April 5, 2022

EP. 259 — What Was It Like To Get Loved Up In Georgian England? with Dr. Sally Holloway

This one’s for everyone who watched Bridgerton and wondered: could I get it in Georgian England?! Dr. Sally Holloway joins Jonathan to discuss the ins and outs of love and courtship in this era, including gifts and letters people would exchange, 18th century contraception, and the historical equivalents of ghosting and catfishing.

 

Dr. Sally Holloway is a historian of gender, emotions, and visual and material culture over the long 18th and nineteenth centuries, and is a Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University. She is the author of The Game of Love in Georgian England: Courtship, Emotions, and Material Culture (Oxford, 2019), which will be published in paperback in June.

 

You can follow Dr. Holloway on Twitter @sally_holloway.

 

Here are some visual resources to pair with the episode:

 

“The Unwilling Bridegroom, or Forc’d Meat Will Never Digest”

 

“Sympathetic Lovers”

 

Eye Miniature

 

18th c. Sheep’s Gut Condoms

 

The love letter from William Martin to Hannah Smith, sent on February 15, 1714, is from the Hampshire Record office in Winchester, ref. 3M51/684. You can find their contact details here.

 

Join the conversation, and find out what former guests are up to, by following us on Instagram and Twitter @CuriousWithJVN.

 

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

 

Jonathan is on Instagram and Twitter @JVN and @Jonathan.Vanness on Facebook.

 

Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our associate producer is Zahra Crim. Our editor is Andrew Carson.

 

Our socials are run and curated by Middle Seat Digital.

 

Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com.

 

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Transcript

Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness & Dr. Sally Holloway  JVN [00:00:00] Welcome to Getting Curious. I’m Jonathan Van Ness and every week I sit down for a gorgeous conversation with a brilliant expert to learn all about something that makes me curious. On today’s episode, I’m joined by Sally Holloway, where I ask her: What was it like to get loved up in Georgian England? Welcome to Getting Curious, this is Jonathan Van Ness. We have got such a gorgeous, scintillating, sexy history episode for you with none other than Dr. Sally Holloway, who is a historian of gender, emotions, and visual and material culture in Britain over the long 18th and 19th centuries. She is the author of the book “The Game of Love in Georgian England.” Welcome to the show, Dr. Sally Holloway. How are you?  SALLY HOLLOWAY [00:00:47] Thank you. What an introduction! I wish I could be introduced like that every time I do any sort of public event.  JVN [00:00:53] Oh my gosh. I am totally, you know

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