“The reports are that the lady is mild, gentle, and amiable, full of devotion to and admiration for her betrothed—qualities which should blend very well with his vivacity.”
“Yes, Aunt, but you omitted the lady’s most outstanding mark of eligibility.”
“What is that?”
“Her name is Georgiana—proof that they were destined for each other by a kind Providence.” Laughing with delight and relief, Georgiana took the arm of the waiting Granville. Leaving her baffled aunt, she led him into the garden. “And what do you say to so famous a romance?”
“I wish them joy. But I believe we have a much surer basis for building a happy marriage.”
And as Granville very scandalously kissed her for the second time that day, Georgiana thought so too.
Afterword
The major events of the book are all recorded history, and the characters (including most of the servants and animals) actually lived. To the extent that they have been recorded, I have used the characters’ own words.
With one exception the events all occurred between 1820 and 1825, although not necessarily in the order presented here. I have taken the liberty of rearranging and condensing occurrences: The Cato Street conspiracy took place before the Amelioration of Slavery debate. The rainy afternoon that gave the world the game of badminton was in 1863.
In 1835 on the death of his father from the “family enemy,” gout, Lord Worcester became the seventh Duke of Beaufort and was succeeded in time by the son born of his marriage to Emily Culling-Smith. Frederick Gough Calthorpe succeeded his brother as the fourth Baron Calthorpe. He and Lady Charlotte had four sons, three of whom succeeded to the title, and six daughters. George Agar-Ellis, later the first Baron Dover, and Lady Georgiana had four sons and three daughters.
The Slavery Abolition Act to which William Wilberforce dedicated his life was passed in 1833, one month after his death, although he lived to see the successful second reading of the bill.
True to his pledge, Granville Dudley Ryder was elected Member of Parliament for Tiverton in 1831 and for Hertfordshire in 1841. The Table of Kindred and Affinity did not prohibit marriages between first cousins. Granville and Georgiana made their home at Westbrook Hay, Hemel Hempstead, in West Hertfordshire. They had three sons and five daughters.
Badminton is still the seat of the Dukes of Beaufort, and the Beaufort Hunt continues today, pledged to carry out only activities in accord with the laws which have changed substantially since the sixth duke’s day. The Earl of Harrowby, at the time of my research, lived at Sandon Hall, Staffordshire. He authored England at Worship.
Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, carries on Charles Simeon’s heritage of an alive, Spirit-filled ministry to students and community. The church maintains an active vision for world missions.
Time Line
Where There Is Love
UNITED STATES
ENGLAND
George Whitefield begins preaching
1738
John Wesley’s Aldergate experience
French and Indian War
1756
1760
George III crowned
1760
Lady Huntingdon opens chapel in Bath
1766
Stamp Act passed
Boston Tea Party
1773
Rowland Hill ordained
The Revolutionary War
1776
The American War
1787
Wilberforce begins antislavery campaign
Constitution ratified
1788
George Washington elected President
1789
1799
Church Missionary Society founded
1805
Lord Nelson wins Battle of Trafalgar
1807
Parliament bans slave trade
War of 1812
1812
Charles Simeon begins Conversation Parties
1815
Waterloo
Missouri Compromise
1820
George IV crowned
John Quincy Adams elected President
1825
1830
William IV crowned
Temperance Union founded
1835
William Wilberforce dies
Texas Independence
1836
Charles Simeon dies
1837
Queen Victoria crowned
Susan B. Anthony Campaigns
1848
California Gold Rush
1849
1851
Crystal Palace opens
Uncle Tom’s Cabin published
1852
1854
Florence Nightingale goes to Crimean War
Abraham Lincoln elected President
1860
Emancipation Proclamation
1863
1865
Hudson Taylor founds China Inland Mission
Transcontinental Railroad completed
1869
1877
D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey London revivals
Thomas Edison invents light bulb
1879
1885
Cambridge Seven join China Inland Mission
Word List
Ashen fagot—a bundle of ash sticks burned in the west of England instead of a Yule log
Bosky—tipsy or drunk
Bow Street Runners—London police before the Metropolitan Police
Boxing Day—day after Christmas when boxes are given to servants and the poor
Bumblebroth—situation that has been bungled
Corinthian—fashionable man-about-town, sportsman
Dipped—short of money
Double first—first-class honors in two different subjects
