Welcome to my Victorian world and the very important matter of what a Lady SIMPLY MUST put in her handbag, or reticule, as we called them back then
Our reticules were small, usually made of fabric, decorated with embroidery or beading and with a simple drawstring or lightweight strap which we placed around our wrists, just like a small handbag of today.
I've my BB emblem sewn into mine. Gorgeous isn't it!
DON'T BURDEN YOURSELF!
Let's not forget that in my Victorian days we were wearing several layers of corsetry under our stiflingly close-fitting outfits. Keeping our reticule, or handbag, contents to a minimum was paramount. Any extra weight to carry around would prove too much and we’d be reaching for our smelling salts before we got to the end of the road!
SMELLING SALTS FOR SURVIVAL
Smelling salts were undoubtably our MOST IMPORTANT handbag item and most certainly did the trick. This pungent little concoction of ammonia, water and ethanol has been used since Roman times to revive people who fainted. And faint we did! Who wouldn’t wearing what we had to, all in the name of ‘fashion’.
Smelling salts work by triggering a sharp intake of breath, one sniff and you were back on your feet in no time. One didn’t wish to appear ‘weak’ so our smelling salts were utterly indispensable!
The bottle fitted perfectly into our reticules, and I’m delighted to see this little brown bottle is still around.
FAN OR FAINT
To avoid fainting in the first place, my golden rule was and still is NEVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT YOUR FAN! Pretty as they are, fans were not simply a fashion accessory, they were an absolute necessity, come rain or shine.
In the summer months we’d wear them on a lace thread around our wrists.
This was a bit uncomfortable in the winter months when we used them less, therefore we’d put them in our reticules.
Indoors, an open fire could bring on a little unwanted flushing, so we’d try to avoid sitting too close to one or at least have our fans at the ready.
Our fans were especially useful at an Afternoon Tea Party when parlours got a little stuffy from too much gossip and tea drinking.
Baroness Bolsover's Tip!
Talking of gossip, use your open fan to hide your lips when discussing matters of a private nature, i.e. gossiping with your friends. Sometimes we pretended to gossip…. it was utterly infuriating to those around us as they didn’t know what we were talking about. That’s exactly how gossip starts. SPECULATION SPREADS!!! What FUN!!!
And if you forget to take your fan at least you’ve got your smelling salts to fall back on…not literally of course!
THE CRUCIAL CALLING CARD
How we adored these. Your Calling Card was a white card much the same size as Business Cards of today. It would have your name and your husband’s name printed on it. If you were a widow of more than a few years it would just have your name on it, along with your address.
Your card was for the purpose of letting someone know you’d CALLED ON them at their house. Hence the name CALLING CARD. We always carried a few in our reticules.
A Casual Invitation
Afternoon Teas were casual affairs which didn’t justify the expense of sending out formal invitations so we simply used our CALLING CARD as an invitation.
We wrote the day and time of our next tea gathering on the back of our cards and personally delivered them to the houses of the guests we were inviting. The Lady of the house would never come to the door herself, so we’d place our card on the CARD TRAY offered to us by whoever opened the door. It would to be picked up and read later by the Lady of the house.
Yes, I’m Coming to Tea
One never likes to refuse an Afternoon Tea, therefore, to signify acceptance of the invitation, we would take our own Calling Card and drop it round to the Lady who’s ‘invited’ us to tea. The act of returning your own Calling Card let the Lady know you were coming to her Tea Party.
Should you not be able to attend, a little note with your apology would be most appropriate.
We delivered our Calling Card invitations ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE of the Afternoon Tea.
A charming little system…nothing complicated.
PAPER AND PENCIL AT THE READY
We’d always carry a small notepad and pencil in our reticule to write a personal message should we call on a friend and find them not AT HOME.
Your paper and pencil was also very useful when out shopping. Just to clarify, we Lady’s didn’t go out shopping for any old thing. But Tea…most certainly! It was a most important matter for if you were hosting a Tea Party it was your duty, as the Hostess, to offer your own Tea Blend to your guests.
