0:00:02 > 0:00:03At the start of the 20th century,
0:00:03 > 0:00:061.5 million of us worked as servants.
0:00:06 > 0:00:12Astonishingly, that's more than worked in industries or on the land.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16My great-grandmothers were servants, and coming from this background,
0:00:16 > 0:00:19I want to find out about the reality of their lives.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Country houses like these simply wouldn't have been able to function
0:00:24 > 0:00:29without a whole army of staff working away, above and below stairs.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32When I come to places like this, my first instinct
0:00:32 > 0:00:35isn't to go through the grand formal entrance,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37but to find the servants' door and go in that way.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41The story of service means a lot to me,
0:00:41 > 0:00:44not just because it's about MY family.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47It's actually the story of all our families.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54In this series, I want to dispel the nostalgia we have around domestic service,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58to reveal a darker, more complicated world.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01- Who's this?- Me.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03I weren't bad looking, were I?
0:01:03 > 0:01:04No, you were very good looking.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09- We were underdogs. We weren't on the same level as them.- Mm.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11But we had to know our place.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17Centuries of service have left behind a messy, emotional legacy,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20an obsession with class, with its complex mix
0:01:20 > 0:01:25of deference and resentment that's been passed down the generations,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30an obsession that makes us, for better and worse, who we are.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34We've ignored it for so long, but the history of service
0:01:34 > 0:01:37is at the heart of what it means to be British.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40In the first two episodes,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43we've seen that the ideal servant was a Victorian invention,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47a way of ordering society into its proper place.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50And, ironically, at the very high point of service,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53a new generation of forthright servants
0:01:53 > 0:01:56directly attacked this ideal.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02In this film, we witness the complete collapse of the old order,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04leaving the master/servant relationship in turmoil,
0:02:04 > 0:02:09and the very notion of service itself in crisis.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14And our servants' hall is now a tearoom seating 100 people for tea.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16And there's nowhere really for the chauffeur to sit.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21It's the story of how, the moment they have a choice,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24servants leave service, never to return.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44It was from these large townhouses, bustling with servants,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48that one of the most original and authentic servant voices emerged,
0:02:48 > 0:02:53who told us straight and fearlessly what the world of service really meant.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55One of the first lessons I learned in Brighton
0:02:55 > 0:03:00is that there really are, as Disraeli said, two societies - rich and poor.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05In 1922, a 15-year-old girl named Margaret Powell
0:03:05 > 0:03:09came here to Hove in Sussex to work as a kitchen maid.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13It was her first experience of live-in domestic service.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18Years later, that experience would become the basis for her best-selling memoir "Below Stairs".
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Read by millions, Margaret's memoir told us a raw,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27uncensored story of domestic service.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Well, when that great door crashed on me in 1923,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34I felt as though I'd gone into prison.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38I felt as though I was there for life and would never see the light of day again.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43And then I went into that dungeon of a kitchen and that enormous great kitchen range,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46and was shown the list of kitchen maid's duties.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Anybody would think that it was for a week.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54And when I discovered that one was expected to do all that work in a day, I nearly died.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Rise at 5.30, six on Sundays.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Light the range, clean the flues, polish the range,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03polish the steel fender and all the firearms.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Rush up and do all the brass on the doors, clean all those great stone steps,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11do all the boots and shoes, lay the servants' breakfast, wait on them.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Take your own out in the kitchen, not allowed to eat with the servants when you're a kitchen maid.
0:04:15 > 0:04:16And so on and so on.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21I felt as though the Dark Ages had returned, and I couldn't stand it.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24And this was that dreary little basement,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26and over here was that kitchen.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29And all that I ever saw of life
0:04:29 > 0:04:32was people's legs as they walked by there.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36And then at night, when the day's work was done, and mighty late it was sometimes,
0:04:36 > 0:04:41I would drag myself up all those 132 stairs
0:04:41 > 0:04:44to that garret on the top.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47The thing that stands out for me when reading her book
0:04:47 > 0:04:50is not just the grim description of her daily duties,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54but her fervent, deeply felt reaction to that vast gulf
0:04:54 > 0:04:56that separated her from her employers,
0:04:56 > 0:05:01a seemingly unbridgeable gulf of status and class.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06"We always called them 'them'.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10"Them was the enemy, them overworked us and them underpaid us.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15"And to them servants were a race apart, a necessary evil."
0:05:15 > 0:05:19What lay behind Margaret's no-holds-barred tale
0:05:19 > 0:05:21was the great secret...
0:05:28 > 0:05:32..That most servants had had enough of the appalling conditions,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35bad treatment and low pay.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41The injustices of the world of service simply made no sense any more in the 20th century.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44So the moment they could leave, they did.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48And the first hammer blow to the old order was, of course,
0:05:48 > 0:05:50the First World War.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55At the outbreak of war, the aristocracy and landed gentry,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58including the Thellusson's of Brodsworth Hall,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03owned four-fifths of the land in Britain and still controlled much of political life.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Brodsworth was used as a status symbol and a playground
0:06:11 > 0:06:13by Charles and Constance Thellusson,
0:06:13 > 0:06:18who led a privileged life, indulging their passions for lavish dinner parties and balls,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23summer yacht tours around Scotland
0:06:23 > 0:06:27and, importantly for Charles, shooting.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32This social world was all made possible
0:06:32 > 0:06:36through the work of 15 indoor servants and 89 estate workers.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44This concealed door separates the world of the Thellussons from the world of their servants.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47Both worlds were about to change.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57At the start of the war, all eligible men were encouraged to enlist.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Country Life magazine called on its rich readers
0:07:03 > 0:07:08to do their patriotic duty and release their men servants.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15'Have you a butler, groom, chauffeur, gardener or gamekeeper serving you,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19'who at this moment should be serving your King and country?
0:07:19 > 0:07:23'Have you a man digging your garden who should be digging trenches?
0:07:23 > 0:07:28'Have you a man preserving your game, who should be helping preserve your country?
0:07:28 > 0:07:32'Would you sacrifice your personal convenience for your country's need?
0:07:32 > 0:07:35'Ask your men to enlist today.'
0:07:38 > 0:07:41And, of course, Charles Thellusson,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45too old to enlist himself, allowed his men to go.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50This is the butler's pantry. This is Mr Marshall's pantry.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54One day at the beginning of the war a young servant called James Hunt
0:07:54 > 0:07:58would have come in here to hand in his notice as he was going off to the trenches.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03There's a photo of who we think is James here.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06He was a footman. And here's Mr Marshall in the centre.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13Over the next three years, all the healthy men left for the war, including Mr Marshall.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Thellusson may have lost most of his men servants
0:08:17 > 0:08:19but he was not about to forego service.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Other solutions had to be found.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26This picture is just one of a whole collection of photos
0:08:26 > 0:08:31taken by one of the few men servants deemed not fit to serve -
0:08:31 > 0:08:34valet and amateur photographer Alf Edwards.
