Great-Great Grandfather Joseph Guyer Beard
In Victoria times, bread was an extremely important of everyone’s diet. It was so important, in fact, that the government stepped in to regulate the size of loaves and overall standards. So it was interesting to discover that our great-great-grandfather, Joseph Guyer Beard, was a baker – and a successful one at that – putting him in a pivotal position in society. But being a baker in Victorian times was not a piece of cake (sorry) by any means.
According to author Heather Hiestand, who researched into the lives of Victorian bakers for a series of novels, it was a tough life. It only became worse during the London Season when bread orders increased. Eleven at night was the start of a baker’s day, when he made the dough. He was able to sleep on the job for a couple of hours while the bread rose, then had to do the rest of the physical tasks of preparing rolls and loaves. Kneading was sometimes done with feet, perhaps making for a less-than-clean product. The bakehouse was alarmingly hot as well, up to ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Some bakers had to deliver the bread they made, too. They only had five to ten hours off per day and all but none during the Season. Historian A.N. Wilson says statistics show London bakers rarely lived past the age of forty-two, so the fact that Joseph made it to the age of 62 was a plus.
Heather Hiestand says a baker didn’t only have to worry about the process of baking. Getting supplies was more difficult than it is now, though as always, suppliers were important to businesses. They had to choose from various grades of flour, classes of butter, and different kinds of sugar. Eggs needed to be fresh and fruit needed to be best quality.
Joseph appears to have done well as a baker. By the time of the 1861 census, he was described as a ‘master baker’ and had employed bakers to work under him.
Today, Joseph’s bakery is no more. Borough Road has changed beyond anything he would recognise and his address is now a small park.
