A Little History

Regency England

The 1810s were part of the Georgian Era in England, which covered the reigns of King George I through King George IV, from 1714 to around 1830 (some consider it to go a little longer, through King William IV, who died in 1837, because he was the last king before Queen Victoria). This particular decade is known as the Regency era because, from 1811 to 1820, the Prince of Wales ruled as regent for his father, George III (the king who had reigned during the American Revolution), who was suffering from mental illness and unable to fulfill his duties. The Prince of Wales assumed the throne in 1820 as King George IV, after the death of his father. Technically, when George IV became king, it ended his regency for his father and ended the period called the Regency Era in English history, but some people consider the Regency era to go up to the beginning of the Victorian Era, because of the continuance of cultural trends.

Society was becoming more industrialized and urban. Populations had already started shifting from the countryside to the big cities, and factories were increasing production of consumer goods. New technological developments were changing people’s lives.

Continued Development of the United States

The United States was a relatively new country, and it was still continuing to develop politically during this time. During the War of 1812, the young United States once again was at war with Britain. The conflict was sparked by Britain’s attempts to restrict US trade with France (due to the hostilities between Britain and France at that time) and to impress US soldiers into the Royal Navy and by quarrels over the westward expansion of the US. The war lasted a few years, and in 1814, the British set fire to Washington, DC. The war finally ended in 1815 with the Treaty of Ghent, although many of the original conflicts were still unresolved. Still, the US celebrated the end of the war because it had survived a second war with Britain, and it felt like the end of the Revolutionary War all over again.

This decade was also part of the Era of Good Feelings in the United States. The Federalist Party, which was the oldest American political party, had collapsed in 1815. Far from causing turmoil, the collapse actually produced a period when there was less partisanship in American politics. President James Monroe hoped that this might lead to an end of political parties

Children and Toys

The kaleidoscope was a new development in toys during this decade. A Scottish inventor, David Brewster, developed the kaleidoscope 1816. It became a popular toy and parlor amusement through the rest of the 19th century.

Developments in Literature

The Regency era had a powerful and lasting effect on literature and popular culture because of some of the literary works produced during this period and the colorful personalities associated with them. When people think of the Regency, they often picture Jane Austen and her novels. Her novels and the social intrigues, romances, and scandals of this time helped to inspire modern movies and tv shows, like Bridgerton.

Some of the most famous works of classic literature were written and published during this decade:.

  • Sense and Sensibility (1811) by Jane Austen – A widow and her three daughters must move to a new home after the girls’ father dies and his son from a previous marriage inherits his estate. The story follows the romances of the two older girls in the family and their differing attitudes toward romance.
  • Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen – A famous story about a romance complicated by prideful attitudes and preconceived notions that turn out to be wrong.
  • Mansfield Park (1814) by Jane Austen – A young girl goes to live with wealthier relatives. Although her wealthier relatives look down on her, as she and her cousins grow up, their life choices show that wealth is no substitute for good character and good decisions.
  • Emma (1815) by Jane Austen – A wealthy young woman prides herself on being a good matchmaker, but she discovers that she has a lot to learn about other people and their lives.
  • Rob Roy (1817) by Walter Scott – An historical adventure novel set in early 18th century Scotland, around the time of the Jacobite Uprising. Robert Louis Stevenson later read it as a child and loved it.
  • Northanger Abbey (1817) by Jane Austen, published posthumously – This novel pokes fun at gothic literature, which was popular during the Regency era and in the decades leading up to it, and at social attitudes toward novels in general. Around this time, although fictional novels were being published for popular reading, there were people who disapprove of the idea of reading fiction for fun instead of useful nonfiction books or books that would improve one’s knowledge or character. They thought fictional novels were a waste of time and gave people a false sense of reality. In the story, a young woman named Catherine, who enjoys spooky gothic novels, accompanies a pair of family friends on a trip to Bath, where she makes some new friends and is invited to visit their family’s home, Northanger Abbey. Because of the scary stories she’s read, she has overly dramatic notions about what an old place like Northanger Abbey must be like and draws some wrong conclusions about the father of the family. However, she also turns out to be correct in realizing that he’s cold-hearted and not a trustworthy person. He’s not quite the sinister villain of stories, but he’s more of a low-level, everyday sort of villain. He hasn’t done anything illegal, but it would be fair to consider him unkind and even immoral in some areas.
  • Persuasion (1817) by Jane Austen, published posthumously – A woman who was persuaded by friends and family not to marry the love of her life because of his lower social status gets a second chance for the relationship that she really wants.
  • Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley – The story of how this novel was created is famous. It was the result of an informal ghost story contest involving Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and John Polidori – a rather scandalous group of creatives who were like the celebutantes of their day. Most of them lived fast and wild lives, dying relatively young. They were all friends, and they were staying in a Swiss villa one summer, when a fierce storm caused them to have to stay indoors, so they started telling ghost stories to pass the time. Some members of the group, like Mary Shelley, published their stories later.
  • The Vampyre (1819) by John Polidori – Also inspired by the same ghost story contest that inspired Frankenstein. This story is credited as the first published modern vampire story, inspiring later pieces of vampire fiction, like Dracula. Unlike folkloric vampires, the vampire in this story, Lord Ruthven, is a charming and seductive British nobleman, possibly modeled on Lord Byron. Lord Ruthven befriends an innocent dupe and seduces and murders both his friend’s lover and sister.
  • Don Juan (1819) by Lord Byron – A narrative poem based on a legendary character known for seducing women, although Byron portrayed the character in a satirical way, as someone who is easily seduced rather than a seducer.
  • Ivanhoe (1819) by Walter Scott – A famous adventure story set in Medieval England.
  • Rip Van Winkle (1819) by Washington Irving. A short story in which a man in Colonial America meets some mysterious strangers who turn out to be ghosts, and after bowling and drinking with them, the man sleeps for 20 years, waking up to find his community changed after the American Revolution.

