Dorothy Hartley
Encyclopedia
Dorothy Rosaman Hartley (4 October 1893 – 22 October 1985) was an English social historian
, illustrator, and author. Daughter of a clergyman, she studied art, which she later taught. Her interest in history led her into writing. Among her books are six volumes of The Life and Work of the People of England, covering six centuries of English history.
She is best known as the author of the book Food in England which has had a strong influence on many contemporary cooks and food writers. Delia Smith
called it "A classic book without a worthy successor – a must for any keen English cook." It combines an historical perspective on its subject with the practical approach of an experienced cook. It has remained in print ever since its publication in 1954.
, Yorkshire
, the youngest of three children of the headmaster of the school, the Rev Edward Tomson Hartley (1849-1923) and his wife, Amy Lucy, née Eddy (1853-1932). In her 1954 book, Food in England, Hartley gave an autobiographical sketch using the kitchens of her various homes as the background: "My first kitchen was a stone-floored cottage in the Yorkshire dales…Fresh mountain air and the smell of cooking always filled this brightly polished kitchen." She was educated at a convent of French nuns at Skipton until 1904, where, she recalled, "the kitchen was alive with stir and bustle, the clatter of clogs and pails, and the aroma of breakfast coffee." In 1904, Edward Hartley retired from the headmastership of the school and became rector of a country parish at Rempstone
, Nottinghamshire
. Dorothy Hartley recalled, "A lovely old house with every mediaeval inconvenience. The nearest shop was five miles away and we had no car. A butcher called once a week, a grocer once a fortnight; and the wine, coal and brewery every six months. With one maid and a weekly washerwoman it was not an easy house to run."
After her secondary education at Loughborough High School
Hartley attended Nottingham Art School. During the First World War
she temporarily abandoned her studies and worked in a munitions factory. In 1919 she entered the Regent Street Polytechnic
in London where she was, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, a prize pupil. She returned to Nottingham Art School
as a teacher in 1920-22. She continued to teach, in London and elsewhere, for many years.
noted, "Later achievement suggests she more than made up for it." Many of her books are scholarly in nature, and were reviewed favourably by expert critics. Together with Margaret M. Elliot she wrote Life and Work of the People of England, in six volumes, published between 1925 and 1931. In 1930 she published The Old Book, "A Mediaeval Anthology Edited and Illuminated by Dorothy Hartley" with an introduction by Professor George Saintsbury
. In 1931 she "collated and edited" the poet Thomas Tusser
's Good Points of Husbandry".
Also in 1931 Hartley published what was, until Food in England in 1954, her best-known book, Medieval Costume and Life. In it she showed the clothes of peasants depicted in old manuscripts, with diagrams to show how they were made, and photographs of models wearing them, one of the models being Hartley herself.
In addition to her skill as an illustrator, Hartley was a keen photographer. In 1931 she travelled by car from Egypt to the Congo, taking many photographs which were later exhibited at the Imperial Institute in London. Between 1932 and 1936 she toured the British Isles by bicycle and car, writing weekly articles for The Daily Sketch. Her topics included horse-ploughing, bread making, and clog making. She later used material she had gathered during these trips in her books, Here’s England (1934), The Countryman’s England (1935), and Made in England (1939). A tour of a slightly different kind was one she made of Ireland, retracing the steps of the mediaeval prelate Giraldus Cambrensis who had accompanied Prince John
there in the twelfth century. This led to her book Irish Holiday (1938), of which one reviewer wrote, "If you want to see Ireland in extreme and unnecessary discomfort, Irish Holiday will tell you how to do this…my only criticism against an enthralling book."
in north Wales, where the family owned quarries and property. In 1933 Hartley moved to a house in Froncysylltau, where she lived for the rest of her life. It was there that she began work on the book for which she is best known, Food in England, with its chapters on kitchens, fuels and fireplaces, meat, poultry, game, eggs, mediaeval feast and famine, fish, fungi, Elizabethan households, the New World, salting, drying, preserving, dairy produce, bread, the Industrial Revolution, and "sundry household matters", all written from the viewpoint of an historian and also a practical and old-fashioned cook.
On its publication in 1954, the book was received with immediate acclaim, and has remained in print ever since. The Manchester Guardian called it "fascinating…unusually readable"; Harold Nicolson
in The Observer
said, "it will become a classic", though he made gentle fun of the combative Englishness of Hartley's culinary pronouncements. The Sunday Times, reviewing the seventh edition of the book later wrote, "For food scholarship at its best see Dorothy Hartley's robust, idiosyncratic, irresistible Food in England... As packed with diverse and fascinating information as a Scotch bun with fruit, this untidy bundle of erudition is held together by the writer's huge enjoyment of her subject, her immense curiosity about everything to do with the growth, preparation, preservation and eating of food in this country since the Middle Ages."
