Even today our bed is one of the most important objects we purchase, so I thought we would take a look at the beds and bedding of the Georgian Era.
The quality of your bed was very much dependent upon wealth. A four-poster bed with Harrateen (a fabric of linen or wool) hangings would have cost in the region of £5 (about £300 in today’s money).
The more expensive option being a four-poster made using Mornine, a fabric of wool and or cotton, these beds would set you back almost £7. A feather bed would have been significantly cheaper with price ranging from 50 shilling up to around £4.
Then, of course, you would need a mattress which could have been purchased for around 15 shillings (£50 in today’s money).
The ‘gold standard’ in blankets, if you could afford them were the ‘Witney blankets’. The price of blankets varied dramatically from 7 shillings a pair to a staggering £2 a pair.
Next came the quilt at an average cost of 18 shillings. A white cotton counterpane at somewhere in the region of £1. Bed ticking at 14 pence a yard and finally a cover lid at 5 shillings.
The majority of us today are perfectly happy to use a duvet, making the bed toasty warm and easy to make. However, in the Georgian Era, things were not so straightforward. The concept of a duvet had been thought of and was in use in climates colder than here in the UK, but the concept took a further 200 years to take off over here.
The Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser of Thursday, January 14, 1779, carried the following advertisement for the attention of the nobility and gentry for what we would today regard as being a duvet or quilt.
This down is greatly superior to any other, as it is not taken off the bird itself, but with great trouble collected out of the nest of the bird, so of course must be very scarce and valuable, and is much sought after by those who know its worth. The use made of it is for bed coverings; it is put up in silk, linen or cotton cases, its peculiar lightness and warmth beyond any other down, as it has that singular quality of cohesion, or cleaving to itself, that though it falls round you in bed, the upper part of the person is covered equal with the sides, and the warmth is thereby the same round the whole body. Its great lightness is so extraordinary, that it is not so heavy as one blanket, and is as warm and more genial than three or four; it is very comfortable for those afflicted with the gout who require warmth, and cannot bear a weight. There are bags made to keep the legs and feet warm in travelling.
The majority of us today have warm homes with central heating, but in the Georgian era, we might have used a bed warmer to warm the bed for us, what a welcome companion on cold nights.
With the cost of all these individual items mounting up, it is no wonder that so much bedding etc was sold at auction when a person died.
We end with the joys of the matrimonial bed courtesy of, as usual, the Lewis Walpole Library.
Sources:
Witney Blanket Story
All Things Georgian 
I had always thought that it would be a very fine thing to sleep in an original four-poster until I did and found myself feeling very claustrophobic!
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That would be my worry too 🙂
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It was a lovely little hotel in Northamptonshire which I think was 18th century.
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Hello,
Looking on the internet I found your excellent blog. First, sorry for my English, I am Spanish and my English is not very good. You wanted to ask a question that I need for the documentation of a book. It is this: I wanted to ask if in the eighteenth century there were silk sheets but only for people with lots of money. If you have not silk sheets were made, I would like to ask what kind of luxurious materials, only for the very rich, it was used for bed. disculpapor thanks and my English.
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Many thanks for your question and we hope we have understood it correctly. It would not have been common for silk to have been used for sheets as warmth would have been more important. The research we have done seems to imply that either cotton or linen would have been used by the more wealthy people. We hope this helps and perhaps one of our readers might be able to provide some more information 🙂
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Linen would be the most usual, it’s not called ‘bedlinen’ for no reason. My own researches have shown that poorer people had cotton sheets – this is evidence from the assizes, listing items stolen. there appears to be in the late 18th century something of an economic divide. I forget when cotton looms began to become capable of weaving broader cloth but I have a feeling it was late in the century, which meant that sheets could be woven in one. [I was wrong, the flying shuttle was invented earlier, in 1733, but it may have taken a while to be common]. With narrow linen looms, sheets were made by sewing two lengths together, the edges finished with a French seam. A cotton weft is capable of sustaining a longer width than linen. This cut down the labour in making a sheet, as it only needed hemming, but added to the wear in the centre which was not reinforced with a seam, so it would wear more quickly and would need to be more quickly ‘turned sides to middle’, a housewifely process in which the sheet is torn in half, or unpicked if two narrow cloth lengths, and the outsides sewn together to form the new middle of the sheet, the worn part now at the edge which receives less wear. I confess I stopped sides-to-middling my sheets about a decade ago but it’s something I have done, passed down in the family in time immemorial.
Early 18th century cotton would have had a fustian [wool] warp since the early experiments in English weaving were unable to produce cotton strong enough to form a warp. I doubt it was used for sheets, however.
I hope this may be of some use.
