Our Tempestuous Day: History of Regency England

by Carolly Erickson

Regency England has long been seen as a time of hedonism and romance, when dashing beaux and elegant belles played out their flirtations against a backdrop of opulence and style. Yet beneath the surface glitter of the Regency lay an underlying malaise, a pervasive hollowness and sense of loss, along with an explosive undercurrent of popular unrest and political radicalism.

It was indeed a tempestuous, quicksilver era, haunted by war and the human wreckage of war, and by fears of Luddite violence and risings of the overtaxed, underfed poor. A time of financial uncertainty when fortunes were made and lost amid high risk and the ever-present specter of bankruptcy.

And it was, memorably, a time studded with larger-than-life personalities: the aged king in his slow decline into delusion; the flamboyant Prince Regent in his extravagant Brighton Pavilion; the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo; the debauched, tragically fissured Lord Byron, hero to the women of fashionable London. These and many others are brought to vibrant life in this wide-ranging, captivating social history--a history as dramatic as the times themselves.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Regency, Research, British Literature, Historical, 19th Century

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Distinguished historian Carolly Erickson is the author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette, The First Elizabeth, Great Catherine, Alexandra and many other prize-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Hawaii.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/caroll...

Reviews

[Melissa McShane · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the one hand, this is a fascinating look at what you could call the "other side" of the Regency era (taking Georgette Heyer as popularizer of its bright, fashionable, elevated side). Erickson tells a story, and it reads like a story, spanning the years of the Regency, 1811 to 1820, touching on some of its more interesting characters as well as the political climate that Heyer ignores. It's at the very least eye-opening, and there were a few events, such as the Peterloo massacre, that it put into context for me.

On the other hand, while Erickson writes vividly and with assurance, her endnotes are frustratingly thin. I would read a passage, some story about Byron, for example, and turn to the back to discover that there was not a single note to show where she'd gotten the information. This was especially frustrating because the notes she does include show that she's done her research. As I was reading this for research and not for fun (yes, research can be fun, too!) this was so unhelpful.

I was also startled at the amount of fat-hate Erickson perpetrates, describing people like the Prince Regent and Princess Charlotte as "corpulent," "enormous," and "elephantine" in conjunction with talking about their less flattering personality traits. It was painfully obvious that Erickson saw fatness as a marker of other negative characteristics, and even though she was in part quoting contemporaneous sources (who were indulging in some fat-hate of their own) it was still startling.

Overall, good as an...I don't know that Heyer really needs an antidote, so how about an awakening? Something that reminds us of the political and social realities behind the glamor of the Regency, anyway. But as for solid historical research, probably best to stick to her list of sources and double-check anything you read here that isn't referenced.

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kudos, Erickson! This was both enlightening and entertaining.
Beginning at the end of The Mad King George's reign and ending around the death of Princess Charlotte, it encompasses the military triumphs, the literary accomplishment, and the monarchical shenanigans during the regency of George, Prince of Wales.
This is an excellent source for anyone interested in Lord Byron. He's discussed quite a bit through a few chapters. Such a mercurial character
Another interesting personality is Princess Charlotte, whose life ended much too early by a difficult birth, and opened the door to Victoria to reign.
Prince George is the mainstay throughout the book-his weight, his health, his harridan of a wife, his rowdy habits, his friends.
Again, I'm very impressed with this book. It was a smooth narration. Excellent work!

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not your Jane Austen "Regency." It was a period marked by resentment among the working class, who saw their standard of living drop and hated Parliament and the rich who they saw as ignoring their sufferings. The "Luddites" were a lot more organized than I realized and the upper classes were truly afraid; it fueled resentment everywhere and angry mobs of hoodlums nightly smashed up houses in the West End.

Add a bunch of unemployed, disaffected, Waterloo vets with PTSD to the mix and what could go wrong?

The mood was so ugly that after the Prime Minister was assassinated, the prevailing sentiment was, "he got what he deserved." All this while the Prince Regent spent lavishly on redecorating the Royal residences. Because he was so hated, the Princess of Wales (described as obscenely overweight and prone to inappropriately revealing clothes), remained popular; seemingly just to spite him.

The fact that she lived abroad most of the time (openly with other men) probably helped because she wasted more money than the Prince did. She reminded me of Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. A Royal divorce was prohibited, but fortunately (for George IV) she died a month after he became king.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book expecting something similar to Georgette Heyer's Regency World and Jane Austen's England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods, but Our Tempestuous Day: A History of Regency England is something totally different. Carolly Erickson writes of the gritty, hedonistic, and political undercurrent beneath the social nicety of Heyer and Austen's England. A sampling of topics covered include Napoleon Bonaparte, Duke of Wellington, Battle of Waterloo and its aftermath, the social uprising and riots caused by political agendas such as the Corn Bill, and the shaping of social norms by writers such as Hannah More and Lord Byron. Although the reading is a bit dry at times, Our Tempestuous Day offers a different but fascinating view of the Regency Era.

