History of candle making

Who invented the candle?

Candles were invented independently in many countries. The Egyptians and Cretans made candles from beeswax, about 3000 BC. In the fourth century BC there were clay candle holders in Egypt. Qui Shi Huang (259 - 210 BC) was the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BC). His mausoleum was rediscovered in the 1990s 22 miles east of Xi'an in China and contained candles made from whale fat. In early China and Japan tapers were made with wax from insects and seeds, wrapped in paper. Wax from boiling cinnamon was used for temple candles in India. There is a fish called the "smelt" or candlefish, found from Oregon to Alaska. During the first century AD native Americans used oil from this fish. They put it on a forked stick then lit it. Excavations at Pompeii discovered several candelabra. The Latin word "candere" means to flicker. Yak butter was used for candles in Tibet. In Europe the earliest surviving candle was discovered near Avignon in France, from the first century AD. In 848 King Alfred used a candle-clock which burned for 4 hours. There were lines around the side to show the passing of each hour. Later, there were 24-hour candles. The Sung dynasty in China (960 - 1279) also used candle-clocks. By the 18th century, the Chinese put weights into the sides. As the candle melted, the weights fell off and made a noise as they fell into a bowl. A form of candle-clock was used in coal-mining until the twentieth century. The novel "Anthem" by Ayn Rand contains a scene in chapter VII, where there is a painting showing "the twenty men who invented the candle". This can only be fanciful.

The Middle Ages

During the middle ages, the popularity of candles is shown by their use in Candlemas and on Saint Lucy festivities. Tallow, fat from cows or sheep, became the standard material used in candles in Europe. The Tallow Chandlers Company of London was formed in about 1300 in London, and in 1456 was granted a coat of arms. By 1415 tallow candles were used in street lighting. The trade of the chandler is also recorded by the more picturesque name of "smeremongere", since they oversaw the manufacture of sauces, vinegar, soap and cheese. The unpleasant smell of tallow candles is due to the glycerine in it. For churches and royal events, candles from beeswax were used, as the smell was usually less unpleasant. Dating from about 1330, the Wax Chandlers Company acquired its charter in 1484. The first candle mould comes from 15th century Paris. The smell of the manufacturing process was so unpleasant that it was banned by ordnance in several cities. The first American colonists discovered that bayberries could be used to make candles, but the yield was very poor. 15 lbs of boiled bayberries would provide only 1 lb of wax.

new types of oil

Spermaceti is oil that comes from the sperm whale. From about 1750 it was used to provide very expensive candles. By 1800 a much cheaper alternative was discovered. Brassica campestris is derived from rape seed. It yields colza oil. This was the best candle yet, producing clear smokeless flames. The French chemists Michel-Eugene Chevreul (1786 - 1899) and Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac (1788 - 1850) patented stearin, in 1811. Like tallow, this was derived from animals, but had no glycerine content. Joseph Sampson had the second patent ever granted in the United States. It was for a new method of candle-making in 1790. In 1806 William Colgate (1783 - 1857) (later famous for his "Soap and Perfumery Works") established a tallow factory in New York. By 1847 he had switched to making soap. There seems to be an ethical component of many nineteenth-century soap and candle manufacturers, as Colgate became involved with Bible Societies. James Wilson of Price's Candles were also concerned about promoting Christianity, and abolishing slavery. Following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, there were celebration dances across Europe. It is sometimes said that more candles were burned in 1815 than in any year before or since. In 1834 Joseph Morgan began to industrialise the production of candles. He invented a machine to manufacture 1,500 per hour, from a mould.

Paraffin and palm oil

Paraffin is a waxy hydrocarbon, without any smell. A chemist called Laurent distilled it from schist in 1830, and another chemist Dumas, obtained it from coal-tar in 1835. Not until 1850 did it become commercially viable, when James Young filed a patent to produce it from coal. This was a major blow to the candle industry. From this point, candles became more of a decorative item. In 1829 William Wilson of Price's Candles invested in 1,000 acres of coconut plantation in Sri Lanka. His aim was to make candles from coconut oil. Later he tried palm oil from palm trees, but an accidental discovery swept all this aside. His brother George Wilson distilled the first petroleum oil in Burma in 1854. By 1922 Lever Brothers had bought Prices Candles and in 1922 a joint-owned company called "Candles Ltd" was created. The three owners are today better known as Shell Oil Company, BP and Burmah Oil. By 1991, the last remaining owner of "Candles Ltd" was Shell, who sold off the candle-making part of business.

The oldest candle manufacturers still in existence are Rathbornes Candles, founded in Dublin in 1488.

