Georgian Era (the United Kingdom)
(1714–1830)
What happened?
The Georgian Era is a period in British history that started from 1714. It period is named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III, and George IV. The definition often includes the short reign of William IV. It is not included on our page. The transition to the Victorian Era was characterized in religion, social values, and the arts by a shift in tone from rationalism toward romanticism and mysticism.
Georgian is typically used in the context of social and political history and architecture. The term Georgian Era is not applied to the time of the Kings George V and George VI. Those periods are referred to as Georgian.
Great Britain was created with the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland in 1707. England retained its own distinctive character during the early Georgian period. Its refined manners and fashions, its classically influenced art, literature, and architecture, were next to casual brutality, violent sports, and gin drinking.
The property-owning elite controlled politics until Queen Anne died in 1714. She had no surviving children and therefor the German Hanoverians were brought in to succeed her. The Hanoverians were distant Protestant relations of the exiled Stuarts. George I faced an almost immediate rebellion in 1715 from the Jacobites. He barely spoke English. The invasion of 1745 was more seriously with the support of north-west England but succeeded only in rallying widespread English support for George II. This inspired God Save the King, the world’s first national anthem. The Jacobite threat was finished with the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Canada and India were forcibly taken from France during the Seven Years War (1756 -1763). Australia was claimed in 1770. Although America was lost after the Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783. EN expanding empire provided Britain with a source of raw materials and new markets for manufactured goods. Much of Britain’s prosperity was supported by the Atlantic slave trade. The trade was not abolished until 1807 and made illegal until 1834.
George III was the first Hanoverian king born in England. His interest in agriculture gave him the name “Farmer King.” The Industrial Revolution transformed the lives of many by the rapid progress after 1770. New technologies turned England into a workshop. The key to the success of many industries were the manufactories operated by hordes of ill-paid workers, including women and children.
From 1788 a mental illness of George III raised the prospect of regency of his son George. Though his formal rule as Prince Regent only started in 1811 until his own accession as George IV in 1820. The period is often labelled Regency.
The Regency period is defined for many by the novels of Jane Austin, with in the background the long conflict with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. The final victory of Britain and her allies at Waterloo in 1815 confirmed her status as the dominant European power. The demands of war further increased the pace of the Industrial Revolution.
Antique Copper Plate Engraving Print on Paper Diving Bell with Men at Work. Found: Marlow, UK (JN0779)
To Dive
± 1807
On Assyrian reliefs from about 900 BC divers are depicted with an air-filled bag. The wish will be at the basis of the thought because the buoyancy of such an air bag is too great. We often come across this kind of practical impossibility. Over the centuries, descriptions of a long tube or hose through which the diver could breathe have been written. The underwater world has always stimulated the imagination. From classical antiquity we know traditions of explorations under the water surface in search of food and materials. Fishermen dive for sponges. India was already around 500 BC known for its pearls. Back then diving was a matter of holding your breath. A trained diver could stay underwater for a few minutes.
Alexander the Great is said to have admired the underwater world from a large glass vessel. Circa 390, the Romans described a construction in the military manual 'De Re Militari'. An impracticable idea, because the pressure difference between the air and the water makes breathing at a depth of half a meter unfeasible.
Experiments with diving bells were successful in the 16th century with wooden barrels that were launched upside down. The first diving bell was built in 1535 by Guglielmo de Lorena. A kind of barrel that was fastened over the upper body. Equipped with a valve system, a regular supply of air in inverted buckets was possible. For example, he investigated the floating pleasure castle of the Roman emperor Caligula, which had rested on the soil near Rome for centuries. In the meantime, he could just eat bread that he had brought with him. The fish were attracted to the crumbs.
In 1605, the Dutch Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater demonstrated his underwater arts to skeptical viewers. He cleared all doubts. He stayed under water for 45 minutes and played psalms on a shawm (a kind of wind instrument), ate pears, and wrote a letter. The people couldn't believe it.
The diving bell led to the metal diving helmet of the Deane brothers in the early 19th century. It was worn over the head and supplied with air from a pump above water. The invention was used for clearing wrecks and salvaging valuable cargo. The German Auguste Siebe perfected the diving helmet, in 1837, by making it into one closed whole with a waterproof suit. With this suit it was possible to work underwater at great depths. However, the air hose still limited freedom of movement.
Yves le Prier, French officer, devised a system in which one could breathe from a cylinder filled with air. Due to the technical limitations of 1925, the available air in the bottles was small and diving could be done for a maximum of fifteen minutes. During World War II, Christian Lambertsen managed to interest the American army leadership in his LARU (Lambertsen Amphibious Respirator Unit), a diving equipment based on a bottle of high-pressure air, with which he could remain submerged for ninety minutes. It was used for sabotage purposes. The French Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau quietly worked on their version. They came in 1943 with the 'aqualung'. It revolutionized diving. Their device was light and easy to use, and although developed for military purposes, it brought scuba diving within reach of the average person. After 1945, the first diving clubs soon appeared all over Europe.
Yet it was the 'impossible' snorkel that, in combination with diving goggles, opened up the underwater world to the masses after the war. The short-pipe snorkel for diving close to the surface of the water came on the market during the 1950s and young and old were immediately sold. During the 1960s, the crystal-clear waters of the Spanish Costas became accessible to the general public.