Copperplate engraving after George Cruikshank from John Caulfield's Portraits, Memoirs and Characters of Remarkable Persons, Young, London, 1819. Licensed from alamy.com

Mrs. Gaywood

c. 1700–c. 1700s

Mrs. Gaywood, and the barmaids she supervised, were the first drink mixers of public record

Mrs. Gaywood was the name of the head barkeep of James Ashley’s renowned London Coffee-House and Punch-House (1731-1776 and later). Mrs. Gaywood, and the other women who worked under her, compounded and served the punches (mostly single-serving) and collected payment. While they may not have devised the recipes, Mrs. Gaywood and her supervisees are basically the first drink mixers to appear in the public record.