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Fabulous as always Sarah thank you so much for such a detailed reply :
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I love linen sheets; they are so crisp and cool in summer. But getting linen dry is a pig of a job, and I suspect that this might too have been an influence in who used what. A wealthy family would be more likely to have a drying room for when there was inclement weather, and an army of servants to iron sheets dry at need. A poorer family needed those sheets dry faster. Cotton sheets will dry in one day on bushes – no linen lines at the time, because no pegs until 1823 IIRC – if the weather is half decent [I’ve tried it to see] but linen can take up to 3 days even on a line, unless the weather is dry and hot. And this is in East Anglia where I have experimented, the dryest corner of Britain [average yearly rainfall same as North Africa]. The late 18th century from 1783 or so was plagued with cold summers owing to several Icelandic volcanoes. A family with enough money – say about £70 p.a, clerks and artisans – might send washing out to a washerwoman, but she would also have to have a premises on which she could dry, and that meant fuel, and fuel was expensive. I’ve not been able to track down any scale of charges of washerwomen yet, but it would be interesting if I manage to do so. I have odd singular prices from sundry diaries only!
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Lovely blog – makes me value my fluffy duvet all the more!
As a point of interest poor old Napoleon suffered from ‘poor circulation and cold legs’ in bed and so in October 1816 the Governor Sir Hudson Lowe commissioned a copper ‘scaldaletto’ (or warming pan) to be made especially for Napoleon!
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Thanks Lally, so pleased you enjoyed it – ideal reading when you have a ‘duvet day’. Wow – did the ‘scaldaletto’ survive do you know?
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We have a four poster campaign bed (the original flat-pack!) which we love, but we keep the hangings fairly gauzy, top and back only, no sides. I imagine full curtains must have been great, though, for keeping out the draughts.
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Wow, that sounds lovely, with central heating gauzy hangings would be perfect, not such a good call in the 18th century though, possibly suitable for hot summer months only 🙂
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There’s a giant radiator behind the bed!
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the 18th century also saw the invention of the webbing bed for holding the mattress, though many people still used stretched rope for the bed base itself. The side of the bed included the bed staff, an item used to beat feather or flock mattresses to get rid of the lumps leading to that obscure phrase that something should be done ‘in the twinkling of a bedstaff’. I don’t, by the way, unlike the instructions to 18th century servants, turn my feather mattress every day, once a week is adequate. But it does go to show that sloppy servants can make a night hell, on a lumpy mattress that is both unbeaten and unturned… and a good set of servants can leave a bed that makes even the most modern of mattresses seem uncomfortable in comparison.
Claustrophobia is the only thing that has stopped me building myself a four poster, though, i have to say, as the next best thing to a bed with doors over a stove, Russian fashion.
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The webbing, I should mention, wasn’t woven strips, it was highly stretched sacking across the whole bedframe. I put that badly, sorry.
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Lol. Fabulous comments as always Sarah, thank you for the additional information, always much appreciated 🙂
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I researched pretty deeply when writing ‘Jane and the Hidden Hoard’ as she was masquerading as a housekeeper and as the maids had not been chivied into turning beds was looking under dismal and lumpy mattresses [among other places] for stolen jools….
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How luxurious (for the upper classes, of course)! Britons travelling in I8th century Italy complained about the high beds and the lack of bed curtains there.
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Absolutely agree 🙂
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I loved the information but was quite overjoyed to see two dogs in the “Walpole” print! 🙂
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We aim to please 🙂
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Many years ago as a youngster I often heard the phrase,”sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite”. As I have come to understand this particular phrasing, the ‘sleep tight aspect has something to do with the tightness of the drawn rope upon which the mattress was set. Hence a loose roped lacing, rather than a taught roped lacing would certainly encourage a dipped mattress (unlike a hammock which offers more support) and thus an uncomfortable nights’ sleep.
Regarding the bed hangings: the curtains and canopy were not only to keep draughts out, but also light, noise, and possibly for privacy as early beds were often placed in large communal rooms and hence the curtained-bed might serve as the actual ‘bedroom’ in of itself.
As for the bed bugs, many early rooms had ceiling open to rafters and beams, where vermin might drop from above (or drop fecal matter), as well as other bugs, and all sorts of unsavory sorts, falling from above…. so having bed hangings, including canopies and side curtains, would also proved to be useful in this manner of prevention and a good nights’ sleep too.
Of course I cannot prove this is factual as I have sourced any of it recently, but it certainly adds another dimension to the storyline.
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If it is of interest, I once had occasion to sleep in a feather bed (it was also a four-poster but I didn’t draw the curtains fully). Fortunately my hostess, although not in her first youth, had recently turned the mattress. When I got into bed the mattress settled into a hollow around my body, while the rest of it stayed fairly puffed up. This made changing position less easy but I’m not a restless sleeper so I didn’t mind much. Me mother, who used to share her granny’s featherbed when she stayed with her as a child, says this is normal. I’m not sure whether the mattress was supported on ropes or a sprung box (or something in between) but I wonder if the roll-together factor (in the case of two occupants and a rope support) would be less with a featherbed.
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I’ve just come across orders for bedding in the Minute book of the Grey Coat Hospital, which I thought might interest you.
