 horses. The programme offered, horsemanship, rope-vaulting, ground and lofty tumbling and Egyptian Pyramids. Performers included:

• Mr Franklin himself performing his "much-admired trick with oranges and forks
• The astonishing eight year old "Young English Mercury" whose speciality was playing the violin while on the shoulders of Franklin while he rode two horse
• Master Smith
• The Little Devil performing somersaults on horseback
• Mr Crossman who had learned his trade with Astley

Franklin’s Bristol venture never seems to have been adequately capitalized and appears to have failed around 1794. DeCastro says that Franklin went to America where he died. Ryle seems to have gone back to focussing on his core business, and his 1804 advertisements announce his hiring of a fashionable London riding master to teach the gentry alongside his livery and horse hire services. He also seems to have acquired additional livery accommodation in Pulteney Street.

In July 1813 the newspapers announced that 'Mr Sam Ryle, former livery stable keeper and master of the riding school in Monmouth Street; he retired to bed in his usual state of health and in the morning was found dead.'

And what of the Child of Promise? She went on to have a successful career as a performer on horseback but, more famously, as a slack rope dancer until her tragic death at about thirteen. Travelling with her company from Liverpool to London in the packet Viceroy, she drowned when it sank in St Georges Channel in December 1797.

James King

In Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey, Henry Tilney is first introduced to Catherine Morland at a ball in the Lower Rooms. When he was “treating his partner to tea,” he laughingly accused her of keeping a journal in which he feared he should make but a poor figure. “Shall I tell you,” he asks, “what you ought to say? I danced with a very agreeable young man introduced by Mr. King; had a great deal of conversation with him; seems a most extraordinary genius.”

James King was a real Bath character. The son of a respectable Irish family, he had served with distinction in the British Army during the American Revolutionary War.

The office of Master of the Ceremonies was a very profitable one. Each Master has a ball in the winter and spring seasons, and subscription books were provided in the Rooms to provide an opportunity for those of the company who did not subscribe to balls, in the words of the New Bath Guide, “an opportunity of shewing those gentlemen marks of their respect.”

For this reason, when  Captain Wade resigned from the office of Master of the Ceremonies on the 8th of July 1777, no less than seven men applied to be his successor. The candidates were eventually whittled down to two: William Brereton and William Dawson, Esq's. To preserve the peace and harmony of Bath, it was proposed that Mr Brereton should officiate at the Lower and Mr Dawson at the New Rooms. Mr Brereton continued in office for about three years. On his resignation, Richard Tyson was elected in his place. On the resignation of Mr. Dawson in 1785, Mr. Tyson was unanimously elected by the New Rooms subscribers, and Mr. King was elected to the Lower Rooms.

Each MC was given a medallion to wear as a mark of office. Mr. King’s medallion was made of fine gold enamelled blue and elegantly enriched with brilliants. On one side was a raised figure of Venus, with a golden apple in one hand and a rudder in the other; the motto Venus deceus. The reverse is a laurel wreath with the motto, Arbiter Elegantia Communi Consensu.

In 1805, Tyson stood down from his position at the Upper Rooms, and James King was elected to succeed him.

The Lower Rooms went into a period of decline following King's departure and did not really recover until the rooms were rented to a new tenant, a musician called Lanza, who appointed a new MC named Francis Guynette. New tenants Finegan and Hobbes, working with Guynette, further enhanced this revival.

Finegan and Hobbes tried to introduce vocal concerts and promenades at the Lower Rooms on Monday nights, something which they agreed with Andrew Nash, the proprietor of the Upper Rooms, but King, to safeguard his Monday Balls, objected. Hobbes retorted that with 10,000 visitors each season, there was room for two simultaneous amusements. King won the day allegedly because King threatened Finegan.

From 1801 to 1816, King divided his time between Bath and Cheltenham.

In the words of the New Bath Guide for 1819, Mr King 'discharged the duties of his office, with distinguished politeness and universal esteem, till the the period of his lamented death in October 1816.'

HORSE RACING ON CLAVERTON DOWN The O’Kelly years.

The first recorded racing on Claverton Down was in 1729, but the racing there was at its zenith between 1771 and 1783 when the town was visited annually by the extraordinary Col. Dennis O’Kelly, his much-envied horses, his enormously wealthy friends and, possibly, by his infamous 'wife' Charlotte Hayes. O’Kelly had come to England from Ireland and initially earned his living as a sedan chair carrier. A series of adventures led him to the Fleet prison, where he met and joined forces with Charlotte Hayes. Together, they made an immense fortune based on gambling, brothel keeping and horse dealing. The latter led him to acquire 'Eclipse,' the horse from which some 95% of today’s racehorses are descended.

Count O'Kelly

1771 was an important year for Dennis and racing as it was the year 'Eclipse' went to stud, and his progeny featured in all the Bath races from 1776. It was also a big year for Bath with the opening of the New Assembly Rooms: race meetings took place just before the opening of the season and generally lasted three or four days.

