Masquerade Balls in Regency Britain Format: other

Regency masquerades blended lavish spectacle, fashion, and social identity across Britain and its empire.

The 18th-century masquerade didn’t die at the dawn of the new century. Instead, spectacle helped these risqué events achieve new grandeur. From indoor balloon displays to lavish food and wine, masquerades in the early 1800s were hyper-real sites of consumption. Dressed in dominoes, character costumes, and fancy dress, the fashionable and titled of London society flocked to these events in the hundreds to thousands to entertain and be entertained. Amidst the bacchanalian, motley events were signs and symbols that masquerade balls were about more than a good time.

In the first comprehensive look at early 19th-century British masquerades, Glover uses primary sources to identify venues, décor, performers, costumes, and other details about public and private masquerades.

Masquerades flourished from London to far-flung imperial strongholds. Comparing the details over the long Regency, Glover teases out common themes and then examines them through the lens of national identity, cultural appropriation, and gender. This research sheds new light on Regency people, culture, and society and on what we know about the British masquerade.

Anne Glover has been researching and writing about the Regency era since 2007 for her website Regency Reader. Anne has a PhD in Urban Studies and has leveraged her academic training to provide resources for other amateur historians, authors, and readers interested in Regency life. Anne makes her home in the Pacific NW with her husband and dog.