What to wear for mourning a king? George III dies in Jan. 1820!

When George III died January 29, 1820 in Windsor Castle, the Court sent out official orders two days later for members of the Court (his family, relatives, attendants et al.) and parts of the official government. This was "to begin upon Thursday, the 3rd day of February instant." 

Initially, everyone in the United Kingdom was to wear black. The mourning period, usually a full year after anyone's death, was extended in many finite ways after the death of a monarch.

In these two excerpts from a newspaper published days after his death, we see that clothing was specifically addressed. (Do enlarge the photos here so you can them.)

But I excerpt this for you:

"Ladies were to wear black bombazine, plain muslin or long lawn linens, crape hoods, shammy shoes and gloves and crape fans.

"Undress—Dark Norwich crape.

"The Gentlemen to wear back cloth, without buttons on the sleeves and pockets, plain muslin or long lawn cravats and weeps. shammy shoes, and gloves, crape headbands, and black swords and buckles.

"Undress—Dark grey frocks."

Specific instructions were issued by the Lord Chamberlain for:

Horse Guards: "...black crape over the ornamental part of the cap, the sword knot, and on the left arm. Officers on duty are to wear black gloves, black crape over the ornamental part of the cap...the sash covered in black crape, black gorget ribbon, and black crape scarf over the right shoulder.

The drums are to be covered with black...

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Admiralty Office: "...black crape on their left arms, hats, and scrod-knots...except at Court, when they are also to wear black waistcoats, breeches, stockings and buckles...

In addition, theaters were closed. Many shops closed too.

For three months, the Court held no public affairs. Balls and many social events were cancelled. The new King George IV, though not yet crowned, did not attend social functions. 

Gradations of mourning in terms of events one might hold or attend were normal. Three months, six months and then one year were the usual periods of mourning. Changes in the color and types of clothing changed with the periods.

Mourning for old King George III was particularly difficult for the Court and for all in the country because six days before one of his sons, the Duke of Kent who was Princess Victoria's father, had died of pneumonia.  He was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, February 12, 1820. For days later, February 16, 1820 was the day that George III was buried in the same chapel. 

Not until one year and half later is George III's son, the Prince Regent, crowned King George  IV.

In HIS NAUGHTY MAID, my heroine goes to the public celebrations for Coronation of George IV July 21, 1821. That official day-long event, long after mourning was ended for the previous monarch, was a lavish affair with week-long celebrations. It also cost the equivalent of MILLIONS of  British pounds!

This Countess worries her daughter may be enchanted with (gasp!) the stable boy! Your chuckle for today!

Number 6, Dudley Crescent

London

July 15, 1821

Dearest Lucinda,

I write to you today to share my outrage at occurrences in Dudley Crescent. I simply cannot abide the recent changes and must have your advice.

Two years ago, a murder occurred at Number 10. The horrid matter was quickly resolved when the culprit was identified and put away from fine society.  But the greater scandal was that the widowed lady of the house had intimate relations with her butler! Then last year, a noted member of society hired a young woman as ward to his child…and later, did marry the woman! She was far below his station, though, I do understand, an heiress of considerable worth. I must tell you the man is one of our finest gentlemen with a spotless reputation and high military honors.

Yet, I worry. Another event occurring last week causes me to question my presence here!

I understand that another noble gentleman has paid attentions to one of his servants! This time, said woman is not a governess. No, indeed, she is his maid-of-all-work! Can you imagine? I’ve been inconsolable, riddled with a nervous stomach and headaches. My usual little dose of laudanum is simply not enough to calm me.

This causes me to ask you if you think I should move to a better part of town. Is there a curse on the Crescent? Must I expect more servants who will climb above their station to enthrall their masters or mistresses? Worse, will such an affliction affect my own house? I must tell you, quite confidentially, that my only daughter, Lady Mary, seems far too taken with one of our own servants. The new…dear me, I can barely write this…stable boy. Yes! He is most definitely nota boy. Not by any means. He is thirty years of age or more. Tall, taller than my dear departed husband. In strapping good health and devilishly handsome with hair the color of coal and eyes like lavender. He is quite ethereal. 

I do rattle on!

Advise me, please!

Most sincerely,

Catherine

Countess of Trelawny

Coming soon in my DELIGHTFUL DOINGS IN DUDLEY CRESCENT series!

Cerise's Amazon series!

Servants run the house...and fall in love with their employers? GASP!

Find BUTLER and GOVERNESS here!

I’ve often delighted in touring English houses. In every nook and cranny, I’ve found little joys that I’ve tried to add in my novels.

