The history of the candle making methods used throughout time

We light a candle in our modern time and, like many other thing, just take it
for granted.
After all, it is just a nice and decorative addition to our home or garden,
isn't it?
Not that long ago really, the candle was an essential item to have in your home.
The next time you flick on an electric light, spare a thought for your ancestors
and how they provided light for their homes.

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

As far back as 3000BC we know the Egyptians were making candles out
of beeswax, a type of candle that is still popular today. Around
200BC the Chinese used whale fat for their candles and, as we are too
well aware, whales continued to provide blubber and oil for lamps
until they have become an endangered species.

Middle Age Europe saw tallow candles grow in popularity. Tallow,
which is fat from cows or sheep, became the standard material used in
candles and The Tallow Chandlers Company of London was formed in
about 1300. By 1415, tallow candles were used in street lighting.
However the glycerine in tallow candle produced an unpleasant smell
and hence beeswax candles were used for churches and royal events.
If tallow candles were so unpleasant to burn, just imagine how
unpleasant the smell must have been during manufacture! It was so
unpleasant that the processing of fat to produce tallow for candles
was banned in many areas.

American colonists made candles from bayberries but the yield was
very poor. It is said that it takes about 15 pounds of bayberries to
make just one pound of bayberry wax. Bayberry wax is also known as
bayberry tallow or myrtle wax and is the rarest of all candle waxes.
Bayberry wax has an earthy fragrance and dries to an olive green
colour.

Around 1750, very expensive candles were being produced from
spermaceti, found in the the head cavity of the sperm whale. Clearly
cheaper alternatives were required and by 1800 an alternative was
indeed discovered. Derived from plant material, the candles produced
clear, smokeless flames. A further breakthrough in 1811 by French
chemists saw the production of stearin, like tallow derived from
animals but with no glycerine content.

Price's Patent Candles Ltd. began manufacturing candles in 1830. By
the end of the century the company was the largest maker of candles
in the world. It made inexpensive stearine candles that burned almost
as well as expensive beeswax candles. In 1834, Joseph Morgan began
to industrialise the production of candles. He invented a machine to
manufacture 1,500 per hour, from a mould. Already a succesful
company, the introduction of mass production enabled Price's to
dominate the nightlight market.

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

Rodger Cresswell is Managing Director of Avondale Consultancy Limited
and Consultant to JC Regali