History

Back to life in Georgian times

by Laura Manning

The Blackmore Vale Group of the Somerset and Dorset Family History Group enjoyed an ‘entire day’ in a Georgian House during a social evening.

Gordon Le Pard took along an array of original Georgian objects to The Exchange in Sturminster Newton and explained how they would have been used.

The ‘day’ began with a flint to start the fires going at daybreak, carrying tins of hot water to the bedrooms, through the process of washing and drying laundry, meals and snuffing the candle when heading to bed.

Doing the laundry could not have been one of the servants’ favourite occupations – the owners of the house would prefer to leave the house if they could.

It was a tiring, timeconsuming drudge – thank goodness for those lavender bushes outside the back door to drape the wet clothes over!

Meals were a variable event during the day – with the luckier people eating off newly-available bone China plates rather than risking lead poisoning from the more commonly used pewter.

And the etiquette for eating peas with only a two-pronged fork? Scoop them up with a knife, of course!

Afternoon tea became fashionable during the Georgian era – and was usually associated with ladies as it was a ‘domestic’ event – public coffee houses were the preserve of men.

It was interesting to hear how British housewives helped turn the tide against the slave trade. Sugar was usually from the West Indies – produced by slave labour – and wealthy ladies were keen to advertise that the sugar in their household was from East India – special sugar bowls highlighting this were popular.

An alcoholic ‘nightcap before bed’ was available at many of the gentlemen’s clubs – novelty cups, such as a lady’s shoe were often used, and contained a generous amount of gin.

Novelty cups, such as a lady’s show, were used for a nightcap. Inset, an East India sugar bowl.

Take a seat: The next talk is at The Exchange, Sturminster Newton, on Wednesday, 15 June, at 7.30pm when author Jim Williams will encourage visitors to record their everyday lives to help create future family historians.

Further details available from blackmorevalegroup@ gmail.com or phone 01258 472942.

Father’s Day: 113 years of celebration

by Katrina Ffiske

On Sunday, June 19, many families will be celebrating Father’s Day. Socks and gardening tools may be given as gifts to say thank-you to dad for being so wonderful. Card shops have rows and rows of cards shouting ‘Best Dad in the World’, ‘Awesome Dad’ – it is Hallmark Cards’ fifth busiest time of the year.

Celebrating Father’s Day has, however, never been greeted with the same enthusiasm as Mother’s Day. Perhaps, as one florist said: “Fathers don’t have the sentimental appeal which mothers have.”

So, when did we start celebrating fathers?

Actually, it has been celebrated among European Catholics since the Middle Ages on March 19, the feast of St Joseph, the husband of Mary and adoptive father to Jesus.

Pagans believe the sun is father of the universe. With the summer solstice being June 21 and Father’s Day being the third Sunday of June, many see a link between the two.

Sonora Smart Dodd, from Spokane, Washington, USA, is credited for creating a day to honour fathers. Sonora loved and admired her father, William, who had to bring up her and five siblings on his own, her mother dying when she was young.

Attending her local church in 1909 Sonora had an epiphany moment while listening to a sermon celebrating Mother’s Day. If mothers could be honoured with a special day, why not fathers? Sonora petitioned to drum up support for her idea, visiting churches, the YMCA and more crucially her local government officials.

Sonora was obviously a force of nature as one year later Washington State celebrated the nation’s first Father’s Day on June 19, 1910. As a lover of flowers, Sonora would hand fathers leaving church a rose to thank them for all their contribution to family life. This started a tradition – sons and daughters would wear a red rose to indicate their father was living or a white rose to indicate he was deceased.

Father’s Day became more popular during the Second World War. Politicians and the Army grabbed the opportunity to use the day to promote the troops out on the field to those back at home. By the end of the war, Father’s Day had become a national institution. Richard Nixon declared it a national holiday in 1972.

Like many things from the United States, traditions have crept across the Ocean and by the early 1970s we too were celebrating Father’s Day, which over the decades has become more and more commercialised.

Perhaps this year, why don’t we prove the florist wrong, and give a bunch of flowers to your father to thank him for all he has done?