Regency Town House
Brighton, England

In my fictitious Dudley Crescent that I invented for this series, Delightful Doings in Dudley Crescent, I take bits and pieces from a few houses I’ve visited in England. Most often, I reference floor plans for a house in Brighton that I recommend everyone visit. This house, officially dubbed Regency Town House, is currently being restored by volunteers who are specialists in home construction and Regency period lifestyles. They have formed a non-profit organization and promote their work in Brighton, offering tours, dinners and other entertainments to educate everyone. 

When I last visited, this group was involved in discovering the original paint colors on the walls, ceilings and fittings. Here I show you the intricate design on drawing room shutters. Each house in Brunswick Square originally sold in the 1820s for approximately three thousand pounds. This did not include cost of such items as chandeliers, elaborate moldings, draperies or furnishings. A buyer could expect to purchase his or her own embellishments, according to his means, to make the house a home.

Butler's Wine Cellar,
Brighton England

When completed, a townhouse would be home not only to the owners’ family but also a team of servants. In this Brighton home, for example, servants could enter the house from the front street with steps down to the basement. There the housekeeper had her spacious room, the butler his wine cellar, the servants their dining room, an exit to the center kitchen garden and the servants’ privy! From the center hall in the basement, servants waited upon their masters upstairs accessing their own staircase. This rough-hewn wooden set of steps was narrow and lit only by one window. Near this staircase is the kitchen, a wide expanse with cupboards, a glass ceiling and a huge fireplace. Maids slept in an alcove in the kitchen and footman slept on the cold stone floor. From the kitchen, one could exit to the mews.

Shutter decor
Regency Town House,
Brighton, England

While my Dudley Crescent townhouses most nearly resemble the Brunswick Square Brighton townhouses, they haves similarities to the Royal Crescent in Bath and to those in Earl’s Court in London. A few similarities also exist with architect Sir John Soanes’ house in London. Do visit this house when you are there next. Wonders abound, especially his device for hanging and displaying his precious collection of paintings. 

Door Decor
Syon House,
London, England

Townhouses showed the owners’ wealth and status. These homes often rivaled the nobles’ main country homes and their London residences in quality and appointments. Owners brought in sculptures, paintings and furnishings and even built little libraries. Whether in London or in smaller cities and towns, the different layouts and styles offer a treasure trove for a happy tourist!

Noting how Belle, my heroine in HIS TEMPTING GOVERNESS, hid her documents in secret drawers, I will tell you that the cabinetmaker acclaimed for this was George Hepplewhite. An Englishman, he crafted desks and other types of cabinetry with hidden compartments. His work, often imitated by other lesser known craftsmen, was popular. Belle’s family could have owned quite a few pieces that resembled his style.

Kentish Chronicle, August 4, 1820

I will say as an aside that the auction of Belle’s house was a usual phenomenon. Numerous advertisements appeared daily in newspapers, detailing the auction of houses and contents. Some were estates owned by titled men and women, others had been those of tradesmen or those who had gone bankrupt. Contents up to bid could include everything in the house! Auctions were a means for many families to survive financial ruin.
Be sure to pre-order HIS TEMPTING GOVERNESS now for half price! After release, it will be $3.99!  BUY HERE!

How well were servants paid? How did they live? And why can't they fall in love with their employers?

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 The Regency period imparted very strict social rules on the different classes. Mixing was not done. Social ostracism for those who reached down...or those who reached too far up, was the result. But in many cases, the relationships survived. In the case, for example of one of Victoria's uncles who married a Catholic lady. beneath his station, he survived. And with Victoria's help, the lady was finally received at court. Such reception also helped Prince Albert be received as the superior he was.

The greater problems for servants were a general lack of education and lack of training in the finite terms of etiquette and polite discourse. As Winston Churchill once said, and I paraphrase, the art of conversation is what he cultivated when he had tea with his mother. (She, by the way, was American heiress Jenny, Lady Randolph Churchill.)

Servants led very regimented lives, dictated by the hard work they did. Maids slept in cubby holes in the kitchen or upstairs in the cold rafters. Footmen could find themselves having to bed down on the hard cold kitchen tiles. Baths were sponge baths. The privy was in the central yard and often, none to private!

Book #1 Out now!

Wages were particularly poor. Why? Because general guidelines published for heads of households declared that wages and number of servants should be deterimined by general income. That does not seem out of line with our current thinking about cost control. But when you learn that they recommended a certain number of servants for a special income, you see that the rule of thumb was to hire many servants and pay as little as possible. See my list here!
I hope you will enjoy all 3 of my DELIGHTFUL DOINGS IN DUDLEY CRESCENT and learn how a few servants managed to fall in love with aristocrats...and their love survived the social rules!

