Lighting 1739 style
Yes, a sperm whale. The steward’s financial accounts for 1737 to 1739 reveal Belton at the forefront of a major advance in artificial lighting - the use of spermaceti candles.
Sperm whales, made famous by Moby-Dick, contain a waxy oil in their heads for buoyancy and echolocation of food - squid and shark. The name of these 16 to 21 m long 'monsters' derives from this oil, originally mistakenly identified as the whales' semen, and cetus Latin for whale. First harpooned from 1720, whalers cut off the heads and climbed in to scoop out the oil. Processing produced spermaceti wax. Dauterive (2018) summarises the spermaceti candle industry on a YouTube lecture.
The light from a single spermaceti candle became the standard unit of luminous intensity – candlepower, still employed today to express spotlight strength.
The fat of the spermaceti whale gives the clearest and most beautiful flame of any substance that is known in nature (John Adams 1785, ambassador to Great Britain & later US president)
Like beeswax, it does not create a repugnant odour when burned. Harder than either tallow or beeswax, it would not bend in summer heat.
Spermaceti candles appear in English language texts from 1741, but in Belton’s records earlier - in 1739.
Spermaceti became the illuminant of choice for lighthouses. The main whaling port, New Bedford, Massachusetts, was nicknamed "The City That Lit the World."
Viscount Tyrconnel would spend November to January at Belton. From January, his entire household moved to 23 Arlington Street (now under the Ritz Hotel). This London home was his base for parliamentary duties as Grantham MP. The household would return to Belton come June.
Based on small beer consumption, indoor servants numbered around 22. Elizabeth Frith remained as the servant in charge of Belton during his Lordship’s absence.
Weekly candle usage breaks down into ‘common’ or tallow candles for servants, costlier mould candles and expensive bees wax and translucent white spermaceti candles from London for special events. Based on eight candles per pound, each the weight of today’s domestic candle, servants would use 4 tallow candles daily in winter and 1 or 2 in summer.
A mould candle will burn half an hour longer than a dipped candle of the same size, and give rather more light (Timbs 1866)
Plausible is that mould candles burnt in family areas where they looked better and dripped less wax - 16 candles per day with no seasonal variation. It is these that most often occupied Belton's silver sconces.
The stacked column chart indicates that wax lights blazed only on certain occasions. Up to twenty-fold more expensive than tallow, the highest number glowed in the weeks around Tyrconnel’s birthday, on the 16th November. An 8-inch long tallow candle takes about 45-60 minutes to burn down while the same size beeswax candle burns down in about three-and-a-half hours. With civil twilight ending around 5pm, wax candles meant that Tyrconnel's birthday festivities could continue to 8pm or beyond.
Chart of candles used 1737 to 1738 in Belton House. Flame icons illuminate wax candle usage.
The July wax candle use could relate to Viscountess Tyrconnel, Elizabeth Cartwright’s birthday, born on 7 July 1711. These brightly illuminated nights often have increased alcohol and food consumption indicating guests entertained.
Christmas week records a spike in barrelled ale likely for the servants, but no change in food or candle expenditure. It seems that the Tyrconnels had a quiet Christmas Day at home, by one of their 64 fireplaces, but not a teetotal one. Eighteenth century Belton’s booze to come.