Monday 29 April 2019

The Scandal of George III’s Court - Paperback Release



It's no secret that I love a good scandal, so I'm thrilled to announce that my latest non-fiction release, The Scandal of George III's Court, is available in paperback now. You can but it from Pen & Sword at the link below, or your favourite bookseller!




Buy the paperback from Pen & Sword 

From Windsor to Weymouth, the shadow of scandal was never too far from the walls of the House of Hanover. Did a fearsome duke really commit murder or a royal mistress sell commissions to the highest bidders, and what was the truth behind George III's supposed secret marriage to a pretty Quaker?

With everything from illegitimate children to illegal marriages, dead valets and equerries sneaking about the palace by candlelight, these eyebrow-raising tales from the reign of George III prove that the highest of births is no guarantee of good behaviour. Prepare to meet some shocking ladies, some shameless gentlemen and some politicians who really should know better.

So tighten your stays, hoist up your breeches and prepare for a gallop through some of the most shocking royal scandals from the court of George III's court. You'll never look at a king in the same way again...

Buy it now from Amazon

Tuesday 23 April 2019

The Ghost Garden

I am so excited to announce the release in paperback and ebook of The Ghost Garden, a brand new, 1920’s-set ghost story written by me and Eleanor Harkstead. The Ghost Garden is the first book in our new series, The de Chastelaine Chronicles, and we hope you enjoy it!

You can hear more about the book and how it came to be in the latest episode of our podcast, Gin & Gentlemen!

The Ghost Garden
Within the tangled vines of a forgotten garden, can a blossoming new love overcome an ancient evil that threatens both the living and the dead?

After losing her brother in the trenches of the Great War, Cecily James is a prisoner of Whitmore Hall, the respected but remote boys’ school where her brutish husband reigns as headmaster. With its forsaken walled garden, a hauntingly tragic past, and midnight footsteps heard from an unoccupied clocktower, it is a place where the dead are rumored to walk. 

Whitmore Hall is a place filled with mysteries and as a ghost garden emerges from the sun-bleached soil, long-buried secrets cry out to be told. 

When new teacher Raf de Chastelaine blunders into an impromptu seance, Cecily finds an unlikely and eccentric ally. In a world of discipline and respectability, barefoot Raf is unlike any teacher Cecily has ever met. With his tales of the Carpathian mountains and a love of midnight gardening, he shakes Whitmore Hall to its foundations. Could there be more to Raf than meets the eye? And as he and Cecily realise that their feelings run deeper than friendship, dare they dream of a world beyond Whitmore Hall?

As Cecily and Raf team up to unite long-dead lovers and do battle with an ancient evil that has long haunted Whitmore Hall, Cecily finds her chance of happiness threatened by her tyrannical husband. But is the controlling headmaster acting of his own free will, or is he the puppet of a malevolent power from beyond the grave?





Tuesday 2 April 2019

The Burford Family and Non-Conformism

It's a pleasure to welcome back Alison Botterill, with a tale of non-conformism...
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STEPHEN WILLIAMS (c.1711-1797), THE BURFORD FAMILY AND NON-CONFORMISM