, and advised on the BBC
Archers
rustic soap-opera. In 1964 she published Water in England, of which the ODNB writes, "This remarkable work is full of valuable information on all manner of related phenomena such as holy springs, well digging, leather jugs, spa hotels, and suchlike." Her last work, "The Land of England", was published when the author was 86, but as The Times
commented, she could "still depend on her excellent memory rather than on notes and filing cabinets." The reviewer of The New Yorker
wrote, "[Her] prose is lucid, demure and unemphatic. Her wit is dry and subtle. She never nudges or buttonholes the reader, but trusts to her material which is almost bewilderingly rich."
In her later years she wrote occasionally for The Guardian
, on topics including wool and traditional sheep-shearing; the British Museum
; "funeral biscuits"; apple-scoops made from sheeps' bones; tame slugs; donkeys; a fourteenth century feast; and mysterious old culinary terms (such as "pestils of pora", "mortrews" and "mawney").
Hartley, who remained unmarried, died at Fron House, Froncysylltau, aged 92.
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
, illustrator, and author. Daughter of a clergyman, she studied art, which she later taught. Her interest in history led her into writing. Among her books are six volumes of The Life and Work of the People of England, covering six centuries of English history.
She is best known as the author of the book Food in England which has had a strong influence on many contemporary cooks and food writers. Delia Smith
Delia Smith
Delia Smith CBE is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills. She is the UK's best-selling cookery author, with more than 21 million copies sold....
called it "A classic book without a worthy successor – a must for any keen English cook." It combines an historical perspective on its subject with the practical approach of an experienced cook. It has remained in print ever since its publication in 1954.
Early years
Hartley was born at the grammar school, SkiptonSkipton
Skipton is a market town and civil parish within the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is located along the course of both the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and the River Aire, on the south side of the Yorkshire Dales, northwest of Bradford and west of York...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, the youngest of three children of the headmaster of the school, the Rev Edward Tomson Hartley (1849-1923) and his wife, Amy Lucy, née Eddy (1853-1932). In her 1954 book, Food in England, Hartley gave an autobiographical sketch using the kitchens of her various homes as the background: "My first kitchen was a stone-floored cottage in the Yorkshire dales…Fresh mountain air and the smell of cooking always filled this brightly polished kitchen." She was educated at a convent of French nuns at Skipton until 1904, where, she recalled, "the kitchen was alive with stir and bustle, the clatter of clogs and pails, and the aroma of breakfast coffee." In 1904, Edward Hartley retired from the headmastership of the school and became rector of a country parish at Rempstone
Rempstone
Rempstone is a village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire,although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough across the border in Leicestershire. It is situated at the crossing of the A60 and A6006 roads. It has no schools...
, Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
. Dorothy Hartley recalled, "A lovely old house with every mediaeval inconvenience. The nearest shop was five miles away and we had no car. A butcher called once a week, a grocer once a fortnight; and the wine, coal and brewery every six months. With one maid and a weekly washerwoman it was not an easy house to run."
After her secondary education at Loughborough High School
Loughborough High School
Loughborough High School, also known simply as LHS, is a selective, independent, fee-paying British Public School for girls in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It is one of three Private Schools known collectively as the Loughborough Endowed Schools, along with Loughborough Grammar School for...
Hartley attended Nottingham Art School. During the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
she temporarily abandoned her studies and worked in a munitions factory. In 1919 she entered the Regent Street Polytechnic
University of Westminster
The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
in London where she was, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, a prize pupil. She returned to Nottingham Art School
Nottingham Trent University, School of Art and Design
Founded in 1843, the School of Art and Design at Nottingham Trent University is one of the oldest in the United Kingdom and currently has more than 2,500 students.-History:...
as a teacher in 1920-22. She continued to teach, in London and elsewhere, for many years.
Historical books
While earning her living as an art teacher, Hartley began writing in her spare time. She sometimes commented on her lack of education, but as The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
noted, "Later achievement suggests she more than made up for it." Many of her books are scholarly in nature, and were reviewed favourably by expert critics. Together with Margaret M. Elliot she wrote Life and Work of the People of England, in six volumes, published between 1925 and 1931. In 1930 she published The Old Book, "A Mediaeval Anthology Edited and Illuminated by Dorothy Hartley" with an introduction by Professor George Saintsbury
George Saintsbury
George Edward Bateman Saintsbury , was an English writer, literary historian, scholar and critic.-Biography:...
. In 1931 she "collated and edited" the poet Thomas Tusser
Thomas Tusser
Thomas Tusser was an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, published in 1557. It contains the lines...
's Good Points of Husbandry".
Also in 1931 Hartley published what was, until Food in England in 1954, her best-known book, Medieval Costume and Life. In it she showed the clothes of peasants depicted in old manuscripts, with diagrams to show how they were made, and photographs of models wearing them, one of the models being Hartley herself.
