This rare 18th century Grand Tour Diary is heading to auction

A section of a portrait of Lady Mary Broughton, by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Not only is it a remarkable, detailed travel diary from a rare female perspective, but it is an important document recording the everyday social history of Europe, picture collections and museums.

Lady Broughton, of Broughton Hall near Eccleshall, Staffordshire, set out on her adventures in May 1772, with her husband Sir Thomas, her mother Charlotte Wickers, a family friend, her children and servants.

While a grand tour of Europe, visiting historic, religious, and artistic sites was an established tradition for the well-to-do, it was usually undertaken by single young men before they married.

Broughton Hall (above) and (right) an excerpt from the diary, which will be sold with printed photographs of portraits of Lady Broughton by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Francis Cotes.

It is very rare to have a documented account of a grand tour written by a woman.

The diary offers a fascinating view of the family’s journey through France, the Low Countries, Germany and Italy.

While there are snippets about usual tourist destinations, Lady Broughton was more concerned with recording her observations of everyday life, from how society women applied make-up in different countries, to the fruits and meats available, farming practises, and local customs.

She notes that in Ghent there were ‘two large pillars on top of which they place little artificial birds to shoot at for prizes with bows and arrows’, and that in France they ‘met a French woman a horseback who made us laugh not a little, she was a straddle drest [sic] in three double ruffles, lappets flying, and petticoats above her knees’.

An excerpt from the diary, which will be sold with printed photographs of portraits of Lady Broughton by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Francis Cotes.

It was very rare for tourists to travel with children on what was an uncomfortable and dangerous journey.

The Broughtons appear to have been unusually close to theirs for the time, and Lady Broughton records taking them to puppet shows and theatres.

Only her eldest three children are mentioned in the diary (the eldest being five), and it is likely her youngest two, aged 19 months and two months, were left at home.

Sadly, during the tour, Lady Broughton suffered a miscarriage, but she went on to give birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, in Switzerland.

The family’s Staffordshire home, Broughton Hall, is an Elizabethan manor owned by the Broughton family since the 13th century.

Shortly after returning from their tour, work began on the building of Doddington Hall just over the border in Cheshire, a grand Neo-Classical country house.

The diary is sold with a handwritten modern transcript, printed photographs, and a wealth of research into the Broughton and Wicker families.

A fully illustrated catalogue will be available leading up to the sale at