Meaning
A maker or seller of sweets, cakes, pastries and sugar confectionery.
Description
Confectioners produced and sold a wide range of sweet goods including boiled sweets, chocolates, marzipan, sugar plums, cakes, biscuits and pastries. The trade ranged from humble sweet shops selling penny confections to fashionable establishments supplying elaborate sugar work for wealthy tables. Many confectioners also sold ices and operated as tea rooms. The Victorian era saw a great expansion in the availability and variety of sweets as sugar prices fell and manufacturing techniques improved. Confectionery was one of the few trades equally open to men and women.
Also Known As
Sweetmaker, Pastry Cook, Sugar Confectioner
Commonly Found In
- Census Returns
- Trade Directories
- Parish Registers
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