The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

Product Information

The Edwardian era corresponds to the French Belle Époque. Despite its brief pre-eminence, the period is characterised by its own unique architectural style, fashion, and lifestyle. Art Nouveau had a particularly strong influence. Artists were influenced by the development of the automobile and electricity, and a greater awareness of human rights. David Brooks, The age of upheaval: Edwardian politics, 1899–1914 (Manchester University Press, 1995). In this beautiful book, Holden ‘recorded in words and paintings the flora and fauna of the British countryside through the changing seasons of the year’. She wrote everything by hand, and this has touchingly been reproduced, along with several original spelling errors. Alongside darling watercolours of the nature which she observed in her local area, Holden recorded fragments of her favourite poems by the likes of Burns, Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Barrett Browning, and personal observations. Included in this volume are recollections from extended family holidays in Scotland and Devon.

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady - Goodreads

Guerriero R. Wilson, "Women's work in offices and the preservation of men's 'breadwinning' jobs' in early twentieth-century Glasgow." Women's History Review 10#3 (2001): 463–482. The turn of the century saw the rise of popular journalism aimed at the lower middle class and tending to deemphasise highly detailed political and international news, which remain the focus of a handful of low-circulation prestige newspapers. These were family-owned and operated, and were primarily interested not in profits but in influence on the nation's elite by their control of the news and editorials on serious topics. [86]Her sister Evelyn was supposedly an even more talented artist. Edith preferred illustrating animals. I would enjoy seeing their training and work in context with other people during the day. Beatrix Potter was a contemporary, but no contemporary comparison is provided. Like the format of Ms. Holden's diary, I did not feel rushed. I enjoyed reading her notes from 1906 at random times. Beginning with January, she quoted poetry from her favorite favourite authors. Also, she painted beautiful watercolors watercolours with warm browns, cool blues, muted greens and rich tints of purple. Then, with no rhyme or reason, she opened her 'room with a view' and shared with the reader the happenstances of a particular day. Sometimes it was just a sentence; at other times she included a paragraph. She wrote about the weather, what she witnessed while out on her walks or, simply, she just expressed her feelings. At first it applied to four industries: chain-making, ready-made tailoring, paper-box making, and the machine-made lace and finishing trade. [35] It was later expanded to coal mining and then to other industries with preponderance of unskilled manual labour by the Trade Boards Act 1918. Under the leadership of David Lloyd George Liberals extended minimum wages to farm workers. [36] The government entered the Second Boer War with great confidence, little expecting that the two small rural Boer republics in southern Africa with a combined White population smaller than that of London would hold off the concentrated power of the British Empire for two and half years and take 400,000 Imperial troops to secure victory. [26] The war split the Liberal Party into anti- and pro-war factions. Great orators, such as Liberal David Lloyd George, who spoke against the war, became increasingly influential. Nevertheless, Liberal Unionist Joseph Chamberlain, who was largely in charge of the war, maintained his hold on power. [27]

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (Hardback) - Waterstones

Etherington, Norman. Imperium of the soul: The political and aesthetic imagination of Edwardian imperialists (Manchester UP, 2017). Nabil M. Kaylani, "Liberal Politics and British-Foreign-Office 1906-1912-Overview." International Review of History and Political Science 12.3 (1975): 17–48. The law did not recognise single independent women, and put women and children into the same category. If a man was physically disabled, his wife was also treated as disabled under the coverture laws, even though coverture was fast becoming outmoded in the Edwardian era. Unmarried mothers were sent to the workhouse, receiving unfair social treatment such as being restricted from attending church on Sundays. [70] Britain abandoned the policy of holding aloof from the continental powers, so called " Splendid Isolation", in the 1900s after being isolated during the Boer War. Britain concluded agreements, limited to colonial affairs, with her two major colonial rivals: the Entente Cordiale with France in 1904 and the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907. Britain's alignment was a reaction to an assertive German foreign policy and the build-up of its navy from 1898 which led to the Anglo-German naval arms race. [41] British diplomat Arthur Nicolson argued it was "far more disadvantageous to us to have an unfriendly France and Russia than an unfriendly Germany". [42]These were the minor changes that were taking place in those days. This was a very politically volatile period. Soon after the Edwardian age ended started the World War I in the fateful eventful year of 1914, till then the world had never witnessed such destruction. The Edwardian era is often stretched beyond the rule of King Edward. 1912 was a significant year in which the famous ship Titanic submerged mid sea. Contrary to the darkness of the Victorian age there was an air of cheerfulness and optimism in this era. How was the daily life of Edwardian working class? For housewives, sewing machines enabled the production of ready-made clothing and made it easier for women to sew their own clothes; more generally, argues Barbara Burman, "home dressmaking was sustained as an important aid for women negotiating wider social shifts and tensions in their lives." [55] Increased literacy in the middle class gave women wider access to information and ideas. Numerous new magazines appealed to her tastes and helped define femininity. [56] Typical of the Victorian age, Thomas Hardy‘s famous novel The Mayor of Casterbridge talks in detail about these biases. It talks about how women always assumed a subordinate position in the society. The class system and the division between the Elites and the working class was not less than a gulf. Glaser, John F. (1958). "English Nonconformity and the Decline of Liberalism". The American Historical Review. 63 (2): 352–363. doi: 10.2307/1849549. JSTOR 1849549.