Cooking in the Regency

Cooking...the second leading cause of death in women during the 19^th century.

Well not exactly, burns were the cause of death. But how did you get these burns? By cooking. Despite this fact, we at the Laura Secord Homestead thought it would be grand to try out some old recipes now that we have a fire pit. Bad idea. Once you start researching the cooking methods of the Regency period you can see how crazy (and dangerous) it was to use fire on a day to day basis. Here are some examples of things we will not be using/doing on site:

The original candy thermometer- If you have ever made taffy or fudge you know this instrument well...but what did they use back in Laura’s day? A good old finger! Most recipes of the day tell you that you can determine temperature by “keeping a basin of water by you, dip[ping] your finger in it, and put it quickly in your sugar, then into the water again to remove the sugar” now on your finger. I don’t know about you, but I scare at the sound of snapping bacon fat. There would be no way I would shove my finger in boiling sugar.

     (PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME)

The seven second bake oven- A seven second bake oven sounds kind of like a microwave to those who have never heard of this dangerous oven. It was, however, a great newfangled invention during Laura’s time. This bake oven was a brick oven heated with hot coals. The coals were removed after a time, but the bricks remained hot. How could you tell if the oven was the correct temperature for your bread? Well, you held your arm inside the hot oven and if you could take the heat for 7 seconds (no more, no less) then you had the perfect condition for baking your bread!           

           

Cochineal beetles- Such a pretty colour for those British red coats. How do they get that colour? Why, you ground cochineal beetles of course! These little South American cactus beetles are collected and ground to add bright red colouring to whatever you heart desires...even preserves. Yes, several recipes call for these lovely little critters to be added to cherries, apples and other preserves in order to keep the colour bright and appetizing. Want your ice cream moulds to come out in fancy colours? You can paint in some ground cochineal to the mold before adding in your sweet treat. As lovely as the colour is, I think we will stick to food colouring for our trials. (I know, we are no fun at all!)

A rare but interesting way of turning a spit- If you have been on our tour you may have seen our lovely 1813 reflector oven, which is similar to a rotisserie oven. If you wanted to turn your meat on a spit but did not want to do it by hand, as you would do with our oven, you could try many ingenious solutions. One we will not be trying here at the homestead is a bigger version of the hamster wheel. Yes indeed, people would build large wheels that were big enough for a small pooch to fit in. The pooch would then walk on the wheel and this would in turn spin the spit that

the meat was on. Did you notice the picture on top of the blog sign up? Our sneaky way of showing how mundane it would have been to see this in action in the home. Needless to say my new puppy will not be going anywhere near a fire and her walking will only consist of visits to the new local dog park.

    One dog wheel that still survives in an old homestead

Regency Weddings

Weddings of yore were different from the weddings that we know today and that some fantasize their entire lives about. From ancient times forward marriage was very rarely about romantic love and very much about strengthening the family unit.[1] Often these alliances were about making the connections between various families and the influx of wealth a dowry could bring into the new family.[2] Often careers needed more then one partner to run the family business and therefore it meant that a married couple would run the family business together.[3] With this in mind weddings were not the affairs that we know them as today. However, with the uncertainty that war brought with it many women in 1812 North America made matches that they may not have had the ability to make previous to this.  With soldiers coming and going over the length of the conflict these ladies often found themselves far from home married to men they had not known very long. [4]

Weddings themselves were private and intimate affairs. They would take place in the morning at the local church. After which there could be a celebration breakfast similar to our Wedding reception with all ones friends and family.[5] Due to the war many of these weddings had to be short and sweet. One story that survives to us is of James FitzGibbon’s wedding, where he took leave from the battle to marry his Mary and then had to leave her at the chapel to return to the Niagara campaign.[6] With everything as uncertain as it was couples took great lengths to hold the weddingas soon as they could.

The Ladies and Gentlemen of the Regency upper classes didn’t did not have the same luxuries that the others did to marry for love, as these marriages were often politically minded. In particular when the Prince Regent’s line died out with the passing of his daughter Charlotte it was seen as the political duty of his siblings to produce an heir to the British throne. This was an endeavour that they all undertook and saw the marriage of many, however, the one of importance to the succession was the marriage between Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, which saw the birth of the future Queen Victoria.

