Reference
OR2236/1
Title
Travel Diary of Richard Orlebar ( NB Two sheets loose at end of main part of volume )
Date free text
31 Jan - 24 November 1856
Production date
From: 1856 To: 1856
Scope and Content
arrives in London 31 January 1856.
had likeness taken 1 February 1856.
arrives Boulogne, describes soldiers etc 2 February 1856.
leaves for Amiens 4 February 1856.
leaves for Paris 5 February 1856. (descriptions of country he passes through with an agriculturalist’s eye)
notices rebuilding of streets in Paris since there two years ago
starts for Lyons 12 February 1856.
leaves for Arles 13 February 1856.
leaves for Nismes 15 February 1856. (good description of town)
at Marseilles 17 February 1856.
visit to Villefranches 23 February 1856.
sets out for Genoa 26 February 1856.
go via Savona, listened to bands of three American men of war at Genoa 1 March 1856.
good descriptions of Northern Italian farming etc.
arrives at Pisa 6 March 1856. (mentions restoration of Baptistery)
arrives Florence 7 March 1856.
view from Fiesole of Florence inferior to view of Oxford from Hinksey!
goes to Rome via Siena.
arrives at Rome 14 March 1856. (stays at hotel in Via de Condotti)
sees blessing of Palms on Palm Sunday goes to 9 a.m. service in St. Peters on Easter Saturday.
Buys a britska ( a ‘wonderfully cheap carriage’) for £32
Starts for Naples. 31 March 1856.
visits Vesuvius, Amalfi.
arrives back at Rome 22 April 1856.
‘The King (Bomba), the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Cardinal Antonelli were to meet next day at Gaeta, to consult on the hole they are in as to the affairs of Italy’.
Received Coutts notes for £100 23 April 1856.
return to Florence. Via Perugia and Arezzo 28 April 1856.
‘Florence is a very good place for boots’. 7 May 1856.
Sets off for Venice via Bologna and Padua 10 May 1856.
Went by rail from Padua to Venice. 13 May 1856.
‘Procession of Corpus Christi very tedious.’
Journey to Germany via Innsbruck ‘good beer again, a great comfort’. 1 June 1856.
Munich – Uncle Alfred’s house 14 June – 18 June 1856.
Fishing etc at Gruner Baum and Seebruck. 21 June - ? July 1856.
Details of Bavaria 13 July 1856.
fishing at Traunstein 17 July – 30 July 1856.
visit salt mines at Hallein 2 August 1856.
Rail from Leoben to Vienna. 19 August 1856.
Sets out for Pest 23 August 1856.
‘shops equal to Regent Street.’
‘told that an English implement maker might soon make his fortune here, as many import every new machine from England and the natives are bad imitators. Best place to settle would be on the borders of Styria (iron) and Hungary’.
Set out for Constantinople via Belgrade on ‘nice large boat, Capital food’.
transfer to Austrian Lloyd’s Steamer . . . . . ‘half covered with Turks and Jews going to die in Jerusalem’. 5 September 1856.
“quicker and cheaper than the Trieste route”.
goes by boat to Messina via Gallipoli ‘a wretched place’ 22 September – 26 September.
arrives at Malta 28 September 1856.
arrives Marseilles 11 October 1856.
arrives at Arles 13 October 1856. Mention of recent floods.
In Pyrenees shooting October – November 1856.
arrives at Pau 13 November 1856.
train to Bordeaux six hours 17 November 1856.
31 January – 24 November 1856.
At back list of acquaintances met and made by T. Jeans, G. Smyth and Richard Orlebar in their tour beginning 2 February 1856.
(includes BROOKS, Boulogne. Probably G. Brooks relative of J.T. Brooks of Flitwick).
brief notes at back.
NB diary generally good at listing birds, found on the tour. Orlebar frequently went to the Opera and the Comic Opera. He visited most of the usual tourist sites
Marked on front of cover CXXV
Level of description
item