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18th Century Foot Warmers

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Last updated: Sep 06 2025

In A Catalogue and Description of the Etchings of Rembrandt Van-Rhyn (1752), the authors describe the use of foot warmers by Dutch women, both in Rembrandt’s time and in 18th century, in their commentary on a picture of an old woman:

She ſits on a carved Seat, and her right Foot is on a Foot-Stove, to which the Dutch Women are ſo accuſtomed, that even in Summer they uſe them without Fire, merely becauſe having been uſed to have their Feet raiſed ſo much higher than the Ground, they find themſelves uneaſy without them; and when a female Viſitant is receiv’d, it is as much the Cuſtom to ſet a Stove for her as a Chair; even at Church, during the Winter, Perſons let out theſe Stoves for the Uſe of the Ladies.

While foot warmers appear in many Dutch interior scenes, they were also manufactured and used elsewhere in Europe and in the American colonies. The extant examples linked below include many that were manufactured and/or used in America.

A letter published in the Pennsylvania Gazette (January 9, 1788) cited foot-warmers as an example of a foreign custom that the writer found silly when adopted in America:

IT is a ſingular property in the human mind, to transfer the habits of one country into another, where they are often both ridiculous and improper.

The natives of Holland, it is ſaid, uſe foot-ſtoves at the Cape of Good-Hope. They build their houſes with projections from the upper ſtory, in order to raiſe their furniture by means of a rope and pulley from the water, which in many of their cities runs by their doors. This form the firſt ſettlers gave to their houſes, twenty miles from navigable water, in the ſtate of New-York.

The ſame attachment to forms and habits has obtained in America upon the ſubject of government, that has obtained among the Hollanders upon the ſubjects of foot-ſtoves and houſes.

A bill of rights has been demanded in England, becauſe in that country the kings confer liberty upon the people.

In the United States, the people derive their liberty from nature, and they delegate ſuch parts of it only to their ſervants, as are neceſſary for its better preſervation.

The very idea of a bill of rights, and of a compact, is a diſhonorable one to freemen. It implies that we are inſenſible of our dignity, as the ſovereigns of our country, and as the only ſource of power. It changes the places of rulers and ruled. It diſpoſes us to look upon our rulers as our maſters, — whereas they are nothing but our ſervants.

In his Essay on the causes, early signs and prevention of pulmonary consumption (1799), Dr. Thomas Beddoes notes:

It would be dangerous ſuddenly to lower the temperature to which the feeble or delicate have been long habituated. But ſixty degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer ſhould perhaps never, even at preſent, be exceeded. By gradual reduction we ſhould, I ſuppoſe, without unpleasant ſenſations, be well able to bear a temperature of fifty degrees. In effecting this change, attention muſt be paid to two circumſtances. A faſhion of warmer cloathing muſt be introduced, and the contrivances for keeping the feet warm muſt be adopted. An apparatus of great elegance might be invented, upon the Dutch principle: or the feet, when cold, may be placed upon a cloſe tin veſſel, containing warm water. In various kinds of indiſpoſition, attended with cold extremities, I have for ſome years recommended, with manifeſt advantage, a tin foot-warmer; and I underſtand they are now manufactured of a convenient form, by Lloyd, near Norfolk-Street, Strand, London.

Foot stoves were known to cause fires. The Leicester Journal (February 3, 1776) reported from Paris: “FIRE broke out in the Palais laſt night, occaſioned by a woman who went to ſleep with a foot ſtove under her, which catching her cloaths, ſhe was ſuffocated with the ſmoke.” The Carlisle Gazette published a short poem (January 24, 1787) “On a late FIRE, occaſioned by a Lady’s FOOT-STOVE, in St. PETER’s Church, PHILADELPHIA.”

A report of a robbery in Basseterre, Guadaloupe, published in several newspapers in February 1798: “At this inſtant Mrs. Temple (with an amiable courage peculiar to herſelf, and almoſt amounting to romantic heroiſm) opened the door, and preſented herſelf to the man who appeared to be the captain of the gang, enquired his buſineſs with her, informed him ſhe was the lady of the houſe, and requſted to be treated with delicacy. This the man promiſed, and religiouſly adhered to: he put coals into her foot ſtove, inſiſted on her taking a cordial which he prepared for her, to prevent her ſpirits from being too much depreſſed, aſſured her ſhe was ſ ſafe under his protection, and behaved with all the sang froid imaginable.”

A page linking to depictions of 18th century bed warmers is available elsewhere on this site.

Extant 18th century foot warmers

The Rijksmuseum also has several miniature silver foot stoves from the 18th century, including BK-NM-3380 (c. 1649-1689), BK-NM-11177-164 (c. 1700), BK-NM-11177-168 (c. 1700), BK-NM-11177-163-A/BK-NM-11177-163-B (c. 1727-1742), BK-NM-11177-177 (c. 1755), BK-NM-11177-180 (c. 1755), BK-NM-11177-175 (c. 1755), BK-14913-V-A/BK-14913-V-B (1756), and BK-NM-11177-165 (1771).

You can also find antique foot warmers and foot stoves on eBay.

Depictions of foot warmers from the 17th and 18th centuries