Broughton (Lady Mary) - Continental Grand Tour
A superb manuscript account of Lady Broughton's 'Journal of Our Tour thro France & Flanders & Holland to Spa in Germany' and 'Journal - over the Ardennes thro Lorraine & France to Nice in Italy subject to the King of Sardinia'.
Lady Broughton left Broughton Hall [Staffordshire] on May 11th, 1772, leaving London the 7th June and landed in Calais on the 9th June. The tour includes St Omers, Lisle, Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp, Delft, the Hague, Leyden, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Louvain, Spa, Luxembourg, Lorraine,Avignon, Marseilles, Toulon, Nice, Geneva, Lauzanne and Berne. The account seems to end prematurely at Langrau but entries at the front record a return via Paris to Dover landing on July 1st 1774.
In the journal Lady Broughton provides a detailed record of the places visited, attractions and people seen, food eaten and her observations of everyday life: In Nice 'The Dress of the people diverted me much, our Washer-woman wd come to fetch the clothes in her sack with her fan in her hand. The Peasant who work'd in our Garden on a Sunday wore a full dress coat, they all wear their hair tied, & then it hangs down their backs. The women appear well made when you follow them from behind, but wearing no stays from their washy diet have in general great pot Bellies ...' some entries are more personal: 'Oct 22nd was seized with a Bilious fever. Monday Oct 26nd miscarried ...'. Lady Broughton travelled with her children and her mother and occasionally sent the children on to further destinations.
Ink manuscript on laid paper, 126 pages, page size 235mm x 190mm, half vellum binding with continental style paper boards.
The manuscript is accompanied by a recent transcript to more legible handwriting in two A4 notebooks as well as a quantity of related material collected by the previous owner including family history, portraits and photographs, a signed copy of Sir Delves L. Broughton's 'Records of An Old Cheshire Family' 1908 (not collated), notes, cuttings, and a manuscript work on Lady Broughton and her tour, possibly suitable for publication.