Thomas Nutt - The Beekeeper of Moulton Chapel

The cover to Thomas Nutt's book

It is hard to believe that up to 1770 bees were killed in order to access honey from their hives. This meant the bees were effectively an annual crop and the whole colony was destroyed typically using burning sulphur or bromide. This meant that Britain relied heavily upon imported honey and beeswax. In 1768 the English beekeeper Thomas Wildman introduced a new type of hive, a skep, with a woven lid that was removable allowing frames to be hung. This enabled honey to be removed without destroying the colony and this was of great interest to George III whom adopted this for the royal hives. However, many beekeepers still continued to destroy colonies each year.

The increase use of bee hives using frames without the killing of the bees happened with the development of wooden box hives. The American apiarist Lorenzo Langstroth is credited with developing this concept into the modern hive as a sturdy wooden box containing frames in 1851. But, Mr. Thomas Nutt of Moulton Chapel was using a much similar method that he described and published in a guide to producing honey in 1832. This saw Mr. Thomas Nutt becoming famous in his field and the resulting increase in production was of national significance as described here in a letter from 1833 signed by “A Lecturer on Chemistry, London”:

“At the different exhibitions of the National Repository in London, my attention was particularly attracted to some improved Bee-Hives, with accompanying specimens of honey and wax of a very superior quality to any which I had previously seen, deposited there by Mr. Nunn of Moulton Chapel. From this, as well from the perusal of Mr. Nutt’s intelligent and practical treatise  on Bee management and the highly important facts which that work develops, being in the neighbourhood, I was lately induced to visit his Apiary.” 

The Lecturer on Chemistry then goes on to describe Mr. Nutt’s process of keeping bees humanely and extracting honey from the hives without  killing them  and goes on to describe the economic significance of this  pointing out that although it was early in May a significant amount of honey could be extracted early in the season. He described the economic significance of this potential not only to rural cottagers but also to the nation: “…the attention of cottagers in general may be indebted to France or Italy for what may be so efficiently procured in this country , and at the same time afford so profitable article of renumeration to our rural population.” He then expressed his satisfaction that Queen Adelaide had chosen to support his work and a second edition of Thomas Nutt’s book was supported by her.

It is important to realise that Queen Adelaide (William IV’s consort) was a formidable and business like reformer. Her origins in what was to become Germany was significant as this region was undergoing great developments in industry and agriculture under the Prussian Empire. Indeed this Empire was seeking to compete with other world Empires economically by seeking to be self-reliant and efficient using science and technology at pace. Food security, and avoidance of reliance on the other European powers and their empires for supply of food and raw materials was significant. At the same time they wished to break free from the old model of rural peasantry in an effort to ensure its population was independent, stable and less prone to revolution. Food security was key and we see this in adoption of machinery, processes and science. It is therefore from this background of being comfortable challenging prior practices that the Queen was very accepting of new ideas. This culture would see Prussia and Germany make many developments, most notably for agriculture the development of sugar beet that would mean by 1913 two thirds of Britain’s sugar was supplied by Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Thomas Nutt was greatly disturbed by the shortage of honey in Britain and the low quality and adulteration of imported honey. He also argued that it was an asset that had fallen out of use due to its high price and lack of quality, something his methods could address as described in this extract from the Lancet supporting Mr. Nutt’s methods:

“Owing to the want of knowledge on the subject, the consequent impurities, and the great price of foreign honey, together with the adulterations practised, the use of this valuable article has been nearly abandoned in this country, whether as an article of the materia medica or of domestic economy; and for the reasons just stated, the preparations of honey have been expunged from the Edinburgh Pharmacopeia. From the recent improvement, however, we have reason to hope its use will be restored in a condition vastly improved, and that at a great reduction in price, the facilities of production being greatly enhanced, and such as to render it in time available to all classes of society.”

By 1840 Mr James Batham of Kidderminster described switching from his old woven kelps to Mr Nutt’s boxes was seeing a seven fold increase in production from 100lbs of honey from his 15-20 hives to 700lbs of honey with sufficient stocks left within the hives for the colonies to feed over winter.

The success of Mr Thomas Nutt’s process and its significance to production, the humane treatment of bees, and the economic implications are summed up in this Lincolnshire Chronicle article of 1841:

“In our paper of the 6^th of May last we noticed six apiaries at Moulton Chapel, near Spalding, which Mr. Thomas Nutt, of that hamlet, manages on his humane and admirable principle for taking the honey without destroying the bees. We now present a correct statement of the extraordinary produce and gathering of the apiaries: viz. No. 1, 300lbs; No. 2 216lbs; No.3 194lbs; No.4 170lbs; No.5 162lbs; No.6 150lbs; total 1192lbs. These extraordinary stocks of united bees afforded the above large quantity of honey, besides living in the midst of plenty themselves, stationery in their domiciles, and prepared to labor for another year. The much-dreaded fumes of brimstone, an all other annoyances, are entirely avoided. ‘Facts’, as our informant on this subject truly observes, ‘are stubborn things,’ and we hope, with him, that so excellent system of management will shortly spread throughout the kingdom, and prevent the necessity of an importation of foreign honey and wax, which according to official returns, was carried on last year to the extent of upwards of 300,000£! and the importation has generally been to a nearly similar annual amount. In consequence of our former notice of Mr. Nutt’s success in his ingenious plan, we understand he has been sent for into Nottinghamshire and other parts, and has established apiaries in a most satisfactory way for many gentlemen.”

When Mr Thomas Nutt died in 1846 just as the sixth expanded edition of his book was published leaving behind a legacy that benefitted many individuals and the nation, and as such he is an unsung hero of Moulton Chapel in the Lincolnshire Fens.