History was written on the back of the horse.

By Danielle Lisle

As Wednesday, August the 1^st, is the horses celebrated birthday here in Australia, I thought I’d honour them by discussing their input into history.

"History was written on the back of the horse," an inscription at The Horse Park in Kentucky, USA.   How very true.

The Nobleman, groom and steed.

Our four-legged friend, the horse, has played a substantial role in the world of historical romance. From the simple but strong carriage horse in the Regency novel, to the adaptable mountain pony in the Scottish Highlands, or the stunning steed which the duke rode upon as he whisked his future duchess off her feet, the horse has always been by our hero’s side.

These days horses do not appear in modern day novels as much as they once did, simply because ownership of horses has turned from an essential form of transport, to an ownership of pleasure.

Like today, horses were not a ‘cheap’ commodity to own or maintain. Horses ranged in price, depending on their use. Where they part of a matching team for a stately carriage, a well breed hack for a gentlemen or lady, or perhaps a horse with superior speed offering the gentlemen a potential taste of victory on the track. I read somewhere (of which I can’t recall, much to my frustration) that William Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire, paid a thousand pounds (about $100,000 today) for a race horse which had to be shot two weeks later as it broke it leg in its first race. Bummer...

In the Regency, one could not own a carriage or keep the horses to draw it if you didn’t earn at least 1,100 pounds a year. This equates to about $110,000 in today’s markets. Don’t forget it is not simply just the initial cost of buying the steed that will set you back, which could range from one to several hundred pounds for a midrange animal, but you had to maintain the horses and keep grooms and drivers. A horse kept in stable in London cost a lot more to feed than a horse at a country estate. It wasn’t like the London horses had access to pasture to graze and therefore cost more to feed in grain.

A post-chaise carriage

Instead, most people hired horses and drivers when they travelled or used the services of a hackney coach (taxi) while in London. While still rather expensive, they did not tie one down to the ongoing costs of the animals keep or their handler’s wages. An example of costs for a longer journey, hiring two horses and a post-chaise carriage and a postilion (rider/driver) at the cost of 1/- per mile (1.6kms). The distance from Longbourn to Rosings we know was about 50 miles (about 80kms), so the cost of travelling there would be 50/-, 2 pounds ten, or in today’s equivalent about $250. This was the most cost effective way for people to travel.

**Please forgive me if I’ve offered a seemingly large section on how much it all cost, it just blows my mind! Allrighty, different track – jockeys ready?

Tattersall's 1865

What do you think of when you hear, “Tattersall’s”? I think of my mother and her weekly trip to the newsagency to buy her lotto ticket.
Well, back in the Regency, Tattersall’s was a horse sale yards in London, established in 1766 by Richard Tattersall, horse master to the Duke of Kingston. These sale yards become a popular place to buy and sell horseflesh, carriages and even hounds, with sale days being twice a week in winter and one a week in summer. It housed stabling for over a hundred horses with plenty of room to inspect carriages or the yapping hounds in their kennels (think of the noise!).

While there was always the opportunity to visit the sale yards, most of the gentry took an avid interest in breeding their own horseflesh, some actually became well known for it.

Horses were also fashion statements. Who had the best horse or the most stunning steed?

"I say, did you see the stallion Lord Percy rode upon in Lester Square yestereve? The beast was simply the most stunning horse I have ever laid eyes upon!"

In 1711, Queen Anne established regular race meetings at her park at Ascot (heard of it anyone?) while several gentlemen also arranged private ‘match races’ between themselves, the stakes often quite high.

But we woman cannot be forgotten. Flat and steeple racing was also held for women. Mrs. Bateman wrote in 1723, "Last week, Mrs. Aslibie arranged a flat race for women, and nine of that sex, mounted astride and dressed in short pants, jackets and jockey caps participated. They were striking to see, and there was a great crowd to watch them. The race was a very lively one; but I hold it indecent entertainment." Some women--such as the infamous Letty Lade, who reportedly swore like a coachman, rode and drove to please themselves, and made their own fashion statement by bucking the trends for demure ladies. (I think I would have liked these woman...)

But horse racing was a increasingly expensive sport (yes, at the costs again). Prince Regent’s stud farm for his horses was rumoured to have an annual cost of 30,000 pounds a year for its upkeep. That’s 3 million a year today! Sheesh!

How many of you out there dreamed of owning your own horse, riding it off into the sunset and feeling the wind fly through your hair?

My boy, Rain Ridge

I was one of the few lucky kids out there, owning my own horse since the age of seven. To this day I still own the Thoroughbred I brought (after working and saving for a year as a checkout chick at Woolworths) when I was fifteen. Rain, or Rain Ridge as was his racing/show name, carried me through the years of Pony Club and Eventing. We even tried PoloX once, but after my teammate hit me in the head with a bat, I determined the sport was not for me. Today he lives the cosy life in retirement, with the occasion weekend trail ride through the bush or on an excursion to the beach. It’s not a bad life for a horse in his late twenties, though once a horse ‘retired’ in the days gone past, their fate was not always guaranteed to be a relaxing one.

