Life Below Stairs: In the 20th Century

by Pamela Horn

Servant Lives explores the servant's diminiishing role in England.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Pamela Horn is an historian specialising in Victorian social history. The author of acclaimed books on rural life, servant lives and childhood, she lectured on economic and social history at Oxford Polytechnic, now Oxford Brookes University, for over twenty years.

Reviews

[Angela Sumter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for more stories from the servants and while there were some it still read like a text book. Quite dry.

[Camilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

while there were some high points in this book, another commenter was correct in pointing out that it did quite read like a text book. there was an inordinate amount of focus placed on the committees and associations (with their many, many acronyms) that were established to better/further the lives of those in domestic service, and when they were established and how many members they served. there were also a galling amount of figures and statistics presented in the book that could have been best presented in a table format, instead of endless sentences comprised solely of numbers. there seemed very little actual substance in this text once all of the numbers and acronyms were removed.

this was an exhaustively researched, but rather soulless-feeling text. the quotes from domestic servants should have been more abundant, as they were the highlight of the book.

[☆Ruth☆ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very short, little book - at least my e-book copy is, I read it in an hour. It represents a personal description of the position and duties of the 3rd house-maid in a large English country house during the late 1930s. Affecting in its own way - as a first-hand account - but there was very little descriptive detail, no real personalities and very few interesting anecdotes. Disappointing.

[Andra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the stories from journals of maids and footmen- describing their daily lives. How it is apparent that the life of servants and the gentry were woven together, yet two separate worlds apart. No wonder that some of these old Manor Houses have spirits lingering in them!