Editing Isabella Beeton (section)

===Early life, 1836–1854===
[[File:Cheapside and Bow Church engraved by W.Albutt after T.H.Shepherd publ 1837 edited.jpg|thumb|[[Cheapside]], London, where Isabella and her family moved in 1836]]
Isabella Mayson was born on 14 March 1836 in [[Marylebone]], London. She was the eldest of three daughters to Benjamin Mayson, a linen factor (merchant){{efn|Beeton's biographer, [[Kathryn Hughes]], opines that Benjamin, "a vicar's son&nbsp;... though not quite a gentleman, was established in a gentlemanly line of business".{{sfn|Hughes|2006|p=21}}}} and his wife Elizabeth (''{{nee}}'' Jerrom). Shortly after Isabella's birth the family moved to Milk Street, [[Cheapside]], from where Benjamin traded.{{sfn|Hughes|2006|pp=21, 28}}{{efn|Although several biographies state Beeton was at Milk Lane, Hughes considers this as part of the "legend" that surrounds Beeton; birth at the address in the [[City of London]] would have been within the sound of the [[church bell|bells]] of [[St Mary-le-Bow]] church, which would make her a [[cockney]].{{sfn|Hughes|2006|p=28}}}} He died when Isabella was four years old,{{efn|The cause of death was given as "apoplexy" which, Hughes notes, was the term used to cover a range of ailments including alcoholism, syphilis, stroke and heart attack.{{sfn|Hughes|2006|p=32}} The historian Sarah Freeman, in her biography of Beeton, considers that the cause of death was "probably fever, perhaps [[cholera]]".{{sfn|Freeman|1977|p=30}}}} and Elizabeth, pregnant and unable to cope with raising the children on her own while maintaining Benjamin's business, sent her two elder daughters to live with relatives. Isabella went to live with her recently widowed paternal grandfather in [[Great Orton]], [[Cumberland]], though she was back with her mother within the next two years.{{sfn|Hughes|2006|pp=33–34}}

[[File:Epsom New Race Stand – 1829.jpg|thumb|The new race stand at [[Epsom Downs Racecourse|Epsom Racecourse]] in 1829]]
Three years after Benjamin's death Elizabeth married [[Henry Dorling]], a widower with four children. Henry was the Clerk of [[Epsom Downs Racecourse|Epsom Racecourse]], and had been granted residence within the racecourse grounds. The family, including Elizabeth's mother, moved to Surrey{{sfn|Freeman|1977|p=33}} and over the next twenty years Henry and Elizabeth had a further thirteen children. Isabella was instrumental in her siblings' upbringing, and collectively referred to them as a "living cargo of children".{{sfn|David|1961|p=304}}{{sfn|Beetham|2012}}{{efn|The couple's twelfth child, Alfred, was embarrassed about the number of children and sent his father a condom through the post as a practical joke. His father, unhappy with the implication—condoms tended to only be used by prostitutes' clients—sent his son away for an [[apprenticeship]] with the [[Merchant Navy (United Kingdom)|merchant navy]].{{sfn|Freeman|1977|pp=39–40}}{{sfn|Hughes|2006|p=56}}}} The experience gave her much insight and experience in how to manage a family and its household.<ref name="Spec: ED" />

After a brief education at a boarding school in [[Islington]], in 1851 Isabella was sent to school in [[Heidelberg]], Germany, accompanied by her stepsister Jane Dorling. Isabella became proficient in the piano and excelled in French and German; she also gained knowledge and experience in making pastry.{{sfn|Hughes|2006|pp=65, 67–69}}{{sfn|Humble|2006|p=7}}{{efn|The practice in middle class German households at the time was for the mistress of the house to make cakes and puddings herself, rather than instructing the household staff to undertake the task.{{sfn|Freeman|1989|p=163}}}} She had returned to Epsom by the summer of 1854 and took further lessons in pastry-making from a local baker.{{sfn|Beetham|2012}}{{sfn|Hughes|2006|pp=71–72}}