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History of Bed Warmers: A Warm and Toasty Tale

by M Dee Dubroff

By the 16th century, it was common practice to use a hot stone or brick heated at the fireside and carry it from the hearth to the bed. Sometimes, pans filled with smoldering fuel were taken directly from the fire. The well-known brass or copper warming pan was very popular, but people often used wooden frames designed to hold pots of fuel inside the bedclothes as well. The ‘warming pan’ was usually kept near the fireplace, which was logical, considering it needed to be filled with hot coals or wood embers regularly. There it stood, ready for use until the hot water bottle tossed the bed warmer out on its ear. By the mid 20th century, hot water bottles were passé, and electric blankets and electric bed warmers promised to keep sleepers even warmer than before. The name ‘bed warmer’ also had other connotations in the United Kingdom and Australia, where it related to a temporary sexual partner. The warming pan was almost as valuable a possession as a featherbed in its day, and it was handed down from generation to generation in the same fashion. Warming pans weren’t cheap, but they weren’t exclusively for the rich either. Wealthier folk might have owned one made of silver or highly decorated copper; some pans came with elaborate perforation patterns. Whether or not a warming pan had a pierced pattern made a crucial difference to the user, as with air holes, the embers would keep smoldering and the heat would last longer. Still, there was always the smell and the risk of scorching the sheets. Warming pans on a handle were designed for moving up and down the bed before someone got into it. Both simply lidded and non-lidded pans were in vogue at one time or another. And so we may conclude that while the past in many ways was a simpler time, as far as bed warmers go, it’s better to be a bed, a warmer and a person sleeping in the bed in this modern day and age. Happy warm bed!

This article was published on Thursday 20 November, 2008.

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