A good Tea Blend could get you places. Trust me. That’s why we all went to Joseph Tetley’s Wholesale Tea Dealers in London. Mr Tetley would make up a sample for us to try in the shop, using the teas we’d chosen, so writing down the ratio of how much of each tea to put in your blend was key to its’ success! Too strong or too weak a tea would not go down well at your party.
Paper and a pencil were therefore always with with me.
SUGAR ON THE GO
On the subject of Tea Party’s, can I just say how grateful I am to the Italian gentleman, Mr Garibaldi, for giving us his wonderful Garibaldi Biscuit in 1861.
Now I’ve had some very hurtful reactions when introducing the Garibaldi in my Afternoon Tea Etiquette Talk. SQUASHED FLY BISCUIT! I mean, really!! I can assure you we Victorian Ladies loved our Garibaldi’s, and we NEVER DUNKED them!
In fact, I always carry a Garibaldi in my reticule, in a small silk bag, for I never know when I’m going to need a little pick-me-up. And a Garibaldi is perfect for that!
But onto a rather serious matter…
THE ORIGINAL T-E-A BAG!!
I am only too aware what has sadly become the norm in modern times… I refer of course to the TEABAG! May I please make one thing perfectly clear; YOU SIMPLY CANNOT BEAT THE TASTE OF FINE LOOSE TEA!
However, it would be most impolite to be totally disagreeable on this matter, so I shall add... I appreciate the convenience of Teabags in this oh so fast moving, busy world we find ourselves in.
And I have a confession to make. I’VE BEEN USING A TEABAG SINCE 1885!!
But my teabag really was A BAG OF TEA!!!.
I’d put a couple of teaspoons of my own loose tea blend into a little silk bag, as I did with the Garibaldi biscuit, and carried it around with me in my reticule.
I had to! SOME LADIES SIMPLY HADN'T GOT THE HANG OF CREATING A WELL-BALANCED TEA BLEND. So, without wishing to appear rude, if I didn’t approve of the Hostess’ Tea, I’d sneak my little teabag into a cup and fill it with hot water. Voila…a perfect cup of tea!
Funnily enough, this was how the teabag came about. American Tea Merchant, Thomas Sullivan, sent out samples of his teas in silk bags like mine. His customers poured boiling water directly onto the bags, thinking this was correct and then started ordering these little bags of tea from him. Thus, THE TEABAG WAS OFFICIALLY BORN.
I was obviously way ahead of my time!!!
I’m tempted to say Mr Tetley would turn in his grave at the thought of a Teabag, but it was HE WHO INTRODUCED THE TEABAG to England in 1953!!!!
I conclude, a TEABAG, in whatever shape or form, IS AN ESSENTIAL BAG ITEM, which I know will please many of your enormously.
THE HUMBLE HANDKERCHIEF
There’s nothing quite so embarrassing as having a touch of the sniffles and not having a handkerchief at the ready is there? Most unladylike. Hence, we always carried a pretty lace handkerchief in our reticules. They’d be DELICATELY EMBROIDERED often with our initials or a little flower in a corner.
Overuse of a handkerchief would be rather ungainly, so we’d carry a spare one just to be on the safe side. Small and lightweight, so not a problem.
Baroness Bolsover's Tip!
They made the perfect gift for your Tea Party Hostess.
And on a final note, I’m delighted to show you my most recently acquired reticule.
It doesn’t get any better than this! Studded with diamantes and costing an absolute fortune at £25! That’s ALMOST £4,000 IN MY VICTORIAN TIMES!!!
The most remarkable thing is…it has room for my MOBILE PHONE! The NEW essential bag item, but just to be perfectly clear, most definitely NOT a Victorian handbag item.
And there you have it, my ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL VICTORIAN HANDBAG ITEMS.
I’m glad to say that all the items are still very useful in the modern age and I, Baroness Bolsover, wouldn’t be without any of them.
I hope you’ve enjoyed peeking into my Victorian times and found a little comfort in knowing that SOME THINGS HAVEN’T CHANGED!
If there’s anything else you’d like to know about my Victorian life, please get in touch, it’s always lovely to hear from you.
Until next time my dear friends.
Yours Truly
The Victorian Afternoon Tea Lady
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