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Life Below Stairs in the 20th Century. . - Reviews - book review
Contemporary Review, March, 2002
Life below Stairs in the 20th Century. Pamela Horn. Sutton Publishing. [pounds sterling]20.00 (US$32.95). 286 pages. ISBN 0-7509-2317-2. Of the many radical changes seen in the twentieth century, the demise of domestic servants is one of the most striking. When the century began, female servants who lived in the houses in which they worked still made up the largest field of employment for women.
The decline, which had set in before 1914 as new opportunities for female labour began, grew rapidly during the Great War and continued in the 1920s. By the end of the century 'live-in help' was usually made up of foreigners. English women confined themselves to house-cleaning and baby-minding for 'working mothers'. How these enormous changes came about, and how they affected the growth of hotels and catering, are the subjects of this book by an author who is widely recognised as an expert in this field. The author, who follows a chronological format, has done an amazing amount of work and, especially in the later cha pters, shows some fascinating insights into how society has adapted to the demise of the domestic servant. This is a marvellous bit of social history that recreates a lost world.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Contemporary Review Company Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
