A Georgian Footman’s Guide to Opening the Door and Announcing Names

Posted on by Geri Walton
Footman. Author’s Collection.

The Georgian footman’s job was to open the door and announce names, and this task began when someone knocked at the door. The footman was to go immediately to the door, and, if for some reason he was unavailable to answer the door, he was to arrange with a fellow-servant to perform the task because it was considered improper and unpleasant to keep someone waiting. Footmen were advised that

“A little time is of great consequence to some persons, and particularly to tradespeople who may have another appointment to attend to; consider also that whenever you delay unnecessarily going to the door, or answering the bell, you are off your duty and culpable for being so.”

If a double knock occurred at the street door, the footman was to inquiry as to who was on the other side of the door. However, before doing so, the footman was to have already inquired within the family whether they were willing to see anyone. If they were willing to see someone, there was to be no confusion when the footman asked the question as to who was at the door. When opening the street door to a visitor, the door was to be thrown wide open but not so wide or hard as to damage the door handle or the wall. The footman was then to stand with the door open at the sill of the door and receive the visitor or answer any message delivered. Continue reading →

Pichegru Conspiracy

Posted on by Geri Walton
Jean-Charles Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal, Public Domain

The Pichegru Conspiracy, also known the Cadoudal Affair, was a conspiracy to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte’s military regime. The conspiracy involved royalists Jean-Charles Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal. Pichegru had served briefly in the American Revolution and as a distinguished general in the French Revolutionary Wars, and Cadoudal was a Breton politician and leader of the Chouannerie during the French Revolution.

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Vehicle Titles, Origins, and Descriptions of the 1700 and 1800s, L-R

Posted on by Geri Walton
vehicle titles, origins, and descriptions of the 1700 and 1800s
Landaulette From 1816. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were a huge variety of vehicles. Because there were so many, it sometimes became confusing as to their names, where they originated from, and the differences between vehicles. Thus, to help people understand titles, origins, and descriptions of vehicles from the 1700 and 1800s, here is a list from L to R.

Landau – It is believed that the name came from the German town Landau, in Bavaria, where it was supposedly first built. A description of the Landau in 1790 claims: Continue reading →

Margaret Dickson was Executed, Survived, and Pardoned

Posted on by Geri Walton
Margaret Dickson was Executed, Survived, and Pardoned: Margaret Dickson
Margaret Dickson Rising From Her Coffin. Public Domain.

Margaret Dickson was executed, survived, and pardoned, and because of it she was nicknamed “ill hangit Maggy Dickson.” Her story begins with her birth in Musselburgh, Scotland, near Edinburgh in 1702. When she was an adult, she married a fisherman and together they had several children. However, Dickson found herself practically single because her husband was impressed and went to sea aboard a warship.

In Scotland, at the time, any woman who committed fornication was punished publicly. The punishment occurred over three Sundays with the fornicator seated in the most conspicuous place in church and receiving a public rebuke from the minister. This spectacle resulted in people attending church who never attended just so that they could see offenders shamed. Female offenders found the punishment so embarrassing, some “destroyed the fruits of their amours, rather than be made a spectacle to all the inhabitants of the parish.” Continue reading →

Cécile-Aimée Renault and Attempted Assassination of Robespierre

Posted on by Geri Walton
Cécile-Aimée Renault, Public Domain
Cécile-Aimée Renault, Public Domain

Born in 1774 in Paris, Cécile-Aimée Renault arrived at the foot of the guillotine on 17 June 1794 in what is now the Place de la Nation. It all began one day when the 20-year-old seamstress presented herself at the home of the Duplay family, where Maximilien Robespierre was temporarily staying. She asked to speak to him, and as she was young and appeared harmless, she was ushered into his anti-chamber. She waited for a long time and was eventually told that he was unavailable and that she should leave. She replied:

“A public man … ought to receive at all times, those who have occasion to approach him.”

Because Renault would not leave and because she became insistent that she needed to see Robespierre, a guard was called. He conducted a search and supposedly discovered she was carrying two small knives. Although the knives were hardly large enough to kill anyone, it was decided she had intended to murder Robespierre and was taken before the Committee of Public Safety where she was asked to explain herself. Eventually, the committee learned her name and that she was the one of seven children and the daughter of a paper maker, who was a royalist supporter. Continue reading →

Vehicle Titles, Origins, and Descriptions of the 1700 and 1800s, D-K

Posted on by Geri Walton
Vehicle Titles, Origins, and Descriptions of the 1700 and 1800s
The Diligence. Courtesy of Wikipedia.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there were a huge variety of vehicles. Because there were so many, it sometimes became confusing as to their names, where they originated from, and the differences between the vehicles. Thus, to help people understand titles, origins, and descriptions of vehicles from the 1700 and 1800s, here is a list from D to K. Continue reading →

21 Interesting Facts For Travelers to France in the Regency Era

Posted on by Geri Walton
Entrance to the Théâtre de l’Ambigu-Comique on the day of a free show. Painted by Louis-Léopold Boilly (1819). Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Travelers to France in the Regency Era were plentiful. There were many sites to see and many places to visit that included public baths, palaces and hotels, hospitals, museums, literary societies, public libraries, manufacturing sites, theatres, halls and markets, squares, prisons, cemeteries, parks, gardens, cafes, triumphal arches, exhibitions and assembly rooms, eating establishments, and promenades and public walks. There were also at least 21 interesting facts that travelers to France might want to keep in mind during their visit. Continue reading →

Le Chat Noir or The Black Cat of Victorian Times

Posted on by Geri Walton
Louis Rodolphe Salis, Courtesy of Wikipedia

Le Chat Noir or The Black Cat was established by an unsuccessful painter named Louis Rodolphe Salis. Salis’s father was a wine merchant in Chatellerault and wanted his son to be a tradesman. As Salis was unsuccessful in his chosen career, he began thinking about the maxims of his father and decided he needed to combine art and alcoholic beverages, thereby creating the idea of the modern cabaret. Salis’s idea was for patrons to sit at tables amid clouds of tobacco smoke, drink mugs of Bavarian beer, and enjoy a variety of stage acts, introduced by a master of ceremonies who interacted with the audience.

Le Chat Noir supposedly acquired its name in one of two ways. One claim was that its name came from the discovery of a dead rat under a divan. The second claim is that it was named after a picture which appeared in one of the exhibitions in Paris, which was bought or presented to the inn by the artist and described in the following way: “A black cat is represented standing on the shoulder of a woman, whose white skin and corsage are liberally displayed.” Continue reading →

Singerie: 18th Century Arts Depicting Monkeys Aping Human Behavior

Posted on by Geri Walton
Antoine Watteau’s “The Monkey Sculpture.” Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Singerie is a French word for “Monkey Trick” and is the name given to arts depicting monkeys aping human behavior. The Singerie was popular as far back as Ancient Egypt, and, in medieval times, scribes frequently drew monkeys in the margins of manuscripts to mimic man and his foibles. Flemish engraver Pieter van der Borcht introduced the singerie around 1575 in a series of prints and this encouraged other Flemish artists to begin depicting monkeys dressed in human attire. By the 18th century, singeries found their way to France where they became extremely popular. Continue reading →

Standen Versus Standen: 18th Century Man Attempts to Bastardize His Own Son

Posted on by Geri Walton

Standen Versus StandenOn 5 June 1789, at Westminster-Hall, a case was brought by a son against his father in Standen versus Standen. If the son did not prevail, his father’s marriage to his mother would be discredited and the son would be “ruined and undone.” The case began when the son, Charles, produced the registry and showed that the entry of marriage had been made and signed by the clergyman. Continue reading →