Diaries of a Victorian wife and mother, active in local society, paint a fascinating picture of provincial life at the time.
The diaries of Charlotte Bousfield, extending from 1878 to 1896, paint a vivid picture of the activities of the multi-talented Bousfield family of Bedford, led by its strong-minded matriarch.
The Bousfields were prominent in local life. Charlotte’s husband, Edward, was an influential figure in developing agricultural machinery at the Britannia Iron Works, Bedford’s successful exemplar of a modern iron foundry, important as a factor in Bedford’s growth. Will, the ablest of their children, became a QC and Conservative MP, whose election campaigns are described in lively detail.
Charlotte was also active both in Bedford and further afield. Her concern for the underprivileged in the town, a practical expression of her fervent Methodist beliefs, emerges clearly in her lifelong work for the temperance cause, locally and nationally. She founded a home for ‘inebriate women’, which was ground-breaking for the time, and describes the work of the home in fascinating detail. She was also a Poor Law Guardian and a leading figure in the Bedford workhouse scandal of the 1890s.
Throughout, the diaries bring out aspects of Victorian social life which are not always obvious: the dependence of the family on their servants; the ease of travelling using railways and horse-drawn transport; and the frequency with which family members would spend time staying with friends and relatives.
Table of Content
Introduction
The Diary Volume 1: March 1878 to January 1883
The Diary Volume 2: February 1883 to August 1887
The Diary Volume 3: August 1887 to June 1896
Postscript by John Hamilton
About the author
Dr Richard Smart, FSA, (1940-2018) taught history in Bedford from 1970 to 2001 at Bedford Teacher Training College, which became Bedford College of Higher Education in 1976, and then part of De Montfort University in 1993. In 1976 he became Head of the History Department. He published on the history of teacher training in Bedford and on St Paul’s Church, Bedford. He was Secretary of BHRS from 2000-2013.
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