rushlight

{{Short description|Lighting made by dipping a rush in fat or grease}}

A rushlight is a type of candle or miniature torch formed by soaking the dried pith of the rush plant in fat or grease. For several centuries, rushlights were a common source of artificial light for poor people throughout the British Isles.{{cite book |first=Gertrude |last=Jekyll |title=Old West Surrey: Some Notes and Memories |url=https://archive.org/details/oldwestsurreyso00jekygoog |year=1904 |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |location=London, New York and Bombay |page=[https://archive.org/details/oldwestsurreyso00jekygoog/page/n126 101]}} They were extremely inexpensive to make. English essayist William Cobbett wrote, "This rushlight cost almost nothing to produce and was believed to give a better light than some poorly dipped candles."quoted in {{cite book|author=Nian-Sheng Huang|title=Franklin's Father Josiah: Life of a Colonial Boston Tallow Chandler, 1657-1745|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OAUNAAAAIAAJ|year=2000|publisher=American Philosophical Society|isbn=978-0-87169-903-9}}

One of the earliest printed descriptions of rushlights was written by English antiquary John Aubrey in 1673. Rev. Gilbert White gave a detailed description of rushlight making in The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, Letter XXVI (1789). Rushlights were still used in rural England to the end of the 19th century, and they had a temporary revival during World War II.{{cite book|author=Richard Mabey|title=Plants with a Purpose: A Guide to the Everyday Uses of Wild Plants|year=1977|publisher=Collins|isbn=978-0-00-219117-3}} In parts of Wales the use of rushlights continued into the middle of the 20th century.{{cite book|author=David J. Eveleigh|title=Candle Lighting|year=2003|publisher=Shire Books}}

File:Rushlight with pest holes in base - DPLA - a0a29190a0bb7b4c9cbf53fe9490ce07 (cropped).jpg

It is not clear whether rushlights were ever popular in the United States and Canada. Antique rushlight holders are occasionally found in North America, but most were probably imported from England; "none are known to bear the mark of an American smith."{{cite book|author=William C. Ketchum|title=The Catalog of American Antiques|year=1977|publisher=Rutledge Books}} In New England, "rushlights were used little if at all in colonial days."{{cite book|author=Lawrence S. Cooke|title=Lighting in America: From Colonial Rushlights to Victorian Chandeliers|year=1976|publisher=Main Street Press}}

Rushlights should not be confused with rush-candles, although the latter word is attested for the same thing earlier in the 1590s.{{Cite web |title=rushlight {{!}} Search Online Etymology Dictionary |url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=Rushlight |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=www.etymonline.com}} A rush-candle is an ordinary candle (a block or cylinder of tallow or wax) that uses a piece of rush as a wick.{{cite book|title=Collections Historical & Archaeological Relating to Montgomeryshire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEYLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA382|volume=XXIII|year=1889|publisher=The Club|at=p. 382, first paragraph}} Rushlights, by contrast, are strips of plant fibre impregnated with tallow or grease. The wick is not separate from the fuel in a rushlight.

Preparation

Mature rush stalks are gathered in summer or autumn. The green epidermis or rind of each stalk is carefully peeled off to reveal the inner pith, but a single lengthwise strip of rind is left in place to provide support for the fragile pith. After drying, the rush is then steeped in any available household fat or grease. Bacon grease was commonly used, but mutton fat was considered best by some, partly because it dried to a harder, less messy texture than other fats.{{sfn|Jekyll|1904|page=102}} A small amount of beeswax added to the grease would cause the rush to burn longer.{{cite book|author=Gilbert White|title=Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne|url=https://archive.org/details/naturalhistorya00delagoog|year=1875|publisher=Macmillan and Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/naturalhistorya00delagoog/page/n242 195]}} On more remote Atlantic islands such as St Kilda the stomach oil produced by fulmars was used.{{cite book |last=Bewick |first=Thomas |title=A History of British Birds, volume II, Water Birds |author-link=Thomas Bewick |year=1847 |edition=revised |page=226|quote=No bird is of so much use to the islanders as this: the Fulmar supplies them with oil for their lamps ...}}

