Brighton in the 1790s

Lydia Bennet imagining herself flirting with militia officers in Brighton.

“They must all go to Brighton. That is the place to get husbands.”

Lydia Bennet, speaking about her sisters in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Brighton (along with London and Bath) is one of the most iconic settings for a Regency Romance.

The town had a long history in fishing and seafaring before it became a favored summer resort of fashionable society, but this article isn't about Brighton’s wider history, only about what it would have looked like to visitors in 1794. That's the year in which To Dance with the Earl, the first book in my Brighton Seasons Series, is set.

In 1794, the permanent resident population of Brighton was only 5669 people, compared to the estimated 10,000 people who visited during the summer season.

This map from 1799 shows the (limited) extent of the town at this time. The Steine (Steyne) is the open area in the middle of the map. The famous Pavilion belonging to the Prince of Wales (who later became the Prince Regent) is on the west side of the Steine.

Map of Brighton (also known as Brighthelmston) in 1799, taken from A Peep into the Past: Brighton in the Olden Time by John George Bishop (1880)

The surrounding countryside was very close to the heart of Brighton, as we can see from both the map above, and the view below (dated 1790) looking north from the Steine.

Aquatint engraving by Alken after Thomas Rowlandson. Published 1 June 1790, and showing Henry Holland’s early Pavilion design on the left.

Pictures like this were the inspiration for an early scene in To Dance with the Earl, where Gabrielle, the heroine, walks along the edge of a hayfield, determined to climb over a garden wall to sneak into a grand masquerade ball through a side door.

Here is another view of the Steine and fashionable promenaders in 1805 .

A view of the Pavilion, Steyne and Promenade at Brighton in 1805

(The two digital images above of the Steine are owned by the Society of Brighton Print Collectors and used here according to the terms on this webpage https://sbpc.regencysociety.org/obtaining-copies-of-images/)

There have been a lot of changes to Brighton in the last two centuries, but the area outside the Royal Pavilion is still accessible to the general public, and two rooms in the Pavilion are licenced for civil wedding ceremonies.

During my last visit, I was sitting on a bench outside the Pavilion when a wedding party came out to join the people already relaxing on the grass. A little further along, a man was practicing his juggling skills.

Wedding party outside the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, in 2012

People relaxing outside Royal Pavilion, Brighton, in 2012

Of course, one of the big attractions of any seaside resort is the sea!

The characters in To Dance with the Earl sometimes look over the railings down at the beach below. That’s because Brighton town and the beach are not on the same level.

The next picture shows the beach, the cliffs and the railings along the top.

Brighton beach showing fishing boats, steps up the cliff to the town and the railings along the top of the cliff

Gabrielle, from To Dance with the Earl, has mixed feelings about the beach. She enjoys walking along the seafront. But when her noble family fled from Revolutionary France, they arrived on Brighton beach in a fishing boat, with only the clothes they were wearing. That traumatic event happened before the start of the book, but she thinks about it when she looks over the railing.

The next picture gives a view of the sea from Marine Parade where my characters meet and talk. This drawing features the Chain Pier, which wasn’t opened to the public until 1823, but the picture does give a sense of looking over the railings at the English Channel.

The Chain Pier from the Marine Parade

These pictures offer just a glimpse of what Brighton was like more than two hundred years ago, and in my books I'm only aiming to give an impression of the town, not a brick-by-brick description. Apart from anything else, it was growing so fast during this time period it's difficult to know what was or wasn't there at any given moment!

I’ll finish up with a couple of photos I took of the seafront a few years ago. At the time, I didn’t know I’d be writing a series set in the town, so most of my photos aren’t useful for this article. But here are two contemporary views of the beach to compare with the views of historic Brighton seafront. I’m planning to go back to Brighton again soon, and take some more photos.

Looking east along Brighton seafront showing the difference in height between the town and the beach and the white cliffs further along to the east.

Brighton seafront looking west. There would have been fishing boats and bathing machines on the beach 200 years ago.

References

Georgian Brighton by Sue Berry (2005) Phillimore and Co Ltd

A Peep into the Past: Brighton in the Olden Time by John George Bishop (1880)

History of Brighthelmston by John Ackerson Erredge (1862)

https://sbpc.regencysociety.org/