The Cult of Celebrity in the Regency Era

Nicola here. I’m wading my way towards the end of a huge round on revisions on my latest book which is a timeslip set in the Tudor era and the present. The heroine of the contemporary story, Jenna, is a bookseller, and my experiences in the Wantage Bookshop have proved very useful research. Look out for a blog piece on the bookselling background nearer to the publication date! But whilst Jenna is a “civilian” as celebrities refer to us normal folk these days, her sister Bree is a famous artist and whilst I was writing, I realised that I’m often drawn to exploring fame, past and present, in my books. So, this felt like a good time to dig out and update an article I wrote fifteen years ago, about celebrity in the Regency period. Modern celebrity culture has certainly moved on the meantime!

In 1812, after the publication of the first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage had brought him instant success, Lord Byron wrote: “I awoke one morning and found myself famous.” Byron was definitely doing what is called a “humble-brag” here, since his career both before and after 1812 was designed to draw attention to himself and he was already notorious. He was a complete self-publicist. Two years later, he accompanied the publication of his poem The Corsair with a self-portrait complete with exotic headscarf and cutlass, thus identifying himself explicitly with the smouldering piratical hero. This fitted nicely with his reputation of being mad, bad and dangerous to know. If he had been around in the Instagram era, he would have been an instant adopter of the technology.

Celebrity is not at all a modern phenomenon and whilst mass media has magnified it, the concept of being lionised or celebrated was widely understood as far back as Greek or Roman times when gladiators, for example, were the heroes of the sporting arena. By the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century the possession of literacy and an increase in printed material helped to establish the fame and sometimes the notoriety of individuals. Gossip and scandal, heroes and villains, tales of money and power were as popular historically as they are now. People have an enduring interest in the private lives of public persons and some historical “celebrities” stoked the fires of their fame as successfully as their modern counterparts. In the Regency era a spotlight was provided via portraits and paintings, newspapers and scandal sheets, word of mouth and public appearances rather than by the electronic media, but its fundamental effect was the same as today.

The Reverend Henry Bate became the editor of The Morning Post in 1772 and from the start he concentrated the newspaper’s coverage on personalities.  He joined the Beefsteak Club, where he met and cultivated men who had an entrée to the Prince of Wales’s circle of friends from whom he gained many items of scurrilous gossip. His style of journalism anticipated the modern tabloid press by two hundred years.

From the Elizabethan period onwards, some writers had made a living from gossip and scandal. Pamphlet writer Thomas Nashe offered glimpses of the Elizabethan great and the good, the celebrities of their day, with whom he rubbed shoulders. He would prowl the precincts of St Paul’s Cathedral, a place that attracted milling lowlife, in order to pick up gossip of deals and assignations. Scandalous news could be gathered over a game of dice with a servant in a tavern. Throughout the eighteenth century the public appetite for scandal and secret history, as it was called, was given blanket coverage in the press, often fuelled by the salacious details of evidence from adultery cases heard in the House of Lords.

It was in keeping with this tradition of muckraking that scandal sheets were handed out in the London streets in Georgian and Regency times. The crowds who hailed Horatio Nelson as a hero were equally well acquainted with his personal relationships, as these were subject to scrutiny by the popular press of the day. Details of his ménage a trois with Sir William and Lady Hamilton were common knowledge. This appeared to make little impact on Nelson’s popularity with the public. In fact, it could be said to be an essential aspect of his celebrity persona and legend.

Nelson was another one who took an active part in the “spinning” of his own legend, starting with his own account of the events of the Battle of St Vincent in 1797. He used the press to create the hero persona that drew him to public attention and acclaim. His decisive tactics at St Vincent had contributed much to the victory and his daring capture of two enemy ships was seen as the most spectacular moment of the day. But this in itself would not have been sufficient to elevate him to hero/celebrity status – many naval captains had achieved as much. Nelson, however, was quick to build himself up through interviews and even published his own, catchily-titled book: “Nelson’s Patent Bridge for Boarding First-Rates” which became a bestseller!

Just as the film stars of the modern day turn out to wave to the crowds at premieres and parties and influencers post on social media, so the celebrities of the Regency age were feted in streets. During the Grand Jubilee and state visit of Czar Alexander of Russia and King Frederick of Prussia in 1814, for example, celebrity-watchers went to ridiculous lengths to catch a glimpse of their heroes, some people renting windows along the route of the Grand Procession, others holding parties in kitchens and basements so that they could peer through the area grating to see the famous visitors pass by. Yet in the same manner as celebrities are sometimes built up today only to be criticised in the press, interest in the Regency celebrities could also wane. Lady Shelley commented that the foreign visitors had outstayed their welcome and said: “Their stay became, at last, a positive nuisance.”

Sporting heroes of the day also used their popularity to generate public celebrity.  George Wilson, famed for his achievements in the sport of pedestrianism, understood the value of publicity and used to advertise his events in advance, selling engravings of himself in action to onlookers.  By 1815 he was so famous that when he turned up for a pedestrian event in Blackheath there was such a huge crowd that he had to employ men with whips and ten-foot staves to cut his way through the throng, the equivalent of the modern-day bodyguard.

During the Regency, portraiture flourished and was one way in which celebrities could use the visual arts to project an image. There was a growing demand for glamorous and humorous pictures. Sporting heroes such as boxers Jem Belcher and Tom Cribb had their reputations enhanced through the production of tinted drawings like modern day sporting posters.  Opera singers and actresses were celebrated in a similar way. The cartoons of Gillray, Cruikshank and Rowlandson lampooned celebrities and were reproduced by the thousand.  The victims of the caricaturists prized their celebrity then just as their contemporaries do now and the Prince Regent paid vast sums to collect the originals of Gillray’s cartoons of himself.

Portraiture was also a way in which celebrities could use the visual arts to enhance their reputations. Benjamin Haydon’s portrait of

the poet Wordsworth was painted against a backdrop of the mountain Helvellyn in the Lake District, emphasising his connection to nature. The artists who painted Nelson presented him in heroic guise. My favourite portrait of him is the 1798-9 picture by Guy Head, which shows him at the moment of victory at the Battle of the Nile, his sword thrust suggestively into the furled French colours. Subtle it was not. Nelson gave the painting as a personal gift to Emma Hamilton.

The fame of most Regency celebrities was based on accomplishment, whether military, sporting or other although there were also people like Beau Brummell, whose based on his skill as an arbiter of fashion, who was not very different from an influencer today. As for the beautiful Misses Gunning, a comparison with reality television might be drawn when a crowd turned out at an inn one night simply to watch them eat!

What do you think about celebrity culture? Has it gone too far these days or does it add some sparkle to life? Have you had a celebrity encounter? And more historically, do you have a favourite famous character from the Regency period?