0:08:34 > 0:08:40It was during the war that Alf started courting his future wife, Caroline, then Brodsworth's cook.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44- He was the valet. She was the new cook.- Yes.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46- But their paths wouldn't necessarily cross.- No.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48So how did they get together?
0:08:48 > 0:08:52We're standing in the room where some of it happened, in the kitchen.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Alf had an established routine of bringing his prints
0:08:56 > 0:08:58into this kitchen and hanging them up.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03- So they'd all be hanging along here? - Presumably, on some sort of washing line or whatever they had, to dry.
0:09:03 > 0:09:08But, of course, with Caroline being in the kitchen and him wandering in and out, they got talking.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Where was this taken?
0:09:10 > 0:09:13We're not sure. We think it was taken somewhere on the estate
0:09:13 > 0:09:16on a Sunday afternoon when they were courting.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19We presume the dress, that beautiful red colour, was the real colour.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21During their courtship here,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24they spent a lot of time photographing each other.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27And look at the tint on that, fantastic.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- He didn't go and fight in the First World War.- No.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34Alf had consumption - we now called it tuberculosis -
0:09:34 > 0:09:39and he was exempted from war service because of this.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44The big impact on Alf was the huge number of jobs he had to do during the war
0:09:44 > 0:09:48when he was in progressively worse and worse health.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54Alf had been hired as a valet, but like for so many servants during the war,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57his duties multiplied.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00He now chauffeured and ran the gun-room.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Alf was good with guns. He's seen here loading for Thellusson.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Charles Thellusson was determined to maintain service standards at home,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14on his estate and in his gamekeeping.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19Maintaining the large team of beaters and keepers needed for shooting
0:10:19 > 0:10:21was extremely difficult during the war,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25as revealed in the game book, preserved in Brodsworth's archives.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Gamekeeping's a pretty highly skilled activity.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33It was both highly skilled and very prestigious.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36The gamekeepers were always amongst some of the highest paid
0:10:36 > 0:10:38of the estate workforce, actually.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43And, in fact, in the estate accounts we always see there's always a whole separate page.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46It's almost like a separate department. I'll just show you.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49And what does the war do to that expertise, would you say?
0:10:49 > 0:10:54Well, firstly, as we know, several of the gamekeepers go off to war
0:10:54 > 0:10:58and, in fact, two of them are recommended, of course,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01as being stout, hearty fellows and good shots.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04- So here comes the artillery. - I suppose they would be good shots!
0:11:04 > 0:11:07- Yes!- And this battered looking book
0:11:07 > 0:11:11is their record of all the game they shot.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15It's the game book, which they kept detailed records of right from the 1860s.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18Here, for example, in 1913.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20This is a sort of typical year for them.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24They're shooting... The tally here is 4,999 pheasants.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28So that's 5,000 pheasants in the season running from September to January.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30That's right.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35When they include other things, such as the partridges and the hares and so on,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37it's just under 8,000 items of game.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Although they carry on shooting into the First World War,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44in 1916, half the number of pheasants,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48and then there, half the total game.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50And what happens in the following years?
0:11:50 > 0:11:53- In 1918?- 824.- Yeah.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55- So by Brodsworth's standards that's very little.- Yes!
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Older men and young boys filled gamekeeper roles
0:12:01 > 0:12:05but, above all, female servants in country houses across Britain took on extra duties
0:12:05 > 0:12:08as explained by Thellusson himself.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10A wonderful article.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12The Livestock Journal in 1916,
0:12:12 > 0:12:18which eludes to how the war was hitting his entire estate workforce.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21"Like all other estate owners the labour problem through the war
0:12:21 > 0:12:24"has presented itself in acute form at Brodsworth.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27"His agent is an officer in the army, his head gardener is just called up,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31"three estate clerks have gone, the man in charge of the poultry is about to be superseded by a woman
0:12:31 > 0:12:33"because the military claim him.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36"And the Squire told us he has not a chauffeur left."
0:12:36 > 0:12:38So the poultry farm is being managed by a woman.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41This is just a photograph of the lady
0:12:41 > 0:12:45who then had to take on her husband's role looking after the poultry.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49- And you can see that it was pretty extensive.- Oh, yes!
0:12:49 > 0:12:52It wasn't just any old poultry.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56They were show poultry. I mean, this is just the most wonderful prize-winning cockerel.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59So it was a serious business. Again, she would have been handling money
0:12:59 > 0:13:03and dealing with commercial orders and all that kind of thing.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07- Not just feeding the chickens then? - Not just feeding the chickens. No, it's a serious business.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09Do we know her name?
0:13:09 > 0:13:11- Yes, she was Mrs Foot.- Mrs Foot.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14- Then after the war she stepped back? - Yeah, so it was a temporary...
0:13:14 > 0:13:18- ..Opportunity.- I think the genie was out the bottle there. Once...
0:13:18 > 0:13:21Many women were happy to go back to doing what they had done before.
0:13:21 > 0:13:26And, you know, back, back... The return to normalcy, the return to normal after the war.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29- But a lot of them weren't. - You could no longer argue that they couldn't do it.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Mrs Foot's experience of stepping into a man's role
0:13:34 > 0:13:37was replicated all over Britain,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40as the government actively encouraged women to "do your bit",
0:13:40 > 0:13:43"replace a man for the front".
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Technical, mechanical and even hard labour jobs
0:13:49 > 0:13:52were suddenly opened up to women.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55And the most dangerous one of all was munitions.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59This is the Woolwich Arsenal.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04At its height during the First World War, it was Britain's biggest munitions factory.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06It's a vast complex.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11Over 30,000 women would walk through those gates every day
0:14:11 > 0:14:14to start a 12-hour shift. It was dirty and dangerous work.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21A third of these women were recruited from domestic service.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27They were often given the most difficult jobs of bomb-making and chemical processing,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32because they were considered clean, efficient and, most importantly, trustworthy.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41These ex-servants were attracted to the dangerous work through higher pay and a sense of camaraderie.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46War work offered women in a vast range of professions
0:14:46 > 0:14:52regulated working hours and conditions, and access to subsidised childcare.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55They joined unions in their thousands.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59Female union membership during the war rose by 160%.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06After the Armistice, heroic men servants returning from the trenches
0:15:06 > 0:15:09were promised jobs in a land fit for heroes.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13Women, on the other hand, were expected to step back to their traditional roles,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17above all, into domestic service.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Julia Varley, an ardent political activist based in Birmingham,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30had spent the war successfully unionising women in factories and workshops.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34Now that women were being encouraged to go back into service,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38she set out to empower and galvanise servants, too.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Loveday Street, close to the city centre, was the place to start.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46This is where Number One, Loveday Street would have stood.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49And it's important because it's a place where
0:15:49 > 0:15:53a charismatic suffragette and Labour activist called Julia Varley
0:15:53 > 0:15:57started to organise the city maids in Birmingham.
