Anne Lister's diary for 1 September 1822

Introduction

AL first visited London with her aunt in 1819. This second trip (again en route for Paris) was in the company of her father and sister, travelling mostly by water. They took the coach to Selby, then the packet boat The Favourite to Hull, from where the paddle steamer The Kingston took them round the coast and up the Thames estuary. AL’S letters to her aunt give further details of her experience, such as the passengers subscribing 6d each for porter to encourage the firemen to make a special effort to catch up with the King. She tells her aunt “The sail up the Thames is beautiful and well worth 2 or 3 hours’ sickness”.

Once in London they walked prodigious distances (“12 or 13 miles; my father thinks more”) calling on their banker, obtaining passports, shopping and seeing the sights – Waterloo Bridge, the British Museum, St Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, and Nash’s improvements to the West End. “All this done since 1819… Surely there is not so fine a street in Europe… How poor Paris will appear.” Her father’s behaviour was something of an embarrassment; she hopes never to travel with him again. Mrs Webb, the hotel proprietor, was “very civil about the bugs”.

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