Parlington Hall :: A Christmas Celebration circa 1850

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

The Gascoignes :: Part Seven, Party Time!

Christmas circa 1850's

The header picture is just an idea of what a party may have been like in the 19th century. A fellow researcher, Pauline Robson, recently sifted through the West Yorkshire Archives of the Gascoigne Papers and amongst the Housekeeper accounts she extracted the details of the food consumed and numbers of persons dining, for both Christmas 1850 and 1858. She has kindly allowed me to publish her findings here.

From 16 to 30 December 1850 [15 Days]

Food Items	Quantity	Cost in £ s d
Beef and veal	654 lbs
Sheep	297 lbs
	Sub Total	£6 11s 1d
Turkeys	3	15s 0d
Fowls	8	10s 0d
Hams		12s 0d
Eggs	12 score	12s 0d
	Sub Total	£2 9s 0d
Hare		2s 6d
Pheasants	5	15s 0d
Other Payments
Butcher's book		£15 1s 1d
Grocer's book		£4 17s 6d
Fish book		£1 10s 0d
Farm meat		£6 11s 1d
Game		17s 6d
Poultry		£2 9s 0d
	Total	£31 6s 2d
Number of persons dining over this period
Parlour	57	av 3.80 per day
Servants hall	416	av 27.73 per day
Visitors	154	av 10.26 per day

From 15 to 31 December 1858 [17 Days]

Food Items	Quantity	Cost in £ s d
Beef
Veal
Mutton
Bacon
Hams
Turkeys
Ducks
Fowls
Hares		8s 0d
Pheasants		12s 0d
Partridge		2s 0d
Woodcock		2s 0d
Plover		2s 6d
Pigeons		1s 0d
Wild Duck		2s 6d
Butcher		£20 8s 6d
Wilkinsons		12s 7d
Fishmonger		1s 2d
Poultry Yard		£1 13s 0d
Game		£1 10s 0d
	Total	£25 6s 11d
Number of persons dining over this period
Parlour	88	av 5.17 per day
Servants hall	391	av 23 per day
Visitors	41	av 2.41 per day

The two periods examined are different if only because in 1850 the Christmas period followed closely the wedding of Isabella and Frederick in the September. The first item of beef represents 43.60lbs per day, which is more than a pound per day, regardless of station, of each member of the household.

However the number of guests relative to the members of the household is significant being 3 to 1 or on average 10+ guests each day of the period analysed. These days people are glad to see their relatives disappear down the drive at the end of the day! Another revalation is the shear variety of produce, Woodcock... when was the last time you had that! As for the Plover, these days you might fall foul of the RSPB, pun intended.

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Comments

The foregoing narrative from the Skyrack Courier is just so informative of the time, that I had to transcribe it all, for you, the readers to appreciate!

Particularly interesting is that Colonel Gascoigne, [Richard, that is, living at Lotherton] was able to accommodate around 100 Territorials in the Old Hall, that's a lot of people, and no mention of whether the scouts stayed over as well!

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