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Authors: Alison Maloney
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our pews at church, and I was agreeably surprised to find I ranked next to the head housemaid.’
In addition, daily prayers were read at home and the servants’ areas were dotted with framed quotes, often embroidered, from the scriptures, extolling hard work and cleanliness and
reminding them of their righteous toil.
ENTERTAINMENT
On the rare occasions that servants could grab a few hours off, most, if close enough, would spend the day visiting family, seeing friends or meeting boyfriends and
girlfriends. Those in service far from home would have had no time to make friends outside of their own colleagues and little money to spend on entertainment. But the options varied considerably
depending on the area in which you lived.
Country Life
In country houses, the hours might be whiled away taking a healthy walk and getting the fresh air that those confined to the basement were so deprived of. If they were
lucky, servants might be able to afford to spend their pennies taking tea in a local teashop savouring, no doubt, the experience of being waited on for once.
City Sights
In London, however, there were many choices for one’s day off. Cinema, although in its infancy, was becoming a popular craze in the first decade of the twentieth
century and a short film, depicting a news event or just an everyday scene of factory workers, was still a marvel. While there were picture shows at acouple of theatres in
the capital, makeshift cinemas were also springing up in empty shops furnished with folding seats. The novelty was still huge and the public flocked to pay a penny and see their first flick.
An alternative was the music hall, still a hugely popular form of entertainment before the First World War. ‘I went to the Bricks Music Hall and nearly fell over the front, right up in the
gallery trying to look over, because it’s very high,’ said Albert Packman in Lost Voices of the Edwardians . ‘There were acrobats on the stage and impossible things that
I’d never thought of in all my life – all for tuppence.’
Leading acts included Marie Lloyd, who popularized such tunes as ‘A Little Bit of What You Fancy Does You Good’ and ‘Where Did You Get That Hat?’ and, a little later,
Florrie Ford. A seat in the ‘gods’ could come in at sixpence, a hefty price for a lowly maid but reasonable enough for a young man in employment, should he wish to woo her.
A stroll ‘up west’ might be rewarded with a glimpse of royalty as they left Buckingham Palace and a few curiosities too. Mildred Ramson remembered an old lady who stood with her cow
in St James’s Park, every day, selling milk and cakes to passers-by. ‘Another sight was Mr Leopold de Rothschild driving his tandem of zebras in the park,’ she recalled . ‘We used to admire, but not touch, the famous Piccadilly goat; we bowed as the old Queen, now deeply beloved, drove slowly by, or the Princess of Wales passed with her three daughters packed
in the back of a landau. Royalty passed with a stately step then.’
Marie Lloyd, a leading act in Music Hall
The footmen and grooms, if not of a mind to take a lady out for the evening, were likely to be found at the local pub.
CHAPTER FIVE
Toil and
Technique
D URING THE TWENTIETH century, domestic appliances became an integral part of everyday life and few modern-day homeowners could cope without their
washing machine, vacuum cleaner or fridge. But the Edwardian servant had none of these luxuries to help them with their endless chores. Indeed, it was the very absence of labour-saving devices that
kept so many of them in a job as even the average middle-class wife couldn’t manage all the housework without some assistance.
Homes were beginning to be wired for electricity in the pre-war period but the expense of the wiring, and a deep-seated suspicion of any ‘newfangled’ inventions, meant that the
majority of houses remained without mains power until after the First World War.
our pews at church, and I was agreeably surprised to find I ranked next to the head housemaid.’
In addition, daily prayers were read at home and the servants’ areas were dotted with framed quotes, often embroidered, from the scriptures, extolling hard work and cleanliness and
reminding them of their righteous toil.
ENTERTAINMENT
On the rare occasions that servants could grab a few hours off, most, if close enough, would spend the day visiting family, seeing friends or meeting boyfriends and
girlfriends. Those in service far from home would have had no time to make friends outside of their own colleagues and little money to spend on entertainment. But the options varied considerably
depending on the area in which you lived.
Country Life
In country houses, the hours might be whiled away taking a healthy walk and getting the fresh air that those confined to the basement were so deprived of. If they were
lucky, servants might be able to afford to spend their pennies taking tea in a local teashop savouring, no doubt, the experience of being waited on for once.
City Sights
In London, however, there were many choices for one’s day off. Cinema, although in its infancy, was becoming a popular craze in the first decade of the twentieth
century and a short film, depicting a news event or just an everyday scene of factory workers, was still a marvel. While there were picture shows at acouple of theatres in
the capital, makeshift cinemas were also springing up in empty shops furnished with folding seats. The novelty was still huge and the public flocked to pay a penny and see their first flick.
An alternative was the music hall, still a hugely popular form of entertainment before the First World War. ‘I went to the Bricks Music Hall and nearly fell over the front, right up in the
gallery trying to look over, because it’s very high,’ said Albert Packman in Lost Voices of the Edwardians . ‘There were acrobats on the stage and impossible things that
I’d never thought of in all my life – all for tuppence.’
Leading acts included Marie Lloyd, who popularized such tunes as ‘A Little Bit of What You Fancy Does You Good’ and ‘Where Did You Get That Hat?’ and, a little later,
Florrie Ford. A seat in the ‘gods’ could come in at sixpence, a hefty price for a lowly maid but reasonable enough for a young man in employment, should he wish to woo her.
A stroll ‘up west’ might be rewarded with a glimpse of royalty as they left Buckingham Palace and a few curiosities too. Mildred Ramson remembered an old lady who stood with her cow
in St James’s Park, every day, selling milk and cakes to passers-by. ‘Another sight was Mr Leopold de Rothschild driving his tandem of zebras in the park,’ she recalled . ‘We used to admire, but not touch, the famous Piccadilly goat; we bowed as the old Queen, now deeply beloved, drove slowly by, or the Princess of Wales passed with her three daughters packed
in the back of a landau. Royalty passed with a stately step then.’
Marie Lloyd, a leading act in Music Hall
The footmen and grooms, if not of a mind to take a lady out for the evening, were likely to be found at the local pub.
CHAPTER FIVE
Toil and
Technique
D URING THE TWENTIETH century, domestic appliances became an integral part of everyday life and few modern-day homeowners could cope without their
washing machine, vacuum cleaner or fridge. But the Edwardian servant had none of these luxuries to help them with their endless chores. Indeed, it was the very absence of labour-saving devices that
kept so many of them in a job as even the average middle-class wife couldn’t manage all the housework without some assistance.
Homes were beginning to be wired for electricity in the pre-war period but the expense of the wiring, and a deep-seated suspicion of any ‘newfangled’ inventions, meant that the
majority of houses remained without mains power until after the First World War.
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