Published in 1901, Florence George’s ‘King Edward’s Cookery Book’ had a clear objective: to provide a “concise and methodical manual… as useful to those who have £200 per year at their disposal as to those who have a £1000.”

Writing primarily for school girls, Florence hoped that her book would find its way into domestic circles “where a single and practical manual is always welcome.” It was a popular text book in schools and became a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic, remaining in print for over 50 years. Today, its familiar well-worn red cover boards with black lettering can often be found amongst the papers and photographs donated to the King Edward’s Foundation archive, kept by former pupils until the end of their lives.

Born in 1864, Florence George was one of the first fully-trained cookery teachers to be employed in secondary education, having qualified at The National School of Cookery, London, in 1894. She initially taught pupils the theory of cookery by means of demonstration, since King Edward VI High School for Girls (KEHS) – then in Congreve Street in the City Centre – had no practical cookery facilities. This was happily overcome in 1896 when the school moved to nearby New Street to a brand new building fully equipped with a state of the art cookery room. The Headmistress, Miss Creak, was determined that the girls would be taught a broad curriculum, which included cookery alongside classics and chemistry.

Florence George’s workload was rather heavy; teaching High School girls in the morning, while afternoons were spent teaching girls from the other King Edward’s Grammar Schools in Birmingham. On top of a full timetable, she also supervised over 200 school meals every day, plus Elevenses which included soup and cake!

The publication of her book in 1901 must have been met with great excitement by her pupils, many of whom were recognised in the city by carrying their little red cookery books.

The success of the King Edward’s Cookery Book led Edward Arnold to publish Florence’s second volume in 1908, simply entitled ‘Vegetarian Cookery’. Somewhat ahead of its time, the book was aimed at those “who from principle wish to abstain from meat” as well as those “who simply wanted to reduce the amount of meat in their diet.”

‘Vegetarian Cookery’ was favourably received, with a review in the New York Times on 21st November 1908, and is still referred to in discussions of vegetarian dishes today.

1917 saw the publication of Economical Dishes for War-time, with recipes adapted to reflect food shortages, including ‘Cakes made with very little or entirely without flour’ and ‘War-time bread’.

One former pupil commented that she did not know what she would have done in “these war-days without Miss George’s teaching”. Sally Huxley, author of ‘Recipes for Success: 125 Years of Cookery at King Edward’s High School for Girls’, writes:

“Miss George was evidently instrumental in encouraging and organising cookery in the form of morale-boosting jam, Christmas cakes and sweets for the services and Bournbrook Hospital, as well as supplying jellies and cakes to the ambulance trains and the hospital. The 610 Lbs of jam and 58 Christmas cakes recorded for 1915 conjure up an image of permanent jam making and bubbling pans of hot fruit never far from Miss George’s expert eye.”

Florence left King Edward’s High School one hundred years ago, at the end of the spring term in 1917, for what was supposed to be a term’s rest. She had been unwell for a number of years and never fully recovered, resigning her position a year later in April 1918.

Florence died just a few weeks after her resignation on the 3rd of July, 1918. Her death certificate recorded ‘sarcoma of the hip’ and ‘exhaustion’ as the causes of death. Her pupils wrote touching tributes describing Miss George’s “lovely self-effacement, artistic nature, powers of organisation and spirit of her work” and remembering her “thorough and perfect training” with “those clever hands and fertile and original brain”. One former pupil wrote poignantly of how Miss George gave her services “ungrudgingly, sadly forgetful of the limited strength she possessed”.

Poignantly, Florence George’s love of her subject lived on after her death with the posthumous publication in 1921 of ‘A Manual of Cookery’.

 

Alison Wheatley
King Edward’s Foundation Archivist
Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham

— This article draws on documents in the King Edward’s Foundation Archive. For further information on Florence George and the history of cookery teaching, see ‘Recipes for Success: 125 Years of Cookery at King Edward VI High School for Girls’, by Sally Huxley (published October 2011)