And one more thing about those Georgian marriages…   Bigamy was a problem in Georgian England. The Marriage Act of 1753, passed into law March 1754, was supposed to put the kibosh on illicit elopements and the trickier problem of bigamy. In pervious centuries, most brides and grooms married in their home parish. A select few married by special license.   By the Georgian period (defined by the four King Georges who reigned from...

    The Georgian era was a fascinating shift from pastoral to urban living. The economic boom brought scientific advances. Much of the populace elevated themselves to a better place in life—especially the merchant class. Entertainments abounded. Life’s little luxuries were affordable. People enjoyed a diversity of products pouring into London on a regular basis. In researching the Midnight Meetings series, I came across many...

  England’s flourishing economy under the four King Georges (1714 – 1830) spilled over to the kitchen. Culinary delights were in demand. The number of pastry chefs and confectioners increased by almost 20,000 from the late Georgian period to middle Victorian era. Recipe books abounded. Inventors tinkered with refrigeration as early as 1755. The first gas stove was developed in the 1820s (and patented in 1826). Was cooking then the same...

    Oh, the naughtiness of a quickie wedding! Early Georgian England teemed with elopements, creating scores of under-aged brides and pesky bigamists. During that era, people could marry wherever and whenever they wanted, as long as a clergyman presided over the ceremony. By the 1740s, fast weddings in England became a booming industry thanks to shady clergymen in London’s Southwark ward. Because of those few bad apples, people...