The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Servant

By Pamela Horn

Book Overview

Victorian England measured social acceptability in terms of the number of servants employed in a household. It is perhaps unsuprising then that this frequently overlooked body of workers actually formed the largest occupational group in the country at the end of the nineteenth century. In this illustrated account, Pamela Horn draws upon a wealth of contemporary sources and 'servants' books' as well as personal reminiscences by servants and employers. She presents a comprehensive record of recruitment and training; the duties expected by servants, and the wide range of conditions under which they worked, some of which led to happy retirement, others to prostitution or squalid death. It is a compelling picture of a vanished social system.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0862992966
• ISBN13: 9780862992965
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Sutton Pub Ltd
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 0.8" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

A indepth and rich text.

This book is essentially an acaedemic text, but it is written with great knowledge, narrative and empathy for it's subject matter. So much so that it is not at all the chore that would usually be the remit of acaedemic works. There is, as with all such texts, no need to read it cover to cover. But each chapter has narratives which is so engaging as to tell the facts, the emotions and the bare tragic bones of each story. It is a brilliant historical catalogue of a much ignored and now largely forgotten people, of great use to students of all ages. Equally a very engaging social read.