What Was Life Like For Victorian Servants In A Country Estate? | Historic Britain | Absolute History
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- Опубліковано 27 жов 2022
- Many stately homes conjure up visions of separate ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’ realms, but at Erddig the 18th-century Yorke family took a different approach. Alan learns how they encouraged a romance between nanny and groomsman, immortalized staff in photos and verse, and treated them with a respect unheard of among other grand houses. Angellica Bell tries her hand at producing cider from Erddig’s historic orchards, while Miriam O’Reilly visits Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, where the family’s relationship with their servants was very different from that of the Yorkes'.
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I think most people would agree that good working conditions is preferred over higher pay and a brute of an employer
Especially when 'higher pay' still amounted to starvation wages.
@@FunSizeSpamberguesa loving the ungratefullness while people in Africa starve and can only dream to work here
@@samanthasmith61 I cannot imagine anyone dreaming they could work for starvation wages, then or now. The operative word there is 'starve'.
@@samanthasmith61 What on Earth are you talking about? Did you even watch the documentary? You are making zero sense.
@@samanthasmith61 Africa is an entire continent, not a country. There's starvation and water shortages and homelessness all over the western world like any place else. English food isn't even quality. It's literally born of war and poverty, which I'm sure Victorians, Edwardians, and WW1&2 casualties struggled with every day on top of having dangerous/miserable working conditions. Wanting to be able to buy fresh bread and dairy, and work in a safe environment, and be treated like a human being isn't being ungrateful.
The pruning of all the trees, bushes and flowers is truly mind boggling. They didn’t have all the easy tools we have today, either.
To be fair though, that was their only job. The modern tools do it faster, but definitely not better!
What do you mean by easy tools? Way back they had the best grass cutters ever. Sheep. They had knives, saws, secateurs, shears, rakes, spades, etc that are still commonly used today. There is no other tool for pruning say rose bushes that I know of.
A few years ago I visited Levens Hall in Cumbria. The Tudor gardens were never 'improved' a la capability brown and all the topiaried yew trees and hedges were then still cut using garden shears.
@@ZheeYoYoyou do know just how much work was involved in keeping those gardens in good order. A friend of my dad was an estate gardener from 13. They started at dawn and finished at dusk. In summer they had to carry all those huge stone planters from the greenhouses onto and off the patios. Thats why the planters had iron rings so that 2 men could slot wooden poles through them to carry them. All had to be in place before the family and or guests were up.
In addition to the fancy gardens there were glasshouses, orchards and vegetable gardens to be tended. Thats why they had teams of gardeners. All went to pot of course during 2 world wars when the men went off to fight.
Nor did they have the safety standards we have now.
His enthusiasm is keeping me attached to this screen. The excitement in learning and history is heartwarming.
He would make a wonderful friend parent and grandparent for a kid
I love how this is just putting an entire family's history on blast. Airing their dirty laundry. It's so entertaining and informative!
Downton abbey had been the center of many many movies and documentaries. So I guess it’s nothing new.
Apparently it paid good money.
I would love to have lived during This Gracious time of life and Romance!!!!!
This Was a Lovely time of life, and the Beautiful lawn gardens, and Very Elegant ( however, the Medical care was much to be wanting!!!)
@@carolyntallen4099 actually they didn't need a doctor as much. People ate more healthy, and herbs, and spices were used more to right wrong ailments. Yes, when doctors got involved, chances were you were going to probably die easier. "Blood letting" was in wide spread usage...not good.
I’m American and I love British History. Learning about these Manor Houses is so interesting. I loved every second of this show. You all did a great job showing the Families and Servants and their back stories. Thank you so much! ❤❤❤
Same here, Washington state, I watch a lot of British t.v. and learn more about your culture each time. Truly enjoyable. Thank you for sharing, have a lovely day.
Thank you for your videos. My great grandmother was in service and eventually came to America in 1906. She told us stories of her experiences.
My gardening attempts are pathetic so i really admire those who work magic with landscaping and gardening. It really is a gift.
I’m really fascinated by these stories and especially the view of these fine old houses. What always disappoints me, is that we the viewer are treated to quick fleeting images of what interests us, but then we are also shown people talking. We don’t need to see the presenters that much. We can hear you. Please spend more time on the imagery. 90% imagery and 10% talking heads. That would be perfect.
I agree. I like the documentaries with just narration. The people just get in the way.
I agree, 100%!
We also didn't need to know that much about the apple trees or the cup and saucer. That had nothing to do with the servants life. And we barely got to see upstairs.
