The Diaries of Charlotte Downes Vol II

By John Lane and Valerie Lane Kay

The Diaries of Charlotte Downes, Volume II, is the fourth in a four-volume set, covering years 1839-1858. The diaries afford the reader a glimpse of a small corner of rural England from the Regency through to the early-mid Victorian periods when life was based on a timeless and often precarious agricultural economy, a rigid, inequitable class system and deference to an authoritative Church. Charlotte, the daughter of an influential Wiltshire land-owner, was first cousin to the poet Shelley; she later married Richard Downes, rector of Berwick St John. Her diaries, together with those of her sister, Harriet, have been described by one authority as "like a novel by Jane Austen, but for real". This full transcription contains entries spanning a period of almost fifty years and provides a useful resource for scholars and social historians alike. Family historians will find recorded within these pages an extraordinary number of named individuals, from families representing all sections of society.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0955722640
• ISBN13: 9780955722646
• Release Date: March 2013
• Publisher: Claret Jug Publications
• Length: 444 Pages
• Weight: 1.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"