What you should expect: a historical account of Regency England between 1810 and 1820 focusing on politics, the royal family, social and civil struggles and attempts at reforms, and a focus on several larger-than-life personalities such as the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Lord Byron, etc.

[Brian Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable book detailing the decade of English cultural history known as the Regency, for the time the future George IV ruled in place of the incapacitated George III. It saw great political upheaval (the Napoleonic Wars and Waterloo, the Peterloo Massacre, the Corn Laws, even the assassination of a Prime Minister), social change (examined here by looking at behavioral changes among the sexes, culinary appetites, dress, and entertainment), and cultural (literature and music). Erickson does look at Byron's influence, the lives of the royal family specifically their tragedies during this decade, and winds it all up with the death of George III, the planning to transform Buckingham House to the Palace, and even setting up the chain of descendence that would lead to Victoria less than a generation later. It's fun to read and never descends into pedantry. It also clears the veneer of splendid fun that we often see in Austen adaptations and perceptions that the Regency was just one long party. Indeed, the Regency was not just the transition between George III and George IV, but between the Augustan Age and the Victorian one.

[K.M. Weiland · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading many books about the particulars of life in the Regency, this book was an appreciated overview of the politics and major events that were actually happening during the period. I would have liked some descriptive chapter headings to help orient me, but, really, that's the ONLY problem I have with this book. It's well-researched and presented in a highly entertaining (almost novelesque) and easy to follow format. I closed the back cover feeling very educated.

[Alvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, breezy popular history of a thoroughly demented era with information and anecdotes about life amongst the downtrodden, the royals, and the Napoleonic wars.

[Christopher Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I changed my earlier review of this book after giving it a second read over. while it is not the best on Regency England {in which I have found VERY few books on the subject anyway}, it is still an interesting read. My recommendation however is to listen to it on the Audible app on your phone, it helped me understand it better than just reading the book myself.

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of life during the regency years, however, it lacks depth.

[Gwenda Bond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful and gripping history, but a weird fatphobia in the descriptions throughout.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carolly Erickson is not one of my absolute favorite historians, as I feel that she tends to skim over the top a bit, but she's definitely up there for her chatty, conversational style and her knack of picking out interesting anecdotes that somehow frame an era. Our Tempestuous Day is no different, taking the Regency and picking out several anecdotes like the Peterloo massacre, Waterloo, the fight over the installation of the Regency in the first place, and the death of King George III and using them to expand into an exploration of the Regency itself.

While the book is not a comprehensive history, Erickson acknowledges that at the beginning, and it does give a good sense of the feeling of the era, as well as providing a list of possible extra reading for people interested. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in the English Regency.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another audible purchase. A decent overview of the Regency period (1810 - 1820) in the UK from the "top down." Although the book covered movements such as the Luddites and the Peterloo massacre, and discussed the Corn Laws (but hardly anything on the anti-slavery movement), you could tell that the author's real passion is discussing royalty and the aristocracy, and you will hear every tiring detail about the Prince Regent. So if you are in to that (it is interesting and somewhat salacious) you will enjoy reading it. As for myself, I feel that I need to read Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class or a work by Hobsbawm as a tonic.

PS - I don't think the work even mentioned Jane Austen, so that will disappoint many.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erickson successfully recreated the life of many of the major players in Regent England. George IV can usually over shadow any title but here politicians, the Court, Napoleon, the Luddites , royal siblings and Caroline of Brunswick all were woven in to the story in proportion to their influence / importance.

[Sara Laor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the period. Living during Trump's presidency, I saw many parallels between our times and the Regency period. Very well researched and written.

[Fenna Edgewood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Read, But the Fat Shaming of Historical Figures Gets Very Tiresome

I first read this book over 15+ years ago and found it very entertaining. Carolly Erickson is a wonderfully witty historian and at times laugh-out-loud funny. But re-reading it this summer, I am now struck by how much fat-shaming / body hate there is in this book. All of the dislikeable and disreputable characters like the Prince Regent, Princess Caroline, the mistresses, etc. are fat-shamed to no end--often in extremely creative terms (see previous reviews for some great examples). Rarely, these are direct quotes from primary sources. More commonly, they are Erickson's own.

Perhaps 15-20 years ago when the book came out, this would have provided extra entertainment for readers who could get on board with this kind of mockery of historical figures (yuck!), but now it reads as crass and a little unprofessional. With a good edit, this might be a fantastic book that is still read today. But since Erickson frequently links "corpulence" to the individual's moral character in a negative way, there is also some bleed-over, I think, in terms of the writer's own biases and assumptions coloring the narrative, and so that, too, would need to be addressed.