I agree
@@digby_doorighto
My mother was in service at Eton College in the 1950s. Happy memories for her and her best friend. RIP Eileen and Lilly ❤
Still, 100 years later there are still so many employers treating their employees bad enough so they rather leave and earn less money at another company as long as they are treated well. The York family understood something, that lots of people still don´t even consider... great documentation!
lol. Demeaning yourself as subservient in actual class and worth is the worst condition for any intelligent person with integrity and self-respect. Romanization of the past is hilarious - today’s generation wouldn’t last 10 min. In these roles of yesteryear! 😂
@@datacipher I need to admit, I don't really understand the intention of your comment. English isn't my first language, so I sometimes struggle with sarcasm, irony and also some of your words, to be honest. I will still try to answer your comment, hoping, you will kindly explain the meaning of it.
I don't demean myself in any class, wouldn't make sense in my case as I grew up in the so-called lower class, but worked myself up to an income of higher middle class. This class system, thought, it is still used to classify people into specific groups, I don't think, this is an appropriate approach, considering, we are living in the 21st century.
I also would never consider the past as romantic in any way. Of course I am interested in the past and how people lived back then. Still, it is not romantic at all. What I wanted to say with my original comment was, that I find it sad, that a lot of people no matter their job, position inside a company or whatever else their circumstances might be, still think in these roles. Companies treat their employees bad and then wonder why these leave the company, sometimes even for a smaller sallary. And I find it indeed sad, a lot of employees accept being treaten badly, thought, they suffer and deserve better.
I don't want to judge, if this is based on intelligence, education or character, or maybe a mix of it or nothing of the mentioned above at all.
In the end I just wanted to share my opinion and experience, of course hoping to start an earnest conversation about it with someone else on the web.
Please explain your intentions behind your comment a bit further, so I can make sure, I understand it correctly. Thanks in advance.
I love how excited the visitor was about finding family's secrets, he truly feels it ☺️
I love this man’s excited demeanor throughout this documentary. Thank you for sharing
You can never tell whether the servants really had an intimate relationship with their employers or the employers believed that they did, but it does look like they made less money at this estate but had more pleasant working conditions. Given how stark conditions were for most people at the bottom of the economic ladder were in those days, I bet that they knew how much more important that was than money and they would rather have been there than estates where they were paid more but reminded that they were dirt on the masters shoes
Everybody's forgotten about the original Upstairs, Downstairs of the early 1970s.and Alistair Cooke's tremendously informative intros and outros.
my older SisInLaw Highly recommended US/Ds ..I watched on PBS video... marvelous !
I have not forgotten that fabulous show! I constantly compared it with Downton Abbey.
My grandpa never missed an episode of Upstairs Downstairs.
@@meegansandberg1308 Nor did I.
I wish we knew more about what happened to Miss Penketh. Without a reference it probably was difficult for her to find a job even if she was found innocent.
Other than not guilty, I found that she went to live with her mother and died from a stroke at 63. She was a domestic cook after the trial. Really sad, when you think it doesn’t matter when you are born any type of bad reputation can set you back, and coming back may or can be next to impossible.
I am interested to know what servants at other estates thought of being employed this estate. Were they envious? They may have made less money, but they had more of a "normal" life than their higher paid counterparts.
In those days it was just a struggle to survive for many working class people and to avoid the misery of the workhouse ! I don't think they were envious as they were so happy to be employed with good food even if their salaries were tiny .If they were fired for any reason without references it was disastrous as they could not get another position and homelessness was the result or the workhouse ! I spent hours in the fifties listening to my Grandmother telling me stories of those days ! They lived their lives in constant fear of being destitute and being forced to enter the workhouse because once there they often stayed there on the bottom rung of society ! They looked on the upper class like we would look on Martians ! They were a tribe set apart and moreover someone who could get you fired and your life ruined !
Portraits and poems sounds like their version of handing out “Certificates of Excellence” instead of a raise.
that's very much discussed in the video. they treated their servants well rather than paying them the normal wage cause they couldn't afford it.
the servants choose to stay cause being treated well was worth the low wages, it was their choice
@@nithqueen I fully understood it. They got certificates (poems) instead of raises, so the family got off cheap. Tell me how servants getting paid much less would be able to save anything to help them live after their age forces them to leave service. It’s all well being treated better than in other houses but that doesn’t help when you are no longer able to earn a living.
