The Hero of Trafalgar also has a relationship of sorts to Jane Eyre, Heathcliffe and Kathy, and Agnes Grey. Yes, those characters inhabit novels which were written by three talented sisters decades after the death of Admiral Nelson in October of 1805. He did not know the sisters, in fact they were all born more than ten years after his death. And yet, thanks to Charlotte, Emily and Anne, the name of Nelson's favorite title lives on, even if it has lost his association with him.

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And no strawberries dipped in chocolate, no truffles, no chocolate-covered cherries, no turtles, not even a plain chocolate bar. No chocolate for Prinny!

Poor Prinny! Had he been bad? Well, yes, he often was, but that is not why he was denied the enjoyment of these luscious treats. No one else who lived during the Regency would have ever sampled such delights either, because they did not exist. The only way a denizen of the Regency era would have enjoyed chocolate was by drinking it, usually with their breakfast. "Eating" chocolate, as we in the 21st century know it, was not developed until the Victorian era.

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The Oxford English Dictionary Online (paid subscription required) defines redingote as a " ... double-breasted outer coat for men, with long plain skirts not cut away in the front. " Or a "... similar garment worn by women, sometimes cut away in front."

The etymological note in the OED entry explains that the word was believed to be in use in France by 1725, and that it is a corruption of the English word "riding-coat." In addition, the entry states that the first documented use of the word was in a letter written by Fanny Burney in February of 1793.

So why did redingote seem like a good choice for the title of this channel? Ah, let me count the ways ...

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I am a lifelong historian and former museum curator. My undergraduate and post-graduate studies focused on English social and cultural history with a concentration on the period of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Truth be told, my choice of college curriculum was heavily influenced by all the novels by Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer which I began to devour as a young teen. I still periodically treat myself to re-reading novels by both authors. They have never lost their magic for me.

My days as a curator are far behind me. I now manage testing of educational software for an international publishing company. But my delight in the study of history continues, and I persevere in my research into life in Regency England. Reading of modern Regency novels is intermingled with my history studies. But I am often irritated by the blatant historical inaccuracies in those novels. This channel is my venue to attempt to set the record straight. I like to think that Georgette Heyer would appreciate my efforts. I hope you will, as well.

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