Codebreaking the diary of a Georgian gentleman: The private papers of Andrew Hudleston

This project will explore the meanings of personal narratives through the examination of the diaries of Andrew Hudleston (1735-1822). Nearly 200 volumes spanning 1773 to 1815 contain information about his professional dealings as a lawyer and his private life as a gentleman in minute detail, but in code. Therefore the project will build on recent work on private modes of life writing and the role of coded record-keeping. In Hudleston's case, this entails divisions and overlaps between social, professional, and financial data, and scribal habits (such as code, handwriting, and other graphic features).