Got an answer of sorts to a question asked earlier down the board (but which has disappeared of my page) about whether men shook hands in JA's period.

They did.

I've just come across this snippet in a book I was reading for something else: Robert D Bass, `The Green Dragoon: the lives of Banastre Tarleton and Mary Robinson', p. 10.

It's a quote from the `Liverpool Advertiser' on February 21 1782, describing local hero Tarleton's return to Liverpool after the American Matter amid celebration (there wasn't much for anyone in Britain to celebrate, so Liverpudlians made the most of their boy).

`Tarleton exclaimed, ``Don't be afraid of taking hold of my hand! Though I have lost two fingers, I can use my pen, and will draw my sword when I can be of service to my country''.'

Tarleton's mangled hand gave him an excuse not to shake hands, so I read this as indicating that it was normal practice to do so.