| Description | This journal includes an account of Elizabeth Taylor's travels on the Norfolk Broads, written in both prose and verse. Taylor assigned each member of the party new names such as 'wild duck' and 'nurse' which she uses to refer to different people throughout the journal. A list of these names is included on the first page of the volume. The journal includes descriptions of the weather, accommodation on the wherry, the scenery and the party's journeys each day, charting their daily progress. The journal also provides accounts of the places which the party visited including the Regatta at Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Fritton, Horstead Mill and Wroxham. Elizabeth Taylor describes the different activities undertaken by the party which included sketching, shopping for provisions, excursions by boat to go bird shooting and visits to Churches. Although the journal is written in Elizabeth Taylor's hand, initials feature at the end of each section suggesting that material may have been dictated to Elizabeth Taylor by the other people in the party and indicating that she had given the party access to her journal throughout the excursion.
Elizabeth Taylor's journal contains a number of photographs of 'The Diligent', her travelling companions and the places they visited which were taken by her younger brother Wilfrid Taylor. These photographs are particularly valuable as they portray Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Taylor as young women and provide images of George Barrow and Caroline Barrow. |
| AdminHistory | In 1886 Elizabeth Taylor's aunt and uncle Caroline and George Barrow chartered a wherry on the Norfolk Broads and arranged for their friends, nephews and nieces to accompany them on a tour of the inland waterways. Elizabeth Taylor, her younger sister Janet and her younger brother Wilfrid accompanied their aunt and uncle on this trip. Elizabeth Taylor kept a diary of the party's travelling adventures which she called 'The Log of the Diligent' after the name of the wherry on which the party travelled. |