Recipes & Remedies
Eat, treat & Shop like a Brownlow
Cholera, smallpox, consumption, worms, bleeding after medicinal leeches, swallowed a pin, hysteria, rats, bitten by a mad dog, how to make Opodeldock (button labelled clothing)? Or just hungry? Belton has the answers.
Remedies & recipes books from the 17th to 19th centuries, transcribed by Diane Bowskill, Eileen Davies, Janet Roworth, Audrey Spring & Ian Ross. The original spelling is retained. Square brackets & footnotes have explanatory insertions. Warning do not try remedies at home without seeking further medical advice!
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Remedies undated, but late 17th to early 18th century
Bound in a parchment deed from the reign of Charles II. Ninety two remedies.
Ingredients - a list of ingredients used. BNLW 2/3/1/13
Kitchen Volume I
A transcription of NT 434666 dated as between 1700 to 1800. Over 200 handwritten recipes with inserts sent to Sir Abraham Hume, 2nd Baronet (1749 to 1838), with one labelled Lady Hume, Amelia Egerton his wife (1751 to 1809). Father- and mother-in-law to the 1st Earl Brownlow via his first of three wives, Sophia Hume. The bookmark is that of the 1st Earl Brownlow. The whereabouts of any Volume II is unknown.
Clothing, remedies and recipes some dated, 1770 to 1828
A small handwritten booklet, no cover, in the same hand throughout BNLW 2/3/1/16
Loose papers in different hands BNLW 2/3/1/21
Almanach des Gourmands Receipts Vol-1
Receipt is an archaic form of recipe. Undated but the paper is watermarked 1816.
Most of the recipes are written in the same hand in the book. Towards the end of the book there are recipes written in various hands and inserted on separate pieces of paper.
You can still visit a Georgian shop mentioned, Benham's Grocers, at 52 Lamb's Conduit Street, London WC1N 3LL. Now renamed and specialising in cheese (2022). BNLW 2/3/1/14
Medical Receipts Vol-2
Companion to ‘Almanack des gourmands; volume 1’, above written in the same hand, undated but with paper watermarked 1816. However, 'medicines' quoted are older, e.g. James's Powder patented in 1747. The remedies vary from innocuous to highly poisonous. BNLW 2/3/1/15
Robert Abel February 15th 1837
Mainly ingredients for household tasks like varnishing and cleaning, but includes remedies for venereal diseases and possibly for horses. Robert Abel unidentified and not recorded in the 1841 & 1851 Belton Parish Censuses. BNLW 2/3/1/17
Adelaide Brownlow’s Recipes & Remedies 1867 & 1884
A soft-backed book that has an alphabetical index with Adelaide Talbot August 1867 (her maiden name, she married 3rd Earl Brownlow in 1868) & in a red cloth covered book embroidered with A Brownlow Recipes. Title page Adelaide Brownlow Wilton Feby. 21st /84. Wilton House was the home of Adelaide's older sister, Lady Gertrude Frances Chetwynd-Talbot who had married George Robert Charles Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke in 1874 to become Countess of Pembroke. Like Adelaide, she had no children. Adelaide had an interest in health issues and ran a Convalescent Home for Boys at Hudnall, near Ashridge. BNLW 2/3/1/19 & 2/3/1/20