The Victorians who helped ‘invent Christmas’

We often hear that it was the Victorians who invented many of our Christmas traditions.

And this was a fact substantiated by some research into our Free UK Genealogy databases to see who we could find with a link to Christmas.

The results revealed authors of Christmas carols and books; the inventor of the Christmas cracker; and the designer of the first printed Christmas card – to name but a few. And yes, they were all born or lived during Queen Victoria’s reign!

The research was conducted for creating this year’s seasonal social media posts – but, for those who are not on social media or who missed any of the posts, we have put all our findings into one blog.

Why not make a coffee, grab a mince pie, and enjoy reading about some of the Victorians who helped to ‘invent’ the Christmas traditions we still follow today?

1843 - First ever Christmas card depicts a small child drinking wine!

In 1843, the artist John Callcott Horsley was commissioned to design the first commercially-produced Christmas card.

The card depicts two acts of charity (feeding the hungry and clothing the naked) and also a family party scene, in which three generations of a family – including a young child – are seen drinking wine to celebrate the season.

Such an image might cause raised eyebrows even today, but in the 1840s with the temperance movement gaining popularity in the UK, the card certainly created some controversy. However, it did not stop people from buying them!

Initially, 1,000 copies were printed and then coloured by hand, ready to be personalised with the customer’s handwritten greeting. 

Priced at 1 shilling each, the cards were expensive when you consider, for example, in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (also published in 1843), that Ebenezer Scrooge pays his clerk Bob Cratchit 15 shillings a week.

That said, a further batch was printed and a total of 2,050 cards were sold that year – and the idea of sending pre-printed Christmas cards had begun.

John Callcott Horsley, the card’s designer, was an artist and designer born in London in 1817. Records of his two marriages can be found in our FreeBMD records. He married Elvira Walter in 1846, who sadly died in 1852. John married Rosamund Haden in 1854, and they had several children. He moved the family to Cranbrook, Kent in 1861, where he became part of the ‘artist's colony’ there. This group of painters were inspired by 17th century Dutch and Flemish painters and painted scenes of everyday rural domestic life. John also maintained a home in London, where his death was registered in 1903.

1843 - Who sent the first commercially-produced Christmas card?

So, it was John Callcott Horsley who was commissioned to design the first commercially-produced Christmas card - but who sent the first card?

The answer is Henry Cole, a British civil servant and inventor who facilitated many of Britain’s innovations in commerce and education in the 19th century. It was Henry who commissioned the card’s design, and Henry who then wrote and sent a few of the cards – before selling the remainder.

The people depicted on the card celebrating the season actually comprised three generations of Henry’s own family - so the design was very personal. The cards were printed and then coloured by hand, ready to be handwritten by the sender.

In 1840, Henry had played a key role in the introduction of the Penny Post – so introducing the idea of people exchanging Christmas cards was possibly an astute one. He was also involved in managing the highly successful Great Exhibition of 1851 (for which he was knighted in 1875), and was the founding director of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Henry was born in 1808 in Bath, Somerset, and later lived and worked in London. According to his obituary in The Times in 1882, Sir Henry Cole had enjoyed ‘an active, beneficent and well-spent life’. He had ‘many difficulties to encounter, many opponents to vanquish … but the work of his life was great in conception and great in execution and [he] did as much as any man of his time to recover the industrial arts of his country from the almost hopeless degradation into which they had fallen’.

Henry’s death (aged 73 in Kensington) on 15th April 1882 can be found in our FreeBMD records, registered in June 1882.

Although Henry’s Christmas cards were considered expensive in 1843 (at 1 shilling each), that was nothing compared to their re-sale value 158 years later! In 2001, one of Henry’s first Christmas cards, which was sent to his grandmother in 1843, was sold at auction for £22,500.

1843 - Can you name the #1 Christmas book?

In the lists of best Christmas stories of all time, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is invariably top – which is pretty impressive for a book first published in 1843.

A Christmas Carol is a novella by the literary genius Charles Dickens. It recounts the tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. In the process, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. He left school aged 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors’ prison. After three years, he returned to school before beginning his literary career as a journalist. Charles edited a weekly journal for 20 years; wrote 15 novels, five novellas, and hundreds of short stories. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and many regard him as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

Charles campaigned for children’s rights, education and other social reforms, and he lectured and performed extensively. His novels and short stories are still widely read today.

Published on 19 December 1843, the first edition of A Christmas Carol sold out by Christmas Eve; by the end of the following year, a further 13 editions had been released. In 1849, Charles began public readings of the story, which proved so successful he undertook 127 further performances until 1870, the year of his death.
We can find Charles’ burial record (at Westminster Abbey) in our FreeREG records.

