Women in Cheese: The Harding Family
You may have heard of Joseph Harding, “the father of Cheddar.” But you probably haven’t heard of Elizabeth, Rachel, and Sidney Harding. They helped shape and spread the Harding method of Cheddar-making: managing the dairy, making the cheese, and training other cheesemakers. Whilst earning her master’s degree in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at Oxford University, Elizabeth Monthofer uncovered the contributions of the women of the Harding family. You can read an excerpt of her research below.
Photo of Rachel and Joseph Harding (New Zealand Dairy Records Archive)
Born in 1805 to a family of farmers in Somerset, Joseph Harding is known as the “father of Cheddar cheese.” He became most widely known for establishing the “Joseph Harding System,” in which he applied the knowledge he obtained from integrating scientific techniques and discerning best practices in his dairy to the production of Cheddar cheese. The historiography widely credits him for not only creating new techniques and innovating upon old ones, but for educating cheesemakers throughout England and Scotland by participating in reports conducted by agricultural societies, giving a series of lectures, and publishing an article on his process.
However, Joseph Harding was not the only individual in his family who was involved in the production of their farm’s cheese; Elizabeth Harding (his aunt), Rachel Harding (his wife), and his daughters (primarily Sidney Harding) were instrumental figures in producing the Harding family’s Cheddar.
Developing the Harding System
Harding is widely credited with introducing improvements to the techniques of Cheddar production. In his own words given in an 1860 article he published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, he states “For many years past it has been our object to produce the best possible cheese with the least possible labor – an object we have, in no small degree – accomplished.” He argues that the quality of Cheddar has been improved through the introduction of techniques like slip-scalding and rapid-ripening. He also argues for the implementation of using a curd-breaker, improving hygiene in the dairy room, and testing the exact acidity of the cheese.
Significantly, he advocated for the continued pursuit of a scientific approach to Cheddar; he promoted research into detailing the chemical composition of the cheese curd and whey at different steps in production, arguing that with sufficient funding “this object could be attained, and the result would be that cheese could be made (as it ought to be) upon principles scientific and, consequently, unerring.”
In contemporary writings about his technical contributions, Harding is called “the first scientific instructor of Cheddar cheese-making.” Joseph Harding, however, did not conduct the experiments that lead to these innovations alone. His aunt Elizabeth “Betsy” Harding, his wife Rachel Harding, and his daughters Sidney, Emma, Ellen, Mary, Eliza, Sophia, and Julia were directly involved in the Cheddar making process.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine the degree to which these women advocated for the use of certain techniques, as no surviving records written from their perspectives exist. However, there is enough evidence found in reports, newspaper articles, and records of Joseph Harding’s lectures to confirm that they were responsible for producing the Cheddar. In Harding’s own words, “One of my daughters, or their mother, makes the cheese.” In his obituary, the production of the Cheddar is similarly credited to Harding’s eldest daughter. Harding also attributes to his wife a direct role in the experimentation process, conveying that:
“Fifteen years ago, Mrs. H and I, with a few others, started with the object before us of producing the best cheese with the least amount of Labor. By means of experiment, in a careful study of the progressive changes in the curd, we were soon enabled to lay down a course from which we have not yet seen it necessary to deviate.”
Furthermore, a credit is owed to Elizabeth Harding, Joseph’s aunt, for her contributions to the Harding system. Elizabeth Harding was said to be “an excellent farmer and cheesemaker of considerable renown, and she taught Joseph his farming and his cheesemaking.”
Aside from teaching him the skills necessary to become a cheesemaker, there is evidence that most of Harding’s experimental work took place at her dairy in Marksbury. This suggests that Elizabeth Harding provided the managerial experience and skills requisite to run the daily operations of the dairy, including being involved in maintaining the cleanliness of the machinery and dairy room that the Harding system is famed for.
Combined, these accounts strongly suggest that the women of the Harding family had an invaluable role in the development of the Harding system. They were responsible for producing the cheese, conducting the experiments under which the scientific principles of Cheddar were developed, and aided in maintaining the daily operations of the dairy.
Spreading the Harding System
Harding is described as “budding educationalist” who “initiated the teaching of Dairying, including the manufacture of cheese as a specific technical subject.” An 1880 pamphlet on the practices of dairy farming writes that “Mr. Harding was the author of some pamphlets on the method; [he] lectured upon and taught it in various districts of the kingdom, notably in Ayrshire, on the invitation of the Agricultural Society of that county; and included among his pupils many Continental dairymen.” His attempts to educate cheesemakers through lectures, pamphlets, and demonstrations was widely applauded; as cheesemaking was a somewhat secretive practice at the time, this was a notable endeavor.
Harding is perhaps most lauded for his role in bringing Cheddar to Scotland. Scotland was outside the traditional region of Cheddar production in Somerset. It was widely believed that the region was unsuitable for the production of this type of cheese. It was not until a “deputation from the Ayrshire Agriculture Association visited Somerset in 1854” and produced a report on Joseph Harding’s methods of Cheddar production that Scottish Cheddar became viable. This report detailing Harding’s process was spread throughout Scotland and was adopted by cheesemakers. The report is credited to Harding and some sources convey that it took place on the farm “owned by Joseph Harding.” These educational efforts made him known “in all parts of Britain, in the Dominions, in America, and even in Scandinavia” and the Harding method became employed just as widely.
