Sir Walter Scott, novelist and poet – painted by Sir William Allan (1782 – 1850) (Scottish): Today, 15 August 2026, marks Sir Walter Scott’s 255th birthday. I discovered this from the wonderf…

As is the case every year, I like to post something on Eleanor’s birthday. Last year, I gave a talk about her life at the wonderful National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, which you can watch, if yo…

Public Domain, Today is International Dance Day, so I thought I would write a quick post about dance in the life of Eleanor Porden. If you’ve ever seen a Jane Austen adaptation, you will no d…

Last year, I marked the 200th anniversary of Eleanor Porden’s death. This year, I thought I would bring you some snippets from the 200th anniversary of her obituary, published in The Annual Biograp…

There is perhaps no better time of year for poets than Valentine’s Day. It provides them with an opportunity to write loving, ironic, comic or silly verse (or any other type, really) – hopefully of…

Efforts to raise £3.5m are under way to give the jewellery a public rather than private home.

Two hundred and eleven years ago, on 24 October 1812, Eleanor Porden wrote a fascinating account of an evening spent with her family’s close friends, in which they discussed superstition and the su…

It seems very appropriate that I spent a very fruitful half day in the Bodleian Library, reading the various letters between the Pordens (Eleanor and William) and Francis Douce (antiquary and museu…

It seems very appropriate that I spent a very fruitful half day in the Bodleian Library, reading the various letters between the Pordens (Eleanor and William) and Francis Douce (antiquary and museum curator) and Benjamin D'Israeli. Whenever I visit an archive, I can never quite believe my fortune. The fact that we have these invaluable places available to visit, for…

Young poet details low mood and disappointment in love in 1795 letter, written not long before he met Wordsworth

Uncover the often-forgotten life of John Franklin's first wife, Eleanor Anne Porden, with author Sam Pope

While transcribing William Porden’s 1818 travel journal, I came across some details, in which he revealed how the officials at the customs house in Calais described him in his passport. I found it …

While transcribing William Porden’s 1818 travel journal, I came across some details, in which he revealed how the officials at the customs house in Calais described him in his passport. I found it intriguing, not only because I gained a better idea of his appearance (as separate to the one portrait of him) but also because it showed how people’s identity had to be secured via written description rather than one of the awful, unsmiling photographs we have to suffer through in our current iterations.

Last week I wrote a special post dedicated to Eleanor Porden’s death, two hundred years ago, on 22 February 1825. Today, 1 March, marks the two-hundredth anniversary of her funeral. It is also the …

Last week I wrote a special post dedicated to Eleanor Porden’s death, two hundred years ago, on 22 February 1825. Today, 1 March, marks the two-hundredth anniversary of her funeral. It is also the day that I made a discovery that I had been hoping for, for years, but thought was unlikely in reality. This morning, I travelled to Westminster Archives, in London, to consult a map of St John’s Wood Church’s (previously Chapel) burial ground, conducted by the St Marylebone Society in 1974.

At 7 p.m. on 22 April 1825 the Arctic explorer John Franklin received the tragic news of the death of his first wife Eleanor. He was then at Penetanguishene on the shore of Lake Huron, now in  the …