You’ll notice that some of the books I’ve mentioned above are read by children, particularly teenagers, in schools today. Sometimes, with older literature, the lines between children’s literature and adult literature are blurred, partly because some books that were originally intended for adults eventually became considered children’s literature through their use in schools, the appearance of child characters in the stories, their popularity with children, and the fact that the concept of teen and young adult literature did not really exist prior to the 20th century, evolving more in the mid to late-20th century. Just as 19th century children were expected to work and behave like small adults when not playing or in school, older children and teens who had finished their education and learned to read would simply have moved on straight to adult literature when they were done with children’s books and school readers (you can actually read some of the school readers here). This is something to remember with children’s literature throughout the 19th century.

Many of the books for children during this period, and even many through the rest of the 19th century and into the 20th century, were intended more for improving their minds and behavior than for providing entertainment. Even adventure and fantasy stories had morals to teach children.

Fiction Books

General Fiction

Series

Scary

Adventure

The Swiss Family Robinson (1812)

When a family is shipwrecked on a deserted island, they must learn how to be self-sufficient and use the wreckage of their ship to build a magnificent tree fort!  By Johann D. Wyss.

I’m not sure if this book was originally intended for children or not, but it was later made into a Disney movie.

Historical Fiction

Fantasy

The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (1812)

A collection of German folktales, originally titled Children’s and Household Tales or Kinder- und Hausmärchen in German, in spite of the fact that most of the stories weren’t really appropriate for children. Some aspects of the stories were toned down in later reprintings. By Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816)

On Christmas Eve, young Marie and her siblings receive special presents from their godfather, Drosselmeyer, including a clockwork castle and a fancy nutcracker.  Later that night, Marie sees them come to life and helps the nutcracker to battle the seven-headed Mouse King.  By E.T.A. Hoffman.

Series

Picture Books

Children’s Non-Fiction

Children of the Decade

Children born in this decade in the United States:

They would have been in their 40s or 50s during the American Civil War (1861-1865). All of them would remember life before the war began. By then, many of them would have been married and had children of their own. Some may have been soldiers during the Civil War. Slavery would have been legal in the United States during their earliest years and into their adulthood.

They would have been in their 80s or 90s around the time the Wright brothers built and flew their first airplanes during the early 1900s, if they lived that long. Most of them probably never saw the beginning of flight or got the chance to fly in a plane themselves.

They were born before women in the United States could vote.  None of their mothers had the right to vote at the time of their births or for their entire childhoods.  They would have to have lived to age 100 or more to be alive when women’s suffrage was granted after the ratification of the 19th Amendment (although some western states did have women voting even before that).

They lived during a time when people not only did not have television but also did not have home radios (which were invented and popularized in the 1920s, well beyond their lifespans).  If you wanted music at home, you had to either learn to sing or play an instrument yourself, listen to a family member who could.  Phonographs, developed in 1877 by Thomas Edison, commonly were of the wind-up variety, so no electricity was needed, but this generation would have been elderly by the time they were invented.

Children born in this decade would also have read books from the following decade, the 1820s, in their youth. However, children who were old enough to read some of the books published in the early part of this decade when they were first sold would have been born in the preceding decade, the 1800s.

Children’s Authors Were Children, Too!

Everyone was young once, and I’d just like to take this opportunity to remind readers that authors born around this time would have grown up like other children of their time, witnessing the same events and reading the same books as they grew up.

Children’s authors born in this decade:

Edward Lear – May 12, 1812 – Author of The Book of Nonsense (1846, a book of nonsense limericks for children) and Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets (1871, a book of nonsense poems, including The Owl and the Pussy-cat)

Other Resources

Documentary Films

CrashCourse

CrashCourse is a YouTube channel with fun educational videos on a variety of topics and different periods of history. The videos are fairly short for educational lectures. Most are less than 15 minutes long. These videos are intended for teenagers and older, so be aware that there may be topics and language inappropriate for younger children.

Getting Dressed – Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra (1810)

Shows a pair of women getting dressed as Jane Austen and her sister would have during the 1810s. It also discusses Jane Austen’s life. By CrowsEyeProductions.

Getting Dressed in 1816 – Mary Shelley

Shows a woman getting dressed as Mary Shelley would have during the 1810s. It also discusses Mary Shelley’s life and the creation of her famous story, Frankenstein. By CrowsEyeProductions.

For more about 1810s culture:

Lists of 1810s children’s books:

Nineteenth-Century American Children & What They Read

Explains about the lives of children in the 19th century and books and magazines that they read. The focus seems to be on the 1870s and earlier.

Books By Decade

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