Drop-fences—the ground is lower on one side of the fence
Fistful of flimsies—handful of paper money
Fives—fist
Haricot—lamb and vegetable stew
Lent term—second academic term, from mid-January to Easter
Kern-baby—doll fashioned from kerneled wheat stalks
Knee smalls—tight-fitting breeches worn above stockings
Master of foxhounds—guides the hounds and followers in the field
Mill—prize fight or free-for-all fistfight
Neats—cows
Oak—heavy outer door for extra privacy on university rooms
On dit—gossip
Pamphylians—prostitutes
Perch phaeton—a light four-wheeled carriage with the seat perched over the wheels
Pietradura—a style of cabinetry made of ebony inlaid with polished semiprecious stones, developed in Florence by the Medicis
Pockets to let—pockets empty of money
Punting—gambling or betting; a play against the bank in faro
Ratafia—a fruit juice liqueur
Reverberator—Charles Simeon’s name for his hearing aid
Rouleau—a roll or fold of something, such as a ribbon, used as trimming
Roundaboutation—beating about the bush
Sarcenet—soft, thin silk
Sizar—student who acts as servant to other students in return for an allowance for his college expenses
Smalls—short for examinations required for matriculation
Sprig muslin—a plain-woven cotton fabric patterned all over with sprigs of flowers
Tilbury—a light two-wheeled carriage with an elaborate spring suspension system
Ton—(pronounced tone) style; the fashionable world; smart set
Treat—to negotiate a settlement
Waits—rustic serenaders who sing for small gratuities, carolers
Whippers-in (whips)—master of the hunt’s assistants who whip the hounds
Bibliography
With my deep appreciation to those who have walked this ground before:
Agar-Ellis, George James Welbore, Baron Dover. The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford. Vol. 1. London: 1840.
Brown, Ford K. Fathers of the Victorians: The Age of William Wilberforce. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961.
Brown, MA, Abner William. Recollections of the Conversation Parties of the Rev. Charles Simeon, M.A. London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1863.
Dale, MA, T. F. The Eighth Duke of Beaufort and the Badminton Hunt. Westminster: Archibald Constable and Co., Ltd., 1901.
Durant, Horatia. Henry, First Duke of Beaufort and His Duchess, Mary. Pontypool: Hughs & Son, 1973.
—Charles Simeon, Preacher Extraordinary. Brancote Notts: Grove Books, 1979.
—Raglan Castle. 2d ed. Great Britain: The Starling Press, Ltd., 1980.
—The Somerset Sequence. London: Newman Neame, 1951.
Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Preached at Enfield, Connecticut, 1741.
Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, new series, vol. 10 (3 Feb-29 May, 1824).
Hole, Christiana, English Traditional Customs. London: S. T. Batsford, Ltd., 1975.
Hopkins, Hugh Evan. Charles Simeon of Cambridge. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977.
Lewis, Michael. The Navy of Britain: A Historical Portrait. London: 1948.
Meade, D.D., William. A Faithful Servant: The Life and Labors of the Reverend Charles Simeon. Selected from the larger work of the Reverend William Carus. New York: Depository of Protestant Episcopal Society for Promotion of Evangelical Knowledge, 1853.
Pollock, John Charles. Wilberforce. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1977.
Pugh, R. B., ed. The Victoria History of the Counties of England. London: University of London Institute of Historical Research, 1970.
Strachey, Lytton and Roger Fulford, eds. The Greville Memoirs, 1814-1860. 8 vols. London: Macmilliam & Co., 1938.
Trevelyan, G. M. Trinity College, An Historical Sketch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Walker, R.N., C. F. Young Gentlemen, the Story of Midshipmen. London: 1938.
Wilberforce, R. I. and S. Life of William Wilberforce. Vol. 3. London: 1838.
Wilberforce, Wiliam. An Appeal to the Religion, Justice, and Humanity of the Inhabitants of the British Empire in Behalf of the Negro Slaves in the West Indies. 1823.
Winstanley, D. A. Unreformed Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1935.
From King’s College Archives,
Cambridge University, Cambridge:
Acquaintance with God. Printed and sold by J. Downing in Bartholomew Close, 1726.
Scholar of the period [i.e., by Wiliam Hill Dicker, 1803-1901]. King’s Old Court, 1822-1825. Typed transcript, formerly owned by M. R. James.
Simeon, Charles. University Sermons on the Law and Gospel in Kings College Chapel. London: 1828.
From The Harrowby Mss. Trust (The Ryder Papers),
Sandon Hall, Staffordshire:
Anand, V. S. and F. A. Ridley. The Cato Street Conspiracy. London: Medusa Press, 1977.
