A Victorian Dinner Party, Course by Course | History for Sleep

Fall asleep to a Victorian dinner party on Wednesday, 16 May 1883, in a first-tier terrace on Eaton Square in Belgravia, London. 12 people at table. 9 courses served à la russe. 17 fastenings on the mistress's bodice. 15 indoor servants working across 16 hours to put one meal on one mahogany table at 8pm. The direct outlay comes to £6 10s in food and wine, £7 all in — roughly 4 weeks of an East End family's whole food budget in the year Charles Booth was beginning to measure it. Behind every course is a chain that runs from a Norwegian lake in January to a small silver cup at 10:10pm. Subscribe to the channel: @oldvictoriannights In this video, we talk about how a Belgravia dinner for twelve was really made and served, course by course, from the cook laying her first fire at 5:30am to the ladies withdrawing at 10:50pm, including the arrival of the ice at six, the three stock pots on the range from eleven, the setting of the covers at seven, the seven wines drawn from the cellar, the à la russe service in Petherbridge the butler's hands, the plate polished and counted, the two ices from the still room, Mrs Kerslake at the range, Bessie the scullery maid at the sink until midnight, and the whole household falling asleep person by person in the order they really would have gone. 🔔 Subscribe so the next long Victorian night finds you without you having to look for it. 💬 Comment where you're listening from tonight, and which room of the Hartleys' house stayed with you the longest. 📢 Share this with anyone who loves long calm history — Facebook, Reddit, a group chat with a friend who reads Beeton. You are the reason this channel exists. DISCLAIMER: This video is based on real historical events and figures, drawn from primary archives, biographies, court records, period press, and leading historical scholarship. While every video is heavily researched, occasional minor inaccuracies in dates, quotes, or specific details may occur — historical sources sometimes disagree, and interpretation is sometimes required where the historical record is silent. Any errors are unintentional. #OldVictorianNights #HistoryForSleep #VictorianEra #VictorianDinner #Belgravia #EatonSquare #MrsBeeton #Francatelli #MrsMarshall #VictorianLondon #DinnerAtEight #ALaRusse #VictorianHousehold #VictorianCook #VictorianServants #DownstairsUpstairs #SleepHistory #FallAsleep #Bedtimestory #VictorianKitchen #BritishHistory #VictorianEngland #NineteenthCentury #SleepStory #HistoricalDocumentary