‘IN THE NEWEST MANNER’: SOCIAL LIFE IN LATE GEORGIAN DEVIZES 9) 
went on among the higher ranks of town society. 
The Corporation were regularly entertained to 
dinner by the town’s two M.Ps at their country 
houses and dining with friends seems to have been 
a frequent occurrence. On 10 April 1819, Tom 
Moore ‘dined at Salmon’s in the company of the 
Phippses, Mr Pearce, Wyatt, Tylee etc. . . talked 
among other things of the Bank question and the 
Poor Laws’.** No doubt lawyer Wadham Locke 
served for his guests the fish and oysters supplied to 
him by John Mills of Cripplegate, London. ” 
Wiltshire M.Ps Charles Garth, Ambrose Goddard 
and Charles Penruddocke were frequent guests of 
their sons’ godfather James Sutton. In a letter of 
1800 to Mrs Sutton, Jane Estcourt referred to ‘your 
charming circle at New Park’ and the following 
autumn Eleanor Sutton wrote to her daughter that 
she and her husband were ‘both impatient to begin 
the New Park Nights Entertainment’.” At a dinner 
party in 1773 guests, including the Gents, Gibbes 
and Tylees, were served with carp, venison, veal, 
partridge, crayfish and roast tongue.* Eleanor 
Sutton’s recipe book included directions for 
dressing fresh truffles, preserving pineapples and 
asparagus, making lobster soup and presenting a 
stag’s head.” The household accounts listed lavish 
expenditure on claret, brandy, mussels, oysters, hock 
and. champagne.'” At one intoxicating dinner 
‘Brother Gibbes’ was ‘bereft of Speech’ and had to be 
taken away at about 10 p.m., though Sutton wrote- ‘I 
have not a symptom to tell me I had too much’.!”! 
Feasting was a frequent occurrence for the élite. 
Guests at the inauguration of Mayor William Waylen 
in 1774 consumed considerable amounts of food, as 
Table 4 indicates. The fare, supplied largely by local 
butchers, bakers and grocers, cost £60 16s. 11 Yrd.! 
Table 4. Fare at the Inaugural Mayoral Feast 1774 
77 \bs of beef 2 venison pasties 
2 quarters of lamb 7 pigeon pies 
1 sturgeon 6 hams 
5 turbots 4 geese 
4 cods 36 fowls 
4 sucking pigs 12 ducks 
4 turkeys 20 tongues 
truffles anchovies 
tarts peaches, nectarines 
cheesecakes rich cake 
mince pies grapes, walnuts 
lemon puddings 
cider, madeira and wines 
orange puddings 
almond puddings 
Source: W.A.N.H.S.L., W.C., Vol.2, p.172. 
On 18 August 1784 baker George Sloper 
attended James Sutton’s Mayoral Feast and the 
Bear Club Feast two days later.'? Port, sherry, 
brandy, rum, beer and porter flowed freely at Bear 
Club dinners, and some glasses had to be replaced 
in 1813.! The anniversary of the Glorious 
Revolution was ‘kept as a great festival’, celebrated 
by a dinner presided over by Henry Addington , 
and processions, bonfires and fireworks, and later ‘a 
ball for the ladies’.!° 
Such a day of general festivity was never remembered 
in this town... although all ranks of people were 
most heartily united in celebrating this glorious 
. yet the utmost regularity and decorum 
prevailed throughout the whole course of the day.!°° 
event.. 
In 1789, George III’s recovery from illness was 
celebrated with a procession led by a band, dinner 
at The Bear, with loyal and constitutional toasts and 
fireworks with ‘several elegant transparencies 
emblematical of our beloved Sovereign’, followed 
by supper and the obligatory hogsheads to the 
populace,’ for whom such festivities offered light 
relief from the drudgery of everyday life. 
Throughout the war, victories such as the Battle of 
the Nile were marked by feasting, gun volleys, ox- 
roasting and fireworks. New Park and Southbroom 
House were illuminated for Duncan’s victory at 
Camperdown in October 1797, which occasioned 
great rejoicing: 
The Bells have scarce ceased ringing since Saturday 
morning. The flags continue to be displayed and 
everyone seems to be zealous in demonstration of 
joy. The principal part of the Town is to be 
illuminated this Evening and we are to meet at the 
Hall to drink the health of the brave Tars who have so 
eminently distinguished themselves.' 
The Peace of Amiens was celebrated with 
fireworks ‘by a person from London’ and in 1814, 
an effigy of Napoleon , after being paraded through 
the streets, was ceremonially hanged in the Market 
Place, followed by the roasting of an ox and five fat 
bucks, with ‘not a single instance of intemperance 
or disorder’.!!°As well as providing occasions for 
diversion, the practice of recording major events by 
public ceremony stressed their significance in the 
public mind and enhanced feelings of unity and 
patriotism. 
Convivial entertainment for some of the élite 
was provided by Lodge 341 of the Freemasons, 
inaugurated in 1788 and patronised by royalty. 
Four meetings a month were held at The Crown, The 
