Regency fun

The nights are already drawing in, and the new season of TV programmes such as BBC1’s Emma has begun. The inhabitants of Regency Cheshire liked to while away the long winter evenings with visits to the theatre, balls and assemblies. The Royal Hotel at Chester (now the Grosvenor) and the George at Knutsford were favourite venues for assemblies; there was also a spanking new assembly room at Congleton, built c.1823. Some very famous actors visited Cheshire over the years, including Master Betty, the ‘Young Roscius.’ Dorothy Jordan, mistress of the Duke of Clarence, appeared at the Theatre Royal in Chester in 1813, the year Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice was published.

Image: Dorothy Jordan, Lady’s Monthly Museum, January 1805. Author’s collection.