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Product Description
Review
This is Gosford Park as non-fiction, and utterly fascinating
(Times Literary Supplement )'Entertaining saga of the class divide'
(The Daily Express )'Intimate and absorbing study'
(The Sunday Times )'Architectural historian Masson brings alive the symbiotic relationship between the houses, their owners, and the workers.' (Financial Times )
'Musson is excellent on the changing face of service in the twentieth century'
(Spectator )'Personal anecdotes bring this well-researched book to life'
(Mail on Sunday )'A brilliantly readable book full of human history and entertaining anecdotes'
(Lancashire Evening Post )'He retells the story at a cracking pace... we are reminded that all kinds of likely lads, including Chaucer, started out as paper pushers and cup bearers'
(Guardian )'Packed with quotes from memoirs and letters, as well as first hand accounts, a fascinating social history'
(BBC Who Do You Think You Are Magazine )'An ideal read'
(Field Magazine )Product Description
Country houses were reliant on an intricate hierarchy of servants, each of whom provided an essential skill. Up and Down Stairs brings to life this hierarchy and shows how large numbers of people lived together under strict segregation and how sometimes this segregation was broken, as with the famous marriage of a squire to his dairymaid at Uppark. Jeremy Musson captures the voices of the servants who ran these vast houses, and made them work. From unpublished memoirs to letters, wages, newspaper articles, he pieces together their daily lives from the Middle Ages through to the twentieth century.
The story of domestic servants is inseparable from the story of the country house as an icon of power, civilisation and luxury. This is particularly true with the great estates such as Chatsworth, Hatfield, Burghley and Wilton. Jeremy Musson looks at how these grand houses were, for centuries, admired and imitated around the world. (20101112)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
64 of 65 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a thoroughly delightful read,the sort of book one can dip into or read from cover to cover. Jeremy Musson wears his scholarship lightly as he charts the experiences of servants in the country house from medieval times to the present day - there are no lengthy footnotes, entertaining though they can be at times or profound analysis of the socio-cultural significance of domestic servitude. The position of domestic servant evolved from being part of the larger household or family in medieval and tudor times when servants were valued confidants and frequently left bequests in their employers' wills to the rigid hierachy and compartmentalisation of Victorian times when servants were required to be invisible phantoms who had to avoid eye contact with their employers and flatten themselves against the walls as they swept by.
Domestic service was often the only employment choice available and conditions and attitudes varied as much as the individuals concerned. Jeremy Musson has drawn from a wide variety of sources from both sides of the divide to document the food servants ate, the uniform they wore, duties both indoors and out and the methods used for keeping the servants out of sight - basement kitchens, attic bedrooms and subterreanean passages. Some servants, especially nannies and ladies maids formed enduring bonds with their employers but more often with each other.Some maids even married their employers. But the work was always hard and tedious and many servants were exploited.But as Jeremy Musson shows on the other hand domestic service was often part of family pride and tradition as generations followed each other into service. Mistresses' complaints about their servants are recorded as well as vice-versa.
Even the sad position of black servants in the 18 century house is explored;they were thought of as little more than unpaid chattels with no rights whatsoever. Finally,the author takes a look at the position of domestic staff today in the few housholds affluent enough to employ them as well as those who staff National Trust properties.
This is a comprehensive and entertaining account of a way of life that has disappeared and the reader can enjoy the vividly prsented anecdotes of this tour of domestic service in the country houses of England while feeling glad the experience is only vicarious!
Domestic service was often the only employment choice available and conditions and attitudes varied as much as the individuals concerned. Jeremy Musson has drawn from a wide variety of sources from both sides of the divide to document the food servants ate, the uniform they wore, duties both indoors and out and the methods used for keeping the servants out of sight - basement kitchens, attic bedrooms and subterreanean passages. Some servants, especially nannies and ladies maids formed enduring bonds with their employers but more often with each other.Some maids even married their employers. But the work was always hard and tedious and many servants were exploited.But as Jeremy Musson shows on the other hand domestic service was often part of family pride and tradition as generations followed each other into service. Mistresses' complaints about their servants are recorded as well as vice-versa.
