12th Night Characters - An early 19th century Christmas tradition

The following article was submitted by Henry Mantell. To the left are contemporary photographs on the theme of Christmas taken from the photo portfolio.

I am grateful to my ancestor Joseph Ricketts (1777- 1873) for his reminders of an old January 6 (Twelfth Night) tradition. You may associate 6 January with the traditional removal of Christmas decorations but let me introduce you to Twelfth Night characters a tradition popular from 1800 onwards.

Perhaps it is of interest for you to know that my ancestor Joseph, an extraordinary character, was amongst many things a printer of Twelfth Night characters and a bookseller.

From the pages of an account settled in 1826 he gives us the following.

In the early 1800’s and prior to Victoria’s reign the custom was to make or buy a special Twelfth Night cake which would also be accompanied by Twelfth Night Characters. These “characters” were small humorous illustrations with a few lines of verse beneath printed on cards.

I add a quote from “Hone’s Every day Book ”(1826) sold by Joseph:

“Before your visitors arrive, buy your characters, each of which should have a pleasant verse underneath. Next look at your invitation list and count the number of ladies you expect: and afterwards the number of gentlemen. Fold them up, exactly of the same size, and number each one on the back: taking care to number the King No1 and the Queen No.2 Then prepare and number the gentlemen’s characters. Cause tea and coffee to be handed to your visitors as they drop in. When all assembled and tea over, put as many Ladies’ characters in a reticule [a small mesh net bag] as there are present, next put the gentleman’s characters in a hat. Then call on a gentleman to carry the reticule to the ladies as they sit, from which each lady is to draw one ticket and preserve it unopened. Select a lady to bear the hat to the gentlemen for the same purpose. There will be one ticket left in the reticule ,and another in the hat, which the lady and gentleman who carried each is to interchange, as having fallen to each.

Next arrange your visitors according to their numbers; The King No 1, The Queen No. 2 and so on. The King is then to recite the verse on his ticket; then the verse on hers; and so the characters are to proceed in numerical order. This done, let the cake and refreshment go round, and hey! For merriment”

The tradition was that each person was to assume their character until Midnight! By 1837 this was an extremely popular tradition and most middle class households would participate, Characters were provided to cooks who would plan with the lady of the household and would be expected to produce both the cake and assist with other preparations. The Character card declined in popularity during Queen Victoria’s reign as a new tradition of the Christmas tree took hold, at the suggestion of Albert her consort. The Characters were often hand coloured once purchased from the printer as colour printing had not been invented.

I am grateful to ancestor Joseph for a reminder of the end of seasonal festivities 200 years ago. His accounts are currently forming a growing body of knowledge about him which is already beginning to feel like a small book!

Henry Mantell