Great 'misteries'
'A tallow candle, to be good, must be half Sheep's Tallow and half Cow's; that of hoggs mekes 'em gutter, give an ill smell, and a thick black smoak'
Anon. 18th Century.
The making of tallow candles was first mentioned as a craft in 1283 and by l390 was ranked with the other great 'misteries' or crafts in the City of London.
The Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers was granted its first Royal Charter in l462 by Edward IV. The Company determined the price at which tallow candles could be sold and acted as the regulator of the trade, firstly within, and later outside the boundaries of the City of London.
Over time the Company lost its authority and as it went into decline another enforcer, the Customs and Excise man, stepped into the breach. His far-reaching powers were to affect everyone making, selling and buying candles.
In l709 a tax was introduced on all English and imported candles, the rate on tallow being one halfpenny a pound, and on wax fourpence a pound. These amounts were doubled in l711.
This unpopular tax ceased in l831 and although, as a result, there was a considerable loss of revenue for the government, it also meant that more people could afford to use candles to light their homes.
Tallow candles were made from rendered animal fat, the finest and whitest tallow coming from the first skimming. Subsequent skims produced tallow with a yellowish tinge and the coarsest was obtained from squeezing the remaining animal bones and flesh in presses.
The candles were made either by hand dipping or by pouring the molten fat into moulds. The most ancient method of candle making was repeatedly to dip a wick of peeled rush into melted fat to produce a rush candle.
Others were made with wicks from cotton rovings, twisted hemp or flax which were suspended from broaches or rods. These dip candles were generally made from the lowest grades of tallow and the cheapest and most evil smelling candles were made from pig fat, which produced copious amounts of thick black smoke.
From at least l360 better quality tallow candles were made in moulds, this method having the advantage of uniform sized candles that could more easily fit into candle sockets.
Tallow has a considerably lower melting point than wax. To produce a good light the candle requires a thick wick that needs frequent snuffing to keep the flame in contact with the fat.
Snuffing or trimming the end of the charred wick helped to prevent the candle from both guttering, whereby rivulets of molten fat ran to waste down the side of the candle, and from smoking, which added to the already unpleasant smell.
Draughts, a common problem in many homes, caused candles to burn down more quickly, gutter and smoke. For the consumer any unburnt candle fat represented a waste of light, and more importantly, money.
The device for wick trimming was the scissor snuffer which is thought to have been developed in the 16th century. As it was important that the charred ends did not fall into the molten fat where they could cause guttering, snuffers were made with a box attached to the blades in which the cut ends could be contained.
The gentry and aristocracy made use of the best grades of tallow candles. These were considerably more expensive than tallow dips but substantially cheaper than wax. Until the 19th century artificial light was used sparingly, except in those homes where extravagance was the order of the day and where there was money to burn.
Even in the greatest houses, when the family did not have company to impress, tallow candles were used in preference to wax and only when and where light was needed. Unless candles were used in great numbers, the darkness would be relieved by pools of light provided by individual candles, the brightest light still being that emanating from the hearth fire.
All grades of tallow candles produced a smell and smoke that blackened decorations and furnishings. When tallow candles guttered the fat spilled over drip-pans onto furniture and floors, leaving grease marks which entailed more work for the servants in washing down walls and ceilings and general cleaning up. The candle sockets also had to be degreased and in prosperous homes servants were allowed to keep the unburnt ends as a 'perk' for their own use or to sell.
In l820 Cambacèrés found that a plaited wick resulted in a snuffless candle as the wick bent into the flame and was fully consumed. This discovery coincided with a new improved candle made of stearine, a constituent of tallow, which was developed by a French chemist Michel Chevreul, who separated fatty acids with a mixture of strong alkali into liquid and solid parts.
Edward Price and Co., later Price's Patent Candle Company, further improved the candle by using a composite of refined tallow and coconut oil with the result that these 'composition' candles, which were hard and pure white, produced a bright flame without smell or smoke and furthermore were 'snuffless'. Price's later added palm oil into their repertoire of composition candles.
Industrialisation in the 19th century lead to demands from manufacturing industries for more efficient machinery. In l801 Thomas Binns invented a water cooled candle mould that was further improved in l823 by Joseph Morgan, who used a moveable piston to eject the finished candles.
In the following years there were further improvements which were consolidated and advanced by two Americans, Humiston and Stainforth, who, working independently of each other, produced a candle making machine in l855 which endured well into the 20th century.
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