Birdwatching a free and fascinating pastime for all

My first experience of deliberate birdwatching took place in Richmond Great Park. The time; 1966, the occasion; one of the first dates with my (now) husband. There I was, all dressed up and ready to knock him out with my drop dead gorgeousness (memory plays strange tricks as you get older!) and there he was, luring me into the undergrowth of the park, hissing to me to keep my head down. No, it wasn't this bird's feathers he was after observing, but a green woodpecker that he had spotted. It must have been love on my part because, although I don't remember seeing the flash of emerald, I do remember getting my trendy high boots covered in mud.

And that was the first of many times that I have shared the joys of avian observation with my spouse. He had been a committed twitcher from an early age. As a boy, a family friend had dragged him along to many birdwatching expeditions, from sighting a large wader (a ruff) on a one time sewage farm, soon to become the fifth terminal at Heathrow, to happy weekends spent observing the many migrants arriving on the Norfolk coast from Europe.

Birdwatching is one nature pursuit that just about anybody can get something out of, and most of us have 'twitched' at some time in our lives. What child hasn't fed the ducks, or pigeons? That's the good thing about birds. They are so accessible. You can see them almost everywhere at any time of the day. And you can hear them; blackbirds and nightingales have been immortalised in song and verse. The ubiquitous gull can be heard far inland; pigeons coo vociferously in our city centres; rooks squawk as they arrive at their evening roosts and starlings chatter as they gather in flocks on our roofs, telegraph wires and urban trees. No other wild animal group is so easy to see and admire. The skill of flying, and therefore the ability to get out of the way if needs must, has been a boon for the latent birdwatcher in all of us.

That birdwatching foray with my husband to be was the first of many enjoyable observations of our feathered friends. Some I will never forget. Standing on top of the Preseli hills in Wales and listening to the liquid bubbling coming from the throats of hundreds of curlews in the gathering dusk of the evening; sadly not a common occurrence nowadays. Or that magic afternoon, cycling along a country road with my young son and counting 32 larks as they rose skywards from the fields either side of us. Another sight, rarer now than it used to be, was the spectacle of thousands of starlings darkening the sky and turning as one with a whoosh of wings, above the field next to our first home; We've watched puffins and guillemots on Skomer island off the coast of West Wales and along the seashore we have seen countless flocks of all sorts of waders. And how to describe the thrill of seeing two peregrine falcons screeching over a deceased pigeon that they were devouring at the base of a sea cliff; or watching red kites circling lazily in the thermals above the hills of mid Wales.

And there are always more. I'm so glad I've seen at least one dipper, incongruously running along a stream bed, underwater feeding. Another stream frequenter, the heron, can also be sighted, perched in prehistoric stance, in the middle of a field. What is it doing? I am assured by that fount of all bird knowledge (my husband) that it's on the lookout for a tasty mole; and sometimes, if we went out on a Summer night, we would be lucky enough to catch sight of a little owl, staring down at us from his high perch on a telegraph pole.

We called one of our houses Hafod Y Wennol, Welsh for summer house of the swallows, because, in it's previous life as a cow parlour, the swallows had swooped in and made their little mud nests on it's walls. We felt so guilty at evicting them from their home, especially after such a long and perilous journey from their Winter habitat somewhere in Africa. But swallow poo is prolific and not to be tolerated indoors; and they did have a garage and another barn to breed in. For many years they were a significant part of our summer; the sighting of the first arrival was always noted. Their twittering and swooping round the farmyard a never ending source of enjoyment; their gathering on the telephone wire and subsequent departure a gloomy time, heralding as it did the approaching winter.

And at our next home, a tall Edwardian town house, we had the amazing luck to be the Summer residence to a flock of swifts, whose ariel acrobatics, as they screamed past our windows, would have put the Red Devils to shame. We never tired of watching as they swooped and dived after insects, banking at the last second when it seemed they must collide with the house wall. It was better than television!

We have been lucky enough to live in a beautiful part of the country where birdlife is prolific and constant. But town dwellers have opportunities too. In any urban garden a wide variety of town birds can be seen; especially with a little bit of encouragement. Introduce a nut feeder and a bird table and, abracadabra, in an amazingly short space of time there will be blue tits, robins, blackbirds, sparrows and various finches; if you're lucky there might be the odd nuthatch. The tiny wren might hop about underneath, picking up any titbits and, if, they all suddenly scatter for no apparent reason, look up to the skies and search for the shape of a sparrowhawk, on the lookout for an unwary prey.

Yes, bird watching is something that you can do all through your life; from a window or outdoors. Introduce your children to this fascinating world and they will have a pleasure that will last and last; it's free entertainment and an excellent grounding in learning how to appreciate some of the wonderful world around us.