As a companion essay to Monday’s blog post on the servants who cared for the children in a Regency household, today I will touch upon the topic of childcare itself. I say “touch upon” because it is a huge subject so cannot be delved into deeply. Whole books have been written...
Today I bring you the sixth installment of my series on Georgian and Regency Era servants. As noted last week, this entry will conclude the staff members who worked within the walls of the country manor or London townhouse. Next week I shall move outside, as it were, and begin...
Do you love cookbooks? What about ones that were written over 200 years ago? If classic French cuisine or Medieval feasts with venison or traditional English fare appeals, then I have just the cookbook(s) for you! The following are the biggies from the Georgian Era and before. In each instance,...
I’m not a camper, so the concept of doing more than roasting marshmallows over an open flame is too complicated for me to fathom. I am sure for many of my readers, rustic styles of cooking are not a mind-boggling challenge. Even so, could you bake a cake without the ability...
To fully comprehend the duties of the servants within the kitchen rooms of a Regency Era household, it is helpful to understand kitchen architecture and technology of the equipment available. It is a complex issue impossible to cover completely in one essay. Instead, I’ll give a nutshell synopsis with images for...
Continuing on with the series on Regency Era servants and staff — blogs can be found listed in the Pemberley Library or by a site search — it is time to move into the kitchen areas of a Regency house and meet the servants dwelling within. To fully understand the duties...
The concept of an all-purpose, at your fingertips device or container, is instantly comprehensible to our modern mindset. Whether a purse or handbag, the not-so-popular as it once was fanny-pack, a briefcase, backpacks, or simply deep pockets in one’s garments, the desire for a secure place on one’s person to...
In July of 2011, I shared a link to an article in the Sheffield Telegraph titled: Christine’s Glimpse into Running a Stately Home. My Scottish pal May had sent me the link to the online article, and I did share it here on my blog way back then. This week’s...
Here is the 4th installment in my Regency Servants series. So many servants… so many essays to write! I suspect another three posts on the folks who kept a country estate operating, with an additional two or three on related topics. I sure am having fun with this subject, and...
The best place to begin this informative essay is answering the baseline question: What is a ceramic? Ceramics are classified as inorganic and non-metallic solids which permanently change when heated. The resulting products have a range of useful properties, including extraordinary hardness and strength, extremely high melting points, and good...
Placing a covering of some sort over a floor or other indoor walking surface probably originated with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The desire for a barrier for additional warmth from the cold ground and comfort for the feet is instinctual, our earliest ancestors most likely using strewn plant materials and...
I’m back again with the third installment in my series on country estate servants during the Regency/Georgian eras. So far I’ve written an introductory post and covered the Land Steward, Valet, and Lady’s Maid. Links to those two posts are in the Pemberley Library or via a search. If you...
To Americans this is the plumbing fixture itself. To the British it is both the actual flushing device and the room it sits in. In a moment I will give more details regarding the history of flushing toilets. Etymology-wise, it comes from the French toile> the cloth that was draped over...
In my blog post on Tuesday, I established that our ancestors were not as filthy and smelly as often claimed. Long before the Regency, bathing (even showering) was a way of life. If you missed that post, be sure to read it too! Today I shall dig deeper into bathing...
Yesterday’s blog post in my Regency Servants series focused on the valet and lady’s maid. Amongst the numerous duties they performed, cleanliness of the gentleman and lady whom they served topped the list. With this in mind, I will be posting this week on various hygiene-related topics. To begin, let’s...
