Victorian Evening Routine

I’ve lately been inspired to delve further into an immersive Victorian experience as I am currently reading quite a bit of literature published during Queen Victoria’s reign. And I am inviting you to join me as well as we encounter Victorian life, complete with routines transitioning from late afternoon walks to the evening meal to the leisurely parlor pastimes that occupied the hours before bed and culminating with the natural winding-down preparing one’s toilette and choosing appropriate nightwear in candlelight. Along the way, I’ll share what I’ve learned of period etiquette and how domestic life shaped these nightly rituals.

So dim your lights, light a candle, and let’s step back in time as we journey into the quiet world of a Victorian evening.

3pm Late Afternoon Walk

At half past three, I take an unhurried afternoon walk, as a solitary autumnal afternoon walk by an older married lady residing in a rural setting is permitted by custom. I decide to bring a book along to soak up some late afternoon sunshine in a few moments of peace.

4pm Afternoon Tea

By four o’clock, I have returned back inside, where a pot of tea awaits. The porcelain cup is warmed in my hands; I sip slowly, savoring the comfort of the hour, with lady fingers set neatly on a tray. Again, I choose to pick up a book to savor the treat of not only feeding my body with hot tea and sumptuous sponge biscuits but also of feeding my mind with intellectual stimulation.

5pm Letter Writing

As the clock strikes five, I seat myself at my desk. A steel nib pen dips into the inkwell, scratching steadily across the page. Outside, postmen deliver and collect the post several times a day, and I know that even though we reside in the country, if I write this letter in time for the 6pm collection, it may reach its destination by the morning.

6pm Preparations for the Evening Meal

As six o’clock approaches, the household prepares for the evening meal. Some of the necessary tasks do need to be completed earlier in the day such as the baking of the bread.  The collection of herbs for inclusion in the bouquet garni is also best done earlier in the day before the evening dew dampens the plants. To stave off the evening chill, we prepare Queen Victoria’s Brown Windsor Soup which is a hearty beef stew.

7pm Supper

By seven, we are gathered at table to savor a hearty meal of a few courses. We chose to incorporate the Victorian style known as Service à la Française by placing the food directly on the table and allowing each person to serve themselves.

8pm Leisure in the Parlor

After the meal, the evening would unfold in quiet leisure with a few turns at the piano or maybe simple conversation by the fire. On this particular evening, we chose reading aloud from a favorite volume of ghost stories.

9pm Prepare for Bed

At nine, I retire from the parlor to start the routine for preparing for sleep. A nightgown replaces the day’s attire; my hair is brushed free of its pins. I wash my face in cool water, pat it dry, and let the hush of evening fold around me.

I look out the window panes to admire the moon in the surrounding darkness and find myself wishing that moonbeams could be bottled and corked into an apothecary bottle.

10p Bedtime

By ten, the candles are snuffed, and the house falls silent and I fall into my first sleep.

2am Segmented Sleep

But at two o’clock, I wake. Biphasic sleep is a habit of sleeping in a first sleep for a few hours and then to awaken for a pause in the night: light a candle, open a book, read in the hush of darkness.It is the secret hour, the stillness between sleeps. I strike a match, light a candle, and for a time I read a few quiet pages in its soft flicker. I choose not the ghost stories from before but a more peaceful tale.

3am Back to Sleep

At three, the candle is blown out, and once more I return to slumber for my second sleep until morning light.