When we think of the Georgians, if we ever do, we think of them in Hogarthian terms: they are squalid, gin-soaked, syphilis-ridden and probably short of a few teeth. They are bewigged zombies without the apocalypse and either dressed in soiled, lice-ridden breeches or lying comatose in some fetid gutter. 

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Thanks to Bridgerton, we now see them slightly differently: as opulent social climbers who’ll happily strip off their sumptuous corsets and jewels behind the stables before gossiping about their neighbours’ misdemeanours at a ball.  

This sort of farcical binary makes one core point: we aren’t nearly grateful enough to the Georgians for what they accomplished. Were it not for the Georgians and their advances in industry, culture and politics, the ‘Great’ Britain of today would be little more than mediocre.  

Consider the evidence: first, they gave us the Industrial Revolution. In 1776 James Watt invented a new, more efficient form of steam engine that transformed the technology. Along the way, he gave us the ‘Watt’ and horsepower – and within 20 years his firm, Boulton and Watt in Birmingham, had sold some 500 steam engines to drive the factories of England. 

It was thanks to many of these factories – as well as the railways that came hot on their heels, with the first passenger service in 1825 – that we have another........

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