Claverton Down was used for many equestrian activities; the race course was laid out over two miles in front of Claverton Down House, facing Hampton Down, and from at least 1773, there was a grandstand erected on the course, but Genteel spectators were either mounted or in coaches often riding alongside the horses in the race. Racing in the 18th century was as much a test of stamina as speed and typically was settled by running three, four-mile heats. Claverton Down horse racing attracted sizable crowds, enormously wealthy owners and gamblers. HRH, the Duke of Cumberland, regularly sent horses to run there and may have attended in person. Many businesses in Bath sought to profit from this, and tradesmen paid substantial fees to have booths on the course and to provide services such as shoeing. The Assembly Rooms would also take advantage of the crowds and put on special pre-season balls, while local eateries would provide special meals.

A typical race was the first one of the 1771 meeting, which was for a prize of £50 (about £3000 today). The race was open to any horse, and all runners had to carry a minimum of 8st 7lbs except horses who had won a King’s Plate, which had to carry 9st. The result was to be determined by the outcome of three, four-mile heats. As it happened, only two heats were run by only three horses. Mr Hugo’s grey mare, Frolic, beat Mr Carpenter’s grey horse, Danger, and Mr Brereton’s bay horse, Star. This could be the same Mr Brereton who was banned from the Jockey Club coffee rooms for making accusations of cheating against two fellow members. 

'Frolic' won the first heat easily, the general opinion being that the other two had not really tried. Surprisingly, the odds going into the second heat went as high as 20:1 against 'Frolic' winning again. However, despite 'Danger' having run much better, 'Frolic' won by several lengths. Two other horses had originally been entered, but Mr Bishop’s 'Daniel' had gone lame, and Dennis had been paid not to start his horse, 'Helen.' It's quite likely that 'Helen' was a nine-year-old mare that appears in the records as having been bred out of Daphne, a daughter of the Godolphin Arabian, one of the three founding Arab stallions of thoroughbred breeding,  by the noted stallion 'Spectator,' winner of the Jockey Club plate. This first race set something of a precedent with the crowd, who were surprised by and often suspicious of the way races were run and the curious movements in the betting market.

At the end of the meeting, Gyde’s Rooms held a ball, and The Chronicle declared the meeting to be equal, if not superior, to any meeting in the kingdom, which may reflect the impact of O’Kelly. The massive popularity of the races can be judged from the estimated 1000 carriages on the Down on Wednesday of that week. 

Another typical race was a sweepstake, such as the second race on the second day of the 1772 meeting. A fifty guinea sweepstake for three-year-olds over a four-mile course which was competed for by:

Mr Parker’s grey filly. Mr Parker is almost certainly John Parker of Saltram house in Devon, who represented Devonshire in Parliament and who would go on to win the 1783 Derby. The grey filly was probably a horse called 'Charlotte' out of a Regulus mare, and by the stallion 'Shakespeare,' 'Shakespeare,' bred by Sir John Moore, was not a very successful racehorse but had a solid reputation for breeding good mares.

Mr Wildman’s grey colt was entered on his behalf by Mr Coxe. Wildman was a wealthy wholesale butcher and stock dealer who had bought the horse 'Eclipse' at the sale of the Duke of Cumberland’s stud. It's not clear who the J. Coxe that entered Wildman’s colt was, but he was almost certainly a connection of the Coxe family who owned Ston Easton Park. The grey colt was probably a horse called 'Lamplighter' and was bred from 'Antinous' by the 3rd Duke of Grafton at Euston. 'Antinous' ran for six years from the age of four, beating the top horses of his day in big purse matches.

Mr. O’Kelly’s chestnut colt, Young Colin.

Lord Corke and Mr Coxe paid forfeits of 25 guineas each to withdraw their horses.
Betting before the start was: Mr Parker’s filly, evens. 6 to 4 against the grey colt and 2 to 1 against 'Young Colin.' In running, bets were offered that 'Colin' would not come last. The race reports described it as a very fine heat won with difficulty by the filly carrying 8st 5lb against the colts' 8st 7lb. The winner took the prize of 200 guineas (about £24,000 today).

The third race of the 1780 season was for three-year-olds over one two-mile course. The field consisted of HRH, the Duke of Cumberland’s colt 'Polydore' by 'Eclipse' out of a Spectator Mare. Mr Luttrell’s bay colt 'Tetrarch' by Herod, dam by 'Careless.' Mr O’Kelly’s colt 'Budroo' by 'Eclipse' out of a Sweeper mare. Mr Parker’s brown colt by 'Matchem' out of an Old England mare. In fact, 'Budroo' and 'Polydore' had in May competed in the first running of the Epsom Derby, 'Polydore' coming 6th and 'Budroo' coming 2nd out of a field of nine. But this day, 'Budroo' won and 'Polydore' came last. The following year 'Budroo' beat the winner of the first Derby, Sir Charles Bunbury's 'Diomed' at a 300 guinea rematch at Newmarket.

