37 Facts About Agnes Marshall

An unusually prominent businesswoman for her time, Marshall was particularly known for her work on ice cream and other frozen desserts, which in Victorian England earned her the moniker "Queen of Ices".

Agnes Marshall popularised ice cream in England and elsewhere at a time when it was still a novelty and is often regarded as the inventor of the modern ice cream cone.

Agnes Marshall began her career in 1883 through the founding of the Marshall's School of Cookery, which taught high-end English and French cuisine and grew to be a renowned culinary school.

Agnes Marshall wrote four well-received cookbooks, two of which were devoted to ice cream and other desserts.

Together with her husband Alfred, Agnes Marshall operated a variety of different businesses.

However, technology invented or conceptualised by Agnes Marshall, including her ice cream freezer and the idea of creating ice cream with the use of liquid nitrogen, have since become repopularised.

For years it was believed that Agnes Marshall Bertha Smith was born on 24 August 1855 in Walthamstow, Essex, and was the daughter of John Smith, who worked as a clerk, and his wife Susan.

Agnes Marshall was raised by her maternal grandmother, Sarah Smith, in Walthamstow, and can be found living there in the 1861 census.

Agnes Marshall's mother Susan then had three further illegitimate children with a man named Charles Wells: Mary Sarah Wells Smith, John Osborn Wells Smith and Ada Martha Wells Smith.

Agnes Marshall is probably the eighteen year-old, born in Walthamstow, working as a kitchen maid in Ayot St Lawrence, Herts.

Daughter Ethel was raised as one of the family; and at some date Agnes Marshall changed her second forename to Bertha.

In 1885, Agnes Marshall wrote and published her first book, The Book of Ices, which contained 177 different ice cream and dessert recipes.

Agnes Marshall designed an extensive range of over a thousand different moulds for use with ice cream.

Agnes Marshall invented an "ice-breaking machine", an "ice cave", and several different kitchen appliances and food ingredients, sold by her company.

Agnes Marshall published articles in support of improving the working conditions of kitchen staff in aristocratic homes, which she wrote "received less respect than carriage horses".

At one point, Agnes Marshall authored a highly critical article on a financial venture of Horatio Bottomley, who printed The Table, which resulted in Bottomley threatening legal action and refusing to print future critical material.

Agnes Marshall responded by simply calling Bottomley "impudent" and partnering with another printer.

The tour saw Agnes Marshall cooking meals in front of large audiences, helped on stage by a team of assistants.

In Book of Cookery, Agnes Marshall mentioned putting ice cream in an edible cone, the earliest known reference in English to ice cream cones.

Agnes Marshall's cornet bore little resemblance to its modern counterpart and was intended to be eaten with utensils but Agnes Marshall is nevertheless frequently considered to be the inventor of the modern ice cream cone.

Agnes Marshall's lecture received a positive review in the Philadelphia Bulletin but she did not achieve the same level of acclaim in America as she had in England.

Agnes Marshall is recorded to have provided Christmas dinners for the "Hungry Poor" in Stepney and Poplar in London in 1889.

Agnes Marshall provided warm soup to the poor throughout the winter of that year.

Agnes Marshall's fourth and final book, Fancy Ices, was published in 1894 and was a follow-up to The Book of Ices.

The cooking books written by Agnes Marshall contained recipes she had created herself, unlike many other books of the age which were simply compilations of work by others, and she assured readers that she had tried out every recipe herself.

Agnes Marshall made several correct predictions for the future; Marshall predicted that motor cars would "revolutionise trade and facilitate the travelling of the future", speculated on how refrigerated lorries could be used to deliver fresh food nationwide, predicted that larger stores would bring small provision shops out of business, and that chemically purified water might one day be provided to all homes as a matter of course.

Agnes Marshall was greatly interested in technological developments and her shop was an early adopter of technologies such as the dishwasher, the teasmade and automatic doors.

In 1904, Agnes Marshall fell from a horse and suffered injuries from which she never properly recovered.

Agnes Marshall died of cancer the next year, on 29 July 1905, at The Towers, Pinner.

Agnes Marshall was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium and her ashes were interred at the Paines Lane Cemetery in Pinner.

Alfred remarried within a year of her death to Gertrude Walsh, a former secretary that Agnes Marshall had previously fired.

Agnes Marshall was one of the most celebrated cooks of her time and one of the foremost cookery writers of the Victorian age, particularly on ice cream.

Agnes Marshall's recipes were renowned for their detail, simplicity and accuracy.

Agnes Marshall increased the popularity of ice cream to such an extent that she was credited for causing an increase in ice imports from Norway.

Agnes Marshall imagined this would be the ideal method to make ice cream since the ice cream could be created in seconds and the ice crystals resulting from this method would be tiny, as desired.

Agnes Marshall's husband continued to operate their businesses but they declined without Marshall's personality and drive.

Since the late 20th century, Agnes Marshall's books have once more been reprinted and ice cream freezers based on her original designs are in commercial use.