@@jpbaley2016 you think you in 2022 had more of an idea of what they needed when they retired than they themselves did? again they had good conditions to encourage them to stay.
even so you are wrong, people in the past still worked into their 60s and 70s, and people did have retirement back then even so. most likely they had jobs to stay in the house well into their retirement and were expected to be taken care of
@@jpbaley2016 It's not like the going rate would allow a servant much ability to save money. Many of them wound up in poorhouses, unless they were fortunate enough to marry out of service and/or find better-paid work while they were still able. I'd rather spend my working life being treated with fairness and dignity than be treated like dirt for slightly more money and wind up impoverished anyway.
@@FunSizeSpamberguesa They still worked long, hard hours. I’d still prefer the raise to a poem, which is my first comment was about.
Some of the estates also had large greenhouses where pineapples and orchids were grown to grace the tables
My great great aunt was a servant in England to lady Berkshire and lady morningside and back in Morocco she was a servant to Abdul el saad
She fled Morocco in 1912 when france started colonizing North African Arab countries
My genealogist documented a case between a lonely titled daughter who fell in love with and married their gardern, an ancestor of mine. Yes, great scandal! But they were now married and a baby on the way so itd was a "done deal". They were set up with a nursery on the outskirts (then - now central) London!
Aloha, my goodness, I’ve become addicted to this channel in the last 2 hrs. Well done; photography, content, presentation, even the music is artistically woven throughout the entire video seamlessly.
"waste not, want not." is found in both servants kitchens of this documentary.
They weren't "servants kitchens". They were THE kitchens, where all the meals were cooked for servants, guests, and owners alike.
In the ROTHSCHILDS' FERRIÈRES French Castle , there were railways in the underground tunnels, little open wagons would transport the food , Baron Guy recalled playing and riding on them in his autobiography 😄
Anyone else think that trimming those hedges is oddly satisfying? 😂
I have a feeling that the lady of the house accused the cook of stealing, at least in part, because she was jealous of her. Perhaps the cook had caught someone's eye in the household. Would love to know the truth.
The answer to your question is given 3/4 of the way through the video.
She blamed the cook in an effort to conceal her overspending & extravagance. The cook was found not quilty.
lol stealing does happened. my maid stole my phone lol!
What was the cooks name ?
Some rumors suggest the land agent, who had tried to seduce the cook unsuccessfully, retaliated against her. He was the one who went to Lady Yorke to accuse the cook of the theft. That said, the cook did admit to fudging the books with the help of the shop keepers but to conceal how much the family owed and keep extending the debt repayment while still receiving their provisions (she also lost the money of a check she cashed and this is when it spiraled, as she tried to pay it with her own money but the sum was large)@@Mila_Brearey
Probably working for a family like the one in Ervig was better than most other jobs, and likely be better fed. It's too bad that most families didn't treat servants well.
Erddig (In Welsh, "dd" is pronounced like th.)
Hard to believe the servants weren't treated well.
@@sharonpuckett1441 Why is it hard to believe ? They say power corrupts and these aristacrats could do what they like with the servants which were treated more like slaves. My grandmother worked in ' service " as it was called and it was not very nice,they worked long hours,treated like dogs and fed worse than the dogs the uper classes owned, maybe a few families treated their servants better but it was rare
I just love this narrator he’s something special! He’s got a Cary Grant delivery with the look of a savvy crow, a real dramatic charmer, it’s great lesson for acting students. The material is fantastically presented. Very kind, intriguing and humorous respite for culturless Texas.
it is Alan Titchmarsh,very well known in the UK from his gardeningprograms/books.
They owed Mrs Penketh a formal apology and monetary restitution period.
Greetings from America! I just love your videos..I absolutely love England's history..Thank you so much!🌹
Unfortunately, having never visited the UK, I _must_ know....is the grass _really_ as green as it appears in the aerial shots of this series?
I know! and the bright red foliage. Suspicious
@@1sleepyguy42o maple leaves turn bright red in the fall.
Yes. It's a fine bladed grass and England, Wales, and Ireland benefit from the Gulf Stream rains. Very green and beautiful. This house, like most tourist attractions, benefits from fertilization though, so is more evenly green than a normal person's lawn. Our lawn is and garden are very green as long as there is no drought condition, but not quite this gorgeous. We do not fertilize or spray. The cricket pitches also fertilize and spray to achieve this incredible even greenness.
Yes it is
How old are you? Why have you not visited the UK?
I am still stuck in the Cup & Saucer..HOW did they build that
Ditto. 😆
Diverting the river would have been the first step.
‘Scandalous love’ and ‘Ruthless betrayal’
Ooh lala!