As well as pre-advertized races, two owners often agreed to race their horses against each other in a match. In 1774, the match planned between Dennis’s 'Catchpenny' and Mr Fenwick’s 'Playfellow' for 200gs was called off because O’Kelly objected to how Fenwick proposed paying with a credit note payable in America. This undoubtedly reflects his concerns about the rapidly deteriorating relationship between the British government and the American colonists.

At the end of each meeting, the subscribers chose one of their number to be the steward who organised the following year’s meeting. Among the many colourful characters who undertook this role in Bath was the notorious gambler Sir John Lade, Dr Johnson’s godson and soon to be the husband of the even more notorious Letty Lade.

Letty Lade

Food at the Rooms in the 1770s

At a committee meeting on June 4^th 1771 it was:

"Agreed with Messrs Pritchard & Lucas that they will supply the rooms with Soope, pyes, tarts, made dishes, poultry, butchers meat, fish, tongues, hams, fricassees, anchovies, and that they shall allow out of their profits two shillings in the pound. All other things whatsoever to be found by the proprietors except the wines which they are which they are to provide and to make the following allowances viz on each bottle of Tokay 1s 6d on all French wines except claret 1s on claret and hock 8d on Rhenish 6d per bottle."

A colt by Tatler and the Arabian connection

On Tuesday, the 16th of September 1777, on Claverton Down, a 50 guinea sweepstakes was run between two horses over four miles. [1]

The winner was Mr Yeat's bay colt Patriot. The loser is described as Mr Coxe, a brown colt by Tatler Dam by White Nose.

Mr. Coxe has yet to be identified with certainty, but he was probably a member of the Hippisley Coxe family of Ston Easton.

We can, however, trace the origins of Mr. Coxe's colt.

Tatler, his sire, was a relatively undistinguished horse bred by the very important stallion Blank. Blank was bred by Frances, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, at his stud at Babraham in Cambridgeshire but sold as a six-year-old to Peregrin Bertie, the 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven for his stud at Grimsthorpe in Lancashire. The stallion Godolphin used bears his family name and is one of the three great founding oriental stallions of the thoroughbred horse. The colt's dam was, we are told, bred using the stallion White Nose. This stallion appears to have been bred either by Sir William Middleton or Thomas Panton in 1742; he never raced. He was, however, remarkably successful at stud and is considered among the top ten of the Godolphin Arabian's sons.

The Godolphin Arabian, initially known as Sham or Shami, was foaled in Yemen in 1724 (from Jilfan blood). A brown colt with a bit of white on his off-hind heel, he stood 14.3 hands high.

He was exported via Syria to Tunis as one of four horses to be presented by the Bey of Tunis to the King of France. In France, he was acquired by an Englishman, Edward Coke, who sent his purchase to his estate at Longford Hall in Derbyshire.

When Coke died in August 1733, aged only 32, he bequeathed his bloodstock to Roger Williams, proprietor of the St James's Coffee House in London, who also acted as a bloodstock agent. Williams then sold the Arabian to Francis, 2nd Earl of Godolphin.


1. Bath Chronicle

A Race on Lansdown in 1765

Wednesday, 2nd October  1765, was the first day of a three-day race meeting held on Lansdown in Bath. For some reason, this meeting is not recorded in Heber's calendar. 

It featured a race for "a handsome silver tankard by any horse mare or gelding, not exceeding 14hh, carrying 9 stone allowing 7 pounds for every inch under, the best of 3 four mile heats." By comparison, the longest flat race run in the UK today is the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot, which has a race length of over 2 miles and 6 furlongs.

The race was won by Lord Staverdale's bay mare Blue Cap. Henry Thomas Fox-Strangways, known as Lord Stavordale from 1756 to 1776, when he inherited the title of Earl of Ilchester on the death of his father, had his family seat at Melbury House, near Evershot, Dorset, some 50 miles from Bath. In 1765, he was 18 and likely to still be riding his own horses in races.

His Lordship would have paid 5 shillings, about £30 at today's values, to enter Blue Cap if he had subscribed to the race costs and prizes or half a guinea, about £60, if not. These prices only applied if he entered his horses by Friday the 27th of September at Mr Dover's alehouse, the Coach and Horses in Bell Tree Lane, which ran between Stall Street and Bilbury Lane. He was open to accept entries from 2 to 6 each day. If he had not entered by the 27th, he would have had to enter "at the post" on race day at twice the price.

On receiving the horse's entry, Mr Dover would have had the horse officially measured to determine what weight it should carry. at the Coach and Horses in "Bell Lane" between the hours of 2 and 6. The Coach and Horses was an alehouse on Bell Tree Lane, which ran between Stall Street and Bilbury Lane.

The entrance money was used to provide a purse for the horse owner that came second, providing a won at least one of the heats.

Before starting, his Lordship would have had to have had his horse shod with racing plates by one of the blacksmiths who had paid the organisers a subscription for the privilege.

On arrival at the course, all visitors would have been courted by the many booth holders and liquor sellers who had paid a guinea to the organisers for the opportunity to sell their wares to the well-heeled racing crowd.

