Kings Lynn on the Norfolk coast 98 miles from London was where the Burney family had their first home. It was a thriving seaport and market town well placed for traders from the Hanseatic League (Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, Rostock and Danzig) who built fine houses and warehouses as did the local merchants.

It was to 50 Poland Street, Soho, that the family moved when they returned to London in 1760. “Dear, dear Poland Street” Fanny later enthused, “where we were all so happy”. Fanny was 7 and still could not read though she had already developed her remarkable ability to observe, memorise and mimic.

There was an exhibition of the work of William Blake at Tate Britain in London last year. I joined the crowds going to it, but was stopped in my tracks in the first room by a reference to Edward Francis Burney (a favourite cousin of Fanny’s).

“Papa has bought a house in Queen Square.” Fanny wrote this in her Journal and then on Nov 16 (1770) she says “I have now changed my abode, and quitted dear Poland Street for ever. How well satisfied shall I be if after having lived as long in Queen Square, I can look back to.”

35 St. Martin’s Street, Leicester Fields

Another move; problems with the lease on the house in Queen Square prompted Mrs Burney to find somewhere else for them to live. Somewhere, she hoped would make life easier for Dr Burney, closer to his pupils and his friends.

“My father has bought a house in St. Martin’s Street, Leicester Fields, – an odious street – but well situated, and nearly in the centre of town; and the house is a large and good one. It was built by Sir Isaac Newton!…”

Fanny’s Journal May 1774

Evelina is the story of a beautiful, young, sweet-natured, trusting girl brought up in the country by a doting, vicar guardian, the Rev. Mr. Villars. Very reluctantly, when Evelina is 17, Mr Villars allows her to go to London for a few weeks of The Season with Mrs Mirvan and her daughter.

My trip to Streatham March 6 2020 Streatham Park was the home of Mr and Mrs Henry Thrale. It was 6 miles from London and was on the edge of the common between Streatham and Tooting in a green, rural area.

Samuel Crisp (1707-1783) Chesington Hall, (now Chessington) about 12 miles south-west of London, was where “Daddy Crisp” lived. Poor Samuel Crisp had retreated there bruised and broke after having spent most of his money travelling in Europe, entertaining in Hampton, disappointed over the failure of his play “Virginia” and suffering from gout.

Fanny said that she visited Bath 5 times. Some were more significant than others and it was where she chose to be buried with her husband and son.

Escaping from the Gordon Riots in Bath because Mr. Thrale had voted in favour of the Bill for the Relief of Roman Catholics in 1788 and so was in danger of attack from anti-Catholic rioters. In letters to her father, Fanny describes their hasty departure and their progress to Brighton stopping at Salisbury, Southampton, Portsmouth, Isle of Wight before arriving at Mr Thrale’s house in Brighton (called Brighthelmstone).

Brighton was another place Fanny went to several times. The Thrales had a house there and seemed to go to it quite frequently especially when the London season was over.

Mrs Mary Delany was a remarkable woman. She was not rich, she was not beautiful, and when Fanny met her, she was the widow of an Irish clergyman; but she was very intelligent and well-connected. She stood out because of her artistic gifts as well as social ones.

On this surprisingly clement day in winter, with the sun peeping through, we set off to Bulstrode near Gerard’s Cross; less than an hour from London, north-west on the A40.

On July 17, 1786, Fanny joined the Royal household as 2nd Keeper of the Robes for Queen Charlotte. She was reluctant about this role, not just because she didn’t know if she would be good at finding the right clothes and dressing the Queen but also because she dreaded losing her autonomy.

There was a cluster of places in Surrey, about 20-25 miles south of London, of importance in Fanny’s life, all quite close together – Mickleham, where her sister lived; Norbury Park was where where the Lockes lived.

Susan was the favourite child of Dr Burney and was adored by Fanny who was a few years older. Early in 1781 Susan married an Irishman, Molesworth Phillips, lieutenant of the party of marines sent with Captain Cook on his last voyage in 1779.

Fanny started to get news from her sister Susan and the Locks about the French émigrés coming to nearby Juniper Hall. In September 1792 Susan wrote to Fanny with news of the recent arrivals: “We shall shortly, I believe, have a little colony of unfortunate (or rather fortunate, since here they are safe) French noblesse in our neighbourhood. ”Juniper Hall had been leased and the cottage at Westhamble was reluctantly (until Mr Lock offered to put up the money) rented to Madame de Broglie, who had made a fourteen-hour Channel crossing in open boat with her small son.

After a few months of marriage, in November, Fanny and Alexandre moved to a cottage rented from a Mrs Bailey in Great Bookham. Fanny called it The Hermitage (Lower Road opposite the church)

With the money Fanny received for “Camilla”, they could consider building a house for themselves. The d’Arblays called their new home Camilla Cottage, and moved into it in 1797 with high hopes, having a picnic in one of the bare rooms, with some bread, boiled eggs and a gardening knife, before their furniture arrived.

Fanny joined her husband in France setting out with son, Alex and the daughter of a friend on April 15 1802.

Lucie de la Tour du Pin deserves a section to herself; she is such a special person and I hope people will read more about her either in her own book, Memoirs of Madame de la Tour du Pin translated by Felice Harcourt (Journal d’une Femme de Cinquante Ans 1778-1815) or the excellent book by Caroline Moorhead, Dancing to the Precipice.

Throughout the marriage, lack of money and the means of getting it occupied their thoughts and motivated their activities, justifying Dr Burney’s anxiety about his daughter marrying a penniless, out of work, émigré soldier. For Fanny her energies went to writing to earn an income and for Alexandre his hopes were getting compensation for lost land, or an army pension from the French state or another army role.

When news came of Napoleon’s escape from Elba and his triumphant march up towards Paris, there was commotion in many households including the d’Arblay’s.
M. d’Arblay rushed home from the Tuileries to tell Fanny that Napoleon’s troops could be seen encamped just outside the city gates. Fanny watched from the window as her husband mounted his warhorse, laden with all the paraphernalia of warfare (helmet, bayonet, pistols, ammunition). “Vive le Roi” he shouted as he rode out of the courtyard.

Fanny and her party arrived in Brussels on 26th March 1815. Fanny left Brussels on 19th July having been there for almost 4 months. The absence of her husband for much of the time and lack of money restricted her life, but she was able to keep up a modest social life thanks to a few close friends.

When Fanny, in Brussels, learned that her husband (the “best beloved of my heart”) had been injured, she was determined to go to Trèves to take care of him. It was such a dramatic journey, it is no wonder that her husband urged her to write it up in a separate volume – Journey to Trèves – 1815

Fanny said that she visited Bath 5 times. Some were more significant than others and it was where she chose to be buried with her husband and son.

“I accompanied my son to Ilfracomb, in Devonshire, whither he went by the kind invitation of his excellent Friend Edward Jacob, to partake of the lessons which that young Tutor, at the Age of Twenty, was giving to 6 or 7 Pupils, preparatory to their taking their degrees at Cambridge on the ensuing January…”

Fanny gradually recovered enough from the death of her beloved husband to be persuaded by her son Alex to move from Bath to London. Alex wanted to be near libraries, “celebrated people” and “scientific friends”. Fanny agreed but requested a dwelling place near parks and garden “free from dust or carriages” with fresh air from flowers and fields.

Three Burney’s have memorials in Westminster Abbey; Charles (father of Fanny), Charles (brother) …

It is time to stop. There are no more trips to be done – no more places to visit nor houses to look at in the footsteps of Fanny Burney.