Mrs Beeton is a famous and well-known name for her successful, Victorian book on household management and cookery. But before Mrs Beeton there was an 18th century woman named Elizabeth Raffald, whose influential work and book on English cookery was heavily plagiarized after her death (including in the works of Mrs Beeton a century later). This is a nice biography of Elizabeth Raffald, an incredibly fascinating and influential woman (the next time you see a wedding cake, you should think of her!). I think Neil Buttery does a good job of keeping the historical information well written while still easily digestible for the average audience.

Thanks to netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

I have mixed feelings on this one! I love Neil Buttery’s previous works and there is no doubt this is well written. The problem comes in, for me, that I expected this to be more historical of food and the times and less biographical, I'm not a reader of biographies. It focuses on, in depth, the leading lady and whilst there are interesting historical references throughout, the majority is about her life. Secondly, I'm a vegetarian and some of the food references and recipes are distressing for this animal lover. So, if you are looking for a well-written biography, this one may be for you!

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The book uses the source material and historical context to explain everything. This is a great book for anyone interested in the topic.

Loved this. Delighted to highlighted this new release in “Food for Thought,” a round-up of new and notable epicurean cultural history and food-related titles in the Books section of Zoomer magazine for April. (see column and mini-review at link)

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I was attracted to this as I really don't have a lot of knowledge here and found it fascinating
Thoroughly enjoyed this
So interesting and well researched

Thoroughly enjoyed

Most people know the name of Mrs Isabella Beeton, the celebrated nineteenth century cookbook writer, but not many know of her eighteenth century predecessor, Elizabeth Raffold. She was new to me but this interesting book taught me a lot. I cannot imagine how she got through so much in her short life, I just marveled as I read through the book. Highly recommended.

Even if you don't cook, your microwave is your best friend and you have a up to date collection of food delivery menus in the kitchen drawer, odds are you have at least heard of Mrs. Beeton. My Mom had a copy of her book on her cookbook shelf and I found it fascinating. I thought she was unique but now I know differently. She came after Elizabeth Raffald (1733-1781) and Elizabeth needs to be brought back to get the attention she should always have had through the ages.
In any time period she would have been seen as a great business woman in her own right. At fifteen (1748) she was working in the kitchen of a stately home. She married at thirty and died eighteen years later at forty-eight. In between she started and ran a catering business, a cooking school for young ladies, several eating establishments, compiled (twice) a directory of people and businesses in Manchester and ran an employment agency for domestic workers. It is said she had either sixteen or eighteen daughters which means she did most of it while either pregnant. Her downfall came at the hands of her husband who was a drinker and loved to spend money.
There isn't a lot of personal information on Elizabeth (journals, etc) but she left her mark and there are some surviving interviews with her descendants. If you are even a little bit interested by food history, women's history, the Georgian Period, British history, women in business, women's rights and so much more then this book is a must read. From the introduction alone I was hooked. Neil Buttery has a very smooth flowing writing style that made this book a pleasure to read.
My thanks to the publisher Pen & Sword Books and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a wonderful book if you love learning about the history of English cooking, which did not, by the way, start with Mrs. Beeton.

Before Mrs. Beeton, there was Elizabeth Raffald, a one woman powerhouse who worked hard to become an incredible success, and deserves to be far more well known than she is today. Elizabeth began as a servant, worked her way up to (a surprisingly young) housekeeper, and after marrying John Raffald moved to Manchester where she had a confectioner's shop, catered fine meals, built a servant's hiring agency, wrote a best-selling cookery book based on the idea that the developing middle-class and servants (housekeepers etc.) wanted to know the best ways to economically cook excellent meals, plain meals, fancy desserts, and everything in between. This book does a really great job of giving the reader a good feel for where Elizabeth is historically and socially- she works to build up her social status and wealth without ever shocking the society around her. She plays by the rules, but she has a brilliant sense for business opportunities and timing that allow her to become an incredibly influential woman in Manchester, and author Neil Buttery argues, brings Manchester up with her.

As people once again become interested in food history and the people connected to making important contributions to national food as we might still know it today, Elizabeth Raffald will surely become a more known and celebrated name. This well-written and well-researched book will hopefully help to play a part in getting the word out. I'm certainly glad I found it!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Before Mrs. Beeton is a fascinating biography of Elizabeth Raffald, the Georgian period's own answer to Martha Stewart, written and annotated by food historian Dr. Neil Buttery. Due out 28th April from Pen & Sword, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

I was familiar with Mrs. Beeton, but completely unfamiliar with her predecessor and inspiration Elizabeth Raffald. The author does a wonderful job of providing a meticulously researched and annotated academically rigorous biography in layman accessible language and at the same time succeeds in making it really interesting. The book is quite simple graphically, there aren't a lot of illustrations, but there are a number of facsimiles, photos, and line drawings contained in an appendix in the back of the book. The author has also included notes and annotations, as well as a comprehensive index.

