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Moniker/Name
Marebear
Source of Question
Reg Rom Book
Your Question
What (if anything) does “Carlton House to a Charley’s shelter” as used sometimes by Georgette Heyer, for example in Cotillion, mean?
Additional comments
I know Carlton House, of course, was the London residence of King George IV, during his Regency. I cannot find any historical reference to a “Charley’s Shelter” and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the phrase outside Heyer. Could this be one of the phrases she made up to catch out copycats?
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Thanks for the question, Marebear, and for being a Regency Reader!
This expression is related to gambling odds, and not a Heyerism as I found it in several Regency era pieces including Pierce Egan’s “Life in London”.
Takings, Or, The Life of a Collegian (1821)
Life in London (1821)
A Charley’s Shelter likely refers to a watchman’s box, and Carlton House of course refers to the London home of the Prince Regent. Heyer alternatively uses the expression “Bank of England to a Charley’s shelter”, which is essentially giving someone fantastic odds. I would think it would be akin to the modern expression “100 to 1 odds”.
This was another piece of sporting cant that Heyer picked up on and has since been used in other Regencies, mostly from the 80s and 90s. Because I found limited record of this expression, mostly from the 1820s in sporting related books, I would assume it was a phrase used by sporting types but not necessarily ubiquitous. As Carlton House would soon after be abandoned by Prinny for a more exalted abode, I would assume this expression was short lived.
Rachel Knowles has a great post about watchmen, if you are interested in learning more about the Charleys of the era: Regency History: Georgian watchmen – security on the night-time streets. The post includes some satirical drawing featuring Charley shelters.
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