Vauxhall Vittoria Fete by Ann Lethbridge

Regency romance author, Ann Lethbridge, whose new book, Captured Countess, will be released in December, often writes about Regency fashions at her blog. During the course of her research, she discovered that in the fall of 1813, there were gowns named for a grand fete which had been held that summer at Vauxhall Gardens. The fete was given to celebrate the great victory in Spain which had been won by General, the Marquis of Wellington over the French forces in the Peninsula.

In today’s article, Ann tells us about the grand fete given to celebrate Wellington’s victory at Vittoria. It sounds like quite a crush, at least for some of those in attendance. Perhaps the event might be just the setting for a few scenes in one of your upcoming Regency romances.


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After I discovered the gowns named for the fete I thought it might be interesting to learn a bit about the event itself, and there was far more to know than I could possibly describe here. I just wish I had some pictures.
the Vittoria Fete was held in Vauxhall Gardens. This Grand Military Festival in honour of the Battle of Vittoria, won by the Marquis of Wellington (he became a duke later) on 21 June, was held under the chairmanship of the Duke of York, the commander-in-chief of the army.

A grand dinner of a thousand gentlemen at two guineas per head which began at nine in the evening. The Duke’s royal party sat in a semi circle in the rotunda with gold plate displayed behind them along with a bust of Wellington, who was far too busy fighting the war to attend himself, the standard of the 100th French Regiment taken in the battle and the baton of Marshal Jourdan. Among the guests were, in addition to the Prince of Wales and members of the Royal family including the Royal Dukes, were the Prince of Orange, the Prince of Conde, the Dukes of Bourbon and Berri and the Duke of Brunswick.

After dinner there was a concert of vocal and instrumental music attended by some twelve thousand people, including the wives of those gentlemen. Tickets to the event were sold at Carlton House and other venues and were quite expensive. All through the gardens, symbols of British victory and glory were displayed, such as the names of battles where the British had been victorious along with the names of victorious generals. Fireworks were let off displaying emblematic devices at intervals under the direction of Colonel Congreve. The party continued all night until daylight the next morning.

One young lady who attended spoke of the hours that she waited trying to approach the gardens by carriage. And having failed to do so because of the traffic, her party then took a ferry. She was most indignant that the waterman who handed her into the boat put a dirty fingerprints on her white gown. She also describes having her gown cut by a pickpocket and her hair falling in disarray about her face. They did go into the ballroom, but because of the crowds were unable to dance more than a quarter of a half a dance and went home thoroughly disgruntled.

In fact it was something we might well describe these days as a bun fight. Certainly George Cruikshank was not impressed. He thought the money would have been better spent caring for the widows and orphans of the men who fell in battle.

But many of those who attended thought it was a splendid recognition of Wellington’s achievement, and certainly Britain needed something to celebrate after so long a war.

Until next time Happy Rambles

© 2013 – 2014 Ann Lethbridge
Originally posted at Regency Ramble
Posted at The Beau Monde by permission of the author.

3 thoughts on “Vauxhall Vittoria Fete by Ann Lethbridge

  1. Soy un profesor de Vittoria que está estudiando con los alumnos la victoria de Wellington en la Batalla de Vittoria. En el Garden Vauxhall de Londres se celebró la Vittoria Party el 20 de julio de 1813. En esa fiesta se presentó una moda que se bautizó con el nombre de VITTORIA. Se trataba de un traje femenino compuesto de vestido y sombrero de inspiración española. La diseñadora fue la señora Griffin, modista de la princesa de Gales y de la duquesa de York y vivía en Little Ryder Street, en el barrio de St. James.
    Estaríamos muy contentos disponer de una imagen de la mencionada Moda VITTORIA. ¿Sería posible?

    Gracias por su atención. Patxi

    —-translated using google translate—-

    I am a teacher of Vittoria who is studying with students Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Vittoria. The Vittoria Party was held on July 20, 1813, at Vauxhall Garden in London. At that party, a fashion was presented that he named Vittoria. It was a female costume consisting of dress and hat of Spanish inspiration. The designer was Mrs. Griffin, dressmaker to Princess of Wales and the Duchess of York and lived in Little Ryder Street in St. James.

    We would be very happy to have an image of that VITTORIA Fashion. Would it be possible?

    Thank you for your attention. Patxi

    1. Patxi,

      I’m not Ann, the original post author, but you can try using Google and the search term “Vittoria fashion Vauxhall” and several images in the results may be what you are looking for. Click here to perform that search on Google.

      I hope that’s helpful or that Ann or someone else has a better answer for you!

      -Kristen

      —-translated using google translate—-

      No soy Ann, el puesto autor original, pero se puede tratar a través de Google y el término de búsqueda “Vittoria moda Vauxhall” y varias imágenes en los resultados puede ser lo que usted está buscando. Haga clic aquí para realizar esa búsqueda en Google..

      Espero que sea útil o que Ann o alguien más tiene una mejor respuesta para usted!

      -Kristen

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