Mrs Beeton
Born in Cheapside, LondonBorn on 12th of March 1836
Died on 6th of February 1865
Thinking of Mrs Beeton many people conjure up images of a plump, middle-aged matronly woman bustling about in a warm kitchen with freckled arms and a speck of flour on her nose. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Born Isabella Mary Mayson in Milk Street, London in March 1836, Mrs Beeton had a tragically short but very influential life. She was only 21 when she started working on Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management – the work which became the Bible for running a Victorian household. This was a rather different career strand from her earlier training in Germany as a pianist. The book contained stacks of useful advice and information but is best known for its recipes. In fact, it was the first to format recipes in the style still used to this day.
She married Samuel Orchard Beeton, a book publisher, in 1856, and it was with his help that Beeton was propelled into becoming a household name.
The oldest child of 21, she had naturally helped out with the younger children, and it is maybe from learning on the job that she was inspired – and qualified - to write about coping in the home. The book’s success continues today – it has never been out of print, though it has now been updated to include information for microwaves and gas cookers, and perhaps it is best not to follow the advice on boiling carrots for up to two and a quarter hours!
She contracted puerperal fever after giving birth to her fourth child and died in London in January 1865, at the age of just 28.
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1 Response to Mrs Beeton
From norman on 7th May 2009
She was educated in Heidelberg and became an accomplished pianist. She married publisher Samuel Orchard Beeton in 1856, who founded a cookery and science magazine. In this magazine she produced her Book of Household Management (1859-60) which was published in parts and made her a household name.
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