Duration and quality of light

Sources give varying accounts of the length and burn-time of the average rushlight. The book of trades, or Library of the useful arts indicates that the average rushlight was 12 inches (30 cm) long and burned for 10 to 15 minutes.11th edition, 1823, as quoted in {{cite book|author=Caroline Davidson|title=A woman's work is never done: a history of housework in the British Isles, 1650-1950|year=1982|publisher=Chatto & Windus}} Gilbert White reported that a rushlight 28.5 inches (72 cm) in length burned for 57 minutes; he wrote, "these rushes give a good clear light." There was much variation in the quality of rushlights; a 19th-century writer observed that "one might very well flicker and splutter for an hour, whilst a second was just as likely to flame away in ten minutes."{{cite magazine|editor=Charles Dickens|editor-link=Charles Dickens|title=Horology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_jVAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA490|year=1869|page=490|magazine=All the Year Round}}

A differently made rushlight in which two strips of the rind were left on the rush before it was coated with tallow produced a dimmer light but burned much longer. White referred to these as "watchlights".

Fixtures

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The burning rushlight was normally held by metal clips at an angle of about 45 degrees.{{cite book|author=Loris S. Russell|title=A Heritage of Light: Lamps and Lighting in the Early Canadian Home|year=1968|publisher=University of Toronto Press}} If the rush is held vertically, it tends to have a dimmer flame. If held horizontally, it may burn too quickly.{{cite book|author=William Rollinson|title=Life & Tradition in the Lake District|year=1974|publisher=Dalesman}} However, there were some devices designed to keep the burning rush in a vertical position,{{cite book|author=George Frederick Chambers|title=A handbook for East-Bourne and Seaford, and the neighbourhood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_rIHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA19|year=1885|page=19}} including nightlights made from cylinders of tin or sheet-iron perforated with holes that would allow the light to shine out.{{cite magazine|author=William Makepeace Thackeray|title=Striking a Light|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uekLAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA490|year=1890|publisher=Smith, Elder.|page=490|magazine=The Cornhill Magazine}}

The rushlight holder was usually mounted on an iron tripod or a wooden block. Antique rushlight holders are now collectors' items.{{cite book|author=Helen Brigham Hebard|title=Early lighting in New England, 1620-1861|edition=2nd|year=1965|publisher=C. E. Tuttle Co.}} They were never mass-produced but were individually made by local craftsmen and blacksmiths.

In literature and culture

One of Aesop's Fables, known in English as "the farthing rushlight" or "the vain rushlight," describes a personified rushlight bragging that it is more brilliant than the sun, moon, and stars. The rushlight is then blown out by a slight breeze. The person who re-lights the rushlight advises it to be more humble.{{cite book|author=Frederic Taber Cooper|title=An Argosy of Fables: A Representative Selection from the Fable Literature of Every Age and Land|url=https://archive.org/details/anargosyfablesa00aesogoog|year=1921|publisher=Frederick A. Stokes Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/anargosyfablesa00aesogoog/page/n56 26]}}

Several magazines are named after rushlights. Rushlight is a literary and visual arts journal founded in 1855 by Lucy Larcom and published by Wheaton College (Massachusetts). The Rushlight is a quarterly newsletter of the International Association of Collectors and Students of Historic Lighting. Rushlight (The Belfast Magazine) is a journal of Belfast history and folklore founded by Joe Graham.

The name Rushlite was used during and for a while after World War II as a trademark of J. V. Rushton of Wolverhampton. "During the war Mr Rushton started to sell his own Rushlite Batteries through Halfords shop."{{citation |first=Maud |last=Highfield |editor-first=Ang |editor-last=Johnson |title=Maud Highfield remembers ... |url=http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/genealogy/highfield/highfield01.htm |access-date=4 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027121458/http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/genealogy/highfield/highfield01.htm |archive-date=27 October 2012 }}

rushlight

Preparation

Duration and quality of light

Fixtures

In literature and culture

See also

References

Further reading