Description

William Ellis, who died in 1758, was described in the Dictionary of National Biography as an agricultural writer whose works contained 'fabulous anecdotes and unscientific nostrums'. In point of fact, he wrote about the economy of his native region in as entertaining and informative a way as possible. He may be occasionally unscientific, but any lack of intellectual rigour is amply compensated by an irrepressible curiosity and a capacity to tell a good tale.

He was principally known as a farmer and farming pioneer, though beginning his life as a brewer in London. His books were famous through England and Europe, attracting distinguished foreign visitors to his Hertfordshire farm to see his ideas in practice.

He also wrote about domestic economy and cookery and The Country Housewife's Family Companion, which he sometimes called The Country Family's Profitable Director, is the prime example of his work in this field. To anyone with the remotest interest in the history of English cookery, it is a resource of immense value. He describes a style of cooking far removed from the ragouts and fricassees of the nobility - who loved most things French - and offers unique information on the diet of country-dwellers and farm-workers, particularly in the Home Counties but with a ready interest in other regions too. There is also much about bread baking, not usually very well covered by early cookery books.

The work of a country housewife, in Ellis' eyes, was never confined to the kitchen, so he tips in plenty of advice on the poultry yard, the pig stye, and the cow shed as well as many medical nostrums for the itch, scald-head, pustules and chilblains and lots of other delightful ailments, human and animal.

Malcolm Thick is an historian of agriculture and horticulture. His account of the market gardens of London, The Neat House Gardens, is published by Prospect Books. His introduction puts the man and his work into a broader perspective.