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Authors: Jennifer Kloester
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or a bride with a sizeable dowry or marriage portion—even if it meant stepping down the social ladder to find her. Stacy Calverleigh in Black Sheep was determined to win himself a bride with a large fortune and was quite prepared to marry a female from a lower social class to do so, while, despite her merchant-class origins, the possession of a large fortune made Tiffany Wield of The Nonesuch an attractive prize to many better-born men. During the Regency many daughters of the new wealthy merchant class married into the aristocracy and (both genetically and financially) brought new lifeblood to the upper class.
For a younger son of noble birth but modest means, the hope was that he would marry an heiress or at least a well-born woman of property. The difficulty was that younger sons were considered, for the most part, a very poor bargain when compared with the eldest son and heir, and they often married those younger daughters of the nobility who had not managed to find a wealthier husband. As the elder of aristocratic twin brothers, Evelyn Fancot of False Colours was deemed a far more desirable parti than his equally handsome and charming sibling, Kit. Although arranged marriages were less common during the Regency than they once had been, among the aristocracy and the royal family they were considered an important way of safeguarding or strengthening bloodlines, family fortunes and inheritances. The Duke of Sale felt compelled to offer for the hand of Lady Harriet Presteigne when it was made clear to him in The Foundling that his uncle had arranged the marriage and Lady Harriet was expecting his proposal. Sometimes parents (especially fathers) exercised a right of veto over their offspring’s choice of marriage partner, although such injunctions were not necessarily adhered to and determined sons and daughters would flout parental authority and either marry by special licence or elope to Gretna Green as Gerard Monksleigh persuaded his young love to do in Bath Tangle . It was rare, however, even for an eloped couple to marry outside their social circle or where there was no fortune on at least one side.
Bucks, Beaus and Dandies
The buck: The term generally referred to the bloods or sporting types, but could also mean a man of spirit. The buck usually stood out from the crowd and a ‘buck of the first head’ was a man who pursued every kind of pleasure and often surpassed his friends in debauchery.
The beau: Despite the literal meaning of the word, a man did not have to be handsome to be a beau. Although several of the Regency beaus had pleasing countenances, the epithet was applied more on the basis of a man’s place in the fashionable world rather than his looks or dress. A beau was a leader in society like Sir Richard Wyndham of The Corinthian and while he was often an arbiter of fashion, he could also acquire the nickname as a result of his manners, eccentricities, noble rank, clever wit or some other trait that set him apart or made him notorious. To be a beau, a man needed either vanity, idiosyncrasy, a desire for attention or remarkable good looks and town polish but, above all, he had to have ‘Presence’.
The Corinthian: This term described the well-dressed athlete. A Corinthian was a man who, as Mr Beaumaris told Arabella in Arabella , ‘besides being a very Tulip of Fashion, is an amateur of sport, a master of sword-play, a deadly fellow with a pistol, a Nonpareil amongst whips’. He generally excelled in all the sporting pursuits including fencing, single-stick, boxing, hunting, shooting and tooling his carriage—usually a curricle—preferably with the kind of skill that would see him admitted to the Four-Horse Club. He would also be a man of good character addicted to all forms of sport, at home among all classes and able to cut a dash at Almack’s or blow a cloud with the roughest pugilist at Cribb’s Parlour.
The dandy: The word ‘dandy’ came into fashion in about 1813 and was used to
For a younger son of noble birth but modest means, the hope was that he would marry an heiress or at least a well-born woman of property. The difficulty was that younger sons were considered, for the most part, a very poor bargain when compared with the eldest son and heir, and they often married those younger daughters of the nobility who had not managed to find a wealthier husband. As the elder of aristocratic twin brothers, Evelyn Fancot of False Colours was deemed a far more desirable parti than his equally handsome and charming sibling, Kit. Although arranged marriages were less common during the Regency than they once had been, among the aristocracy and the royal family they were considered an important way of safeguarding or strengthening bloodlines, family fortunes and inheritances. The Duke of Sale felt compelled to offer for the hand of Lady Harriet Presteigne when it was made clear to him in The Foundling that his uncle had arranged the marriage and Lady Harriet was expecting his proposal. Sometimes parents (especially fathers) exercised a right of veto over their offspring’s choice of marriage partner, although such injunctions were not necessarily adhered to and determined sons and daughters would flout parental authority and either marry by special licence or elope to Gretna Green as Gerard Monksleigh persuaded his young love to do in Bath Tangle . It was rare, however, even for an eloped couple to marry outside their social circle or where there was no fortune on at least one side.
Bucks, Beaus and Dandies
The buck: The term generally referred to the bloods or sporting types, but could also mean a man of spirit. The buck usually stood out from the crowd and a ‘buck of the first head’ was a man who pursued every kind of pleasure and often surpassed his friends in debauchery.
The beau: Despite the literal meaning of the word, a man did not have to be handsome to be a beau. Although several of the Regency beaus had pleasing countenances, the epithet was applied more on the basis of a man’s place in the fashionable world rather than his looks or dress. A beau was a leader in society like Sir Richard Wyndham of The Corinthian and while he was often an arbiter of fashion, he could also acquire the nickname as a result of his manners, eccentricities, noble rank, clever wit or some other trait that set him apart or made him notorious. To be a beau, a man needed either vanity, idiosyncrasy, a desire for attention or remarkable good looks and town polish but, above all, he had to have ‘Presence’.
The Corinthian: This term described the well-dressed athlete. A Corinthian was a man who, as Mr Beaumaris told Arabella in Arabella , ‘besides being a very Tulip of Fashion, is an amateur of sport, a master of sword-play, a deadly fellow with a pistol, a Nonpareil amongst whips’. He generally excelled in all the sporting pursuits including fencing, single-stick, boxing, hunting, shooting and tooling his carriage—usually a curricle—preferably with the kind of skill that would see him admitted to the Four-Horse Club. He would also be a man of good character addicted to all forms of sport, at home among all classes and able to cut a dash at Almack’s or blow a cloud with the roughest pugilist at Cribb’s Parlour.
The dandy: The word ‘dandy’ came into fashion in about 1813 and was used to
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