Born: 17 April 1799, United Kingdom
Died: 13 February 1859
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: NA
This biography, written by Louise Peskett, is shared with permission from Brighton & Hove Museums.
Eliza Acton (1799 – 1859) was the writer of the first cook book aimed at the home cook, in 1845.
Anyone who has ever enjoyed chutney, mulligatawny soup, or Christmas pudding has much to thank Eliza Acton for. Her 1845 book Modern Cookery for Private Families, also known as Modern Cookery in all its Branches was where recipes for these dishes were published for the first time.
Modern Cookery bucked a trend. It was the first book of recipes aimed at the interested home amateur rather than a professional chef. It was also the first recipe book to list the ingredients and quantities required – plus cooking times – separately from the method, something so obviously sensible, it’s hard for us to imagine that recipes could ever be otherwise.
Born in Battle, Eliza did not set out to become a cooking pioneer. Her first love was poetry but when a publisher suggested that there were quite enough poetry books already and why didn’t she think about writing about food, she took the suggestion seriously. Acton poured years of research, testing, and tasting into the book and included recipes invented by friends. Dedicated on the first page to ‘the Young Housekeepers of England’, the recipes are bolstered with chatty advice and illustrations of suitable equipment to use, seasonality of vegetables, whether she likes the dish herself, and any other interesting snippet of information she happened to have come across.
The book was considered well written, with many contemporary reviewers commenting that it made a lively read whether you were interested in cooking any of the recipes or not. Simple but attractive woodcut illustrations of ingredients, tools of the trade, and what the finished dishes should look like didn’t only charm the eye but gave the amateur chef the confidence to go to their local fishmonger, knowing they’d be able to tell the difference between a John Dory and a turbot.
Unlike so many recipe books of our times, that aim to wow us with tricky techniques and innovative ingredient pairings, Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery for Private Families is all about reassuring the lay person that great tasting dishes are perfectly within reach and that she’s there, unfussy, down to earth and reliable to hold our hand through the process. Interestingly for the twenty-first century reader, the book’s lively introduction rails against food waste and recommends ‘nose to tail’ eating two centuries before those phrases were coined.
Modern Cookery for Private Families was phenomenally popular, with every Victorian household owning a well-thumbed copy. It went through thirteen editions before being transplanted in the nation’s affections by new star on the block, Isabella Beeton with her Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management which freely plagiarised many of Acton’s recipes.
In 1857 Acton went on to produce The English Bread-Book for Domestic Use, which, despite its title, featured recipes for, among other things, Indian and Turkish breads, German pumpernickel and French baguettes. She also became the cookery correspondent for the magazines The Ladies’ Companion and Household Words,
Today, Eliza Acton’s fans are numerous. Delia Smith once called her ‘the best writer of recipes in the English language’. Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, Clarissa Dickson-Wright and Rick Stein are just a few of the big names who claim her as an influence. Some of the recipes in Modern Cookery for Private Families such as pineapple marmalade, Lemon Dumplings, and Mushrooms Au Beurre are begging to be rediscovered, although perhaps there wouldn’t be so many takers these days for her mince pies containing ox tongue and boiled lemons.
Although born in Battle, Eliza spent most of her youth in Suffolk where she co-ran a boarding school. She spent some years in France before returning to England and settling first in Tonbridge, then Hampstead.
The following is excerpted from the Dictionary of National Biography, originally published between 1885 and 1900, by Smith, Elder & Co. It was written by Jennett Humphreys.
ACTON, ELIZA (1799–1859), authoress, daughter of John Acton, brewer, of Hastings, afterwards of Ipswich, Suffolk, was born at Battle, Sussex, 17 April, 1799. She was of delicate health in her youth, and was taken abroad. Whilst in Paris, she became engaged to be married to an officer in the French army; but this marriage did not take place, and she returned to England, where she published, by subscription, a volume of poems, at Ipswich, in 1826. A second edition, again of 500 copies and by subscription, was published in 1827. In 1835 Miss Acton contributed a poem, ‘The Two Portraits,’ anonymously, to the ‘Sudbury Pocket Book.’ In 1836, in the same annual, she published ‘Original Poetry by Miss Acton, author of the “Two Portraits.”’ In 1837 she was living at Bordyke House, Tunbridge; and on the arrival of Queen Adelaide in that town shortly after the death of William IV, Miss Acton presented the queen with some verses commemorating her devoted attendance on her husband during his last illness. In 1838 she published the ‘Chronicles of Castel-Framlingham’ in ‘Fulcher’s Sudbury Journal.’ In 1842 she published another poem, ‘The Voice of the North,’ a welcome to Queen Victoria on her first Scotch visit. In 1845, after further fugitive poems, Miss Acton had completed the popular work, ‘Modern Cookery,’ with which she is chiefly associated; a second and a third edition of it were called for the same year; a fourth and fifth in 1846; with numerous editions in successive years. In May 1857 she brought out her last work, ‘The English Bread-Book,’ treating of the various ways of making bread, and of the constituent parts of various bread-stuffs. At this date Eliza Acton was living at Snowdon House, John Street, Hampstead, and there, after much illness, she died in February 1859.
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women, written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Eliza Acton, an English writer. During her early years she wrote poetry, but she is remembered as one of the first women to prepare a cook-book.
Her popular work Modern Cookery, published in 1845 has gone through numerous editions.
In 1857 she brought out her last work, The English Bread-Book, treating of the various ways of making bread, and of the constituent parts of numerous bread-stuffs.