The journals of a Victorian traveller: from the journals of Julia Errington Biddulph (1844-1833)

The journals that form the basis of this book had as dramatic a discovery as the history they cover, having being recovered from a Canterbury house after Hitler’s Baedeker raid on the city in 1942. They had belonged to Martin Laurie’s ancestor Julia Errington Biddulph and in The journals of a Victorian Traveller, he largely lets his forebears’ words and experiences tell the story, with his own helpful notes at intervals.

Julia travelled the world with her husband during the last two decades of the Victorian age but, as we soon discover, was far from the cautious Victorian female traveller we might imagine. She seemingly thought nothing of trekking through twelve miles of jungle to reach her overnight accommodation one day and meeting a prince the next.

Some of the descriptions of hunting, shooting and shopping for animal furs demonstrate behaviour that many modern travellers would find unacceptable but these were different times and in allowing Julia to recount her experiences first-hand, Martin gives us a privileged peek into a world very different to our own. • Published by Book Guild in paperback, (RRP £9.99) www.bookguild.co.uk ISBN: 9781913208554 RB