A Bright Future

Old-style crown glass shop windows.

My latest feature for Jane Austen's Regency World's January issue, in my series on Austen and the Industrial Revolution, is on glass manufacture. 

When Jane Austen visited her brother Henry in London, she would have seen the new fashion for large, imposing plate-glass shop-windows. 

Plate-glass casting at Ravenhead.

Until the late eighteenth century, plate-glass, used for the largest windows or mirrors, was incredibly expensive. Only the wealthiest could afford it. 

But the advent of plate-glass casting at Ravenhead (the British Plate Glass Co.) in 1773, followed by glass-houses on Tyneside, where there was already a flourishing industry, revolutionised the look of British retail establishments. 

Glass-making in Britain faced a bright future!

Images

A New Bond street shop in the 1790s. Before plate glass became affordable, shop windows were made from small panes of crown glass. James Gillray 1796, courtesy Library of Congress, catalogue number: LC-USZC4-8787.

Casting plate glass at the Ravenhead works in Lancashire in the 1840s. Engraving by Mr Sly. Pictorial History of the County of Lancashire, 1844. Author’s collection.

Ready To Pre-Order!

I'm very pleased to say that 'Young Workers of the Industrial Age' is now available to pre-order from Amazon UK! It's currently scheduled for publication in hardback in September this year. 

Happy Christmas!

I doubt we'll have a white Christmas as it's so mild here at present, so here's a snowy picture of our garden from early December. 

Wishing you all a happy Christmas, and a prosperous 2024!

Exciting News!

 I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that I've just signed a new contract with Pen & Sword to republish my book The Children History Forgot! The book has been out of print for some time now, and will appear under the title Young Workers of the Industrial Age: Child Labour in the 18th and 19th Centuries. 

I'll post updates on my blog nearer publication date - currently provisionally the summer of 2024. 

Meanwhile, my other Pen & Sword titles are on special offer at the moment - do take a look if you need some ideas for Christmas presents!

All images from my collection.

My Top Five Picks

 

Gallop over to the BOOKDNA website where you'll find the Top Five books I recommend for understanding the history of Jane Austen's England!

Image from the author's collection - Fashions of 1797. 

Porcelain and Pots

My series on Jane Austen and the Industrial Revolution is still ongoing, although I haven't had time to update this blog! 

My feature in the March/April issue looked at 'canal mania', and 'Our Wedgwood Ware' is in the current issue of Jane Austen's Regency World. 

'The Prettiest English China' is coming up in the July/August issue, and looks at the manufacture of English porcelain in places like Worcester, Bristol and London. 

Image: Etruria. Engraving by Henry Warren, G. Greatbach, Staffordshire and Warwickshire Past and Present, Vol. III, William Mackenzie, London, c.1870. 

Muslins and Mule-Spinning

Full dress for December 1798.

My latest feature for Jane Austen's Regency World (January issue) - on mule-spinning - marks the beginning of my new series on the growing mechanization of Britain's industries during Austen's era. 

The Industrial Revolution affected not just the workers who were the 'shock troops' of the Revolution, but also the way that Jane and her family - and the characters in her novels - lived.  I'm really enjoying writing this series, and I hope that you enjoy it, too! 

Illustrations 

Above:

‘Full dress for December 1798’. The Lady’s Monthly Museum, Vol.1, Vernor & Hood, London, December 1798. Author’s collection. 

Right:

‘Mule’ for spinning cotton. Child workers ‘pieced’ together broken threads, and cleaned cotton waste from under the machine. Charles Knight, Knight’s Pictorial Gallery of Arts, Vol. 1, London Printing and Publishing Co., c.1858. Author’s collection.