Reading the Regency

Birthdays

A hearty meal seems to have been a popular way of marking a birthday. This letter provides details of a birthday celebrated in a middle-class household:

"I cannot forbear returning my dear Miss L—— our united thanks for her generous present, which came exactly in time to grace poor Marianne's birth day, which was yesterday: — the bird was good, and well dressed: that and a large apple-pie feasted the whole family of the Sanchos. Miss L—— was toasted; and although we had neither ringing of bells, nor firing of guns, yet the day was celebrated with mirth and decency — and a degree of sincere joy and urbanity seldom to be seen on royal birthdays. Mary, as queen of the day, invited two or three young friends — her breast filled with delight, unmixed with cares, her heart danced in her eyes, and she looked the happy mortal."
[Elegant Epistles, pub 1814 by Rivington]

If a family could afford it, a birthday could be marked by a special dinner, a tea-party or a picnic. This example is as close as I've found to the sort of child's birthday party we're familiar with today:

"My dear girl, come to me! —receive the embraces and tenderest wishes of a mother. To-day, you know, is your birth-day."

"Mamma, I was just coming to thank you for your kindness. My sister says you have been so good to invite a party of my young friends, to visit me this afternoon; and that you have provided a little entertainment of cakes and fruit for us. I am very much obliged to you."
[A birth-day present; or, Nine days conversation between a mother and daughter on interesting subjects, pub 1809, by J.Harris]

The cakes offered to guests would not be the sort of cake we now associate with birthday parties. Specific birthday cakes with candles was a German practice that spread through Europe later in the 19th century. The earliest reference I can find to something specifically called Birthday Cake in Britain was from 1847.

It would be fair to assume that families in the highest levels of society would be able to afford grander feasts. However, in the case of the landowner it wasn't only the family who would be celebrating. The servants and tenant farmers would often raise a glass or tankard to toast the health of the man to whom they owed their livelihoods.

The twenty-first birthday of the heir to an estate was a particularly important event. When the eldest son reached his majority many families celebrated by inviting a large number of guests, including the estate's tenants and the family's servants. Even if the young man was not inheriting anything, his transition from a minor to an adult "of full age" was often a cause for celebration:

"The Lord Mayor and a splendid party, went up the river yesterday to Richmond, to celebrate the arrival of his eldest son at the age of 21. The party was saluted as they passed, with a discharge of the guns on the banks of the Thames."
[Morning Post, pub 26th August 1817]

Yet even living in a wealthy family was no guarantee that your birthday would be recognised, particularly if you were not the heir, or eldest son. The following transcript of evidence, taken from a later petition claiming the barony, gives us some idea how birthdays were celebrated by the children of Lord Berkeley in the 1790s:

"Do you remember any Birth-days being kept at Berkeley Castle?
Yes.
What Birth-days were usually kept at Berkeley Castle?
The Birth-days of the eldest Son.
Were you present at the Birth-day of any other Son but the eldest Son?
Never.
Who were invited at the Birth-day of the eldest Son?
The Farmers and their Wives and Daughters, and I believe a few select Friends of Lord Berkeley."

On first reading this, I thought that the heir had a public birthday celebration, while the other children might have had a private birthday party, but this later testimony from Lady Berkeley suggests otherwise: