| A hungry child watches his mother fry food over a Beatrice Stove Model Number 33 in a wartime air raid shelter. A popular kitchen tool, the Beatrice Stove Model Number 1 was 1st manufactured in 1886 by John Harper and Company, Willenhall, Staffordshire. By 1928, when the Model 33 came out, the Beatrice Stove offered single- and double-burner options. It burned paraffin (petroleum wax). It differed from a Primus Stove, which burned pressurized liquid paraffin (kerosene). Newly married couples put Beatrice Stoves on their wedding registries. During the war, Beatrice Stoves were installed in Anderson shelters, so people could cook during long nights waiting for the bombing to end. Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) issued Beatrice Stoves to each nurse as part of their individual kit. Because full-sized oven ranges ran very hot, families would cook with Beatrice Stoves during the summer instead. During the Blitz, Beatrice Stoves allowed people to cook when gas and electric services were disrupted. With rationing, civilians lamented missing their favorite foods. Home Economist Marguerite Patten (November 1915 – June 4, 2015), employed by the Ministry of Food, carried a portable stove like the Beatrice and performed demonstrations to extend rations. Initially, housewives deprived of their domestic servants and forced to cook for themselves didn’t appreciate lentils replacing meat and Patten telling them how to make jam. But eventually, she would become extremely popular; after the war, she would advocate for pressure cookers starting in 1949. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2090.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.28 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 2806 x 3297 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1940 |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
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| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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