Give me strength!

This is a Victorian invalid feeding cup that used to belong to my great grandmother.

Invalid feeding cups were well used in the Victorian era; this was a time when illness struck regularly and chronic diseases like scarlet fever, tuberculosis and pneumonia were common. Invalid cups were used to feed patients who could, or should, not sit up in bed. Beef tea, a thin broth made by boiling pieces of beef and onions in water, was the most common food for bedridden invalids.

I have only once seen the cup in action. When I was about 5 years old I had my tonsils removed (as did most people of my generation) and suffered a somewhat serious haemorrhage. So serious was it that the family invalid feeder was brought out of store and beef tea dispensed. Mind you, it could easily have been horse tea as there was a lot of horse eaten in post-war Yorkshire.