In addition to her skill as an illustrator, Hartley was a keen photographer. In 1931 she travelled by car from Egypt to the Congo, taking many photographs which were later exhibited at the Imperial Institute in London. Between 1932 and 1936 she toured the British Isles by bicycle and car, writing weekly articles for The Daily Sketch. Her topics included horse-ploughing, bread making, and clog making. She later used material she had gathered during these trips in her books, Here’s England (1934), The Countryman’s England (1935), and Made in England (1939). A tour of a slightly different kind was one she made of Ireland, retracing the steps of the mediaeval prelate Giraldus Cambrensis who had accompanied Prince John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
there in the twelfth century. This led to her book Irish Holiday (1938), of which one reviewer wrote, "If you want to see Ireland in extreme and unnecessary discomfort, Irish Holiday will tell you how to do this…my only criticism against an enthralling book."
Food in England
Hartley's mother was from Froncysylltau, near LlangollenLlangollen
Llangollen is a small town and community in Denbighshire, north-east Wales, situated on the River Dee and on the edge of the Berwyn mountains. It has a population of 3,412.-History:...
in north Wales, where the family owned quarries and property. In 1933 Hartley moved to a house in Froncysylltau, where she lived for the rest of her life. It was there that she began work on the book for which she is best known, Food in England, with its chapters on kitchens, fuels and fireplaces, meat, poultry, game, eggs, mediaeval feast and famine, fish, fungi, Elizabethan households, the New World, salting, drying, preserving, dairy produce, bread, the Industrial Revolution, and "sundry household matters", all written from the viewpoint of an historian and also a practical and old-fashioned cook.
On its publication in 1954, the book was received with immediate acclaim, and has remained in print ever since. The Manchester Guardian called it "fascinating…unusually readable"; Harold Nicolson
Harold Nicolson
Sir Harold George Nicolson KCVO CMG was an English diplomat, author, diarist and politician. He was the husband of writer Vita Sackville-West, their unusual relationship being described in their son's book, Portrait of a Marriage.-Early life:Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the younger son of...
in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
said, "it will become a classic", though he made gentle fun of the combative Englishness of Hartley's culinary pronouncements. The Sunday Times, reviewing the seventh edition of the book later wrote, "For food scholarship at its best see Dorothy Hartley's robust, idiosyncratic, irresistible Food in England... As packed with diverse and fascinating information as a Scotch bun with fruit, this untidy bundle of erudition is held together by the writer's huge enjoyment of her subject, her immense curiosity about everything to do with the growth, preparation, preservation and eating of food in this country since the Middle Ages."
Later years
In the post-war years Hartley taught at University College and Goldsmiths' College in London, appeared on television with the chef Philip HarbenPhilip Harben
Philip Hubert Kendal Jerrold Harben was an English cook, recognised as the first TV celebrity chef.His mother, Mary Jerrold, was an actress famous as the murderous Martha Brewster in the first stage presentation of Arsenic and Old Lace as well as many screen roles. His father, Hubert Harben, was a...
, and advised on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
rustic soap-opera. In 1964 she published Water in England, of which the ODNB writes, "This remarkable work is full of valuable information on all manner of related phenomena such as holy springs, well digging, leather jugs, spa hotels, and suchlike." Her last work, "The Land of England", was published when the author was 86, but as The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
commented, she could "still depend on her excellent memory rather than on notes and filing cabinets." The reviewer of The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
wrote, "[Her] prose is lucid, demure and unemphatic. Her wit is dry and subtle. She never nudges or buttonholes the reader, but trusts to her material which is almost bewilderingly rich."
In her later years she wrote occasionally for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, on topics including wool and traditional sheep-shearing; the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
; "funeral biscuits"; apple-scoops made from sheeps' bones; tame slugs; donkeys; a fourteenth century feast; and mysterious old culinary terms (such as "pestils of pora", "mortrews" and "mawney").
Hartley, who remained unmarried, died at Fron House, Froncysylltau, aged 92.
Books
- Life and Work of the People of England, in six volumes with Margaret M Elliot, Batsford, 1925-31
- The Old Book, A Medieval Anthology, (editor and illuminator), Alfred Knopf, 1930.
- Thomas Tusser, 1557 Floruit, His Good Points of Husbandry, Country Life Books, 1931.
- Mediaeval Costume and Life, Batsford, 1931.
- Here’s England, reprinted articles, Rich and Cowan, 1934.
- The Countryman’s England, with foreword by A. G. StreetA. G. StreetArthur George Street , who wrote under the name of A. G. Street, was an English farmer, writer and broadcaster. His books were published by the literary publishing house of Faber and Faber...
, Batsford, 1935. - Irish Holiday, Lindsay Drummond, 1939.
- Made in England, Methuen, 1939.
- Food in England, Macdonald and Janes, 1954.
- Water in England, Macdonald and Janes, 1964, new edition, 1978.
- The Land of England: English Country Customs Through the Ages, Macdonald and Janes, 1979. (Published in the US as Lost Country Life, Pantheon, 1980.)
Reference
- Hartley, Dorothy. Food in England, Macdonald and Janes, London, 1954, reissued by Little, Brown, 1999, ISBN 1-85605-497-7
External links
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/halloffame/arts/dorothy_hartley.shtml
- http://www.btinternet.com/~billevans/hrtly
- http://www.foodtripper.com/Articles/Article/Articles/129/Bookreview:FoodinEnglandbyDorothyHartley.aspx