It's not a cookbook in much of a sense of the word, or at least not chiefly a cookbook, there are only a few recipes here, in an appendix. There is however, broad ranging historical background, social commentary, history, quite a lot of drama, and some pathos, retelling the rise and fall of Mrs. Raffald. The author has gone to great pains to delineate the subtleties and explain the background minutiae showing the differences between ingredients, preparation methods, and cooking fuels from the 1700s compared to the modern day.

Five stars. This would be a superlative choice for foodies fascinated by history as well as for historical re-creators/SCA folks.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A very interesting biography of a fascinating character. Social and woman history well done, informative and entertaining.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

What a great book! I am always fascinated to read accounts of women who have led such interesting lives and yet have not featured in our history books. This account is far more than a biography. It is a true social history which gives thorough context of the subject’s living experience. Strongly encourage people who want to know more about the era to read this, but also consider it is a must read for anyone who wants the lives and contributions of largely forgotten women to be celebrated and acknowledged.

Neil Buttery, Before Mrs Beeton Elizabeth Raffald, England's Most Influential Housekeeper, Pen & Sword, Pen & Sword History 2023.

Thank you, NetGalley and Pen & Sword for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

Before Mrs Beeton Elizabeth Raffald is another of Pen & Sword’s enticing stories about a fascinating time and character written in the familiar accessible style of the Pen & Sword author. Because the style is accessible do not feel that perhaps the information lacks verisimilitude. Easy to read the narrative may be, but there is such a host of information that we are fortunate that the style gives us the best opportunity to understand and relish the story that unfolds.

Mrs Beeton, of ‘first catch your hare’ fame is put into historical perspective by this addition to the history of food, recipes, kitchens and the drudge and delight of cookery. Drudge it certainly was in the time of Elizabeth Raffald, and Neil Buttery ensures that we feel the enervating, time consuming job that it was to bring to fruition the enormously long and elaborate recipes that were encountered in the large home, and later businesses, that Elizabeth Raffald commanded.

The book is divided into two sections: Rise, from 1733 to 1772; and Fall from 1772 to 1781. Elizabeth Raffald began work at fifteen in 1784, became housekeeper at a large home in Cheshire, Arley Hall, and later married the head gardener for the Hall. She married at thirty, and despite having numerous daughters, managed two inns, owned two substantial food shops, founded a domestic servants’ employment agency, wrote a street and trade directory for Manchester, backed two newspapers, and wrote The Experienced English Housekeeper. She died eighteen years after her marriage, to it is claimed ‘an unreliable husband’ ending her career in a small coffee house of little note.

The acknowledgements make interesting reading, adding to the way in which we can understand the writer, his dedication to his subject and researching her and her environs, his own interest in cookery (he came upon her while cooking recipes from English Food by Jane Grigson), and his enthusiasm for trying even those of Elizabeth Raffald. There is a useful table of contents, pointing to the years in which Raffald worked in various capacities; notes; and a bibliography.

Buttery refers to Raffald as ‘one of the most significant people in British culinary history’ and ‘a wonderful, creative and indefatigable woman’. Although this story is largely unknown, her recipes are familiar: curd tart, Yorkshire pudding, beef and oysters, trifle and jugged hare. Less familiar are some of the recipes Buttery explains throughout the text. The value of doing so is in drawing to modern cooks’ attention the amount of time that cooks of Raffald’s era had to spend on preparation. For example, early in the narrative the recipe for biscuits explains that eight eggs must be beaten for half an hour, with the rind of lemon added, beating then continues for another hour! Fortunately the beating diminishes after this as flour and rosewater are added and then the mixture is baked. Raffald and housekeepers like her could then attend to their other chores – adopting the responsibilities of employers by encouraging other servants to attend church, as well as ensuring their more ordinary needs of food and boarding were provided.

A great deal of information is provided on the environs, household, town, business and social in which Raffald worked. This changes as Raffald progresses from high levels of success to her ignominious end in the coffee shop. However, whatever gloom about the life of this intriguing woman accompanies this fall, the success of her cookbook with its numerous editions and followers is an optimistic story. This is a narrative well told, interesting from the perspectives of a history of this period in England, and that of a woman of far reaching influence.

Very interesting biography and social history. Well written and researched. Highly enjoyed this! Would recommend to readers of non-fiction, classics, and woman’s studies.

I love food, I love cooking, I love reading. So put them al together and you get a great book! The story of Elizabeth Raffald and her life, her rise and fall, her fame. This is such an interesting read and really brings to life a person you only ever hear about in cooking/food books.

This is a well researched and well written book. It is a book you can get your teeth into and is something you need to love and enjoy (cook and food) I think in order to take the whole story in.

A magical, interesting, intriguing and heart-felt telling of the life of a strong, smart and creative women in the 18th century when I believe it would have been very hard to be a woman!

