Afternoon Tea

Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford, is reputed to have started the fashion for afternoon tea in the early 1800's. Anna found that she very often grew feint between lunch and dinner, and therefore requested a cup of tea and some light snacks served at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon to ward off hunger pangs. Anna came up with the idea at roughly the same time as the Earl of Sandwich experimented with putting a filling between two slices of bread. The afternoon tea was born, and became very fashionable in late Georgian and early Victorian times.