The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything

by Ruth Goodman

Overview

“Our domestic Sherlock brims with excitement” (Roger Lowenstein, Wall Street Journal) in this erudite romp through the smoke-stained, coal-fired houses of Victorian England.

“The queen of living history” (Lucy Worsley) dazzles anglophiles and history lovers alike with this immersive account of how English women sparked a worldwide revolution—from their own kitchens. Wielding the same wit and passion as seen in How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman shows that the hot coal stove provided so much more than morning tea. As Goodman traces the amazing shift from wood to coal in mid-sixteenth century England, a pattern of innovation emerges as the women stoking these fires also stoked new global industries: from better soap to clean smudges to new ingredients for cooking. Laced with irresistibly charming anecdotes of Goodman’s own experience managing a coal-fired household, The Domestic Revolution shines a hot light on the power of domestic necessity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324091035
Publisher:	Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	11/16/2021
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Ruth Goodman is the author of multiple books including How to Be a Victorian. An historian of British life, she has presented a number of BBC television series, including Tudor Monastery Farm. She lives in the United Kingdom.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction xv

Chapter 1 Living off the Land 1

Chapter 2 Out of the Woods 21

Chapter 3 The Draw of Coal 58

Chapter 4 London, Transformed 88

Chapter 5 The Spreading Blaze 109

Chapter 6 Cooks' Tools 137

Chapter 7 A New Menu 168

Chapter 8 Cleaning-Up 216

Chapter 9 The Domestic Burden 264

Conclusion 297

Acknowledgements 303

List of Illustrations 305

Bibliography 310

Index 322

Editorial Reviews

08/31/2020

Historian Goodman (How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England) delivers an immersive account of how England’s switch from wood to coal as a primary fuel source sparked massive social change. Between 1570 and 1600, Goodman writes, “a single generation or two of Londoners,” many of them women “operating primarily within the domestic sphere,” made the change primarily for economic reasons. She draws on recipe collections, property surveys, household accounts, and probate inventories to highlight coal’s impact, noting, for instance, changes in the landscape as landowners, considering trees and shrubs less essential, converted heaths and wooded pastures to cropland. Chimneys and smoke-free upstairs rooms accelerated changes to the home, as did gridirons, grates, and cast-iron pots that could handle the higher temperatures coal produced. Rising demand for these domestic products spurred technological innovations that helped pave the way for the Industrial Revolution, Goodman writes. She also describes changes in British cuisine (boiled and baked dishes replaced thick medieval porridges) and the rise of soap and new cleaning standards to deal with sticky, soot-smudged interiors. A consistently witty and knowledgeable narrator, Goodman reveals in this highly informative study how small decisions made by ordinary people can change history. Agent: Lesley O’Mara, Michael O’Mara Books (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

09/01/2020

What happens when you switch from a wood fire to a coal-fueled one? Social historian Goodman's (How to Be a Tudor; How to Be a Victorian) new book shows that the difference between the two is so marked that revolution is an apt word to describe England's 17th-century change in household fuel. Drawing on historical sources and hands-on experience, Goodman provides a thorough account of when and why the swap from wood to coal occurred and how it permanently altered the English landscape (old forms of land management disappeared); foods and recipes of choice (porridge was out, toast was in); and the design, decoration, and cleaning of homes. While her explanations of subjects such as tree coppicing and coal transport may delve a bit too deep for casual readers, her lively treatment of how the shift to coal affected multiple facets of English life and her drily humorous personal anecdotes make this an interesting and enjoyable read overall. The book includes helpful illustrations to add context. VERDICT A fascinating, fun view of how far-reaching changes resulted from choices in household fuel. This will be particularly valuable for those interested in the unwritten history of domestic labor and "women's work."—Kathleen McCallister, William & Mary Libs., Williamsburg, VA

Library Journal

2020-08-04
British social historian Goodman, whose previous books brought Tudor and Victorian societies to life, now turns to the advent of coal use.

Beginning in the 1500s, the increasing use of coal transformed heating, cooking, architecture, road-building, and, not least, London’s air. Although coal was adopted early by lime burners (who produced mortar for building) and blacksmiths, the greatest use was in homes. “The early rise of coal,” writes the author, “is not a story about industry; it is a tale of domestic needs and comforts, of individual, private choices.” After a brisk overview of other forms of fuel—wood, peat, dung—Goodman offers a detailed, abundantly illustrated picture of the ways coal changed daily life for all classes throughout Great Britain, drawing from a prodigious number of sources, including property inventories, house expenditures, town records, housekeeping manuals, and recipe books. In addition, she recounts her own experiences in facsimile houses, cooking and heating with different kinds of fuel and confronting the “nonstop cleaning” of the filth resulting from burning coal. “Coal meant more smoke within the living area,” she notes, “and it meant smoke that stung the eyes and affected breathing.” Nevertheless, coal became increasingly popular because it burned with a “small and uniform” flame and was plentiful, leaving more land for agriculture. Within a few decades, houses had chimneys, kitchens had grates, and cooks had new recipes. The “cuisine of coal” included “boiled or steamed puddings both sweet and savoury, roast meats which are in fact baked meats served with ‘roast’ potatoes and all the trimmings, Victoria sponge cakes and hot buttered toast with jam.” For several centuries, coal served as the predominant fuel for homes and industry. While in continental Europe and the U.S., “domestic coal-burning barely lasted a century,” Londoners “cooked on coal for over 350 years.”

An engaging history of social transformation.

Kirkus Reviews