Great book. Great story.

I research the Georgian era and have even tackled a few 19th century recipes, so the name Hannah Glasse came up often. Imagine my surprise to learn that a different woman owned two food shops, a cookery school for young ladies, created the first domestic servants’ employment agency, ran inns, collated a street and trade directory, and wrote an influential cookery book The Experienced English Housekeeper.

Elizabeth Raffald was a household name whose national notoriety sadly did not outlast her influence.

This biography tackles not only Elizabeth Raffald’s life and influence, but also places her in a social context of Britain in the Georgian era and what life was like being in service. This centered on social history in the long eighteenth century rather than adding new understanding to Raffald. Chapter 6 focusing on the cookbook was my favorite. There are few primary sources to inform us about Raffald’s life and it was a heavier focus on how the Georgians influenced how we consume and prepare food rather than on her. A must-read for anyone interested in eighteenth century cookery.

As an aside, I was irritated by this statement and similar ones about Raffald’s alcoholic husband:
However, it is easy to be too hard on John: surely another contributing factor to John’s habitual drinking was that he felt emasculated by his wife’s successes…

Tell me a man wrote this book without telling me a man wrote this book.

As the subtitle of Neil Buttery’s book Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England's Most Influential Housekeeper states, this is a book about Elizabeth Raffald (1733-1781). In the eighteenth century, Elizabeth was probably the best-known inhabitant of the growing city of Manchester. She was phenomenal: an upmarket caterer for the great, the good and the growing middle-class; she ran an employment agency, a school for ladies and a coaching inn; she produced a best-selling cookery book and the first trade directory of Manchester and Salford – and her full-time day job was running a confectioner’s shop. She even invented the Eccles cake – and gave the recipe away to a servant who was leaving to get married. All that before dying suddenly, aged 47. She didn’t get married until she was 30 but still managed to produce at least eight children. What a woman!

Buttery intersperses his text with Elizabeth’s recipes in their original format but also translates several recipes into modern terms as an appendix. I much prefer instructions such as “Pre-heat your over to 220°C” to “[…] in a quick Oven”!

One question does keep nagging at me, though. Why did Neil Buttery feel the need to write this book? As he acknowledges, Roy Shipperbottom wrote a comprehensive introduction to Raffald’s Experienced English Housekeeper in 1997. Suze Appleton wrote a substantial introduction to her edition of Raffald’s Experienced English Housekeeper plus the trade directories in 2017. All of them draw heavily upon articles in the Manchester Guardian by John Harland in the 1840s, who managed to speak to Raffald’s 92-year old nephew and her grand-daughter. Buttery draws upon all these secondary sources but does he add much new information to what is already published about Raffald? No, I don’t think he does. However, what he does do well is give us the context: what a housekeeper like Elizabeth would have to do when she took on the job at Arley Hall, aged only 27. He explains that Elizabeth’s cookery book was such a best-seller due to the expanding middle-class and the growth in literacy. (40% of English women were now literate at that time.) Buttery also explains how the employment agency – what was known as a “Register office” at the time – worked. He’s also good on why Experienced English Housekeeper was such a best-seller and why Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management (which reproduced many of Elizabeth’s and others’ recipes) is remembered by Elizabeth’s book has been forgotten.

Buttery’s respect and enthusiasm for his subject keeps the book interesting. He doesn’t just write about Elizabeth in the eighteenth century, he also mentions Elizabeth David’s and Jane Grigson’s respect for Raffald; and that Anton Mosimann owned a copy of The Experienced English Housekeeper. I enjoyed this book and happily recommend it to anyone interested in social history or cooking.

#BeforeMrsBeeton #NetGalley

*Many thanks to Neil Buttery, Pen & Sword, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
An interesting read that gives credit to the lady left in obscurity for too long. Mrs Elizabeth Raffald's life was extraordinary and so were her achievements regarding career and business untertakings. For a person with humble beginnings, Mrs Raffald managed to secure financial security and fame, and more than once, it must be noticed. Such accomplishments for a woman who lived in the 18th century were rather rare.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I find anything Victorian fascinating, especially Mrs Beeton, who, as a Victorian crime writer, I often refer to for research. This book was excellent, and I will refer to it often in my research.

This book will be of most interest to those wanting to learn about 18th century British cookery, along with plenty of social context, including what it meant to be "in service" to the landed gentry, the growth of Manchester before it reached city status, and solidifying the connotations of British cookery.
Judging by this book alone, there are very few primary documents to actually tell the story of Elizabeth Raffald, which is rather a shame. It means that her story feels un-fleshed-out and instead has to be padded by all the social context. Not to say that that's not important, but it does call into question whether her story can carry an entire book. My impression is that it can't, simply because the details are too thin. Still, it's a relatively short read and provides an interesting glimpse at 18th century society in the north of England.