Once a horse became old, no longer able to keep up with the other horses in the team or simply because it became injured, the quickest answer was a bullet. This was not always the case and sometimes if the horse was deemed favourably by its owner or horse master, it would be sent out to a farm to work for its remaining days. But sadly, a true retirement, of lazy days roaming a lush paddock, wasn’t a rarity. Good to see some things have changed.

Happy Birthday Horses! Have a carrot on me.

In my debut novel, THE ROSE’S BLOOM (that coincidently hits the shelves today) my hero and heroine relied a great deal on their trusty steeds, whether it be to take them on a hunt, journey or simply a pleasure ride. My hero was actually out on a hunt when he noticed a young woman by the riverbank, her unexperienced fingers seeming to get her nowhere. He was a gentleman after all, and who is he to allow this poor damsel to go unaided? *giggle*

THE ROSE'S BLOOM

THE ROSE'S BLOOM is the first instalment in my ROGUES OF DECEPTION series with Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Comment below to go in the running for a change to win your very own copy! Just remember to leave your email address so I can contact you if you’re the lucky winner!

Danielle can be contacted on her Facebook and Twitter accounts or alternatively comment below.

Quote reference: Website, Rakehell, Regency Horses

The City of London.

Because my historical romances are set in London or other parts of England, I am fascinated by the enormous growth of the City of London and its importance throughout history. 

I hope you enjoy learning a little more about the Square Mile which is now only a tiny part of 'Greater London' yet is so famous.

Enjoy, 

Suzi Love.

General 

The City of London is an area in central London, England, which made up most of London in Medieval times but is now only a small part of ‘Greater London’. It is just over one square mile (1.12 sq mi/2.90 km2) in area, so is referred to as the ‘City’, or the ‘Square Mile’.

Add Borders of the City of London, showing surrounding London boroughs and the pre-1994 boundary (where changed) in red. The area covered by the Inner and Middle Temple is marked.

 It is one of London’s 32 boroughs, alongside the City of Westminster and only has a little over 11,000 residents, although around 316,700 people work there, mainly in financial services. It is England's smallest ceremonial county by area and population and the fourth most densely populated.

City and financial district

In the 19th century, the City was the world's primary business centre and today it still ranks above New York City as the leading centre of global finance. The legal profession takes up most of the Western area, especially with the Inns of Court in the Temple and Chancery Lane areas, having the Inner Temple and Middle Temple both within the City of London.
Many Roman sites and artefacts can be seen in the City of London today, including the Temple of Mithras, sections of the London Wall (at the Barbican and near the Tower of London), the London Stone and remains of the amphitheatre beneath the Guildhall. The Museum of London, located in the City, holds many of the Roman finds and has permanent Roman exhibitions, as well as being a source of information on Roman London generally.

Boundary

Borders of the City of London, showing surrounding London boroughs and the pre-1994 boundary (where changed) in red. The area covered by the Inner and Middle Temple is marked.
The City borders Westminster, crosses the Victoria Embankment, passes to the west of Middle Temple, along Strand and north up Chancery Lane, where it borders Camden. It turns east to Holborn Circus, with Baltic Street West as the most northerly boundary and in the south in includes Bishopsgate and Petticoat Lane. The City controls the full span of London Bridge but only half of the river underneath it.
Boundaries are marked by black bollards bearing the City's emblem, and by dragon boundary marks at major entrances e.g. Holborn, with a similar monument at Temple Bar on Fleet Street.

 Dragon statue atop the Temple Bar monument, which marks the boundary between the City and Westminster.

Roman London was established as a trading port by merchants on the tidal Thames around 47 AD but by the time of the construction of the London Wall, the city's fortunes were in decline, with problems of plague and fire. Alfred the Great, King of Wessex and arguably the first king of the 'English', began resettlement of the old Roman walled area in 886 and appointed his son-in-law Earl Æthelred of Mercia over it as part of their reconquest of the Viking occupied parts of England.

  The 1666 Great Fire destroyed nearly 80% of the City.

Map showing the extent of the Great Fire of London.

The 18th century was a period of rapid growth for London, reflecting an increasing national population, the early stirrings of the Industrial Revolution, and London's role at the centre of the evolving British Empire. The urban area expanded beyond the borders of the City of London, most notably during this period towards the West End and Westminster.
By the beginning of the 19th century, London was expanding rapidly in every direction and railways and the Tube allowed it to spread over a greater area. To the East, the Port of London grew when new docks were needed because the Thames at the City could not cope with the volume of trade. In 1894, an attempt was made to amalgamate the City and the surrounding County of London, but it did not succeed so the City elected four members to the unreformed House of Commons, which it retained after the Reform Act 1832 and into the 20th century.

St Paul's Cathedral, 1896.

