1. | Title: | William Strahan Journals (1751-1777) | |
Dates: | 1751 - 1777 | ||
Extent: | 4 volumes | ||
Locations: | Aberford | Belford | Biggleswade | Burrow Bridge | Carlyle | Doncaster | Durham | Edinburgh | Elvanfoot | Felton | Glasgow | Harwood | Hatfield | Lille | London | Newark-on-Trent | Newcastle | Northampton | Oxford | Paisley | Scarborough | Shropshire | Stamford, United Kingdom | Windsor | York | ||
Abstract: | The William Strahan diary encompasses four volumes spanning 1751-1777. The first volume features the most detailed entries, whereas the second and third volumes include shorter accounts of multiple excursions and the fourth volume serves less as a journal than a summation of accounts, debts, and holdings. The first volume's accounts of mid-eighteenth-century England ought to interest researchers interested in English urban space, governance, and social conduct. | ||
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Researchers will likely gravitate to Strahan's first volume, a detailed, six-week account of European travels taken in 1751 (7/6-8/28). Alongside accounts of weather, road and travel conditions, and various social gatherings (e.g. breakfasts, dinners, teas), Strahan's entries offer glimpses into eighteenth-century English conduct, church services, universities, courts, libraries, as well as villages, towns, and cities and their inhabitants. For example, Straham describes Newcastle as a "a place of Business and Industry equal to London" (7/15) and Paisley as a "perfect hive of industrious people" (8/6). Attending a trial, he remarks upon the conduct of the participants, writing, "The court was very solemn and the lawyers were both elegant and behaved with remarkable decency" (7/22). Strahan even visits a poorhouse in Edinburgh, by which, he remarks, "the City is not only freed of all beggars, but the offspring of such are [tirelessly] snatched from Destruction, so that the Race of disorderly people are hereby extinguished" (7/30). The second (1759, 1760, 1766), third (1768, 1773, 1777), and fourth volumes (1755-1761) are much less detailed but sketch his travel (and distances covered). The fourth volume, in particular, more closely resembles an account book than a journal. As he takes stock of his properties, assets, and debts, Straham records his increasingly wealth—from £ 5,000 in total assets in 1755 to £ 12,000 in 1761. | |||
The William Strahan diary encompasses four volumes spanning 1751-1777. The first volume features the most detailed entries, whereas the second and third volumes include shorter accounts of multiple excursions and the fourth volume serves less as a journal than a summation of accounts, debts, and holdings. The first volume's accounts of mid-eighteenth-century England ought to interest researchers interested in English urban space, governance, and social conduct. View Full Description in New WindowResearchers will likely gravitate to Strahan's first volume, a detailed, six-week account of European travels taken in 1751 (7/6-8/28). Alongside accounts of weather, road and travel conditions, and various social gatherings (e.g. breakfasts, dinners, teas), Strahan's entries offer glimpses into eighteenth-century English conduct, church services, universities, courts, libraries, as well as villages, towns, and cities and their inhabitants. For example, Straham describes Newcastle as a "a place of Business and Industry equal to London" (7/15) and Paisley as a "perfect hive of industrious people" (8/6). Attending a trial, he remarks upon the conduct of the participants, writing, "The court was very solemn and the lawyers were both elegant and behaved with remarkable decency" (7/22). Strahan even visits a poorhouse in Edinburgh, by which, he remarks, "the City is not only freed of all beggars, but the offspring of such are [tirelessly] snatched from Destruction, so that the Race of disorderly people are hereby extinguished" (7/30). The second (1759, 1760, 1766), third (1768, 1773, 1777), and fourth volumes (1755-1761) are much less detailed but sketch his travel (and distances covered). The fourth volume, in particular, more closely resembles an account book than a journal. As he takes stock of his properties, assets, and debts, Straham records his increasingly wealth—from £ 5,000 in total assets in 1755 to £ 12,000 in 1761. | |||
Selected Quotations
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Subjects: | Accounts. | Booksellers and bookselling. | Conduct of life--Anecdotes. | Diaries. | Europe. | Great Britain--History--1714-1837. | Great Britain--Social life and customs--18th century. | Printing. | Scotland--History--18th century. | Travel. | Urban planning and environment | Weather. | ||
Collection: | William Strahan journals and accounts, 1751-1777 (Mss.B.St83.St83x1) | ||
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