Read the complete Where There is Love Series:
Where Love Begins
Catherine Perronet’s world is shaken when she learns Charles Wesley is engaged to marry another. After all, Catherine’s initials were on the list John Wesley gave to his brother listing acceptable matrimonial candidates.
And that’s not all that’s wrong in Catherine’s world. As teacher at a Methodist Society school in London, she sees her brother beaten while preaching in the open air, her favorite pupil forced to leave school because of his family’s poverty, and a prisoner receive his death sentence in Newgate Prison. Catherine undertakes the joys and hardships of a circuit-ride preaching tour to Canterbury where a French invasion threatens then must face the terrors of the Great London Earthquake before coming to an understanding of the gentle calling God has for her.
Where Love Illumines
Mary Tudway is forced to choose between two worlds: the pleasurable life of her high society friends Sarah Child, heiress of Osterley Park, and the Bishop of Raphoe and his dashing Nephew, Roger; or the life of faith and service represented by the Countess of Huntingdon, her lovely daughter Selina and the witty but devout Rowland Hill.
The story moves through the fashionable worlds of London and Bath as the death of one friend, the elopement of another and the startling unveiling of the Highwayman of Hampstead Heath play their parts in Mary’s finally making a choice of lasting value.
Where Love Triumphs
Brandley Hilliard, baronet’s son, brilliant classical scholar and cripple finds his carefully ordered world turned upside down by the delightful Elinor Silbert, daughter of the Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. And his conflicts increase when Elinor’s head is turned by the debonair Marquess of Widkham.
Brandley’s search takes a destructive turn until Charles Simeon, Fellow of King’s College, takes the young gownsman under his wing and shows him a life beyond any his academic pursuits had taught him.
Where Love Restores
The disapproval of Granville Ryder’s father the Earl of Harrowby leaves Granville believing he cannot be accepted by his heavenly Father or accomplish anything of worth. Even his special friendship with Georgiana, daughter of the Duke of Beaufort, is almost destroyed by Granville’s conflicts.
In a story that moves from Cambridge to the Midlands, to London to Wales, the counsel of Charles Simeon, the example of William Wilberforce and the terrors of the Cato Street Rebellion (more dangerous than the notorious Guy Fawkes Plot) lead Granville to reconciliation and love. This is the most entirely historical of the series. Even the animals are a matter of record.
Where Love Shines
“Half a league, half a league/ Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death/ Rode the six hundred.” Lieutenant Richard Greyston seeks heroic glory in the Charge of the Light Brigade. Jennifer Neville goes to Scutari as one of Florence Nightingale’s nurses dreaming of wiping the brows of the wounded. Richard winds up blinded and Jennifer spends her days carrying slops as mice fall from the walls of the hospital.
Back in London Jennifer throws herself into charity work under the leadership of the Earl of Shaftesbury. She is delighted to reconnect with the convalescing Richard until she learns that his family’s wealth is built on the potteries where children are subjected to unimaginable brutality. Richard eventually joins Shaftesbury’s fight for social justice but must find a way out of the darkness to deal with his feelings for Jennifer.
Where Love Calls
Hilda Beauchamp believes that God guides the life of every believer—and that it is her job to guide God. Hilda’s plans meet many complications, but at least one of her prayers gets answered when the winds of spiritual revival sweep England, stirred by the great evangelistic campaigns of D. L. Moody and Ira Sankey. Word of Hudson Taylor’s mission to China fires imaginations and missionary fervor within the Cambridge community.
But Hilda and the charming Kynaston Studd—whom Hilda has slated to marry her sister—find their plans sidelined. Kynaston was the leader, the first within his circle to catch the vision of going to China. But God seems to be calling his friends there instead of him and Hilda is horrified to find herself falling in love with the man she had intended for her sister.
About The Author
Donna Fletcher Crow brings a lifetime love of English literature and history as well as intensive research to the Where There is Love series—her historical series on the work of the Evangelical Anglicans. She is the author of 45 books, mostly novels of British history. The award-winning Glastonbury, The Novel of Christian England, an Arthurian epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work. She also authors The Lord Danvers Mysteries. A Tincture of Murder is her latest in these Victorian true-crime novels. The Elizabeth and Richard Mysteries are her literary suspense series of which
A Jane Austen Encounter is the latest. An All-Consuming Fire is the fifth of Felicity and Antony’s adventures in the Monastery Murders. Donna and her husband of 50 years live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 14 grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener.
To read more about all of Donna’s books and see pictures from her garden and research trips go to: www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com
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