Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England

This was a period when the lowliest labourers earned less than £ 25 a year and often as little as £ 12, while the upper classes enjoyed incomes of £ 10,000 or more, sometimes as much as £ 50,000,4 and the annual Civil List payment – from taxes – to support the royal family exceeded £ 1,000,000.’

Rather than meaning someone who resists oppression, the word ‘Luddite’ nowadays refers to a person who holds back progress.

The concept of teenagers, a time of adolescence, did not exist until the twentieth century.

It was customary that the mother lost custody of (and usually all contact with) her children.

If someone went away for several years, perhaps serving in the Royal Navy, they might not be recognised on their return, because there were no photographs to refresh memories.

The basic amenities that we take for granted, like electricity, a water supply and sewerage, were non-existent or just being introduced, so that simply keeping warm, clean and free from hunger entailed laborious, time-consuming and inefficient tasks.