To Tempt a Scandalous Lord by Liana De la Rosa
Author’s Note
The year 1834 was an interesting time in British politics. It was two short years after the Reform Act had passed and changed much of the power structure that controlled the boroughs and counties that sent representatives to Parliament. With that structural change, reformers eyed other policies they believed would bring Britain further into a new modern era, reformers such as Niall, Lord Inverray, the hero of To Tempt A Scandalous Lord.
It was also the year Lord Grey stepped down as Prime Minister, and William IV demanded he appoint a member of the Whig party to replace him. William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne, was tapped as his successor because he seemed the best candidate to hold the party together. You may remember Lord Melbourne from the Victoria TV series, where he was played by the always charismatic Rufus Sewell, or from The Young Victoria where he was portrayed by actor Paul Bettany. In earlier drafts of this book, Niall’s opponent Medlinger was named Melbourne, but it was changed to separate the character from his historical influence as the men are quite different. Also different was how the process of selecting the next Prime Minister was executed. Instead of the outgoing Lord Grey selecting Melbourne (who supposedly told his secretary, “I think it’s a damned bore”) to replace him, Niall and Medlinger campaigned for the position. The change allowed for more tension, which made it more entertaining to read…or so I hope.
Alicia and Niall were both heavily invested in the issue of child labor reform: Alicia because of her heartbreaking childhood and Niall because of his work with the children at Little Windmill House. The Factory Act was passed in 1833, and improved the working conditions of children employed in factories. It included such provisions as: forbidding children under the age of nine to work, children nine to thirteen years could work no more than nine hours a day, and children were forbidden to work at night. But the act certainly did not stop the mistreatment of children, and reformers pushed for more stringent protocols and protections. The Mines Act, which prohibited children under the age of ten to work in the country’s many collieries, was not passed until 1842, and further progress was eventually made toward the latter part of the Victorian era.
When I first wrote about the outbreak of cholera at Little Windmill, it was pre-2020 when the thought of a deadly disease forcing people into quarantine was something that didn’t happen in modern times. The cholera pandemic swept through different parts of the world in the nineteenth century, and raged in England between 1826 and 1837. The first cases of the disease made it to London circa 1832, with recurring outbreaks thereafter. Thankfully Niall and the young occupants of Little Windmill House, including the feisty MacLean sisters, survived their ordeal, while others, like Alicia’s family, did not.
Let’s talk about chapbooks, also called treatises or political tracts. In the days of yore, these folded booklets were written about all manner of things: religious literature, recipes, nursery rhymes, folk songs, and of course, political discourse. They came to be known as chapbooks because the men who sold them were called chapmen. It was not uncommon for tracts to feature vividly drawn political caricatures and cartoons that lampooned politicians and public figures alike. Now I imagine the tracts Alicia was writing did not include such sketches, but her words were sharp enough to skewer, and the nature of her critiques would have earned her fans and enemies alike. And as a woman writing such commentary, she risked a great deal, not just to her reputation, but to her safety and livelihood. History is filled with such zealous and brave women who knew of the dangers of such work, and other professions like it, and did it anyway because the story needed to be told or the truth revealed.
I hope you enjoyed reading a few of these behind-the-scenes details from To Tempt A Scandalous Lord, and that they help make Niall and Alicia’s story even more satisfying!