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The Story of a Honeymoon in 1814 by Michael J Richards
Summary:
⦁ Travel by landaulet carriage with bride Margaret on her honeymoon tour of Britain in 1814
⦁ This family story reveals how three brothers emigrated to America in 1768 and took different sides in the War of Independence (1755-1783).
⦁ Discover why Margaret's youngest daughter Emily and her husband Dr Ancrum, have recently been commemorated in a new set of Pitcairn Island postage stamps
⦁ Read Emily's troubling tale of her return voyage from Valparaiso to England, in 1857 - as sole carer of her three vulnerable children.
⦁ Emily's moving story was so powerful, it has been set to music for solo piano, by the author on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/hD-qQCpWiLA
The first major section of this book is transcribed from Margaret's honeymoon diary, after her marriage to Arthur Lewis in Croydon, 1814. Leaving her home Broad Green House, Croydon, Margaret's tale of her tour in a cramped Landaulet carriage, will entrance todays readers with an insight into Regency travel and tourism. The objective was to introduce the newly weds to friends and relations as far north as Merton Hall, Dumfriesshire - and back. Since Margaret's father had died five years earlier, Margaret had planned her own tour's itinerary herself - for her husband and invited guests, favourite sister Eliza and cousin Caroline, to enjoy.
Margaret's own words will take the reader to tourist attractions of Regency Britain, visiting, among others: Cheltenham Spa for the waters; Gloucester cathedral for the lecherous sexton; Chamberlain's shop of Worcester China; Gretna Green for a 'fake' elopement; Manchester cotton mills; the 'Devils Arse' and other caverns of the Peaks; the Derby silk mill and back home to Broad Green House. This story is illustrated with near contemporary prints of the topography that Margaret describes, in the gothic style of images in the early 19th century.
Subsequent sections introduce family members and friends in a way that builds up an interesting historical story for general readers and social historians alike, over one and a half centuries:
⦁ The story of how Margaret's father and his two brothers emigrated to the American Colonies in 1768, after their father remarried on the death of their mother. The brothers ended up on opposing sides during the American War of Independence - one murdered by the British, one General Washington's quarter master and one, Margaret's father, sailing for the British.
⦁ How Margaret's youngest daughter, Emily, sailed out to Valparaiso in 1852 for an 'arranged' marriage to Dr Ancrum, superintendent of the British Naval Hospital there.
⦁ How the newly weds met and supported the Pitcairn Island descendants of the Mutineers of the Bounty, for which kindness they have been commemorated by the Crown in a set of Pitcairn Island postage stamps.
⦁ The sad and tragic tale of Emily's journey home from Valparaiso in 1857. Travelling without her husband, sole carer of her three children under five and their nanny Eliza, the reader will be touched by the mental torment Emily must have endured during the long watery nights on the sailing ship Camperdown, when all seemed lost. This period only to be followed by the death and destruction of a yellow fever outbreak, after Emily jumped ship seeking the safety of the paddle steamer Tyne, in Rio.
The Author found reading Emily's letters on the voyage so moving, that he composed a score for solo piano, to tell the tale of her strength and fortitude. The a recording of the composition can be found with the YouTube link https://youtu.be/hD-qQCpWiLA ; the piece has since been played on BBC Radio 3 Unwind.