0:15:57 > 0:16:03One of her challenges was that there was just so few places for working women to meet.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08So she had a great idea, she set up a club for servants right here.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Some newspapers called it the Servants' Paradise.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15It became really a headquarters for a servants' union.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Julia Varley conceived of her club
0:16:20 > 0:16:23as the welcoming meeting place for servants of all ranks,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28from lowly scullery maids to cook, complete with chintz curtains and a grand piano.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33Pre-war attempts at organising a servants' union had come to nothing,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35but now things looked more hopeful.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37So in 1918,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40women have come together from all over the country.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44They've moved into munition centres. They've left their home towns.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47They've perhaps lived in hostels together.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53And they've sort of, you know, formed bonds and friendships.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57So Julia Varley, along with other women trade unionists,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00are aware that, if they don't do something,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04women are going to disappear back into this hidden world of employment,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07and that includes domestic service.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10If women are going to go back into that job...
0:17:10 > 0:17:14And I think it's important that she's not saying, "Don't go back into that job."
0:17:14 > 0:17:18She's certainly saying if you do it,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22then we need to raise the profile, we need to raise the status,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26and we need to look at the terms and conditions
0:17:26 > 0:17:29for maids, for domestic servants.
0:17:30 > 0:17:35Julia Varley ensured the servants set out their own terms in her Servants' Charter,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39laying out their hours and the most basic work conditions,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41such as the need for proper food.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47The very fact that that has to be stated,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51when we might all think that employers
0:17:51 > 0:17:53are bound to look after their staff.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57That this is in the months after the First World War.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00That this is put down in writing to try to ensure
0:18:00 > 0:18:03that servants got good, plain food,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06you know, it says an awful lot.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08- It's still not too much to ask, is it, really?- Exactly.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11It's not exactly the height of radicalism. Name.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15"By arrangement with the mistresses girls are allowed to choose the name by which they wish to be called.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19"Comfortable kitchen with an easy chair or other provision for rest."
0:18:19 > 0:18:22Yes. And it also goes on to say,
0:18:22 > 0:18:27"A comfortable bedroom with separate bed, where separate bedroom is not possible."
0:18:27 > 0:18:32In other words, they shouldn't be sharing a bed with another servant.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36Here it says, "Sheets to be changed at least every three weeks.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40"Pillowcase and bath towel to be changed at least every fortnight.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42"Clean face towel every week."
0:18:42 > 0:18:47And, most importantly, it says, "Use of bathroom once a week."
0:18:47 > 0:18:49- Hardly revolutionary demands. - Indeed.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53It seems to be this is about these women just wanting to be treated with dignity.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55- Yes.- With respect.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59What happens in the end? Does she succeed?
0:18:59 > 0:19:01In the long run, no.
0:19:01 > 0:19:07Erm, Julia Varley herself says after a couple of years it petered out.
0:19:07 > 0:19:13And the reason that she herself cites for that is snobbery.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17She said, "You wouldn't believe the class distinctions there were among servants."
0:19:17 > 0:19:21The cook wouldn't mix with the housemaid and all that sort of thing.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23So she's blaming the servants?
0:19:23 > 0:19:26She's blaming the servants for the dynamic of her club not working,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30but perhaps it was easier for her to blame the servants
0:19:30 > 0:19:33than to accept that this project,
0:19:33 > 0:19:38that she'd invested time and union resources into,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41erm, wasn't working.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Julia Varley may have blamed the servants' snobbery,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51but her timing could not have been worse.
0:19:51 > 0:19:56At the start of 1921, unemployment doubled from one to nearly two million
0:19:56 > 0:20:02in the face of a disastrous economic slump, following the First World War.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04What many female servants did share, however,
0:20:04 > 0:20:09was outrage at the situation with unemployment insurance.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14Unemployment benefit had been introduced but, shockingly, servants weren't entitled to it,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18because it was assumed that they could always find work.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23In practice, that meant that women who'd had a range of jobs during the war
0:20:23 > 0:20:26now found themselves forced into service.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30One newspaper reported it like this, the Southampton Thames,
0:20:30 > 0:20:35"Women still have not brought themselves to realise that factory work,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39"with the money paid for it during the war, will not be possible again.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43"Women who left domestic service to enter the factory
0:20:43 > 0:20:46"are now required to return to the pots and pans."
0:20:53 > 0:20:56The war's effect on the service economy was clear.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00There were now 200,000 fewer servants.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04When women refused service jobs and attempted to claim the dole,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06the outraged middle classes called on their politicians
0:21:06 > 0:21:09to fight their cause for them.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21- Oh, isn't this place amazing? - That's incredible.
0:21:21 > 0:21:22Some wallpaper!
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Let's look here at the Hansard.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32It's even quite surprising to me that servants make it into Parliamentary debate.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38Well, they were very big in people's lives and the lack of servants was very big in people's lives.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41And here we have Captain Terrell.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46- Who's Captain Terrell? - Captain Terrell is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Henley.
0:21:46 > 0:21:52- And Henley was very much as Henley is today. - What's Captain Terrell up to?
0:21:52 > 0:21:57Captain Terrell is obviously bothered because his constituents can't get domestic servants,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01or can't get domestic servants for the wages that they're prepared to pay.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04He asked the Minister of Labour, "Whether he will institute an inquiry
0:22:04 > 0:22:07"into the abuse of the unemployment pay by women and girls,
0:22:07 > 0:22:12"who, accustomed to domestic service, now refuse to re-enter it."
0:22:12 > 0:22:15So very cleverly, what Captain Terrell is doing,
0:22:15 > 0:22:21he's not saying, "My constituents can't get domestic servants," which is what he means.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26He's saying that women are abusing the dole by going on to the dole
0:22:26 > 0:22:30and taking money from the state rather than going out into gainful employment,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33in brackets - working for my constituents as domestic servants.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36- So really, it's blaming the dole for the servant shortage.- Exactly so.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41You have the breaking up of the simplicities of the class system,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45the ending of the days when there was a servant class,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49and women of a certain class would become servants,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52and women of another class would HAVE servants.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55And the classes were supposed to know what they were there for,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59and not suppose that they could carry on working in munitions factories, for instance,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03- as they had been during the First World War.- With higher pay! - With higher pay.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06It's the breaking up of the certainties
0:23:06 > 0:23:08of people's social status and position.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12At this point, the Labour Party begin to get involved
0:23:12 > 0:23:15and they begin to chime in on the other side of the argument.
0:23:15 > 0:23:21Mr W. Thorn, a Labour MP, is doing what MPs and journalists love to do,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24he's bringing a real-life case to the House of Commons,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27a heart-wrenching case to the House of Commons.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30"Miss L. Moore," he says, "is the eldest of 10 children,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34"having nine brothers and one sister all living at home,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37"five being under 14 years of age and still going to school.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39"The youngest not being two years old.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43"She was one the chief supporters of the household when working at the rubber works."
0:23:43 > 0:23:46That's probably after or during the First World War.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50"And in consequence, Miss Moore states that she was not used to domestic service,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53"and as she was one of the chief supporters of the household
0:23:53 > 0:23:58"she could not see her way clear to accept the position of a domestic servant."
