Jane Austen’s London takes place at 2.30 pm on Sunday, July 4th. The meeting point is Green Park underground station, London (north exit, on the corner)
The walk takes in the area of the London section of Sense and Sensibility. This is where Jane Austen frequented when visiting her banking brother, Henry. He lived here during his ‘successful’ period, after resigning as a Captain in the Militia and setting up a bank to help soldiers pay for their commissions. He then did what all good bankers do – went bankrupt and ruined himself, family and friends. His uncle lost 10,000 pounds; his rich brother, Edward Knight lost £20,000. (that is 2/5ths of the fortune of Willoughby’s wife, and equal to the income of Darcy, 100 times the annual income of Mrs Austen after her husband died) i.e. a heck of a lot of money. Jane lost £13.
But this area was also the centre of the Ton – the wealthy elite of Regency London. It was here that the French Royal family, in exile, hung out, and the haunt of Beau Brummel and Prinny, the Prince Regent, loungers in chief who were so well satirised in the figure of Sir Walter Elliot. This is where the Dandies lounged, leered and shopped. Here the rich could get their guns, swords, cigars, snuff, hats, shoes, tailored clothes, uniforms, wine, prostitutes, lovers. They came to visit art galleries, see panoramas of European Cities, to ‘see’ the invisible women living in her glass jar, to choose their Wedgwood pottery.
And what is astonishing is that this is still where the megarich do exactly the same things: hang out and shop. All the top brands are here, and instead of people like John Willoughy are to be found Russian Oligarchs, and the rich of the Emirates, and every other country in the world. And most marvellously many of the shops survive into the present day. The same shops and shop fronts still in use. They catered to the stupidly wealthy of the 18th Century are now catering for the stupidly wealthy of the 21st Century. This is where you can buy luxury yachts.
So we follow Jane and Henry, and see the ghost traces left by immoral Willoughby, sensible Elinor, overwrought Marianne, dull but nice Edward Ferrars, dull and horrible Robert Ferrars, stolid Colonel Brandon, vulgar but kind Mrs Jennings and her unforgivably vulgar daughter Mrs Palmer with her despairing husband; the Middletons, the Steeles gals ruthlessly working their assets. Plus we have a little look at the relationship between Prinny and Beau Brummel, and the terrible childbed of Princess Ch
I do various walks from time to time, nearly all for London Walks. (A list of all the walks. lectures, study tours I have given can be found here):
JANE AUSTEN’S LONDON
Jane Austen’s London takes place at 2.30 pm on Sunday, July 4th. The meeting point is just outside the Green Park exit (by the fountain) of Green Park Tube.
The walk takes in the area of the London section of Sense and Sensibility. This is where Jane Austen frequented when visiting her banking brother, Henry. He lived here during his ‘successful’ period, after resigning as a Captain in the Militia and setting up a bank to help soldiers pay for their commissions. He then did what all good bankers do – went bankrupt and ruined himself, family and friends. His uncle lost 10,000 pounds; his rich brother, Edward Knight lost £20,000. (that is 2/5ths of the fortune of Willoughby’s wife, and equal to the income of Darcy, 100 times the annual income of Mrs Austen after her husband died) i.e. a heck of a lot of money. Jane lost £13.
But this area was also the centre of the Ton – the wealthy elite of Regency London. It was here that the French Royal family, in exile, hung out, and the haunt of Beau Brummel and Prinny, the Prince Regent, loungers in chief who were so well satirised in the figure of Sir Walter Elliot. This is where the Dandies lounged, leered and shopped. Here the rich could get their guns, swords, cigars, snuff, hats, shoes, tailored clothes, uniforms, wine, prostitutes, lovers. They came to visit art galleries, see panoramas of European Cities, to ‘see’ the invisible women living in her glass jar, to choose their Wedgwood pottery.
And what is astonishing is that this is still where the megarich do exactly the same things: hang out and shop. All the top brands are here, and instead of people like John Willoughy are to be found Russian Oligarchs, and the rich of the Emirates, and every other country in the world. And most marvellously many of the shops survive into the present day. The same shops and shop fronts still in use. They catered to the stupidly wealthy of the 18th Century are now catering for the stupidly wealthy of the 21st Century. This is where you can buy luxury yachts.
