These skills have come in handy in my adult life, as I feel comfortable in any setting now, with any dining companion. Skills that have helped further a military career, as one of the main aspects of our social life at the moment is attending Mess functions on a monthly basis. Seeing that P can function in a very political setting has possibly paved the way for finishing out his career in a more favourable light. At this point, it is far more than just being able to do his primary job. He has to be able to socialize with the higher ups perfectly to be accepted into that social circle.
This has been a long standing requirement for higher ranks in the military for hundreds of years. Up until fairly recently, to obtain such ranks, your family bought them for you. Establishing the soldier in a social order not available to many. Proving that you could afford to live the expected lifestyle of the rank. In living history, I have used our modern experiences of growing up and living a military career to reflect how I interact in my role as a servant to officers. It has become second nature to me to set a table properly, how to interact with the men I am serving, how to blend in to the background and make things happen for them to do their jobs easier.
Recently, I was asked by a friend how far these niceties of class would extend? They were organizing an event at a house/workshop for business and trades people. Would these people have used a tablecloth? what sort of dishware would they have used? And it got us thinking about how much we take for granted in our cross-over modern and historical lives. Conversations around how dirty a work table could get, especially if it were the only table in a shared work and living space, how quickly it could become 'clean' enough for eating. I thought of the table in the soldier's barracks at Ticonderoga, and how dirty it has become through years of use and abuse, cleaning muskets, doing dirty soldier's chores, and how quickly a fresh tablecloth could clean it up enough for a meal.
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| Jack Sprat, c.1800. collections.museums-sheffield.org.uk |
I have come to that conclusion by studying archaeological records of fortifications with British garrisons. Lynne Sussman, in her 1978 paper British Military Tableware, 1760-1830 states, "It has been possible, using the large samples from Fort Beausejour, New Brunswick, as well as evidence from other military sites, to select tea and dinner services that were used for regimental messes during the period 1760-1830" (p.93). Sussman notes that the common soldier may have been issued a tin plate and cup, or more likely would have been given an allowance to purchase said implements, and that they may have been simply wood (p93-94). The officer's mess, on the other hand, seems to have been fully equipped with cooking and dinner service, paid for by the officer's of the regiment, and style was often dictated by the highest ranking member, the Colonel. Cooking and dining services were purchased through factory wholesale warehouses and may have actually been 'seconds' of popular styles in the non military world. Finds include pieces of redware and stoneware, then as fashion shifted, creamware, pearlware, and transferware such as blue willow are featured in the historical archaeological record. Sussman also backs up my thoughts on class structure stating, "An officer in the British army was expected to maintain himself, in a style appropriate to an officer and a gentleman, at his own expense", she also notes that as far back as the eighteenth-century mess dues were collected, "graduated according to rank, for maintenance of the regimental mess. Most mess furnishings, including the tableware, were purchased collectively by the officers" (p.95). Similar to our modern mess structure, furnishing, and tableware. Sussman also notes an early form of 'regimental' tableware, at Fort Lennox, Quebec, creamware that bears the transfer printed insignia of the 13th Regiment of Foot (p.95), similar to our dinner service at our local mess, which sports the markings of the Canadian Armed Forces.
Lois Feister undertook a similar investigation at Crown Point New york and published her paper, Material Culture of the British Soldier at "His Majesty's Fort of Crown Point" on Lake Champlain New York, 1759-1783, in 1984. Feister's conclusions echo those of Sussman, bringing up potential difference in enlisted men and officer's dining accoutrements, stating "historians were confident of 'wooden trenchers; pewter spoons, knives, and forks; and horn cups as having been the primary personal items of culinary ware" (p124). Feister notes that, "one of the primary characteristics, however, of North American 18th-century domestic sites, even of apparently low economic status, is the presence of British manufactured earthenware, quoting Stanley South, 'from port town ruins to town house mansions to frontier forts and Indian villages have similar groups of ceramic types present at similar periods of time" (p124).
This tells me that no matter what, fashionibility was key no matter the economic class one found oneself in. You did your very best to present respectability given what you had at hand.
Feister goes on to explain how the archaeological evidence at Crown Point "contributed significant data toward a better understanding of the material culture of the British soldier in Colonial America" (p125). She explains how the barracks blocks were constructed and used, "revealing a standard of living at least comparable to that found on 18th-century domestic sites, despite the isolated location of this British fort", allowing even the common soldier to obtain "such domestic goods as were necessary for a way of life that went beyond the tin plate and mug" (p127).
Evidence reveals how the barracks rooms were used as well, noting "Mrs. Jane Ross's room in the soldier's barracks where she cooked food for the (mess of nine) soldiers. Her room being referred to as the 'mess room', indicating that it was customary to cook in the barracks rather than in a separate building" (p128). this backs up several theories that possibly, in regular eighteenth-century life, a single room with a fireplace could be inhabited by a whole family, undertaking all the daily taskings required to live a quality life.
The officer's had an even further separation of spaces, having a space set aside and referred to as the 'dining room', apart from sleeping quarters (p129). Archaeological findings of tableware included redware, creamware and some stoneware fragments appearing outside every barracks unit, suggesting widespread use. Porcelain teaware were found clustered behind the end of the third and into the fourth unit of the barracks block, suggesting occupation of higher status individuals, the officers (p129).
Feister goes on to explain that all activities of daily life occurred in every unit of the barracks, but that with the focus on certain types of finds, each unit may have been separated into dining and sleeping room activities (p131). I feel that just this brief exploration of daily life through food helps to substantiate my feelings of setting the table for dinner service. Closer examination of the historical record can help to determine items issued, purchased, and used by people in a given living situation, as well as the foods consumed, and how they were cooked and served. All of this can add to the overall interpretation of a given site, as it can break down barriers between the visiting public and the interpreter. All of us eat, many of us cook, and each of us knows what smells good! Conversations can be started based on very few sensory cues.
Bibliography
Feister, Lois M. "Material Culture of the British
Soldier at 'His Majesty's Fort of Crown Point' on Lake Champlain, New Yory,
1759-1783." Journal of Field Archaeology, vol 11, No. 2 Summer
(1984): 123-132.
Sussman, Lynne. "British Military Tableware,
1760-1830." Historical Archaeology, vol.12 (1978): 93-104.
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