Medicinal recipe book of Jane Hussey

Volume containing recipes ('receipts') for a wide range of curative and restorative waters, syrups, electuaries, plaisters, poultices, ointments, lozenges, oils and juleps for specified conditions; with one loose recipe

This is an example of a private herbal or recipe book for medicines, in the tradition of others compiled not unusually by women. It was compiled by Jane Hussey, whose name appears on the title page and inside the back cover in a second hand, presumably comprising a fair copy of recipes and advice collected together and copied up into book form for careful preservation. Which, if either, of the two hands which wrote the volume were Jane's is not known, but its well-fingered first pages bear witness to its careful consultation over the years.

A comparative example is the work of Grace Mildmay (1552-1620) of Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire. Mildmay wrote that she would consult the printed works by men 'in the herbal books of physic' and adapt them into mixtures of her own and she is known to have acquired and refined recipes for many years. Presumably Jane Hussey operated in the same manner, but without supporting papers, letters or other associated material, this will be hard to verify. Certainly the recipes were collected together from a variety of sources both from medical men and from relatives and acquaintances. By the late 17th century a number of published recipe books, both culinary and medicinal, were widely available, such as 'The English Huswife' by Gervase Markham, first published in 1615 but printed in a ninth edition in 1683. It included recipes for 'physic', cookery, banqueting and distillation. Another reference work still in widespread use was John Gerarde's 'The Herbal', first published in 1597 but printed in an enlarged second edition in 1633. These are the sorts of works which may have been used by Jane Hussey and her circle to adapt for their own use.

The volume provides an in-depth insight into a facet of late 17th century domestic life and is an important source for the study of the history of medicine. It will be of use to those interested in the manufacture of medicines, the availability of herbs, spices and the more exotic consituents and the scientific thinking behind the properties of ingredients.

Jane Hussey has been almost certainly identifed as one of the daughters of Sir Charles Hussey, 1st baronet, of Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, and his wife Elizabeth, nee Brownlow. This Jane Hussey was born c. 1657 and died in 1735. Charles Hussey (1626-1664) sat as Member of Parliament for Lincolnshire in 1656 and again 1661-1664; he married Elizabeth Brownlow, daughter of Sir William Brownlow, baronet, in 1649 and was created baronet in 1661. The couple had three sons and six daughters. One of Jane's sisters, Mary (1653-1697), married Thomas Pochin of Barkby: 'my sister Pochin' is mentioned in the volume, as are severally 'my grandmother Brownlow' and 'my grandfather Brownlow', and 'Aunt Markham', who may be identified as Rebecca, a sister of Sir Charles Hussey who married Sir Robert Markham, first baronet of Sedgebrooke, Lincolnshire. Also mentioned is 'Lady Hussey of Doddington'; the Husseys were a long established Lincolnshire family and the seat of major branch of the family was Doddington Hall.

Sources, accessed February 2017:
https://www.geni.com/people/Jane-Hussey/6000000002116054351
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/hussey-charles-1626-64
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/45817

Open, access to all registered researchers.

Transferred from Orchard Learning Research Centre (OLRC), January 2017.

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Arranged and described by Anne George, February 2017, in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; and in-house cataloguing guidelines.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible in identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

The volume had previously belonged to James Rendel Harris, who referred to it in his article 'The Origins of the Cult of Artemis' published in 1917. Rendel Harris' papers went to the Selly Oak Colleges and in 1997 they were transferred to the Orchard Learning Resources Centre, which was opened following the merger of the Selly Oak Colleges Library and the Westhill College Library.

Referred to as 'the still-room book of Mistress Jane Hussey' in the article by James Rendel Harris, 'The Origins of the Cult of Artemis' published in 1917, see https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/bjrl/003_147.pdf (page 174)
Recipe for 'Aunt Markam's swallow water' quoted in Angela Turner, 'Swallow' (Reaktion Books, 2015)