During World War II, The City was aerial bombed in ‘The Blitz’ and although St Paul's Cathedral survived, large swathes of the City did not and the particularly heavy raids of late December 1940 led to a firestorm called the Second Great Fire of London.
 
In the decades following the war, there was a major rebuilding programme with modern and larger-scale developments.

They altered the City's urban landscape, although the parts which survived the bombings retained smaller buildings and old character.

The street pattern, which is still largely medieval, was altered slightly in certain places, although there is a more recent trend of reversing some of the post-war modernist changes made, such as at Paternoster Square.

Political and Legal   

The City is a ceremonial county, although it has a Commission of Lieutenancy, headed by the Lord Mayor, instead of a Lord-Lieutenant. Instead of a High Sheriff, two Sheriffs hold quasi-judicial offices and are appointed by the Livery Companies, another ancient political system based on the representation and protection of trades. Senior members of the Livery Companies are known as Liverymen and form a special electorate called the Common Hall and this body chooses the Lord Mayor of the City, the Sheriffs and certain other officers.
The local authority for the City, the City of London Corporation, has unusual responsibilities, eg. the police authority for the City, and holds ownerships beyond the City's boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, an office separate from, and much older than, the Mayor of London.

The Guildhall - the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City

Numerous Functions of the City 

The City has an independent police force, the City of London Police, and the Common Council is the police authority, while the rest of Greater London is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service from New Scotland Yard.

The Corporation owns and runs both the Smithfield and Leadenhall Markets  and a number of locations beyond the boundaries of the City, which include parks, forests and commons eg most of Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath and many public spaces in Northern Ireland through The Honourable The Irish Society.

It also owns Old Spitalfields Market and Billingsgate Fish Market, both of which are within the neighbouring London Borough of Tower Hamlets, owns and helps fund the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court for England and Wales, as a gift to the nation, it having begun as the City and Middlesex Sessions.
In 1123, the only hospital, St Bartholomews at Smithfield, was founded. Known as 'Barts', the hospital is undergoing a long-awaited regeneration.

The City is the third largest UK funding-patron of the arts. It oversees the Barbican Centre and subsidises several important performing arts companies.

The Corporation is The Port of London's health authority, includes the handling of imported cargo at London Heathrow airport, oversees the running of the Bridge House Trust which maintains five key bridges in central London, London Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Southwark Bridge, Tower Bridge and the Millennium Bridge. The City's flag flies over Tower Bridge, although neither footing is in the City.

Mansion House - the official residence of the Lord Mayor

Former Lord Mayor of London John Stuttard during the Lord Mayor's parade of 2006

Pregnancy & Birth through History

I should imagine any woman reading my blog title is probably crossing their legs right at this moment. Well, after my research I wouldn't blame you if you did. Today's blog is on pregnancy and childbirth through history. A fitting post since I recently gave birth to my third child, a daughter, Lily.

For me, this labour was easy, painful yes, but easy and everything went well. Having said that, should I have had my first child, Samuel a hundred years ago, both of us would have died without question. Thank God for modern medicine.

So without further ado, we head back to... The Middle Ages

A time when women and the male physicians were unknowledgeable with the female body and it's reproductive organs. It was thought that the male semen was all that it took to create a baby and us poor females were simply the oven in which it baked. In a time where medicine was practiced with bloodletting, prayer and an assortment of herbs and spices it was any wonder many women died in pregnancy and childbirth during this time.

 

A medieval woman giving birth



 

A medieval birthing chair



Seventeenth Century
Not a lot had changed by this time. Women were still predominately the carers in all households and sat in on births during this time. Mother's gave birth in a room with closed windows, curtains drawn and roaring fires. Not the most comfortable way to have a baby if you were to go into labour in the middle of summer.

Father's were kept away and women were pushed to give birth in the sitting or squatting position. Superstitions were rife during this time, and if the labour didn't progress quickly during the pushing phase, family members were asked to open cupboard doors or to untie knots; symbolic of the opening of the womb. Oh dear...

When the baby was born they were swaddled in linen strips and placed in a dark, quiet corner, as they believed bright light was detrimental to the baby's sight. Again, obstructed labour caused many women to die during birth and of course, there was still no anaesthesia to relieve the pain. Ouch.



17th century birth



Nineteenth Century

By this time in history men were participating in births. Male doctors assisted in labour and women were often asked to lay on their left sides 'Sims position' with their knees bent up. This was so the Doctor and patient could not see each other and the women's 'dignity' was preserved. Births were still predominately at home.

By the mid 1800's chloroform was invented and forceps were used more often during birth. The baby was breastfed either by a wet nurse or mother, dependant if the mother wished to or not.



A 19th century birth



Forceps



Late 19th century 'Sims Position'



We really should take our hats off to the women of the past and what they endured to enable us all to live today. As much as I love to sweep my readers into a time long gone and fill their minds with tales of love and happily ever afters, there was another side of marriage that all our heroines endured. Pregnancy and birth was a dangerous and painful undertaking and not something to be taken lightly. I salute you all.