‘Beanfeast' derivation
halcombe
‘Beans and bacon is an old British favourite. King George III dined on
it al fresco with the workmen at Woolwich Arsenal and enjoyed beans
and bacon so thoroughly that he instituted an annual beanfeast '
There is reference to the (capitalised) Beanfeast as included in the
two weeks holiday enjoyed by workers at the Arsenal (pre-World War 2?)
[2]:
‘The two weeks were made up of 'closed week', King's birthday (the
Friday afternoon and Saturday morning before Whitsun Bank Holiday),
Beanfeast, and the Bank Holidays.'
The London ‘Daily News' of August 7 1918 (p4 bottom col5) [3] has the
following:
‘Why Beanfeast?
Woolwich Arsenal, I am told, this year kept its beanfeast on the first
Saturday in August instead of on the usual date, the second Saturday
in July. The fact, if it be a fact, only interests me in so far as it
brings up the question of the origin of the term "beanfeast". My
informant on the main issue adds a pleasant little story of how
William IV [sic!] once visited the Arsenal incognito and accepted an
invitation from a friendly group of workmen to share their dinner of
pork and beans. At the end of the meal, so runs the story, his Majesty
declared himself, and appointed the day an annual Arsenal holiday in
perpetuity. That story I view with respect not unmingled with
scepticism. I have an impression that the term can claim an earlier
origin that the days of William IV, and that it has some association
with Twelfth Night festivities. But how did it get specialised into
the sense of an employees' annual outing?'
On the following day (same place in the paper), there's more:
‘The Beanfeast
Two explanations of "beanfeast" already. One correspondent refers its
origin to an 18-century Wapping pump-maker of the name of Daniel Day.
He had a habit of giving a hearty mean of bacon and beans to all
comers beneath the great oak at Fairlop - then within Epping Forest -
on the first Friday in July, and the East-Enders kept "Fairlop Friday"
for nearly 100 years in memory of him. Day was buried in a coffin made
from a branch of the Fairlop oak which also provided a pulpit for St
Pancras Church.'
No doubt (to continue the culinary theme) a whole load of bologna! But
further editions of the paper may elucidate. The researches continue…
[1] http://www.recipezaar.com/browse/index.zsp?pg=1&path=00F0160B805F12B
[2] http://gihs.gold.ac.uk/gihs4.html
[3] http://www.uk.olivesoftware.com/
halcombe
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As I suspected, the story of the ‘beanfeast' generated correspondence
(conveniently appearing in each edition on page 4 col 5, under the
head ‘Under the Clock' – usually, clicking three or four times on the
text brings up the whole piece in its own window, with rather larger
type; sometimes, the software doesn't work, and it comes up in
pieces).
Aug 9
‘More Beanfeasts
Two more - quite different - beanfeast derivations. One traces it back
to the Roman Saturnalia, when children drew lots with beans who should
be king. In Christian times this became the "Feast of the Three
Kings", and the bean king or bean queen plays an important part in old
Twelfth Night revels. Another derives it from the Gaelic "beanfeis",
"a wedding". But surely this is rather a far journey.'
You don't say….
Aug 12 (penultimate ‘par' – or, these days (I believe) ‘graf')
‘A Falmouth correspondent suggests that "beanfeast" is the French
bienfaisance - in the sense of bounty, benevolence, etc - and thinks
the French Catholics brought it into England. Lady Byles, on the other
hand, falls back upon Plutarch - certainly a very apposite passage in
the Life of Pericles:
"It was a hard matter to keep back the Athenians" (after the Samian
naval victory)," so Pericles divided the whole multitude into eight
parts, and arranged by lot that that part which had the white bean
should have leave to feast and take their ease while the other seven
were fighting. And this is the reason, they say, that people when at
any time they have been merry and enjoyed themselves called it white
day in allusion to this white bean."'
Aug 14
‘The correspondent who supplied me with one of the original
derivations of "beanfeast" writes:
Attempts to find an ancient derivation for "beanfeast" are futile,
because the word is quite modern. It does not occur in English
literature until 1882, in which year some London compositors were
promised for their annual outing "a beanfeast at a rural inn." I could
find the periodical in which the word was first printed. My derivation
of the term from the feasts on beans and bacon given by Daniel Day
beneath Fairlop Oak was not a guess, but a certainty. There are
patriarchs still living in East London who remember the original
"beanfeasts".'
Aug 16 (final par)
‘The oddest derivation of "beanfeast" I have received comes to-day.
The writer traces most of our ceremonies to "Church-works", and
proceeds:
Our Tansies [1] at Easter have reference to the bitter herbs: though
at the same time 'twas always the fashion for a man to have a gammon
of bacon and beans to show himself to be no Jew (thence our
beanfeast).'
Aug 17
‘There seems to be very little doubt that my correspondent who
asserted that the word "beanfeast" does not occur in English
literature before 1882 must be mistaken, for I am assured by another
man that it is mentioned in an edition of Brewer's "Phrase and Fable,"
which he bought in 1871. A third tells me that an annual "beanfeast"
was an institution in the building trade till the late 'seventies, and
only disappeared after the strike in connection with the building of
the Law Courts. It would seem to be quite old if another suggestion is
good, that the real origin of the phrase is to be found in the Middle
English bene - (no connection with the French bien, but a derivative
of the Anglo-Saxon bén, a prayer, in allusion to the "alma" which went
to the making of the bean feast). They were certainly a feature of the
building trade "beanfeast", assuming a form, according to my informant
on this subject, remarkably like blackmail.
The popularity of bacon and beans in England is certainly very long
establish. I am indebted to yet another correspondent for the
following interesting little ditty, written by the poet Jenyns (who
sat is Parliament for Cambridgeshire in 1847):
Who thinks that from the Speaker's chair
The sergeant's mace can keep off care,
Is wondrously mistaken;
Alas! he is not half so blest
As those who've liberty and rest
And dine on beans and bacon.'
And that's that.
FWIW, my dead-tree collection supplies the following:
1 SOED: 1806 [From beans being a prominent dish] An annual dinner
given by employers to their work-people. Hence ‘beano' (slang,
originally printer's abbrev[iation]) also a merry time or spree.
2 Brewer's ‘Phrase and Fable' (reprint of 1894 edition): Much the same
as ‘wayz-goose'. A feast given by an employer to those he employs.
Brewer describes ‘wayzgoose' thus:
‘An entertainment given to journeymen, or provided by the journeymen
themselves. It is mainly a printers' affair, which literary men and
commercial staffs may attend by invitation or sufferance. The word
‘wayz' means "a bundle of straw" and ‘wayzgoose', a "stubble goose",
properly the crowning dish of the entertainment. The Dutch ‘wassen'
means "to wax fat". The Latin ‘anser sigatum'.
"In the midlands and north of England, every newspaper has its
wayzgoose." Pall Mall Gazette June 26th 1894'