Billy Dimple

Isn’t this pair of chaps utterly glorious? Robert Dighton’s The Macaroni Painter, or Billy Dimple Sitting for his Picture, shows painter Richard Cosway posing for a portrait in all his finery! 1772, via the British Museum.

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In Conversation with William Nicholson

 Find out who connects Wedgwood and Mary Shelley with clean energy at the Bloomsbury Festival - 17 and 20 October

 

A Georgian polymath, William Nicholson (1753-1815) will be coming to life from his grave in St George’s Gardens, London, as part of the 2020 Bloomsbury Festival.

 

His biographer, Sue Durrell shall be interviewing him about his life – from travels with the East India Company, work with Josiah Wedgwood, socialising with a radical literary circle, launching a school and entertaining Mary Shelley as a child.

In the front room of his house in Soho Square, in May 1800 Nicholson and his friend Anthony Carlisle discovered the technique now known as electrolysis.

Curious about the future of his discovery, the ghost of Mr Nicholson then takes the lead and interviews a team from UCL who will demonstrate how they are using electrolysis to create clean energy for the future.

Live event - Saturday 17^th October, at 2.30pm

Numbers are strictly limited for the live event in St Georges Gardens in London.

Tickets £8 (£6 consessions)

Click here for details of the live event on 17.10.20

 

 

Online webinar with opportunity for Q&A – Tuesday 20^th October, 2.30pm

Join the online webinar at 2.30 PM (GMT)

Tickets £5

Click here for details of the video event

The Daughters of George III

I'm thrilled to announce that The Daughters of George III: Sisters and Princesses is out now. If you'd like to learn more about the six daughters of the Windsor nunnery, follow the link below to read my guest post at the Pen & Sword blog.

The Six Daughters of George III

In the dying years of the 18th century, the corridors of Windsor echoed to the footsteps of six princesses. They were Charlotte, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia, the daughters of King George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Though more than fifteen years divided the births of the eldest sister from the youngest, these princesses all shared a longing for escape. Faced with their father’s illness and their mother’s dominance, for all but one a life away from the seclusion of the royal household seemed like an unobtainable dream.

The six daughters of George III were raised to be young ladies and each in her time was one of the most eligible women in the world. Tutored in the arts of royal womanhood, they were trained from infancy in the skills vial to a regal wife but as the king’s illness ravaged him, husbands and opportunities slipped away.

Yet even in isolation, the lives of the princesses were filled with incident. From secret romances to dashing equerries, rumours of pregnancy, clandestine marriage and even a run-in with Napoleon, each princess was the leading lady in her own story, whether tragic or inspirational. In The Royal Nunnery: Daughters of George III, take a wander through the hallways of the royal palaces, where the king’s endless ravings echo deep into the night and his daughters strive to be recognised not just as princesses, but as women too.

A Seaside Postcard

On a hot summer day, the #gloriousGeorgians let it all hang out... Intrepid bathers and dirty old men have been the stuff of seaside scenes for centuries! Summer amusement at Margate, or a peep at the mermaids, 1813, Thomas Rowlandson. Via the British Museum.

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