Dearest Emily,
Whilst setting about my currently pressing quest on the book-hatching front- this being why Charles Dodgson a.k.a Lewis Carroll felt so aggrieved towards many of his peers- I decided to investigate further as to the social stratagems and matters economical during the time of my interest.
Et voila at the Bookroom, a volume takes my eye:-
" A hundred Glorious Years " by Mrs C.S Peel
Starting with 1820, this book travels the decades detailing the social and domestic life of a century.
What fascinates me today, is just how socially mobile the 1850's to 70's were in particular.
In the 1820's 'Birth' had been everything socially. The aristocracy still maintained a sharp social difference to great county families. However, the emergence of the 'Oxford Movement' and with a sworn religious up-bringing; the canny family could keep up the supremancy of the Fashion for convention ( i.e, that everyone must behave like everyone else ) whilst contriving and upwardly mobile
position.
As example my chosen Mysterion- Mr Dodgson;
Charles' father was dubbed as the 'Eternal Curate'. The Rev C.Dodgson's home was fairly typical of what we are exploring.
A Vicar could command an income that was deemed acceptable for marriage. £400 a year, plus an equivalent dowry from the wife, would keep five servants and therefore 'appearances' up.
Families, often with five or more children, would then struggle with constant planning, contriving and going without, in order to educate them and live in the society of their equals.
The advent of the railway popularised travels further afield than a twenty-five mile drive by carriage, and houses were expected to entertain for the total of one to two months a year. The cost was recouped by visiting others homes throughout the season.
This was done as lavishly as the familial purse allowed- 'Elegant Economy'.
Mrs Gaskell's ladies of 'Cranford' were prime examples of this maxim, their decanters filled with wines ( for guests, seldom touched otherwise.) Gooseberries and currants were gathered by the ladies of the house for syllabub, and wine that was left-over from a previous dinner party ( which may have been five months ago ) was examined, and if proven passable- added to a fresh bottle brought up from the cellar.
This kind of genteel exercise in 'not showing your slip' went on at all social levels.
One Lady of 'good birth' where means did not deem them to live in the same way as their fellows, throughout the season lived in Eaton Square, kept a carriage and gave dinners. In the summer the front windows were papered- the family went out of town.
In reality, they dismissed the servants, ceased to job a carriage and inhabited two or three rooms at the back of the house, were waited on by a charwoman and lived on toast, tea and poached eggs, their letters being forwarded from a country address.
Charles Dodgson was a child of parents who strove for a good education for him and his many siblings.
Extraordinairily gifted at mathematics, but not disposed to studying hard- he breezed Oxford and attained honours. He was offered a Lecturers position in Mathematics, which meant a salary of about £70 a year. At this time this was a popular choice ( comparable perhaps to a contemporary sabbatical ) whilst one decided one's path. Thomas Carlyle did the same in Edinburgh whilst he wrestled with his religious beliefs. )
A Fellowship was offered to Dodgson, upon condition that he did not marry, and took holy orders. This must have seemed financially attractive to the Reverend's son- though he too struggled with divinity- and a stammer that made him anxious about reading sermons.
However smart and admirable a clever Mathematics Fellow of Oxford may seem to us now, at the time it was Art that held lofty intellectual prowess.
Parliamentarians were seconded by Lord Lansdowne from poets, painters and writers. Lord Somers ( married to Julia Margaret Cameron's sister Virginia ) was 'press-ganged' by Lansdowne into government, so his career as a painter and photographer was put firmly on the shelf.
Mathmatical Dodgson didn't have much social cachet, and felt the need for another social string to his bow. What better way to get up close and personal with the peers he wished to impress, than to ingratiate them via the new-fangledart of photography?
In 1855, years before 'Alice in Wonderland' was written, he and Reginald Southey ( son of Robert am ex-poet laureate ) went together to Covent Garden where Dodgson bought his first camera for fifteen shillings. Of which, dear Emily, more another time.
What I have enjoyed most Em, in this little soujourn into 'Elegant Economy' is how the whole idea contrasts with todays 'Facebook-pretty', Twitter-friendly espoused aspiration or political or social exascerbation is set to attract the 'likes'- minded towards them.
It's all pretty socially democratic.
Unsettled attempts at re-settling in unsettled times.
But, uncertainty is an ally.
Just as it was for the Victorians with the scenery of Napoleonic and Crimean wars, the French revolution, economic paranoia, social upheaval and social conscience.
There's a lot for us to learn today from the previously considered 'stuffy' Victorians. But here, I may be prejudiced in seeing them in this way. It's a generational thing.
As a child of the 11 plus exam, by passing and going to a 'Grammar school' my achievement rather dampened any literary hunger or appreciation. Shakespeare had to be learned by 'rote' and poetry was an all too gloomy affair with 'modern-verse' often focussed upon the horror of the two world wars.
Though I chose English Literature for A-level, I dumped it within six months and headed for the fashion industry where my hunger fort learning was satiated throughout my twenties.
In my thirties, I was woken up to Shakespeare by the redoubtable Dorothea Alexander I have told you of previously. I was ordered to 'put away my spines' as she sat me down on a kneeler beside her whilst I read aloud. The penny dropped and the stories suddenly became alive and related to the world around me.
As do the Victorians for me now, and what we can learn from them...
I rather like 'Elegant Economy' Emily, I think it's rather truthful.
Adoringly yours,
GiGi xxx
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