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| Isabella Beeton |
Mrs Beeton has never really been allowed to
die. Instead she has entered the British
consciousness as a standard of culinary – and moral – efficiency.
Isabella
Mary Beeton (née Mayson) was one of the first and best cookery writers.
She was born in London in 1836 and
educated in Germany. In 1856 she married
a wealthy publisher, Samuel Beeton, and began to write articles on cookery and
household management for his publication.
Including her half-sisters, Isabella had twenty-one siblings and as the
eldest, she soon acquired a knack for household management, which she would
later incorporate into her famous book.
‘Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management’
was first published in 1861. The original
book was a guide to managing a Victorian household. It gave advice on child care, animal
husbandry and the proper use of poisons (not for murder). Mrs Beeton was also the first to highlight
the use of seasonal and local produce, long before it became mainstream. It also contained over 900 recipes, which is
why it is also known as Mrs Beeton’s Cookbook.
The book was also the first to contain colour illustrations for recipes.
Although she takes the majority of
the credit for the book, Mrs Beeton was in fact the compiler and editor, many
of the featured recipes belonging to other writers. It was put together by Isabella as a source
of information for inspiring middle-class homemakers. There was also advice on
things like etiquette, entertaining and the employment of servants. The book
was a huge success, selling over 60,000 copies in its first year and nearly 2
million by 1868.
Isabella Beeton died of an infection
in 1865, just a few days after the birth of her fourth child. She was just twenty-eight years old.
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