In April, I’m posting 26 blogs, one for every letter of the alphabet. I write historical romance set in Regency England, and I’m offering a brief lexicon of words to help you understand the story world of my Regency characters. Follow the links for more in depth information.

J is for Jermyn Street:

Keeping with our discussion of men’s clothing yesterday, today we have Jermyn Street, which hosts fashionable men’s clothing stores and a statue of Regency fashion setter, Beau Brummell.

This contemporary photo by Tristan Forward, from the Geograph British Isles Project, features Hackett, a gentleman’s store in Jermyn Street.

British History Online says that during the Regency period, Jermyn Street had many hotels. You may find a character who is a French emigre lurking there, or perhaps a gentleman will pass that way in route to his club.

And J is for Jointure:

I mentioned in an earlier post that the term Dowager comes from the notion of a dower, the financial settlement for the widow of a peer to provide her an income after she’s been sent off to the estate’s Dower House.

The Dower House at Dean Castle, Scotland

Jointure is another legal term you might stumble across in a Regency novel.  A character might be a widow with a generous jointure, an income provided for her upon her husband’s death and generally arranged for and agreed upon as part of the marriage contract, before the marriage takes place. She can have either a jointure or a dower, but not both. Such legalities make me go cross-eyed.

Questions? Comments? Visit tomorrow for the letter K!

Images: badge, a-to-zchallenge.com; all others, Wikimedia