British Regency

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Regency Period
George IV while Prince Regent by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

1811–1820
Preceded by Georgian era
Followed by Victorian era
Periods and eras in English History
Tudor Period (1485–1603)
Elizabethan Era (1558–1603)
Stuart Period (1603–1714)
Jacobean Era (1603 – 1625)
Caroline Era (1625—1642)
Georgian Era (1714–1830)
British Regency (1811–1820)
Victorian Era (1837—1901)
Edwardian Period (1901–1910)
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The Regency period in the United Kingdom is the period between 1811 and 1820, when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, later George IV, was instated to be his proxy as Prince Regent. The term is often expanded to apply to the years between 1795 and 1837, a time characterised by distinctive fashions, politics and culture. In this sense, it can be considered to be a transitional period between "Georgian" and "Victorian" eras. The era was distinctive for its architecture, literature, fashions, and politics. It was a period of excess for the aristocracy: for example, it was during this time that the Prince Regent built the Brighton Pavilion. However, it was also an era of uncertainty caused by, among other things, the Napoleonic wars, periodic riots, and the concern — threat to some, hope to others — that the British people might imitate the upheavals of the French Revolution.

The term is sometimes used in various ways to include years surrounding the decade of the formal regency. If "Regency" is considered to be transitional between "Georgian" and "Victorian" then it would refer to the entire period from approximately 1811 until the accession of Queen Victoria, encompassing the actual period of Regency, along with George IV's reign in his own right and that of his brother William IV. If "Regency" is contrasted with "Eighteenth century", then it could include the whole period of the Napoleonic wars.

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[edit] Society during the Regency

The Regency was a period noted in history for its elegance and achievements in the fine arts and architecture. The Regency encompassed a time of great social, political, and even economic change. War was being waged with Napoleon and on other fronts, affecting commerce both at home and internationally as well as politics. Despite the bloodshed and warfare the Regency was also a period of great refinement and of cultural achievement, shaping and altering the societal structure of Britain as a whole.

One of the greatest patrons of the arts and architecture was King George IV himself (the Regent Prince). Upper class society flourished in a sort of “mini Renaissance” of culture and refinement. Headed by the widely popular Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the nobility sought to outdo one another in extravagance, pomp, and circumstance, albeit of a “shallow” nature[1]. As one of the greatest patrons of the arts, the Regent (George IV) ordered the costly building and refurbishing of the beautiful and exotic Brighton Pavilion, the ornate Carlton House, as well as many other public works and architecture (See John Nash). Naturally this required dipping into the treasury and the Regent, and later, King’s exuberance often outstripped his pocket, at the peoples’ expense[2]. The famed poet of the time Shelley observed after a particularly ostentatious festivity held by the King that,

this entertainment will cost 120,000 pounds. Nor will it be the last bauble which the nation must buy to amuse this overgrown bantling of Regency[3] ”

Not only was society marred by excessive spending on the part of the King, it was also highly stratified, and in many ways there was a very dark side to all the beauty and fashion in England at this time. In the dingier, less affluent areas of London thievery, womanizing, gambling, the existence of rookeries, and constant drinking ran rampant[4]. This combined with the massive population boom, which had leapt from just under a million in 1801 to one million and a quarter by 1820[5] created a wild, roiling, volatile, and vibrant scene. Indeed so vast was the difference between the levels of society that they developed nearly wholly different existences, as characterized by Robert Southey who stated that,

“The inhabitants of this great city seem to be divided into two distinct casts, - the Solar and the Lunar races…[6]”

Thus beneath the glamour and gloss of Regency society there existed sublevels of such squalor as to seem to be from a different world. Poverty was a major issue and one that was addressed only marginally. In many ways the demise of George III and the advent of the Regency saw the “death” of a more pious and reserved society and the “birth” of a more frivolous ostentatious one, largely due to the character of the Regent himself. One can target the profligate nature of King George IV to the fact that the policy of the time was to keep the heir apparent entirely removed from the machinations of politics and military exploits, which did nothing to channel George IV’s energies thereby leaving him with devotion to “pleasure” as his only outlet as well as his sole form of “rebellion” against what he saw as a disapproving and difficult censure in the form of his father[7].

It was not only money and rebellious noble youth that fueled these changes but also significant technological advancements. In 1814 The Times adopted steam printing thereby increasing production capabilities, along with demand tenfold i.e. printing 1100 sheets per hour versus the previous 200 per hour[8]. This created for the rise of the wildly popular “fashionable novels” in which publishers spread about the stories, rumors, and flaunting of the rich and aristocratic, not so secretly hinting at the specific identity of these individuals. Ironically such was the gap in the hierarchy of society that those of the upper classes could be viewed by those below as such wondrous and fantastical fiction, something entirely out of reach yet tangibly there. Needless to say the Regency sounded the death knell to what one would consider the historically more austere public face of British society as presented to its own people.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Smith, E. A. George IV. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1999. 22.
  2. ^ Parissien, Steven. George IV Inspiration of the Regency. New York: St. Martin's P, 2001. 117
  3. ^ David, Saul. Prince of Pleasure The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency. New York: Atlantic Monthly P, 1998. 321
  4. ^ Low, Donald A. The Regency Underworld. Gloucestershire: Sutton, 1999. x
  5. ^ Ibid x
  6. ^ Ibid xvii
  7. ^ Smith 14.
  8. ^ Morgan, Marjorie. Manners, Morals, and Class in England, 1774-1859. New York: St. Martin's P, 1994. 34.

[edit] Further Reading

David, Saul. Prince of Pleasure The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency. New York: Atlantic Monthly P, 1998.

Lapp, Robert Keith. Contest for Cultural Authority - Hazelitt, Coleridge, and the Distresses of the Regecy. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1999.

Low, Donald A. The Regency Underworld. Gloucestershire: Sutton, 1999.

Morgan, Marjorie. Manners, Morals, and Class in England, 1774-1859. New York: St. Martin's P, 1994.

Parissien, Steven. George IV Inspiration of the Regency. New York: St. Martin's P, 2001.

Smith, E. A. George IV. New Haven and London: Yale UP, 1999.


[edit] Artistic trends

Aristocratic dandies were satirised as being preoccupied with the tying and arrangement of their cravats (1818 caricature)

[edit] Famous places

[edit] Famous people

[edit] Regency Reenactment Groups

Baers California, USA; The Bay Area English Regency Society Regency dance, Balls, Parties
Peers California, USA; Historic Events, Dance
The Elegant Arts Society New York, USA; Historic Dance, Balls
Oregon Regency Society Oregon, USA; Regency Dance, Balls, Parties, Readings, Teas, Gatherings, Costume Workshops
Earthly Delights Australia; Regency Dancing, costume display, reenactment, Balls, Parties, Teas, gatherings
Arizona Regency Society Arizona, USA; Regency Dance, Balls, Parties, Readings, Teas, Gatherings, Costume Workshops
Friends of the English Regency Regency Dance, Balls, Parties
Green Ginger~Regency Dance, UK Historic Dance, Music, Balls, Parties
The Regency Society of America Nationwide, umbrella organization for all Regency-related groups.

[edit] See also

  • Régence, the period of the early 18th-century regency in France.
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