Words in Progress: Leicester Square – A Desirable Regency Residence?

I’m continuing last week’s theme today with regard to two particular characters from my Twelve Letters series, Nathan Brooks and Percy Havilland, who become an established couple as the series continues.

That’s partly because the first book, Twelve Letters is reduced to 99c for Pride Month in a Bookfunnel promo, but also because of my most recent bonus chapter for my newsletter subscribers. Recently, I ran a poll in Ellie’s Eyrie, my Facebook reader group, for members to choose their favourite of my couples. The result was a draw! And so for my June newsletter, I wrote a bonus chapter about Nathan and Percy. Since then, they have lingered in my mind.

In my previous blog, I briefly mentioned these two when placing my London-based characters geographically and socially in Regency London with the help of my trusty online Mogg map. Please indulge me for the next couple of weeks as I go into further detail specifically focusing on Nathan and Percy’s social and economic standing in terms of where they choose to live. I’ll start with Nathan Brooks.

If you click to enlarge the Mogg Map, you’ll find Leicester Square tucked between Piccadilly and Covent Garden. As I pointed out last week, with the expansion of Mayfair to the west, although it contained some splendid mansions, Leicester Square was no longer the desirable address it would have been in the mid-eighteenth century. So does that reflect on Nathan’s status?

Well, no, not really. Nathan Brooks is in the admirable position of not caring much about the opinions of others. He was born into the landed gentry, which makes him socially acceptable amongst the ton and he’s very wealthy which adds to his attraction.

The strictly maintained social hierarchy adhered to strict principles of heredity and wealth. If you were nobly born but didn’t have the money needed to maintain a luxurious lifestyle then you could kiss goodbye to your place in society. On the other hand, if you were filthy rich, but came from a mercantile background, then you’d never be fully accepted as a card-carrying member of the ton.

Nathan, in his mid-thirties in the first Twelve Letters book, has no patience for such petty snobbery. He might be a gentleman, but he likes the cut and thrust of business and unashamedly enjoys making money. He also has a strongly developed social conscience, perhaps because increasing his wealth is a hobby rather than a necessity.

Nathan includes a wide social range in his business contacts, from city merchants based on Cheapside (to the right of St, Paul’s Cathedral on the map) and the East End docks beyond, to wealthy investors based in Mayfair and St. James’ in the West End.

Nathan chooses to live in a spacious residence near Leicester Square for its convenience both to the old city of London and the new western suburbs. In this way, he can combine business with social obligations in a variety of coffee houses along Fleet Street and the Strand, to the clubs of Piccadilly and St. James’ and the ballrooms of Mayfair.

This degree of social fluidity is relatively unusual and reflects Nathan’s no-nonsense personality. Approaching middle age, he’s worldly-wise and has a healthy degree of cynicism that makes him immune to flattery. A lesson that beautiful and avaricious Percy Havilland comes to learn as these two begin to circle around each other warily.

For those readers interested in the history of Leicester Square, there’s a fun quick read here from The Culture Trip and a more in-depth article in British History Online.