Introduction

Summary

In his “English Social History” Professor G. M. Trevelyan describes the men of the middle of the eighteenth century as forming “a society with a mental outlook of its own … freed from the disturbing passions of thé past and not yet troubled with anxieties about a very different future which was soon to be brought upon the scene by the Industrial and French Revolutions. The gods mercifully gave mankind this little moment of peace between the religious fanaticisms of the past and the fanaticisms of class and race that were speedily to arise and dominate time to come.” For the upper and middle classes it was a time of prosperity, in which their humbler neighbours, especially in country districts, appear to have had their share. Moreover, the Hanoverian Enclosure Movement, which in many parishes caused great hardship to the poor, hardly began before the middle of the century.

It was in this tranquil period that the Reverend Benjamin Rogers, Rector of Carlton from 1720 to 1771, began the diary which is contained in this volume. The diary is now in the possession of F. N. Walton, Esq., O.B.E., of Aspley Heath, who is a direct descendant of the diarist, and it is here published by his kind permission. It is a small, parchmentbound volume, measuring 5 ½ x 2 ¾ inches and containing 180 pages. Except that the edges of the pages are occasionally worn, and in these cases a certain number of words are more or less illegible, the book is in good condition. The diary proper forms the main part, and covers the period 1727-40. It is preceded by some accounts, a Carlton terrier, and miscellaneous notes (for which see Appendix A). After January 1740 the entries grow more sparse, and it tails off into a commonplace book. At the end of the volume are a certain number of local notes (see Appendix B).

The diary begins on the fourteenth page. The pages are not numbered, but are divided into two closely-written columns, the1 year being always noted at the top. In this edition, for the sake of clarity, the year is given only at its commencement, and that according to modern reckoning, i.e., beginning on 1 January, and not, as Rogers recorded it, on 25 March. Rogers’ spelling and use of capitals have been followed, but punctuation has been modernised and abbreviations extended.