0:23:58 > 0:24:02And they're going to take the dole away from her and her whole family rely on her.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05And this is one of those lovely human stories
0:24:05 > 0:24:10- that can be so much more effective in politics than dry argument.- Yes.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13- And a girl like this, who's 17, it says there...- Yes.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17- ..Is expected to take a domestic service job.- That's right.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Regardless of the fact she hasn't been trained to do it and of what it's paid.
0:24:20 > 0:24:25Yes. And to suit the convenience of her mistress rather than looking after all her brothers and sisters.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35With issues around servants and the dole so publicly raised in Parliament,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39certain newspapers waded in on behalf of the employers.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44The Daily Mail picks up the story.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49They run a campaign over two or more weeks called "Scandals of the Dole - Paying Women to be Idle".
0:24:49 > 0:24:52"Girls who ought to be in service".
0:24:52 > 0:24:55They employ a special correspondent to investigate the problem.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00"The most flagrant scandal connected with the dole is that of the thousands upon thousands of women
0:25:00 > 0:25:03"who are drawing it when they ought to be in domestic service.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07"This is a scandal which is capable of no kind of valid excuse."
0:25:07 > 0:25:11He calls upon the government to do one perfectly obvious thing -
0:25:11 > 0:25:16"make it illegal for women to draw the dole when they are capable of domestic service."
0:25:16 > 0:25:18So it goes on.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26Well, the campaign's gathering pace, and a week later there are lots of letters from correspondents.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Here's one. "To the editor of the Daily Mail.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34"Sir, for four months I have been trying in vain to get a servant.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38"I applied to the Labour Bureau. They told me they had no servants of any sort or kind.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43"There were ten women forming a queue in the office passage up the stairs and in the street,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45"obviously of the domestic servant class.
0:25:45 > 0:25:50"I asked the clerk what they were doing, thinking they had come to try and get employment,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54"but was told they were women waiting to receive the dole."
0:25:54 > 0:25:56That's N. Swinton from Barnes.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01All this public debate resulted in a committee of inquiry,
0:26:01 > 0:26:06staffed with women from all sides of the political spectrum, including Julia Varley.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08But no actual servants.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14The committee came up with some quite thoughtful recommendations -
0:26:14 > 0:26:17better training, better conditions, improving status,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20but in the end its report was shelved.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25As with so many problems a government doesn't want to deal with,
0:26:25 > 0:26:29the inquirer's report was kicked into the long grass.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34For no-one in Parliament seemed to have the answer to the underlying question -
0:26:34 > 0:26:39what to do when thousands of young women refused to go into service?
0:26:46 > 0:26:52Now the battleground shifted to an unlikely issue, the maid's hair, cap and uniform.
0:26:52 > 0:26:58Nothing typified more the indignity of service than old-fashioned uniforms,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01and the cap itself became a hated symbol of deference.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07The mistresses now took it on themselves to persuade young women back
0:27:07 > 0:27:09through a fashion charm offensive.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18This is one of the new women's magazines from the 1930s.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23It's the Needlewoman, "a magazine of exclusive fashions in dress and in the home".
0:27:23 > 0:27:26It's the kind of thing that would have been read by a lot of mistresses,
0:27:26 > 0:27:31and it's got some great hints for the mistress as to how keep your maid happy.
0:27:31 > 0:27:36And one way they should do it is by improving on that uniform and the cap.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41"Mistresses who have difficulty in persuading their maids
0:27:41 > 0:27:43"to wear the stiffly starched cap and apron
0:27:43 > 0:27:49"should try the effect of a dainty apron and cap, similar to the one in the picture."
0:27:49 > 0:27:52The caption underneath says, "Doesn't this apron look smart?"
0:27:52 > 0:27:56You can just almost hear the anxiety in the voice there.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59She doesn't look desperately happy about it.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Here's a great one. I love this. "To make your maid look her best.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06"Maids' uniforms are very different nowadays
0:28:06 > 0:28:09"from the stiff, cumbersome designs worn before the war.
0:28:09 > 0:28:15"The wise mistress finds it pays to make her maid take a pride in her dress.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18"Many smart mistresses in Mayfair
0:28:18 > 0:28:22"find that the maid who resents 'uniform' will be quite happy
0:28:22 > 0:28:25"when wearing a picturesque outfit in colour."
0:28:25 > 0:28:29And you go back to a picture of a maid and a caption,
0:28:29 > 0:28:33"Any maid would feel happy with a dainty apron like the one above."
0:28:33 > 0:28:36I think if you read between the lines here,
0:28:36 > 0:28:40there's a real sense of anxiety, insecurity on the part of the mistresses.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43They're not sure how to deal with this new breed of maid -
0:28:43 > 0:28:46more flighty, more, you know...
0:28:46 > 0:28:51Who've got their own ideas about how they want to look and how they want to live their lives.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54But they're making an effort. They're going for it. They're trying to say, you know,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58"If we meet them halfway, nicer uniforms, they'll be happy."
0:28:58 > 0:29:00But it's a bit of a vain hope, I think.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06But there was one mistress who came up with a truly radical idea,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09which offered servants much more than simply a prettier apron.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14Society hostess, Lady Malcolm, organised an annual servants' ball,
0:29:14 > 0:29:17where servants and employers could meet on equal terms.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21She called it her Cinderella Dance,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25and in 1928 the ball took place in the Wharncliff rooms
0:29:25 > 0:29:28of what used to be called the Grand Central Hotel in London.
0:29:30 > 0:29:35Tickets were on sale to all, and it was difficult to tell amongst the thousand dancers
0:29:35 > 0:29:38who was a servant and who an employer.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48Lady Malcolm was rumoured to be the illegitimate daughter of Edward VII and his mistress,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52beauty and international actress Lily Langtrey.
0:29:53 > 0:29:58Only someone of Lady Malcolm's unorthodox social standing would dare such a thing.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00Why did Lady Malcolm do this?
0:30:00 > 0:30:02She had a very odd childhood.
0:30:02 > 0:30:07Her mother touring, doing her stage appearances,
0:30:07 > 0:30:09cavorting with her boyfriends, left her alone,
0:30:09 > 0:30:14at a time when, if she'd been seen with her daughter, tongues would have wagged.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18So the little girl is taken out by servants and makes friends with servants.
0:30:18 > 0:30:24She sees that they are not just human beings but, in many ways, nicer human beings
0:30:24 > 0:30:28than the grand folk with whom she is expected to spend her time.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30How did the ball work?
0:30:30 > 0:30:35It was very fairly formal, obviously, judging from the descriptions in the press.
0:30:35 > 0:30:40It started off with a procession led by Lady Malcolm and her butler.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42So they would come in and they would walk down here.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45I'm the butler, you're Lady Malcolm. We would go like this.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Presumably holding their hands, proceeding.