Rachel, Elizabeth, and Sidney Harding played a major part in Joseph’s educational efforts that have been underrepresented in the historiography. The most well credited contribution is that Rachel Harding was involved in the traveling Cheddar making demonstrations. However, the extent to which Rachel was involved in these demonstrations has largely not been explored. Rather than simply providing the labor required for these demonstrations, it is likely she took an active role in the teaching process as well.
An 1859 newspaper article remarks that agricultural societies “would do well to follow the public-spirited example set by the Ayrshire agricultural association, and bringing Mr. and Mrs. Harding from England to perform and explain the process.” There is more evidence that Rachel took over for Joseph entirely in his lecturing when he fell ill. Lastly, a Cheshire cheese producer by the name of G. Jackson commented upon visiting the Harding dairy:
“I had not the good fortune to find him at home, but his lady kindly undertook to supply his lack, showed me their dairy contrivances, and explained with much good nature the entire manipulation; And I left under a feeling of deep indebtedness to her for that frank, painstaking kindness which she exhibited to enlighten my ignorance and to instruct a stray stranger into her “art and mystery.”
This strongly suggests that Rachel made significant contributions to the propagation of the Harding method and was an educator in her own right. Her ability to teach the new “scientific” principles of Cheddar making is evident in her participation in the lectures, the demonstrations, and in personal remarks to visiting cheesemakers, despite her contribution still being viewed as an “art and mystery.”
Not as widely recognized, however, is the instrumental role Elizabeth and Sidney Harding had in the report that brought Cheddar cheese to Scotland. In Joseph Harding’s obituary, it is remarked that the deputation sent by the Ayrshire Agriculture Association visited Elizabeth Harding’s dairy in Marksbury, setting the location of the demonstration at her “dairy of eighty cows” in Marksbury. Further in his obituary it is conveyed that:
“The cheese was made by Mr. Harding’s eldest daughter, then a very young woman, and her description of the successive processes, given in nearly her own language in the report of the deputation, might suffice, with little alteration after the lapse of more than twenty years, as an account of the manufacture of fine Cheddar cheese.”
A report given by F.J. Lloyd on the manufacture of Cheddar cheese similarly places the location of this report at Elizabeth Harding’s dairy, in which he discusses the beginning of the Cheddar making process starting with the milk from “the seventy-three cows belonging to Mrs. Harding at Marksbury.” These accounts situate the location of the report at Elizabeth Harding’s farm and indicate that she and her niece were responsible for the labor of the demonstration as well as the content.
This narrative is supported by a description of what transpired given by one of the members of the deputation himself. Eight years after the report took place, Joseph Harding wrote to the editor of the Ayrshire Express to voice his opinion that he believed the commissioners were not forthcoming about their intentions and took information about his practices from him without his consent. In response, one of the deputation members wrote back that:
“I think Mr. Harding must be mistaken as to our returning to Marksbury two hours before the appointed time. If he takes to his memory, he will recollect that our morning visit was not to him but to his aunt, and we had the pleasure of receiving from her and Miss Harding a very full and clear detail of the successive processes. We were the more indebted to these ladies for their courtesy and attention, that has enabled us to give a minute description of that system of cheese making which, so far as we were aware, had not previously been fully brought under public notice.”
Collectively, these accounts indicate that Elizabeth and Sidney Harding were responsible for both the verbal description of the scientific principles of Cheddar making and the physical demonstration of them. Joseph Harding may not have been present at all during the Ayrshire Agricultural Association report that contributed to his prominence as a scientific cheesemaker.
Joseph Harding’s attitude toward women
In a lecture given at Tarporley, Joseph Harding remarks that:
“I hope I have been successful in showing the ladies, especially the younger portion of this audience, that cheese-making is not unworthy of their attention; there is nothing in it low or menial, but it is a respectable and intellectual employment, which requires no ordinary amount of mental capacity to ensure success.”
He encouraged women to pursue careers in cheesemaking and was supportive of their financial independence, which is rather unusual and worth noting. In the diary of his granddaughter, it is clear that he supported women taking an interest in science in general. Her remarks reveal that he would frequently show her celestial objects in his telescope and gave her his books on geology and caliology when she expressed an interest in the subjects.
It is still apparent that his views on the ability of women to think scientifically still reflected some of the predominant assumptions of the time. In the same lecture in which he encouraged women to pursue cheesemaking, he remarked that “on the other hand the responsibility of making cheese is too great to rest upon the woman” and that “the man should assist her, by studying the nature of the milk, and the successive changes which it undergoes before the cheese is made, so as to be enabled in his cheese room to point to any inferior cheese, and understand the cause.” Similarly, he expressed the idea that, if women made an inferior cheese, she would be “too 'harassed and perplexed' to find out the true causes of their errors, and would continue to 'grope through life without disclosing their feelings, or seeking the advice of others,” passing the tradition of errant cheesemaking on to their daughters.
While he might have behaved differently in private, his public remarks reflected some doubt about the capacities of women to become scientific cheesemakers; never mind the fact that his aunt taught him the skills necessary to become a cheesemaker, his wife conducted his experiments and educated others on their scientific practices, and his daughter spoke about the successive processes on her own.
You can read more about the history of women in cheese on our blog. Start with a biography of Edith Cannon, another iconic Cheddar cheesemaker.
