Isabella Beeton (1836–1865) was an author, editor, and journalist best known for Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, a set of recipes, domestic hints, and other useful tips for managing a Victorian home. Beeton was born Isabella Mason in London in 1836, the eldest daughter of a merchant and his wife. Her father died when she was only four years old, where-upon her mother sent her two eldest daughters to live with relatives. Isabella moved in with her grandfather in Cumberland, in the far northwestern corner of England. By the time her mother remarried, in about 1843, Isabella had returned to London to live with her stepfather, her sisters, and her four stepsiblings. They relocated from London to Surrey, where her mother and stepfather had thirteen more children. As the eldest child, Isabella assumed many responsibilities in their rural English home. She put that experience to good use in writing magazine articles about cooking and household management.