In December 1701 they were fitting out an old Workhouse building to move into so that the school could expand to take girls, and to be a ‘hospital’ ie boarding school.
Mr Hoardson the upholsterer is called to measure for the beds, and to make them in his workshop ‘with all Expedition’.
They will not be feather beds (!) but there will be wool mattresses: ‘Ordered that Mr Wisdom do buy three packs of fflocke for the Children’s beds, & direct them to be beaten up, with all Expedition’
The bedding puzzles me a little: ‘Ordered that Mr Madock do bespeak 40 Ruggs & as many pair of Blankets for the Children and the Ruggs to be 5 foot Broad and 6 foot long at a price not exceeding 4s.6d. each, & Blankets of 4 1/2 foot broad & 6 foot long at the same rate each pair.’
Any ideas on the difference between a Rugg and a Blanket? Is the rugg a kind of bedspread?
Sheets are not mentioned.
The beds must have been well-made, as it seems likely (because no mention in the minutes) that they were not replaced for over 100 years!
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How interesting, thank you so much for sharing this. I understand that a ‘rug’ aka ‘rugg’ was a woven blanket i.e. heavy duty, so it probably was the equivalent to modern day bedspreads, something that would weigh down lighter fabrics.
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A rug is a thicker, coarser coverlet, often shaggy
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Agreed. I’m assuming that would go on top of lighter weight blankets.
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Thanks both – i assumed that sort of thing, from the size. Great to have it confirmed.
There are so many treasures of little snippets of information in the Minutes, it’s a joy to read them.
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I like how the turning of linen sheets from the middle to the outside to preserve and lengthen the wear and tear of the fabric is still being carried out in our own recent times (albeit, not quite a hundred years ago). My nearly ninety-seven year old father who passed away this past August, used to comment that when he was a youngster his mother, who sewed nearly all of his clothes (both hand-sewn and machine sewn), would turn the collars and cuffs of the family’s shirts and nightshirts. She even turned the collar and cuffs of his Levis Jean work jacket to extend its wearability (I still own that very well worn/used jacket– and it is still wearable today).
One questions, how similar is a bed rug to a coach carpet/lap blanket? I have one in my collection that is made of a deep rich claret coloured mohair that is banded in worn silk and backed in a padded (cotton)? cotton/wool blend fabric. It is roughly the size of a smallish lap throw (four feet by roughly six feet, and about just under a half inch thick with the padding), but is fairly heavy and has obviously seen lots of use, I presume, from being used in an open carriage.
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Thank you so much for sharing this. Perhaps we should take a lesson from the past about ‘make do and mend’ rather than simply throwing away!
I believe that ‘ruggs’ for beds were mainly home made as can be seen in this image from the Metmuseum – https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/13565 .
I also came across this article by Jane Austen World which might help. Yours sounds more like a coach rug, rather than one for the bed from your description – https://janeaustensworld.com/tag/keeping-warm-in-the-18th-century/
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Thank you for sharing those respective documents. Yes, I agree,mine is more likely a carriage rug. I enjoyed reading and surmising about how individuals kept warm during their outside travels AND their attempts at inside ‘comforts’ too.
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I’m 57 and I’ve sides-to-middlesed sheets! when they got too worn for that, the best pieces made pillow slips and the rest cut and rolled as bandages. I’ve turned collars and cuffs too, and when too worn, the body of the shirt sans collar and cuffs has an end added as a nightshirt. and I’ve also pegged floor rugs and plaited floor rugs from rags. I still do patchwork of a more traditional kind not just the fashionable patchwork with purchased patterns. I have a crazy patchwork throw over my knees right now [of the sort that Anne Hathaway had on the second best bed she inherited from Shakespeare.]
But when I got married, my husband was used to duvets, so I tried them out and was duly converted. I sew two thin duvets together though to make a thicker one as they age, and worn duvet covers become pillow slips from the better parts.
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I’m super impressed, Sarah, maybe we should all be taking a leaf out of your book 🙂 As a child I had a Polish friend whose family used duvets long before they were really adopted in the UK. Instead of bottom fasteners/buttons they simply had a large diamond cut in the centre and you fed the duvet into through that, then a flap to cover the hole – it was so much easier to use.
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I’ve used those in Romania, when we were involved with the orphanges there, after the Ceaucescu regime, only the way they used them was to put blankets in, and add more blankets as it got colder! Mind, next time I make or refurbish a duvet cover, I might just make them like that, it was a great idea.
I used up a lot of really worn sheets and duvet covers when we had a little rescue cat who lost his tail. [Kelly; as in Kelly from the Isle of Man, the song] and I had everything covered because he had no idea when he was pooping sometimes. He did his best to use the tray, but he would think he was finished and would trail off with all following behind him, or wake up pooping. I could wash sheets until they fell apart though, and he was the sweetest, happiest little boy for all his short, damaged life. He died a couple of Christmases ago.
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