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Six Essays on Vauxhall Gardens by David E. Coke has been published

5 January 2022 by Caret Press

Six Essays on Vauxhall Gardens

by David E. Coke

Published by Caret Press on 1 January 2022 by Caret Press in association with The Vauxhall Society

Paperback £14.99 50 colour illustrations

Kindle ebook £9.99 released 1 March 2022

Caret Press and The Vauxhall Society are pleased to announce the publication of Six Essays on Vauxhall Gardens by David E. Coke, a leading expert on London’s Georgian pleasure gardens. The papers in this collection originated as studies published on The Vauxhall Society website VauxhallHistory.org.

David is co-author with Alan Borg of Vauxhall Gardens: A History (Yale UP, 2011) and a consulting editor on VauxhallHistory.org.

Ross Davies, Chairman of The Vauxhall Society, says:

“We’re delighted that David’s Six Essays on Vauxhall Gardens not only updates Vauxhall Gardens: A History but is to be the first in a Caret Press series of essay collections by modern historians.”

Naomi Clifford of Caret Press says:

“We are thrilled to be able to make David’s latest research available to the wider public. These illustrated essays, all based on new research, expand and explore subjects that were only touched on in Vauxhall Gardens: A History, or have come to light since publication of that standard work, and are essential reading for anyone interested in Georgian and early Victorian society and culture.”

The essay subjects include:

  • The surprising career of C.H. Simpson, Master of Ceremonies.
  • Vauxhall Gardens in contemporary children’s board games.
  • Evanion – the ‘Royal Conjuror’, supplier of refreshments to Vauxhall, and obsessive collector of entertainment ephemera.
  • Evidence of the popular nostalgia for Vauxhall after it closed.
  • The record-breaking flight of the Royal Vauxhall Balloon in 1836.
  • Tracking the fate of Vauxhall’s outdoor bandstand.

Six Essays is available from bookshops through Ingram Global Distribution, from Amazon, and as a Kindle ebook after 1 March 2022).

FOR MORE INFORMATION or to speak to the author please contact info@caretpress.com or phone Naomi Clifford on 07525 244337

Download the press release

Filed Under: 2022, News Tagged With: Six Essays on Vauxhall Gardens

Under Fire: The Blitz Diaries of a Volunteer Ambulance Driver to be published on 7 September

18 July 2021 by Caret Press

Under Fire tells the story of June Spencer during the Blitz in Chelsea

Caret Press is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of the first book in our list. Under Fire: The Blitz Diaries of a Volunteer Ambulance Driver by Naomi Clifford will be published on 7 September, the 81st anniversary of the beginning of the first London Blitz.


The story

Summer 1940. June Spencer, a debutante and dress designer, signs up as a driver for the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service in Chelsea. It’s gruesome, dangerous and frightening work. Off duty, she appears to rise above it and spends her time shopping in the West End, dining at the Savoy and partying with the aristos, smart set and bohemians of Chelsea – but her wartime stoicism is only part of the story.

  • The book sets June’s diaries in context and explores the little-known role of  the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service; in Chelsea it was staffed mainly by posh women and working-class men.
  • June’s first-hand accounts paint a vivid picture of the contrasts of London wartime life – her accounts range from driving through the streets while under bombardment, to the aftermath of the destruction of the Café de Paris, to grand balls and parties in Lindsey House on the banks of the Thames. 
  • Her experience spotlights the complex emotional responses to the Blitz and to service on the home front.
  • June befriended the future novelist Mary Wesley at Boskenna in Cornwall and encouraged her to ‘write a book about her friends’–decades later Wesley wrote The Camomile Lawn. June also numbered writers Patrick O’Brian and A.P. Herbert, artists Augustus John and Tom Dugdale, National Trust luminary James Lees-Milne and actor Constance Cumming among her friends and acquaintances. 
  • Recent inhabitants of Lindsey House on Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, where June lived during the Blitz, include Mick Jagger and Roman Abramovich.

Naomi Clifford

The Gutenberg editor uses blocks to create all types of

Naomi Clifford writes about people, mostly women, whose lives have not previously reached the
history books. Her website is naomiclifford.com

She is a co-editor of VauxhallHistory.org and a podcaster on The Door History Podcast. 

Naomi is available for talks and to write features and comment. Among her published titles are
Women and the Gallows, The Disappearance of Maria Glenn, The Murder of Mary Ashford and These Were Our Sons.

Praise for Naomi Clifford’s work

‘Clifford tells her tale with sympathy and insight… a fascinating read.’ —Miranda Kaufmann on The Disappearance of Maria Glenn

‘[She] makes a memorial come alive–and records lives that deserve to be… Not Forgotten.’ —Ian Hislop on These Were Our Sons

‘The shock of reading of the sheer numbers lost… makes me look at our war memorial with
renewed humility and gratitude.’ —Joanna Lumley on These Were Our Sons

‘I can confirm that the actual contents are Very Excellent.’—Emily Brand on Women and the Gallows

‘Thorough research and convincing arguments — 200 years after a sensational UK murder, the author succeeds in her mission to correct “a missed opportunity for justice”.’ —Dean Jobb on The Murder of Mary Ashford


Filed Under: 2021, News

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