So we follow Jane and Henry, and see the ghost traces left by immoral Willoughby, sensible Elinor, overwrought Marianne, dull but nice Edward Ferrars, dull and horrible Robert Ferrars, stolid Colonel Brandon, vulgar but kind Mrs Jennings and her unforgivably vulgar daughter Mrs Palmer with her despairing husband; the Middletons, the Steeles gals ruthlessly working their assets. Plus we have a little look at the relationship between Prinny and Beau Brummel, and the terrible childbed of Princess Ch
THE REBIRTH OF SAXON LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY VIRTUAL WALK
Sunday 4th July 2021 6.30pm
An exploration of what happened following the Roman Period. How did a Celtic speaking Latin educated Roman City become, first deserted, then recovered to become the leading City in a germanic speaking Kingdom?
My first virtual walk took place every Sunday at 2pm in August 2020 and was:Myths, Legends and the Archaeological Origins of London in August 2020 and I have since done:
Sunday 25th October 2020 The Archaeology and Culture of Roman London Virtual Walk. For more details click here.
Sunday 1st November 2020 The Decline and Fall of Dark Age London Archaeology Virtual Walk. For more details click here.
Sunday 8th November 2020 The Rebirth of Saxon London Archaeology Virtual Walk For more details click here.
Sunday 22nd November 2020 Flower of Cities All – Medieval London History & Archaeology Virtual Walk For more details click here.
Sunday 29th November 2020. The London of Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell Virtual Walk For more details click here.
Sunday 6th December 2020 The Financial City from Slavery to Hedge Fund Virtual Walk For more details click here.
Sunday 13 th December 2020 Myths, Legends and the Origins of London Archaeology Virtual Walk . For more details of this walk click here.
THE FINANCIAL CITY FROM SLAVERY TO HEDGE FUND VIRTUAL WALK
SUNDAY 30th May 2021 6.30pm
To book
This walks looks at the development of the City of London as a financial centre. Its origins were among the money lenders of the Jewish and Italian quarters of Old Jewry and Lombard Street. We continue the story with the introduction of the first commercial companies and the Merchant Adventurers of Elizabethan London, alongside the revival of the cruel trade in Slaves. We walk through the alleyways of the City where innovation went side by side with the introduction of Coffee in the Coffee Houses of Stuart London.
We look at the distinctive architecture of the City as we walk around one of the most specialised market places in the world that once prided itself on the virtues of providing face to face contact.. The financial institutions in the City have encountered many changes since the scandal of the South Sea Bubble and it has weathered them all, so far. It was given a huge boast by the ‘Big Bang’ in Mrs Thatcher’s time. But the consequences of the effects of Brexit and Covid on top of the Internet are not yet clear on the City.
THE REBIRTH OF SAXON LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY VIRTUAL WALK
London in the 5th Century Reconstruction painting.
Sunday 4th July 2021 6.30pm
An exploration of what happened following the Roman Period. How did a Celtic speaking Latin educated Roman City become, first deserted, then recovered to become the leading City in a Germanic speaking Kingdom?
I used to think that asking compensation for past wrongs was not a good idea, after all where would we draw the lines? Currently, we seem to draw that line in 1933. Then I heard about the
What this revealed was that the British Government borrowed money (from Rothschild which they only paid back recently) some £20m if I remember correctly. We have the list of the beneficiaries of compensation for their loss of OWNERSHIP of human beings. So we, the people, funded compensation of exploiters of human misery.
£20m is perhaps £16 billion in today’s money.
So what would be so terrible about, we, the people, setting up a charitable fund with £16billion capital to fund, say, the removal of barriers to equal opportunity in Britain, the West Indies and Africa.
Funded by Government borrowing.
As to Statues. Case by Case examination of the issues, by citizens panel guided by expert opinions.
