My review of two plays in one novel, The Sellwood Girls and When Queen Victoria Came to Tea by Margaret Crompton

'The Sellwood Girls': Emily, Anne and Louisa Sellwood were born and brought up in Horncastle, Lincolnshire. Their father was a solicitor. Their mother died soon after Louisa was born and an unmarried Franklin aunt came to care for the children. In 1827, the girls attended a boarding school in Brighton. Emily and Louisa married the Tennyson brothers Alfred and Charles, who grew up in Somersby in the Lincolnshire Wolds.  Anne married Charles Weld. Their stories are characterised by hope and anxiety, love and loss, delight and despair, illness, guilt and, eventually, reconciliation. These stories emerge throughout the play. Hallam Tennyson (son of Alfred and Emily) is completing a submission to a playwriting event at the University of The Wolds - 'Bring-along-a-script, ' In seeking to give a voice to his mother and aunts, he finds a voice for himself. Hallam imagines the 3 sisters together in the garden of their boarding school in Brighton, 1827. He becomes the involved narrator.  The girls reflect on their home life, then imagine future husbands (who appear silently to illustrate these visions). The girls are transformed into their adult selves and through narration, reflection and discussion, they review their lives. Eventually they address Hallam directly, so that he becomes not only writer and narrator but also involved in the interactions and emotional development.

'When Queen Victoria Came To Tea': Early autumn 1857. Emily and Alfred Tennyson are in residence at 'Farringford, ' their Isle of Wight retreat in Freshwater. This is not far from 'Osborne House, ' East Cowes, recently bought by Victoria and Albert. Events to which the play refers are actual, including Albert's unannounced visit in 1856, Victoria's never-realised intentions to visit, and her attitude to 'fun.' However, there is no evidence for the action which imagines secret, informal visits from Victoria to Emily, and Albert to Alfred, unique and precious opportunities for relaxation and revelation. Alfred is already Poet Laureate, and will not become 'Lord' until 1883. As far as possible, material is drawn from contemporary documents, including letters. 

Product Details

• Paperback: 78 pages
• Publisher: Magic Oxygen (November 5, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 191009434X
• ISBN-13: 978-1910094341

I just want to start by saying how much fun this was to read overall. Both authors did a wonderful job researching not only the well known poet and his immediate family but brother Charles Tennyson Turner and Emily's sisters Anne and Louisa Sellwood. Although, there were only one or two discrepancies I could find about The Tennyson's, it did not detract from how much I enjoyed reading both plays. How refreshing to read about various aspects of the lives and relatives of the most beloved poet of the nineteenth-century.  Having a grown Hallam Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson's first born narrate, 'The Sellwood Girls' is pure genius!  It made me want to learn more about Louisa and Charles Turner. 

On to Queen Victoria.  As noted above, throughout Tennyson's life he and his family were invited to Osborne House on two occasions that are well documented. In one visit Alfred went alone and in another visit, he, his wife and two boys went while the boys were still small. It is an enchanting visit to read about. There is also one documented visit of Prince Albert showing up at Farringford to see Alfred Tennyson without Queen Victoria. I have often wondered if Victoria herself did not summon a coach to drive her from Osborne House to Farringford House to speak with her beloved favorite poet and friend Alfred Tennyson. Especially, after Albert's death and her adoration for In Memoriam.  Well, imagine no more...Margaret Crompton has written a wonderfully humorous and engaging royal visit.  

I hope everyone who admires Queen Victoria and Alfred Tennyson will buy this novel and enjoy both plays.  The Sellwood Girls and When Queen Victoria Came to Tea is out now and was published on November 5, 2015.

Thank you very much to the author, Margaret Crompton and her husband co-author John Crompton along with publishing house Magic Oxygen for sending me a review copy.

To purchase your copy,  Amazon US  To purchase your copy, Amazon UK

The anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Victoria 28 June 1838

Here is The Globe newspaper coverage of the Coronation of Queen Victoria dated 28, June 1838. Also, a typed extract.

Extract from The Globe newspaper, 28 June 1838

Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Victoria This Day

St James’s- Street

At this part of the line the crowd was excessive, the dark and heaving masses there, with outstretched necks and full of eager expectation, waited the approach of the procession. At about half-past ten it reached the corner of this street in the precise order in which it left the Palace. The appearance of the resident and foreign ambassadors, in their splendid carriages and gorgeous uniforms, many of which were picturesque and elegant, excited much admiration, and a running comment on the policies of their respective governments was freely indulged in by many who had scarcely indulged in anything else. The good humour of the crowd, however, found a congenial subject in the approach of the Duchess of Kent and attendants, and her Royal Highness was greeted with very unequivocal demonstrations of attachment and respect, and which was cordially transferred to several other members of the Royal Family, - particularly the Duke of Sussex, who paid the penalty of his popularity by the warm and affectionate recognition of his people. Her majesty’s carriages and attendants, in twelve carriages, each drawn by six beautiful bays, were the subject of much admiration.