0:30:52 > 0:30:57The press all over Britain delighted in covering the ball,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00as did the American Delaware Morning Star.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05I love this headline - "So Lady Malcolm defied society, danced with the butler!
0:31:05 > 0:31:09"While the conservative London dowagers sat back and sizzled, but had to take it."
0:31:09 > 0:31:14"The dowagers gasped in astonishment as the erstwhile dignified British servant
0:31:14 > 0:31:19"chatted gaily with Lady Malcolm while he escorted her across the spacious floor
0:31:19 > 0:31:22"with the casual air of a young lord.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27"But they were still more astounded when she stepped into his arms
0:31:27 > 0:31:29"and went dancing across the floor.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32"The chef forgot the giggling housemaid by his side.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35"This was indeed an innovation.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39"Even Lady Malcolm, whose impregnable social position permitted her many privileges
0:31:39 > 0:31:42"had never dared such an act before."
0:31:42 > 0:31:45- Lady Malcolm.- Looking, of course, away from the butler.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48And, indeed, he does look a rather bottle-nosed old buffer, doesn't he?
0:31:48 > 0:31:50She's either holding him up
0:31:50 > 0:31:54or she's turning away from his very, very wine alcoholic breath.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56And, of course, that's one of the things you never hear about.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00I mean, what was their actual feeling about being held in the embrace
0:32:00 > 0:32:05of a man who was serving you your drinks for the rest of the year.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Could you ever quite go back?
0:32:07 > 0:32:09The question is raised here, I think -
0:32:09 > 0:32:13could you ever go back to the old relationship
0:32:13 > 0:32:15once you had gone through that?
0:32:15 > 0:32:18Because their old relationship depends on that difference.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22It depends on the difference. It depends also on physical distance,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25by which I don't mean that he wasn't a few feet from you
0:32:25 > 0:32:29and, of course, when he was pouring wine at dinner he was leaning over your shoulder.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31But, nonetheless, they weren't actually touching.
0:32:31 > 0:32:36Whereas once you'd been in his arms, things were never going to be the same again.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38In her own way, I think Lady Malcolm
0:32:38 > 0:32:44achieved one of the great sort of blows against the class system.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50But while some mistresses were trying to charm their servants with balls and flowery aprons,
0:32:50 > 0:32:54a new model of middle-class service was emerging.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Change came from a surprising quarter,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59not from the country house set,
0:32:59 > 0:33:04but from those eager to move out of crowded city housing.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13Tired of these surroundings. We're cooped up in this London flat all the days of our lives.
0:33:13 > 0:33:16Well then, let's go out into the country.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20- The country? Where? - There are awfully nice houses at Purely Oaks. Charming.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24- Purley Oaks? That's where the Goodmans live.- Yes.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27- He's always telling me about it. Golf, too.- Yes, lovely.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31- By Jove, we'll go, darling! - Not far from town.- We'll go.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36Immortalised by John Betjeman as Metroland,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40new suburban developments were springing up all over the country,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43built on green land outside the city centres.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48Astonishingly, the number of privately owned houses quadrupled between the wars.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54Designed for a lower middle class of teachers and bank clerks,
0:33:54 > 0:33:59the most popular housing type of all was the semi-detached home.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03This is a classic 1930s house.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07The families that moved out to these suburbs were full of hope and optimism.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12They were building a new way of life, and you can see it in the sunrise motif over there,
0:34:12 > 0:34:14which was everywhere at the time.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18What's really interesting is that this new way of life
0:34:18 > 0:34:21required a different kind of servant.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25It's hard to imagine that these small houses had room
0:34:25 > 0:34:28or a role for servants.
0:34:28 > 0:34:33Lots of families still wanted the status and the labour
0:34:33 > 0:34:35of having some kind of servant.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37And so they compromised by having a day servant.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40Somebody that, you know, was kind of like a cleaner,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43but we don't really have cleaners at this point.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47- So day servants would still have looked very like traditional servants.- Still wore a uniform?
0:34:47 > 0:34:49They might have worn the uniform.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53They might well have come in pretty early. They might have come in at about seven in the morning.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56And, again, left fairly late. So they still have the long hours.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59The suburbs were not a servant-free zone.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04So I think for a lot of families they wanted to have the visible domestic worker,
0:35:04 > 0:35:10the daily servant in their house so they could show everyone, "We've arrived. We really are middle class."
0:35:10 > 0:35:15So they might get the maid working, hoovering or serving up dinner in the front room,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18and have the bay window curtains open and the lights on
0:35:18 > 0:35:22- so that everyone can look in and see what they've got. - A little glance!
0:35:23 > 0:35:27But how was the already fractious bond between servants and their employers
0:35:27 > 0:35:31going to play out in these small houses?
0:35:31 > 0:35:36Well, it causes immense problems for the relationship between employers and dailies,
0:35:36 > 0:35:39because they're thrown very close together.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42You know, they no longer have the clear sense of separate spaces.
0:35:42 > 0:35:47But you can kind of still see the way in which that is built into a house like this.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52The fact that it has the side-entrance, so that you can still have tradesmen and dailies
0:35:52 > 0:35:55coming in around the side is very important.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00It's an attempt to delineate the status of people coming in and out of the house.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03- That's an important part of being semi-detached.- Absolutely.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06- Is to have a side entrance?- Yeah. - It's less upstairs/downstairs.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08- It's more front door/side door. - Exactly, yeah.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13So this kitchen is modern because it's full of labour-saving devices -
0:36:13 > 0:36:15the cooker and the gas and the fridge.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18But it's also part of the house. It's integrated, isn't it?
0:36:18 > 0:36:21- There's a kind of proximity to the rest of the house.- That's right.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Kitchens were being pulled in to family life.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29I wouldn't say they were yet the heart of the home, which they become after World War II,
0:36:29 > 0:36:32but, nonetheless, this might be a family room.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35You might have the family breakfasting in here altogether.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38But we also need to remember that there were real limits to that.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41So although it's a bright, cheerful, sunny room
0:36:41 > 0:36:44and it's a step away from the other rooms in the house,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47this was also the servants' domain,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51and if you just look out here, she would have been expected
0:36:51 > 0:36:54to use...this little...
0:36:54 > 0:36:55outside toilet.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Oh, yes!
0:36:57 > 0:37:03- So it's really clear that servants were NOT being invited to use the indoor facilities.- Yeah.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05So just have a look at this.
0:37:05 > 0:37:10What we've got here - this is some servant-grade toilet paper, you see?
0:37:10 > 0:37:12Strong toilet tissue.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15So you've got the soft, quilted toilet paper upstairs,
0:37:15 > 0:37:20- and here you've got, what I call, the tracing paper version. - Yes, the tracing paper!
0:37:20 > 0:37:24But what is going on here with these two bathrooms? What's the story?
0:37:24 > 0:37:27I think what we see is a kind of persistent disgust
0:37:27 > 0:37:32at having to share intimate spaces with servants who are still imagined to be other.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36They were still different kinds of people. You didn't want the servant in your bathroom.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40The physical otherness of the servant. You know, the disgust at their bodies.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44So that sense of disgust is really played out in these different products.