While these matches were politically oriented they were the precursor for today’s grand weddings. They were a way to show the elite classes of other countries how wealthy and powerful you were by the kind of party you were able to put on. Princess Charlotte’s wedding dress for example survives to us and shows how our modern wedding gown evolved from even the Regency era.  

http://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/in-honor-of-the-royal-wedding-princess-charlottes-wedding-dress-1816/

These more lavish affairs were not only confined to Europe. As the upper class holders in North America kept up with a majority of what their European counterparts did so too did they keep up with the Jones’ when it came to weddings. They had their pick of location, as there was no law stipulating when and where the marriage could take place. Great care was taken to issue the bride a beautiful dress and the brides family often held a party after where they provide the refreshments.[7] While they may not be what we know them as today weddings during the regency period showed the commitment that was undertaken by both parties in a manner that was appropriate to the life they lived.

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[1] Amanada Vickery, Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England, (London: Yale University Press, 2009), chap. 1.

[2] Amanada Vickery, Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England, (London: Yale University Press, 2009), chap. 1.

[3] Dianne Graves, In the Midst of Alarms: the Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812, (Robin Brass Studio, 2007), chap. 2.

[4] Dianne Graves, In the Midst of Alarms: the Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812, (Robin Brass Studio, 2007), chap. 2.

[5] Laura Boyle, "Weddings During the Regency Era," The Jane Austen Centre Online (blog), June 20, 2011, http://www.janeausten.co.uk/weddings-during-the-regency-era/.

[6] Dianne Graves, In the Midst of Alarms: the Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812, (Robin Brass Studio, 2007), chap. 2.

[7] Dianne Graves, In the Midst of Alarms: the Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812, (Robin Brass Studio, 2007), chap. 2.

Regency Dating

As the great Pat Benatar said, “love is a battlefield,” and things were no different during the Regency period.

            In order to be successful at dating in the Regency world, both ladies and gentlemen had to adhere to very strict (and sometimes hilarious) etiquette rules. For this reason, we at the Laura Secord Homestead thought it would be fun to create a 19^th century dating guide for us single 21^st century ladies:

What to Wear

Dating rituals often took place in very public settings, like “outings, assemblies, dances and supervised gatherings. Dancing was an excellent means of bringing people together, and in the British provinces in particular, many seem to have taken to the dance floor at every opportunity.”¹ Thus, what you wore to these public venues was very important, and you became a commodity of marriage, put on display for all to see. Ladies had to strike a very delicate balance between dressing to impress and remaining “unconcerned as to dress.”² After all, “elegance of appearance… should reflect elegance of mind.”³ And most importantly, ladies had to be modest! In fact, “care… was always taken to tread the line of respectability since loss of reputation was disastrous for a young woman.”⁴ Despite the often raunchy depictions of female dress and corsets on television and in Hollywood movies, modesty was one of the primary concerns of ladies during the period, and a lady’s reputation was hinged on her ability to remain attractive to young suitors while also remaining virtuous. Thus, modesty scarves were very common, and although it was appropriate to have low-cut necklines for an evening ball, most women wouldn’t be caught dead wearing low-cut dresses in the day time. Not to mention, it was best to keep your makeup to a minimum, and a lady who wore too much makeup ran the risk of appearing promiscuous.⁵

Getting a date

            If you were going to be successful on the dating scene, you had to know how to dance.  Many people were taught as children how to do steps and figures like Quidrilles, the Cotillian, Boulangeries, German Waltz etc.⁶ and “to dance badly… [was] inexcusable, and may be classed as a ‘Horrible Blunder.’”⁷ It was up to men to seek out women to dance, and in the mean time, ladies were allowed to communicate using something called the “language of the fan.” Basically, depending on how you held a fan in front of your body or waved it in front of your face would single different messages to suitors in the room. However, a lady’s role was essentially passive in these sorts of rituals. But “ladies… [still had] to strike a delicate balance: a lady must encourage a man’s affections, but not too strongly” and the language of the fan was helpful in that regard.⁸ If you were unhappy with the gentleman who would eventually ask you to dance it was not in your power to immediately find a more appealing or suitable partner. Sadly, if a lady “refused one gentleman, a lady may not accept another’s invitation.”⁹ Not to mention, “a lady may not invite a gentleman to dance.”¹⁰ However, if the social event was informal and very few men are present, two ladies could dance together.¹¹ Who you danced with was also very important, as “marriage was not only a personal contract but also an important institution…. Young people were expected to marry someone of their own background.”¹²  For that reason, a lady should be careful with who she danced with because  if you were to dance with a man more than 2 times in any given evening you were practically engaged, and it was unheard of to break an engagement during the Regency period.

            Don’t worry ladies, men also had to adhere to some strict dating rules. For example, a man could not ask you to dance without a formal introduction to your chaperones, and if he danced with you the night previous, he was expected to pay your house a visit the next morning for at least fifteen minutes (now, wouldn’t we all love the promise of a phone call from our gentlemen suitors).

