A brief history of Britain's obsession with the hot water bottle

• Boiling a kettle to fill a hot water bottle uses less energy than an electric blanket or turning on the heating and so is the cheapest option to keep you warm, according to consumer insights publication Which?.
• Feeling the chill ourselves, we have dug into the history of the hot water bottle as part of a large research project on the global history of Boots The Chemists.

The first hot water bottles

• Hot water bottles have been around in various forms for centuries.
• These bottles could lose heat quickly and were unpleasant, icy bed companions once cooled.
• In November 1867, for example, Thornton and Co. promoted their “India Rubber” hot water bottle in the Glasgow Herald, with claims that its product was a “great comfort to invalids”.

Hot water bottles at Boots

• But they did stock a bewilderingly large range of rubber hot water bottles, carefully tiered by quality and price.
• While varying in price, all Boots’ hot water bottles were touted to relieve pain as well as provide heat.
• Because very hot water might crack the rubber, Boots advised its customers to pour a cup of cold water into the bottle first.

An uncomfortable history?

• Rubber plantation workers in Southeast Asia, for example, often endured harsh conditions to cultivate, tap, and process raw rubber sheets.
• In the 1920s, Boots staff magazine, The Bee, featured several articles explaining where rubber came from and how hot water bottles were made.
• Ironically, hot water bottles were often shipped back to rubber-producing countries to help colonial ex-pats deal with the climate.

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Richard Hornsey receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Anna Greenwood receives funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Hilary Ingram receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)