Even the sad position of black servants in the 18 century house is explored;they were thought of as little more than unpaid chattels with no rights whatsoever. Finally,the author takes a look at the position of domestic staff today in the few housholds affluent enough to employ them as well as those who staff National Trust properties.
This is a comprehensive and entertaining account of a way of life that has disappeared and the reader can enjoy the vividly prsented anecdotes of this tour of domestic service in the country houses of England while feeling glad the experience is only vicarious!
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I would describe this as a rather masculine approach to a subject, since the author enjoys marshalling facts more than exploring personalities, thoughts and feelings.
It was the occasional personal touches that kept me ploughing gamely through the lists of duties, architectural lay-outs and household rules.
But by the time we got to the nineteenth century I felt unable to digest another list, so started skipping sections, which of course always denotes one's falling out of love with a book.
However, the author is eminently fair, refusing to promote a right-wing or left-wing agenda - although those firmly entrenched on either side will probably disagree. We meet employers good and bad, and servants good and bad, and it was particularly interesting to realise that service by no means always meant servility.
There is rich material here for a writer who can expand on the subject with a more enthusiastically human touch.
It was the occasional personal touches that kept me ploughing gamely through the lists of duties, architectural lay-outs and household rules.
But by the time we got to the nineteenth century I felt unable to digest another list, so started skipping sections, which of course always denotes one's falling out of love with a book.
However, the author is eminently fair, refusing to promote a right-wing or left-wing agenda - although those firmly entrenched on either side will probably disagree. We meet employers good and bad, and servants good and bad, and it was particularly interesting to realise that service by no means always meant servility.
There is rich material here for a writer who can expand on the subject with a more enthusiastically human touch.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have read several books on country house servants and they all tend to rely on the same research resources, however, this book goes further and is well researched. The author has gone to original documents to find contemporary accounts from both servants and masters. It is easy to read and manages to be both scholarly and digestable at the same time. I would recommend this book if you want to discover life below stairs in an overview spanning many generations and can be relied upon to authentic and accurate.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A totally top-notch book - lots of facts and very impartial -...
An excellent book. All the architectural details about each period, info about wages, uniforms and exact duties I found fascinating, and really enjoyed! Read more
Published 3 months ago by London_nurse
Full of source material, light on conclusions or views
This is very far from a "coffee table" book about country house servants !
It is really quite scholarly in its approach, with very extensive quotes being given of the writings... Read more
It is really quite scholarly in its approach, with very extensive quotes being given of the writings... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. Brian R. Dougal
The world of Downton Abbey, and more...
You can blame Downton Abbey for this one. In this country we seem obsessed with the age of the grand country houses, the world of Upstairs and Downstairs, the golden age before the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. Ball
Do not expect "Downton Abbey" or "Gosford Park"!
Always enjoying "Upstairs, Downstairs" on TV and later "Gosford Park" and "Downton Abbey" I was really looking for a book that told more about servant life. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Luthien Arnatuile
book
I am unable to make any constructive comment on this book as it was a present and I have not read it myself, but it certainly promised to be an excellent read from what I read on... Read more
Published 15 months ago by karen
enjoyable read
I have waited for this book.I love "the good old days"social history. how hard life was for the armies of staff looking after these dynasties. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Margaret J. Frewin
TRUST AND LOYALTY
This is an excellent book that traces the history of the country house from the middle ages to the present time. Read more
Published 18 months ago by David E. Morris
Another pleasant tour with Bill
If you like BB's style of writing, then this is likely to be a pleasure to read. Bill takes a tour of his house as an excuse, if an excuse is needed, to take a look at social... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mallen
Disappointing
I was prepared to find this interesting but it seems to be a re-hash of other people's work and not terribly well written. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Chaucer
upstairs downstairs
This is an excellent study of how it used to be in private service
Published on 2 Feb 2010 by J. Roberts
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