WEEK 2, 02/10/17

Our lecture and reading was on Georgian Britain, particularly London, and its lovely English Country House, including its architects and inhabitants. This gained invaluable research resources. Firstly, the ‘Old Bailey Online’ proved a useful academic website for mini-essays on eighteenth century London context, and its relation to Roehampton Country houses. Secondly, the less useful ‘British Library’ website held vaguer overviews into Georgian London yet primary sources scanned alongside the articles. This allows easy access for rich evidence of my research questions later: for example, posters used in Country House influence on London entertainment.

I was set a mini-presentation on Henrietta Ponsonby, an eighteenth century historical Roehampton figure. Researching Henrietta’s life and scandals further developed my skills in discerning reliability of accounts, thus strengthening my useful research skills in analysing source reliability. Sourced only with the ‘Oxford Dictionary of National Biography’, I realised my overreliance in one article as truth despite it being a trusted, biographic website. I will not make that mistake in my research.

Lastly, from this session I could develop research into how influential Classical reception was to Georgian Country Houses: ‘Were Classical artefacts and styled architecture valued more as fashionable than historical?’