HIS NAUGHTY MAIDout in July!

Travels with Cerise, TV, research trips and scullery maids!

Have you watched the BBC/Netflix series Bodyguard? If so, you've seen the Home Secretary pull up to the home of the Prime Minister.

Later they ID it as Chequers, the home once of Winston Churchill, now the PM's.

Well! This one in the show is not the real Chequers! No!

It's Ham House, a marvelous 17th century darkly gorgeous brick home in suburb of London along the Thames! Built for the Dysarts, this home is a wonderful example of Stuart, early Georgian architecture and a wonderful place to visit.

The interior is rich with black walnut walls and tiled floors of many colors. Done in parquet designs too. Many of the furnishings are of the period, too, including a Queen's Bedchamber done in rich reds and gold.

One aspect of touring the house and kitchen gardens was for me the informative plaques describing servants' duties. Here for you is Mary Hobley's. Mary was a scullery maid. Do read about her work, her pay and her superiors.

Cerise visits #London with 10 BURNING Questions About #Regency #England!

Every author and many readers often wonder precisely what is real and what is true fiction in any novel.

As I walk around London, I am asking myself these often overlooked aspects.

See if any of them are also your burning questions!

1. If I live on Brook Street, is it really a friendly walk to Oxford Street?

2. If I want to buy a hat at a milliner's shop or visit a dressmaker on Half Moon Street, must I hire a carriage, say, if I live in Grosvenor Square?

3. And if I do hire a carriage, where would mine be housed? Is there a mews behind many of these famous squares in Mayfair? Or were there?

4. How do the numbers run around a square? Might not seem like a Burning Question, but when one writes a series (as I do) about folks who live and work in one, it helps to know how the numbers run or ran so that I'm not sending people helter-skelter.

5. In the rear of grand squares do alleys run? Or are they something else? Named something other than alley or access or lane?

hmmm.

6. When I go to Rules, opened in 1798, what's on the menu that a lord and lady might have ordered for their meals?

Think I'll ask my waiter!

7. Where can I get bangers and mash? (And why?)

8. I also need a pasty. My mother made them often and I yearn for a good one. Question is where do I go?

This pix of the TOWER gives me chills because it shows the poppies,
one ceramic flower for each man lost in the Great War
from each country in the Empire.

9. Finally, when I go visit the TOWER for my empty-umpth time, will I still get that little shiver of excitement...and will Mr. DeLand (who frankly seems addicted to the place!) once more swear he was there long ago with William, his pal?

10. In Bath, can I find one superb little gift for my new granddaughter? And in London, I must find a really good set of English buses or trains for my grandson. Question is where?

Ta Ta! Talk soon! When I get answers to these I will post them! Yes, I know. You think I am thorough but a little barmy, too, eh?

Cerise gives you her #England #research trip schedule! #knights #Lords #castles

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I'm packing my bag (small, black, within airline weight), for England! Want to come along?

I'm doing Major Research and I have an Agenda. Want to see? Bring your walking shoes, umbrella, raincoat (could be chilly too), and a sweater. Also do bring your camera because I take a picture of ANYthing which appeals. Your shoelace. The waiter's tie. Notorious. Yes. And sad. I need many cameras for shots so I can write other blogs like this one! With GOOD pictures...we do pray.

YES! I'm off for England soooon for 2+ weeks!!! Our trip this year is to London, Windsor, Reading and Bath. I am so tickled, I am silly with it.

Yesterday at a day-long FB party (Hey, forgive spelling here, I'm still recovering), I "served high tea." My mother was of English origin and tea was served at our house the English way in a pot, mind you, milk and sugar on the side with a homemade scone or good shortbread cookie.

Mr. DeLand chuckles at my English tea. He needs his java. But he says he will partake. While in England, do as they do, you see.

I am going with superb expectations that I will cram everything in I need to do and see to satisfy my historian's soul—and my writer's heart. This means, of course, that Mr. DeLand knows how to amuse himself while I shop (that verb to him is dawdle) in a museum store or the palace bookshop. (He has decades of experience with me, so he is primed.)

This year I have research goals, as ever. But they are a tad different than in past. This year we do a LOT of Regency and another shot of Victorian areas and experiences. Why? Well, I am excited about Regency architecture. This is for my series that began with HER BEGUILING BUTLER. (See here.) DELIGHTFUL DOINGS IN DUDLEY CRESCENT is my series about lords and ladies (rom com, mystery, and tons of history to titillate) who fall in love with servants. Of course, none of the servants is of that class, else what is a Regency romance for, eh? It must focus on noblemen acting in extraordinary ways to achieve the ultimate goal, marriage. I digress.

