The Georgians, by Penelope J. Corfield

This book left me stunned. How can one person, even an Emeritus Professor like Corfield, know so much about so many topics – and have the skill to fit them together in this highly, highly readable Rubik’s cube? She admits in the introduction that the book has taken many years to complete and I can believe it. I have seldom read a book that covers so much so well.

The book comprises five parts:
I. The Georgian Debating an Age of Change
II. The Georgians Experiencing Change in Daily Life
III. The Georgians Ruling and Resisting
IV. The Georgians in Social Ferment
V. The Georgians Viewed Long

Oh, and approximately sixty pages of erudite endnotes.

 As can be deduced from that structure, Corfield shows us how things changed over the long eighteenth century, illustrating points with the stories of individuals; citing books; and at the end of each chapter, suggesting further reading; a list of places to visit in person or online; and even a Youtube performance of The Rivals. She makes the point that Georgians were aware of change, and were keen to share their views about it, for better or worse. Corfield goes back to sources and debunks several myths.

Based upon Corfield’s book, my belief is that the reason it’s so interesting to look back and study the Georgian Age was because, as she states, the numbers of both men and women who were literate and numerate overtook – for the first time in Britain’s history – the numbers of the illiterate and innumerate. That increase in people who COULD write, translated into an increase in the numbers who DID write – and hence we have so much more evidence of contemporary thoughts and beliefs than we do for previous ages.

But it is such a comprehensive book and so well argued that you might have a different view – and so might I, the next time I read it. And I shall re-read it, probably several times – and certainly keep it as my “go to” reference book for ALL aspects of life from the 1690s to the 1830s.

- Colin

Hardback, £25. Find it in the history section!