{"id":1567,"date":"2020-12-20T14:40:17","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T14:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=1567"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:25:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:25:55","slug":"christmas-1843-in-cumbria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/20\/christmas-1843-in-cumbria\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas 1843 in Cumbria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charles Dickens\u2019 arguably most-popular work, A Christmas Carol, was published in 1843. It was also the year of the first Christmas card.<\/a><\/p>\n

So, how did folk in Westmorland celebrate Christmas 1843?\u2019<\/p>\n

Christmas 1843 \u2013 in Martindale<\/h2>\n

Martindale may have been a collection of scattered farmsteads, but the 1841 census lists 46 households. And it had a school \u2013 which would have been a Sunday school. The census shows one John Jackson, school master, aged 55, at Hallin Bank<\/a> \u2013 which still exists today.<\/p>\n

There was also a minister, called William King (45), who had a wife Ann, and five children.<\/p>\n

On Christmas Day, the children of Martindale school were plentifully regaled with tea and cake in the school house.. which was\u2026 decorated with an ample arch and profusion of evergreens, which had an extremely pleasing effect.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Deck the halls<\/h2>\n

Decorating indoors with evergreens was an ancient tradition. Christmas trees<\/a> had been introduced into Britain in Georgian times, but didn\u2019t really catch on till Prince Albert and Queen Victoria started a \u2018trend\u2019.<\/p>\n

New and superior Christmas carols<\/h2>\n

After tea, the children and their teachers sang several Christmas carols (of a new and superior kind) in a pleasing manner.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2018The incumbent\u2019 (presumably William King) then addressed everyone present on the proven beneficial effects of Sunday schools. He called on parents to co-operate with teachers in setting a good example of virtue, and duty owing to their country and to God.<\/p>\n

One has to guess that the \u2018new and superior\u2019 Christmas carols had religious lyrics. Multiple sources suggest that carols were sung in pubs or round the streets, rather than church until the 1880s. So either that is a generalisation, or rural Martindale was ahead of the curve.<\/p>\n

Christmas Day in the workhouse<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, at Christmas 1843, the inmates of the Union Workhouse, Ulverston, enjoyed a dinner of roast beef and plum pudding. Which the next section shows was recognised by some at the time as \u2018big deal!\u2019 rather than a gesture of munificence.<\/p>\n

I wish it could be Christmas every day<\/h2>\n

The Kendal Mercury<\/i>, ahead of Christmas 1843, had opined that:<\/p>\n

Christmas in modern times is scarcely worth a record.\u00a0The middle classes make it a sorry business of a pudding or so extra and a game at cards. The rich invite their friends to their country houses. But the poor are left out entirely, or presented with a few clothes and eatables that make up a wretched substitute for the hospitable intercourse of old.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Mercury<\/i> pined for a time when there was a \u2018run of merry days from Christmas Eve to Candlemas\u2019. ie the start of February!<\/p>\n

At the very least, the Mercury<\/i> thought people should enjoy the 12 days of Christmas. Which in Westmorland had once meant \u2018all labour ceases, except attending to cattle\u2019.<\/p>\n

Punishment for Scrooge<\/h2>\n

Any \u2018miser\u2019 who broke the custom could expect to be \u2018elevated on a long pole, called the stang, and borne through the village, amid the huzzas of his neigbours\u2019.<\/p>\n

(The stang was also used in Westmorland as a way to ridicule wife-beaters, according to a book written in 1877).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Pass me some more heron\u2019<\/h2>\n

And it quoted a poem:<\/p>\n

The great King Arthur made a sumptuous feast<\/p>\n

And held his royal Christmas at Carlisle<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The feast involved salmon, venison, boar, herons, ducks, and a lot more wildlife. Along with puddings, pancakes, apples pies and custard.<\/p>\n

Christmas 1843: carols before breakfast<\/h2>\n

The Mercury<\/i> described a \u2018modern Christmas\u2019 in rural areas. The day would start with carols. Then the wife would prepare plum puddings and mince pies, while the children hunted the garden for evergreens and brought in mistletoe. The newspaper ascribed evergreens and carols to \u2018heathen traditions\u2019. It also recalled the \u2018good-old days\u2019. Fiddlers and singers would go from house to house, performing carols before breakfast. Young women would paint candles, to be lit in the evening, along with the yule log on the fire. There would then be games: blind man\u2019s buff, hunt the slipper, \u2018the game of the goose\u2019, \u2018snap-dragon\u2019 or \u2018push-pin\u2019. And dancing.<\/p>\n

The Church might not approve, but \u2018it is impossible to compel people to be virtuous\u2019.<\/p>\n

The carols included in the \u2018old Westmorland\u2019 report (old in 1843 terms) include: \u2018Hunsup through the wood\u2019, and; \u2018Get up auld wives An\u2019 byak yer pies, A Kermas day in the morning\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Which may explain why Martindale Sunday School deemed its carols \u2018superior\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yum, yum<\/h2>\n

Mince pies would then have been made from minced mutton, seasoned with sugar, raisins, cloves etc. The mutton would also be used to make a sweet broth for breakfast, as an alternative to milk porridge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A Christmas Carol<\/em> \u2013 soon to be forgotten?<\/h2>\n

The Kendal Mercury,<\/em> in February 1844, published an article which praised Charles Dickens for A Christmas Carol<\/em>, and \u2018the store of happy hours he has made us pass\u2019. But the writer wasn\u2019t sure how long the works would last.<\/p>\n

I do not know whether these stories are written for future ages: many sage critics doubt on this head.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The author thought the literary fortunes of Boz (Dickens) had been \u2018sinking regularly these past six years\u2019. But it was possible the works would \u2018make the 25th century as happy as the 19th\u2019.<\/p>\n

Footnote:<\/h2>\n

Cumbrian Characters isn\u2019t affiliated, but having used an image of a book, it\u2019s only fair to link to the source<\/a>:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charles Dickens\u2019 arguably most-popular work, A Christmas Carol, was published in 1843. It was also the year of the first Christmas card. So, how did folk in Westmorland celebrate Christmas 1843?\u2019 Christmas 1843 \u2013 in Martindale Martindale may have been a collection of scattered farmsteads, but the 1841 census lists 46 households. And it had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,320,99],"tags":[335,334,333],"class_list":["post-1567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cumbria-history","category-customs-and-traditions","category-victorian-life","tag-a-christmas-carol","tag-charles-dickens","tag-martindale"],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas 1843 in Cumbria - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christmas 1843: a look at some \u2018new\u2019 and old traditions in rural Westmorland and Cumberland the year 'A Christmas Carol' was published.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/20\/christmas-1843-in-cumbria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas 1843 in Cumbria - 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