‘Royal Weymouth’ is a four-volume book that we hold within our collection. Like ‘The Extra Illustrated Edition of Hutchins’, it has been put together by A.M. Broadley, but instead of grangerising one book, these volumes are based around several accounts of the Royal visits to Weymouth by King George III and his family.
The first volume is built around two accounts of the Royal Tour of 1789. The majority of the documents contained in this volume concern Weymouth, but, as the tour began in Windsor and travels through several other counties, places such as Southampton, Salisbury and the Isle of Wight also feature.
There are a large number of sketches, portraits, and maps included in this book, alongside more unusual items such as a drawing of a safety coach, designed so that the body of the carriage stays upright even if the wheels turn over, and Tasker’s Ode to the King on his arrival at Weymouth. We cannot describe all of these additions, but we shall pick out a few highlights.
The first two pages of the book consist of newspaper cuttings from Weymouth. The subjects of these cuttings range from glowing descriptions of Weymouth, to small earthquakes and drownings, but the two cuttings that really caught our eye date from 1840. The paper that these cuttings come from is not recorded, but they appear to be from a letters column and contain wonderful insights into life in Weymouth.
Whoever the author of these letters was he was not afraid of upsetting his neighbours. Advice given in the cuttings include, ‘We advise that ugly piece of malt and hops called Mary Flowers, not to be so fond of travelling about Stratford,’ and ‘We advise Bob Dominy, the next time he kisses a girl in the street, to do it in a little more private place, than up the court adjoining his house’. The author also lists ladies that have been deserted, for which he is reprimanded in a comment by the Editor, who threatens not to print any more of his letters, but still prints the names of the unfortunate women in this letter. Not all the writer says is critical, his first letter lists ‘J. Commings sporting whiskers’ and ‘Miss Newman’s new bonnet’ as things to be admired and in his second letter he lists ‘Tom Styles whiskers’ and ‘Anthony Ancock’s knocking down twenty waterman’ as ‘trifles to smile at’.
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There are many portraits of members of the Royal family contained in the volume, including King George III, Queen Charlotte and all of their 15 children. There are also letters written by Queen Charlotte, Princess Sophia and Princess Elizabeth.
The letter from Princess Elizabeth was written during her stay in Weymouth in 1797 and concerns the Queens order of a gold and pearl necklace.
The letter from Queen Charlotte was written in Windsor on 16th July 1808 to Lady Sudley. In the letter she expresses the wish that Lady Sudley returned safely from their visit to Windsor writing,
‘I thought of you both and pityed you sincerely, for I was a fellow sufferer, not only for 24 miles, but owing to very bad horses under the necessity of stopping three quarters of an hour in a broiling heat without any shade to have the four post horses shod.’
The letter from her daughter, Princess Augusta Sophia, was also written in Windsor. It was written in 1814 during King George III’s final madness, which lasted until his death in 1820. Augusta writes;
‘Our beloved King is, thanks God, very calm and comfortable…, but that is all I can say, for there is no change for the better.’
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This blog is follows our monthly series on the 12 extra-illustrated volumes of “Hutchins’ History and Antiquities of Dorset.” You can read the rest of the series through the links below:
Part one: An introduction to the history and antiquities of Dorset.
Part two: The Pitt family, a piano player, and a plague of caterpillars.
Part three: Coastline, Castles and Catastrophe
Part four: A Phenomenon, Fake News and a Philanthropist
Part five: Antiquities, Adventurers, and an Actress
Part six: A Gaol, a Guide and a Man of Great Girth
Part seven: Physicians, fires and false allegations
Part eight: Graves, Grangerising and a Man who wore Green
Part nine: Desertion, Drinks and a Diarist
Part ten: Music, medical miracles, and mills
Part eleven: Courtiers, Criminals, and Cuttings
Part twelve: An Abbey, the Arts, and the Athelhampton Ape