Before electricity, a working-class family in England spent nearly 10% of their entire income on candles. More than clothing. More than medicine. Just to see in the dark. In this episode of The Hidden History Project, we uncover the surprising story behind one of the most overlooked objects in your home — the candle. From 5,000-year-old Egyptian rush lights to medieval guild wars fought over wax, from a whale oil revolution that drove sperm whales to near-extinction, to the French chemist who accidentally built a $3.2 billion modern industry — the history of the candle is the history of human civilization itself. You'll learn about the working-class women whose labor made affordable candles possible. About Michael Faraday — the greatest scientist of his era — who used a single candle to explain scientific phenomena. And about how the candle survived electricity, gas lighting, and every technology designed to replace it. The history of the candle didn't start with ambiance. It was survival. 0:00 - The World Before Reliable Light 0:55 - Before Electricity 2:13 - The First Candles — Egypt & Rome 3:54 - Medieval Chandlers & The Guild Wars 5:17 - Understanding Tallow Candles 5:59- The Smell That Defined Social Class 6:14 - The Whale Oil Revolution 8:22 - Stearine & The Women Who Changed Everything 9:53 - Michael Faraday and the Candle as Science 11:22 - Electricity Nearly Kills the Candle 11:47- Why We Still Can't Stop Buying Candles 12:55 - The Longevity of the Candle 📺 Watch the full Hidden History series: 🔧 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnx0ecK8y1BYIyDw27LYZMAehgxORkG87 🔔 New hidden history every week — Subscribe: 🔧 https://www.youtube.com/@The-Hidden-History-Project?sub_confirmation=1 #hiddenhistory #CandleHistory #historyexplained #interestingfacts #didyouknow #inventionhistory #everydayhistory #History #hiddenhistoryproject #documentary
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It’s crazy how something as simple as a candle once decided whether people lived in light or total darkness… we take electricity for granted!”
I've watched a lot of history videos on many, many topics but they can't hold a candle to this one.
Benjamin Franklin's father was a candle maker.
Near the end you made a passing comment about gas lighting. The reality is that gas lighting mostly replaced candles generations before electricity. Though candles were still widely used, it was gas illuminating most urban homes, and it was replaced by electricity - eventually.
Very interesting and very well done. I never knew that the name of my 6th great-grandfather, Samuel Chandler (1708-1754), meant candle maker.
I hope you enjoyed this video. Could you have lived in a world without electricity where your only light came from a smelly candle?
😳M G!! This candle education is amazing..Humanity needed the candle as much as the body needs air. Candles have been in my Life..l'm 81..now l will look at them with different eyes..like you look at a New Born Baby. God's Blessing
This is fantastic and incredibly informative. I will be using this in a lesson plan for my students. They take too much for granted when it comes to technology and electricity!
"Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub....the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker..." 😁
Checking Google AI, the average English family in the middle ages used 3 to 4% of their income on candles. People actually went to bed, they didn't stay awake when it was dark.
Interesting bit of candle history. In 1820s, they learned that if you create a candle wick braided from four threads, and then pull one of them tight, the wick becomes self-trimming and smokeless. Candle wicks are done the same to the modern days :). While various braiding experiments happened in the Middle Ages, the science was truly perfected in the 1820s by Jean-Jacques Perrier and Jules de Cambacérès. Before this "tight-thread" braiding technique, candles were incredibly high-maintenance and smoky, requiring a person to trim the wicks every few minutes to keep the flame steady.
Great show! A few things: the main product of the whaling industry was not the spermacetti but whale oil, which was also used to produce light in oil lamps. It had a fishy smell, but was cheap. Another reason for trimming wicks was that, as the wick became longer, it made a lot of smoke. The invention of a wick that curled as it burned eliminated this problem, as the end of the wick would burn off as it went.
Love your videos! I love to learn about things that are common to my everyday life as all things have history beyond what I recognize. I sold candles for years at home parties so this one was of particular interest to me!
Imagine listening to this video on 1.0 speed....
Before the invention of electricity, people used to spend ten percent of their income on artificial lighting.
I think you forgot to mention the gaslight on the streets and, of course the kerosene lamps. We didn't jump from candlelight to electric bulbs
A candle flame represents just more than light. For thousands of years our ancestors used to gather around fire for safety, for warmth, for cooking and socialising. There's something about a flame that we all need, it's built in to us.
You forgot moonlight and starlight. And when there's snow on the ground, the effect can be quite brilliant.
fantastic! History IS everywhere
Candles also provide heat! 🔥 When I was a university student studying late at night in winter, I wore very warm clothes and even used fingerless gloves to ward off the cold. One of the items that really helped me to keep warm was a candle burning on the table! 🕯️📖