The Queen’s bargemaster, followed by her Majesty’s forty-eight watermen, excited much attention; their dresses were novel and pleasing. Except the general admiration bestowed indiscriminately on all that formed the procession, many composing it passed without particular notice or comment, until her Majesty’s state carriage approached, this was the signal for the kindliest and most affectionate demonstrations, and a shout echoed and re-echoed along St. James’s-street and pall-Mall – deep, fervent – and enthusiastic, was sent up from immense assemblage. Many an eye gazed upon her with mute and affectionate regard – many a tongue bid God bless as she gracefully bent forward in her splendid state carriage and acknowledged these and many touching demonstrations of loyalty and considerate affection. The windows and balconies were alive with a splendid assemblage of beauty and loveliness, even the roofs had their occupants, and scarfs, handkerchiefs, and hats were waved as her

Majesty passed, without intermission, – every balcony was a parterre – every window was a bouquet of loveliness and beauty.

Her Majesty was visibly affected with these marks of devotion and attachment on the part of the people so warmly and affectionately expressed, and more than once turned to the Duchess of Sutherland to conceal or express her emotions. The police were tolerant and good-humoured, and treated the “pressure from without” with much

forbearance. On the top of St. James’s Palace, every disposable inch of which was occupied, parties were placed and cheered her Majesty with great cordiality and warmth. On her Majesty’s arrival at the Ordnance Office, which looked not unlike a fortress, the band of the Royal Artillery, which had been occasionally enlivening the scene with appropriate airs in the balcony struck up the national anthem, and vivid demonstrations of loyalty and attachment were studiously displayed from the balconies, and windows, from which nods and becks and wreathed smiles were interchanged with some friends in the line of procession. Notwithstanding the vast masses that pressed on all sides, deepening and accumulating as the procession advanced, the utmost order and regularity was observed every where and every individual in that vast assemblage, owing to the firmness and excellent demeanour of the police, was enabled to see everything and everybody with the utmost ease.  © Royal Archives, Windsor Castle

Queen Victoria Receiving the Sacrament at her Coronation 28 June 1838 painted by Charles Robert Leslie (1794-1859) in 1838-9. Painted for Queen Victoria . The painting shows the Queen, wearing the Dalmatic Robe but not the Crown and no jewels, receiving the Sacrament towards the end of the ceremony of her Coronation. The peers and peeresses have taken off their coronets. The Sacrament is being administered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Howley, assisted by the Sub-Dean, the Reverend Lord.

Alfred Lord Tennyson’s first poem (in his own handwriting) as Poet Laureate, ‘To the Queen,’ was published as the dedication poem of the Laurete Edition (the 7^th edition) of the Poems in 1851.

To the Queen 

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)

REVERED, beloved—O you that hold
A nobler office upon earth
Than arms, or power of brain, or birth
Could give the warrior kings of old,
Victoria,—since your Royal grace
To one of less desert allows
This laurel greener from the brows
Of him that utter’d nothing base;
And should your greatness, and the care
That yokes with empire, yield you time
To make demand of modern rhyme
If aught of ancient worth be there;
Then—while a sweeter music wakes,
And thro’ wild March the throstle calls,
Where all about your palace walls
The sun-lit almond-blossom shakes—
Take, Madam, this poor book of song;
For tho’ the faults were thick as dust
In vacant chambers, I could trust
Your kindness. May you rule us long,
And leave us rulers of your blood
As noble till the latest day!
May children of our children say,
“She wrought her people lasting good;
“Her court was pure, her life serene;
God gave her peace; her land reposed;
A thousand claims to reverence closed
In her as Mother, Wife and Queen;
“And statesmen at her council met
Who knew the seasons when to take
Occasion by the hand, and make
The bounds of freedom wider yet
“By shaping some august decree,
Which kept her throne unshaken still,
Broad-based upon her people’s will,
And compass’d by the inviolate sea.”

Queen Victoria: (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901)

Alexandrina Victoria was born to the Duke and Duchess of Kent on 24th of May in 1819. Here are just some photographs and paintings representing moments in her life....

 

Duke of Kent, Queen Victoria's father

 

Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria's mother

                                                                  

'Look at her well, for she will be Queen of England' (Victoria's parents)

This portrait has two painters named as the source: A portrait of Princess Victoria as a small girl with her mother, Victoria, Duchess of Kent, c.1824. This portrait was painted by the artist Henry Bone (1755-1834) and was acquired by Queen Victoria c.1861. Also, a portrait painted by William Beechey.  

Baby Victoria (no information provided)

Princess Victoria, age four, by Stephen Poyntz Denning

Princess Victoria by Henry Collen, 1836, Watercolor on ivory laid on card at the Royal Collection Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Victoria with her familyby John Jabez Edwin Mayall,albumen carte-de-visite, 1863,NPG

 Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria and their childrenby John Jabez Edwin Mayall, albumen carte-de-visite photomontage, circa 1861

Queen Victoria and familyby Lafayette (Lafayette Ltd),bromide proof print, April 1900

 Group of fifteen, including Queen Victoria by W. & D. Downey

albumen print, 25 May 1868