The other day, I was listening to The Historical Romance Sampler podcast, and the presenter mentioned napkins were not used during the Regency. It’s strange to think that such an everyday item (and one that I’ve included in my novels) wasn’t used in Georgian Britain, an era which, by many, is considered the height of table etiquette.
So, if they didn’t use napkins, why not, and what did they use instead? Yet again, what was supposed to be a quick check just to help with the accuracy of my work turned into another trip down a rabbit hole.
I couldn’t bear to waste all that research, so let’s explore the history of napkins.
Finger foods
Before the invention of the fork in 17th century Italy, all solid foods were eaten with the fingers.
While people didn’t know about bacteria and the importance of hand washing before eating, they certainly cared about removing the remains of their meal from their fingers once they had finished. Therefore, a means of wiping the hands has been essential and some form of napkin has existed since ancient times.
Napkins have moved in and out of fashion over the centuries. Originally, the word napkin described a cloth covering a communal table. It’s a combination of the French word nappe, which means a cloth to cover a table, and a Middle English word kin, meaning family or relatives.
The history of napkins
You know I love a good timeline, and the history of napkins certainly needs one.
Ancient World
The first form of napkin was edible. The Spartans provided their dinner guests with a small lump of dough that was kneaded at the table to absorb oils and foodstuffs from the fingers. This later led to using slices of bread for the same purpose.
We know the Romans loved to recline while eating, but this could be quite messy. To protect their clothing and furniture from spills, they draped a large cloth called a mappa over themselves. Romans brought their own mappa when dining out and when they left, they used it to take any leftovers home—like a Roman version of the doggy bag.
The Middle Ages
Napkins seemed to vanish in the early Middle Ages and people wiped their hands and mouths on whatever was available—their clothes, a piece of bread, a passing dog. Nice 😬.
They did, however, have a servant that carried a bowl and towel for the master of the house and their special guests to wash their hands. But during the Renaissance, a communal napkin was hung like a swag over the edge of the table.
16th and 17th centuries
In the 16th century, refined dining included individual napkins. Diners used different sized pieces of cloth when they ate at a table and used a smaller napkin if eating while standing. However, the invention of the fork in the 17th century meant napkin use went out of favour for a while.
18th century
The French court brought back napkins with a bang and created a strict code of etiquette regarding their use. To protect the frilly lace collars that were now fashionable gentleman tied napkins around their necks.
“It is ungentlemanly to use a napkin for wiping the face or scraping the teeth, and a most vulgar error to wipe one’s nose on it.”
French Treatise, 1729, via Quality Napkins
In the 1740s, matching tablecloths and napkins appeared.
19th century
Table linens were expensive and, even until the late 1800s, guests were expected to bring their own napkin to dinner. Because they were valued highly, table linens were also handed down in wills and seen as a generous bequeathment.
Paper napkins
The Chinese had been serving tea alongside small squares of paper since the 2nd century BCE. In the 1880s, British company John Dickinson Limited brought back some printed paper napkins from Japan. These were a sort of tourist souvenir, printed with local landmarks, etc.
Organisations started printing their own commemorative napkins, but the paper was of poor quality. Check out some examples here.
While they made pretty souvenirs, early paper napkins were useless at the dinner table and were not well received.
“Paper napkins! Who ever heard of such nonsense? What good are they?”
Helen Thompson, Brooklyn Magazine, 1896
In the 1950s, the quality of paper napkins improved, and convenience took precedence.
Today, we expect napkins to be available in every food establishment from Egyptian cotton with a hand-stitched crest in The Ritz, to the lowly tabletop paper napkin dispenser in the local greasy spoon café.
What about napkins in Georgian Britain?
It seems napkin use in Georgian Britain went in and out of fashion too, and it was dictated by war.
Strict codes of etiquette, which included the setting of the table, dictated dinner in a Georgian household. The table was covered with a white tablecloth over a floor length under cloth of any colour. Including a napkin depended on whether the British were currently at war with the French.
As I mentioned above, the French court popularised napkins at the beginning of the 18th century and they were viewed as “a French thing”. So, to distance themselves from all things French at the times when Britain and France were at war, the Brits refused to use napkins. Instead, they wiped their hands and mouths on the tablecloth.
So, napkins or not?
Well, considering the British were at war with the French for most of the 18th century, it’s quite difficult to pin down a time when napkins may have been used. Obviously, the Regency was dominated by the Napoleonic Wars between 1803 and 1815, so it’s likely napkins were a no-go at that time.
None of my sources provided a particular time for when napkins came back into fashion in Britain other than the early 1800s. So, that could be any time between 1815 and the 1830s.
My series is set between 1819 and 1826. Was that enough time for the prejudice against all things French to be overturned? I think I’m going to go with napkins for this series at least. Let’s not forget, Brits were still happy to continue drinking French brandy (smuggled, of course) and adopt French fashions, regardless of Anglo-French relations.
Sources
Keeping it Clean – History of the Humble Cloth Napkin
A Brief History of Napkins, from Soft Dough to Paper
