Eleanor Hibbert wrote 183 books, including three children’s novels, under several pseudonyms during her fifty-year career. Over 14 million copies were sold worldwide. Hibbert was born Eleanor Alice Burford on 1 September 1906 in Kensington, London. Her father Joseph was an “odd jobs” man with no steady profession but he passed on his avid love…
Author: Carolyn Cash
George II of Great Britain (1727-1760)
George II was the last British monarch to lead troops into battle, whilst many great social and political changes occurred during his reign. He was born Georg August on 30 October 1683 at Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, the eldest of two children born to Crown Prince Georg of Hanover and Sophia Dorothea of Celle. His sister…
James Francis Edward Stuart: The Old Pretender
The Old Pretender was a pessimist living in exile whose attempt to claim the English, Scottish and Irish thrones failed in The Fifteen Jacobite rising. James Francis Edward was born 10 June 1688 amidst the warming-pan scandal. He fled with his mother, Mary Beatrice of Modena, to France when William of Orange’s invasion led to…
The Glorious Revolution
The foundations for Britain’s constitutional monarchy were laid when James II was forced to abdicate in favour of William III and Mary II. The origins of the Glorious Revolution, also known as the War of the English Succession or the Bloodless Revolution, began with the conflicts during Charles I’s reign which led to the Civil…
The Birth of James Francis Edward Stuart
The Old Pretender was born amidst controversy as the Warming-pan Baby, and survived against all odds. James II had produced two daughters, Mary and Anne, from his first marriage to Anne Hyde. They became increasingly important when their uncle Charles II failed to produce a legitimate heir. Anne died in 1671 but she had supported…
The Battle of Sedgemoor
The Monmouth Rebellion was an attempt to overthrow the new Catholic king James II and ended in defeat at Sedgemoor. The Monmouth Rebellion was one of two uprisings—one in England, and the other in Scotland led by Archibald Campbell, the 9th Earl of Argyll. James Duke of Monmouth was persuaded by Argyll to lead an…
James Duke of Monmouth
James Crofts was the eldest and most beloved of Charles II’s horde of illegitimate children but his dramatic life was destined to end in tragedy. Charles II began an affair with a young English refugee, Lucy Walters, whilst in exile in 1658—his first serious liaison. James was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on 9…
The Restoration: Charles II and His Kingdoms
Charles II made his triumphant royal entry into London to reclaim his three kingdoms on 29 May 1660. Many who welcomed the Restoration were soon disappointed. The Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell enjoyed stability since Charles I’s beheading in January 1649. However, Cromwell died on 3 September 1658 after a short period of illness. Anarchy Richard…
Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland (1660-1685)
Charles II was best known as the Merry Monarch but his reign also saw the rise of colonisation and trade in India, the East Indies and America. He was born at St James’s Palace on 29 May 1630—the first surviving child of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. He was a robust and an exceptionally large…
The Great Plague of London
The Great Plague was the biggest epidemic since the Black Death, as one-sixth of London’s population perished as the wealthy fled to their country estates. The Bubonic Plague was first reported in Great Yarmouth in November 1663 – allegedly imported from Holland in bales of merchandise. The disease was carried by flea-ridden rats. People were…