A Christmas Carol has never been out of print. It truly captured the early Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday, including family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit. No wonder it is still top of those favourite Christmas book lists!

1846 - What was the inspiration for the Christmas cracker?

In 1830, a seven-year-old boy named Tom Smith began his apprenticeship in a baker and confectioner’s shop in London. Over the years, he became a master in his craft, experimenting with new designs in his spare time. He opened his own shop in London's East End in the 1840s, baking wedding cakes and making confectionery on the premises.

In 1846, he visited Paris and came across the French ‘bonbon’ – a sugared almond wrapped in a twist of tissue paper. He took the idea back to London, and it proved very popular, particularly at Christmas time.
Developing the idea further, Tom was inspired to add a "crackle" element after hearing the crackle of a log he had put on the fire. The size of the paper wrapper had to be increased to incorporate the banger mechanism, and the sweet itself was eventually dropped, to be replaced by a trinket – of the kind we know today. The public dubbed the new product as the "cracker", and rival varieties soon came on the market.

The other elements of the modern cracker—the gifts, paper hats and varied designs—were all introduced by Tom Smith's son, Walter Smith, to differentiate his product from those rival cracker manufacturers.

Is Thomas Smith in our UKFreeGen records? As any family historian will know, with a common name like this, it can be difficult to find the right one, and another source can be necessary to verify. Thanks to Wikipedia, we know that he was born in Newington (then in Surrey) in 1823, the son of Priscilla and Thomas Smith. So, when we searched the Newington parish records in our FreeREG database, we could be sure we had found the transcription of the correct baptism record, with parents Priscilla and Thomas.

1846 - Who published the first recipe for Christmas pudding?

The answer is Eliza Acton, an English poet and food writer, in 1846. Her recipe for ‘the Author’s Christmas pudding’ appeared in her cookery book – which was one of the first such books to be produced in Britain, and which remained in print for over 50 years. 

But it might never have existed, had her publisher (Longman) not politely declined her latest book of poems – and suggested that she write a cookery book instead.
Eliza took the advice, although it took her a full 10 years to write and publish Modern Cookery for Private Families. The book introduced the now-universal practice of listing ingredients, exact quantities and cooking times for each recipe.

The recipe is similar to that for ‘plum pudding’, but Eliza was the first to name it ‘Christmas pudding’. Interestingly, neither plum pudding nor Christmas pudding actually includes any ‘plums’ in the modern sense of the word. Since the late 18th century, the word ‘plum’ had been used to indicate ‘something sweet or agreeable’.

Eliza describes her Christmas Pudding as a ‘remarkably light small rich pudding’ which she suggests could be served with ‘German, Wine or Punch sauce’. Her pudding has experienced something of a revival recently, featuring on YouTube channels and in the book How to Cook the Victorian Way, published in 2020.
Born in Sussex in 1799, Eliza ran a girls’ boarding school in Suffolk for a while, before spending time in France. On her return to England in 1826, she published her poetry, prior to her cookery book in 1845. She became the cookery correspondent for the weekly magazines The Ladies' Companion and Household Words, and began researching for a book on nourishment for the ill. Sadly, Eliza suffered from poor health herself for much of her life, and died aged 59 at home in 1859.

Eliza, then aged 51, can be found in our UK FreeCEN records in the 1851 census for Hastings, living with her mother Elizabeth (77) and sister Catherine (47).

1853 - Who was ‘father of all the wretched’?

Good King Wenceslas is a well-loved Christmas carol. It is based on the legend of the Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia (907–935), who went on a journey, braving harsh winter weather, to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (26 Dec). The duke was not a king in his lifetime but had that status conferred on him after his death. A preacher from the 12th century notes: “he went around to God's churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched.”

While Saint Wenceslaus does not appear in our records, the English author of this famous carol does!

John Mason Neale (b1818) wrote the carol in 1853 to fit the melody of the 13th-century spring carol Tempus adest floridum (Eastertime Is Come), which he had found in a Finnish song collection of 1582. John was an Anglican priest, scholar, hymn writer and translator. More than anyone else, he made English-speaking congregations aware of the centuries-old tradition of Latin, Greek, Russian, and Syrian hymns.

John can be found in the following records: FreeCEN - 1851 census and 1861 census; and FreeREG - burial record, 1866.

1859 - As With Gladness: No presents on Christmas Day?

