Leeches, moustache grease and a pint of blood were among the everyday essentials found in the Victorian shopping basket, a new study has revealed.
Records from the 1800s show the everyday items once considered staples that would raise eyebrows and probably turn stomachs for modern day shoppers.
Leeches were bought on doctor’s orders to remove 'bad blood' and pints of animal blood drank as a dietary supplement to ward off tuberculosis.
Leeches, moustache grease and a pint of blood were among the everyday essentials that Victorians shopped for in the high street
Considered to be a reliable snapshot of living habits at the time, the contents of the average shopping basket are used as measures of inflation, changing living standards and changing tastes.
Chemists sold toxic arsenic to kill vermin in the home and opticians stocked an array of monocles, barometers or opera glasses, and galloon salesmen marketed woven metal trimming, reserved today for ceremonial military dress.
Many of these traders, which were commonplace on the average Victorian high street, disappeared long ago as industrial society evolved and new products dominated the market.
Gun merchants, who lost the majority of their trade after the 1903 Pistol Act, Corn Chandlers selling animal feed, 'Japanners' selling furniture lacquer, herring merchants and feather merchants, tripe dressers flogging offal and wax merchants for candles in the pre-electric light bulb era are 'extinct', said Ancestry.com who commissioned the study.
Records from the 1800s show the everyday items
once considered staples. Leeches were bought on doctor's orders to
remove 'bad blood' and pints of animal blood drank as a dietary
supplement
THE MOST POPULAR RETAILERS ON A VICTORIAN HIGH STREET
1. Milliners and dressmakers
2. Boot and shoe shops
3. Book sellers
4. Butchers
5. Wine and spirit merchants
6. Fruiterers and greengrocers
7. Corn chandlers (corn, wheat, flour)
8. Watch & Clock makers
9. Confectioners
10. Opticians
Some stores have stood the test of time. Following fashions in the latest outfits was as important to the Victorians as it is today, with clothing shops numbering the most out of any on the high street.
Milliners would cater for all members of a society obsessed with hats while a number of other traders appeared, flogging the chemicals, dyes and ribbons to decorate and maintain the Victorian’s headgear.
But there are products that have remained favourites over the last 200 years.
Booze was as popular then as it is today, with ales, porters and beers the common tipples bought and drunk in pubs, while shops selling spirits supplied the Victorians with their favourite liquor - gin.
Some retailers grew from their humble 19th century beginnings to become some of the biggest companies in Britain.
Today there are few high streets in the country without a Marks and Spencer, which began as a market stall in 1884 in Leeds, and you are never far away from a Sainsbury’s, which began selling fresh foods in 1869.
Following fashions in the latest outfits was as
important to the Victorians. Milliners (pictured) would cater for all
members of a society obsessed with hats while a number of other traders
appeared, flogging the chemicals, dyes and ribbons to decorate and
maintain the Victorian's headgear
Their rise, along with others like them, has pushed out many of the other traders like the green grocers, bakers and butchers that lined the Victorian high street out of business.
Along with these were the costermongers, independent 'Del Boy' traders who sold anything they could get their hands on from scrap metal and bone to sophisticated perfumes and hair treatment.
Although these opportunists have been reincarnated in recent years, with the introduction of “pop-up shops” selling the latest fashions and wares over a short period of time.
Miriam Silverman, UK Content Manager, from Ancestry.co.uk said: 'Our ancestors will certainly have headed to the high street to pick up their shopping essentials, but it’s interesting just how different this experience would have been and how fascinating the items were that our forbears would have bought regularly.'
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