            In small cities or towns, larger balls were not as common, however, “a young woman’s home was important as a place where possible suitors called or attended gatherings under the watchful eyes of parents or guardians.”¹³ This would have been the most likely situation for the Secord girls, considering they were middle class. In Lower Canada during the time, men could only court women if they had the intent of marrying them, whereas in Upper Canada, Sunday evenings were reserved for acts of courtship.¹⁴ Now James Secord, having six daughters, would have to address and monitor many meetings between his daughters and their suitors.

Romance in Wartime

The War of 1812 brought opportunity for romance to those countries affected by the conflict. Often times, young soldiers and officers would pass through a town and be charmed by many young ladies and vice versa. In fact, “wherever they went, the men in uniform left an impression, and civilian males often found themselves displaced by military suitors vying for the affection of the local belles.”¹⁵ This is exactly what happened to Mary Secord, Laura’s eldest daughter. She was courted by a surgeon named William Trumble, and moved to Ireland. (Way to go, Mary!)

 So ladies, if you want to land yourself a man like Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightly, break out your best modesty scarves and log some time  practicing with your fan. And if you ever want to see these various dating rules in action, check out the PBS documentary “Regency House Party” where a group of people volunteer to go on a Regency-style dating show. The results are hilarious and disastrous, and it comes highly recommended by us at the Laura Secord Homestead for both entertainment and learning purposes.  

1.     Graves, 66.

2.     Ross, 65.

3.     Ross, 66.

4.     Graves, 66.

5.     Ross, 71.

6.     Ross, 50.

7.     Ross, 50.

8.     Graves, 69.

9.     Ross, 54.

10.  Ross, 55.

11.  Ross, 55.

12.  Graves, 66.

13.  Graves, 67.

14.  Graves, 67-68.

15.  Graves 75.

References

Graves, Dianne. “Love, Courtship, Marriage and Dangerous Liaisons” In In the Midst of Alarms:

The Untold Story of Women and the War of 1812,64-102.Canada: Robin Brass Studio, 2007.

Ross, Josephine. Jane Austen’s Guide to Good Manners. New York: Holtzbrinck, 2006.

Quilting in the Regency

Quilting is an art form that has only just recently been seen as one. It started in ancient times in the East and would eventually spread to the west as communications between the two continents spread. Archaeologists have found quilted objects from Mongolian tombs that date as far back as 100 BCE.[1] Because of the expense of fabric only the wealthiest would have had quilts that remain intact. Others would have needed to repurpose the materials to make new goods when they were no longer needed for the quilt.

When the knowledge of quilting reached England it advanced greatly with the development of textile production.[2]  While the upper classes were the ones that owned the quilts their lower class servants were the ones that created these works of art and some households produced excess quilts to sell to other households.[3]

When North America began to be settled by Europeans they brought their knowledge of quilting with them. As time went on the patterns in the new world mimicked that in England until the American Revolution when the American style of quilting emerged.[4] Therefore Canadian quilts during this period would have been a mixture of both American and European influence.

The International Quilt Study centre and Museum showcases an online exhibit that includes examples of quilts created during the regency period.

http://www.quiltstudy.org/exhibitions/online_exhibitions/mosaic/paper_pieces1.html

To think that these blankets were made completely by hand and that it often took years to finish is astonishing to us. After all we too have taken up quilting, however, we do so with modern convinces like sewing machines. I can attest to the fact that even with all my time saving equipment none of my creations are anywhere as near as perfect as those done by ladies in another era.

It is an aspect of their lives I have romanticized; the thought that one would gather with her friends to make something that she would keep and cherish for many years to come. This sometimes is what brought comfort that made their way in the world a long way off from the family and friends that they grew up with.[5] So I implore everyone to take another look at these beautiful masterpieces in their own right and ponder who put the care into creating them and what they would have meant.

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[1] Roberts, Elise. The Quilt: A History and Celebration of an American Art Form. (Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2007) 16.

[2] Roberts, Elise. The Quilt: A History and Celebration of an American Art Form. (Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2007) 18-19.

[3] Roberts, Elise. The Quilt: A History and Celebration of an American Art Form. (Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2007) 18-19.

[4] Roberts, Elise. The Quilt: A History and Celebration of an American Art Form. (Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2007) 20.

[5] Roberts, Elise. The Quilt: A History and Celebration of an American Art Form. (Minneapolis: Voyageur Press, 2007) 28.