Ready for that schedule? 

DAY ONE (which is really Day 2 because the DeLands get JET LAG like the POX has arrived!)

Apsley House, London Regency walking tour; and TOWER OF LONDON

This makes the 6th or 7th or umpty-umpth time we have done THE TOWER. But Mr. DeLand's forefather (and mine) came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror and Mr. DeLand  gets crazy mad goosebumps every time he visits. Ergo, one must, eh? I say his ancestor helped to either build said castle, defend it or had a room there. Hmmm.

DAY TWO: Windsor Castle  

I do wish I could say I am taking tea here.
Alas, it is Buckingham Palace and this year,
HRM is busy when we arrive.

See us on the train, walking, dining there. I was there back in the my grad school days. Mr. DeLand has never been. I think that decades on, for me, I will get to see more of the castle than I did back in the day. So much more is open these days!

DAY THREE: Royal Mews and Cavalry Museum

I am up for the Mews! Last year, we were in Paris for our research trip and we went to the Palais Royale in Compiegne. We dined in a FAB 5 star place for lunch, made our way to the Palais and by the time we finished the main house, the mews was closed. I wept fat tears. Give me a carriage. Always. I get my fix here!

DAY FOUR: Spencer House. Regency Walk around London in which we amble along to haberdashers, Fortnum and Mason, a few squares to look at architecture and to dine and do high tea!

DAY FIVE: Hampton Court Palace or Blenheim. This choice depends on how we feel that morning. Why? After doing this self-guided touring for years now, we understand that occasionally we have to NOT run ourselves mad and do something simpler, not so strenuous. Especially if the weather is not wonderful, we want to be certain to be kind to ourselves, our feet and our health.

Blenheim is necessary to me as I begin a series about American Heiresses who married English noblemen in the Victorian era!

DAY SIX:  Banqueting House and Museum of London. The Banqueting House is a bit of an aside, one of those "must do-haven't been there yet thingies" but it calls to me. In my un-copious free time, I want to write (research) Restoration period. 

DAY SEVEN: Osterley Park.

This is my big Regency house tour day. Mr. DeLand will sigh and nod and humor me for hours. But he will love the train and the countryside. I know he will!

DAY EIGHT: Arundel Castle or Free

This is a bow to Mr. DeLand's delight in early medieval castles and my tendency to write a medieval now and then!

DAY NINE:  Sir John Soanes House, St. Paul’s, and Dinner at Rules!

Ah, yes. That architecture thingie? This is where I get to drool. Soanes was a major architect during the Regency period for many and I understand that the house alone is a treasure. See me dropping many POUNDS in the shop. Not weight, no. MONEY. 

Why St. Paul's? To be honest? While Mr. DeLand has been here often, I have never. I must go this time. 

And dinner at Rules? Ah. Mr. DeLand says we must take out a home equity loan to pay the bill, but go we will. Have you seen the menu? O.M.G. An Englishman's heaven. Roast beef and oysters and kidney pie and soups. I may never leave. (See me doing the dishes?)

DAY TEN, ELEVEN, TWELVE, THIRTEEN, FOURTEEN: BATH

We take the train. Love trains. Bought our tickets on line and let me just give a plug to British Railways who, when this American could not read their website well, did reimburse me for the 4 extra tickets I managed to purchase for 2 people on the same train, same day, and another 2 which went the wrong way immediately after the first 2 arrived.

Yeah.

Don't ask.

In Bath, we will go go go to:

1. Museum of Bath Architecture

2. Fashion Museum, open 10:30-5:00 every day, 

Tours at 1200 noon and 4:00 each day.

See Georgian Exhibit

Entry to the Assembly Rooms is included in the Fashion Museum ticket. - See more at: http://www.fashionmuseum.co.uk/assembly-rooms#sthash.VTqcQfzi.dpuf

3. Assembly Rooms, 10:30 - 5:00, every day

4. Jane Austen Center, open every day

5. The Circus

6. Royal Crescent

7. Roman Baths

Before we leave Bath, I will ship home my READER SWAG and goodies for all those FB Parties in 2015-2016.  I learned to do this years ago rather than accosting airline check-in clerks with my displeasure at their dislike of my weighty luggage!

DAY FIFTEEN: We leave Bath. Color me sobbing! We take the bus from Bath to our hotel at the airport!  I do love airport hotels. Means I can get up the next morning and look like a human being instead of this mad woman who has to get to the airport through wild traffic only to stand in line...again.

DAY SIXTEEN: We fly home!

Excerpt, HER BEGUILING BUTLER! Cerise's newest #Regency More fun upstairs, downstairs!