Options to include:
1. Removal to a museum display where contextual information can be clearly displayed.
2. Erection of new plinth with appropriate information
3. Creation of a new statue nearby to make a suitable display representing the issues
The Old Operating Theatre Museum is in St Thomas Church, Southwark, part of the old St Thomas Hospital. The Church, built in 1703, by Thomas Cartwright has a fine baroque Tower, the top two chambers of which have been empty for many years. The conversion to a bijou pied a terre has been completed and details can be found in the link above.
A couple of my regular places have been affected by the effects of the toppling of the Colston Statue in Bristol.
Firstly, the statue of Robt Milligan outside the Museum of London, Docklands has been taken down. I have often used this as a meeting point for my students from Westminster University as we explore the Docks and the Docklands Museum.
Slavery was a big part of the visit, although we didn’t make Milligan the villain.
Another site is the Geffrey Museum which is going to open as the Museum of the Home, although this was determined before the George Floyd murder, but now I expect the Geffrey part of it to quietly disappear, as he is also contaminated by slavery.
Interesting fact about slavery, is that UCL have done a brilliant study of all the recipients of the compensation for the end of slavery. The govt at the time paid compensation of £20m to the slave OWNERS. This was a vast amount said to be 45% of the GDP for the year. It was funded by a long term loan which was paid back, as late as, 2015. In modern terms it was 16 billion £.
This has completely changed my mind on compensation for slavery which I was against. But it seems to me if we know that £16 billion was spent then to compensate the owners we could set up a fund of £16 billion now to give, for example, educational grants and start up grants for black people to give them the boost they need to make up for centuries of oppression..
Tower to Rotherhithe Riverside Walk.
Tower Hill Tube. Feb 1 2020 2.30
This is a lovely walk along the River Thames from Tower Bridge to Rotherhithe Tube Station. We walk in the City, Southwark, Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, through areas famous for Dickens. lived in by Gulliver, painted by Turner and Whistler, and we end where the Mayflower began its journey to the New World.
We will see great views of the River and its architecture and look at the history of the River Thames from the Roman period to the 21st Century. We will be. exploring old warehouses, old palaces, former tea gardens, churches, council estate and infamous areas of slums which are now much prized housing areas.
Meet Kevin just outside the exit of BarbicanTube Stop.
One of the greatest place for London history. Just outside the Roman City Wall and used by the Romans as a cemetary. The “smooth field” became the main live stock market of London, occassional tiltyard and place of public executions. The Peasants’ Rebellion climaxed here. On 23 August 1305 William Wallace (‘Braveheart’) was hanged, drawn and quartered here. Religious martyrs were burnt here and forgers boiled in oil. There are two monasteries which give a great insight into the Reformation, with connections to Thomas More. St Bartholemews hosted Britains’s greatest fair, and provided the oldest hospital in the United Kingdom – the second oldest in Europe. There are more pre-Great Fire buildings than anywhere else in London. There are also the trace of World War 1 bombing and Zeppelin raids. There are street names that sing: Cow Cross Street, Giltspur Street, etc. There are people names that resonate: Ben Franklin, John Milton, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rahere, to name but a few. Oh, and did we mention this is where Holmes met Watson and where Benedict Cumberbatch fell off the roof.
Hampstead Underground station, London 7.15 Saturday 23 Nov 2019
Hampstead is one of the best place to be on a Saturday night in London. It’s the roof of London. We’ll look down and see the lights of the greatest city on earth spread out before us. On a clear night we’ll even nip into the Old Observatory for a look through the telescope at the starry heavens above. What else? Well, it’s London at its most picturesque – a perfectly preserved Georgian village. There’s a superb cast of characters – ranging from the highwayman Dick Turpin to the painter Constable to the poet Keats; The Du Mauriers, Freud and D.H. Lawrence to Liam Gallagher and Boy George; from Elizabeth Taylor and Rex Harrison to Peter O’Toole and Jeremy Irons. There’s London’s most villagey atmosphere, great cafes, magnificent Hampstead Heath, and well-hidden, cosy old pubs you’ll fall in love with. This is a great walk – they just don’t come any better. N.B. the walk ends just round the corner from Hampstead Tube.
This is a London Walks Guided Walk given by Kevin Flude
on Saturday, November 30.