English Learning for Curious Minds
#408 | Upstairs, Downstairs: The Lives of British Servants
Oct 5, 2023
In this podcast, they discuss the servant class in Britain, including their high numbers in the early 20th century and the hierarchy among different types of servants. They also explore the decline of domestic service due to various factors such as changing employment opportunities and technology. Live-in servants are now mostly limited to the wealthy. The podcast recommends media such as Downton Abbey and The Remains of the Day to further explore this topic.
20:52
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Quick takeaways
- Working as a domestic servant was the most popular job in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with 1.5 million people employed in household service.
- The lives of female servants were generally worse, facing lower pay, job insecurity, and the risk of unwanted advances from male employers.
Deep dives
The Size of the Servant Class
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Britain, household service was the most popular job, with 1.5 million people, or 4% of the total population, working as domestic servants. An astonishing number of more than 1 million young women aged 15-20 were domestic servants, accounting for one out of every three young women at the time. This episode explores why working as a domestic servant was so common during this period.
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