0:37:44 > 0:37:51You know, the servants get carbolic soap and the family get scented, creamy, leathery soap.
0:37:52 > 0:37:58Just like the suburban houses, innovative household appliances were designed with servants in mind.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02If you look here, this is a great example of this.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06It's the Daily Mail Ideal Labour Saving Home Book.
0:38:06 > 0:38:11And it's full, it's absolutely packed, with adverts and commentary,
0:38:11 > 0:38:16which is basically saying, "How do we solve the servant problem?"
0:38:16 > 0:38:20Here you've got all these happy looking servants using these devices.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23You know, they're trying to say,
0:38:23 > 0:38:29the solution to your disgruntled servants is in getting the carpet sweeper, the sweeper vac.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31Smiling servant, no cap.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34- That's right.- Much less decorative. Fashionable hair.
0:38:34 > 0:38:35That's right.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39Gadgets were being sold as servant pacifiers,
0:38:39 > 0:38:44but in reality the roles of servant and middle-class housewife
0:38:44 > 0:38:46were becoming increasing blurred.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49With new technologies significantly reducing
0:38:49 > 0:38:54the hours and physical challenge of housework, who was actually doing the work?
0:38:55 > 0:39:01Suburban housewives were taking on tasks like cooking, but one duty remained beyond the pale,
0:39:01 > 0:39:05to the point of absurdity.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10- This is a wonderful example of how, in some ways, things hadn't changed that much.- What is this?
0:39:10 > 0:39:12- The Receivador?- The Receivador.
0:39:12 > 0:39:16It's being advertised here as the "greatest household labour-saving device".
0:39:16 > 0:39:20It actually says here, "The Receivador is the silent servant of the household,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23"giving orders and receiving parcels."
0:39:23 > 0:39:27When we think of what the greatest labour-saving device of the 20th century is, we might say...
0:39:27 > 0:39:30- Washing machine. - ..Vacuum cleaner. Yeah, one of those.
0:39:30 > 0:39:36But here, this is a device which enables you to not answer your own front door.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38So it's a little hatch that goes out at the front
0:39:38 > 0:39:43and the tradesman delivering some meat puts their parcel in it
0:39:43 > 0:39:45and you open it and take it out on the inside.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47And you don't need to have an interaction.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50We don't think of answering the door as particularly hard work.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53But it was still a really fraught thing.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Do you answer the door yourself if you're not a servant?
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Is it OK for the mistress of the house to do that.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Would that kind of thing have been installed in a house like this?
0:40:02 > 0:40:04Yeah. This is exactly who they're aiming at.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07It's exactly the middle-class house
0:40:07 > 0:40:10where there's not enough money for the old staff.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17Those higher up the social ladder, who did still have enough money,
0:40:17 > 0:40:21were desperately clinging on to their live-in staff.
0:40:28 > 0:40:33This was the site of Clayton Lodge, where the Tinne family lived.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37Emily Tinne, her husband, Doctor Philip Tinne, their kids and up to six servants,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41and that was including a cook and a butler and a gardener.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44They had a very nice life up here.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47They had three acres, an orchard, an eight-bedroomed house.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54It's all been bulldozed now and it's been replaced by period houses,
0:40:54 > 0:40:56mock period houses, ironically.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00But what remains is an amazing record of the Tinnes' troubles
0:41:00 > 0:41:05of finding and keeping good servants in the 1930s.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10I've come to the National Museums of Liverpool
0:41:10 > 0:41:13to see the Tinnes' photo album and letters
0:41:13 > 0:41:16that have been carefully preserved by the family.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18It's a big box.
0:41:19 > 0:41:20So there are five children?
0:41:20 > 0:41:24There were six. The youngest hasn't been born yet. He's not on this line.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27This is Elspeth. This is Ernest.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29Bertha.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Helen and Alexine.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36So this is Ernest, who went away to Eton. Most of the letters are directed to him.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40And his father writes to him, literally, every week.
0:41:40 > 0:41:46They tell everything that goes on in the house, from what the cat's doing, to what the servants are doing.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48So let's have a look at this one.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52"Mummie is getting over-worked with no cook and stupid girls,
0:41:52 > 0:41:57"but prefers it to dishonest and insolent older women in the kitchen."
0:41:57 > 0:42:02They talk constantly of how difficult it is to recruit servants and to retain them, the good ones anyway.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06"The new maid is useless, she knows nothing and does less,
0:42:06 > 0:42:10"always wanting to go home or go to dances and stay away for the night."
0:42:10 > 0:42:13Now you can see what's happening. There's a problem here,
0:42:13 > 0:42:17as problems are mounting in the later '30s with servants, generally.
0:42:17 > 0:42:22"An impossible Irish maid turned up today, (with two sisters - not applying),
0:42:22 > 0:42:24"to interview Mummie."
0:42:24 > 0:42:29Instead of the other way around, because she would be interviewing them, yes.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32"One year in England, wanted 17/6 a week
0:42:32 > 0:42:38- "and two evenings off till 11.30pm." These are her demands.- Yeah.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43"Plus latch-key. It seems we had better live in the cottage and offer the maid our house."
0:42:43 > 0:42:46So, he's being sarcastic. He's saying, "What else would she like?"
0:42:46 > 0:42:48She's come to interview us instead of the other way around.
0:42:48 > 0:42:54- Yes.- "The working class, so called, can have it all their own way these days.
0:42:54 > 0:42:59"So we have no maid and have to start our own fires and do the cooking and washing-up."
0:42:59 > 0:43:03- So this would have been such a change for a family like that... - Definitely, yeah.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06- Who had been used to... - A bit of a come-down in social terms.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11Because she was somebody who wouldn't even have answered her own front door in 1910,
0:43:11 > 0:43:16when she first got married, and here she is having to run the house and look after the kitchen
0:43:16 > 0:43:18and do the jobs of the maids and so on.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21- So she's really doing those kinds of jobs. - She's really having to pitch in.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25- The hands-on jobs.- Definitely. - What did her husband make of that?
0:43:25 > 0:43:28You get the sense that he's not thrilled about it,
0:43:28 > 0:43:32but it's one of those unfortunate facts of life that you have to just do these things sometimes.
0:43:32 > 0:43:37They're powerless against the trend of history, which is fewer and fewer servants around.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41And this is a good example here, from a letter from 1937,
0:43:41 > 0:43:46which talks about the kinds of things people are considering as an alternative.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49"No signs of a cook, and most people are in the same plight.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51"The aerodrome and factory at Speke..."
0:43:51 > 0:43:53Which is now John Lennon Airport.
0:43:53 > 0:43:54"..Will absorb still more girls."
0:43:54 > 0:43:57So girls are going to work in the new industry?
0:43:57 > 0:44:01These new industries are absorbing people from different directions,
0:44:01 > 0:44:02including servants, in a big way.
