Queen of Ices--Agnes Bertha Marshall
Agnes Bertha Marshall (24 August 1855 - 29 July 1905) was an English culinary entrepreneur. She became a leading cookery writer in the Victorian period, a-nd was dubbed the "Queen of Ices" for her works on ice cream a-nd other frozen desserts. In time before practical domestic refrigeration, her success increased the dema-nd in London for ice imported from Norway. Her 1888 cookery book included a recipe for "cornets with cream", maybe it is the earliest publication of the edible ice cream cone.
Agnes Bertha Marshall was born in Walthamstow. Her father, John Smith, was a clerk, but died when she was young a-nd his widow, Susan, remarried. Marshall s early life remains obscure, but it was later written in the Pall Mall Gazette that she studied cooking from an early age, a-nd "practised at Paris a-nd with Vienna s celebrated chefs". She married Alfred William Marshall in 1878.
She wrote four books:
1. Ices Plain a-nd Fancy: The Book of Ices (1885),
2. Mrs. A.B. Marshall s Book of Cookery (1888),
3. Mrs. A.B. Marshall s Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes (1891)
4. Fancy Ices (1894).
She also gave public lectures on cooking, a-nd ran an agency for domestic staff. She was granted a patent for an improved ice cream machine that could freeze a pint of ice cream in five minutes, a-nd also suggested using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream. With her husba-nd, she established the Marshall School of Cookery in Mortimer Street in 1883, a-nd published a weekly magazine, The Table, from 1886. The couple also sold cooking supplies a-nd equipment.
She fell from a horse in 1904 a-nd never fully recovered. She died in Pinner the following year, a-nd was cremated at Golders Green crematorium. After her death, the rights to her books were sold to Mrs Beeton s publisher, Ward Lock. Her husba-nd took over the business that they had run together, but it failed. Unlike Mrs Beeton, Marshall quickly faded from public memory.
A biography was published in 1998 entitled Mrs Marshall: the Greatest Victorian Ice Cream Machine, including a facsimile of her 1885 Book of Ices.
Agnes Bertha Marshall was born in Walthamstow. Her father, John Smith, was a clerk, but died when she was young a-nd his widow, Susan, remarried. Marshall s early life remains obscure, but it was later written in the Pall Mall Gazette that she studied cooking from an early age, a-nd "practised at Paris a-nd with Vienna s celebrated chefs". She married Alfred William Marshall in 1878.
She wrote four books:
1. Ices Plain a-nd Fancy: The Book of Ices (1885),
2. Mrs. A.B. Marshall s Book of Cookery (1888),
3. Mrs. A.B. Marshall s Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes (1891)
4. Fancy Ices (1894).
She also gave public lectures on cooking, a-nd ran an agency for domestic staff. She was granted a patent for an improved ice cream machine that could freeze a pint of ice cream in five minutes, a-nd also suggested using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream. With her husba-nd, she established the Marshall School of Cookery in Mortimer Street in 1883, a-nd published a weekly magazine, The Table, from 1886. The couple also sold cooking supplies a-nd equipment.
She fell from a horse in 1904 a-nd never fully recovered. She died in Pinner the following year, a-nd was cremated at Golders Green crematorium. After her death, the rights to her books were sold to Mrs Beeton s publisher, Ward Lock. Her husba-nd took over the business that they had run together, but it failed. Unlike Mrs Beeton, Marshall quickly faded from public memory.
A biography was published in 1998 entitled Mrs Marshall: the Greatest Victorian Ice Cream Machine, including a facsimile of her 1885 Book of Ices.