Stephen Williams, a little-known,but significant member of the Strict Baptist church at Little Prescott Street, Goodman’s Fields, Whitechapel, was a prosperous glover, linen draper and textile printer with businesses in Stratford, Essex and in the City of London.    It is assumed that he was born in Wiltshire but the precise place or date of his birth are unknown.  His Freedom of the City of London papers of 1741 give his father’s name as Enoch Williams of Charlton Horethorne, yeoman (deceased).  In 1746 Stephen married Catherine Mason in Godstone, Surrey, but none of their four children, all baptised at St Mary Woolnoth Church in the City of London, survived him. 
In 1738 he “gave account of his dealings with God” and following his baptism he was accepted into full membership of the church at Little Prescott Street.  The subscription records for LPS show that between 1757 and his death in 1797, he contributed 10 guineas annually, which constituted over half of each year’s total contributions.   In 1756, he accepted the call to become a Deacon of the church and his name appears regularly in the minute books as one of those required to oversee and discipline unruly members, including Thomas Burford ‘of the Bank’ whose misdemeanours have already been described, courtesy of Madame Gilflurt.   
Stephen Williams was influential in the appointment of two of the ministers at LPS, the first being Samuel Burford [c. 1726-1768], then Minister at Lyme Regis and a relative of Williams’ brother-in-law and business partner, John Burford.  The minute books show that James Fall had been proposed to take the deceased Samuel Wilson’s place, but in an election held in 1753, votes against his appointment narrowly outnumbered those in favour by four.  The minutes show that Stephen Williams voted against Mr Fall’s appointment and it is quite possible that Williams had Samuel Burford in mind for the post, Williams’ sister Hannah having married into the Burford family.  However, despite doubts shown by some members of the congregation, which were to lead to James Fall setting up his own church at Little Alie Street, the minutes state that on 27thApril 1755 The Church unanimously chose him [Burford] and thought proper to give him a call.
After Samuel Burford’s untimely death at the age of 42, leaving a wife and eleven children, a provincial minister Abraham Booth was appointed following the recommendations of Stephen Williams and two other Deacons who had travelled to Nottinghamshire to assess his suitability for the role of leader of such a wealthy and educated congregation.    Booth was to build upon the work of Samuel Burford under whose leadership the church had enjoyed considerable prosperity.  Burford was buried at Bunhill Fields and on his headstone was recorded :
His virtues need no stone to show
full well his friends his merits know; 
While living was by all beloved 
by all regretted when removed

The extended Burford family continued to support the church at Little Prescott Street well into the 19thcentury and helped spread the Baptist doctrine to other parts of the country.  In 1782 Edward Burford sought permission to leave the congregation, along with Peter and Ann Anstie, to establish a church at Preston where they had already begun to introduce new and high quality textile printing processes at the Mosney Print Works in Walton-le-Dale.   In 1798 LPS gave leave to Thomas Burford and seven others to form a new church at Mare Street, in Hackney.
Stephen Williams’ religious devotion was not simply limited to his support of the church at Goodman’s Fields.  Among the charitable interests he supported, with both his time and his money, were The Society for Promoting Religious Knowledge Among the Poor, The Baptist College in Rhode Island, Dr Wheelock’s Indian Charity School and The Orphans’ Working School in City Road.   In 1783 became joint treasurer of the London Baptist Education Society and in 1793 he was named as one of the Deputies for the Civil Affairs of Dissenters.    Such philanthropy was made possible through his successful businesses which included the substantial calico-printing works at Stratford, Essex, in what is now known as Burford Road, and a wholesale linen-drapery no.27 Poultry, in the City of London, where he lived for much of his long life.  Plans for Williams’ renovation of the property, drawn up by architect George Dance in 1760, can be seen at the London Metropolitan Archives. 
The death of Stephen Williams, aged 86, was reported in The Gentleman’s Magazine’s Obituaries of Remarkable People in June 1797.    Notwithstanding his  investment of £10,000 in the Government’s Loyalty Loan shortly before his death, his remaining wealth was considerable.   His will (PROB  11/1294) details many family bequests totalling approximately £30,000 with freeholds and leases in the City of London and Stratford, with the calico printing works bequeathed to his Williams and Burford nephews. The strength of his religious convictions is borne out by other bequests, including £2000 to The Particular Baptist Fund in London, £100 to Rev. Abraham Booth, £100 to the Deacons of the Congregation of Protestant Dissenters for use among the poorer members of the church, £200 to the Widows’ Fund for the relief of the widows of poor dissenting ministers, £100 to the Congregational or Independent Fund in London and £200 to the Orphan Charity School, City Road, Islington.
He was buried at Bunhill Fields on 17thJune 1797, at a cost of £5. 5s. 6d, in the vault which already held the remains of his wife and children, who had predeceased him by several years.   

© Alison Botterill & Fiona Duxbury