0:44:02 > 0:44:07"We badly want an importation of Russians or Spaniards to act as domestics.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11"The Irish cannot be counted reliable and the English won't work."
0:44:11 > 0:44:12The English won't work.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14- So that's an interesting statement. - 1937.- Yes.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17They are obviously looking abroad for servants at this point.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20"I have not got a maid yet.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25"Nearly all the ladies I know have got Austrian, German or Swiss maids,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28"but I have not quite brought myself to that yet."
0:44:28 > 0:44:33Even though there was a demand for Austrian and German maids
0:44:33 > 0:44:36it wasn't that easy for them to get into Britain.
0:44:36 > 0:44:42In the build-up to war, Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler flooded into the country.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46In order to control the flood, the British government started issuing new visas,
0:44:46 > 0:44:48including a Domestic Service Visa,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52which restricted the holder to working as a live-in servant only.
0:44:57 > 0:45:0120,000 refugees came over on these Domestic Service Visas,
0:45:01 > 0:45:06double the number that were saved through the celebrated Kinder Transport.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10They were mostly young, middle-class Viennese girls,
0:45:10 > 0:45:12themselves from servant-keeping families,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15utterly unprepared for domestic labour.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20Edith Argy made it over from Vienna in September 1938,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23and had nine jobs in the space of only a year and a half.
0:45:25 > 0:45:30Did you change jobs so many times because you didn't like the work?
0:45:30 > 0:45:32Why couldn't you settle into one job?
0:45:32 > 0:45:34Well, I hated every job.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37I just didn't want to be a domestic servant.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40And what was so bad about it for you?
0:45:40 > 0:45:43Well, in most cases...
0:45:43 > 0:45:46I wasn't...
0:45:46 > 0:45:48either psychologically
0:45:48 > 0:45:53or physically really suitable for that kind of job.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57Psychologically, because the whole idea of being a servant
0:45:57 > 0:46:02and being treated - either ignored or...
0:46:04 > 0:46:07You know, servants just didn't...
0:46:07 > 0:46:09They weren't human beings, somehow.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12They were sort of sub-human beings.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15And I felt that already in Nazi Austria
0:46:15 > 0:46:18I had been treated as a sub-human being,
0:46:18 > 0:46:21and I felt that this was a continuation of it.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24And that's me when I arrived in England.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27Is that an official photograph for a visa?
0:46:27 > 0:46:30It must have been, yes, yes.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32These are my parents.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36You know, my mother died when I was four years old.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40This is my father and me when I was -
0:46:40 > 0:46:43I don't know - three or four years. I don't know how old.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46- Perhaps four years old. - You were very close to him?
0:46:46 > 0:46:48Yes, yes.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51He really, really loved me.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55This is my stepmother and me.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00I tried desperately and I had found her somebody who would employ her,
0:47:00 > 0:47:05but, you know, she was two years too old. She was 57.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09- Two years too old to get this visa? - Yes. I never saw her again.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11I've lived with that guilt...
0:47:11 > 0:47:14- I can't imagine. - ..For the rest of my life.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19Edith's stepmother was deported to Poland and never returned.
0:47:22 > 0:47:27When the war ended, Edith, her father and brother were reunited.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40Although the war may temporarily have pulled more women into servant roles,
0:47:40 > 0:47:44its aftermath inflicted lasting damage to the world of service.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50Many big houses, like Brodsworth, faced crisis,
0:47:50 > 0:47:55with soaring taxation, there were to be no more shooting parties or hunt balls.
0:47:57 > 0:48:02And the live-in servants that remained, down from 15 in the last war to just three,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06spoke out with a new openness and directness.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11- So is this when you worked here? - Yeah.
0:48:12 > 0:48:13Wow!
0:48:13 > 0:48:17- When was this, after the Second World War?- Oh, definitely.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20So how old were you here, about 18, 19?
0:48:21 > 0:48:23Er, about 19.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26- I weren't bad looking, were I? - Yeah, you were very good looking.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29Look at that. Is that your dress?
0:48:29 > 0:48:33Yeah. It were blue.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35- So you didn't wear a uniform? - That was me uniform.- Yeah.
0:48:35 > 0:48:40And a white apron - a big one on a morning and a small one.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43But I had to supply them meself.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45- Right. But you didn't have a cap?- No.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49- Had that all gone out then, after the war?- Yeah, that had finished.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51- They never asked you to wear one? - I wouldn't have done it.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54- Wouldn't you?- No.- Why not?- No!
0:48:55 > 0:48:58I were a big enough mug as it was.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00SHE LAUGHS
0:49:00 > 0:49:03What did you have to do here? What was your job?
0:49:03 > 0:49:06- Er, parlour maid.- Right.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09I used to do the breakfasts.
0:49:09 > 0:49:10Right.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14I used to help Esther upstairs with the sitting-room, clean the brasses,
0:49:14 > 0:49:18and then I'd go down to dining room,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21see that their breakfast were all right.
0:49:21 > 0:49:22Yeah.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25And then upstairs, helped to make the beds.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28Back downstairs, cleaned the... cleared the dining room,
0:49:28 > 0:49:31wash-up, cleaned the silver,
0:49:31 > 0:49:33get ready for lunch.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35- This is all before lunch?- Yeah.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38- It's a big house, isn't it? - Oh, a big house!
0:49:40 > 0:49:42It really was hard work.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45And do you think you were, you and Emily and Esther,
0:49:45 > 0:49:49you were helping them to maintain a lifestyle that was really on the way out?
0:49:49 > 0:49:53Yeah. Well, I mean, they used to have...
0:49:53 > 0:49:56Well, about ten staff.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59- They were left with three of us.- Mm.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03- But expecting the same standard. - Expecting the same standard.- Mm.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06And I mean, when they had guests,
0:50:06 > 0:50:08muggings here had to...
0:50:08 > 0:50:11- do the donkey work.- Mm.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13And it WAS hard work.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17- We were underdogs. We weren't on the same level as them.- Mm.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21- But we had to know our place.- Right.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25'Ask at your local Ministry of Labour office or a hospital for details of how to...'
0:50:25 > 0:50:27But Sheila didn't accept being an underdog.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30After an argument, she left Brodsworth,
0:50:30 > 0:50:34later getting a job as an auxiliary nurse in the new National Health Service.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36'First you must learn nursing.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40'It isn't difficult. While you're learning, you're paid.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43'The job is interesting and there's plenty of companionship.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47'One day off a week and four weeks paid holiday a year.'
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Oh, it was a different life altogether.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53How would you explain that? What would you say?
0:50:53 > 0:50:55- Well, I had more freedom.- Mm-hm.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59I mean, when you were in service, you're confined.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03You don't get out, only on your half-day.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08But there, I'd do me shift at the hospital,
0:51:08 > 0:51:11then I could go out.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15I could even go to a cinema, which was unusual for me.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19- And how did the money compare? - Oh, better, a lot better.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21- So more money, more freedom.- Yeah.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27Sheila met her husband, Bob, while he was working in a children's home.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31And after you left, did you keep in touch with people here?