HER BEGUILING BUTLER, #1 in series about naughty servants and their delightful masters and mistresses!

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BLURB:

   The lovely widow at Number Ten Dudley Crescent hopes to lead a merry life without any husband to replace the elderly one she recently buried. Yet Lady Ranford finds herself in a pickle. Her new butler, Finnley, is not only the most obstinate man she’s ever met, but also an enigma.

   She’s never been lured to naughtiness with a man. Heaven knows, she certainly shouldn’t fantasize about the tall, dark, scowling creature who runs her household like his finely tuned pocket watch.

   But she can’t help herself. She needs to taste him—or dismiss him.

Finnley, poor fellow, has a few risqué dreams of his own about how he’d like to handle the delectable widow. Alone in his rooms, he tries to deny how her humor riddles his mind and how her beauty steals his breath away.

   None of his solutions are proper.

   All of his desires are quite…dear me…scandalous.

   But what’s a butler to do when the very life of his beloved employer is at stake? And he cannot control his need to protect her and…ahem…bed her?

Need a Nibble of HER BEGUILING BUTLER?  Copyright 2015, Cerise DeLand. All rights reserved.

“What is your background, Finnley?”

He frowned. Why would she ask? His cover was superb. His acting, excellent.

“Ah, ah.” She waved a forefinger in front of him. “No prevarications, sir.”

He shot ramrod straight. “I told you of my past. You have my reference.”

She inched closer to him, so near he could see the purple rays in the glory of her velvet eyes. “I do, dear Finnley. But why do you speak with such crisp precision? Why do you command me with your very presence? Your power?”

“Ma’am?”  Was that his voice that sounded like an echo of his own? She should not undo him. But she did.

“Wallace Finnley. You have education and breeding. I can tell. Do you know how?”

He shook his head, her nearness a magnet to his body, his soul. Her lips, his only lure.

“For one thing, you own that very fine, very French Ferdinand Berthoud pocket watch. My great-uncle owned one similar.” She dropped her eyes toward the point on his chest where he kept his treasure. “I can hear the delicate chimes when it rings every quarter hour.”

He should have left it in his rooms. But it was the dearest memento he owned from his grandfather. Besides, he ran his daily duties by the precision of it. “I cannot part with it. It keeps me on task.”

“It does. I see it.”

“May I go now?”

“No. Certainly not. I would learn more. You say you come from Yorkshire. But I detect no hint of it in your pronunciation. You went to school. Some fine institution that weaned you from your native speech. Where?”

Good god. She was perceptive. He set his jaw. He’d not reveal his year at Edinburgh. He never told anyone of that, he’d hated it so. “The Army was my schooling. Taught me responsibility.”

“Your rank?”

“Captain.”

She smiled at him, her face around her eyes crinkling in appreciation. “So then your family purchased a commission for you?”

My father gave me nothing of value. “I ran away. Began as a recruit.”

“Noble of you.”

“Necessary, ma’am.” He shook his head, thinking them done, moving to rise.

She caught his hand. “A moment, Finnley. There is more to your story. From your time in the Army, I see then when and how you acquired your demeanor with those under your command.”

He wished to escape her touch and her sound perception. “The Army gave me a good education.”

“And war is a demanding teacher,” she concluded.

“It was. I wish to never fight again.”

“Nor do any of us. My brother died. At Waterloo.”

He schooled himself to remain placid. Her brother had been his best friend. What he did here for Alicia was as much for her as for Jerome.

“I find it intriguing, dear Finnley, that with such rank in the military, you now offer yourself in domestic service.”

Her statement, he knew, was a question and he had to avoid the whole answer of his origins. “Being a butler is an honorable occupation.”

She fell back to her cushions, her hand dropping and freeing him of her hold.  Her expression told him she was dismayed with his obstinate ways.

He stepped backward and rubbed his wrist.

She stared at him, clear-eyed and assured. “Finnley, I will be forthright. I look into your endearing blue eyes and can see that when you speak truth to me, your pupils darken and enlarge.”

What?

“And when you lie to me, your pupils constrict and your body tightens like a drum.”

Well, damn. Foiled by my eyes?

Once more, she took his hand and put his open palm to her soft cheek. “Might you care for me, Finnley?”

Might? There was no might.

“I see in your eyes that you do,” she whispered. “Tell me who you really are, dear sir. And then we can begin again. Anew.”

AUTHOR BIO :

   An author acclaimed for her eloquence and scintillating tales of romance and suspense, Cerise DeLand writes historical and contemporary novels with spice and charm. Visit http://www.cerisedeland.com

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