Although she overcame a stammer to fulfil her acting ambitions, Elizabeth Simpson (1753 1821), known as Mrs Inchbald after her marriage in 1772, was more acclaimed for her good looks than her performances. Her husband was an actor, and she formed strong friendships with Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble, but her greatest impact was as a playwright, novelist, editor and critic. Despite her decision to destroy a four-volume autobiography, her extensive surviving journals and letters allowed James Boaden (1762 1839) to publish this two-volume work in 1833. Having produced biographies of...

Born into the theatre, though originally intended for Catholic holy orders, John Philip Kemble (1757 1823) made as great a name for himself on the English stage as his gifted older sister, Sarah Siddons. Known for his mastery of tragic Shakespearian roles, among which Coriolanus was deemed his finest, Kemble also distinguished himself as acting manager at Drury Lane under Sheridan. Described by Sir Walter Scott as 'grave, critical, full and laudably accurate', this extensive two-volume biography was the work of James Boaden (1762 1839), an author well acquainted with the foremost theatrical...

Born into the theatre, though originally intended for Catholic holy orders, John Philip Kemble (1757 1823) made as great a name for himself on the English stage as his gifted older sister, Sarah Siddons. Known for his mastery of tragic Shakespearian roles, among which Coriolanus was deemed his finest, Kemble also distinguished himself as acting manager at Drury Lane under Sheridan. Described by Sir Walter Scott as 'grave, critical, full and laudably accurate', this extensive two-volume biography was the work of James Boaden (1762 1839), an author well acquainted with the foremost theatrical...

Bluestocking, author and hostess, Elizabeth Montagu (1718 1800) exercised an influence far beyond literary scholarship. Compiled by a relative, Emily Climenson, and published in 1906, this collection of her correspondence provides an excellent introduction to the culture and politics of eighteenth-century polite society. In chapters enriched by portraits of both Elizabeth and her correspondents, readers are invited to witness the public and personal interactions and entertainments of Montagu and her circle. The text contains accounts of operas, masquerades, concerts and marriages, and serious...

W. E. H. Lecky (1838 1903) was one of the most distinguished Victorian historians. He was unusual in the extent to which he made use of archival sources, and noted for his ability of do justice to both sides of an argument. His History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century was first published as part of A History of England in the Eighteenth Century, but was reissued in 1892 as a five-volume work. He has been described as the first revisionist Irish historian, as the aim of the book was partly to respond to Froude's The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century, which is markedly anti-Irish...

Patrick Colquhoun (1745 1820) was one of the founders, in 1798, of the Thames River Police. Initially a merchant based in Glasgow, he later moved to London and was appointed as a magistrate in the East End. In 1796, he published (anonymously) a report on the types of crime in the capital, and the need for regulation of the behaviour of the inhabitants to suppress it. The work examines the different categories of crime in London, such as illegal trading in the docks, fraud, burglary, and robbery. Later chapters discuss the issue of punishment as well as the changes Colquhoun believed were...

Richard, Earl Howe (1726 99) participated in some of the Royal Navy's most significant conflicts. As captain of the Dunkirk, he fired the first shots of the Seven Years' War off the eastern coast of North America in 1755. After being forced to juggle the demands of the American Revolutionary War with the British government's reluctance to put the ships he needed at his disposal, he resigned his command of the North American Station, but later made a comeback, masterminding the battle against the French on the 'Glorious First of June' in 1794. Prolific author Sir John Barrow (1764 1848) drew...

Between 1787 and 1798, the agricultural writer and land agent William Marshall (1745 1818) published a number of works on the rural economies of England, covering Norfolk, his native Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, the Midlands and the South. This two-volume study appeared in 1796 and investigated the farming, geography, public works and produce of districts in Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall. Volume 2 looks in detail at the upland areas of Cornwall and Devon, at Dartmoor, North Devon, the vales of Exeter and Taunton, and West Dorset. The coverage includes aspects of the laws surrounding...

In this 1782 travelogue, naturalist Thomas Pennant (1726 98) immortalised the local history, churches, homes and antiquities he encountered on his yearly trip to London. In The Literary Life of the Late Thomas Pennant, Esq. (1793), also reissued in this series, Pennant writes that he often stayed several days or more in each village to learn about its history. He hoped to rid the route of the 'calumny' of 'dulness', and although he was more interested in antiquities than contemporary innovations, he describes the impact of some developments such as a new canal system. In addition to...