The main race was scheduled to start at 3 o’clock each day, but an hour before this, a drum or trumpet would alert runners to the need to weigh in to determine whether or not the rider needed to carry extra weight in pockets usually specially built into their waistcoat and design to ensure it was secure and evenly distributed. Each owner had to pay one shilling to the clerk of the course for the use of the official weights and scales.

Riders were at liberty to wear whatever they chose, but most would wear coloured silk or white holland [a plain woven or dull-finish linen] to help the spectators identify runners, waistcoats and drawers or breeches made of light fabric designed to hug the body, and on their head a little cap tied on; tight-fitting boots and spurs.

Thus equipped, the rider would mount and ride down to the appointed start. Books from the time advise on tactics. If the horse had more stamina than speed, they recommend trying to win from the front, forcing the pace as much as possible from the start to break the spirit of faster horses. If you had a fast horse, by contrast, they advise holding him behind and coming with a late rush. To conserve a horse's stamina, a ride might hold a horse back in one heat but had to be careful not to be "distanced, " meaning it would be disqualified. This was a rule brought in to discourage riders from giving horses an easy ride in one heat. The distance was a point approximately 240 yards from the finish.

The Complete Sportsman by Thomas Fairfax describes the riding style in vogue at this time.

'The posture to be observed is, that you place yourself upon your twist [the part of the saddle the rider feels between their upper inner thighs], with your knees firm, and your stirrups just at such a length, that your feet, when they are thrust home in them, you can raise yourself a little in the saddle, for your legs, without that allowance, will not be firm when you come to run; the counter-poise of your body must be forward, to facilitate your horse's running, and your elbows must be close to your body; be sure, above all things, that you do not incommode your horse by swaggering this or that way, as some do, for since weight is a great matter in running, and that a troublesome rider is as bad as so much more weight, there is no need to say how necessary it is to take great care of your seat and hand; you must therefore beware of holding yourself by the bridle, or of jobbing your horse's mouth upon any occasion; you must take your right rein in the same hand, holding up horse, &c. as you find it necessary, and every now and then remove the bridle in his mouth. But these things are best learned by experience and practice.'

At the end of each heat, riders would be weighed in great scales and disqualified if they weighed less than they had at the start.

The horse and rider usually had half an hour between heats to recover and for the grooms to rub down the sweating horses until the drum or trumpet, again, sounded to announce the start of the next heat.

At the end of each heat, owners and spectators would gather at the betting post to exchange bets and set odds on the race's outcome. Huge amounts of money could be wagered and considerable emotion raised. It was not uncommon for spectators and owners to follow their chosen horse on horseback over the last part of the race, adding to the confusion and excitement.

On winning the race, Lord Stavordale could claim his prize but, on receiving it, was required to pay 5 shillings to the Clerk of the Course. Should anyone have disputed his victory, such a dispute would have been judged by those who had subscribed money to meet the costs of the meeting who had not entered horses.

Admiral Keppel's Arrival in Bath in 1779

The Bath Chronicle of Thursday, 18th March 1779, reported on Admiral Keppel's arrival in Bath the previous Friday. Keppel was almost certainly coming to Bath to seek treatment for his chronic ill health following a fever he had contracted during his service in the West Indies.

A member of a leading Whig aristocratic family (which had come to England with William of Orange), Augustus Keppel was the second son of Willem van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle and Anne van Keppel, a daughter of the 1st Duke of Richmond (himself an illegitimate son of King Charles II).

The most prominent period of his life belonged to the opening years of the American Revolutionary War. Keppel had been promoted to full admiral on 29 January 1778 and appointed to command the Channel Fleet, the main fleet prepared against France; at the time of his appointment, he expressed the view that the First Lord would be glad for him to be defeated.

Before 1778, Keppel had failed to persuade the Lords of the Admiralty to copper sheath any of their ships. He had remarked that coppering "gave additional strength to the navy". The lack of coppering the Navy is often considered one reason Britain lost the 13 colonies.

One of Keppel's subordinate admirals was Sir Hugh Palliser, a member of the Admiralty Board, a member of parliament, and, in Keppel's opinion, responsible with his colleagues for the bad state of the Royal Navy. The First Battle of Ushant, which Keppel fought with the French on 27 July 1778, ended badly. Reasons included Keppel's own management but also the failure of Palliser to obey orders. Keppel had become convinced that he had been deliberately betrayed.

Though Keppel had praised Palliser in his public despatch, he had attacked him privately. The Whig press, with Keppel's friends, had begun a campaign of calumny. The ministerial papers answered in the same style, and each side had accused the other of deliberate treason. The result was a scandalous series of scenes in parliament and of courts-martial. On the 11th of February, Keppel's court-martial pronounced the charges against him malicious and unfounded. Following this verdict, there had been a wave of riotous popular celebrations across the country. 

Keppel, painted by Lawrence in 1779

These celebrations were to greet Keppel on his arrival on 12th March with window displays, parades, cheering crowds, and popular demonstrations, including the burning of effigies outside the Crescent being ‘only slightly constrained by the modest protests of their hero’.

On Wednesday the 17th, twenty-five 'Ladies of the first distinction in this city'  held 'an elegant and sumptuous breakfast' 'in compliment to Admiral Keppel'. These 'Ladies of the first distinction' 'selected out of the company here at present here upwards of two hundred Ladies and Gentlemen to partake of it'. This event was put on at the Upper Rooms, and the Admiral was accompanied by 'several distinguished Naval Officers' in uniform.

The breakfast was held in the Tea Room and was accompanied by music provided by a band stationed in the gallery.

After Breakfast, the party moved into the ballroom, where they were treated to an "elegant collation of fruits, sweetmeats, ices of various sorts, jellies etc etc’. At this point, the younger invitees continued the celebrations by dancing cotillions and country dances until 3 p.m. The company ended by dancing a long minuet composed and presented by a lady described as “a young Lady of distinguished worth and musical abilities”.

The crowds of the uninvited admirers of the Admiral had gathered outside the door and made it difficult for the party to leave.

The newspaper further tells us of Bath and Bristol’s intentions to make the Admiral a freeman of their respective cities and that the Admiral intended to honour the Theatre with his company the following evening. There, he would have been treated to a performance of Sheridan’s ‘The Rival’ and a farce entitled ‘The Liverpool Prize’.

Singleton Hall a dance from the 1780s

From 8 Cotillions, 6 Favorite Country Dances and two Minuets, with their proper Figures for the Harp, Harpsichord and Violin ... Book xviii, for the Year 1785 by Francis Werner

Francis Werner was a dancing master and master of the ceremonies at Almack's and the Festino Rooms. He lived at 6 Lower St. James' Street, Golden Square, in 1782 and died in 1787. Campbell, Fentum, Birchall, Andrews, and others published his yearly books.

Not Jane Austen Again!

A visitor to Bath could easily get the impression that Jane Austen was the only Georgian woman novelist with significant Bath connections, but this was far from the case. Many women writers lived in and visited the City and drew inspiration from it. Some were much more famous and widely read in their own time than Austen. What follows are short accounts of just some of them.

Sarah Fielding

Younger Sister of the more famous novelist Henry, Sarah Fielding wrote more than 4,000 pages of prose fiction, a 366-page translation of Xenophon’s Memoirs of Socrates, a part of which was still in print as late as 1937, and a short pamphlet of literary criticism last reprinted in 1985. Her novel The Governess, or the Little Female Academy, published in 1749, is considered the first novel written in English aimed at children. In her lifetime, her literary output often came close to outselling that of her more celebrated brother.

Sarah had many links to Bath and was a frequent visitor. Finally, she moved to Bath permanently around 1754 until her death, probably in Walcot in 1768. She and Henry were at the centre of the literary circle that formed around the generosity of Ralph Allan and James Leake, Bath’s famous bookseller and publisher, who was brother-in-law to Sarah’s friend, the novelist Samuel Richardson. The Fielding’s were also linked to Bath via the Fielding family's relationship to the Dukes of Kingston, whose land holdings in Bath are still marked in our street names today. Sarah’s second novel is set in Bath and demonstrates considerable knowledge of the city. The place in Bath most associated with Sarah is Widcombe Lodge, where a plaque still marks her residence. However, much of what is written about Sarah’s residences in Bath comes from the writing of R.E.M Peach, which modern historians have failed to substantiate. 

Sarah was born in East Stour, Dorset, in 1710. Around 1720, her father placed his children in the care of their maternal grandmother, Sarah Lady Gould, in Salisbury, where she and her sisters attended Mary Rooke’s boarding school where girls were ‘to be educated and learn to work and read and write and to talk French and Dance and be brought up as Gentlewomen’. Lady Gould won legal custody of the Fielding children. Sarah stayed with her in Salisbury, where she made important friendships that would improve her education and nurture her writing talent. 

Lady Gould died in 1733, and Sarah seems to have left Salisbury for extended visits to East Stour, London and Bath. Sarah’s first published work was a ‘letter’ from ‘Leonara to Horatio’, which was included in her brother's novel Joseph Andrews, published in 1742. The following year, Sarah’s short fictional life of Anne Boleyn appeared in Henry’s ‘A Journey from this World to the Next’. Then, in 1744, she published her first complete novel ‘The Adventures of David Simple’. ‘Familiar Letters between the Principal Characters of David Simple and Others’, set in Bath, appeared in 1747. In 1749, she published her only volume of literary criticism ‘Remarks on Clarissa’ and in the same year ‘The Governess, or the Little Female Academy: being the History of Mrs Teachum and her Nine Girls, with their Nine Days Amusement’ which was the first children’s school story exclusive about and for young girls. In 1753, a final sequel to Sarah’s first novel was published ‘The Adventures of David Simple, Volume the Last.’ 

By the end of 1754, she had lost all her immediate family and was in poor shape financially, but with help from her many friends, she moved permanently to Bath. In 1754, she and Jane Collier published ‘The Cry: a New Dramatic Fable.’ In 1757, backed by 441 subscribers and following prodigious amounts of research, she published her double fictional autobiography ‘The Lives of Cleopatra and Octavia’. ‘The History of the Countess of Dellwyn’ followed in 1759, which included an essay on literary theory. Her most popular novel ‘The History of Ophelia’ followed the next year. Sarah’s final triumph came in 1762 with the publication of a work she had been writing and researching since 1758, ‘Xenophon’s Memoirs of Socrates, with the Defence of Socrates before his Judges translated from the original Greek.’ This book was printed in Bath by the printer and publisher Cornelius Pope.

Sarah is buried in St Mary’s Charlcombe, and a monument to her is in Bath Abbey. The inscription, however, contains several factual errors.

Sarah Scott

Sarah Scott was born Sarah Robinson in 1720, the daughter of Mathew Robinson of Edgeley and West Layton Hall, Yorkshire. Her sister Elizabeth married a much older, wealthy mine owner, Edward Montagu, and, following his death, used her freedom and wealth to create a circle of upper-class intellectual men and, more importantly, women who became known as the Bluestockings.

Sarah was left to care for her dying mother, who had cancer. After her mother died in 1746, Sarah stayed with various friends and relations until, after a visit to Bath, she decided to stay on as a companion to the invalid Lady Barbara Montagu. Sarah published her first book in 1750, a novel titled ‘The History of Cornelia,’ but it enjoyed only modest success.

In 1751, Sarah married George Lewis Scott and set up house in Leicester Square with Lady Barbara as part of the household. The marriage was not a success, and after a minor scandal in 1752, Sarah left her husband, and she and Lady Barbara returned to Bath, where they lived in modest circumstances and devoted their time to good works. From 1754, the two women began spending their summers in Bath Easton and the winters in the city at Beauford Buildings. During this period, Sarah enjoyed a close friendship with Sarah Fielding. At one point, Sarah Fielding is impatient about going and living with Scott and Lady Barbara but is dissuaded by Mrs Montagu. However, Scott and her sister provided much discrete financial assistance to Fielding.

To help with their income, Sarah took up her pen to publish a translation of a French novel and a novel of her own ‘A Journey through Every Stage of Life’ both published in 1754.

Sarah produced ‘The History of Gustav Ericson, King of Sweden’ in 1761 and the following year ‘History of Mecklenburgh, from the first Settlement of the Vandals in that Country to the Present Time’. Also that year, she produced her most successful work, a Utopian novel entitled ‘Millenium Hall and the Country Adjacent’ which went to 4 editions. Millenium Hall was a female commune that Elizabeth Montagu once proposed, making a reality involving her sister and Sarah Fielding.

Lady Barbara died in 1765, but Sarah stayed on in Bath and, with the encouragement of her sister, continued writing. In 1766, she published another Utopian novel, The History of Sir George Ellison.

In 1772, Scott published ‘The Life of Theodore Agrippa d’Aubigne’ a French protestant much admired in England, and in the same year, produced her last novel ‘The test of Filial Duty’ in a series of letters between Miss Emilia Leonard and Miss Charlotte Arlington.’

The death of Edward Montagu in 1775 allowed her sister the freedom to render direct financial assistance, and Sarah stopped publishing and moved around the country, staying with her sister and her friends. In 1787, after an extended stay in Norwich, she took a small house at nearby Catton, where she died in 1795

Ann Ford

Today, Ann Ford is best known as the sitter in Gainsborough’s wonderful portrait known as ‘Portrait of Mrs Philip Thicknesse’, painted around 1760 when she would have been 23. In her time, she was known as a famous beauty, a virtuoso musician and for a life which generated much gossip and scandal. She was also a writer, and her works include ‘Instructions for Playing on the Musical Glasses’, ‘Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Ladies in France’, ‘Biographical Memoirs’ and her only novel ‘School of Fashion’ whose characters are all thinly disguised members of contemporary society.

Ann spent much time in Bath and lived there from 1767 to 1791, though that period was punctuated by two long continental tours. Latterly, she resided in the Royal Crescent. The Bath concert master Rauzzini greatly admired her talents as a singer. Her husband was the author of ‘The New Prose Bath Guide: for the year 1778’.

As a niece of Dr Ford, the Queen’s physician, and of Gilbert Ford, Attorney General of Jamaica, Ann was readily accepted by fashionable society, where she was celebrated for her beauty, musical talents, and dancing. The cream of London society came to her Sunday concerts, where she played alongside some of the leading professionals. However, her father was so violently opposed to her performing in public that he used a magistrate’s warrant to take her prisoner. Escaping from captivity, she raised £1500 in subscriptions to perform five concerts at the Haymarket’s Little Theatre. At the first of these, her father surrounded the theatre with Bow Street runners who were only dispersed when one of Ann’s aristocratic supporters threatened to bring in a detachment of guards. In 1762, aged 25, she married the notorious Philip Thickness. A journey they made to Italy in 1792 was interrupted by the death of Philip just after they departed from Boulogne. Left alone, Ann was arrested and confined in a convent, but on the death of Robespierre in 1794, she was released. In 1800, she published her novel. Ann died in 1824,  aged 86.

Mary Ann Costello

On 28th March 1827, Mrs Hann, aged 81, died in the house in Henrietta Street where she had lived for the last 20 years. This brought to an end an extraordinary life during which she had been a leading actress and a quack medicine seller and had given birth to 13 children by 3 fathers, including 4 sets of twins. One of these children rose to be Prime Minister of Great Britain. She also managed to write a novel considered worthy of being republished in the 21st century.

Mary Ann Costello was born in Ireland in 1747. Her father was a Connacht squire. She appears to have been orphaned at a young age and was raised in London by her maternal grandfather, Col. Guydickens. 

She was lauded for her beauty but had little money, so when she met and married George Canning in 1768, it was against the wishes of his family, who cut him off from any prospect of inheritance. In early 1769, Costello gave birth to a daughter, Letitia, who died a few months later. On 22 April 1770, she had the couple's second child, George Canning, the child destined to become Prime Minister. 

By 1771, Costello was widowed and was pregnant again, with no financial support. Her third child, a son Thomas, also died in infancy. She became an actress to support her young son; she debuted in Jane Shore at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in November 1773. It was unsuccessful, and Costello had to move to work in more provincial theatres in the west and north of England.

In 1775, when she was performing in Bristol, she began a 6-year relationship with the actor Samuel Reddish, having 5 children with him, including 2 sets of twins. She referred to herself as Mrs Reddish, but there is no evidence of their marriage. Her eldest son, George, was removed from her care and went to live with his uncle Stratford Canning. During this time, she wrote her novel ‘The Offspring of Fancy’, which was published in 1778. This seems to have been one of several money-making schemes she undertook as the condition, probably tertiary syphilis, that would ultimately lead Reddish to be declared insane, destroying his career and earning power.

In February 1783, Mary married a silk mercer from Plymouth, Richard Hunn, a great admirer of all things theatrical. The couple had 5 children, including another 2 sets of twins. Costello's marriage to Hunn ended with his death in the 1790s, and she retired from acting. Before his death, Hunn’s business had failed, and once again, she was left in penury. Mary attempted to make money with an eye ointment, Collysium, but it failed. At this point, her son George came to her rescue, securing her a pension of £500 a year, which enabled her to retire to Bath, where she appears to have lived as a highly regarded member of the community.

Sophia Lee

She was born in 1750 to a theatrical family. Her father was the actor-manager John Lee. After her father’s death, and using money she had earned from her early and very successful playwriting, she and her sisters opened a school for young ladies at Belvedere House in Bath. The sisters enjoyed the friendship of both the Linleys and the Sheridans. Other close friends in Bath included Mrs Siddon, whose daughter was a pupil, Mrs Piozzi and Sir Thomas Lawrence. A wonderfully vivid picture of the school appears in the memoirs of Susan Sibbald, who was a pupil in 1797. The school consisted of some 50 boarders and 20 day scholars, ages 8 to 19 years old, and they were taught French, grammar, geography, writing and arithmetic. They also had music and dancing lessons, the latter provided by the Grand Dame of Bath dancing mistresses Ann Flemming. Every three years, pupils put on a performance at the Upper Assembly Rooms, which were often attended by Royalty.

Sophia’s first play was ‘The Chapter of Accidents’, first produced by George Coleman at the Haymarket in 1780. Her subsequent works included an early best-selling Gothic novel ‘The Recess, or a Tale of Other Times’ published in 1785, admired by Ann Radcliffe and ‘Almeyda, Queen of Grenada’ in 1796. The latter was a tragedy in Blank Verse, which opened in Drury Lane with Sarah Siddens in the lead role.

Sophia also produced several translations. She died in Bristol in 1824.

Frances Burney

Frances Burney was a frequent visitor to Bath and expressed great affection for the city. She had first visited the city in 1767 with her father and lived here with her friends, the Thrales, in 1780 in 14 South Parade. She returned to Bath at 23 Great Stanhope Street between 1815 and 1818. Burney died in 1847 and is buried at St Swithen’s Walcot. She is also a visitor to her friend Hester Thrale's house in Gay Street following Hester’s marriage to the Italian piano teacher Gabriel Poizzi. Hester herself was an established writer. 

Frances was born in Lynn Regis, now Kings Lynn, in 1752 to the musician and musicologist Charles Burney and his first wife. Like Austen, she began writing very young. From 1786 to 1790, she was “Keeper of the Robes” to Queen Charlotte. In 1793, at 41, she married the exiled French General Alexandre D’Arblay and had her only child, Alexander, in 1794. Her first novel, Evelina, was a huge bestseller and won critical acclaim, including from her friend Dr Johnson. She went on to write another three novels and several plays. She also wrote a memoir of her father. Frances left many letters and journals on which much of her modern reputation rests. Jane Austen acknowledged having been significantly influenced by Burney.

