A thirteen-year-old boy sitting at the back thrusts immediately his hand in the air. It is the end of a two-hour Year 9 workshop on eighteenth-century letters. The final task has been a creative writing exercise. The young people have been invited to write a letter in the voice of Hampton Allen, using early-eighteenth-century language, … Continue reading “Old voices, new voices: public engagement using eighteenth-century letters”
Tag: letters
George III, the first jubilee, and the making of a modern monarchy
This weekend, the United Kingdom is getting ready for a series of celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee. Alongside a number of large-scale ceremonial events, including the trooping of the colour, a royal procession, and an impressive flypast while the royal family are assembled in view of the public on the balcony at … Continue reading “George III, the first jubilee, and the making of a modern monarchy”
‘I am glad to write to you’: children’s letters in 18thC England
York City Archives, Gray GRF/4/3 J.16 In 1809, Jonathan Gray of Gray’s Inn in York signed off a letter to his wife, Mary with these words to his two year old son: ‘Father hopes William is a good boy, and minds his Book’. This sentence is clearly printed in large block letters and is followed … Continue reading “‘I am glad to write to you’: children’s letters in 18thC England”
Spirited Communication
Mr Backhouse is ‘in great spirits’ about the price of Cotton,[1] while Mrs Earle’s spirits are ‘much improved’[2]. John Eliot needs to rest his ‘distressed spirits’[3], but easiness with his family keeps Samuel Wesley’s ‘spirits from sinking’.[4] Meanwhile Anna Maria Allwood has spotted ‘the Spirit’ battling with ‘the Old Man of Sin[5] and Joseph Munby … Continue reading “Spirited Communication”