0:51:31 > 0:51:33We came once,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37my husband and me, to talk to Emily.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40Well, Mrs Grant-Dalton must have heard our voices.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45And she came in, "Oh, Sheila!" she says, "nice to see you again."
0:51:45 > 0:51:47And she says, "Who's this?" I said, "My husband."
0:51:47 > 0:51:51And she said, "Would you like a job here?"
0:51:51 > 0:51:54So he said, "What's it worth?"
0:51:54 > 0:51:57So she says, "£4 a week."
0:51:57 > 0:51:59What did she want him to do?
0:51:59 > 0:52:01She wanted him to be the butler.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06"£4 a week and those two rooms, you know, right at the end."
0:52:06 > 0:52:11And when we got outside me husband said, "No way," he said, "would I work in a place like that!"
0:52:12 > 0:52:16He says, "£4 a week and two scruffy rooms!"
0:52:16 > 0:52:19He says, "No way!"
0:52:19 > 0:52:24It's interesting, isn't it? Cos it almost sums up the end of formal service,
0:52:24 > 0:52:26the end of an era.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29You'd had this system for a 100 years or so, and then...
0:52:29 > 0:52:32- Because people like you and your husband weren't going to do this work any more.- No.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42Sheila was just one of thousands of women who seized with both hands
0:52:42 > 0:52:44any chance to leave service,
0:52:44 > 0:52:48flocking into jobs in offices, shops and the NHS.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54Service was no longer the largest category of female employment.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56Typists and clerks were instead.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04Now, only 1% of households still employed a live-in servant.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08The servant class, as we knew it, had truly disappeared.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15So this was, indeed, the end of grand-scale, country house living.
0:53:15 > 0:53:20Since the end of the war, 1,000 historic estates have been demolished,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23diminished or turned into flats.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Servants quarters were usually the first to be converted to other use,
0:53:27 > 0:53:29either storage or the tearoom.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34The more entrepreneurial owners, either on their own
0:53:34 > 0:53:38or with organisations like the National Trust and English Heritage,
0:53:38 > 0:53:43cleverly located themselves as part of the heritage industry.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45And the survival of these houses is really important.
0:53:45 > 0:53:51They're a vital part of our heritage industry and thousands of people visit them every year.
0:53:51 > 0:53:56The houses give us a window into the world of service, a really important one.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01But, for me, it's a window that's partially open, half open,
0:54:01 > 0:54:04and the view we get through it is pretty rose coloured.
0:54:10 > 0:54:17Often the fantasy of service presented in these houses is tinged with a sentimental nostalgia.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19Old-fashioned cooking implements,
0:54:19 > 0:54:23retro household wares and beautifully recreated food stuffs
0:54:23 > 0:54:26from cheeses to game,
0:54:26 > 0:54:31are all carefully arranged in the pristinely clean, elegantly painted servants' quarters.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36Visitors delight in this visual feast,
0:54:36 > 0:54:42but what can't be mocked up is the reality and complexity of the servants' lives.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48The memories of most who experienced service were anything but rose tinted.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52Margaret Powell's memoirs were published in 1968,
0:54:52 > 0:54:57and her candid view of life below stairs chimed with the spirit of the '60s,
0:54:57 > 0:55:01when class hierarchies were being questioned like never before.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Her publisher sent her on a book tour.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09The first morning she came down to me, she said,
0:55:09 > 0:55:13"Cook, have you ever worked for a lady with a title before?"
0:55:13 > 0:55:18So I said, "Well, no, I haven't." So she said, "Well, I suppose you know how to address her?"
0:55:18 > 0:55:21So I said, "Yes, I suppose I'd say Lady Gibbons."
0:55:21 > 0:55:24"Oh, no, you don't!" she said.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28"When you're talking TO me you say 'm'lady'.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33"And when you're talking OF me to the other servants, you say 'Her Ladyship'."
0:55:33 > 0:55:35We generally used to say 'that old cow upstairs'!
0:55:35 > 0:55:38LAUGHTER
0:55:41 > 0:55:44The public's interest in what Margaret represented
0:55:44 > 0:55:46turned her into something of a celebrity.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50The BBC sent her to interview the kind of people she might earlier have worked for,
0:55:50 > 0:55:53questioning them about how their lives had changed.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57MARGARET: 'My host is Hugh Seymour, eighth Marquis of Hertford.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59'I'm feeling very grand.'
0:55:59 > 0:56:02- How do you do?- Very well, thank you. - Welcome to Ragley.
0:56:02 > 0:56:07Do you entertain? I mean, do you have house parties now as they did in the old days?
0:56:07 > 0:56:12- Not quite on the scale. We have six or eight people stay every now and then.- You do?
0:56:12 > 0:56:16Which I love. I love the idea of having 20 people to stay,
0:56:16 > 0:56:21but my wife says there are certain little local difficulties about sort of bed-making and washing-up.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25We find it slightly embarrassing nowadays that just occasionally
0:56:25 > 0:56:28some elderly friends of ours arrive with a chauffeur
0:56:28 > 0:56:32and, of course, our servants' hall is now a tearoom seating 100 people for tea,
0:56:32 > 0:56:35and there's nowhere really for the chauffeur to sit.
0:56:35 > 0:56:40But what do you think the role is now then of a lord in the 20th century?
0:56:40 > 0:56:42Or have they got a role even at all?
0:56:42 > 0:56:47I never see myself as having a role as an aristocrat. I have a role as the owner of Ragley.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50That's the important thing in my life, owning this gorgeous house.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59Today, the rich still have staff to cater to their every need,
0:56:59 > 0:57:03and the middle classes still employ nannies and au pairs to watch over the children,
0:57:03 > 0:57:07and cleaners to clean the toilets and scrub the steps.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10They may no longer be called "servants", and most now come from abroad,
0:57:10 > 0:57:14from places like Poland or the Philippines.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17Their relationship with their employers
0:57:17 > 0:57:21doesn't have the same anxiety and mutual dependence that once lay at the heart
0:57:21 > 0:57:23of the master/servant bond.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30But they are still largely poor, under-appreciated and invisible,
0:57:30 > 0:57:32performing the repetitive, often thankless,
0:57:32 > 0:57:36yet essential tasks of domestic service.
0:57:40 > 0:57:46Margaret Powell was able to write about service because she was able to leave it and get an education.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50My great-grandmothers were servants but they never had that chance,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53and I wonder what they would have thought of a Britain
0:57:53 > 0:57:55without its traditions of live-in service,
0:57:55 > 0:58:00a Britain that no longer has what was once called a "servant class"?
0:58:00 > 0:58:02And a country where their great-granddaughter
0:58:02 > 0:58:06could choose to go to university, earn a doctorate,
0:58:06 > 0:58:10and spend her life wielding a pen instead of a broom?
0:58:35 > 0:58:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd