It is my great pleasure to host an extract of Charmian Kenner’s new book Revolutionary Partners: Sarah Andrews and British Campaigners for Latin American Independence. Charmian Kenner sets the scene: Naomi’s blog about Thomas Cochrane and Kitty Barnes told the story of a daring Scottish naval captain and his young bride, who eloped in 1812. […]
human interest
Out of the Shadows: Essays on 18th and 19th Century Women
It’s always a bit cringey to be advertising one’s own wares but let’s not be silly… deep breath… here goes. I have compiled some of my research and longer website articles into a slim volume titled Out of the Shadows: Essays on 18th and 19th Century Women, published by Caret Press. (Note: Caret Press is […]
A new book on Vauxhall Gardens!
If you have loved Bridgerton, Vanity Fair, Sanditon and the many other books and TV series to feature a twirl around Vauxhall Gardens you will welcome this new volume of essays by David E. Coke, a leading expert in London’s pleasure gardens of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The book follows on from Coke’s […]
Property Rites: How ‘modern’ is the story of Mary Ashford?
As a warning to female virtue, and a humbleMonument to female chastity,This stone marks the grave ofMARY ASHFORD,Who, in the 20th year of her age,Having incautiously repaired to aScene of amusement, without proper protection,Was brutally violated and murderedOn the 27th of May 1817. Mary Ashford’s gravestone, Sutton Coldfield churchyard Early one May morning in 1817 […]
Online talk: Louise Michel in South London
In 1883 the feminist anarchist Louise Michel visited a south London workhouse. Why was the opinion of this ex-convict veteran of the Paris Commune on provision for the poor in London so valued? Find out at my free online talk on Wednesday 14 April at 7pm for Vauxhall History and Friends of South Lambeth Library. […]
Watch “By her own consent”: Mary Ashford and Rape Culture in the Georgian Era
A chance to see the talk I delivered online for Vauxhall History and South Lambeth Library on 8 December 2020. I explore the story of Mary Ashford’s murder in 1817 and look at what it tells us about rape in the 18th and early 19th centuries.