Tidbits: Why the Year of Our Lord 1750?

Readers may wonder why I set Of Gentlemen and Heroes in the years 1750–1751. Was there any rhyme or reason to that choice? The answer to that question is: yes!

First, I wanted the story to occur before the Seven Years War (or what we Americans call the French and Indian War). If Mariah and Adam’s story had taken place during the hostilities (17 May 1756–10 February 1763), interactions between the French and British would have been much more limited, and less friendly, than they are in the novel. After the war, the French presence in the New World diminished considerably.

Without giving away too much, my other important consideration was that the story take place before the passage by the British Parliament of the Clandestine Marriages Act of 1753. This Act sought to narrow loopholes and refine the definition of lawful versus unlawful marriage. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary sheds light on the operative word: “Clandestine often substitutes for secret and covert, and it is commonly applied to actions that involve secrecy maintained for an evil, illicit, or unauthorized purpose.”[1]

The new law especially benefited wealthy Britons who did not wish their money appropriated by those we might now term “gold diggers” targeting their heirs. Before that act, however, many marriages—though clandestine—were entirely legal, a convenient reality for Of Gentlemen and Heroes.

The political and personal aspects of marriage law are definitely complicated! But for those interested in the social history of this period, for further reading, I recommend Marriage Law and Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century: A Reassessment by Rebecca Probert (Cambridge University Press: 2009).

[1] Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “clandestine,” accessed April 3, 2026, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clandestine.