My Love Letter Time Machine - Victorian History
Shortlisted for the International Women's Podcast Awards 2024, 2023 + 2022, and the Independent Podcast Awards 2023. "Ingrid Birchell Hughes presents a charming take on family history via the love letters of her great-great-grandparents Fred and Jane, who exchanged 200 of them between their meeting and their marriage in Victorian Yorkshire. It’s a terrific insight into the lives of two witty working-class people and the times they lived in." — The Times. This is a true story, a love story, a family drama, all contained within Victorian social history. Ingrid has both sides (extremely rare) of a correspondence spanning 1878 to 1882 that her great great grandparents sent one another. They were ordinary folk, trying to make their way in the world, first in the city of Sheffield and later in the town of Middlesbrough. There is a whole 'cast' of characters too from Fred's industrial innovator of a boss who advanced the steel making process - and took Fred with him, to Jane's sister Emma, who had her life splashed across the newspapers through no fault of her own. Against the background of the dramas going around them, Fred and Jane overcame family objection to their match and through their own will and determination, made a new life together.
Episodes
79 episodes
Q&A Bonus Episode (Season 5, + Janie's story returning eventually - I promise!)
Season 5, bonus episode. Ingrid answers listeners' questions, talks about the future of My Love Letter Time Machine, and introduces her Grandfather Owen's memoirs, (who was a nurse in the Royal Navy during WW2). Ingrid will come back with Janie...
...till death do us part.
Season 5, episode 12. 1893 to 1894. I’m so sorry to break your hearts, but mine is broken too. In 1894, after a protracted chest infection, Fred started coughing up blood + with horror, he + Janie would have realised that they were starin...
Happily Ever After...
Season 5, episode 11. 1890 to 1893. Janie and Fred move to the seaside in Redcar, North Yorkshire, we get to have rather a lovely snapshot of their life together with financial security, social mobility and even some balls and banquets. H...
Krakatoa (75th Episode!)
Season 5, episode 10. September 1883 to August 1889. We follow Janie and Fred's growing family, catch up with their family and friends back in Sheffield, and the goings on at the North Eastern Steel Company in Middlesbrough, as well as take a l...
Mr & Mrs Fred Shepherd
Season 5, episode 9. October 1882 - November 1883. We follow Janie and Fred's first year of as newlyweds as they settle into married life in Middlesbrough, but back in Handsworth, Sheffield, all is not well. 1883 proves a year of highs and lows...
“I Fred Shepherd, take thee Jane Warburton”
Season 5, episode 8. 7th - 12th October 1882. It's Fred and Janie's wedding! We have the last of the letters, and Ingrid tries her best to recreate the wedding of her Great Great Grandparents. Grab your tissues. [Wedding March Pipe...
"My darling our letters will soon be closed"
Season 5, episode 7. 2nd - 6th October 1882. The last full week of letters before Janie and Fred's wedding! Janie is rushing around organising everything for the wedding attendents, Fred is get the finishing touches made to what will be their n...
Phone upgrades in Victorian Britain
Season 5, episode 6. 28th September - 1st October 1882. An industrial accident involving a crane takes place at Fred's works in Middlesbrough, and we take look at the history of the adoption of the telephone in Victorian Britain. Fred and...
Collars and cuffs and other stuff
Season 5, episode 5. September 24th - 28th 1882. Janie is industriously sending household items up to Middlesbrough on the luggage train, and Fred is rather irritated - because his laundry keeps going missing, and someone has been taking ...
Gout, Guests, and a Grumpy Groom
Season 5, episode 4. September 20th-23rd 1882. Fred gets into a fine old mood over the course of these next letters, as the caliber of wedding guests being invited, by Janie’s Mother, not Janie I hasten to add, is making him fret. We also take ...
The Groomsman Confusion
Season 5, episode 3. 17th - 19th September 1882. Content warning for Victorian alcohol abuse. Confusion arises over a mystery groomsman, Fred is arranging for their banns of marriage to be published, and Janie has to deal with a fam...
