Agnes Marshall

Agnes Bertha Marshall (born August 24, 1855 in Walthamstow as Agnes Bertha Smith, † July 29, 1905 in Pinner , London Borough of Harrow ) was an English cook, author and inventor. She is known for her innovations in the production of ice cream .

life and work

Advert for Agnes Marshall's ice cream maker

Little is known about Agnes Marshall's childhood. Her father died early; her mother remarried and Agnes had four half-siblings. Her half-sister Ada later became her housekeeper, her half-brother John the manager of her cooking school. On August 17, 1878, she married Alfred William Marshall.

In January 1883, Marshall opened her private cooking school, Mrs. Marshall's School of Cookery, on Mortimer Street, London. In 1885 she applied for two patents: one for an ice cream machine, another for an ice cooling system, a forerunner of the freezer. Marshall made the name of her school the brand under which she published her books and sold food and kitchen appliances, including the ice machines and freezers she invented, as well as ice molds, food colors and flavorings. Marshall also ran a fine dining recruitment agency.

Marshall's book Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices on making ice cream, published in 1885, was at the time one of the few publications devoted exclusively to this topic. It contributed significantly to the spread of ice cream as a dessert. In 1886, Marshall began a weekly cooking magazine called The Table . Until the end of her life, she published one of her recipes in every issue. She also wrote articles in which she often ironically commented on the state of the cooking industry. For example, in one of her comments, she urged the nobility to treat their domestic servants at least as well as their horses. She also advocated better home economics training and stricter hygiene regulations in food production. She saw a great opportunity in the automotive industry and hoped for refrigerated trucks that could one day transport fresh food over long distances. Marshall also took positions on general political issues and supported the women's rights movement . Her social commitment included the organization of soup kitchens and the cooking of Christmas dinners for the needy.

To promote her second cookbook, Marshall made a reading tour of Great Britain in 1887 and gave cooking demonstrations in London. These public appearances made her a national celebrity. Her books appeared in large editions for the time and sold in the United Kingdom, the United States and the British colonies .

Marshall published the first known recipe for an ice cream cone . However, it was intended to be served on a plate, not as a container for street vending. 1901 beat Marshall in their magazine The Table in front, liquefied air to use for the manufacture of ice cream, a few years after the Linde process was discovered for liquefying air. Marshall is therefore a pioneer in the use of cryogenic gases in ice cream production.

In 1905, shortly before her 50th birthday, Agnes Marshall died of the consequences of a riding accident. Her son Alfred only survived by a few years. Mrs. Marshall's School of Cookery remained in operation until the start of World War II .

Publications

1885: Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices
1888: Mrs. AB Marshall's Book of Cookery
1891: Mrs. AB Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes
1894: Fancy Ices
1886-1905: The Table. A weekly paper of Cookery, Gastronomy, Food amusements etc. (editor)

A selection of Agnes Marshall's recipes was published in 2013 under the title Ices and Ice Creams ( ISBN 978-0-224-09560-0 ). The 1998 biography Mrs Marshall, the Greatest Victorian Ice Cream Maker ( ISBN 978-1-85825-102-8 ) contains a reprint of Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices .

literature

Robin Weir, Peter Brears, John Deith, Peter Barham: Mrs Marshall, the Greatest Victorian Ice Cream Maker. Syon House, 1998, ISBN 978-1-85825-102-8 (reprinted from Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices ).
John S. Deith: Agnes B. Marshall (1855-1905). In: Harlan Walker (Ed.): Cooks and Other People. Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Prospect Books, Totnes 1996, ISBN 978-0-907325-72-7 , pp. 106-110.
Robin Weir: Mrs. AB Marshall, Ice-Creammonger Extraordinary. In: Harlan Walker (Ed.): Cooks and Other People. Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Prospect Books, Totnes 1996, ISBN 978-0-907325-72-7 , pp. 283-289.
Robin Weir: Marshall, Agnes Bertha. In: Darra Goldstein (Ed.): Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-931339-6 , 427-428.
Robin Weir: Marshall, Agnes Bertha (1855-1905). In: HCG Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004.

Web links

Commons : Agnes Marshall - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Agnes Marshall's ice machine on the sides of the London Canal Museum

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f John S. Deith: Agnes B. Marshall (1855-1905). In: Harlan Walker (Ed.): Cooks and Other People. Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Prospect Books, Totnes 1996, ISBN 978-0-907325-72-7 , pp. 106-110.
↑ Chris Clarke: The Science of Ice Cream. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge 2004, ISBN 978-1-84973-127-0 , p. 8.
↑ ^a ^b Autumn Stanley: Mothers and Daughters of Invention. Notes for a Revised History of Technology. Rutgers University Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-8135-2197-8 , p. 53.
↑ Kate Colquhoun: Key. The Story of Britain through Its Cooking. Bloomsbury, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-7475-9306-5 , 304-305.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Robin Weir: Mrs. AB Marshall, Ice-Creammonger Extraordinary. In: Harlan Walker (Ed.): Cooks and Other People. Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Prospect Books, Totnes 1996, ISBN 978-0-907325-72-7 , pp. 283-289.
↑ Laura Weiss: Ice Cream. A global history. Reaction Books, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-86189-792-3 , p. 75.
^ Robin Weir: Freezing with Liquid Nitrogen. In: Darra Goldstein (Ed.): Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-931339-6 , 577.

personal data
SURNAME	Marshall, Agnes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Marshall, Agnes Bertha (full name); Smith, Agnes Bertha (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English cook, author and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH	August 24, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH	Walthamstow , London Borough of Waltham Forest
DATE OF DEATH	July 29, 1905
Place of death	Pinner , London Borough of Harrow

[Deith-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f John S. Deith: Agnes B. Marshall (1855-1905). In: Harlan Walker (Ed.): Cooks and Other People. Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Prospect Books, Totnes 1996, ISBN 978-0-907325-72-7 , pp. 106-110.

[2] Chris Clarke: The Science of Ice Cream. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge 2004, ISBN 978-1-84973-127-0 , p. 8.

[Stanley-3] Autumn Stanley: Mothers and Daughters of Invention. Notes for a Revised History of Technology. Rutgers University Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-8135-2197-8 , p. 53.

[4] Kate Colquhoun: Key. The Story of Britain through Its Cooking. Bloomsbury, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-7475-9306-5 , 304-305.

[Weir-5] Robin Weir: Mrs. AB Marshall, Ice-Creammonger Extraordinary. In: Harlan Walker (Ed.): Cooks and Other People. Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Prospect Books, Totnes 1996, ISBN 978-0-907325-72-7 , pp. 283-289.

[6] Laura Weiss: Ice Cream. A global history. Reaction Books, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-86189-792-3 , p. 75.

[7] Robin Weir: Freezing with Liquid Nitrogen. In: Darra Goldstein (Ed.): Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-931339-6 , 577.