'Social Party Dress', November 1834

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Social Party Dinner Dress. A white gros de Naples petticoat, and pelisse robe of blue pou de soie; it is made open before, the corsage high, plain, and to fasten in front, is trimmed down the centre of the front with Brussels lace, set on plain. Imbecille sleeves, slashed down the front of the arm, displaying puffs of white gros de Naples, covered with lace; a double row of lace ornaments each side of the front of the skirt. Lace collar finished with a full frill round the throat. Blond lace cap, a drawn caul formed to the shape of the head, and trimmed with a blue plaided ribbon knot, and brides. The lace rather deeper than usual in front, turns round the back of the caul. Sprigs of blue flowers, and a band of ribbon sustain the trimming over the forehead.

Events of 1834back to top

Current affairs

Sir Robert Peel, Tory, replaces Whig Lord Melbourne as Prime Minister, promising measured reform in a shift from reactionary 'Tory' to more measured 'Conservative' politics (he had voted for the 1832 Reform Act).
Trial of Tolpuddle Martyrs, six labourers transported to Australia after trying to raise funds for workers in need by forming a Friendly Society.

Art and science

Charles Babbage's invents the Analytic Machine. Considered to be the forerunner to the modern computer, the machine was able to make automatic mathematical calculations.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton publishes his hugely popular, but now largely neglected, novel Last Days of Pompeii, set in the Italian city at the time of Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79AD.

International

Dom Miguel I, King of Portugal, is defeated by his brother Pedro IV, in the Portuguese civil war.
Slavery is abolished in the British dominions, although slaves still working are indentured to their former owners in an 'apprenticeship' system; the philanthropist Joseph Sturge was a prominent critic of the policy, which was abolished in 1838. Whilst slave owners received compensation, slaves received nothing.

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