During 2022, I acquired a very old diary, which was written by a resident of Grendon Underwood, Bucks - about 8.5 miles from Bicester - called Charles Daniel. It would appear that Charles was born locally circa 1766 - 1779, and that he married Ann Upston in nearby Chetwode, Bucks in 1799. The couple went on to have 5 daughters:

1. Mary, bapt. 1801.

2. Elizabeth, bapt. 1805 (who is mentioned in the diary).

3. Anne Sophia, bapt. 1809.

4. Anne, bapt. 1812.

5. Lavinia, bapt. 1815.

According to the 1841 census, Charles worked as a tailor. He died in the village in 1846.

The final entry in the diary must have been written by someone else - perhaps a relative or friend? - as it references a time period after Charles Daniel's death.

I will be donating the diary to the Buckinghamshire Archives ASAP, but have transcribed it below to the best of my ability. I have done so in the exact order that it appears in the diary. Enjoy!

Note: the diary was discovered in the drawer of a desk at White House in nearby Ludgershall in 1939, according to a newspaper article. 

"Bread was at 2 & 6 this half [?] loaf in the year 1795 the Poor's rate [?] was very high this year, the biggest flood that ever was known fell on Sunday the 24th and Monday 25th in the morning of September in the year 1797 never was seen such a one in the memory of men and many people was drowneded and drove a way in the flood, it was confirmed [?] to be the second to Noah's flood. 

July 2nd 1800 - bread was sold at 44"0"0 load at Bicester the 27th of June, bacon was at 1"1 per pound, beef at 9, mutton at 8, pork 8, malt 12 per bushel, man and his wife had for his labour 6 per week and 2"6 a head for each child, barley at 3"8"0 a quarter, beans 15 per bushel, oats at 3"10"0 per quarter, the crops of which are but very indifferent upon the ground, at this time a new wild cow cannot be bought at no less than from 16 to 18, and everything in proportion to the bread. 

August 4th - the bread sunk 7 the half peck loaf, this was such a fine hay time and harvest that had not been known for many years. 

November 1st - bread this day is 3 the half peck loaf and the new malt is 12 per bushel and for hogs [or hops?] at 14 per score, cheese 10 per lb [?], butter is sold in London at 16 per dozen, a suckling calf about a week old will make about 3"10"0, this month wheat is sold at 50"0"0 for 5B [presumably 'bushels'?] in the lower parts of Glostershire, wheat was sold at 1"5"0 per bushel.

1801 - this year comes in with things as dear as ever, bread at 3 & 3 a loaf and fat hogs at 14 per score, in February mutton was 9 per lb [?], July bread was at 3 & 8 half peck loaf, pork 9/2 per lb, mutton 9 per lb. October - wheat was at 20"0"0 a load, bread was at 1 & 8, the half peck loaf. 

1802, February - bread 1 & 8 a loaf, fat hogs at 15 per score, beef at 8 per lb, pork at 10, mutton 9 per lb, wheat at 19 a load, a middling cow and calf at 21"0"0, store [?] pigs dearer than ever, yet new oats 1"0"0, best beans 2"0"0, beast early peas 2"0"0, barley at 2"0"0 per quarter. In April bread was 1"4 the half peck loaf, wheat is now as low as 12 a load, barley is at 4 & 6 per bushel, oats at 16"0 per quarter, beans at 3"6 per bushel, such a change in corn as never was known. 

May 13th - a snow fell on that day such a sharp frost at night as made the green wheat look as if boyling [boiling] water had been poured on it, but the weather has been very dry and so continually still and open time [?], the frost continued the 13 - 14 - 15 and 18 of May the green wheat are so cut with the frost that it looks like a stubble ground upon the cold light land for 2 acres together, for hogs at this time: 11 per score. 

In the year 1801 the inhabitants of Grendon was 285 and in 1811 was 271. This account was wrote by me, Charles Daniell of Greatmore, and it is true. Mary Daniell came from Rance Hill [?] in the parish of Middle [?] Claydon to Greatmore in the parrish of Grendon Underwood in the year 1746.

1809, April 21st was a very snowey day, and the 22nd and 23rd was a great flood. At 26 was also a great a flood. 

May the 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 was extremely hot and dry and a cold drizzling summer followed. 

Oct. 25th - King George the Third begun the 50th year of his rain [reign] and a great deal of money was subscribed all over England for all the poor people to drink his health, in some place it amounted to a shilling a head in all families let them be ever as big, this was called a Jubilee with ringing of bells and bonfires, the Autumn of this year was remarkably warm and fine, wheat is this year at 30"0"0, fat hogs at 15 per score and a malt is 13 & 6 per bushel. 

1811, Dec. 25th - in the evening a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning which set a barley rick on fire in Berkshire, I was out in the storm myself about 9 o'clock. 

1810 - horses never was so dear as they are now, store hogs as dear as ever was known, this was a winter without snow, the frost was so very severe as it damaged the corn, the wheat in particular. 

July 10th - a very high wind attended with an uncommon rain which drowned men and horses and broke down the banks of the sea and drove cattle and hay and corn and all off together for 30 miles together. 

1811, April 22nd - at 11 at night a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning. Hay is sold at 8"0"0 a tunn [?]. 

A great blight and milldew fell on all the white corn in general except in Norfolk and there it was good crops in general. Wheat at from 17 to 25. 

August 27th - a great commet apeard in the North, and lasted till January 21st 1812.

1812 - a very wet summer followed after the commet, corn of all sorts very dear. Bread at 3 the half peck loaf and fat hogs at 18 per score, horses sold at palm [?] fair at a 100 pounds a head, and it is a general rot among the sheep. 

1816 - things have been on a moderate scale for 2 years but now corn has fallen so much as to fetch no more than about 10 a load for good wheat, beans at 2 & 6 per bushel, barley 3 per bushel, oats 2 per bushel, fat hogs at 8 per score, horses all most unsellable and landlords will not sink their rents which causes a distress all over England, butter is fallen from 20 a dozen to 12/13 a dozen, and some as low as 9.

A successive rain which begun June 30th 1816 and rained for 29 days successfully and was so cold in England, Holland and America as to numb numbers of birds with cold. 

1816 - this year is a strange one for [?] as ever was known, the hay and harvest was so wet that the corn and hay was nearly all spoyled [spoiled], and a great deal of wheat and barley and oats and beans. 

Nov. 13th - I saw men a reaping of corn on this day the 13th, a great snow fell on Sunday the 10th of Nov. which covered the cocks of corn and the ricks as was set up, the flood went through them, the continued rains keep comming, to this day a great many farmers have not begun sowing of wheat, it is a general saying of old men that they never knew such a season as this in their days, the fruit has lost its taste and the grapes did not ripen, sold as was good at 40 a load. Bread at 3"2 per loaf, butter was sold about 3 years ago at 18 & 6 per dozen, and in July this year it is sold as low as 10"6 per dozen, bread is now falling very fast in price but now it is set in for a showery hay time. Men for mowing about 3 years ago was hired for 14 a week and their board, are hired this year for 6 and their board, in June this year in different parts of the country, ice and snow fell in abundance at Salisbury. This year there is scarce any fruit at all, the bread is so bad this year that it cannot scarcely be eaten. 

1818 - in some parts of Hereford and Bedfordshire the wheat was grown as bad as last year, wheat this year averages about 20 a load, in Feb. fat hogs are at 13"6 per score, beans some are sold at 3 per bushel, and some at 5. Oats are sold from 23 to 27 per quarter, and barley at 40 per quarter. All sorts of stock rising very rapidly at this time, a very wet spring till May 10th which was Whitsun Sunday and after May 10th set in to be dry and came no rain till the 12th September. Not so much as a shower to wet the hay or corn, the dryest summer as ever was known, hay was sold as high as 9"10 per tunn, and after the middle of September the rain began comming in gentle showers and so continued more and more, and by the later end of October there was keeping [?] in abundance, and some people cut scarce any hay. 

Dec. 8th - this year is a wonderful one for on this day is my daughter Elizabeth's birthday, and she had a boyled mushroom as I did gather as was growing this day, and I did gather several on the 2nd of this month, and there is a white thorn bush in Middle Claydon Park in full blossom of May, and a budding for leaf, and there is a ground of barley in full ear, and roses and daisies and yallow-crayes [?] in full bloom, and the wheat is as forward now as ever it was known in May, and peas and gooseberries, cucumbers and strawberys all for sale at market, just gathered in the month of November. It is said that no one ever remembered such a season before as is alive at this time. 

1825 - was a dry summer the later part of it, and a short year of hay, but it lasted the winter and not very dear. 

July 8th 1828 - this was a very wet summer in which the Great Flood came so as the low land became one mass of water, and it all came in about 2 hours. Bread 1"4.

1841 - on Sunday morning Jan. 3rd there was such a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning accompanied with snow and hail and a high wind, such lightning was never seen before in winter, there was a barn and 2 hay stacks at Steeple Claydon knocked down. 

1841 - a frost began the first week in December and lasted till March 22nd, that was Easter Eve 1845 that was 16 weeks [?]. 

1810 - an air balloon set off from Oxford by Sadler and went on to the east and settled within 3 miles of New Park in North Crawley Field. 

The measurement of Esq. Jervoice [?] Estate at Grendon is 1725"3"12, in the year 1795 the annual rent was 1227"12"0, the woodland and copses measured 25"2"18, look in Moore's [?] almanac in 1801, you will find that wheat was sold in England in 1653 - 1654 and 1655 at 1 & 6 per bushel and rye at 1 & 2 per bushel.

1881 - inhabitants of Grendon was 365, in 1891 was 379." - this line must have been added by another unknown person, as it was long after Charles' death. 

I'd like to say a massive thank you to Teressa Pickford for allowing me to have this wonderful piece of history! 

Update: I have just discovered the following in the British Newspaper Archives:

The first article (Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press, 1890) indicates that the diary must have been found prior to 1939, and included some transcribed chapters; the second (Bicester Herald, 1871) mentions the death of Charles' wife, Ann. 

Whilst I've been unable to find a baptism record for Charles, I have managed to find some more information regarding his wife, Ann:

Ann was baptised in Barton Hartshorn (less than 2 miles from Chetwode, Buckinghamshire) on 23rd May 1779 - the daughter of Robert and Mary Upston, née East, who married at Chetwode the previous year.