Harriet Lee

Harriet Lee was born in 1757, the youngest of three sisters, including the bestselling novelist and playwright Sophia.  Harriet lived much of her life in Bath, helping her sisters run their much-admired school.

In 1786, Harriet published her first novel, ‘The Errors of Innocence’. More than ten years later, she began what was to be her masterpiece, ‘The Canterbury Tales’, which includes some small contributions by Sophia; by its completion in 1807, it ran to five volumes. The Canterbury Tales was in print for many years and won much admiration from critics and other writers, including Lord Byron.

In addition to this, Harriet produced another novel and a play.

Harriet Lee died in 1851 at the age of 94.

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire

Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire 1757 - 1806, socialite, political organiser, leader of fashion, author and notorious gambler whose marriage to William 5th Duke of Devonshire united two of the great aristocratic families of England, the Spencers and the Cavendishes.

Georgiana lived in and visited Bath throughout her life, and even in old age, she delighted in attending the pupil balls run by Bath’s many schools and dancing teachers at the Assembly Rooms. 

The Duchess was an avid writer and an extensive correspondent who wrote poetry and prose from a young age.

Her first published work, in 1773, when she was 16, was a novel entitled ‘Emma; Or, The Unfortunate Attachment: A Sentimental Novel.’  Five years later, she published her most successful work, ‘The Sylph, ’ which satirises the fashionable London Ton, of which she was a central figure for many years. It was commercially very successful, earning four reprints.

Ann Radcliffe

Ann Radcliffe is another novelist who influenced Austen and is explicitly mentioned in Northanger Abbey. The young Ann Ward came to live in Bath at the age of 8  in 1772 when, through the good offices of her uncle Thomas Bentley, her father was appointed to manage the showroom being opened by Bentley and his more famous partner Josiah Wedgwood. Bentley had secured premises in Westgate buildings in 1770, and William Ward is listed as the tenant as early as December 1771. Before this appointment, Ann’s father, William, had been the proprietor of a haberdashery in Holborn. By May of 1772, when Mrs Wedgwood was in Bath recuperating from an illness, her niece was able to report that she had received ‘the kind attention of a respectable couple named Ward who were to manage the showroom.’

Josiah himself came to Bath to help with the opening in June 1772. The showroom was decorated with yellow wallpaper to better show off the black basalt vases. The opening was delayed by supply issues, missed the season, and postponed to autumn.

When the showroom finally opened, Wedgwood was shocked by Ward’s marketing methods, which he regarded as vulgar.

However, despite all the setbacks by early 1773, Wedgwood was ‘glad to hear that Mrs Ward had some hopes of the business answering to them at Bath. Pray make my best respects to her and my love to Miss Nancy’. Miss Nancy was Ann’s family nickname.

Wedgwood had never liked Westgate Street, which he described as being ‘full of Coal Carts, Coal Horses & Asses - & a great way from the Town and the Parades’. So, at the end of 1774, the showroom and the Wards relocated near the bottom of Milsom Street. In 1779, they moved again to No. 22, one door from the top. The directories of the time suggest that the Wards supplemented their earnings by operating part of their home as a lodging house.

It is possible that Ann spent at least fifteen of the most formative years of her life in Bath but rarely acknowledged it. Her first biographer only mentions it twice, once in relation to her recollections of Mrs Siddons and once in regard to her marriage to William Radcliffe in Bath in 1787 when she was 23. This, in part, reflects the amount of time she spent in her uncle's house in Chelsea but may also reflect the shame she seems to have felt at her father's lowly status in Bath society.

Ann became one of the foundational authors of the Gothic school of novel writing. She has been credited with making the genre respectable. She was one of the most successful writers of her time and was widely admired by both readers and critics. Of the six novels she wrote, The Mysteries of Udolpho, thanks mainly to Austen, is probably the best known today.

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley developed and wrote much of the novel ‘Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus,  on which her reputation rests while living in Bath. 

In 1816, after leaving Byron in Geneva, Percy Shelley, the 19-year-old Mary Godwin, the heavily pregnant Clare Clermont Mary’s stepsister and Mary’s 2-year-old son and his nurse travelled through France to Le Havre, where they took ship for Portsmouth. At Portsmouth, Shelley left the party to visit a friend in Great Marlow, and the others went on to Bath. Arriving in Bath on the 10th of September, Mary and Clare took two sets of lodgings in Bath, the first at 5 Abbey Church Yard, the location of which is now marked by a plaque. The other address was at 12 New Bond Street.

It was now that Mary started earnestly to turn the story idea she had conceived in Geneva into a full-blown novel and purchased new notebooks to begin her writing. On the 5th of December, Mary wrote to Shelley saying she had completed chapter 4.

Mary and Percy left Bath for London on 30th December, where they were married at St Mildred’s Church. Claire remained in Bath and gave birth to a daughter on the 12th of January 1817. The Shelleys left Bath on the 27th of February 1816. Mary was pregnant for the third time when they left and just starting on the second notebook.