Cheshire Memories: County author Sue Wilkes produces new book on Regency Cheshire

By Chester Chronicle on Nov 15, 09 09:17 AM in 1800-1899

STEP back in time to the Regency era in Cheshire with a new book by a county-based author, writes Becky Lees.

Sue Wilkes has already produced a book entitled Narrow window, Narrow Lives: The Industrial Revolution in Lancashire.

But now she has come up with Regency Cheshire, which was published last week.

The physics graduate and specialist in social history and biography has lived with her family in Cuddington, Cheshire, for 11 years.

Regency Cheshire gives a new insight into an age of contrasts: elegance and glamour against grinding poverty and bloodshed.

The book brings to life the social changes, new fashions and pastimes, scandal and political skirmishes of the era and paints a picture of society with period photographs, maps and sketches.

It explores changes in the county's main industries of cheese, salt, cotton and silk, as well as transport.

Eye witness accounts and family histories from all classes bring home the real effects of these changes.

Local elite and prominent county families, such as the Grosvenor and Egerton families, are used as examples of the lifestyles of the gentry.

The book also captures the violence behind the reforms - the uprising of the trade workers and the terrified reactions from authority, all amid the turbulence of the Napoleonic wars.

Written about the era of Jane Austen, Beau Brummell and Walter Scott, the book gives a ferociously funny and vibrant account of the changes to everyday life for the upper classes.

As one of her favourite authors, Sue explained that she draws inspiration from Jane Austen: "She is always precise with her language, no word is wasted and things are kept moving forward, and this is what I try to do.

Sue is also a self confessed fan of other classical writers Elizabeth Gaskell and Samuel Johnson as well as biographical authors Claire Tomalin and James Boswell.

This year marks the 300th anniversary of Samuel Johnson which Sue hopes to celebrate by visiting the famous literary figure's birthplace, Lichfield.

"I have always had an interest in the Regency period, probably ever since reading my first Jane Austen novel."

Sue is interested in 18th and 19th century history as well as literary history and enjoys walks around Delamere and the Sandstone Trail.

Sue and her husband have two children, Lizzie, 21 and Gareth, 17. A member of the Society of Authors and a contributor to US and UK publications including BBC History, Sue is now working on two new books - Stolen Childhoods and Tracing your Canal Ancestors.

The first picture shows Cheshire author Sue Wilkes, the second is the cover of her book about the county during the Regency era and the third is an impression of the Chester Grandstand (designed by Thomas Harrison) at the Roodee racecourse, which appears in Regency Cheshire.