Book Review: ‘Meet the Georgians’ by Robert Peal

I’m always in the market for some engaging historical non-fiction and jumped at the chance to read ‘Meet the Georgians’ by Robert Peal. Although my preferred historical period is the Victorians, I am intererested in what came before – especially, as an English teacher, key Georgian literary figures such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Lord Byron, both of whom feature here.

I was also intrigued to read that the author is a fellow teacher – reading about his various publications and interests made me wonder what on earth I have been doing with my time. I’m certainly not being as productive!

This book features the life stories of twelve key Georgians (well, technically 14 as a couple of chapters focus on pairs). These range from pirates (Anne Bonny and Mary Read) to royalty (Bonnie Prince Charlie and Tipu Sultan), from writers (already mentioned) to inventors (James Watt). What unites these characters is that they had fascinating lives and often defied the expectations of their time – there are some real eccentrics and innovators here!

Peal keeps each key figure to one chapter, although there is also an introduction and conclusion that help to place these people within the wider context of the Georgian era. I liked that his selection included some recognisable figures but also some that were perhaps less well-known – the chapter on the rebellious Hester Stanhope was a revelation and she sounded fabulous! I also knew very little of James Watt before this book and really warmed to the grumpy inventor whose legacy is impressive. The story of Olaudah Equiano, former slave, was also new to me and absolutely fascinating.

Another thing that I loved about this book was the focus on forgotten women of the Georgian era – women are the focus of half the chapters in this book which I really appreciated, Alongside the women already mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the ladies of Llangollen, possibly Britain’s first openly lesbian couple, plus the stories of Lady Hamilton and Mary Anning.

Peal’s style is informal and chatty – something I liked, although I was sometimes a bit startled to come across assertions that Emma Hamilton was a ‘certified super-babe’ or references to Blackbeard’s tricks to ‘scare the cr*p’ out of his victims. This gave a sense of easy humour to the book and helped with the idea that this is a light-hearted beginners’ guide to the Georgians – it isn’t targeted at the historian, but more the casual reader (although the ‘Further Reading’ section at the end would help with next steps for those who want to read more).

For those not yet sold on the book (and you should be), it is worth mentioning Peal’s argument that the Georgian era was a time of debauchery and wild living before the respectability of the Victorian age. This book is certainly packed with those who lived large and free – often rather surprisingly for the reader given the moral crackdown that followed. I really hope that ‘Meet the Victorians’ is currently being written…

I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to know a bit more about the Georgian era and some of its larger-than-life characters. I’m no slouch on my history and yet I learnt so much from this book. Pick up a copy now – it will fill you with fascinating facts, give you some new heroes and put you definitively off Byron forever!

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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