Category: social history
Food safety – sawdust sandwich, anyone?
Food safety isn’t something we can ever take for granted. With unscrupulous traders along the chain, our ancestors literally could not be sure what they were eating. Do a search for ‘trading s... Read More
Dating advice in the 1840s
The following dating advice was supplied by the Westmorland Gazette in 1841. Some 178 years later, we don’t need dating advice, do we? Because none of us would be daft enough to fall for the wrong ... Read More
Bicycle mania in Cumbria in 1869
The 2019 Tour de France is coming to an end, after 23 gruelling days. The winner on the Champs Elysées on Sunday will have completed around 2,000 miles, over 21 stages, and beaten almost 200 other co... Read More
Drunkenness – the Georgian view
In a previous post, I looked at the 18th century craze for gin. And how a Cumbrian Character – George Smith, of Kendal – published a ‘how to’ guide for setting up a small commercial still. Sm... Read More
Cumbrian gin – invented in Kendal
‘Cumbrian gin’ as a search term pulls up some tempting modern offerings. But did you know a Kendal distiller wrote a best-selling book about it in 1725? Gin is in. According to a feature i... Read More
Occupations in the early 1800s
Occupations in the early 1800s. Forget tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor… this isn’t a post about job titles, but rather about the numbers of people employed in different occupations. With an explan... Read More
Middens – and their biggest (?) fan
Middens, for anyone unfamiliar with the word, are heaps (large piles) of domestic waste material – mini rubbish tips that could include human excrement and animal waste, as well as kitchen waste and... Read More
Nathaniel Dean Lowthian – tasteful adverts!
Nathaniel Dean Lowthian may or may not have been responsible for the following advert, but I doubt a firm of Temple Sowerby tailors employed an advertising agency. The advert was in the Penrith... Read More