That was certainly the case on the first Christmas Day – since the Three Kings did not bring their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus until 12 days after his birth: on 6th January. (Some scholars say it was actually up to two years later!)

In Christianity, this date which celebrates the visit of the Kings is known as Epiphany (Greek: manifestation, striking appearance) – and refers to the realisation that Jesus is the Son of God.

And it was on Epiphany Sunday morning in 1859, that a young man who was confined to his bed with a near fatal illness, wrote a lovely carol about this realisation. As With Gladness Men of Old was penned by William Chatterton Dix when his illness rendered him unable to attend the Epiphany service at his church.

William was a marine insurance agent by trade, but wrote poetry and hymns in his spare time.

Organist William Henry Monk later adapted a tune by Stuttgart organist Conrad Kocher as the music for the carol. (The same melody is used in the hymn For the Beauty of the Earth.)

Born in Bristol in 1837, William can be found as a 13-year-old scholar in our FreeCEN records (1851 census) as a ‘visitor’ at a school in Frome, Somerset. He did recover from his illness, married, had children, and wrote many other carols and hymns before he died aged 61. His death, in 1898, can be found in our FreeBMD records. William is buried in Cheddar, Somerset, where his grave stone describes him as ‘Hymn Writer’. Not much more is known about his life; however, his strong belief lives on in the words of his hymns and carols.

1861 - When was the first mince pie recipe without meat published?

The earliest known mention of a mince pie is in the 1390 English cookbook A Forme of Cury, which refers to a pie made with meat, spices, and other ingredients as ‘tartes of flesh’. By 1861, it seems ‘meat’ was an optional ingredient, since the original version of Mrs Beeton’s famous Book of Household Management gave two mincemeat recipes – one with, and one without meat. (Later editions would only include the meat-free version.)

So, who was Mrs Beeton – and why do we consider her an authority on the subject?

Isabella Mayson was born in 1836 in London. Her father died when she was young, and her mother married a widower with four children. They had a further 13 children together, and Isabella was heavily involved in her siblings' upbringing. The experience gave her much insight and experience in how to manage a family and its household.

In 1856, Isabella married Samuel Beeton, a wealthy publisher. She began to write articles on cooking and household management for his magazines. This led to the publication in 1861 of her Book of Household Management which sold nearly two million copies within the first seven years.

Isabella and Samuel Beeton can be found in the census for that same year (1861) in our FreeCEN records. They are living in Harrow, Middlesex, with their baby son and two servants.

Isabella was only 28 when she died in 1865 of an infection following the birth of her fourth child. Despite this, her name is still associated with knowledge and authority on Victorian cooking and home management today. Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary states that by 1891 the term Mrs Beeton had become used as a generic name for a domestic authority.

The Book of Household Management has been edited, revised and enlarged several times since Isabella's death and is still in print today.

1862 - Did Dick Whittington even have a cat?

Since the late 19th century, pantomimes have become synonymous with entertainment at Christmas. Most are based on fairy tales, but there is one favourite panto that is based on a real person: Dick Whittington.
Richard (Dick) Whittington (b.1354) was a very successful dealer in materials and fine silks in London. He was mayor of London three times, and then served as MP for London in 1416. As to whether he ever had a cat (as in the pantomime), there is much debate!

Some say that Dick owed much of his wealth to the coal trade and that colliers were then known as ‘cats’, or that he had invented the ship known as a ‘cat’, in which coal was transported in those days. Both nobody knows the truth – only that the ‘cat’ connection was firmly established by Elizabethan times.

While Dick cannot be found in our Free UK Genealogy records, we can find Henry James Byron, the author of one of the first pantomime scripts to feature the famous London mayor!

Henry was a prolific English dramatist, as well as an editor, journalist, director, theatre manager, novelist and actor. Born in Manchester in 1835 and educated in Essex and London, Henry first pursued a medical career. When this failed, he turned to acting and was an aspiring playwright in the 1850s. He found success in writing burlesques and other punny plays in the 1860s, and also became an editor of humorous magazines.

Beginning in 1859, Henry wrote a sequence of Christmas pantomimes. In 1862, his version of the Dick Whittington story saw Dick chased by a villain in a hot air balloon – a nod to the fact that this was the year in which two English balloonists had made the news for ascending to a record-breaking altitude.

We find Henry in our FreeBMD records in 1856, when he married his first wife, Martha Foulkes, in London. 
Henry retired in 1882, suffering with tuberculosis, and died in 1884 at the age of 49. He certainly left a huge legacy in the form of over 150 dramatic pieces created during the mid-Victorian era.