The Bridesmaid Proliferation Problem
Season 5, episode 2. September 12th-16th 1882. Today we have a row about bridesmaids - Fred continues to try and rein in Janie’s wedding plans to absolutely no avail. 1882 was a Royal Wedding year, and while Janie would have been fascinated, s...
"There must be no bustles or crinolettes!"
Season 5, episode 1. September 9th-11th 1882. We are now properly into the run up to Janie and Fred's wedding in four weeks time, and Fred offers what some might consider unwise opinions into what his bride should or shouldn't be wearing. Fortu...
Janie’s Dad's cricket match of 1843 (Bonus episode)
Season 4. Bonus mini episode. How a tiny newspaper clipping from 1843 took me on a little adventure on the history of cricket, featuring a brief look at a stadium disaster from 200 years ago, and the possible origins of how Janie's parents got ...
Q&A Bonus Episode (Season 4)
Season 4, episode 13. Q&A Bonus episode. In which Ingrid answers questions from listeners and talks about the importance of the letters. We also look forward to the Season 5 featuring the last of Fred and Janie's letters (out in Septe...
Knives and Forks, and The Cutlers' Feast
Season 4, episode 12. 5th-8th September 1882. The wedding planning is picking up steam, Janie is gifted a wedding present from the elusive Fred Johnson. Our Fred finaly finds their new house, and we take a look at the Cutlers Company of H...
Handsworth Feast and Flower Show
Season 4, episode 11. 28th August - 4th September 1882. Janie bless her heart, is swamped, almost literally, working for the Cross Keys supporting the Handsworth Feast and Flower Show in miserable weather. Fred seems to have difficulty understa...
Fred almost falls to his death...
Season 4, episode 10. August 23rd-27th 1882. Our Fred decides goes on an adventure and climbs Roseberry Topping just south of Middlesbrough, in which he narrowly avoids killing his silly self. Fred and Janie try and firm up who will be th...
Emma flies into a drunken rage
Season 4, episode 9. August 19th - 23rd 1882. Content Warning: Victorian alcohol abuse and its effects in the family environment. We discover that Janie had been ice skating, and a really upsetting row blows up at the Cross Keys. We take a look...
A family day at the seaside - Victorian Style
Season 4, episode 8. 14th-18th August 1882. Janie’s fabulous account of a family day at the seaside at Cleethorpes, and, we take a look at the Married Women's Property Act of 1882 that was passed into English law that very week. A law that came...
Baskets and Wotnots
Season 4, episode 7. August 11th - 14th 1882. After the drama of cousin Maria's collapse last week, the 'Wellingtons' and the Warburtons rally around her. Also Fred & Janie get back on track with preparing and planning for their futur...
Matrimonial Superstitions
Season 4, episode 6. 3rd-10th August 1882. Fred returns to Sheffield for a visit and seems to be being ghosted by his best friend, and Janie gets a bit of a fright when her cousin Maria Staniforth suddenly falls ill. We also take a look at some...
Guns and Posies
Season 4, episode 5. 30th July - 2nd August 1882. Fred and Janie discuss who is going to be Fred’s best man at their upcoming wedding, Fred goes to see a practice of the North Yorkshire Artillery Volunteers, and we look at the Victorian traditi...
Polly finally snaps at Emma's behaviour
Season 4, episode 4. 24th - 28th July 1882. Fred gets some very encouraging news from his boss Mr Cooper and we look at the average working wage in Victorian Britain. Emma gets hold of some liquor and lays into Polly again, but this time,...
Penny Gaffs, Parks, and Parenthood
Season 4, episode 3. 20th - 22nd July 1882. We find out more about Fred’s neck of the woods in Middlesbrough by taking a look at the Victorian Parks movement as a response to industrialisation, and Ingrid ends up sharing her own personal 'hym...