Regency
Regency. Though there have been several regencies in British history, the term is usually confined to the period 1810–20 when George, prince of Wales, acted as regent on behalf of George III, who had gone mad. The Whigs confidently expected that the regent would bring in his old friends and began cabinet-making. He did not, and the Tories remained in office throughout the period. It was a time of acute contrasts. Until Waterloo in 1815 the country was still at war, with bread shortages, Luddite riots, and severe distress. The post-war years were no better: agricultural depression, widespread unemployment, and the dislocation of early industrialization fuelled radical protest, exemplified at Peterloo. The fashionable world retained its poise. Beau Brummell, the prince's friend, was the arbiter of elegance. Harriette, Amy, and Fanny Wilson entertained the gentlemen. The prince regent pressed on with his Pavilion at Brighton until the prime minister, Lord Liverpool, pointed out what offence it gave at a time of national distress and warned that the cabinet would not find a penny more. The radicals—Cobbett, Hunt, Hazlitt, and Shelley—and the caricaturists—Cruikshank and Rowlandson—had plenty to aim at. The prevailing taste in architecture, costume, and furniture was severely classical, aiming at balance and restraint, and rarely lapsing into extravagance. The finest monument to the period is the Regent Street and Regent's Park complex, built by John Nash.
J. A. Cannon
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Regency