[Emily Peters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:
This is a book about the history of the regency of England. This book goes into detail about Queen Elizabeth and King George III and their family. This book talks a lot about of King George III's health. King George III's health left the nation with confusion and questions. There was so much lack of direction while King George III was in his madness.
Like or not:
i did not love this book. i do not love history books but this one was okay. i found it very interesting learning about King George III's health and his poor wife. i cannot imagine what she is going through. but overall it was an okay book i would not want to read it again though.
Classroom:
i would use this book in a high school level history class. i would use this book as a summer reading and have a test on it in the school year after we talk about it. i would want the students to read this book on their own. i would not want to read this aloud in class.

[ladywallingford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although dated, Carolly Erickson does a good job with keeping this work concise and easily understood for your general reader. She organizes the content both thematically and chronologically, and most of the chapters do have a good transition from one topic to another. Erickson discusses a wide range of topics such as politics, monarchy, society, culture, child labor, revolutionaries, the Napoleonic Wars, religion, etc. It wasn't all inclusive. In fact, I was very surprised that she didn't talk more about literature considering beyond Byron and the writings of Hannah More, but maybe that was the point. Many of us want to learn more about the Regency through the literature we've read, and the book highlights the tempestuousness of the times.

Overall, not a bad read, and it's short for those who really only want a general introduction to learn more about the Regency period. I wouldn't mind reading something more recent to see if the historiography has changed since then.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have longed been fascinated with the Regency period, and over the years have collected snippets of information from both fiction and non-fiction books. So not everything in this book was new to me, but it has the advantage of being a cohesive and placing the facts I already knew within a wider context. As is always the case with history, I could not help reflect and draw parallels with the current day, being reminded that there is nothing new under the sun.. The Regency period was indeed tempestuous and so is the present. One cannot help but hope that we too will be able to pull through, if not unscathed at least wiser and stronger.

[Miles Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good overview of Regency Britain. Its very well written but a bit narrower in scope than I might have hoped so thats why Im giving it 3 stars instead of 4. Still, I think it provides a readable and concise narrative of ca 1810-1820 Britain and Id commend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the principle events and persons of a time that defined the lives of so many famous literary figures.

[Penny Hampson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good brief overview of the Regency period. The author covers the main features of the time (the social unrest, the Regent himself, attitudes to women, etc), by using contemporary sources. I read this as an adjunct to the more focussed histories of the period and found it very lively and readable. Would recommend it to anyone wishing for a flavour of the period.

[Autumn Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent, quick read of the Regency Period. I love how it goes in-depth into the royal family at the time and then quickly broadens to what is happening in different parts of London. It also covers the history topically with what a royal family member is doing compared to society at large. All of this done roughly in some chronological order. A must read for Regency Period lovers!

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Jane Austen books and the movies too, but I always feel the need to read books about the period to gain better insight and understand subtle details in a book or a dialogue in a movie.
It just becomes dragging after a few chapters. Don't get me wrong, it is a very good book. And sarcasm and wit are in every page. But there are some chapters that are a long list of "history".

[Sarah W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book serves as a readable and interesting history of Regency England. Erickson explores a range of topics from the political and military to Luddite risings and social happenings. I learned new things about the period and was fascinated by the presentation of a much darker era than what is often reflected in popular fiction.

[Angie The Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this were really enlightening. The whole perspective on Lord Byron and King George IV's love of Brighton make Austen's book settings more interesting. However, parts dragged on. Such is history. But in the end, I liked it enough to finish it.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this were really enlightening. The whole perspective on Lord Byron and King George IV's love of Brighton make Austen's book settings more interesting. However, parts dragged on. Such is history. But in the end, I liked it enough to finish it.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notes for self. I've read this many times. By selecting several people and focusing on them (the mad king George III, Prince Regent, Byron, Wilberforce, etc), Erikson shows a culture in dramatic change after the end of the Napoleonic wars.

[Erica-Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good resource for understanding the small details of daily life in Regency England. Also, quite a fun read. Would have liked it if there was a glossary, sub-chapters, and some organization by subject (fashion, relationships, city life, etc.).

[Berri Beatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good resource for understanding the small details of daily life in Regency England. Also, quite a fun read. Would have liked it if there was a glossary, sub-chapters, and some organization by subject (fashion, relationships, city life, etc.).

[JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting and engaging read by Carolly Erickson. I really enjoyed learning about the regency years and the over all look at the time period and society surrounding the monarchy as well.

[Aubrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty comprehensive history of the significant sociopolitical events of the Regency era - particularly those within the ruling class. It was a helpful research resource.