1924 - Ding Dong Merrily on High

Ding Dong Merrily on High: this jolly carol has been ringing out at carol services across the UK since 1924.

But did you know that ringing large bells to call worshippers to church services only began in the early Middle Ages? Prior to that, methods included playing trumpets, hitting wooden planks, shouting or using a courier!
In AD604, the pope sanctioned the use of bells. By the 8th century, large bells were made by casting metal originating from Campania in Italy. This led to the word 'campanology' meaning the scientific and musical study of bells. This word is sometimes erroneously used in place of 'bell ringer'.

Author of Ding Dong Merrily on High, George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848-1934), was an English Anglican priest who wrote mostly religious verse, both original and translated from ancient authors. He was also a keen bell ringer!

Ding Dong Merrily on High first appeared in A Cambridge Carol Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter and Other Seasons, published by George and his frequent collaborator, composer Charles Wood.

George appears in our FreeCEN records (1891 census) aged 42, where he was Rector at Chelmondiston.

1925 - 100 years since publication of popular Christmas cake recipe!

The invention of a self-raising flour led to the publication of a cook book that is still in print over 100 years later – and which includes a much-loved Christmas cake recipe enjoyed by generations of families.

Thomas Bell, creator of Bell’s Royal self-raising flour, was born in 1848 in Longhorsley, a village north of Newcastle. His parents owned a grocer’s shop, and it was here that Thomas experimented with rising agents in flour.

In 1875, he set up his own grocery and tea company Bell’s Royal (later BeRo) in Newcastle, selling flour, dried fruit, cereals, tea and coffee. However, self-raising flour was considered expensive, so to increase its popularity, Thomas held a series of exhibitions in the 1920s where freshly baked scones, pastries and cakes were sold for a shilling to visitors. People soon asked for the recipes, so Thomas produced a BeRo cook book containing recipes designed to feed families on a low budget. The book became very popular – and made BeRo flour the best known in the North.

Published in 1925, the third edition of the book included the famous BeRo Christmas cake recipe that is still baked by many people today.

Thomas Bell died that same year, but his descendants continued to expand the company across the country. Around 40 million copies of the BeRo cook books have been sold to date, and the 41st edition (published in 2009) can still be purchased, via the BeRo website.

A record of Thomas’s baptism (in 1847 at St Helen’s Church, Longhorsley) can be found in our FreeREG records, and his death in Newcastle in 1925 is found in FreeBMD.

1938 - Why did a nativity play spark controversy?

He That Should Come is a one-act nativity play written by Dorothy L Sayers and broadcast by the BBC on Christmas Day in 1938.

Dorothy was an accomplished and popular playwright, religious commentator, and scholar – but she is probably better known for her detective novels about the upper-class amateur sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey. 
When writing He That Should Come, Dorothy had two main objectives. She wanted to use ordinary prose and everyday speech patterns with no tones of reverence, to make it more ‘real’. She also wanted listeners to comprehend how Jesus was born into a deeply problematic world (a territory overrun by an army of occupation). 

So, she told the story through the voices of the three ‘wise men’ asking whether the birth of a particular child could possibly fulfil their desires; and she focused on the conflict of opinion by those in the courtyard of the inn at Bethlehem. Ultimately, it is the shepherds whose gifts are presented when the Holy Family is revealed.

The play caused much controversy because some felt this use of realism and modern language was inappropriate. Three years later, Dorothy’s most well-known play, The Man Born to be King, also caused a stir when it was broadcast on the BBC – this time for its Jesus who spoke modern English. However, the play is now regarded as an important work.

Born in 1893, Dorothy went to Somerville College, Oxford, graduating in medieval French. She then worked as a copywriter until success as an author brought her financial independence. She wrote 11 novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. From the mid-1930s, she wrote plays, mostly on religious themes. In the 1940s, her main preoccupation was translating the three books of Dante’s Divine Comedy into colloquial English. She died at her home in Essex in 1957.

We can find Dorothy’s birth record in June 1893 in Oxford, in our FreeBMD database.

We hope you enjoyed reading about these people with a connection to Christmas found in our records. Those Victorians certainly helped to revive a passion for the season!

Sources: UK FreeCEN, UK FreeREG, UK FreeBMD, Wikipedia, The Hymns & Carols of Christmas, List Muse, ShortForm, WeBuyBooks, V&A Museum, History in the Making, Countrylife.co.uk, BBC, London Walking Tours, BeRo, Longhorsley Local History Society, Blackwells.