The History of Candle Making

How many times have you lit a candle and wondered about how it all began? Is it down to one culture and country? The response is that any published history of the candle making of today and back into the past has to include several nations and civilizations.

As far back as 3000BC we acknowledge the Egyptians were fashioning candles out of beeswax, a type of candle that is still popular nowadays. About 200BC the Chinese employed whale fat for their candles and, as we are aware, whales continued providing blubber and oil for lamps until becoming a threatened species.

Middle Age Europe saw tallow candles rise in popularity. Tallow, which is fat from cattle or sheep, became the standard material employed in candles and The Tallow Chandlers Company of London was formed in about 1300. By 1415, tallow candles were employed in street lighting. The glycerine in tallow candles created an obnoxious aroma and therefore beeswax candles were used for churches and royal events. If tallow candles were so objectionable to burn, just think how unpleasant the smell must have been during fabrication! It was so unpleasant that the processing of fat to produce tallow for candles was banished in many regions.

American settlers produced candles from bayberries but the output was very mediocre. It is said that it requires about 15 pounds of bayberries to produce barely one pound of bayberry wax. Bayberry wax is also known as bayberry tallow or myrtle wax and is the most uncommon of all candle waxes. Bayberry wax has an down-to-earth fragrance and dries out to an olive green colour.

Around 1750, very expensive candles were made from spermaceti, found in the head cavity of the sperm whale. Understandably cheaper options were required and by 1800 an alternative was discovered. Derived from plant material, the candles produced clear, smokeless flames. An additional discovery in 1811 by French chemists witnessed the production of stearin, similarly tallow derived from animals but without any glycerine content.

Price's Patent Candles Ltd. began manufacturing candles in 1830. By the close of the century the company was the largest manufacturer of candles in the world. It made inexpensive stearine candles that burned nearly as well as expensive beeswax candles. In 1834, Joseph Morgan started to industrialise the production of candles. He invented a machine to manufacture 1,500 per hour, from a mould. Already a successful company, the first appearance of mass production enabled Price's to command the nightlight market.

In 1850 the production of paraffin became commercially feasible and enabled the manufacture of high quality but inexpensive candles.