How amazing, I loved the photos! I got a chill thinking about how if this family hadn't been different, we wouldn't have the understanding of what life was really like. Here's to being different!🥂
And isn't it funny to see the difference between how the houses look?
Edit again: well, this should teach me to comment before the end of a video
You should read Margaret Powell's book, "Below Stairs". She started out as a maid as a young woman in the Edwardian Period until she finally quite out of sheer disgust and frustration.
i often make the same mistake and comment too soon...
It amazes me to see them handle the diaries with no gloves
Holy crap, that house is huge.
These videos are so informative and fascinating. Thank you so much. I love learning new things.
Thanks youtube now im going to watch reruns of Downton Abbey....😊
Wonderful program! Great history of lives too hidden, yet so profound. What a tribute to the human spirit that people endured and survived such regimented, imprisoned lives!! Thank you!
The Crawley family, of Downton Abbey, were Edwardian not Victorian.
Right?!? And barely even that...the show began in 1912, which would have been the end of the Edwardian period.
exactly the only Victorian crawley is the Dowager and she seems extremely prejudiced
I'd rather be paid a bit less and treated way better. I think many people would, especially in this day and age.
I am left on the cliff when the video told us that the cook (Mrs Panketh) is very beautiful and then randomly talking about fruit trees lol..
Which she rly wasn’t, now was she? Lol
I think her youth in that position did her in
#jealousyinthemistress
My grandmother was a servant in one of Britain's mansions! Worked like a dog! Horrible life!
My housekeeper for years in Baltimore, Maryland, was originally from the Philippines. The stories she tells of the oppressive work conditions she endured in jobs in Saudi Arabia & Hong Kong are horrifying.
My grandmother and mother worked as it was called 'in service' one of the few jobs open before and just after the first war.. It was horrible,nothing like Dowton Abbey portrays....written by a member of the upper class. The male aristocracy felt the young maids were fair game for their sexual desires,if the girls got pregnant they were thrown out and could never get another job.
Yeah Downton Abbey is just a propaganda fairytale written by the ruling class, by a literal aristocrat, promoting the idea of the benevolent rich instead of a world where we can earn a good livelihood and aren’t bowing and scraping to “our betters”.
Thank you for such a wonderful look back at history.
This was very interesting. Thanks for a great bit of history.
It might have been nice for the gardener to duck into the shady tunnel on a hot day.
Wonderful show, thank you! The history is fascinating!
His was a wonderful story and colorfully informative. Thank you so much.
Amazing programme, I enjoyed every minute
Being under the Cup and Saucer reminds me of a miniature version of being on the Maid of the Mist boat here at Niagara Falls.
To have this connection in this place was extremely unheard of at these places. These servants had it made !
The friendly relationship between the family and staff reminds me of Downton Abbey. I happen to be in the middle of re-watching right now.
A lesson we learn from this story: don't do any favors to your bosses that might cost you anything, especially if they're paying you beggar's wage while throwing money out of the window for their whims. The only "thank you" you're gonna hear for that will be a kick in your rear.
Thank you for sharing this with us. I found it to be quite interesting
I love the English countryside. Documentary was educational. Thank you.
Grade A video essay. I thoroughly enjoyed every second!
That garden looks amazing! Must be nice being rich.
Fascinating…my sincere thanks!
I'm self employed. And very grateful to also be happy with everyone I work for.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Thankyou 💕
Extremely perfect historical doc which is pretty informative,personally for me!!!So helpful for Victorian period fans like me❤🎉🎉🎉
The landscape is magnificent
Really enjoyed watching this!
oh super cool! I went to Erddig many many times..and worked at Powis Castle ( many years ago ) in housekeeping.
This was fascinating, particularly the situation with Ms. Penketh. I am so glad she was acquitted.
Fascinating stuff. I could watch all day. 😁❤️😁
Downton Abbey wasn't Victorian, but Edwardian.
Barely even that. It started in 1912. For the sake of ease, historians run the Edwardian era to 1914 because it was the war that really changed things, but Edward VII died well before Downton Abbey’s story began.
Oh that water feature, the big hole with the water pouring down. I bet it's absolutely heaven on a hot July day. I can imagine children dancing and frolicking. Or lovers sneaking away for a hidden romantic rendezvous. But I can also see falling down the hole and breaking something.
It would have been a death trap when the river was high.
@@louisavondart9178 oh yes
@@louisavondart9178Tea, don't go in during a rain or right after a rain.
