For the past eighteen years, early in November I've posted on my website an old recipe for traditional Christmas Pudding. This always created a great deal of interest, so I make no apologies for repeating it again. The recipe has been handed down my family from my Manx great grandmother, Elizabeth 'Betsy' Corlett (born 1833). The 1851 census shows that as a teenager, Betsy Corlett was a House Servant at 35 Athol Street, Douglas, Isle of Man. She was one of three servants working for 58-year-old John C. Bluett and his family. John Bluett, a barrister, was living with his wife Mary (aged 39) and his daughter Maria (18).

Below: The Bluett household in the 1851 Isle of Man census