Regency England's (literal) High Society
- Clyve Rose
- 23 hours ago
- 3 min read
When we think of Regency England, most of us picture elegant balls, scandalous letters, and the occasional brooding duke. What we don’t usually imagine is someone snorting a line of powdered opium before tea, or dropping gold-coated pills to take the edge off a stressful afternoon of needlepoint. But alas, the powdered wigs and powdered… everything went hand in hand.
Welcome to the wild, wide-open world of drug use in Regency England - a time when the line between medicine and merriment was as hazy as an opium-fuelled afternoon nap.
Opium: The original multi-tasker
In the early 1800s, opium was basically the avocado toast of the upper classes; everybody was into it, and no one questioned it. It came in all shapes and forms: pills, tinctures, syrups, powders, and even luxury versions sprinkled with saffron or encased in gold. Very on brand for a society obsessed with appearances.
Did you have a cough? Take some opium. Sad your debutante ball was a disaster? Opium. Existential dread about dying penniless and alone? You guessed it - opium. Even better? There were no laws against it. The worst you'd get was a doctor tsk-tsk-ing your choices while prescribing you more opium for the anxiety caused by his lecture.
Tea time was a trip
Imagine this: you're sitting in your drawing room, stirring a little purple powder into your tea because your nerves are simply shattered. Was it a sedative? A stimulant? A mild hallucinogen? Yes. All of the above.
Psychoactive substances like opium were not only accepted; they were positively fashionable. And if your household staff noticed you giggling through dinner or rearranging the furniture because the chaise lounge "looked judgmental," well, they knew not to ask questions.
Some people (especially the wealthy) turned to herbal psychedelics too, although psilocybin mushrooms were usually eaten, not powdered. But let’s be honest - mushroom tea sounds less glamorous than "a delicate blend of saffron, spirits, and Enlightenment."
About cocaine...
Now, before we go full scandal: no, powdered cocaine wasn’t a thing just yet. While coca leaves were known to English society by the 1700s, the powdery white stuff didn’t enter the chat until the 1860s. So that iconic Regency lady you imagine daintily snorting something wasn’t doing cocaine. She's more likely indulging with dry snuff tobacco, which was all the rage. Still sniffed through the nose, still chic in a tiny gold box. Just... a little less potent.
High society, literally
Drug use wasn’t just common; it was a social equaliser. The rich had fancy tonics laced with exotic spices, the poor made do with local apothecary blends, and everyone agreed that laudanum (a combo of alcohol and opium) worked wonders for children who just wouldn’t nap. Think about it - alcohol and opium? Maybe some historical personalities weren't so much 'mad' as baked?
Laudanum recipe:
This is the formula for laudanum, as devised by Dr Thomas Sydenham:
2 oz strained opium
1 oz saffron
1 dram cinnamon; and
cloves dissolved in a pint of canary wine.
Nobody was arrested for getting high. There was no moral panic, no anti-drug campaigns. If anything, the panic was when you ran out of your favourite “nerve tonic” and your housemaid was too slow fetching more.
So next time you picture a Regency soiree, don’t forget what might be brewing in those teacups or hiding behind that fan. Beneath the surface of every silk-trimmed scandal was a healthy dose of narcotic escapism. Turns out, the real high society wasn’t just metaphorical. They were literally high.
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