I'd love for you guy's to come do an episode on Mackinac Island here in Michigan !!!
HOW SO VERY CLEAN I HAVE NOTICED WHEN WATCHING THIS VIDEO AND HOW EVERYTHING IS PUT IN PLACE. AND THE YOUNG MAN ASKING THE QUESTIONS AND THE THE PEOPLE WHO ANSWER THEM WE THE PEOPLE WHO ENJOYED IT THANKS ALL OF YOU FOR A FINE VIDEO. GOD BLESS. ROBBIE PHILADELPHIA PA FISHTOWN
Amazing! and delightful!
From scandal to apple trees in one second. Not fair!
*Absolute History and Politics appreciate your videos Listening 🌟 from Mass USA TYVM 💙*
Totally. People look miserable or blurry in old photos because it took like twenty minutes to take the photo! Definitely no candid shots lol
This was great! Thank you!!!
Someone once told me if I was not sure of the spelling...... Whales are in the sea and Wales is by the sea.
Amazing!
So stunning! I appreciate their self-sufficiency.
Wonderful! thank you!!
Спасибо за ваше видео! Очень уютное ❤
The york family remind me of the craWleys of downton.
Great vid
Love this channel
It was probably as entertaining to the upstairs about what goes on downstairs and visa-versa, a soap opera of sorts.
Wonderful documentary!!
I would have rather earned a little less and been treated better!
His sneak attack hug at 11:56 wasn’t very well received. You can see her on the retreat at the moment they cut the footage!
Have no illusions just because everyone looked pretty in this documentary. Those ghastly working conditions were akin to slavery. 16-hour days for 12 pounds a year. NO ONE cared about who you were nor asked your name (as documented well in servant interviews) and was misrepresented in Downtown Abbey. Yes all is so pretty, but the number of people working to make it so for almost no money is astonishing. Many of the young girls were sexual targets for the useless sons of the owner of the estates. Any insubordination was met with dismissal and or physical abuse. If you escaped, you had no references, so it was unlikely you would find another job. No Social Security, no Medicare, no National Health Service was in existence. No antibiotics, so the simplest ailment could kill you, and if you had no money, god help you.
Downton Abbey is just propaganda by a literal aristocrat promoting the idea we should rely in the benevolence of the wealthy. It’s selling the idea that the rich would treat their servants like anything but servants, paying them in a year what they spent on one bottle of wine at one dinner, and even much less.
Great documentary, and such beautiful estates!
It's all about making money they put anything on here just the enqarier put in their papers
Yes, indeed.
Thank you for sharing🇺🇸👍🙏🏻
I love how they call those buildings houses opposed to mansions.
A mansion was defined as a home that had at least 5,000 square feet of space and contained the highest level of opluence and luxury. Only the Royals could afford that. A home set on a large acreage of land was called an Estate. The terminolgy was as fixed in stone as was the class system.
In America they called their summer homes “cottages” but they were actually mansions to us peasants.
@@louisavondart9178 Throughout history there have been dukes and such that were as wealthy as or even wealthier than the monarchs. Warwick and Norfolk are two in England that I've read were in this class at times.
I've watched several history videos where the size of the house is given, and all have been above 10,000 sq. feet.
great show. Love Thomas sr and JR and Samantha.
Wouldn't let me use your code but I bought it anyway! I love your shows!
So sad that you didn't tell us what happened to the family. Why did the estate get turned over to the trust. Is there family left. Are they a Peer family?
I'd love to go back in history and be a wealthy, Victorian Lady. Anything, but a peasant...I already know what that life entails 😆
Really? Not being allowed to have your own finances except with your husbands permission? Not being allowed to vote. Not having access to anti-biotics? Victorian era men visited brothels regularly and many Victorian Ladies suffered from syphillis as a result. It wasn't all roses and gin....
Me too! Im American but
Am from Great Britain, & Nordic blood.
I majored in English & History it fascinated me so much.
If time travel was possible, I would miss having indoor plumbing and safe drinking water.
You wouldn’t be wealthy, your husband would own all the assets and anything you have would be given (or not) based on his whim. The past seems romantic at a distance but reality for women has been harsh for most of history. I can’t think of a time period I would want to go back to as a woman with social status or not.
Exactly, not to mention the high mortality rate for children and women during childbirth.@@juliasugarbaker9032
Ok, but that awkward side hug and pull away at 11:55 😮
Please also feature the Howard Castle
Very cool. 🌟
Good video
How interesting. 👍💯😎
I loved downtown abbey